I knew something was wrong.
Sondre hadn’t been able to locate the last student quickly enough to reach her before she was undoubtedly carried to a hospital. In such cases, protocol would require him to take that beastly woman with him to adjust the memories of the staff at the hospital. In this case, Elleanor Brandeau had vanished entirely, which meant the remedial witch had teleported here or died.
Teleporting on one’s own was very rare. Maggie had done so, but that was due to a burst of maternal panic. Had this other remedial witch teleported here on her own? Had she been wandering around the woods?
As Sondre stomped through the halls of Crenshaw Castle, he realized that the idea of any new witch appearing at that particular spot was highly suspicious. He’d known when the Brandeau witch’s magic awakened—it was like that with each student—but hers was strong enough to catch his undivided attention.
When remedial witches arrived in Crenshaw on their own, they typically arrived near the castle. It functioned almost as a beacon. Unless she had a connection to someone or somewhere else, that was exactly where Brandeau ought to have appeared.
Mentally, he filed through his roster of students. There had been another Brandeau.Hester or Heather or something.She had demanded siphoning, though. So she was not here as a beacon.
So why had this witch not arrived at the castle? Why the woods? Or had that damnable woman fetched her without him because she knew Brandeau was strong? Shehadbeen friends with—Hester? Helen? What was her name?—Brandeau.
18Prospero
Prospero desperately wished she could just teleport them. She would’ve ignored the risks if Ellie was… well, anyone else at all. Ellie, however, was someone to protect. She was essential to Crenshaw.
And possibly to me.
They had reached the edge of town, and Prospero had an arrogant hope they would reach her townhouse unseen. At least it was late enough—or perhaps early enough that not many witches would be out yet.
Just a few more minutes…
“Why are you holding a new witch?” a voice asked from behind them.
“Well, fuck,” Prospero muttered, turning to greet the man staring at them.Walter. Why did it have to be him?The chief witch was an almost friend, a good witch who knew too many of her secrets already.
Prospero affixed a smile on her face and met his gaze briefly before saying, “Walter.”
Ellie waved at him, lifting her head for a moment. “I made snakes.” She pointed behind them to the woods where she’d fashioned a giant wooden serpent from the trees. “It smelled bad back there. So I made a plug, but then the ground was unsteady. This nice lady caught me.”
“We have a new arrival, Chief Witch,” Prospero said somberly.
Walter eyed the two of them suspiciously for a long moment, but then he nodded. “Let’s get her up to the castle before this becomes a situation, Prospero.”
“Prospero,” Ellie echoed. “Hi. Your name is strange. I’m Ellie.”
“Indeed,” Prospero murmured. “Let’s get you to the infirmary, Ellie. The doctor will want to check on you.”
Not far past the edge of town, several other witches stepped up to help. One witch offered up a stretcher since there were no wheelchairs this far from the infirmary.
One offered, “I could pop up to the castle—”
“This is fine,” Walter insisted.
So they began the walk along the path toward the castle, but then Ellie woke again. When she realized she was strapped down on a stretcher, she rose up. In a blink, she was crouched on the cobblestones, looking around at the crowd as if she were a madwoman.
When her gaze landed on Prospero, she lurched toward her, and Prospero caught her up in her arms again.
Walt gave her a look that said more than he would say aloud with witnesses, but in that moment, Prospero knew he’d realized she was previously acquainted with Ellie.
“She seems to want to attack you, Lady Prospero,” Cassandra said from the growing crowd, offering an excuse the nearby witches might accept.
Because they hate me.
“We’ll get the poor thing to the doctor,” another witch said.
Why are they all awake so early?
