Page 19 of Magic in the Woods
“Gideon!”someone yelled out.
Noise meant an increase in intensity. Everyone down here fed off one another. One yell turned into ten, which turned into fifty in a matter of seconds. Chaos was incoming.
That was what I got for trying to learn, trying to attend a class where I practiced my magic. Being the only male witch at the Academy might have seemed like a dream—the books I’d read had princes vying for princesses and knights going to battle for their partners—but here, the attention wasn’t a dream, it was a literal nightmare.
The witches here didn’t want to get to know me, they wanted me for my…maleness. It didn’t matter if I’d sprouted five extra toes or another head—they wanted the clout, the prestige of being the partner of the newest male witch.
My walk turned into a run, which turned into a sprint. I was running down the hallway, bursting through the doors into the dome, the witches’ hot breath on the back of my neck.
Their hands grabbed at my clothes, my jacket tugging back away from my shoulders, my arms being pulled backward as the sleeves rolled down my arms.
Once the jacket released my wrists, I was free for a moment. My feet dug into the dirt ground, pushing off as I tried to gain speed toward my room. I glanced behind me once, the faces of desperate witches surrounding me.
I put my key code into the door of my room, the accepting beep releasing its first decibel before I turned the handle, slipping through the door and closing it behind me. I flipped the latch—the extra one that didn’t automatically lock every time the door closed.
My back against the door, I felt the witches’ fists pound on the wood, my head bouncing up and down with the tremors.
That had been way too close. It’d be a while before they calmed down, before they left the door of the room they knew I was hiding in.
Still, soon, they’d leave. In my experience this stand-off usually lasted a day, and then they’d get hungry, sleepy, or bored.
This would all be over soon—both the witches pounding on my door and my time here at the Academy.
The Autumnal Equinox was quickly approaching.
Either I’d pick a partner or escape. My hope was on the latter.
CHAPTER NINE
Dafni
Don’t makeme regret giving her to you to raise instead of putting her in the Academy where she belongs.I sat straight up in bed, strands of my red hair stuck in the corner of my lips. Matilda still haunted me. Her voice still sent shivers down my spine and made sweat appear along the back of my neck.
The wet sweat instantly became cold against my skin, and I shivered again, this time from the cold. Wind blew the branches of the maple tree against my window. It was summer, but an unseasonable cold snap had blown in and cooled everything down over the last few days. It’d been a welcome relief to us in the trailer and to the plants in the garden. This year, I’d helped plant the garden in the spring. It’d been terrible to watch all of our hard work, the leaves of the plants we’d tended to as seedlings, turn yellow, burnt from the hot sun.
A shiver ran down my spine again as Matilda’s voice echoed in my head. Like the chilly temperature outside, she was cold, still in the freezer, unable to reach me except in my nightmares.
My feet hit the floor as I rubbed my eyes. I’d snuck a peek into the freezer every time I was around when Annabel opened it to get a package of meat for dinner. I always saw the black pail sitting there, but I never saw the top, never saw the opaque ice that enclosed Matilda. It wouldn’t hurt to check—just one time. I wanted to see for myself that she was frozen, still trapped, where she couldn’t hurt me or anyone else. Just for my peace of mind. No one could blame me for looking. Checking.
I pulled down the nightdress I’d borrowed from Emily. This one was two sizes too small, riding up my thighs. I tested the door handle of my room tentatively.
The knob turned smoothly until the last part of the turn, when it stuck for a second, sending a loudpopthroughout the trailer. I squeezed my eyes closed, waiting for Annabel to investigate or Luke to stomp through the house in search of the sound. No noises met my ears as I squeezed the turned door handle still in my palm. Slowly, as not to let the hinges squeak, I opened the door, letting the slightly cooler air from the kitchen wash over me. The refrigerator with the freezer above was ten steps away, if I took long strides. I’d walk over there quietly, check if my mother was still frozen solid, and quickly return to my room. A one-minute operation. I could do this.
Walking on the balls of my feet, I spread my toes to dampen the sound of my footsteps as I made my way across the kitchen. I counted my steps in my head,seven…eight, until I made it to the freezer. Gripping the handle tightly, I pulled, wincing at the sound the freezer door made when the suction broke. Billows of cold mist landed on my skin as a dim light from the back of the freezer shone on my face. Keeping onehand on the freezer door, I reached in, grabbing the top of the pail, tilting it toward me.
“The cat’s still frozen.” The voice startled me. I let go of the pail, letting it fall back into the freezer. I slammed the door shut before turning around, the back of my body plastered to the front of the refrigerator. The kitchen seemed darker now that I’d stared into the light of the freezer. A silhouette sat at the kitchen table I’d just walked by. How had I not seen that?
“You can check if you want, Dafni.” The way he said my name made the nerves in my back tingle. He was right. There weren’t any rules saying I couldn’t.
It was my pail, after all.
I pulled my back off the refrigerator before I turned around and opened the freezer, letting the door swing open. I tilted the pail down again, this time running my hand along the hard opaque ice that encased my mother. I could see the blurry outline of her orange fur. As an extra precaution, I summoned my water magic, further freezing the ice, tiny crystals forming along the surface. Relief flooded my body, quelling my nerves. She was still contained.
I closed the freezer door slower than I’d opened it, wanting to take my time turning around.
“Come sit down with us, Dafni. We’d like to talk to you.” That was Annabel’s voice.
What were they both doing awake in the middle of the night?
