Page 15 of Spirit Witch

“Judge.So that’s your name,” I said to the man I knew as dream boy.

He walked right up to me, bronzed skin glowing, inky black hair a touch shorter than I remembered, and dark eyes intent on me.He was better looking in this reality than my dreamscape, and I had to wonder at the fairness of that.

I was prettier there, for sure, but here, my hair was a mousy brown save for one thin, white streak I’d gotten a few months back.I’d gone under some sort of trance and apparently spouted a prophecy about Tana and her mate, Brandon.

The streak was going away, though.In fact, it seemed to get darker every month.Aside from that, my skin looked dull and lackluster.I couldn’t even imagine what I smelled like after a week in the infirmary bed.

Judge grinned down at me wickedly, and if anything it made him that much handsomer.Totally unnecessary.He was already drop-dead gorgeous in tight jeans, a black t-shirt with an open flannel, and a wide braided belt around his waist.Hanging from his neck was another long braid of leather with a pouch dangling from the end.

“You used too much, Nizhoni.But you look rested now.It’s time to start your training,” he said, and his eyes seemed to dare me to argue.

A few hours later, I was released and back in my room.I’d showered and dressed and was feeling better than I had in ages.I could hear the others outside my bedroom, and I even smelled the pizza they’d ordered from the kitchens below.

Westwood was really amazing when it came to food, and I told Mabe before I got in the shower, I could eat a whole pizza with everything on it I was so hungry.

Guess she came through for me, I mused and smiled to myself while pulling on a pair of leggings and a loose gray tunic.I paused to look in the mirror, my smile fading as I got a really good look at myself.

Holy heck.

My mousy brown hair was split down the middle by a huge chunk of white.I kinda looked like a skunk, but the more I brushed my fingers through it, the more white streaks appeared all over.So, I did the only thing I could think of.

I screamed.

“Enid?ENID!”Mabe shouted, practically breaking down the door to get into my bedroom.

“Look-at-my-hair,” I said, hyperventilating between words.

“Holy fuck!It looks like the bride of Frankenstein,” Mabe whispered, doing nothing to make me feel any better.

The rest of the girls piled inside, only Tana having the foresight to push the males back once she discovered nothing was actually wrong.Just me being silly over my hair at a time like this.

Maybe it was wrong, but what could I say?

It was not something I had prepared for.I mean, I knew elemental witches sometimes experienced this, like Rio with her hair, Maia, and even Tana to a point, whose red locks grew more vibrant the better she got with her powers.But I wasn’t an elemental witch.So, all that going on with my hair—well, I just had no idea.

I stopped touching it, and that at least seemed to stop the spread.And it wasn’t so much vanity as it was not knowing what the heck was happening to me that had me riled.Something was strange, though.Memories of my dream, the one where I’d met Judge, filled my head.I had white hair and wings then, with downy purple tipped feathers.

“Nice to see you again, Nizhoni.Come, let’s eat before we start your training,” Judge said from the doorway.

Everyone looked back and forth from me to him and back to me like we were at a tennis match or something.My stomach growled then, and I figured he was right.Maybe everything would be easier to face once I had some food in my stomach.

Thirty minutes and three slices of everything pizza later, I was sitting on the floor in our tiny living room with my roommates, their mates, and Judge Dusek, sipping a mug of tea Jade made for me.She’d also baked a fresh batch of chocolate chip pumpkin muffins, and the boys had already gone through almost all of them.I was too stuffed anyway, something I was hoping no one noticed, but of course they had.

“Wow, Enid!I’ve never seen you chow down like that.You must’ve been starved, huh?”

“Tana, for fuck’s sake, you’re gonna embarrass her,” Rio chided, throwing a crumpled up napkin at the fire witch.

I closed my eyes and tried not to let my embarrassment show.But with my complexion, that was just impossible.Instead, I pursed my lips and shrugged.

“What Rio?I wasn’t fat shaming her or anything!I mean, everyone knows Enid is the prettiest girl here.”

“Not to me,mo spréach,” Brandon murmured to Tana, and the look they exchanged was hot enough to send sparks shooting into the atmosphere.

I could not help but stare.Never having had a boyfriend or any sort of meaningful relationship, I secretly yearned for everything my roommates seemed to have with their significant others.

Who didn’t want to be loved, though, right?

It wasn’t so weird.Hell, it wasn’t even original.I was an orphan whose memory was iffy and a witch with no serious power, few friends, and no boyfriend to speak of, so, yeah, I was kind of on the scaredy-cat side when it came to love and relationships.

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