Page 98 of The Cursed Fae

“Shit.” I waved the summons and glanced over my shoulder at Laz. “Your father wants to see me.”

Chapter thirty-three

Ratted Out by a Paperweight

Chancellor Keene’s expression was grave when I arrived in his office, which was a lot like his normal face, but with a few more lines around his mouth. With his hands folded on his desk, he could’ve been a statue that blinked every so often. He broke the effect when he gestured to the chair across from him without speaking.

I sat, my back straight and muscles tensed, wondering what I’d done to land myself in his office.

“Winter, do you know why I asked to see you?”

That was never a good opening. Mom had the same penchant for starting a conversation with an open-ended question designed to make me divulge my sins. I wasn’t that stupid. And, in this case, I really had no clue why he summoned me.

“No, sir,” I said politely.

The chancellor nodded as though he’d suspected as much. “Are you aware of the reason we went into lockdown today?”

Again with the self-incriminating questions.

I shook my head. “No, sir.”

He eyed me suspiciously. “You were practicing shielding spells earlier—is that right?”

I shifted in my seat, shoving my hands beneath my legs so I’d stop picking at my nails. “Um, yes, sir. I was trying to shield a textbook but failed.”

Where is this going?

A heavy silence fell over the chancellor’s office, the space between us thick with tension. Clearly, I was in trouble. Maybe my teachers had told the headmaster that I was an abysmal student, which would be fair. I’d been distracted since setting foot on campus.

“That’s not true,” Chancellor Keene said at last. “You were quite successful. In fact, your spell put a shield around the entire university.” His gaze studied my face, as if waiting for me to admit I did this on purpose.

My eyes widened as my mouth dropped open. I didn’t know what to say. The timing of everything had seemed a little weird. The magic had swelled inside of me, like a balloon expanding to the point of almost popping. That’s when I’d forced all that power toward Laz and the book. Still… the entire school? Was that even possible?

“An alarm here,” he gestured to a clear glass orb that I’d thought was a paperweight on his desk, “alerted me that someone cast a spell over us. It changes colors depending on the type of magic detected. Only a powerful, large event would register. Normally, this would indicate an attack from the outside. Once I realized it came from inside the school, I started investigating the source.”

I sat up straighter and clasped my sweaty hands in my lap. “I’m so sorry, sir. It was an accident, I swear,” I said in a high-pitched voice that I didn’t recognize as my own. If the words hadn’t left my mouth, I might’ve thought someone else snuck into the room.

Chancellor Keene waved off the apology. “You’re not in trouble, Winter,” he started, though his tone suggested a caveat was coming. “I do have to contact your mother, as I’m sure you understand. I believe it was accidental, but you used an incredible amount of magic for a novice. Colleen needs to be aware of the incident. Professor Canterwald is going to keep a tighter eye on you, including lessons with her. This isn’t a punishment.”

Yeah, Mom always says that too, I thought wryly.

“Spells of that magnitude are draining. You seem to be fine this time. If it happens again, you might not be so lucky. You must hone your magic and focus your power to prevent incidents such as this in the future.”

I swallowed over the lump in my throat, wanting to cry. Not because I had accidentally performed a spell that landed me in the hot seat with Chancellor Keene, though. It wasn’t the first time I’d been called before a school administrator. It was the prospect of more lessons on top of everything else that inspired the waterworks. Staring at my lap, I blinked the tears away.

“Go back to your dorm, Winter. I will lift the lockdown shortly.”

I stood, pausing briefly to say, “I am so sorry for all the trouble. It won’t happen again.”

His smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Let’s see that it doesn’t.”

On the walk to my room, I was too shocked to process everything. Yesterday it took all my concentration just to hide a freaking marble. Now I had suddenly thrown a magical shield over our entire school.

How much power did that require? I wasn’t exhausted or depleted. Even my sugar cravings hadn’t kicked in. It made no sense that my measly little spell sent the whole university into lockdown.

For whatever reason, Chancellor Keene left the restrictions in place into the evening. Being stuck inside my room with Tina was not ideal. I really wanted to touch base with Missy, and I needed to talk to Lena, but couldn’t do either with my roommate around.

I settled for texting with my best friend. She seemed to be her normal self, but it wasn’t like there was a tactful way to ask if she’d switched to an all-liquid diet. Between messages, I tried to catch up on reading for my classes.

---