Page 36 of Forbidden Magic
The elation on her face dims. “Why do you want to know?”
“Why won’t you tell me?” From what Vivianne told me, she’s having sex with this guy. Shouldn’t I know who he is?
She gives me that annoyed older sister look. The one I can’t stand because it makes me feel like an immature brat. “I think he wants to get to know you without all the added pressure. He’s afraid you’re not going to give him a chance.”
The itch turns into a blazing heat, my blood pumping at my temples. “Err—What?”
“Relax, Jules. You’ll like him. Promise.” With an enigmatic chuckle, she scampers off to class, leaving me with a cloud of questions and a sense of impending doom.
Allie promised not to break my Barbie once. Dad is still scraping off melted plastic from his barbecue.
I’m supposed to walk around campus, meeting boys and wondering which of them is my sister’s secret boyfriend? Getting to know him as a stranger while he plans their next date and plays me for a fool? How is that fair?
An eerie sensation scatters across my shoulders, and I look up to Allie’s room. The attic’s round window gleams against the sunlight. A dark silhouette obscures the glass, but I can’t make out specific features. A hard mass forms in my throat. I climb on the rock and squint. By the time the sun disappears behind a cloud, the window is empty.
I don’t know who Allie’s secret boyfriend is, but I know who I don’t want him to be. And that jealous, intrusive thought scares me more than the beast prowling in the woods.
14
The Root of the Problem
“Today, we’re going to pick ingredients for the quarterly S&S project.” Miss Deveraux slams a big green volume on her desk. “I’ll expect each team to come up with an extensive list of all the spells, enchantments and potions related to their given ingredient. You’ll pick a basic spell to practice and demonstrate next week in front of your peers, then an intermediate, then a challenging, and so on until you’re stuck. If you can’t get past difficult, you’ll fail the class.”
“What if we fail the class?” Olson asks with a pale face.
“Once you’re out, you’re out.” Her gaze meets mine. “Yes, that goes for the new recruits too. If you can’t keep up with your peers, there’s no point in keeping you here.”
It’s like she knows what happened yesterday on the field, and I swallow a bitter wave of humiliation.
“Nice pyrotechnics out there,” Cole whispers in my left ear.
The hairs at the nape of my neck rise, but I roll my shoulders back and brush off the compliment with a scowl.
“Did I offend you by being born or something?” Cole asks, amusement and impatience mingling on his breath. The rap of his ringed fingers against the desk present a perfect picture of annoyance. One copper, one brass, one silver, the same as his earrings. I wonder what they mean, if anything.
“The other day, in the library, were you the one who made me slip?” I ask in a harsh whisper.
“And why would I do that?” The neutral mask plastered on his features reveals nothing.
I press my tongue against the roof of my mouth. “To humiliate me.”
“I don’t have to play tricks to humiliate you. You manage that all by yourself.” The hard undertone of his remark makes my heart jump.
“Fuck you, Cole.”
“Watch your language, or Miss Devereaux will make you wash your mouth with black soap.”
“Like soap could make her clean. She’s always going to be a dirty mortal,” Flynn snickers from his seat across the aisle.
I ignore both of them and examine the possible ingredients for the project. They are separated by level of difficulty, and I immediately know I want to pick one in the hardest category. That’ll show how serious I am, and that I never back down from a challenge.
“We should choose one of the three most difficult ones,” I say with my best commanding tone.
“No.”
I crane my neck around to glare at my partner.
He’s leaning over me so he can read over my shoulder, and his breath flutters down my neck. “Deveraux always does this. She tricks you into thinking she’ll respect you for picking a harder one, but it’s a trick. These four,” he motions to the top column, to the ingredients listed as intermediate. His long fingers brush mine.
