Page 58 of The Goddess is Awakened
“Yeah. It’s not a freshman. I’ve scented most of them in class or magical combat. It’s pretty distinct. It’s not cologne, it’s their natural scent, but itsmellslike the kind of cologne the type of guy wears that you take home from the bar for a one-time thing and he goes full stalker.”
I nodded. I prided myself on my descriptions, but I hadn’t put my finger on this one and she was spot on. It smelled good enough to go home with him, but it gave you a headache after that when you realized he was toxic.
“That’s not a vampire bite,” Church said.
“Basilisk venom?” George said. “There’s one here who keeps flashing snake eyes at me and doesn’t seem to like witches.”
Baby Drake? We bonded over Church pissing off the ghosts. Drake didn’t trust witches, but he wasn’t violent. Drake wasn’t here to kill witches. He wanted to find out what happened to his mom. I wasn’t an energy vampire, but I was good at reading people. Drake was a big softie. He was also the only basilisk here, so she could only be talking about him.
“It’s not Drake,” Azren said.
Did Azren have more secrets?
“It could—”
“Trust me. Drake isn’t a killer.”
George looked like she didn’t believe Azren and was going to go digging into Drake. That wasn’t going to end well because Drake thought she was a witch and no one knew if one killed his parents. I pulled George into a bear hug.
“It’s not Drake,” I said.
She looked like she didn’t believe me either. We were going to have to ease her into the idea that this wasn’t our resident basilisk.
“Where is her ghost?” Mina asked.
Azren got this sad look on their face.
“Hiding in the veil. She’s probably terrified, doesn’t remember what happened or know that she’s dead, but she knows she’s safe there. Does anyone know her name?”
I felt like an utter asshole. I’d seen her around campus, but I never learned her name. No one in our group had except Mina, who was a year ahead of us.
“She’s a junior. Her name is Fleur Howler. Her family isn’t famous or anything, but she’s insanely talented in her charms classes. Fleur was pretty advanced and doing independent study. She was building a nest egg for when she graduated, selling them to students. They weren’t just powerful charms. She fitted them into beautiful jewelry.”
“Would anyone want to hurt her?” George asked.
“Not that I can think of. Every grade here has their mean girl and guy who is an asshole to everyone. A lot of them have flocked to the headmaster’s daughter because she’s like them and can get them favors. Even the really awful people here loved Fleur. She was not just insanely talented. She was genuinely kind and didn’t have a mean bone in her body. Oh, shit. She already formed her coven. They are going to be devastated. A lot of people courted her and she only picked the really good ones.”
“A jealous asshole?” Mags asked. “He couldn’t have her so no one else could?”
“Nah,” I said. “I was one of those once in my youth. It was very brief because my momma found out about it, but I blamed the guys, not her.”
“She’s not talking about that,” George said. “Not everyone has moms like ours.”
“And you’re still an infant compared to me,” Azren said. “Was anyone upset she didn’t choose them for her coven? Someone is trying to send a message with this.”
Mina ran her fingers through her hair.
“Look, she’s a year ahead of me and I don’t really pay that much attention to straight people drama. I’ve bought several of her charms, so I’ve chatted with her and her coven. I only knew people kept trying to join it because some of the guys in my banshee classes are idiots. She picked her four. The coven is set and they are all in agreement, but they think she’ll change her mind. They aren’t psycho about it.”
“Are there any gods who eat hearts?” George asked Azren.
That wasfucked up.
“Ammit, but this wasn’t her. Ammit was created back in Egyptian days. I lived among those gods because that civilization revered and respected death. She wasn’t a serial killer, and she never ate the hearts of the living. She was meant to be a representation of the journey into the afterlife. This was surgical. Whoever did this knew what they were doing. I doubt this was a student. They don’t teach this here.”
George put her hand on Azren’s shoulder and gave them a knowing look.
“You need to call her ghost.”
