“Take my hand,” Axell whispered loudly, extending it toward Dan.
As Dan took Axell’s hand, they both became invisible. “Don’t move,” Dan whispered.
They stayed still in the library as two people popped into the room. The headmaster was there with Prospero, the witch who had been carrying Ellie out of the woods.
“Look, I don’t know why you brought me—” Sondre stopped, looking around. “The library?”
“Privacy. I know the New Economists created the rift.” Prospero folded her arms over her chest. “How involved are you?”
The headmaster said nothing, mimicking her posture and glaring.
“Ellie made the snake in the woods,” Prospero added. “I took her to the rift and she… was irrational. Injured herself to try to plug it.”
“You know better than to ask me things,” Sondre started.
Prospero held up a hand. “You, Agnes, who else?”
“I don’t know what you—”
“Lynch and Brandeau will be brought back, Sondre. They’ll be here, and if you think that killing witches is not going to get you badgered orworse,you’re wrong. Walt knows. Scylla knows.” She took a step toward him. “What if I told you I had a spy?”
The headmaster’s eyes widened.
“My spy told me about Agnes,” she continued.
Sondre shook his head.
“Mae could die. Maggie could die,” she continued.
Sondre’s shoulders slumped. “Allan. Lord Dionysus. He made the rift. It was to be our evidence that we had to move. He wants to go back. A lot of us do.”
Prospero shook her head. “Fools. Our magic is unstable over there.If we’re there too long, magic lashes out, and then we’re looking at witch hunts. That’s not a myth.”
Finally, Sondre seemed to straighten, to rebuild his confidence. “Prove it.”
“The escapees are already proving it. You’ll see.” Prospero shook her head. “I’ll have to erase memories, hide the proof. And there’sone of meso I couldn’t do that if everyone went over there to live. We need to fix our home. Miss Brandeau has the magic to do it, but now she’s angry and—”
“So tinker with her head. That’s what you do.” Sondre turned away like he was going to leave.
“I’ll need Monahan,” Prospero called. “Since he’s your lapdog, let him know to obey me.”
Dan’s heart sped dangerously at the thought of doing anything with her. She was fucking terrifying.
Then Sondre’s voice grew louder. Not turning back to her, Sondre asked, “Who’s the spy?”
“You are. You just never remember,” Prospero said.
The room went silent as she did whatever her magic was to alter the headmaster’s memory and thoughts.
“So everything seems in order?” Sondre asked.
“It does. You and I will retrieve the escaped witches,” Prospero said. “Thank you for meeting with me. I didn’t want to talk about their retrieval in front of everyone.”
“You know our truce is still temporary,” Sondre muttered.
“I do.” Prospero gave him a strange smile. “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could work together, though?”
“Mmph. As if.” Sondre popped out of the room.
