Ellie was the one who would change everything. That was the prophecy, and Cassandra’s prophecies were never wrong.
“Lady Prospero?” One of the teachers stepped away from the clutch of whispering women. She had a name. Prospero was certain of it, but without Cassandra there to remind her, Prospero had no idea what it was.
“The headmaster is ready to start the class once this one is settled. Would you be able to see if he still needs to go over to the Barbarian Lands? Or might that be something you could manage without him?”
The woman was asking her to invade Ellie’s mind. It was what Prospero needed to do, but a flicker of anger still rose in her. Had they always treated the new arrivals so cavalierly? What if they were going to return to their lives? What if they rejected Crenshaw? Was it harder for them? Prospero didn’t check on them, simply went back and altered the necessary memories.
“She’s stronger than most.” Several witches said versions of this, noting the fact that Ellie had arrived early and unaccompanied.
“Thought she was going to escape you,” one added.
“I thought she might hit you,” another said in an unmistakably gleeful voice.
“Too strong to siphon, for sure!”
The unspoken statement, though, was that Ellie was here to stay. She had seemingly attempted to strike Prospero while she was being subdued, and that sort of magic was impressive. Moreover, she’d managed to simply arrive here. That meant she’d ripped through the illusions that kept Crenshaw safe. It meant she’d exuded sheer brute force.
Prospero knew that and knew Ellie had spent a night recovering already, but they did not.
“I shall investigate.” Prospero swept forward, moving abruptly, her cloak billowing out as she went. The effect was not accidental. Nothing about her persona was. Well over a century ago, Prospero had decided if she was going to be their boogeyman, their tethered monster, she would lean into that hurtful image.
I will be their monster.
But today, looking at the subdued woman on the stretcher, Prospero wished there were other options.
19Dan
“Do you want to follow him?” Axell asked.
They were standing in the hall under a stained-glass window of a group of witches. It looked oddly religious, but the one thing Dan very clearly had not seen was a church, synagogue, mosque, or temple. If there were religious ceremonies here, he was unaware of them. He was, however, very aware that upsetting Sondre was dangerous.
“If he catches us—” Dan started.
“They are hiding things, Daniel. You see this, ja?” Axell put a hand on Dan’s arm, and Dan had the flicker of a wish that he was more muscular. Axell stared in the direction the headmaster had gone. “If we are to choose this, should we not know the secrets?”
Dan shook his head. “If we leave, my cancer will return, and I’ll die.”
Axell stepped in, pulling Dan into a brief embrace. When he released him, he said, “Knowledge is power, Daniel. They have all of it right now. Do you want to let them have the power over us?”
When Dan thought about it, he might have just a little understanding of why Axell wanted to know what was happening. He seemed likehe had been at the whims of his label and maybe his manager. Dan wasn’t in the same place, but he’d been at the mercy of the cancer and the bookies. Both were pretty awful.
Still, Sondre is dangerous. Axell doesn’t know just how much.And Dan had no desire to share what he knew. Not now. Maybe not ever.
He looked in the direction Sondre had gone yet again. “He might be going to the authorities,” Dan offered weakly.
Axell’s expression said what he did not. They both suspected the headmaster was going to the forest.
“Let us follow and see,” Axell finally said.
Dan sighed. He wasn’t the sort of person to race toward threats, and he definitely wanted to stay here.
Wouldn’t it be good to know why there’s a giant snake in the woods?his curiosity whispered.
“Fine,” Dan muttered.
They return the way they’d come, slipping past closed doors where the other new students likely still slept. Dan wondered briefly if Maggie had made it to her room, but he wasn’t entirely sure which was hers so he couldn’t knock and check.
The front door of the castle was unlocked, and Dan had to wonder if the hobs were helping him. The sun was rising as they stepped outside the castle again. At least the woods wouldn’t be as dark and dreary.
