Page 242 of Castings & Curses

“So, she’s like me then?” Enid asked, and I glanced at her white-streaked hair and pale lavender eyes thoughtfully.

Mabe was like her polar opposite, and not just in looks. To me, Enid was airy and light. A little ethereal, truth be told, where Mabe was intense and a little dark.

Yeah, those two were definitely not the same.

“No. She’s something I thought had been eradicated, and the conservationist in me is sort of glad she wasn’t. Mabe is a blood witch—”

A round of growls and gasps made their way around the table, and I waited for everyone to settle before continuing. Mabe’s nervous energy reached out toward me, but I slapped it gently away.

“For some reason, when she was emotional, her magic reached for mine. I’m not sure why just yet, but I’ve been thinking it has something to do with a relationship between earth and blood magic.”

“A blood witch? For real?” Maia whispered the words like they were a curse.

Mabe winced, and I immediately felt bad for her. She was our age, early twenties, but this would put a target on her back.

Maybe they were not aware.

Maybe I had to tell them.

“This knowledge is dangerous, and yet, she trusted me with it, knowing telling you was the only way I would say what I am about to say next. Mabe is supposed to be here in 563W. She’s been staying in—another room.”

One look at her and I knew she did not want me to say, so biting my tongue, I continued.

“I vote she moves in right away. We can watch her here, and with Arlo’s help, we can make sure she is never driven to siphoning blood or magic from anyone out of desperation,” I said.

“I’m sorry, I know I am new to all this, but what’s the big deal about a blood witch?” Enid asked.

Everyone quieted down, and I swallowed hard, trying to think of something to tell Enid that wouldn’t scare her. But someone else beat me to it.

“Blood witches were hunted for hundreds of years, thought to be the scourge of all magic. I know Enok worked with you on this and you know that magic is finite, but what that means is there is always a fixed amount in the universe at any given time. When a blood witch uses magic, it does not return to the ether, it gets completely absorbed by them. They’re dangerous to us all,” Tana said, but before I could refute her claim, she continued. My fiery roommate wasn’t done yet.

“But that’s what we’ve been taught. It was how the Council justified the assassination of the last known blood witch some years before the Second Witch Wars. Brandon and I’ve been reading through a lot of the old annals. A witch named Marjorie Benoit was put to death, in 1934 I think, for being an undocumented blood witch. They released a statement claiming she was responsible for siphoning magic from an entire town in the French countryside, but that was what the old Council reported. Who knows what really happened?”

“What are you saying?” Mabe asked quietly.

“I’m sayingstay.”

“What?”

I felt Mabe’s confusion as I watched a wide grin spread across Tana’s face. The fire witch wasn’t a fan of Mabe’s before, but maybe she saw the same thing I did. Something was going on in the magical world and the more people,the more witches, we had on our side to figure it out, the better.

“I second that motion,” Rio said immediately, and by the end of the vote it was unanimous.

“I’ll go get my stuff,” Mabe said after the tea and cookies were finished.

“I’ll come with,” Enid told her, and the two left while Arlo helped me load the dishwasher.

“That went well,” he said, adding a tiny cleaning pod to the plastic dispenser.

“I know, right? I’m shocked,” I replied, putting away the glass jars I’d taken out of the cabinet, holding my special tea blends.

“Why? Are your friends usually difficult or something?”

“No, it’s not that. They’re great. Really powerful witches with promising futures and amazing pasts. I’m lucky to know them, but I just don’t have that, um,you know.”

“Enlighten me,” he said, amusement dancing in his emerald eyes.

“I’m just not like them. I don’t lead or make decisions for us as a whole. Look, now that you know what we do about what’s going on now, with magic and all, it’s not a secret. Tana, Rio, Maia, and likely Mabe and Enid, all have important roles to play in this.”

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