Spellcaster Academy: Episodes 1-4 (Spellcaster Academy Omnibus) Page 20

  Emiko leaned back away from the paper and raised her brows.

  My stomach sank, but I snatched the note before Emiko could get to it. I glanced around the room, and sure enough, Rosalee was with her hive of friends at the opposite end. The group was laughing and carrying on, not looking this way, but I was about ninety-nine percent sure the joke was about me.

  “What is it?” Emiko asked.

  I gritted my teeth and unwrapped the sheet.

  My family was extremely interested in last week’s events during fencing practice. I’d watch your back, Morelli. If the Academy doesn't take care of you, someone else might.

  The second I finished reading the words, the paper turned to ash and crumbled into my palm. Like magic, my eyes filled with unwanted tears, and I immediately turned my gaze down. I didn’t want Rosalee to witness the effect she had on me, but I was sure she’d already seen.

  Emiko immediately stood, walked to my side of the table and sat. “Is Rosalee harassing you again?” She put her arm around me.

  “Yes.” I admitted. “What am I going to do? If I reported her, it’s not as if anything would happen to change it.”

  Warm magic came from Emiko’s touch, and instantly, my emotions settled.

  “Rosalee is a bully whose only concern is that everyone follows the rules except her. That’s the way her entire family is. They have power, and they know it. She feels threatened by you, and she doesn’t like it.”

  “I’m only one person.” I made a pretense of wiping my mouth with my napkin so I could dry my eyes. “How much of a threat can I really be?”

  “Change is hard for people. Just your presence means something is shifting on The Side of Magic. There will always be people who want things to stay the same even if a new way is better, simply because the new way is not better for them.” Emiko tipped up my chin to her. “You being here at the Academy is better than not. I like you.”

  Hope radiated through me, and I was suddenly glad that I hadn’t sent Emiko away.

  “Now,” she said, her voice filled with authority, “we should eat our lunch and get out of here. There’s still some time before our next class starts.” Emiko pulled her tray across the table and handed me a piece of her fluffy garlic bread.

  I took it with gratitude and ate my cold soup.

  ✽✽✽

  I don’t know why I did it, but on our way to class I told Emiko everything. I couldn’t help but trust her, and since Holly knew about Professor Lakeshore and the curse, why shouldn’t Emiko?

  Eyes wide, Emiko brushed the snow from a stone bench with her gloved hands and slowly lowered herself to it. “No wonder Holly wouldn’t tell me—you both could have died that night.”

  I sat next to her and placed my head in my hands.

  “You have to tell Aspen, too.”

  I side-eyed Emiko. “I can’t tell Aspen everything. I already tried, and he didn’t believe me.”

  Emiko pinched her lips together. “Okay. I agree this curse might be a serious thing, and I don’t think you should take it lightly, but you didn’t really try to explain it to Aspen. You gave him a tiny portion of the story. There’s no way you could have expected him to think you were serious when he didn’t know everything. He’s basing what you said off fairy stories. He hasn’t seen the diary, and he doesn’t know about Professor Lakeshore.”

  “I just needed him to lose interest in me,” I muttered into my palms.

  “Josy!”

  I raised my shoulders in question. “What? Breaking up with him was the right thing to do.”

  Emiko crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me. “Josy, you’re smart, but you’re acting really dense in this case. You did not make Aspen lose interest in you by suddenly breaking up with him after you shared a connection. The emotions radiating off that guy are as strong as ever when it comes to you. Add in that he’s super hurt and confused. Sure . . . he’ll leave you alone because he’s not a stalker. But do a better job of setting him free if that’s what needs to happen. You need as many people on your side as you can get. Don’t push him completely away if you don’t have to. If you can’t be boyfriend and girlfriend, you could at least be civil.”

  Guilt settled into my middle. I hadn’t been fair to Aspen. In wanting to protect him, I hadn’t given him a chance to make his own decision. Plus, I missed him desperately.

  I sighed. “You’re right. I’ll talk to Aspen right after my next class.”

  Emiko chuckled. “Of course I’m right.” She grinned and opened her arms to invite me for a hug.

  I returned the embrace. It had been a really long time since I’d had a friend like Emiko—years, in fact.

  “And Holly and I will be there for you no matter what.” She loosened her hold and caught my eyes. “You have friends here. Don’t forget it.”

  Chapter 6

  I stood outside Oakmont Hall and peered through the window for the twentieth time. I’d seen Aspen go inside about thirty minutes before, but he still hadn’t come out. He was sitting in his usual corner spot, finishing a plate of spaghetti and meatballs.

  With my stomach doing flops, I couldn’t have imagined getting any dinner down. I also knew Nine might wake me in the middle of the night by lying on my head and purring that he had an empty belly. We couldn’t leave the dorm window open in this cold weather anymore. The change of season had really cut down on the cat’s freedom.

  After I’d asked Emiko to bag up a couple of meatballs for him and take them back to the room, she had volunteered to wait with me, but I said no. Talking to Aspen was something I had to do on my own—and Nine had been waiting for his supper.

  The dark sky, speckled with stars, was clear of clouds and I didn’t think we’d see any more snow. At least for the time being. Despite that, the air felt colder than ever, and my wool coat didn’t seem to be cutting it, even with my hooded sweatshirt underneath as an extra layer. I had already pulled the hood over my hair so other students might not recognize me and think I was stalking them or something.

  As I paced back toward the main exit, my heart leaped when I saw that Aspen’s seat was empty. He must have been on his way out— unless I missed him! I swiveled my head around to check if somehow he’d slipped passed me, but there were only me and two other students walking down the path toward the dining hall.

  What was I going to say to him? Was he upset with me? Would he tell me to get lost? The questions swirled in my mind, and I had no idea why I hadn’t come up with an exact plan. My heart hammered against my chest.

  The door swung open and out he walked, his head turned away from me. I opened my mouth to speak, but somehow the words stuck in my throat.

  Aspen turned up the collar of his coat, hunched his shoulders slightly and walked the opposite way.

  You have to do this, Josy! I clenched my fingers and forced my feet to move after him. “Aspen.” His name made it from my lips but in barely more than a whisper. It did nothing to stop him. “Aspen!” I tried again, and that time the word came out considerably louder. So loud that the oncoming students, now passing him, stared at me, eyebrows raised.

  “Sorry,” I muttered and returned my attention to Aspen, who’d craned his neck to me but twisted it back around and kept walking.

  I closed my eyes for a brief second and gathered my courage again. “Please stop.”

  Aspen paused. My heart fluttered, and I jogged to catch up with him. When I arrived, he let out a long, exasperated sigh.

  “What do you want, Josy?” Light from a nearby lamp caught the edge of his dark hair falling just over his forehead. Everything in me wanted to reach and tuck the strands away, but of course, I didn’t.

  “I really need to talk to you.” I kicked at the sidewalk with the toe of my boot.

  “I’m pretty sure you said everything you needed to at Eagle’s Height.” Aspen’s jaw stretched with tension, and he turned to continue on his way. Before he got far, I caught his arm, and his muscles flexed against my grasp. For some re
ason, he didn’t pull away.

  “Please?” I begged and dropped my hand to my side. “It’s important.”

  Aspen glanced down to me. “Josy,” he said, his voice hushed. “You made me feel like I never had before. I was always an outsider at the Academy and couldn’t open up to anyone. Then you came along, and everything was changing.”

  The words stung as I stared at the hurt in his eyes. I put that there by not just being honest with him from the start. I was the enemy instead of the curse.

  “I need to explain. Is there a place we can talk?”

  He clicked his tongue and looked down at the sidewalk. “I need to get back to my room and study.”

  “Fine. I’ll go with you, and after I say what I have to, I’ll leave if you want and you can study. It will be the smallest waste of your time possible.”

  “Fine. I’ll give you ten minutes.”

  “Deal.” Ten was not going to be enough, but I was ninety-nine percent sure that when he heard what I had to say, he’d have a few extra to spare.

  ✽✽✽

  “You’re serious about all this.” Thirty minutes after I began my story, Aspen dropped down onto his bed in shock and gawked at me.

  I bit at the inside of my cheek and leaned against his doorframe. When I got to his room, I never moved farther than that spot. I figured keeping my distance from Aspen was the kindest and safest thing to do.

  He furrowed his brows and rubbed at his chin. “Please stop standing there and have a seat.”

  The closest chair was the one at his cluttered desk, so I walked toward it and sat.

  Aspen’s forehead lined with confusion. “So Lakeshore wasn’t dead . . . but now he is?”

  I shrugged. “Honestly? I’m not totally sure. Neither Holly nor I actually saw him die, but those smoke monster things didn’t look friendly.”

  Aspen stood to grab a book off the shelf and quickly flipped through the pages before I even glimpsed the title. After a moment he seemed to land on the page he wanted and held the book out for me to see. On the page was a drawing that appeared almost exactly like the smoky creatures who took Professor Lakeshore, except that this one was grayer, not black. Above the illustration was the name: Mist Wraiths.

  Before I had a chance to read the description, Aspen had already yanked the book back and was muttering to himself.

  “That looked like them, kind of.” I stood and sidled up to him, trying to get another peek at the page.

  “I did a project last year on extinct magical creatures. Mist Wraiths haven’t been around for quite some time. Mostly they were gray like the ones pictured here. They were pretty docile, not true wraiths, and were only given that name for their looks.” He flipped the page, and there was an illustration and description of a Black Mist Wraith. “But before they died out, something shifted and the black ones started popping up and attacking people, animals, whatever. Then they were gone. That was about two hundred years ago. The wraiths and several other species died off around that time.”

  I tipped my head in interest. “Two hundred years? That must have been during or just after the Great War of Magic. Could someone be trying to bring the creatures back?”

  “Maybe, but that would take some powerful dark magic.” Aspen studied the page. “It’s also possible that someone captured the creatures two hundred years ago and has been saving them for something ever since.”

  “Who?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know . . . the Directorate, the Morelli . . . or someone private who was looking to build power. If these Mist Wraiths were as awful as you say, it sounds like they’d be pretty useful to someone building an army.”

  I thought back to the giant hawks and dogs that the Morelli rode during the battle. Add in the wraiths and their army would be even more formidable than it already was. But from reading the Morelli diary I had in my dorm room, I couldn’t imagine that they would have captured the Mist Wraiths on their way to The Middle. They were mostly concerned about their lives at the time—not the destruction of The Side of Magic.

  I walked from Aspen and sat on his bed. After a few moments he set the book down and joined me. “And you really think the Morelli curse is real?”

  “Lakeshore died to protect that diary. Even if the curse and the whole history inside it is not true, the professor believed they were. That has to mean something.”

  Aspen released a long sigh. “And you were only trying to protect me by pushing me away.”

  I nodded. “But I only made things worse.”

  He leaned his elbows onto his knees and rubbed his hands through his hair several times in frustration. “This sucks even more than I thought.”

  I chuckled. “You got that right.”

  Chapter 7

  Since I had been in Aspen’s dorm room, storm clouds had rolled in over the darkened sky. Apparently I’d been wrong about the snow being over for a while. Willoward Hall came into view, lit by the campus lights. Disappointment snaked its way around in my stomach, that my walk home with Aspen was nearly over.

  Despite the cold, we’d taken the long route and walked half our normal pace. Aspen didn’t complain, and it seemed like he was just as happy as I was to not ignore each other anymore. Being friends with him was better than nothing. He made me feel safe, as if everything, despite it not being the way I’d like it to be, would be okay. Who wouldn’t be, with a guy who could turn into a wolf to protect you?

  “Josy!”

  I jumped at my name. Holly burst through the women’s dorm exit already dressed in her pajamas—long sleeved with space cats and pizza all over the flannel fabric. Her curly blonde hair was tied in a messy ponytail on top of her head. She stood in the open door in her pink bunny slippers, waving us in.

  Aspen shot a raised brow my way and then back at Holly.

  “What? You don’t have space cats in the men’s dorm?” I asked as a few flecks of snow landed on his knit cap. It was nice to crack a joke again.

  Aspen leaned closer to me. “Not that I’ve noticed.”

  Holly waved frantically for us to walk faster. “It’s freezing out here, and you’re making me hold this door open,” she said when we finally arrived.

  “Aspen was just walking me home because it was getting late. He’s going back—”

  Holly latched onto Aspen’s arm and yanked him into the building. Inside, no one was in the foyer.

  “I need to get back. It’s getting close to curfew.” Aspen attempted to pull his arm free of Holly’s grasp, but it was no use.

  “Who cares about curfew? We’ve got something important to talk about.” Holly dragged Aspen toward our hallway. She stopped to peek down it before proceeding. Finally, she let loose and he continued following her.

  A door flung open a few rooms down, and before we could react, out came Rosalee and another girl. My heart nearly stopped when I saw her. But it wasn’t past curfew yet and Aspen’s presence was still within the rules.

  Rosalee wrinkled her nose at me and looked at Aspen.

  “I’ll be on my way soon. No need to worry,” Aspen said in a flat tone.

  She gave us all a once-over, stopping on Holly. “Nice slippers.”

  “I’ll make sure to buy you a pair for Christmas,” Holly snapped back.

  Rosalee waved her hand at Holly dismissively, and she and her friend sauntered past us toward the staircase. Her room was on the second floor.

  We watched them disappear up the stairs, and Holly continued leading us down the corridor.

  “What are you doing, Holly?” I asked when she stopped at my door. Why would we be going in there and not her dorm room? Merrygold hates visitors.

  Without answering my question, Holly reached for the handle and pushed the door open. Inside were Emiko, Merrygold, and Nine. They all looked up as Holly ushered us inside.

  Emiko was also in her—less garish—solid blue pajamas, and as always, Merrygold was wearing her perfectly pressed Academy uniform.

  I told them that this was
a bad idea. Nine stared at me with his big topaz eyes and stood from his spot on the bed, revealing the Morelli diary on the comforter. The journal looked so ancient that only magic or a miracle could have been holding it together.

  I raced to the book and snatched it from the bed. Nine skittered up to my pillow. “This is mine. You have no right to take it.”

  “We didn’t look inside,” Merrygold said. “I told them it’s for you to show us when you’re ready to share.”

  Holly and Emiko nodded.

  “And we agreed,” Emiko said.

  Holly closed the door. “But you are not alone in this whole thing. We want to help you.” She gestured toward Aspen. “And I’m pretty sure he wants to help you, too.”

  Aspen let out a puff of air from his nose. “Of course, but only if Josy wants me to.”

  “I don’t even know what you all want to help me with.” I sat down and held the diary close to my chest.

  Merrygold and I told them about the possible secret library of Morelli books that you want to find, Nine said.

  I frowned at my roommate. “You haven’t even spoken to anyone but Nine and me since I arrived. Why are you inviting people over now?”

  “Oh, she didn’t invite us over,” Holly answered before Merrygold could respond. She brought out a metal lockpick from her pajama pocket and presented it to me.

  Emiko crossed her arms over her chest. “Sorry, Josy, but we decided to brave it and come see what Merrygold knows.” Emiko smiled at my roommate. “She’s really nice. I’m not sure why everyone is so afraid of her.”

  Merrygold sat in her desk chair. “I’ve been doing all this reading about phantoms and trying to see if I can move on or whatever. It’s been making me think that getting more support might help me solve my problem. So, I appeared to them, and Nine came out from under the bed. We’ve been talking about all sorts of stuff since you’ve been gone.” Merrygold’s smile was nearly ear to ear. I think she felt alive again.