Page 17 of Spelled By Truth and Tresses

He swallowed audibly. “I broke the connection.” Jax gripped my face between his palms. “I…You weren’t ready to see that,” he uttered, tripping over his words. “It was in your subconscious for a reason, pet.”

“Why do I have a memory of you, Jax?” I demanded and stomped my foot.

His mouth twisted. “I shouldn’t have done that. It was too soon. You aren’t ready to accept the truth.” He replied with a sobering gaze.

I stood and brushed dust and ash from my clothes. “This can’t be real.” No. I won’t accept it. Resolve coated my spine with an iron defiance. I tried to calm my racing heart. I laughed, but there was no humor in it.

“Stay the hell away from me!” I grabbed my bag, flung it over my shoulder, and bolted down the stairs.

I tripped over grave stones as I fled through the meadow and over to the trees. The storm brewed above and followed me. I pushed my body harder, my quads screaming as I quickened my pace, as thick raindrops fell from the sky.

The following afternoon Lalita caught up with me at lunch. “Hey, L!”

I hugged her tightly. “Hey.”

“How did the exam go?”

“Bad. It doesn’t matter, it was just a pop quiz. Anyway,

You seem in better spirits today. Did someone sage your personality?” She teased.

“I just had a good night. That’s all.”

Thomas skulked out of the shadows cast by the stone arch leading to the administration building. “Hi, Ness.”

Ness? I looked between them.

She beamed at him. “Hey, Thomas”

Thomas? Since when were they on a first name basis?

“Where were you during Fighting Compulsion?” He asked.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “I was called away. A professor needed clarification on one of my assignments.”

“Oh, cool.”

I couldn’t stand the awkwardness for another second. “We should get going,” I told Lalita, giving her a look.

Lalita and I walked home. “I’m worried about Eleanore,” I told her. “She’s been doing so much.”

Lalita gave me an ‘Mmhmm’ and looked down the stone path as we strolled through the campus grounds to the dorm. She seemed distracted.

I probed her about the history of Crimson Leaf. She knew more than anyone—except perhaps for Eleanore. “Do you know anything about witch trials or something along those lines in this town?”

She looked up at me.

“Oh. Uh, yeah, lots happened here, but there isn’t much documentation about it. From what I’ve read, they executed the first person in Connecticut for witchcraft here. There was an entire coven that was massacred. They called themselves the Black Lily. The people in this town killed everyone inside some tower nearby where the coven practiced. Even children. I don’t know where it is, though.”

My thoughts drifted to the very tower she spoke of, much closer than she probably thought. As much as I loathed to even think about it, Jax and I needed a subject to study for our group project, and the mystery surrounding the tower was too intriguing to resist. “Can you tell me more?”

“That’s all I really know, but you could look in the library on campus.”

“Thanks.”

“This is me.” She said and hugged me. “See you tomorrow?”

I nodded.

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