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I should definitely be doing a better job of getting to know the witches I live with, and now is an opening to do so. I’ve already chatted with a few of them, and I’m embarrassed to admit that when I’ve been able to, I’ve written down their names, their familiar’s species, which rooms they live in, and anything else distinct about them, like some sort of obsessed stalker.

I mean, it does work.

“I’m going to take pictures of the different buildings on campus and put together a map.”

“Didn’t you do that yesterday?” she says.

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. “YouknowI 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 canfeelthose 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…