Page 114 of Every Shade of Shadow

Ava’s eyebrows knit together. “It was a crystal orb, an expensive one, and I was only trying to read it, thank you very much. It’s a lot more difficult than it looks. How was I supposed to know it was going to catch alight?”

I sit up. “It caught fire?”

Ava nods. “The only casualty was the carpet, but my parents weren’t exactly pleased about it.”

“But you’re pretty talented in scrying now, right?”

Ava gives a light shrug. “Break some eggs, make an omelet—you know how it goes. I was only sixteen back then. I wasn’t really prepared.”

“Who is?” comes a new voice.

We all turn to find Cassandra standing there, platform heel pumps making her unnaturally tall.

“All you bitches are gathered here. Good.”

She looks at me and away just as quickly.

She remembers alright.

Lily goes to stand, but Cassandra puts a hand up. “Calm your tits. I’m not here looking for a fight.”

“Funny way to enter a room then,” Ava grumbles.

“What do you want, Cassandra?” I ask, keeping my voice as normal as possible given, you know, Darkwood had her petrified and forced her to watch all manner of unspeakable acts between us.

“To open your fucking eyes,” she groans, leaning into the act and closing the gap between us. “Or rather, their eyes,” she says, eyes darting between Ava and Lily. “Because of all the people in this room, you know best what I’m talking about.”

“Do I?” I say, surprise creeping into my voice. “Because I’m not sure I have any idea what you’re on about.”

“Darkwood,” she says simply, her gaze locked with mine. “He’s behind all of this.”

Ballsy, I’ll give her that. She clearly has a short memory.

Lily gets out of her chair and walks towards Cassandra. “Whoa, whoa, that’s quite the accusation. You have proof, of course?”

“Here,” Cassandra claims, setting her cell phone down on the table. “I put a bug in the professors’ lounge last week.

“You did what?” Ava says, getting up from her position at the fireplace to join us. “How did you even get a bug?”

Cassandra shrugs. “Nineteen ninety-nine off Amazon, but that’s beside the point. I figured if anyone was going to talk, it would be there, right? And I struck gold. Seems Professor Jameson and Professor Howard are a lot more vocal when they think no one’s listening.”

She swipes her index finger across the screen, the common room falling silent.

“None of it bodes well for Lumina, does it?” Ms. Howard’s voice is the first I hear. She’s the younger of the two—not more than thirty with a strange proclivity for hair accessories.

“The Academy’s name has been through the mud before. It survived then. It will survive now. But it’s not the Academy’s reputation that concerns me,” Mrs. Jameson shares her opinion.

“You’re not concerned with the good name of your workplace? Because I am.”

“The good name of Lumina is a secondary concern. My primary concern is the common denominator between the last time something like this happened and now. Damien.”

A scoff. “You really think he was behind that spree back in sixteen?”

“I don’t know, but he’s the only one from that faculty still working here, isn’t he? Besides Yours Truly. The rest of them either quit or were removed. And that’s not taking into account his little sabbatical afterwards.”

Cassandra hits the screen of her phone to pause the recording. “Here’s another conversation between those two muff-munchers, after murder two.” She swipes her finger across the screen.

“You must report this, Nora.” There’s panic in Ms. Howard’s usually calm, fruity voice. “There’s nothing for it.”

---