Page 85 of The Spell Caster

Costi looked back at me over his shoulder. His eyes were like a bank of storm clouds, sad and distant. It wasn’t any threat from the guardians that was keeping him in line. They had me. Calamus’s circle wasn’t nearly as good a trap.

Daire turned to me. “Walk with me, please, Layla.”

The guardians escorted Costi through the Circle, with Daire and me following, creating a spectacle that made me want to turn inside out. We’d done nothing wrong. Witches who committed actual crimes weren’t even treated like this.

Daire led us to a smaller building next to the barracks. A hasty sign had been affixed to the bricks—Security Headquarters. Down a short hallway, she paused in front of a door.

“Take him to the holding cell,” she told the two guardians.

Costi locked eyes with me. “Call Diana,” he said. Diana Blackthorn—the woman who fostered him for ten years after he’d… arrived. I nodded, my eyes filling with tears. “Be good, Layla,” he told me as they pulled him away.

I forced my head up and clamped down my feelings. I wouldn’t break in front of Daire.

The room she ushered me into seemed to be her personal quarters. She showed me to a guest bedroom with an attached bathroom.

“You’ll stay in here,” she told me. “I’ll be working out there. The windows are secured. I’ll know if you get up to any shenanigans.”

“I won’t,” I promised. I guessed she didn’t consider me much of a threat.

“Your mom doesn’t deserve this. I’ll talk to her and Councilor Grey, see if we can get you out of here.”

When I said nothing, Daire sighed. “I don’t know what to think about this demon nonsense.” She turned a shrewd eye on me. “Blackthorn’s a terror, but you are a good kid. This is why you’re supposed to keep away from the Troubled.” She nodded to me and closed the door. I heard something rattle into place on the other side—she’d locked me in.

I stared numbly at where she’d disappeared from. The feelings I’d been suppressing slammed back into me with a vengeance. I started to shake violently, holding my hands desperately over my mouth to stifle the sounds of my uncontrolled sobbing.

How? How could this happen? He hadn’t known. No one had known. And I loved—

I took a shuddering breath, stopping myself. That line of thought had to end immediately. We’d just gone from absolutely not allowed to astronomically complicated. I wished I could talk to Costi about it, but his advice would probably amount to “Shut up and kiss me,” so…

I had to get a hold of myself and help my… my friend. I dragged myself to the bathroom and washed my face. They’d taken Costi’s phone but not mine. The battery was languishing at half empty since I’d been out most of the day, and I didn’t have a charger, but it was better than nothing.

I pulled up Diana’s contact info and hit Call, hoping she hadn’t changed her number.

“Layla, sweetie!” Her rough voice came through the speaker. “Everything okay?”

“Not really. Are you at the Mountain Circle?”

“Yeah, I’m… Hang on, I gotta get somewhere where I can hear you better.” There was a rustle, voices in the background. “I’m here. What’s wrong, baby? How’s the boy? I haven’t heard from him in a while.”

“I’m calling about him,” I said.

“Fate, what’s he done now?”

I blew out a breath. “This is hard to know how to tell you.”

“He get you pregnant? Always knew he had a thing for you—”

“What? No!” Fate, how long had Costi had a thing for me? “It’s… How much do you know about where he came from?”

Diana made a humming sound. “Unfortunately, not much, honey. They found him on the playground right after that bad attack in Greece. Couldn’t speak a word of English, but they were afraid to bring in a translator from outside in case he talked about witch stuff. We just put him in school, and he picked it up well enough.”

“Did he say anything later? Remember anything?”

“He remembers quite a bit from… before. You should ask him. What’s this all about, Layla?”

“You know he’s different,” I said.

“He’s had his challenges,” Diana said defensively. I warmed at her protectiveness toward him.

---