Page 49 of Bonds of Magic (Vesperwood Academy: Incubus #3)

NOAH

T his time, I didn’t let Teresa up so easily. I pinned her with a knee and brought her hands behind her back, holding them there.

Most witches used hand gestures along with words to cast spells. The more powerful you were, the less you needed those crutches. Teresa was pretty powerful, but I grabbed her hands anyway, hoping it would keep her under control. She squirmed underneath me, trying to get free.

“What do you think you’re doing, you lumbering buffoon?” she shouted. “What is the meaning of this? Let me go this instant and explain yourself.”

“No fucking way,” I growled. “I’m not giving you another chance to hurt these students.”

For the first time since barging in, I looked around the rest of the room. There were only two other people—Rekha and Izzy Amber, another freshman. Izzy sat on Teresa’s sofa, clutching a teacup in one hand and the silver and emerald necklace I’d seen Teresa carrying before. She looked shocked.

Rekha jumped up from the sofa, looking pissed.

“I’m not hurting them,” Teresa protested. “We’re having tea .”

“Yeah, and you were about to place them under the same enchantment you put on Erika.”

“I—what?” Teresa craned her neck to look up at me angrily. “What are you talking about?”

“I know you had her file. I saw it in your office. I know you’ve been getting close to these kids for months now. I don’t know how you managed to get Erika under your thumb. Isaac can get that out of you. But I’ll be damned if I let it happen again.”

“She’s not trying to hurt us,” Rekha protested.

I shook my head. “Rekha, you don’t understand what’s really going on here. I’m sure she said it wouldn’t hurt. I’m sure she promised you a lot, but it’s a lie. She’s trying to use you.”

“I am not ,” Teresa objected.

I kept my eyes on Rekha. “She put a spell on Erika that let her control Erika’s movements, her decisions, everything. She took her over completely, then left her to die. And she’ll do it again with you.”

“I did not ensorcel Erika,” Teresa said.

“I don’t know what you think is happening, Professor Braverman,” Rekha said, “but I think you’re the one who doesn’t understand. Professor Molina was helping us.”

“She was giving us necklaces,” Izzy piped up from the sofa. She’d set her teacup down, but hadn’t moved otherwise. Her gaze bounced back and forth between me and the door, like she couldn’t decide if she wanted to help or make a run for it.

“Girls, I appreciate your loyalty, but in this case, it’s misplaced. Teresa is behind the attacks on the school. She let the moraghin in, she enchanted Erika, and she—”

“Oh for goodness’ sake,” Teresa said from the floor. “I wasn’t trying to enchant them, I was trying to bribe them. Accuse me of that if you must, but don’t try to pin Erika’s death or the moraghin attack on me. My crimes, such as they are, are far more mundane in nature.”

She glared up at me, exasperated and defiant. I stared back, her words sinking in.

“Bribing them? With what?”

“With those necklaces you practically trampled on the last time you ran into me. What do you think?”

I looked over at Izzy, who held hers up helpfully. Then I looked at Rekha, who shrugged and pointed to the second necklace, lying on the couch where she’d been sitting a minute ago.

“But why?” I asked Teresa. “What do they have that you want? They’re freshmen.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rekha huff at this mortal insult.

“They’re freshmen now ,” said Teresa. “But they’re the top two witches in their class. I was trying to get them to join Hex.”

“Really?”

“I tap a few each year.” Teresa looked up at me pointedly. “Call it unethical if you like. I think it’s simply practical. But in no lights is it dangerous or illegal.”

I frowned. Surely it wasn’t as simple as that. Of course, professors wanted the best and the brightest in their own havens. But would they really stoop to bribing them?

“What’s with the necklaces?” I asked. “What do they do?”

“They provide a well of extra power.” Teresa’s tone thoroughly implied her incredulity that she had to explain this to someone as thick as I was.

I remembered the pieces of metal and stone that I’d seen on her work table before. “And you make new ones every year? That seems like an outlay of a lot of energy.”

“Of course not. I take them back from the graduating seniors and change out any components of the enchantment that have worn out.” She continued to glare at me. “If you insist on asking me so many questions, will you at least let me up?”

I looked from her to the girls and back again. What Teresa said made some sense. It certainly fit with what I’d overheard behind the door. And Izzy and Rekha didn’t seem the least bit scared of her. But…

“What about Erika?” I asked Teresa. “You still haven’t explained why you have her file.”

“Because she was right up there with Rekha and Izzy,” Teresa sniffed. “Until we lost her. A shame, really. Such a waste of potential.”

“You were going to ask Erika to join too?” Izzy asked. Was there a hint of jealousy in her voice?

“Of course she was,” Rekha said, giving her a withering look. “Erika was second in our class, until she died.”

Izzy made a face. She must have been third, until Erika’s death. Rekha looked pensive. I sighed, and let Teresa go, moving away from her and standing up. I offered her my hand, but she scoffed and stood up on her own, running her fingers over her hair and adjusting her dress with wounded dignity.

“Judging from our two most recent encounters,” she said frostily, “would I be correct in assuming that Isaac has tasked you with investigating me? Or is this something you’ve undertaken of your own accord?”

“The moraghin attacked my class,” I told her. “Erika was my student.” Let her make of that what she would. “You might want to tell Isaac about your extracurriculars, though,” I added.

Teresa scowled. “Or you will?”

I smiled tightly. “Just tell him, Teresa. I don’t want to have to knock you over a third time.”

With that, I left the room. I needed to clear my head, and anything else I had to say to Teresa shouldn’t be said in front of students. I needed time to think.

I’d been so sure she was up to something.

And I’d been right, in a way. But if I believed her explanation—and Izzy and Rekha’s corroboration—then she wasn’t in league with Argus.

She certainly hadn’t seemed interested in Cory.

I had no idea what his grades were like, but evidently he wasn’t at the top of his class.

I needed to think and I needed to eat. The refectory would still be open. I didn’t need to keep an eye on Teresa anymore, but it was simpler to get food here than go back to my cabin. Maybe I could annoy Nat three times today.

The refectory was packed, filled with students talking, arguing, and laughing over their evening meals. The faculty tables were only marginally less rowdy, as everyone unwound from the stresses of the day and prepared to face another one.

Nat looked surprised but pleased to see me as I sat down between her and Seb with my tray. She was sipping a glass of white wine—two open bottles, one red, one white, sat in the center of the table. I poured myself a glass of water from a pitcher thick with condensation instead.

“Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in.”

“I dragged myself, thank you very much.” I frowned and tried to look at my clothes without being obvious. Was I really that disheveled?

“I suppose you did, at that.”

“Don’t worry,” Seb said, noticing my discomfort. “None of us look our best by dinner.”

“Something you’d know if you ever ate with us,” Nat said, not at all under her breath.

I gave her a level look, and she laughed, turning to Seb. “Do you think he practices his stony glares in the mirror?”

Seb ripped off a piece of his dinner roll and spread it with butter. “Oh, definitely.”

I rolled my eyes and scanned the rest of the room.

As usual, I looked for Cory first. He was sitting at his usual table.

Keelan was next to him, and as I watched, he leaned over to whisper in Cory’s ear.

His lips came so close to Cory’s ear that they brushed it, and I clutched my dinner knife tighter.

It was fine. It was fine . Keelan wanted to make sure Cory could hear him over the din. He was leaning back and laughing now, not paying any special attention to Cory. Not touching him anymore.

Still, I had to purposefully rip my gaze away from their table.

I caught sight of Meredith and Adenike at another table, sitting with three other students. Sean and Tim sat at another table, and I wondered again why Rekha spent so much time with those boys. She was smarter than either one of them. How enjoyable could their conversation be?

Hans was sitting one table away from me, still wearing his eyepatch. Orlando and Eddie Rybakov were at his table as well, and as I watched, Autumn made her way over from the food line bearing a tray piled high with vegan lasagna. I’d given that a wide berth and opted for chicken piccata instead.

She sat next to Hans and immediately began peppering him with questions. I caught the word ‘ marathon ’ and shook my head. I was all for physical fitness, but there was a limit to how much I wanted to punish my body. I’d always been more of a sprinter anyway.

Sheridan was sitting at the next table, with Cinda and Ashley Matthews.

Their conversation seemed more subdued. Cinda was almost done with her dinner, and with a nod at Ashley and Sheridan, she stood up to bus her tray.

As she passed the other table, she leaned in and said something to Autumn which made her laugh.

Then she turned to Hans and said something while gesturing to his eyepatch.

He grimaced and shook his head. She said something else, and he shook his head even more emphatically, looking hunted.

Cinda’s shoulders moved up and down, and I got the distinct sense that she was sighing at what she considered Hans’s stubbornness.

He was probably refusing additional treatment.