Page 79 of Monster's Delight

“You little idiot!” Ms. Carlisle screamed, and I jumped. She was suddenly right beside me. “You could have killed him!”

“The spell is exact,” I said in a monotone.

“He’s chewing mint gum! The spell would have exploded within him!” Ms. Carlisle shouted.

“That shouldn’t have any effect,” I said. “It’s not part of the spell.”

“That doesn’t matter!” My academic advisor began to pace in front of me. I had never been scared of vampires, but watching her slowly evolve into one was nerve-wracking. Her skin drew thin over her cheekbones, eyes sank and became bloodshot, her teeth elongated and sharpened. “Any mint anywhere near a disjunction spell will disrupt it. Violently!”

“How do you know that?” I scoffed, disbelieving.

“Because that’s how I killed my best friend!”

My eyes widened. She must not have been paying attention to what she was saying, to be so forthright with all of us listening.

“Did you know that was going to happen?” I asked softly.

“Do you think I’m an idiot? I wrote my thesis on disjunction magic! Of course I knew.” Her pacing grew wilder, her hair becoming lank, fingernails growing to an obscene length. “Perfect little Bridget with her perfect life. She gotmyjob, you know. I deserved it. She got the manIwanted. And when she wasn’t allowed to keep him, she married someone else. But Declan was still hers. They saw each other all the time. She was stillin lovewith him. She got to have a baby and a life and...” Ms. Carlisle broke off suddenly, as if she was aware of what she was saying. She looked around, spotting Professor Dunlop staring at her, mouth agape with disgust.

“You!” she screamed, and threw herself at him. “You kept my Declan from me!” She started blasting him with spells that he was barely able to block.

I ran to Aiden and he curled his arms protectively around me. “Are you okay?” I asked.

“I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting any of this.” He gestured with one arm. “It’s nice to have an answer that makes sense, though.”

“Declan was never yours!”Professor Dunlop shouted above the cacophony of spells echoing through the chamber. “Stop this at once, Victoria. You could hurt the students.”

“The students?” She stopped attacking as abruptly as she had started and turned to them with a devious grin on her face. “The descendents of my dearest friends... My most hated enemies. You shall pay!”

Ms. Carlisle started the incantation, power swirling around her.

I was frozen in fear, clinging to Aiden. “What do we do?” I whispered to him.

“Let the spell drain her,” he replied calmly, giving me a light squeeze. “You know it won’t do anything to us.”

I buried my face in his chest, not wanting to watch her face twisted with anger and hatred.

How could she hate her best friend this much?

“Why did you do it?” I whispered, not that she heard me. The spell was reaching the last few words, and she was screaming them violently through the rushing of power.

The spell was thrown at us. I could feel the power brush against my skin. And then it withered into nothing.

Aiden’s heart was still beating next to my ear, a comforting sound and one I latched onto. I swallowed hard, and faced my advisor.

Ms. Carlisle was on her knees on the floor, head bowed, looking defeated.

I stepped toward her, hand out in supplication. “Why did you want to kill your best friend?” I asked. I knew she heard me this time, because her hands, palms up on her knees, twitched.

“She had everything I wanted,” she rasped.

“That’s so sad,” I said, taking another step closer. “Did you have a better life without her?”

“No.”

“Siobhan,” Aiden said warningly.

I looked back at him to reassure him, and that’s when Ms. Carlisle pounced, grabbing me and holding me tight.

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