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  Aspen dropped his gaze to the floor and then brought it back to me. “You risked your life for everyone.”

  We sat there in the infirmary for a moment in silence until I reached up and touched his face, rough with stubble. Newfound magic tingled in my hand as I grazed his skin. Magic. I have magic. But I had no idea how I’d done what I did at the battle—absorbing the magic of others. “You also kissed me.”

  The right side of his mouth inched up into the tiniest of crooked smiles. “I told you . . . I was only dreaming.”

  Dreaming about Josy, lover boy.

  I broke into a chuckle, which I immediately regretted since it pulled at the bruised muscles on my chest and stomach. Aspen’s cheeks turned beet-red.

  Saving him from further taunting, several footfalls sounded near the open door. Through the entrance walked Professor Magnolis and Emiko, holding a small brown paper box. They were still alive too.

  “The doctor says you are going to be okay for now.” Magnolis smiled, but I could still see the worry behind the expression.

  I peered down at my body. “I think so.”

  Emiko stepped to the bedside and handed me the gift. “I made that for you.”

  I opened the lid, and inside was the loveliest of chocolate cupcakes, sprinkled with pink sugar. When I lifted the treat from the box, the sugar sparkled with magic and danced over the surface of the frosting.

  “Holly taste-tested for me, and she said they taste like chocolate—not dirt.”

  The four of us broke into a chuckle. Nine only tucked his paw over his ear as if to block out the disturbance.

  “Maybe we’re all going to pass Introduction to Spellcasting after all.” I placed the cupcake on the table next to me for later.

  “I have no doubt after last night.” Professor Magnolis turned her attention toward Aspen and Emiko. “If you will excuse us, I need to speak with Josy alone.”

  Nine growled. Do I need to go, too?

  “You can stay.” The professor lowered herself to the corner of my bed.

  Before he left, Aspen grinned. “I’m going to grab something to eat, and then I’ll be back.”

  His new attentiveness warmed my heart, and my stomach fluttered with anticipation for his return, but by the seriousness on Magnolis’s face, I knew what she had to tell me was important.

  My friends shut the door. “While you’ve been asleep, the Directorate has been in discussion with Chancellor Sterling and the senior staff at the school.” She folded her hands into her lap and trained her gaze away from me.

  Nervousness buzzed in my chest. “They know he’s my uncle and they’re not letting me stay, are they? It’s too dangerous.”

  Magnolis looked back to me, and a line formed between her brows. She whispered, “shh…no one else knows that he is your uncle but me, because I already knew this.”

  I opened my mouth to speak but she raised her voice and cut me off. “On the contrary, everyone wants you here to complete your education and training. But that said, it also means that Zayne knows you are here. He saw your power last night and is going to want to control it. Your ability to take the magic of others and funnel it is intriguing— and dangerous.”

  I swallowed. “I don’t want to put the other students in more danger than they already are.”

  Magnolis shook her head. “We need someone who has the kind of magic you have. It’s rare and the only kind that can drive back the Morelli. With such power we can secure The Side of Magic and ensure that The Other Side remains safe as well. The Directorate has ordered the Academy to be placed under high security, and if you have any need to leave the campus, you will be provided with an escort.”

  I took a shaky breath. Finally, I said, “I’ll do my best to learn to control it.”

  Professor Magnolis patted my hand right on top of where the ring sat. “I know you will. Both realms are depending on it.”

  Episode 2: The Dark Curse

  Jenetta Penner

  Chapter 1

  I held my hand out into the moonlight streaming through the window of my dorm room and admired the filigreed ruby ring on my right index finger. The beautiful stone appeared clear and blemish-free. Wearing the ring made me feel close to my parents, especially my mom. I’d never experienced that feeling before.

  Living on The Other Side with Edie Barrows, the woman I’d always known as my grandmother, the idea of Charlette and Liam being my parents had never felt real. More like a childhood fairy tale that I knew by heart. I had my life with Grandma and Nine, and I was fine with that.

  But Zayne Gabrick’s words keep echoing in my head and have made sleep nearly impossible for the last few weeks.

  That ring was your grandmother’s, and I’d like to see it returned.

  How could that horrible man be my mom’s brother? My uncle—and this ring belonged to their mother.

  Memories of the way he leered at me like a predator and nearly wiped out the entire student body with his army of Morelli didn’t help the sleeping situation, either. My eyelids would shut, and there he was—ready to kill me or assimilate me back into the Morelli.

  Of course I wanted neither of those things. I didn’t want to hurt anyone, and I didn’t like the knowledge that the ring I wore might be fueled by dark magic—but I wouldn’t take it off either.

  Professor Magnolis told me not to worry about that because magic itself is neither good nor bad: it’s about the user’s intentions. She knew best, of course. But the proof that I was Morelli and using an antique token belonging to them created a bad feeling that refused to leave.

  Not that it mattered much. Once I healed from the battle, my ability to use magic seemed to regress anyway. It wasn’t gone, but I wasn’t adept, and there seemed to be no fear among the faculty that I might send someone to a different realm accidentally. Professor Sterling thought that when the ring broke the enchantment on Nine and me, my magic was fueled by my sudden, strong emotions. To use the powers on an everyday basis, I needed to figure out how to access it without any kind of supercharge.

  Snort.

  I glanced to Merrygold and chuckled. Why she slept every night was beyond me. If a person was a ghost, they no longer had the bodily needs of the living. But there she was, asleep in the bed next to me. I think she just wanted to be as alive as possible—and living people sleep.

  A light thumping sound came from the open window, and a shadowy figure perched on the sill.

  “You know you shouldn’t get too comfortable with your prowling,” I whispered to avoid waking Merrygold. “Professor Sterling is only allowing you to stay because I told him you helped me realize the ring had broken my enchantment, which helped me drive off the Morelli. He still doesn’t like cats.”

  You saved that man’s life. He owes you. Nine brought his right paw to his mouth and licked at the pads. And this place hasn’t been so mouse-free for years.

  Nine’s gash on his leg had healed up nicely. Professor Magnolis cast a spell for speed healing and most of his hair had already grown over the injury.

  “Gross, Nine. Don’t tell me about your hunting excursions. Mice are cute.”

  Merrygold groaned and turned over to face the pair of armoires.

  Nine stopped his grooming and leaped almost silently to the end of my bed. What do you think I am? A savage? I’m just extremely persuasive. He walked delicately across the covers and flopped down at my side.

  I scoffed and reached over to scratch his chin. He closed his eyes in sheer pleasure. I had no idea if Nine had been out hunting mice or if he was acting as their benevolent ruler, but right then he was too cute for me to care. A low rumble came from his throat, and a purr-fest ensued until he fell fast asleep in the crook of my arm.

  ✽✽✽

  The pinkish morning light finally spilled through the window, and Nine still lay at my side on his back. His legs were splayed open, and an occasional squeaky snore left his open mouth.

  I gingerly slipped my arm from around him, and he slumped to his
side.

  So early, he muttered, half asleep.

  “Oh, don’t mind me. Just getting ready for The World of Herbs.”

  Fascinating. Nine drifted off.

  “I loved that class,” Merrygold’s voice came from behind me. “Is Professor Lakeshore still teaching it? He was getting pretty old when I took it.”

  I turned to see Merrygold standing at the end of her bed. Perfect hair, perfectly pressed uniform.

  “He is. Herbology is interesting, but Rosalee is in there. I can’t take her glaring at me and whispering who knows what with her hive of friends.”

  Merrygold pursed her lips. “Doesn’t she remember how you saved her hide a few weeks ago?”

  I shook my head. “She thinks the entire battle was some sort of set-up to keep a Morelli inside the school.” I tugged my hair over my shoulder and wrapped a band from my wrist around it in a side ponytail. “Basically, as long as my hair is white, she’ll never think I belong at the Academy. She’d rather see all Morelli dead and gone.”

  My stomach twisted at the thought, and I changed the subject. “Have you been able to figure out a way for you to move on or at least leave this room?” I walked past her and grabbed a uniform set from my armoire.

  She eyed the pile of books from the library I’d gotten for her research. “I still don’t remember how I died, and no one else knows, either. It’s nearly impossible to match the right spell unless I know that.”

  My lips flatlined as I slipped on the clothes. “Maybe I could bring you some newspapers or something that announced your death. That might jog your memories.”

  She nodded. “That would be helpful.”

  Tap, tap. The sound came from the door. Merrygold vanished without so much as a goodbye. She didn’t like other people much; no one had treated her very well since she’d become a ghost except me.

  Nine jumped to his feet and skittered under my bed.

  I straightened my shirt, walked to the door, and pulled it open. In the hall stood Holly Leighton, dressed in the same uniform as me but with her face painted in glamorous fashion—thick, black, winged eyeliner, about a pound of mascara, and cherry-red lips.

  “Hi, Hol—” But I never got the chance to finish since she burst through the door and pushed past me to drop down on the end of Merrygold’s bed.

  Holly had warmed up to me a bit more since the dreaded Morelli battle. As I’d gotten to know her better, I think more than anything she liked defying her parents, who had warned her at least five times to stay away from that Morelli girl. She’s trouble, and you don’t want yourself wrapped up in trouble. But Holly seemed to like a little trouble and separating herself from the crowd. I guess after I saved her and everyone else, she’d decided that befriending me might be worth the risk.

  “You’re up early.” I pushed the door shut, and the metal latch clicked into place.

  She flicked her curly blonde hair behind her. “You think all this just happens? Even with a little magic, it takes time to look this good.” She leaned back on her elbows and raised a perfectly manicured brow.

  Holly wasn’t the type of beauty you saw in fashion magazines. She wasn’t rail-thin, her hair could be a bit wild, and she loved her make-up to the extreme. But as I’d gotten to know her, I think that made her all the more interesting—and honestly? Beautiful. She liked who she was, and nothing she did on the outside was to cover herself up, only to accentuate what was already there. I admired her despite her sometimes brash attitude, which scared me a little.

  I chuckled. “Well, it was worth it.”

  Holly studied me up and down. “The offer for a makeover still stands.” She pulled lip gloss from her pocket and held it between her fingertips. The air around the tube sparkled, and the contents inside transitioned from one rainbow color to the next. “I’m getting better at controlling more shades.”

  “I see that.” I hated make-up. Applying it took too much time, and then it never looked like I wanted it to anyway. “But another time, maybe. I’m going to grab breakfast, and then I need to get to herb class early to study the books Lakeshore won’t let us check out.”

  Holly sat up and shrugged. “Have it your way.” She stood and headed to the exit. “Dinner tonight?”

  “Yeah,” I said as she headed out the door. “I’ll see you and Emiko at six. I heard it’s mac and cheese night.”

  Holly arched a brow again. “We can only hope.”

  The door clicked shut, and I lowered myself to the edge of the bed. Nine didn’t reappear. He must have decided that under the bed was as good a place as any for a nap.

  I reached for the photo of my parents on my nightstand. My dad’s arm was wrapped around my mother, and I guess by the smiles on their faces that they were happy when the photo was taken. I hadn’t asked Nine yet. Part of me was afraid to know too much about my Morelli heritage.

  I let out a slow breath. Life was going pretty well, and I didn’t want to mess it up. Maybe going to a ‘spellcaster academy’ was going to be the best thing that ever happened to me.

  Chapter 2

  Just because Holly had warmed up to me didn’t mean anyone else had. Every day as I walked to classes, I could still hear the whispers and feel the stares on my back. I had gone from the girl who saved them back to the weird girl with the white hair—middle school all over again.

  As I walked past Ironhaven Auditorium, I spotted Aspen, book in hand and sitting with his back against a tree, doing what he did best—studying. My stomach fluttered. He wore blue slacks and a white button-up shirt, sans backward baseball cap since we were in official school hours and that was not in dress code. His wavy brown hair hung over his forehead. With his free hand, he mindlessly twirled a set of keys on a keyring around his finger. As Magnolis’s teaching assistant, he had an emergency set of keys that could get him into her office building and several offices inside.

  “Hey,” I said as I crossed the lawn.

  He eyed me for a second with those big, blue eyes that made my chest tingle and then, unfortunately, went back to the book. The blocky words on the cover read Advanced Spellcasting. “Big test today.”

  I didn’t know what was really up. The problem wasn’t a test but that Aspen had been distancing himself from me over the last couple of weeks. It was almost as if he had revealed too much of himself during the battle and now he was pulling back into his comfortable shell.

  “Any spells in there that can shift a person into a turtle?” I sat down next to him and placed my book bag on the ground.

  Aspen raised his attention back to me and quirked his right brow. He must have remembered the keys in his hand because he stuffed them into the front pouch of a black backpack with an emblem of three stars on top. “Why would anyone want to turn themselves into a turtle? What use is that?”

  “Never mind.” I kept telling myself that Aspen liked me—he had done his best to protect me the night of the battle with the Morelli, and there was no reason to put his life on the line if he didn’t care for me at all. But I knew enough about him to know he was a private person: trust for anyone outside his family may have been a foreign concept. I just figured I’d keep testing the waters—not only because of my tiny crush on him but because he'd proven to be loyal and brave. But showing vulnerability still seemed to be a struggle. “What’s your test on today?”

  “Teleportation.” He didn’t look up. “And so far, it's not my favorite chapter.”

  I reached for the textbook’s edge and pulled it down to see the spell.

  Teleportation and the Everyday Witch and Wizard read the title. Underneath was what looked like a brief history and facts about teleportation, and to the side were a bunch of Latin phrases I assumed comprised the basic spell. I was becoming more accustomed to Latin from Introduction to Spellcasting and Aspen’s tutoring sessions, but it was going to take more than a few weeks for the words to become second nature. Of course, learning Latin was not the primary component of casting spells anyway. Allowing the words to help chann
el the magic inside you was—and that was the hardest part. Every witch and wizard seemed to have their strong suits.

  “I’m sure you’ll do fine.” Aspen was on his way to becoming a powerful wizard. I had no doubt about that.

  He shot me a crooked smile that sped up my heart. “I might if I had some time to study.”

  “Is that your idea of a subtle hint?” I held his gaze, and by the way he held mine, I knew he didn’t really want me to leave. Even so, he eventually dropped his attention to the ground.

  “You know you can trust me.” I changed the subject.

  Aspen nodded. “See you for tutoring at five?”

  “Can we meet in the statue garden instead of the library?”

  “Sure. It might give us a better chance to practice some fieldwork.”

  I slung my bag over my shoulder and stood. “And you can tell me how that test went.”

  He smiled and I turned to leave, but he took my hand before I got far. His touch sparked magic inside me that lit my entire body up with electricity—at least it felt like magic. I dropped my attention to him.

  “Five o’clock.” His eyes twinkled.

  “See you then,” I finally said. Not that I wanted to, but I let go of his hand and headed to class. What I really wanted was a true first kiss with Aspen, not that silly accidental kiss we’d shared in his dorm room when he thought he was still dreaming.

  ✽✽✽

  I placed my book bag on a desk at the back of the class since I hated having Rosalee’s eyes boring into my back. The classroom was empty of other students, and Professor Lakeshore hunched at his messy desk examining a fresh-cut batch of some purplish plant I was unfamiliar with. To his side was a microscope and a small plastic dish with a piece of the plant inside. The professor would gaze into the viewer and then return his attention to the full plant. He was so engrossed in his work that he didn’t even notice my presence.