Page 77 of Monster's Delight

“Who?” Hazel frowned. “Is that a teacher?”

“No, the tiny old man librarian. Fluffy white hair? Tiny glasses on the end of his nose?” I wasn’t surprised she didn’t know who he was. She avoided the library unless I was dragging her. “You know that he’s been here a while, and would he know anything about a spell that looks like this?” I gestured at our creation.

“Okaaaay.” Hazel studied the spell for a second. “Ivy and bitterroot? What are you up to, Siobhan?”

“It’s better you don’t know. Go now, we’re almost ready,” I urged her.

“You’ll explain everything after this is all over?” Hazel said, one hand on the stair railing.

“Of course,” I promised, placing a bitterroot perpendicular to the ivy, precisely six inches from the next one.

Aiden followed behind me, putting a grain of ground Man o’ War jellyfish at the intersection of the plants. “I know that the jellyfish only sting if they’re alive, but I swear it feels like my fingertips are tingling just from touching its ashes.”

“Must be a placebo effect, where your mind is expecting something to happen even if it doesn’t.” I smiled at him. “You know you could always magic the grains out.”

“You look like you have everything well in hand here,” Professor Dunlop said, closing the main office door behind him. “Do you need me to do anything?”

“Yes, actually. I need you to—” I stopped abruptly. “Do you hear that?”

It sounded like an alarm, coming from far away. As we listened, the sound got closer, until I realized that it was wailing.

“Nooooooooooooo!” Mr. Brecken was half-running, half-hobbling up the stairs, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Have you done it yet? Ms. Doyle, you don’t know what you’re doing!”

Showtime.

I fixed a stoney expression on my face. “Exactly what is it that you think I’m doing, Mister Brecken?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Trying to break your soul bond! Don’t do it! You’ll kill him!” Now that he’d reached us, he seemed to have lost all physical capabilities, sinking to his knees with his cane on the floor beside him.

“How on Earth could you possibly know that I’ll kill him?” I asked, crossing my arms. “This spell was created by my grandfather. Are you saying that he wouldn’t have thought of every eventuality?”

“But he didn’t!” Mr. Brecken sobbed. “Something didn’t work the way it was supposed to! And lovely Bridgetdied! Declan was heartbroken!”

“I thought you told me that he was draining her of her magic. Why should I believe you now?” I sneered.

His eyes red-rimmed, he looked up at me beseechingly from the floor. Suddenly, I knew that he wasn’t the cause of Bridget’s death.

“You were in love with her too,” I said softly.

“She was never meant for me,” Mr. Brecken said, shaking his head. “I loved her from afar, and that was enough. But she was dying. Her family wouldn’t let her be with her soulmate. I had to do something. So I helped them build the spell.” He gulped back a sob. “Something went wrong, but I have no idea what it was.” He grabbed me around my knees. “Please, don’t do this. If you’re serious about needing to cut your soul bond, please, let’s bring the spell to your professors. See if we can fix what went wrong before you attempt it again.”

I looked across the hall at Aiden and shook my head slightly. He relaxed.

“I don’t want to break the soul bond between Aiden and I,” I told the librarian.

He released me and sat back on his heels, mouth agape. “Then what are you doing? Your roommate came to find me, she said... She said...”

“I know what she said.” I winced sympathetically at Hazel as she reached the top of the stairs. “Sorry about that. We’re trying to solve Bridget’s murder, and your handwriting was on the spell. Who else knew about this?”

Mr. Brecken put his hands over his mouth, shaking his head violently from side to side, eyes wide. “Nobody else knew. We worked on it in secret!”

“Actually,” put in Professor Dunlop, stepping closer to us. “I knew they were up to something. Was it possible that another friend was also somewhat aware of the situation? Anyone who came to the island that day that normally didn’t?”

“You were Declan’s best friend,” Aiden said slowly. “Who was Grandmother’s?”

I bit back a gasp, waiting eagerly for the answer.

“That would be Victoria, her roommate,” Professor Dunlop said slowly. “They did everything together.”

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