I hesitate now. Did I?
Sybil uses my hesitation to head over to me. “Babe, you can chill out on the studiousness,” she says quietly.
Over Sybil’s shoulder, the witch she was talking to now eyes me curiously.
I lower my voice. “You know I can’t.”
I wish it were different. I wish I didn’t need to work harder just to be treated normally by my peers. But it is what it is, and Sybil of all people knows this.
She frowns. “It’s just, we’re finally under the same roof, and yet I haven’t even gotten to hang out with you since you moved in.”
I swallow, feeling this tension forming between us. I don’t want that. I’m adamant about proving my worth here at Henbane, but I also don’t want to strain my relationship with my best friend.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I just…don’t want to screw this up for myself.”
Sybil’s expression gentles. “You won’t. You’re brilliant.” She lets out a breath, then nods to the door. “Go ahead then. Map out the coven, and when you get back, let’s hang.”
I sit on a stone bench at the back of Lunar Observatory, the northernmost building on campus, as the sun dips below the horizon. One of my notebooks lies open on my lap, this one detailing all sorts of information about Henbane Coven, from my class schedule, to notes on where things are, to what times certain buildings are open and closed. There are also notes on the idiosyncrasies that certain buildings have, like the fact the chairs in Cauldron Hall are prone to levitating, thanks to a prank that was never fully reversed.
I smooth my hand over the pictures of Lunar Observatory that I’ve taped to the page, lingering on the glass dome atop the building that’s supposedly spelled to make the heavens appear closer than they are.
There’s a thrum building in my veins and tightening my chest. At first, I think it’s simply me wishing I had an astrology class this semester—I don’t—but…the feeling is persistent. It lingers even after I finish scribbling notes and close my journal. If anything, it seems to grow as I slip my notebook in my bag and glance up at the twilight sky.
I stand just as the lamp in front of me flickers on. I’m slinging my bag over my shoulder when magic brushes against my skin, the touch like a stroke of a hand.
Empress…I have found you.
I suck in a breath, snapping my head up. I glance around, but there’s no one in this section of coven property. Yet now that I’m focusing on it, I swear I can feel those smoky-ale eyes on me.
There’s a pressure forming in my chest, right over my heart. I move my hand to it, trying to massage the tension away.
Right as I do so, that familiar indigo magic billows out from the tree line bordering the buildings, slithering in my direction.
Last time that magic coiled around me, it knocked me out and left me trapped in a tomb.
Can’t let it get to me again.
My feet move before I fully form the command in my mind.
Run.
I’m sprinting, my arms pumping and my bag banging against my side as I force my legs faster and faster. Past All Saint’s Hall, past Morgana Hall. My thighs burn, and my breath is already ragged. The wind howls in my ear as I push myself harder.
He followed me back.
Goddess above, he followed me back.
It was one thing to hear his whispered voice carried on the wind. But to see his magic again and to know he’s on the other end of it…
My nausea rises, and I force it down. Barf later, once you’ve escaped.
I feel rather than see a plume of inky-blue magic wrap around my waist like a phantom arm. I cry out, even as more of Memnon’s—and it must be Memnon’s—power fills the air around me, until it obscures the forest and buildings and the darkening sky.
Come to me, my queen…
I’m breathing harshly as I stop. I feel the tug of his power already, seeping into my skin and slipping into my lungs.
You left me before, but not again…never again…
The compulsion to follow that voice builds within me. I can’t tell what sort of spell this is, but it must be one.
I follow the line of indigo magic back to the tree line. It continues deep into the Everwoods forest. I take a step toward it, even as my rational mind screams at me that I’m being enchanted.
But my blood is heating, and my skin throbs at every soft brush of Memnon’s power.
Don’t be a fool, Selene! It’s just his magic lulling you into some false sense of safety.
I pinch my eyes shut, keeping my feet rooted in place.