Page 112 of The Demon's Spell

I inched closer to the book and picked it up. As my eyes roamed over the page, I realized it was an old Miriam College yearbook. It showed a full-page spread of the Astrology Club. Judging by the hairstyles and fashion in the photographs, these photos were taken around forty years ago.

“Does this mean anything to you?” I asked Talia.

“I’ve been through the yearbooks, but those records are in a different room.” Talia ran her fingers over the spines of the books on the shelf, eyeing the years. “These ones must’ve been moved. They’re in the wrong spot.”

“Well, someone wanted us to find them. What do you think it means?” I started flipping to the next page, but Talia stopped me.

“Wait!” she cried, grabbing my wrist. I turned back to the Astrology Club page, and Talia pointed to a woman in one of the photographs. She was older than the students in the photo. She must’ve been their professor. “This is our clue! We found it!”

I looked closer at the woman she’d pointed to. I thought she looked familiar, but I couldn’t place her. The caption contained her name. Professor Angelica Stratton.

“That’s her! It’s the ghost who attacked me in the library over break,” Talia said, sounding excited. “Nadine, it’s the woman who warned us about the demon.”

I gasped when she pointed it out. I had seen her before, but merely for a second. “She must know more. I’ll bet you anything she’s the one who knocked this book over. She wants us to go find her. We need to grab Miles, because we’re talking to this woman. Tonight.”

We found Miles in his room. The second he heard we wanted to talk to a ghost, he was all-in.

“Hell yeah, I’ll help you hunt this ghost,” he’d said. “Tell me everything you know.”

I showed him the yearbook we’d taken from the library. “That’s her.”

Recognition crossed his features. “Hey, I know her!”

“You’ve spoken to her before?” Talia questioned.

“A few times, yeah. She’s a sweet lady. You’re sure she knows something about the Wands? She’s never mentioned them.”

“Maybe she didn’t know you were helping us,” I theorized. “You know where to find her?”

“Sure,” Miles said. “They don’t call her the Lady of the Tower for nothing.”

I’d heard of the Lady of the Tower. She was once an astrology professor at the school, and she haunted her old classroom.

“I’ll call Lucas and Grant and tell them to meet us there,” I said while pulling up Lucas’s number.

We hurried to the astrology tower as quickly as we could. Lucas and Grant arrived the same time we did.

“What’d you find?” Lucas asked, sounding a bit winded.

“A ghost!” Talia said chipperly. “Well, not yet, technically. But we know who the ghost is.”

I showed them the yearbook and explained how we’d found it. “She warned us about the demon, and now she wants to tell us more.”

“Why haven’t we looked into her before?” Lucas asked.

“Wait… Mandy and I did look into an Astrology professor,” Grant said. “We were researching traumatic deaths that happened around the same time as the wand shop owner died. But this one was a heart attack. She died of natural causes.”

“Or that’s what the demon wanted people to think,” Miles pointed out.

“Let’s find out what really happened,” I said.

We started up the twisted staircase that led to the highest turret in the mansion. Miles opened the door at the top, and we entered into the expansive astrology classroom. It was cold up here, and I shivered a bit. Lucas noticed and wrapped me in his arms.

Miles took a cautious step forward. “She’s here. I can feel her. Angelica? Professor Stratton? It’s me, Miles. We’ve spoken before.”

A slight breeze swept through the room, rustling my hair. Miles spun around, searching for the ghost. “I get the sense she wants to talk, but I can’t see her.”

“Maybe we need to help draw her out,” Lucas suggested.

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