Page 34 of Magic in the Woods
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Dafni
There werethree other water magics in our small group of new witches. We had a work bench to ourselves, four cauldrons and burners sitting on top. It was our little potion station—with ingredients in glass bottles on the shelves beneath the counter.
To say things were going well…would be a lie. Arcana drilled the water magics, having us make the same potion over and over again until everyone got it right. If one witch messed up one step, we all had to start over.
Suffice it to say, we almost never got to the point of a finished potion. Everything had to be measured accurately, added correctly, and mixed the right way. How Arcana paid attention to everyone in the room so closely, especially when she was also monitoring air and earth magics, I’d never understand.
However, today was different. Today we were making a love potion—a simple one—and the four of us had yet to mess up. We’d taken our time measuring. We’d sprinkled in dried ingredients and poured liquid with accuracy. Our stirring speed had been steady. Not too fast and not too slow.
I’d assisted my grandmother many times making love potions for my mother to use at the Coven. I tried to match pace with everyone—tried not to go too fast, seem too knowledgeable, but I hadn’t needed to pay as close of attention to my love potion as the other witches who watched every bubble break with bated breath.
Tucked between the cauldron in front of me and my stomach, I mixed a healing potion that didn’t need to brew over a flame for the witch I’d pushed over. If the Academy wasn’t going to help her, I knew I could.
It was a simple potion, one that my grandmother had quickly mixed up when I’d returned to the cottage one day with a skinned knee and once a broken pinkie toe. The potion helped with pain and promoted healing. It wasn’t an instant fix, but it would help her body heal.
When Arcana wasn’t paying attention to the water magics, I corked the tube and shook the liquid, mixing the potion together. I tucked the tube between my breasts, letting the curved bottom sit on the bottom of my bra. Readjusting my shirt, I continued stirring my love potion—no one any the wiser. Maybe if I gave the witch a healing potion, she’d forgive me for injuring her. I didn’t need enemies here.
Petunia, on the other hand, didn’t seem to care about making friends. In fact, it seemed like shewantedenemies. I’d watched as she’d used her air magic to blow her fellow air witch’s items off course. She’d even pointed her air magic at the ground, blowing dirt into the eyes of the earth witches that were crouched down, begging the dirt for a plant to sprout.
Arcana stopped lecturing one of the earth witches who’d gotten dirt in her eyes as soon as she saw an older man with a white mustache standing in the doorway.
“Robinson,” she said, her voice syrupy as she stepped close enough to him to smell what he’d had for breakfast. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”
The man looked around the room, taking his time to look at each of us. “I’ve come to see the new witches, see how their preparations are coming for the evaluations.”
“Yes, yes.” Arcana ushered him further into the room. “We are working hard.” She paused looking at all of us staring at her. “Do something!” she shouted.
All of us looked down and began practicing our magic in full force.
“Very good,” Robinson said.
I looked up to find him staring at Petunia. She had three rocks the size of her fist spinning around her. The other air magic witches backed away as to not get struck.
Petunia smiled, all her teeth showing as she flicked her fingers, making the rocks spin faster.
Robinson clapped his hands as his eyes circled in their sockets following the spinning stones. “She’s a powerful one,” I heard him say to Arcana.
The water magic witch next to me yelped before ducking below the workbench. I leaned back just in time to dodge one of Petunia’s rocks that’d come flying toward us. The rock arced in the air, ending its journey in my love potion. I hadn’t backed far enough away to avoid the splash that followed the end of its flight. The hot liquid covered the entire front of my shirt, my face dripping with the pink potion. I used my fingers to wipe my eyes, blinking several times until I could see.
“Dafni!” Arcana yelled from where she stood with Robinson.
I licked my lips before wiping my mouth with the clean back of my hand.
“You’re a mess! Return to your dorm and change.”
I locked eyes with Brooke, who grimaced, and then with Petunia, who gave an overexaggerated shrug, as if she had no idea what happened. Behind her, two other witches were barely on their feet, doubled over, hit by the other two rocks Petunia had been spinning.
“Water magics, start over!” I heard Arcana shout as I left the classroom.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Gideon
My back hurt.There was no way to reach this spot behind the electrical box without being a serious contortionist. It was dark in the closet, the only light coming from the flashlight I’d brought in to help me see. I’d left it lying on the dusty floor, the light directed at the brick wall where it connected to the floor with flaky mortar. I held a piece of white paper over the top of the brick in one hand, a piece of black chalk in the other. The chalk I held on its side, using the long, straight edge to rub against the paper. Slowly, white letters appeared surrounded by the black chalk.If only I can hold this position long enough to get every letter.
This was the third etched word I’d found around the Academy’s brick walls. The first word,alloco,I’d found when I was a child in one of the Academy’s bathroom stalls. I’d rubbed thoseletters onto a small piece of paper like I did this one—standing on the shaky lid of the tank to reach the etching.
