Page 109 of The Holy Academy of Witches

With forced calm I opened one eye. It would seem that the room mates weren’t going to let me leave in peace. It had taken me a week of sneaking in while they were gone to collect all my belongings from my room before I could officially move from the meadow. Three of them looked at me with hostility, the last looking between us all with open concern. If love is meant to anchor, why did she always look like she was drowning?

“You going to answer the question? Or is it above your intelligence?” Marsha threw in eagerly, looking to Silva for approval.

I looked to Amelia, as I messed with the lapels of my jacket, asking wordlessly if she’d like to leave what was undoubtedly about to be a shitshow. She exhaled slowly, fishing out a bundle of herbs from her jacket before crushing them under her foot to cast a subtle shield around her and Melody. I finished my bite of pie slowly before laying down on the wall. I tucked my hands in the folds of my coat and closed my eyes.

“Did he fuck you deaf? Or are you too important to speak to us now?” Silva’s shriek at the perceived insolence sent most of the bystanders scrambling away. Excellent.

“Shoo flies, don’t bother me.” I said, trying to duplicate one of Theo’s lazy grins. Making subtle arm movements in their direction.

Their stomping nearer had my grin growing wider. I waited till they were near the pavers my feet were resting on moments before. Then I crushed the enchanted rune in my hand. The pavers beneath their feet crumbled away in a similar fashion until the two of them were thigh deep in quicksand, with only Melody and Amelia remaining on solid ground.

The wall stayed steady, outside of the radius I had cast with my gesturing, and their hexes absorbed into my warded jacket, leaving me unharmed. I looked up to see Melody yelling at Amelia from within their island, the quicksand completely surrounded them. Rolling backwards off the wall, I stomped the sturdy ground in part to make sure my spell had been successful, and in part to tease the witches whose legs were now completely buried.

Pacing behind the wall, I enjoyed the sight of their frustration. They’d underestimated me again, their bags and spells buried as well. Unable to master Adeline’s linking spell I’d used part of my break to ward and sew pockets into some of my clothes to hold the defensive charms I’d been working on the last few months. It was nice to know the radius of this particular spell. Although knowing a basic warding spell would negate it was a bit of a blow on my ego. Adeline would know the work around for that, or Cillian, but I definitely wouldn’t be consulting him.

Summoning Marsha’s bag from the quicksand, I rifled through the contents, pulling out my old phone from a shallow pocket. It was locked out, glowing with the protection spell I’d been strengthening since buying it. The glow dimmed once it was in my hands, settling into a contented hum before I placed it in my warded pocket. Among her potions were also a handful of dolls, their eyes filled with pins, and hands tied behind their back. One of them with familiar honey curls.

“Why Marsha, how brazen of you to be carrying contraband magic in your school bag.” I pulled out the voodoo doll carefully, showing them to the small crowd of people that had stayed for the show, “I wonder what else I could find in here if these are already on display for all to see.” Pulling out a vial from my pocket, I sprinkled the moon water elixir over the bag. Her hidden pockets glowed. Sitting on the wall, I instructed a student to fetch a teacher, if they didn’t mind. Not long after, Professor Qadir came bumbling out of the doors. He stopped at the quicksand, a bit of unmasked delight at the sight of my spell work before schooling his features.

“Ahem, yes oh. Terrible business. Or rather… what business is this?” He queried the crowd like we were in the classroom. After he was satisfied the quicksand was indeed an act of defence he turned to me, the light back in his eyes.

“I must say Miss Williams, I amparticularlyimpressed. Would you mind terribly telling us how this was set up? Or well… perhaps not. Headmistress Alva wouldn’t be pleased if these things became commonplace, I’d imagine. Well, let’s leave it up to the imagination then shall we? Yes. Oh, why was I here again? Contraband. Of course, I knew that. No need to yell, you lot. Don’t you have classes or something?” He kept muttering at the crowd as he picked his way across the courtyard. Lifting his robes gingerly before stepping over the low wall to join me. I gave him the bag, the pockets’ wards were untouched but still glowing from the moon water.

He got a glimpse of the voodoo dolls and tutted. Lining them up on the wall, he went ever so still at a doll that bore a striking resemblance to himself.

“I don’t need to remind any of you that voodoo, love potions, or any manner of magic that weakens the will of another are expressly forbidden here. Consent is key to any community, but especially ours. Casting can only be strengthened by collaboration, and to willingly weaken that… it’s grounds for… well, I won’t speak for the Headmistress, but I can assure you I do not take kindly to my image being rendered.” His voice was grave, the talk near absent of his usual bumbling.

Professor Qadir extracted Marsha and Silva without issue, the latter’s bag floating up sadly. He deposited them on the other side of the wall before he took out an empty glass vial. He scooped some of the sand inside and handed me the vial with a wink.

“Hand that in to me for some extra credit if you like, or keep it as a memento Miss Williams. It really was some excellent magic.” He chuckled before pulling out a gold pocket watch. Drawing a series of runes in the air he proceeded in turning the watch’s dial back. As he did so, the sand soared into the pocket watch. Professor Qadir, unconcerned, was whistling a song as he continued to turn the dial, an empty pit being revealed as the sand emptied. When the last grain of sand was in the air he clicked the unassuming dial twice. The courtyard returned to its former appearance with a loud pop. He closed the pocket watch with a hearty snap before pausing as if his mind went blank. Blinking when Marsha made to leave.

“Oh no Miss, we’ll be going directly to the Headmistress office if you please. Follow your dolls, they’ll lead the way.” And sure enough they hovered in the air doing a spinning sort of dance toward the office’s entrance as he had her bag follow close behind them. Never once had I enjoyed one of his classes, and after one afternoon I was convinced that he might have more tricks up his sleeve than any of us. Pocketing my sand vial next to the phone, I made my way to my new dorm.

* * *

It had been decided that Dorcus would be keeping her room, Lillian had volunteered herself to move in with Gemma while I gradually moved into hers. Something I was positively delighted by as Lillian’s room just happened to contain the floorboard from my vision. Almost like fate was on my side for once. Unfortunately, said floorboard had about half a dozen wards that were Mastery level and I, unlike Adeline and Cillian, only had a grasp on age-appropriate spells.

The new dorm was a touch larger and still held the feminine touches that Lillian had left behind. Baby pink wallpaper only interrupted by the occasional floating shelf adorned with dried flowers. My only mark on the room was in the stack of bags in the corner and the explosion of textbooks that currently surrounded the floorboard in question.

Half I’d found in the dorm’s bookcase, handy that, and the other half I’d had to hunt down in the library. I’d since given up decoding it without help, but hadn’t decided who to ask. Adeline was drowning in work, her dark circles back in full force since Christmas as well as the attitude I’d thought we’d mostly gotten over from the beginning of the year. I was loath to put more work on her plate. Especially as the last few times we’d brought up the riddle during tutoring it had ended in both of us wanting to pull our own hair out. On the other hand… anything to do with Cillian… was complicated. Christmas break and our arrangement having been shoved to the back of my mind.

Picking up my new phone I let my fingers hover over Cillian’s name for what felt like ages.

“Nope. Can’t do it.” I sighed, letting it drop before laying down on the luxurious bed that Lillian had left behind. Unlocking the old phone, I held my breath until I pulled up the recording of Cillian’s band from the day of the explosion. Turning the volume down I pressed play. I took what felt like my first deep breath as the notes swam in front of my now teary eyes. I closed my eyes with the melodies wrapping around me. I had done this, captured a bit of sunshine in a jar, and taken it back when it was stolen from me. So when my heart swelled I let myself believe it was simply pride and hope and nothing to do with a pair of glacier eyes.

Fifty-Eight

Sage

Iwas woken by the sound of my own screams, the recording of the explosion cutting off abruptly afterwards. Breathing heavily I was back there, crouching under the bar. The cherries ash in my mouth as I clung to reality with every part of my soul. The pair of kohl lined baby blues I’d been trying to forget blazing to life in my memory. Clinging to them, and how they’d been my unlikely anchor in the sea of adrenaline fuelled visions not so long ago.

I looked at the clock, it was barely midnight. My knowledge of Cillian’s schedule was limited, would he be awake? Was it too late to text? Did being his fake girlfriend make it less awkward? Was he even taking our fake relationship seriously? What if he was with a girl? And why did that idea make me sick? We needed some ground rules, for what was okay. I typed all those questions into the new phone, read them, deleted them, and typed out something different. Something chill, nothing crazy, totally normal.

Sage: Hey, you awake at this hour?

Cillian: Yes, are you okay?

Sage: Totally, super okay. The most okay.

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