I watched as tears rimmed toddler Delanie’s eyes before she collapsed to the ground and started kicking and screaming.
Professor Jules walked in, her eyebrows raised as she took in the child tantrum. “What’s going on here?”
“Delanie was being a bitch, and I think it made her magic spazz out. She’s a toddler, professor,” one of Delanie’s comrades spoke up, catching me by surprise.
The professor looked us all in the eye and spoke with a stern voice, “If there is a disagreement, please consult a professor before changing your fellow classmate’s form. Remember the type of witch or wizard you want to be.” Then, she wiggled her hands at us and grabbed her trusty chalk. “Please take Ms. Templeton to the hospital wing. She’ll need more than a spritz.” She pointed to the friend who spoke up who then turned to me.
The friend said, “I’m pretty sure Delanie had something to do with the explosion. I’m tired of her games. I just want to do magic, you know? Sorry we’ve been unkind. Anyways, I’ll see if we can get any details out of her about the incident.” The woman reached down to pick up a squirming Delanie like a pro and left the class. You could hear the kid’s scream down the hall.
“Time to practice conjuring storage space. Everyone hold up your wands.”
I heard the professor’s words and lifted my wand, but I couldn’t help my mind from running over what I said to Delanie. Moms did get shit done. Countless memories came to my head from Piper trying to hide animals she brought home or ate all the cake I’d stashed in the cabinet above the fridge. Every lost sock, or missing shoe, I used mom sight and found it.
Money and power were great, but mom power was something unworldly. I was gonna help Rylan, and then we would live happily ever after.
Chapter Forty
If we say it behind their backs, then we must be able to say it to their faces
“It was crazy seeing him out there. I mean, who blows up the place they created, you know? Maybe he was spelled.”
Ethan sat beside me with a cup of coffee in his hands. He looked off. His eyes kept darting around, his knee wouldn’t stop bouncing under the table, and his fingers missed the handle of the mug more than a few times.
He was nervous, but why?
“Could it have been someone else who looked like him?” I asked calmly with a sweet smile, a face that said,come my child and tell me all your secretsinstead of the reality where I wanted to shake the truth out of him.
Ethan rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know. Maybe. It looked just like him, though.”
He managed to sip some of his coffee and hissed like it was suddenly too hot.
“I don’t know if mimicking people is something magic could do. At least nobody we know has control enough to do it if so.They’d have to be really powerful, and skilled,” he said with the corner of his lips lifting up for a second.
“Yeah. That would scary. To think anyone could be disguised as someone you love, tricking you.”
“Agreed. I’m sorry your boyfriend is in trouble. I know you’re talking to me because of the interview. I only reported what I saw. Hopefully I’m wrong.” Ethan bumped my shoulder in a friendly manner, then stood, coffee firmly in hand.
“If you need a safe person to talk to, I’m here for you. Anytime, day or night. I’m your guy.” He placed a hand on my shoulder, and I jumped back from the heat in his palm. His hand wasn’t hot enough to burn me, but more or less caught me off guard.
“Ethan, are you okay? Your hand is hot. Maybe you have a fever.” I stood and pressed the back of my hand against his forehead. His eyes closed, and his mouth went slack at my touch.
“I want you,” he whispered, then his eyes flew open, and he stepped back, his head shaking. “No. I’m fine. I’ll see you around, Temperance.”
He left without looking back and my mom senses blared. He had a role in all this besides being an eyewitness, I just didn’t know exactly what.
My phone beeped, alerting me that it was time to meet up with the others. Remy was looking over the security, the ones she wasn’t supposed to have access to despite creating the systems. Imogene announced that she’d “get the tea” and I’m not sure what that entailed but I’d find out shortly.
“You’re so clever, darling.” Speak of the devil.
I rounded the corner near the painting Remy, and I escaped through during that fire incident and saw Imogene and Lawrence having tea.
She meant literal tea and not the pop culture tea definition?
The silver armor laughed at something right as Imogene spotted me and called me over with a wave of her hand. “There are you are, darling.”
Before I could ask what she was doing, she patted Lawrence’s armored hand.
“We were discussing some odd behavior around the halls.” Imogene winked and I should have known Imogene wasn’t simply gossiping with Larence this time, she was searching through the gossip for any clues relative to our “case.”
