Actually, where are the guys?
I glanced at the clock. It was 9:00 p.m., and Alex had said he’d be at our rooms by fifteen till. It wasn’t like him to be late.
As if the universe had heard me, someone pounded on my door.
“Come in!” I yelled, and the guys appeared, both holding bottles of champagne.
“What!? How do you always get booze?” Eva laughed as she rushed up to Hunter, leapt, and wrapped her legs around his hips.
“I have my ways.”
Eva pulled back. “Is it worth the risk, though? What would happen if you got caught?”
For the first time, I considered the scenario. Witches were way more lax about alcohol than humans. In Wandstown, academy students never got carded, but Spellcasters was strict, so her concern was valid.
Hunter shrugged. “It would be worth it. It’s my first year celebrating my cousin’s birthday! Plus, it’s New Year’s Eve!” he said, prying a smile out of Eva and taking her mouth in his.
I beamed, reveling in the ease that surrounded my friend group. The last week had been weird and tense while the Wardwell parents were around. The guys tried to make the most of it, and while neither branch of the family was talking to the other, they had gotten within a few feet of each other without screaming.
It was progress. I was glad they’d made some, but I was also happy that things were back to normal—just the four of us.
“Hey, sweets,” Alex said, coming up to me and brushing a wayward chocolate brown tress behind my ear. I shivered. “Hope you don’t mind. Hunter thought a celebration was in order. You know, a birthday, Yule, New Year’s, and most of all, no one in our families killed each other.”
I laughed. “We all deserve to let loose.”
“Hell yeah, we do,” Eva said, jumping off Hunter and ripping the foil off the bottle of bubbly. “Honestly, if my parents had to stay one more day, I’d have tramped into the forest and searched for a faerie hole to jump through.”
Everyone laughed, and in no time at all, bubbly filled our glasses, and we were kicking up our feet.
“Man, I could get used to this,” Hunter said, leaning back in my desk chair with his hands behind his head. “A whole week without classes does the body good.”
It was true. Even if time with my parents had been stressful at first, I’d needed the rest. I was still acclimating to the intensity of my changing magic, which seemed like it flowed through my body differently day by day. In fact, it only acted normal when Alex was around. I put it down to him being so damn hot that I couldn’t focus on anything else.
“It was an excellent reprieve,” Alex agreed, his voice rumbling through me so pleasurably that even though I sat on his lap, I couldn’t help but lean into him. “But I’m ready for classes to start.” He kissed my neck. “I want to see how your powers have changed.”
“Me too,” I admitted.
The room fell into a hushed silence, and I sucked in a breath. The time had come.
I cleared my throat. “I want to tell you guys something else. About why my parents spellbound me.”
“Didn’t they do it so you’d leave Spellcasters and not be affected by the curse?” Eva sat up straighter. She’d asked about my parent’s reasons for spellbinding me right after Yule. While I planned on telling her everything eventually, that night I’d held back the bit about the prophecy. I needed time to mull it over for myself before sharing it with friends.
“Yes,” I pressed my lips together. “But they said something else too. They believe the curse of our class is really a prophecy.”
“A prophecy!” Hunter leaned forward, and champagne sloshed out of his glass. “Spill, Odie.”
The story of Desdemona flowed from me, and after I finished, my friends stared at me, eyebrows furrowed and mouths gaping.
Eva snapped out of it first. “But if the prophecy is about you, which the note would indicate, why did so many others die? I don’t know guys, it seems more like a curse placed on a group to me.”
“Actually,” Alex drew the word out. “A prophecy makes a good deal of sense. A curse can affect many, yes, but it can also be broken by the right witch. Odette’s parents were strong enough, and yet they didn’t break it. Neither have countless others who have tried. No one has, as indicated by the fact that kids our age keep dying mysteriously. Doesn’t anyone find that strange?”
When we didn’t comment, he continued. “Lauren and Joseph were at the top of their game when Lauren retired. Everyone thought she just went on maternity leave, but she never came back. Not even for temporary jobs, which the PIA would have provided for her because of her status. Joseph kept at it for about a year more before he quit. If it was a curse, and they just had a kid, wouldn’t one of them at leasttryto break it? Instead, they shed their witching community identities, and took on normal human jobs.”
“What my parents do for a living ishardlynormal.”
“More normal than paranormal espionage,” Alex countered. “Or demon bounty hunting, diplomatic liaisons for magicals, or even working for the government in a safer position, all of which they were qualified to do.”
