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“Please, help!”I cried, but my voice was so thin I was sure no one heard it—it sounded like no more than a whisper in my own ears.

At last, my father seemed satisfied because he stopped sprinkling and muttering over me.He gave a final nod, as though he was satisfied with whatever he’d done.

“There,” he remarked.“That ought to fix you.Contact me when you wake up.”

“When I wake up?”I protested.“But I’m not even tired.I’m not?—”

“Sleep.”He waved one big hand over me and at once I felt lethargy seeping into my bones.Have I mentioned that my father is an incredibly powerful Warlock?Though I had never seen the kind of magic he’d performed tonight, whatever it was, it was certainly effective.

“What…did you do…to me?”I asked and couldn’t stop myself from yawning.

“I made you a proper man,” he answered, frowning at me.“The next time three pretty girls come to visit you, you’re going to take an actual interest in them.”

“Of course…” I yawned again.My eyelids were drooping but I was fighting his sleep spell.“Of course I’m interested in them.They’re…my coven mates.”

“That’s not what I mean and you know it.”My father frowned.“Never mind.My spell will fix everything that’s wrong with you.It’s going to put you right.I just wish your mother would have let me do this earlier.”

“Do…what?”By this time I was yawning so hard I was seeing double.I could feel sleep tugging at me but still I tried to fight it.“What…did you…do?”I asked him drowsily.

But he only smiled—not a very nice smile—and nodded at me.

“You’ll see.You’re going to thank me for this, son.”

And then my eyelids closed as I fell into the magical slumber he had cast on me.

39

MEGAN

Ever since he’d come back from the Healer’s rooms, Avery was acting…off.I don’t know how else to say it.At first I put it down to his recent magical injury and missing Saint, who was still in the Sky Lands.

Ari had tried to go and get him twice, but every time some one else had been out on the athletic field and he hadn’t dared to Shift into his Drake so he could fly.He was going to try again that night and if the field was occupied again, he was going to say that his father had called for him and he had to return to the Sky Lands for a while.That would mean missing some classes, but we were all getting worried about Saint.

But that morning, I started worrying about Avery too.We were sitting in the Dining Hall when he strolled over, carrying a cup of coffee, which was his usual breakfast.He sat down with us at the Norm Table—which was inaccurately named, now that none of us were Norms anymore—as usual.But then I noticed something odd—his coffee was black.

Normally, Avery takes his coffee with so much cream and sugar it’s practically blond, so I raised my eyebrows as I watched him take a sip of the bitter black brew.

“Were they out of cream and sugar or something?”I asked.

“Yeah, Avery—I’ve never seen you drink your coffee plain like that,” Emma remarked.She was sitting to one side of me with Bran and Lachlan beside her and Kaitlyn and Ari were across from me.

“Cream and sugar?”Avery scoffed.“That’s not very manly.I like it black—puts hair on your chest.”And he thumped his own chest and took another sip.

Kaitlyn frowned.

“Since when do you want hair on your chest?I thought you said hairy men are gross.”

“Now why should we talk aboutmychest when we could talk aboutyoursinstead, sweetheart?”As he spoke, Avery stared pointedly at her breasts.

Kaitlyn gave him a confused look.

“My chest?What are you talking about?”She looked down at herself.“Did I spill something on my uniform shirt?”

“No, baby—that’s not what I’m talking about,” Avery growled.“Just saying I like the way your tits look in that top.”

We all stared at him.

“Avery, if that’s a joke it isn’t very funny,” I said, frowning.