Page 56 of When Storms Awaken

“Won’t it be dangerous for me to go there and be around other witches? Being a Stormshade and all…” I pointed out.

“I don’t think so,” Puck replied with a shrug. “Nobody knows you exist. Stormshades are supposedly extinct, and as long as you don’t use your storm magic, nobody has any reason to suspect. If you don’t use your magic, you won’t have a recognizable magical signature that anyone can detect. They’ll think you are a regular old witch like the rest of us.”

“That might be true. When we first met, I could smell it all over you. But you had been using your magic, even if you didn’t know it yet,” Nik agreed. I could see him running the possible scenarios through his head, thinking of every possible way this might go wrong. “And anybody looking for a Stormshade would be in The Stone City anyway, they wouldn’t be in Prins.”

“What is Prins like?” Tess asked, a wistful note in her voice.

“Well, we will just have to show you, won’t we.” Puck winked at her as he took another sip and Tess practically melted off the bar stool.

“A weekend in Istmere? It would be good to get away, even if only for a little while,” I agreed.

“We just need to lay the footwork with our parents,” Tess said.

“Agreed. We need to have a bulletproof plan.” I nodded.

“So, it’s settled. We’ll go to Istmere next weekend and travel to Prins through Siraleth,” Nik said.

“Where should we stay?” Puck asked, “Not like we can make a reservation ahead of time.” He laughed, taking another swig of his beer.

“We have a few options, but we should stay at our favorite inn if they have a vacancy,” Nik replied, and Puck agreed with a nod and a smile. From the looks on their faces they had made trouble the last time they had been there, no doubt.

“Is Prins close to Siraleth?” I asked.

“Close enough,” Nik responded with a shrug. How close was close enough? I would wear my most comfortable sneakers, just in case. What do you even pack to spend the weekend in the witch realm? What would it be like? The excitement of returning to Istmere was burning in my veins and I couldn’t wait for next weekend.

“Packlight.” Nik gave Tess a pointed look, and she rolled her eyes at him. “Whatever we carry with us, we carry on our backs.”

“I am so excited.” Tess squealed clapping her hands together. “Now I get to be a part of your witchy little group.”

“We can practice your magic while we’re there, if you want,” Puck offered, finishing off the beer and placing the empty in the sink.

“Obviously,” Tess replied. “I am leagues behind all of you, including Diana. This is so exciting!”

“It’s settled then,” I said, pushing out from my barstool. “We tell our parents we are going on a college tour, and we take the portal to Siraleth. Then travel to Prins on foot.”

“Isn’t it a little late in the year to be taking a college tour?” Puck pointed out, “Shouldn’t you all be decided by now?”

“Tess and I are both late bloomers,” I conceded with a laugh. Neither of us had exactly figured out what we would be doing after high school yet, even though most of our class had already chosen their schools. “I could say the same for you.”

“Nik and I are going back to Istmere after…school.” Puck trailed off as he met Nik’s glare. Was that something I wasn’t supposed to know? Were there colleges in Istmere? There was still so much that I didn’t know about that realm.

“We had better get back tonight before my mom suspects anything.” I stifled a yawn with the back of my hand. “She thinks Tess’ parents were picking me up, remember?”

Nik pushed out his bar stool and wrapped his arm around my waist from behind, resting his head on my shoulder. “Ah, good point. Let’s get you home, firecracker. I’ll have you all to myself next weekend.”

Thepastweekofschool sped by in a blur, the excitement of traveling to Istmere taking up our every waking moment. Tess and I had packed as light as humanly possible, making sure that everything we brought would be comfy and easy to walk in. Well…as light as Tess could ever be expected to pack.

I had filled my backpack and kept it to the essentials, knowing we would only be gone for two days. My mom easily bought the story that I was going on a college tour with Tess, and so did her parents. We had planned to have Nik drive, that way we only had to leave one car at the meadow over the weekend.

Fletcher had been relatively nonconfrontational all week, and he and Nik had largely ignored each other in class. I was half expecting there to be a scene when Nik had first walked in and seen Fletcher at Ms. Finch’s desk, his feet kicked up. Nik had only sat down quietly, his back to him. Fletcher didn’t say anything about Ms. Finch, which made me wonder if they were involved with each other after all. Surely, he would have taken the opportunity to gloat, or at least taunt us with the run-in if he had been behind it.

We hadn’t run into Ms. Finch again, and there had been no sign of her in town. It appeared nobody else at the movie theater had heard anything out of the ordinary, or else school would have been buzzing with the gossip. How they hadn’t heard our art teacher turn into a giant wolf and try to tear our heads off was beyond me. She must have changed back into her human form in the theater bathroom before slinking off. Why did she want to hurt me? And most importantly…would she be back?

I imagined Fletcher’s substitute position was only temporary, and that he wasn’t staying in Silver Oaks forever. He would have to return to The Stone City at some point. Would Ms. Finch resume her position as our art teacher after he left?

I was happy to be going somewhere Ms. Finch wouldn’t be able to find me, and get away from all of this craziness for the weekend. I had to admit, I was a little jealous that Tess would get to practice her magic in Istmere and I couldn’t. I knew it was safer this way, but I still relished the feel of harnessing my magic in Istmere. How it had been so much easier than conjuring it in this realm. How much more powerful my magic had felt at my fingertips when I was there. There were no Stormshades in Istmere, and I couldn’t exactly go parading it around. I would have to keep all of my magic, even simple spells, locked down over the weekend.

I couldn’t help but wonder if it was my mom or my dad who had magic lineage, and which of Tess’ parents passed it down to her. I wished it was something I could talk to my mom about, but we were so entirelyopposite. We never connected on the same page. If I ever tried to explain any of this to her, she would never believe me.

---