Page 64 of The Holy Academy of Witches

Sage:Yeah I bet.

Adeline:So are you going to tell me where you are? or should I let you go?

I hesitated, looking around at my meadow. I couldn’t tell her about this place, not without letting her inside the wards. And the only way I could do that safely would be if she knew. And I wasn’t ready to trust her with that. Not yet. Deleting my message, I began again.

Sage:Well, I made myself a little hideout in the woods but I can come meet you if you want? You don’t like the woods right?

Adeline:I never said that.

Sage:No you didn’t… Cillian told me in passing when I ran into him in the woods.

Adeline:Ah, I see. You meet up regularly?

Sage:No! Of course not! I hate him!

Adeline:Do you?

I rubbed at the hidden mark with anger and frustration.

Sage:Of course I do, He’s an entitled asshole!

Adeline: You aren’t wrong, but then so am I…

Sage: You’re different.

Adeline:Am I?

Sage: Yes. Now are you going to tell me which of these snacks are palatable or am I diving in blind?

Adeline: Personally I’d avoid the Dandelion & burdock but the custard creams aren’t half bad x

Sage:Okay deal. Did you want to meet up or anything?

Adeline:No, I’ll leave you to it x

Sage: Okay.

Adeline: Sage… Good Run x

I smiled to myself as I opened the custard creams. Casting a crude replica of the light orb Adeline had cast in the library, I read under its flickering light until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer, the spell winked out as I fell asleep.

Thirty-Five

Adeline

The rest of the week was a blur of trials and lectures. My mother had insisted I be present at them all, much to my dismay and frustration. I’d wanted to consider the location of the riddle a little more before we went to scout it out and, as always, I had a mountain of work for both the Academy and my own personal research. Not that I was keeping up to my usual studying rate. I’d found myself particularly preoccupied the last few days with Teddy. Somehow we had taken to talking each day, for quite a lot of the day… I’m not entirely sure when it happened.

But here I was walking from the dining hall to my next lecture of the day laughing at a particularly amusing picture from Teddy. We’d begun a game of 20 questions this morning and after not believing Teddy’s declaration that he once saved a cat from the top of a tree, I demanded proof. I typed out a reply and let him know I was heading into my next lesson just as I rounded the corner, almost bumping into Dorcas.

“There you are, what are you smiling at? Oo! Is it a guy?! Spill the tea!” She leaned over to look at my phone, which I promptly pocketed.

“None of your business. Where are you heading to?” I deflected, smoothing my hair away from my face.

Her eagerness faded, her mouth settling into a thin line. She huffed, “Just heading to potions… not that I can be bothered, but I do have Divination straight after and I’m hoping to squeeze some info out of Biggle about who’s made top three… you’ll be number one, obviously, but if I’m not second there’ll be hell to pay!”

“Hmm, I doubt Biggle will give you any information. You know she loves the big reveal. How do you think your run went?”

She raised her eyebrows, “How do you think?! You were there, I lost!”

---