Page 76

Story: Bewitched

What was it?

I grab my school bag from where it lay and dig through it. When my hand closes over my journal, I pull it out and flip through the last several pages of information.

My eyes flick over assignments, schedules, handwritten directions, and descriptions of locations.

Not that, or that, or that.

Am I misremembering?

On the next page I turn to, a piece of paper flutters out.

I catch it, then flip it over in my hand.

Kasey

Beneath the name is a phone number, and beneath that, in my own handwriting, is an additional message.

Offer to join a spell circle.

$500 gig

Seems shady and is probably a bad idea. Skip unless desperate for cash.

I don’t remember writing this note, and I can’t quite grasp the memory it came from, but the name Kasey…I think I know which witch that is.

I worry my teeth over my lower lip, my intuition rioting at the thought of participating in anything shady. Entanglements like that have stripped other witches of their coven affiliation.

I glance at my bank account one more time before I decide.

I can look for a job, a student loan, or a grant to cover my needs in the future. But in the meantime…

I enter the number into my phone and send a text.

I want to attend the spell circle.

CHAPTER22

Witches party.A lot. Normally, I’m all for that.

Tonight I’m not.

“Sybil, youcannotbe serious,” I say when I enter her room in the evening. She’s already pulled on a sequined minidress that changes color depending on which direction you smooth out the sequins. It’s the kind of outfit that begs for hands to touch it.

“Witches are getting murdered on campus grounds after hours,” I say. Already, I heard talk that the coven is thinking of imposing a curfew.

She glances up at me, holding an eyeshadow palette and brush in her hand. Her gaze slides over my lounge pants and loose shirt. “Why aren’t you dressed? I texted you about the party hours ago.”

“Because it’s not safe,” I say slowly. It’s been three nights since I found Andrea, the witch who was murdered in the woods. She’d been unaffiliated with any known coven, simply moving through the area.

Still, her name will be burned into my memory until my magic takes it.

Sybil blows out a breath. “Did you see anyone when you came down to my room?” she asks out of nowhere.

My brows come together. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Did you?” she presses.

I shake my head.

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