Page 13 of The Spell Caster

“Why does she hate me?” I asked through a tight throat.

Costi rubbed at the back of his neck. “I don’t know what her problem is these days,” he said, looking away. “She’s… got some ideas about how things should be.”

Well, that cleared up exactly nothing. “What do you mean?”

Costi dropped onto the second bed, putting his elbow over his eyes. “Everyone’s got all these ideas. They don’t mean a damn thing.”

He didn’t explain further.

After a moment, I said, “Costi, thank you.”

He let his arm fall and turned slightly so he could catch my gaze. “Hm?”

“You… you kept me alive. Fought for me. Stopped Councilor Luna from asking about my magic. Got me out of there. Thank you.”

He paused a moment. “You never treated me like I was Troubled. I’d fight angels for you any time.”

***

I thought I wouldn’t be able to sleep, but the stress and messed-up schedule caught up to me. I slept through the rest of the day, only waking to eat the pizza Costi had ordered, then slept through most of the night as well. We left early—as soon as the car was available.

I was feeling much better as Costi began to navigate the city streets like he was a born outsider. I vibrated with excitement in my seat, restrained by the safety belt. “Does it go faster?”

He gave a downright evil-sounding chuckle. “Just wait ’til we get on the highway,” he promised ominously.

It turned out the car went a lot faster. Costi smirked as he punched the pedal all the way down and I shrieked in terrified delight.

I watched the scenery fly past as we drove. Forests, bridges, cities full of buildings—I hadn’t ever really considered how people on the outside lived or just how many of them there were. Far more than witches, and almost none of them aware of us or the war. It was strange to think that the thing I had dedicated my whole life to just didn’t exist to them. They just lived.

Out here, my problems felt distant.

We would be driving for quite a while, so I slipped off my shoes and drew my legs up onto the seat. “What’s it like outside?”

Costi steered with his good arm, tapping his pointer finger on the wheel. “Different.”

I turned my head to hide a smile at his very Costi-like short response. “You went all around during training.” Guardians had an intense four-year course after they graduated from school.

“Yeah,” he said. “Mostly following up on reports and tracking down nests. A few times I went out with teams to watch an extermination.”

So that had been his first time fighting angels too. “How do you think they found us?”

“Don’t know, but that was more than some random angels following a guardian team back to the Circle.”

He was right. The attack had been coordinated. Deliberate.

“But how? They’re just… creatures.” Everything we had been taught suggested the angels were mindless, without thoughts or emotions. Incredibly dangerous and virtually indestructible, but more akin to animals than humans. Ancient witch myths about the war between good and evil were one thing, but in the real world, angels did not pick up weapons and mount an organized offensive.

“Don’t know that either, but we better figure it out fast.”

The world outside the car passed quietly.

“You’ve been okay?” Costi interrupted my churning thoughts. “After I graduated and went into training, I mean. You didn’t mention anyone giving you trouble.”

“I was fine, just… lonely.” When we were younger, some of the witch kids would pick on me when Costi wasn’t around. I tried to keep it from him—I knew he would confront them, and he was already marked as Troubled. But he always knew. “I missed you.” And Holly, I thought with a pang.

“Me too,” he said gruffly. Costi ran his hand along the steering wheel. “It’s been hard to get away.”

I frowned. “The guardians don’t give you any free time?”

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