Page 72 of Forbidden Magic
She slumps down, and Trent is there in time to stop her head from hitting the ground.
I gape, frozen, and cling to her body until Miss Eillis and Mr. Oz come running. Mr. Oz checks Lydia’s vitals and her injuries.
Bent over the worst of the cuts, a nasty slash on her thigh, I barely notice the worry on their faces before Miss Eillis touches my shoulder. “Julia.”
“We need to find who did this,” I croak.
Mr. Oz wipes the blood off his hands on the front of his pants. “I’ll alert the doctor that we’re coming and report the incident. Did you see anything?”
I shake my head.
Miss Eillis sinks her fingers in the bed of moss. The ground vibrates under her touch as she molds the earth beneath my friend to make a stretcher. That’s advanced elemental magic, and I stand in awe. The molecules of dirt reassemble, and four branches come to make handles at the corners.
I move to grab one, but Mr. Oz blocks my way gently with his hand.
“You shouldn’t be here when the Magisterium agents come,” he says.
“I found her. They might have questions.”
He angles me to him, forcing me to focus on what he’s saying. “You said yourself you have no idea what happened. Whatever you saw the other day in the woods, it was from the underworld.”
My eyes widen.
Miss Eillis pats my shoulder. “Julia, people are afraid of what they do not understand. Infernal magic is one of them. Demons are another. They also don’t believe in coincidences. These attacks started the week that you arrived, and now your roommate is involved. They’re going to try to pin this on you.”
“Lydia and I are friends.”
“They’ll say she asked you not to speak to her anymore. That you were angry.”
My head is spinning.
“Go inside, Jules. I’ll tell them I found her myself,” Trent says.
I obey and watch from the back bay window as they haul Lydia out on the magic stretcher.
The Magisterium agents install a magic barrier around the scene, most of them heading off into the woods. A small crowd forms by the edge of the garden, a few students lurking for a whiff of gossip.
When two dark spots detach from the mass and head toward the porch, I back away from the window and pace the kitchen. Will Trent get into trouble for lying? Will the lie make my part in this more suspicious?
I’m suddenly sure I should have stayed out there.
This was a mistake.
A loud knock startles me, my heart beating furiously.
“Jules?”
It’s Olson.
With a frown, I crack open the front door.
Olson is standing on the terrace, dark circles under his eyes. Jeremy is with him, the burly werewolf’s fists shaking at his sides.
I catch them up on the situation.
“We need to sneak into those woods,” Jeremy growls.
“We can’t gonow,” Olson negotiates. “We need to catch whoever did this and get revenge. Show we’re not going to be chased out of school by some lunatic.”
