Page 36 of Spellbound
“To see if you were telling me the truth.”
He gave me an irritated glance. “Of course, I was. Why would I lie about my paper?”
“I was investigating you, Ash. I had to take a look.”
He folded his arms and tightened his lips. “Was? Does that mean you’re done?”
“I think I am, yes.”
“And? What did you find on my laptop?”
“Notes on the Home Guard, like you said.”
“Well then!”
“But that’s not all, and it’s not the worst of it. I opened your laptop and pulled up your paper. And why don’t you have that password protected, by the way?”
“I didn’t think I had to!”
“Look, there’s no good way to say this, so I’ll just come out and say it. It’s not a paper, honey. It’s one, single line written over and over again for thirty pages.”
“What are you talking about? No, that’s not possible!”
“See for yourself.”
He gave me a dark look, jerked up the lid and double clicked on the icon for his paper. Then he sat there as it opened and stared down at it.
“What the fuck is this? Oh my god.Did you do this?Tell me the truth, and I’ll try not to be mad. But you did this, right?”
“No, baby. I swear I didn’t do it. That was how I found it.”
“But I had 20,000 words! Where are they?”
“This is what you had when I opened it. You know that you were being oppressed by a curse—I proved that to you, right?”
He nodded, his eyes still wide and confused.
“You couldn’t see it before, because of the curse. But someone did this to you. They were sabotaging you. “
“But why? Why did it matter if I wrote my damn thesis? How was that hurting anyone else?”
“I don’t know. It makes no sense, because there’s only pure malice in it. Meanness, for its own sake. Be glad we found it when we did and before you wrote any more of that paper.”
“But it’s not fair!” He was shouting, so upset his face was turning bright red and angry tears were standing in his eyes. “Why? I can’t understandwhy!”
“You can’t understand because you’re not crazy. Obviously, this person is! They’re not right in the head, and this proves it. Only a person who was going mad could do such a thing.”
And just like that, I suddenly knew who that person was. Who it had to be. It didn’t seem possible at first, but I’d actually considered Asher’s grandmother earlier and the same principle applied.
“Something wicked this way comes.What the hell is that?”
I was still reeling a little from what I now knew must be the truth, and I fell back on the sofa and just stared at him.
“What is it? What’s the matter?” Asher said, looking alarmed. He reached for my hand. “Are you all right?”
“I think I may know who’s behind all of this. It’s a staggering idea, but I think I do.”
“Tell me.”
