Page 50 of Monster's Mystery

“Breathe,” Aiden advised. “We can do this. Come on, let’s compare it to the movement spell and how it comes together. The physics are very similar.”

I took a couple of deep breaths, my eyes closed, letting Aiden’s calm wash over me until I wasn’t shaking with tension anymore.

“Okay.” I opened my eyes, and suddenly everything came together. “I got it!” I quickly wrote it down so that I wouldn’t forget, and raised my hand to call Professor Reynolds back.

It didn’t take long for him to return. “Figured it out, have you?” he asked, amused. He read over the spell, nodding thoughtfully. “This looks reasonable to me. Are you ready to test it?”

I gulped. “Yeah.”

“I have cast a spell. Follow it.”

I squared my shoulders. Aiden’s presence at my side steadying me, I cast my new spell. A wave of blue magic was immediately visible to my sight, flowing from the professor to a pencil at the front of the classroom that was hovering in mid-air.

“I see it!” I gasped excitedly.

The pencil lowered back onto the desk and the blue wave vanished, retreating back into Professor Reynolds. “Nicely done, Miss Doyle, Mister Evans. Full marks. Please write up your work in proper form and submit it to me by the next class.”

“Yes, of course,” I replied absentmindedly, already thinking about trying the spell out on the forest.

“Class dismissed!” Professor Reynolds clapped his hands together once. “You will have time next class to complete your work. Please remember that you arenotto attempt your creations outside of the presence of a teacher. See you Monday.”

“Do you think we can run out to the forest now?” I asked Aiden and Bruce eagerly. “I know it means skipping lunch, but I’m dying to try this spell out on the magic being drained!”

“You need to eat,” Bruce said, shaking his head. “Don’t you have your first office hours this afternoon? You’re going to be beset by first years. That’ll require all your energy and attention.”

“I’ll be fine,” I said, brushing off his worries.

“I’ve got to agree with Bruce,” Aiden said, concerned. “It’s not like you to skip a meal.”

“Hazel has been missing fordays!” I exclaimed. “I can miss one meal if it means that I’ve found a clue of her whereabouts!”

“We don’t know if the forest will give us a clue. I promise I’ll go with you this evening, after the Dragon Polo match,” Aiden vowed.

“We’re not skipping the match?” I pouted.

A loud clap of thunder shook the air, the bright flash of lightning coming at the same time. I jumped.

“The weather seems to agree with me,” Aiden chuckled. “The stands of the match will be protected from the rain. The dark forest, not so much. The weather will probably clear by evening.”

I sighed. “A couple more hours shouldn’t hurt. I hope.”

“We will find her. But there’s no point in hurting yourself in the process,” Bruce said. “Come on. I can hear your stomach clear across the hall.”

“I hate you,” I muttered, making both boys laugh.

CHAPTER14

I felt decidedlysilly in my face paint.

Even in the midst of hundreds of others, all wearing the school colors and proudly wearing navy blue garishly painted across their cheeks, I couldn’t get over the thought that I looked like a wraith or something.

“Woo!” Aiden shouted from beside me, standing up along with the others in a sequence that made it look like there was a wave of bodies rolling across the stands. When he sat back down again, he turned to me with a beaming grin on his face. “You look absolutely adorable like this,” he said, pecking my nose with his lips.

Oh, right.

That’s why I’m doing this.

The rest of our friends were either sitting in front of or behind us, to make it easier to talk to each other.

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