Page 26 of Spelled By Truth and Tresses

She didn’t faze him—or he didn’t show it if she did. “I did nothing she didn’t ask for. Perhaps I know the person she is now better than you.” Jax took a step closer, then glared down at Lalita. “I see you on your high horse, judging everyone with even an ounce of phantom blood,” Jax sneered.

Lalita scoffed. “It has nothing to do with magic, you prick. You’re the one who picks fights and is an asshole to your flings.”

Her comment seemed to throw him off a little. “Zellie and I are paired together for a group project, not romance.”

She scoffed. “Oh please. You’re just trying to get in her pants because she’s vulnerable now.”

I couldn’t dislodge the lump in my throat. I’d had enough of it. “You know what—screw you both. I’m not doing this.”

“Wait, Zellie,” Lalita ordered.

I stood. “I don’t need this.”

Lalita calmed down quickly. “Don’t go. He can go.”

I looked between them both. Jax hadn’t even bothered. It could have been the dream version of Jax or whatever wacky thing we called it. I felt ridiculous and to find out that my best friend thought I was a train wreck on top of it all.

“I’m going to eat alone.”

I packed up my lunch and headed away from the benches, and bumped right into Jayde and Amara. Just what I needed. I looked up at the sky. What had I done that was so bad in a previous life to deserve this?

“I see Jax has downgraded to trash.”

I shrugged my way past them. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, and besides, I’d call it upgrading if there was anything going on. Which there isn’t.”

“No? That he broke up with Amara…” Jayde said sourly. “For you.”

Amara placed her hand on her bony hip. “You don’t know Jax. Trust me, he’s just going to use you.”

“Broke up with her?” I laughed, then turned narrowed eyes on Amara. “You can’t break up with someone you weren’t even dating. I tapped a black painted fingernail on my chin. “Oh, I see. You’re jealous.”

“Jealous, “Amara laughed. “of some nobody who dropped out of school without so much as a goodbye, takes pills like they’re candy, and has easily put on ten pounds over the summer.”

“Get out of my way. I don’t need this today.”

“Aww, she’s going to cry,” said Jayde.

I was getting a headache. “This is ridiculous. Move.”

Amara took a step toward me. “Or what, you’ll get your daddy to talk to mine like you used too… oh, wait.”

Anger rushed through me like hot lava. Everything was spinning. I just wanted them out of the way. “I said fucking move.”

The ground beneath our feet trembled, softly at first but quickly gaining intensity. Jayde got out of the way in time, but Amara didn’t. The windows on the building across from us smashed outward. Wave after wave of pure, dark power left my body in waves—and I didn’t want to stop it. I craved the destruction my powers would bring.

I glared at Amara as my limbs trembled as all the fury and rage I kept leashed for months boiled in my veins. That bitch just had to bring up my dad. I’ve had enough.

My lips curled as I grinned, then cut the last thread within me, holding my magic at bay.

Gray dust clouded the air and covered my black sweater. The buildings around us came tumbling down. Extensive areas of the building trembled, then fell. One student pulled another to safety, and I felt myself being dragged back as I watched Amara’s skull pop from my magic, funneling forcibly into her body. Blood splattered around us but was quickly coated with dust.

I snapped out of my trance and froze, unable to move or speak as I watched the horror unfold in front of me. Jax rushed to my side. “What happened?” He pulled me back further, to avoid any leftover falling debris. Students hurried away, but Jayde remained, rooted to spot, looking at me with the deep hatred I now deserved.

I shook my head in disbelief. I didn’t know what to say. “Go.” He ordered, and I did. He hurried to help move the bricks off Amara, but I knew it was too late. I saw her eyes go blank. Jagged lines crack across her face as her skull fractured, then exploded in a spray of brain matter and blood.

Sirens wailed, and paramedics ran into the academy. Everything moved in slow-motion. They’d covered me in a scratchy blanket, but it didn’t stop the shaking.

Students cried, holding each other. They were saying it was a mini-earthquake—but no one knew I’d caused it.

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