Page 70 of The Cursed Fae

“Huh?” I shook my head. “Um, no. But that’s good to know. It’s about that message you dropped off the other night.”

Astrid frowned. “I’m sorry, what message?”

“The note you gave Tina for me.” I watched her closely for a reaction.

The lines around her mouth deepened. “I didn’t give her anything. The she-devil must’ve been confused.”

Morgan returned with her water and a piece of chocolate cake, so I let the subject drop, unsure whether to believe Astrid. Did Tina say she saw Astrid? I needed to talk to my roommate again.

On the way back to my room after lunch, I caught my first glimpse of Archer since our kiss. He gave me that head nod guys used in greeting. In fairness, he was walking with two of his friends. It was one of the few times I’d seen him socializing, so I kept a blank expression as we passed.

“Stop avoiding me,” he muttered as we brushed past each other. “Meet me at our spot tomorrow night. I need to talk to you.”

Those words never preceded a pleasant conversation.

He didn’t wait for my response, which was for the best. I had no clue what to say. My man problems would have to be scheduled for later in the week—I had enough going on.

Instead of meeting Laz in the astrology attic for our independent study, he texted me a room number in Alchemy Hall. The building housed the tonic-brewing and potions-making labs. Since my schedule didn’t include classes in those areas, it was my first visit there.

“I’m guessing you picked out a spell?” I asked when I finally found the lab he’d reserved. Laz removed glass jars and vials from a cabinet like the ones that held beakers and test tubes in normal schools.

“I did,” Laz confirmed. “It requires a ton of power, but the lead up is all about precision.” He turned back to look at me. “It’s more difficult than others, but we should be able to pull it off together.”

The grimoire was open to a page with directions for thinning the veil between the spirit world and ours, which Laz explained would make it easier for ghosts to hear us. I called out the list of ingredients and checked it against the collection of vials Laz added to our worktable.

“Okay, I’ll read the instructions. You mix,” he declared once we had everything we needed.

“Shouldn’t it be the other way around? This is practice for you, not me,” I pointed out.

Laz flashed me a grin. “True. But you’re the Sable. As you mentioned, spiriting sighting runs in your blood. If you do the prep work, we have a better chance of succeeding.”

I pursed my lips. “What about the actual initiation? Won’t you have to do it by yourself for the elders?”

“Well, yeah. The summoning spell. We do this part ahead of time. We’re allowed help with preparations, like having a sous chef.” He sounded easy-breezy about the whole thing, while I thought his claims ran dangerously close to cheating territory.

Laz bumped me with his hip playfully. “Let’s do the practice run, and we can worry about the main event afterwards. If I can’t do the spell with your help, there’s no way I’m attempting it for the council.”

I sighed. “Okay, tell me what to do.”

I’d thought this part would be similar to baking, though with less formal units of measurement, like pinches and dashes. It wasn’t. Instead of love being the special ingredient, it required my magic. Every herb I touched absorbed a bit of my powers. Laz coached me in the right words to say as I mixed root powder with some potent tiny green flowers. It surprised me how quickly I began sweating.

By the time I added a pinkie nail scoop of ground-up dandelion, my leg muscles had turned to the consistency of hot jam. Laz caught me when I swayed and helped me to a stool. He hurried from the room, returning with a pastry. It was supposed to be cherry-filled, according to the package, though I devoured it so fast I barely noticed the fake fruit flavoring.

“Better?” he asked as I, embarrassingly, licked crumbs from my fingers.

I blushed and nodded, since I didn’t want to add talking with my mouth full to my list of charming qualities.

“I think we’re done for now,” he announced. “Thank you for helping me. Let’s get you back to your room.”

My energy remained low the rest of the evening. Despite my homework backlog, I made the poor decision to study in my bed. I fell asleep with all the lights on, spooning a textbook. Extremely uncomfortable. I thought that was the reason I jolted awake at 3:29 a.m. Then I noticed the big brown irises staring down at me, a triumphant smile on Missy’s face.

“Oh, good. It worked this time. You were sleeping like the dead,” she said.

“What’re you doing here, Missy?” I whispered, rubbing sleep from my eyes. A quick check in Tina’s direction told me she was sound asleep.

“How was your trip to the cove?” She sat down on the edge of my bed and pulled at the duvet cover. “Pretty. Not my first choice, but nice.”

“Sorry. I’m riding the struggle bus today. The meeting with Ray didn’t happen,” I admitted. “Apparently he’s shy. Don’t worry, I am working on a ghost summoning spell now. I’ll try again when it’s ready.”

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