Part 2

Alex is putting books in her locker, talking to Harper. "…It was genius, really. But don't tell him I said that."

"I don't know Alex. Are you sure he did it on purpose? I mean, it just doesn't sound very Justin-like."

Alex shuts her locker and leans back against it, crossing her arms over her chest. "Yeah, you're probably right…but he got in trouble for it anyway, so who cares?" She perks right up, but frowns again as Justin bursts through the doors, breathing heavily. "Oh, shoot, he made it on time."

Justin walks over to her and Harper, opens his mouth to yell at Alex, instead leans down on his knees to catch his breath, stands up and tries again but still can't seem to spit words out, tries a third time, but Alex interrupts him:

"Let me help you out." She points angrily at Justin and mimics his voice. "Alex, you almost made me late! I could've tarnished my life-long perfect record of nontardiness!" She smirks. "Was that pretty close?"

Justin nods his head as he sucks in another deep breath and swallows. He stands up straight again, but waivers just a little. Harper looks at him with concern.

"Justin, are you okay?" she asks.

Alex shakes her head. "That's what ya get for sprinting all the way over here. Face it, Justin, geeks just aren't built to run." She pats him on the arm with fake pity before walking off. Harper shrugs apologetically and follows after her, leaving Justin still pointing in their direction and trying to retaliate. He gets out a few whiny noises at her, then huffs in annoyance as he gives up. The warning bell tolls and, with an alarmed look on his face, he races off to his class.

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Alex sits on the bench in the school lobby, sketching in her notebook. She doesn't notice Justin coming down the stairs behind her, holding a hand to his forehead. He spots her and stops walking.

"Alex, what are you doing out here?'

She jumps up, sees it's just Justin, and relaxes. "Oh, it's you." She sits back down and goes back to drawing. Justin walks brusquely over to her and snatches away her sketch. "Heeeeyyy, that's miiine," she whines.

"You're supposed to be in class, Alex," he scolds, folding the notebook shut.

"Look who's talking. Why aren't you in class?"

He looks down at his feet and mumbles something incoherent. Alex stands up and walks closer to him. "What was that?" she asks, and he looks away, mumbling again. Frowning, she moves in even closer, leaning an ear towards his mouth. "One more time."

He turns right towards her and pretty much shouts, "I fell asleep in class!" causing her to jump back and put a hand over her ear.

"Owe! You didn't have to yell!"

"Sorry," he mutters and places his hand to his head again, plopping down on the bench. "Ms. Rodman told me to go see the nurse."

Alex looks closer at him. "You do look kinda sick." She pulls his hand down out of the way and feels his forehead, also bringing one hand to her own head. "That's weird," she says, frowning.

"Weird? Either I have a fever or I don't. What's weird about it?"

She scrunches up her face in confusion. "You definitely don't have a fever…"

"Well that's a relief." He looks up at her still-confused face. "You can move your hand, now, Alex."

She pulls her hand away slightly, then puts it right back. "Yeah, that's definitely weird."

Justin stands up and backs away from her a step. "Alex, what is it?"

"You don't have a fever…you have, like, an anti-fever or something."

Now Justin looks confused. "What does that mean?"

"You're…cold. Really cold."

Justin now uses his hands like Alex had to compare his temperature to hers. "You're right! No wonder I've been chilly. I thought they just turned the AC on a little too high." He starts to walk away from her.

"Where are you going?" she asks.

"To the nurse. Obviously I am sick."

She shakes her head. "Justin, you have a backwards fever. Have you ever heard of a normal person getting a backwards fever?"

He opens his mouth, looks thoughtful, then shuts it again. "No, I guess not," he admits.

"Right, so what are you gonna tell the nurse when she takes your temperature? That you've been standing in the back of an ice cream truck?"

"Come on, Alex, I'm not that cold," he says, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah? Well why don't you conjure up a thermometer right now and we'll find out."

"Okay, fine." He takes a quick look around to make sure no one else is watching before pulling out his wand, pointing it at the bench. "What I need is a thermometer; so I can take my temperature."

A flash of light springs from his wand and a thermometer instantly appears on the bench, but at the exact same time, a strange black lightning springs from Justin's arm, surrounding his entire right shoulder. He cries out and drops his wand, clutching his arm with his left hand as the black lightning dies down and flickers out.

"Justin, what was that?" Alex races over to him. "Are you okay?"

"I, I don't know," he answers, looking down at his arm. He begins to noticeably shiver, now.

"Oh, this is definitely magic-related," Alex remarks, then turns to reach for the thermometer. Just as she's about to pick it up, it suddenly explodes into a small cloud of black sand. She squeaks and jumps away from it.

"Alex!" Justin cries out in concern and starts to take a step towards her, when suddenly the sand-cloud thins out and races towards him, instead. It slams into his face, disappearing into his body. He stands stunned, blinking his eyes for a few seconds.

"Justin?" Alex asks, taking a tentative step forward.

He blinks slowly once more before his eyes roll back and he begins to crumble to the side. Alex is just barely able to move under him in time to stop him from hitting his head on the floor. She tries to shake him awake as he begins to shiver more violently in her arms.

"Justin, wake up! Justin!" When he doesn't respond, she reaches into her pocket and pulls out her cell, pressing a speed-dial button. She waits for a second, then begins speaking rapidly. "Daddy, it's Justin - he was cold, and we needed a thermometer, and then there was this black lightning, and this sand cloud attacked him, and now he won't wake up, and…please, Daddy, just help him!" Her voice cracks as she begins to cry, watching helplessly as her brother's face starts turning pale and his lips start fading to blue.