“But something is,” he bit out. “It’s your first day and you almost died. Who pulled you under?”
The wordmonsterlingered on my tongue, but I didn’t mention my possible hallucination. Dad would have me in the medical wing so fast it’dmake the magic dragging me under the lake look like a snail.
“I must have swum too deep and lost consciousness.” I had no other explanation or theory I was willing to share with him.“I don’t know why Professor Mordock couldn’t find me, but maybe he was looking in the wrong place. No one pulled me under,especially not Logan, because why the heck would he save me?”Unless he was really into torment and had much bigger plans for me.“It’s not the school’s fault.”
Dad didn’t look convinced. “You’ve got a Grand Canyon of a plot hole in that theory, Paisley Hallistar. You’re a strong swimmer,and there’s no way you just swam too deep. But I can’t argue the rest.”
“Mom said I could stay, didn’t she?” An unfair segue, but I needed to know. I wouldn’t let fear keep me from my future. IfLogan had been trying to scare me, he’d show his hand sooner or later.
Dad cleared his throat, flames reappearing briefly, before he deflated. “She did. She doesn’t want you to lose yourself theway she has, and she told me that all of life has risks.”
Reaching out, I squeezed Dad’s hand tightly. “I promise to be careful. I think I’ll sit out the rest of the lake classes,if you can clear that with my professors.”
“I will,” he said as he puffed up once more. “And, Pais, be careful of Logan. Don’t let your guard down, even if he is thereason you’re still here with us.”
“Dad, you don’t have to worry about me developing some sort of misplaced faith in that spellcaster. He might have savedme today, but he’s bad news. We all know that. I’ll be avoiding his grumpy ass as much as possible over the next year.”
We were at my dorm now, and I pressed my hand to open it. “I’ll be back with a healer,” Dad reminded me. “Don’t sleep yet.”
“I love you too,” I rasped, waving him off.
He shook his head, looking like he’d aged ten years in a few minutes, before he leaned in and kissed my cheek. “I love you,Paisley. Tomorrow will be a better day.”
Well, it couldn’t get any worse. Though, I was still alive, and that was more than I thought I’d have in those last few seconds.Despite my misgivings, there was no denying that Logan had saved my life.
Why?was the only pertinent question left now.
Chapter 13
The next few weeks at Weatherstone were gloriously boring compared to my first day. My family barely left my side, each ofmy siblings freaked by almost losing me, but there were no further conversations about me withdrawing from college. Dad toldme he was in thewait and seephase, and I wasn’t pushing the issue.
The nightmares I expected did come for the first few nights, but Alice and Jenna, squished with me on my tiny bed, got methrough the worst of it. The Hallistars never let the demons win; our family stood in the darkness and fought side by side.
Classes went by quickly, and I found myself enjoying the variety of elemental lessons: history, Apothecary and Herbal Studies,along with Intro to Alchemy. All of that kept me busy enough that I didn’t think about Logan Kingston more than, say, fivetimes a day. My stalkcaster had turned into a ghostcaster, disappearing into Weatherstone as if he’d never stepped foot inthe college.
My burning questions about what happened in the lake remained, but with life growing busier, I managed to focus on the now.My near death was pushed down into the depths of my memory, and I forced myself to embrace the future I almost didn’t have.
“So, party tonight,” Sara said with an extra wiggle to herhips. It was the Friday after Defensive Spells for Beginners. Our final class had us whipping up small deflection spells.
Belle and I had expanded our friend group to include two other freshman witches: Sara Collier and Haley Michaels. Sara, adark-haired witch not much taller than Belle, was born in Romania and moved to Florida when she was ten. We’d bonded overher lack of an affinity too, and I’d found myself clicking with her bubbly, outgoing personality.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Haley said with a groan, as if Sara had suggested an after-class dentist trip.
Haley was the opposite of Sara, tall and thin, with light brown hair, hazel eyes, and skin so pale she needed sun protectionin the middle of winter. She was also an introvert who’d rather visit her gynecologist than go to a party. “I need to study,”she stated, pouting as hard as she could. “And the next book in that witch-warrior series releases at midnight, so I absolutelyneed to stay up for it.”
Belle shook her head, falling in on the other side of Sara, her glorious red curls cascading down her back. “Girl, the factthat you’re reading witch stories is disturbing. Humans rarely get the details right.”
Sara’s laugh burst from her as she tried to cover it with a cough. “I figured that’s why she reads them, to laugh at all thebullshit and inaccuracies. If I hear about one more wand reference, I’ll probably throw myself off the Lewington Mountainsout the back there.”
Haley rolled her eyes at Sara’s dramatics. “It’s calledfantasyfor a reason. I like to escape.”
“Yeah, into all of those spicy scenes,” I casually added, forcing myself to remain straight-faced. “There were lots of magicwands in the one she was reading the other day, only they weren’t attached to anyone’s hand—”
Haley let out a little shriek and covered her ears. “Oh mygoddess, you three are the worst.” Despite the horror twisting her face, she was smiling. “But you’re also not wrong. I’m not opposed to a little one-handed reading at times.”
It was such an unexpected comment from our nature sprite that all of us paused and stared at her. Mirth trickled up throughmy chest, and I fought the urge to ask her what the book title was.
“Well, fuck,” Belle rasped. “I’m ashamed to say that it took me a beat to understand what you meant. By the way, what’s thename of your book? Asking for a friend.”
