Oliver walked past Airin, carrying his cello and stand. Airin shrank back, twining a bit of white hair around one finger while adjusting their face mic with the other hand.

  Time to make sure Jetstream will win this battle. Oliver sneered and said, “Top that, STEP-sister.” Was Airin the one who started the rumors that we are related? I will make them pay for it.

  “Nice job, Oliver,” Airin replied, obviously trying to stay in his good graces so he wouldn’t tell their parents she didn’t belong here.

  Oliver laughed and set his stand down in the wings.

  Airin tried to smile but gave up and walked out on the stage, behind the closed curtain, with Ephy and Liska.

  Oliver wasn’t going to make Airin go home, but he couldn’t lose to them. He needed to keep his spot in the senior orchestra and satisfy Mom’s desire to keep Airin close to him, so winning the quad battle was the best way to do that.

  But he couldn’t mess with too much with the stage managers standing there.

  “Sit here until we speak with the principal,” said the tall history teacher. He was leading a dark-haired student whose face was twisted in a pout. The teacher pointed at a chair. “Sit.”

  Edward or something, I think. And she’s the one before Jetstream who did the stupid mime act. Wonder why she’s in trouble?

  Holly, the Air Quad leader, marched over to the girl. The other stage manager followed her, the two started whispering to each other. The dark-haired girl still looked very angry.

  They’re all distracted!

  Oliver slowly took his wand from a pocket in his cello case and aimed it at the cords. A little power surge wouldn’t take too much magic, and that would overload the system and cut the mics.

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  Zap.

  The lights cut off, as did the sound of the announcer on the stage.

  Screams of shock came from the auditorium and from backstage. Oliver stood up, surprised. That should have only cut the mics!

  His wand suddenly flew backward out of his hand. He spun around to see Magister’s face glowing in the light of a small blue ball floating in the air.

  “Magister!”

  “This was your doing, Mr. Darklighter? Sabotage is beneath your talents. I am very disappointed in you.”

  “But I have to be the best!”

  “If you have to cheat or cause others to fall, then are you really the best? That sounds to me like you believe you aren’t the best. And on that note, I did not find any evidence that Zephyr Suite engaged help from an outside source. Whatever you heard was just a rumor.”

  Oliver felt as if he had been hit by the spell he’d cast on the lights. He stumbled backward and fell over his closed cello case, landing hard on his butt.

  Magister said, “I wish we did not engage in competition at all in music or art. Everyone wins from engaging in the arts. Do you remember those who believe that Mozart’s earlier works are better than his later works? His later works are complex and sophisticated, but his earlier works are so endearing that they have many dedicated fans. His musical genius is evident in all of them.”

  Magister glanced down at the wands in his hands and, calmly, turned back to Oliver. “I will not have a private student who treats his fellow artists this way.”

  Oliver gasped. “What? You can’t drop me from private lessons!”

  “If you wish to be reinstated, you must write a formal apology to each of those three students, as well as one to me, for wasting my time. Then you will do lunch duty for a full month, whether or not you win. I know you have been causing problems for your classmates in music theory. I expect you to respect and encourage your fellow students in their artistic journeys from now on, and that includes Airin. If I find out you are bullying or sabotaging anyone again, you will lose more than just your private lessons.”

  “Magister! You can’t do this to me!” Oliver’s face suddenly felt very hot and wet.

  “Your parents, the principal, and I will have to have a discussion after the battle.”

  “My–my parents are here?” Oliver scrabbled for purchase on the slick wood floor, trying to push himself off his cello case. One of the metal clasps dug into his side.

  “Clean up your things and wait in the greenroom with your suitemates until I call you.”

  How could the battle have turned out like this?