Suddenly, the concern on everyone’s faces makes a lot more sense. They aren’t worried that I hurt someone. This time, they’re worried that I’m the one who’s gotten hurt.
I swallow the fear exploding inside me like a hand grenade and try to breathe. I am going to figure this out. It’s bad enough that I lost four months to this mess. No way am I going to just accept that I’ve brought it back with me. No way am I going to let this become my new normal.
“Where am I?” I ask for a second time, because I am absolutely positive I’ve never been in a room with a crystal ball before ever, let alone at Katmere Academy. And I’ve certainly never been in a room with a candle collection that rivals Bath & Body Works—if Bath & Body Works was into carved-up ritual candles and enough incense to cover Alaska twice over.
“You’re in the casting tower,” Macy tells me.
“The casting tower?” I didn’t even know there was such a thing.
“It’s on the opposite side of the castle from my room,” Jaxon adds in what I assume is an attempt to help me get my bearings.
“Oh, right. The smaller tower on the gazebo side.” I shove a hand—one that I’m working overtime to keep steady—through my curls. “I guess I just always assumed it was somebody else’s dorm room.”
“Nope.” Macy shoots me a grin that almost touches her eyes. “Your boyfriend is the only one who rates a tower. This one belongs to all the witches.”
Of course it belongs to the witches. If it belonged to anyone else, I’d be really concerned. Especially since I just looked down and realized that I am standing dead center in the middle of a giant pentagram.
And not just any giant pentagram. The giant pentagram that makes up the center of an even more giant casting circle…
Oh, hell no. Lia cured me of ever wanting to be anywhere close to the middle of another spell. Ever.
I take several big steps backward, not because I want to get away from Jaxon or Macy or the others but because I am getting the hell out of this circle. Now.
Call it an overabundance of caution, call it PTSD, call it whatever the hell you want; I don’t care. No way am I spending another second in a circle surrounded by red and black candles.
No, thank you.
The rest of them follow me, because of course they do. Each of them takes a step forward for each step I take back. My uncle and Amka look really concerned, and Macy looks curious. But Jaxon… Jaxon’s got a small, rueful smile on his face that tells me he knows exactly what’s got me so freaked out. Then again, he’s the only one here who was down in that tunnel with me.
With everything that happened to him that day, too, I’m surprised he hasn’t run screaming from this room. God knows I’m considering it.
“Grace?” Macy asks as I continue to step backward. “Where are you going?”
“Out of, ummm…” I break off in frustration as I realize I’m still in the circle. “How big is this thing anyway?”
“It takes up most of the room,” Uncle Finn answers, looking even more confused. “We have a lot of witches who need to fit around the circle. Why?”
But Macy seems to have finally clued in. “Oh, sweetie, the circle isn’t cast. Nothing can hurt you right now. And in here we do magic that does no harm anyway. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
“Of course there isn’t. I know that. I’m still just going to…” I use my thumb to point backward over my shoulder.
“Would it make you feel better if we left this room completely?” Amka asks.
I focus on her as relief sweeps through me. “So much, I can’t even tell you.”
“Okay, then let’s go.” Just that easily, Uncle Finn starts herding everyone toward the door. “There’s something you need to see in the library anyway.”
“In the library?” Now I’m even more confused. “You mean the gargoyle books Amka got out for me? I saw them earlier, and I’m planning on working my way through them.”
“No. Something else. We’ll talk about it when we get there.”
That doesn’t sound ominous at all. I’m about to press for details, but my uncle looks grim. Really grim, and it scares me more than I want to admit.
Before Katmere, I never imagined I’d be afraid of walking into a library. Then again, before Katmere, I never imagined a lot of things.
25
And the Blackouts
Just Keep
on Coming
As soon as we get outside the casting room, Jaxon stops me with a light hand on my wrist.