“I think that goes with the territory of being an elder. It can’t be easy keeping all the magic assholes across America in line.” It took a lot of magic, and attention to detail, to make sure the covens remained safe, and operating within the rules of our covenant.
Belle snorted. “Oh, I know. He tells me all the freaking time. The only time we did talk this time was about the Magic Covenant.”
The covenant was an ancient set of rules, blessed by witches and warlocks of the twelfth century. It had been amended andadjusted to modernize over the years, but the basic principles remained the same.
“What’s happening with it?”
She blinked at me. “You know... I don’t even remember. I tuned him out for most of it, but I can assure you, it was asdreadfully boring as you’d imagine.”
I tried really hard not to laugh, because her dad’s attitude hurt her deep down. “Maybe next holiday you can come stay withthe Hallistars.”
Belle’s entire face lit up, her flawless skin shining. “That would be amazing. Your family sounds like a fucking dream. Hardto believe they’re even real.”
We weren’t perfect, but I’d fight the goddess herself for them.
Pulling herself higher, Belle was focused in a way she hadn’t been a second ago. “Okay, our evil-monster-creator problem.What’s the next move?”
“More research, I’m sure,” I said, but in reality we’d almost tapped out the library’s resources. “And I’m going to spenda little more time keeping an eye on Logan.”
Her eyes snapped to me. “You going deep-cover-007? Seduce that spellcaster, please.”
I groaned through my laughter. “You’re terrible. As delightful as that seems, I prefer to fuck warlocks who don’t hate my guts.”
She tilted her head, this smug little smile on her face. “Come on, bestie. We’re past the point of lying to each other. There’sa lot between you and Logan, for sure, and some of it might very well be hate, but it’s not the strongest emotion. Not bya long shot.”
I chose not to address her insinuations. “He’s hiding a lot of shit. I’m going to figure that spellcaster out.”
Her lips twitched, but she let it go. “Dad said that it won’t be long until they wrap up their investigation, and then thecollege will incorporate a blanket of energy while they conduct external searches. If that happens, not even Logan will beable to perform the sort of magic to create the monsters.”
We were on a time crunch, and while a blanket spell over Weatherstone would make us safer, it wouldn’t solve the problem ofwho was behind it. Despite their hopes, I was under no delusion that the professors or the council were going to figure itout. Not after this amount of time.
“Okay, so research and stalking the spellcaster.” Belle nodded, nothing but confidence in her expression. “I’m cool with thesenext steps.” She bounced off my bed, smacked a kiss on my cheek, and said, “See you in the morning.”
After her abrupt departure, I got ready for bed, and when I was snuggled under the covers I looked through the photos fromGran’s box. There was enough light through the window for me to just make out the words.
On the moonstone she’d penned:Don’t use in the height of the moon, because the power is too great.The amethyst stated:Strongest when teamed with aquamarine, for true power boost.The jade:Deadly to those who wish you harm.The agate:Will call strongest.
There were quite a few others, and with each image camethe real sense that my obsession with crystals might have more to do with my magic than I’d ever believed. Were there witches and warlocks out there who did use crystals to strengthen their affinity? Had Gran been one? If that was possibly true, why had I never heard of them before, and which affinity did they mainly fall into? Maybe that was part of the issue with my energy lock and finding the perfect key.
Next time we had a weekend at home, I’d ask Mom if I could read the letters she’d been left. Maybe there were answers in themafter all.
Classes started with a bang the next day, the professors informing us that we were over halfway through our freshman year,and if we wanted to make it to sophomore year we should have started studying two months ago. “Not like we’ve been dealingwith monsters and murders,” Sara muttered from my right, as we desperately took notes in Flora and Fauna Studies.
Apparently, that was afail out of freshman yearattitude, and from that point on we were nose to books, trying to catch up on all the spells we should know by now. My planto tail Logan had to take a slight back seat due to the sheer workload we were handed, but we did have one of his rare spellcasterclasses coming up soon. It wasn’t really an ideal place to observe him, but it was a start.
“This is weird, right?” Haley whispered, clutching her Kindle to her chest. Her textbooks banged at her side in her satchel,but her Kindle was always safely in her hands. “We haven’t had a spellcaster lesson in weeks. Do you think it’s because ofthe attacks?”
“That’s what I’m assuming,” Belle added, as we hurried through the halls. “Maybe he’s going to give us some tips on how tostay safe.”
Ironic if he was the bastard creating the monsters.
The class was full and weirdly quiet, with only a few low whispers as we entered. Since the attack, there was a sense of unease filtering through day-to-day life, and with no answers forthcoming, the tension continued to ramp right up.
A few minutes later Logan strolled in, confident as always, as if he owned the college. My traitorous hormones did a stupidflip at the sight of him, heat settling low in my body as I noticed the way his uniform stretched across his broad shouldersas he walked.
Evil or not, the outside was perfection.
His dark hair was shorter, artfully messed on top of his head, as those icy eyes surveyed the room. “Quiet down.” His expressionwas flat. “Headmaster Gregor has asked me to add another class to explain how I destroyed the creature in the hallway.” Heshrugged off his jacket, presumably to counter the slightly warmer than expected day, and draped it over a nearby chair. Whenhe rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, my mouth went dry, while other parts of mevery much did not.
