Page 20 of Entranced By the Basilisks

Adder blinks, as if thrown, but Ari’s grin is wide.

“Now that we are all on a first-name basis—she can call you Jasper, can’t she? It seems rather impersonal to have her call you an honorific—what happened when you opened the book? There was only a protection charm on the box, from what I remember.”

Adder glares at Ari, but I’m spared his ire. I focus on answering the question.

“Uh, there was a weird heat and whispers and then…” Unthinkingly, my hand goes to my hair and one of the hidden serpents bumps against it. “And now I can turn people to stone with my gaze.”

Ari’s and Adder’s brows shoot up when one of the snakes hisses. I’d described the snakes for hair to Adder—to Jasper—but I guess experiencing something is different than having it verbally recounted.

“You’re wearing a glamour?” Ari asks.

I nod and swallow before unclasping the necklace glamour. As soon as the clasp is free, the glamour falls away. I cringe at the swaying snakes taking the place of the glossy waves of my hair.

All the cheerfulness and curiosity drop from Ari’s posture and his face slackens. The nerves absent before hit me now and my throat tightens until his next words.

“Dear Goddess,” Ari says. The awe suffusing the words gives the statement an air of worship that makes me uncomfortable, but I almost choke on the odd relief surging in me.

“You know what this is?” Jasper asks, also seemingly unable to take his eyes off the snakes.

Ari’s teeth click when he closes his mouth.

“You don’t know about Chosen?” Ari asks Jasper. The look he gives the director is sharp, inquisitive.

There’s a pause as Jasper leans back. His brow furrows in thought as his eyes travel over me.

“I’ve heard of Chosen,” Jasper hedges with a frown. “But I didn’t know it came in this sort of variation.”

“Not in a very long time,” Ari murmurs as if lost in thought.

“You know what this is?” I ask. “You know how to make it go away?”

My question snaps Ari out of whatever has given him that faraway look. “Make it go away?”

“Yeah, break the curse?” I ask, my laugh soft but high. “It’s a little hard to go about my life with snakes for hair and turning people to stone.”

Ari leans back and chews his lip. “Well, that’s your first problem. It’s not a curse. It’s a blessing from the Goddess.”

“Uh, what?” I blink.

“She’s bestowed powers to you that have been unheard of for decades.”

I open and close my mouth, almost expecting Jasper to continue the conversation, but the director is frozen next to me.

“From opening a book?” I ask. “That seems extreme.”

“I don’t know if it has much of anything to do with the book,” Ari murmurs as if to himself, his brows creased. “I handled it, gave it to Jasper, and he gave it to you? Correct?”

“Yes,” Jasper answers for me. “I took it directly to her office and she was the first to touch it.”

“How curious…” Ari is back to murmuring.

“Ari,” Jasper says to get him back on topic. “What is this book and where did you get it?”

Ari shrugs.

“It’s a copy of our book of worship. It’s been a part of my collection for decades. I got it from an old serpent kin after her death in the equivalent of an estate sale.” His long fingers splay with his words. “There’s no reason it would cause this unless the Goddess took a special interest in Emilia.”

“Why would she take a special interest in me?” I ask.

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