Page 16 of Magic's Dawn

Mel grimaces. “No, I’ll be helping lead the lesson by demonstration.”

My gaze shifts to Aspen. “Hey, where’s your wand?”

He flicks his wrist, and a wand appears in his hand. Unlike Mel’s simple wooden wand, his is adorned in colorful threads, feathers, and crystals that seem in stark contrast to his personality.

“Oh, neat trick.” I reach for it. “Let me see.”

Mel slaps my hand away. “Bad, Rowe. No trying to break Aspen’s wand.”

“But how else will we know if he’s strong enough to teach us?” Tris demands.

Aspen’s brow arches. “Would you even know what to do with it?”

“No.” I drop my hand back to my side.

When I broke Mel’s wand, I was funneling the entire weight of the magical barrier through myself and moved on complete instinct.

Aspen leans forward, his voice turning conspiratorial. “Don’t worry. Once you learn a few basic spells, I’ll let you try out my wand. I’m not afraid that you can break it.”

I give him serious eyes. “You understand that I’m going to try really, really hard to bust it, right?”

He grins. “I look forward to your efforts.”

“Not quite the motivational speech I was hoping for, but here we are.” Mel rubs her hands together. “After sitting down with the others and speaking to Dr. Lopez, we’ve decided to make our lessons at three in the afternoon, so that you have the evening to record what you learn in your grimoires and practice in the evening.”

Aspen gives us a firm stare. “Everyone has agreed to release you from work by two thirty, so there’s no excuse for not attending.”

Tris leans down to whisper in my ear, “They got our parents to sign off on our permission slips.”

I squint at them with suspicion. “But did they get Daddy’s permission?”

“Daddy!” Tris and I yell in unison.

The sound of the kitchen window opening fills the air, followed by Haut’s rumble. “Yes, I gave permission. The sooner they sign off on you two, the sooner things get back to normal.”

I clutch my chest. “The betrayal.”

Tris sags against me. “It hurts.”

Mel grabs Aspen’s arm and backs away, wiggling her fingers in farewell. “See you tomorrow, kids!”

Looks like there’s no more getting out of it. We’re learning to be witches, whether we like it or not.

When Tris and I head inside the house, we pass Ros on his way out, this time wearing boots and with his keys in hand.

“Where are you going so late?” I ask. “Did Tris scare you off?”

“Hey!” Tris smacks my arm. “I’m the one who’s been led around by the nose all this time!”

“Nothing like that. Besides, you both need to wait another three days before opening your veins.” Ros cups the back of my head and leans down to give me a quick kiss. “There’s a problem in the vampire community that I need to go deal with.”

Worry shoots through me. “Is something wrong? No one said anything when I did blood deliveries earlier.”

Ros grimaces. “No, they wouldn’t have said anything to you.”

Tris stiffens next to me, and his tone turns serious. “What’s going on?”

“The sunlight serums that we took from my father’s soldiers are running out, and they’re arguing over who should get the last of them.” His fingers stroke the sides of my neck. “But it’s nothing to worry about. I’ll get it sorted out.”

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