Page 58 of Witchlore
“Your magic,” he whispers. “It’s—it’s right there.”
“Yeah, I—I don’t—”
“CHEVRET!” a voice bellows, interrupting my confusion, and we both turn to see Professor Wallace standing at the doorway of the library. Unfortunately, Elizabeth’s mother is standing beside him. Her eyes are fixed on my slightly glowing fingers and I quickly let go of Bastian, stuffing my hands into my pockets. “You and Lord, in my office, now! Everyone else, get in the seminar!”
Carl is groaning, cradling his face where Bastian punched him, and Elizabeth’s mother immediately steps back into the library.
“Message me,” I tell Bastian urgently, as he moves to follow Professor Wallace and Carl. He nods, squeezing my wrist before walking away, running a hand through his hair. The other students are giving me a wide berth, staring at me with terrified eyesas if I’m the one who produced the colossal blast of magic and not Bastian.
“Come with me,” Kira says, abruptly grabbing my arm. I’m shocked when she pulls me around the corner to the toilets rather than pushing me into the seminar. It must be serious if Kira Tavi is ducking out of a college-mandated activity. She’s breathing hard, her hands trembling as the door closes behind us.
“Is this about peer mentoring?” I ask blandly.
“You need to stop hanging out with Bastian,” she says. “He’s dangerous.”
“What, because he beat up Carl?” I exclaim, and then, when someone comes out of a cubicle and looks at us curiously, I drop my voice to a whisper. “I can’t believe you’re defending that bigot.”
“I’m not defending him! Bastian literally just shot a dangerous spell at me!” Kira doesn’t seem to care about being overheard. Her voice is getting louder and higher and she’s trembling. “He’ll be lucky if he isn’t thrown out!”
“If he is, it would be a complete overreaction,” I say, trying to brazen it out. “It’s not a spell designed to hurt anyone; his coven is just different from yours.”
“You mean dangerous.” Kira pushes her purple glasses up her nose, angrily. “I heard he used to be part of aNimuecoven!”
“It’s calledArlodhes an lynn,” I correct her, utterly butchering the Cornish, but I want her to realize I know more about Bastian than she does. “And so what? You and Elizabeth were part of an Artemis coven, it’s not liketheydon’t have some dodgy views.”
“If you knew anything, you’d know witch communities are diverse; covens that follow life cycles often celebrate and meet together, but it doesn’t mean we’reidentical,” she snaps. “At home,my family follow Tafukt. We celebrate the same seasons, but wedon’thave the same beliefs as Dr. Toppings, and unlike a Nimue coven, wedefinitelydon’t have a reputation for wanting witches to be superpowered!”
That might be her way of telling me she’s less homophobic than Elizabeth’s mum, but it doesn’t exactly endear me to her right now.
“You don’t know anything about what Bastian wants!”
“I know that people who dothatkind of magic are reckless!” Kira points to the closed door. “They shouldn’t be trusted!”
“Like shapeshifters, you mean?” I say harshly. “Witches shouldn’t be friends with shifters, right? Shouldn’t go out with them?”
“You know that’s not what I meant.” Her brown eyes are flashing angrily. “Honestly, Lando, you act like you’re the first bloody shapeshifter to have ever been in a relationship with a witch! You know it’s not true, I keep telling you I wasn’t against your relationship, what’s it going to take for you to hear me?”
“It’s going to take you getting out of my life and actually respecting my privacy,” I say coldly. “You keep trying to pull me and Bastian apart. It’s none of your business.”
“Elizabeth made it my business.” She steps closer and I can feel how wound up she is. Her ring is glowing softly, and her magic, which I hadn’t noticed until now smells like ripe plums, is rising off her skin. “She would want me to look out for you, she worried about you all the time. The last thing she’d want is you hanging out with someone like Bastian Chevret.”
I laugh in her face. I can’t help it, because it’s too absurd to think about what Elizabeth would want in this situation, especially whenKira has no idea how complicated it really is, that Bastian is the only one helping me get Elizabeth back to the land of the living.
“I’m sorry, but that’s absolute crap,” I say. “Don’t tell me what she wanted for me. You sound like an idiot.”
Kira’s lips purse into a line and her eyes gleam.
“I know a dangerous witch when I see one. I know what happens when a witch loses control of their power,” she says. “He’s right on the edge. If you’re smart, you’ll stay away from him.”
“Guess I’m not smart, then.” I turn to open the door but she pushes her hand against it.
“Has he asked you to do anything?” she asks me urgently. “Any spells?”
I stare at her, thinking,How does she know?Then I realize Bastian must have been right on the money about how my extra questions in class would draw suspicion. I decide sarcasm is the way to go.
“Yeah, totally, he’s tricked me into a spell that’s going to drain all of my magic so he can use it for himself, like a fucking supervillain,” I say. “And I’m going along with it because I’m just a lonely, gullible shifter who can’t look after themself, right?”
“That’s not what I mean!” she says, almost desperately. “Just… don’t do any magic with him!”
