Page 19

IKEA was awesome. And overwhelming. And packed . And so full of fun ideas. It was… Wow. A lot.

It was a lot.

It also gave me a lot of ideas of what I wanted for my new room—even the design and layout. How I wanted the walk-in closet and my dream bathroom.

It gave me license to dream, and I hadn’t been doing much of that with my freedom, only surviving.

Personally at least.

So that was nice. Really nice.

And so was Kelton. I felt like we were on the same page again, in step as we walked around the ginormous store. We took pictures and I sent ideas to Clare giving the specifics about what I wanted finally. She’d been waiting for me to make some decisions, but… All I did was make them most days. It was overwhelming.

Plus, I wanted her focused on the new store. There were basically two real magical malls that were hidden from humans.

Or really only two worth mentioning and weren’t shady as fuck.

We had our main store in the nicer one, and it was a staple of that mall along with Fortunate Cookies and other pricey establishments. Could we have had another store there?

Yes, and the owners had asked us repeatedly when they’d learned we were expanding. But that gave me “Starbucks on every corner and across the street from each other” vibes that I didn’t like. So we were going to the other mall this time.

Also, because it was owned by a different top-tier family and that would make sure people behaved. It was always smarter to not allow one person to hold all the cards against you.

Ever.

But yeah, IKEA was great—the whole weekend was. My tutoring on Sunday was fantastic. Mrs. Reid and Wyatt declared I was all caught up to where I should be. They were going to have reviews now and again since I didn’t have years of using all of the spells and information regularly like others my age.

I was caught up though. I got it and wasn’t behind.

Most importantly, I felt that way. In Spell Circles 101 especially I felt like I was with the class as well.

It was just a weekend to feel in step. Nice.

And for good news. Sunday at dinner, Jasmine came flying into the room with a grin saying the Curtis family had officially dropped their lawsuit. All they asked was that we didn’t make a big deal about it and protected their privacy and grief.

I was nodding my head to agree until Jasmine, Tracey, Clare, and even Wyatt who had stayed for dinner looked like they were going to throttle me.

Right, we weren’t doing that after they’d done everything they could to smear me. Okay, got it. Made sense. They couldn’t use their grief as a weapon to get what they wanted.

Emma had said as much on our long run that morning. That I wasn’t responsible for their grief when I was the real victim. I needed to start seeing myself as the victim of what had happened instead of the perpetrator. I didn’t go looking to start the fight or kill someone.

I was protecting Kevin and myself because we were the targets.

Tracey was furious that they made such a request of me after dropping the suit and trying to pressure me… Especially when it was clear it would work because I was such a good person.

Jasmine promised that she would handle it, so nothing shocked me more than seeing Clare with Jasmine at her side doing a press conference the next morning.

“I understand too many people don’t have high opinions of women in our society, but the degree to which people treat us like morons is outrageously insulting,” Clare started with a bang. “And yet there were many without a brain who believed Charles Shaw wasn’t behind the lawsuit the Rices filed against my sister, Bevin.

“So really, idiocy doesn’t have a sex, just people who don’t think for themselves. It’s beyond time we do that, yeah?” She gave people a moment with that. “The Rice family has dropped the lawsuit. Lovely. It should never have been filed. I will repeat that for those late to the party—it should never have been filed.

“It died the moment Charles Shaw was out of the picture. It was revenge against my sister that she would not behave like property to a sociopath. Women are not property, and while some will forgive the Rices in their grief, I will not . Especially when they had the gall to specifically ask Bevin not to make them dropping the lawsuit public.

“You do not get to drag her name through the mud, have people constantly calling her a murderer in the media, and publicly demand her magic be bound because she’s so out of control and then ask she not say anything when you realize you can’t get money from her because you have no backing now. That’s not how life works.

“And yet you asked it knowing that Bevin is kind enough that she actually considered it, the loveable fool.” Clare met several of the cameras head-on. “She is the victim here, not Curtis Rice. He was a corrupt cop who was paid to murder a good cop, Kevin Rose. He died because he was the monster, not my sister.

“Yet they dragged her through the mud for a payday and a favor from my just as corrupt father.” She held up papers. “It’s all here, the proof provided by my eldest sister, and the new head of the Shaw family, Jean. Bevin gave the Rices the benefit of the doubt that Charles threatened them. I could believe that as well.

“No, it was money. They wanted to make sure they weren’t embarrassed having a corrupt son—fully knowing he was—and they would get boatloads of money . They weren’t crying their son was dead. They weren’t shocked at this news. It’s all right here that they wanted her punished too for daring to do what was right and do whatever Charles wanted for money .”

“That’s bold to say when—” a reporter shouted.

Clare picked up a file and tossed it to him. “Read it yourselves. It’s part of the lawsuit we’re filing against the Rices. For a dollar.” She smirked when people whispered. “Because this isn’t about the money. We want the Rices found at fault for filing a predatory lawsuit with corrupt backing against an eighteen-year-old who was traumatized because of their son.

“We want order in our world and people to be punished for their misdeeds. Just like Gregg Haddock and his disgusting parents who pushed all kinds of lies about Bevin.” She stared people down again. “My sister saved someone’s life. She saved the lives of other witches during the attack on Morrigan, and someone tried to kick her out of school because of it.

“And all she cares about is helping familiars with these new treats and her joint business with Familiar Treasures. Plus, her schooling.” Clare let out a slow breath. “I didn’t have the best relationship with Bevin growing up because I was in the dark about too much and dealing with my own issues—a child myself.

“I’m no longer a child, and I will be damned if I sit by and let money-grubbing monsters try to slither into the night after going all over and screaming my sister is a murderer and should have her magic bound. And before any of you have any sympathy for them, the last texts show it was their idea to pay protestors to go to Bevin’s house.

“My father found out where she lived finally and told the Rices that he knew. Their response was immediate, and they were going to pay protestors to harass her until she settled and admitted fault. That’s how corrupt they are.” She snorted. “Apparently, they taught their son the same.” She narrowed her eyes at a camera. “And we expect some apologies from people soon.”

“I’m not sure what that means,” I hedged, glancing at my guard.

“That one station was constantly running bullshit against you saying they had inside information and firsthand knowledge from your camp,” he told me, nodding sadly when I couldn’t hide my horror. “Yeah, big fat lies. Clare and Jasmine are going after them because they’re allies with the Shaws and apparently tried to put the screws to Jean.”

“Oh boy, we’re not staying very neutral, but at least it’s beneficial to us,” I grumbled.

Yeah, nothing was ever easy.

Well… Some things at least could be fun.

At lunch, I went over to Gloria’s table and asked if I could join them, glad the reception was much warmer now that I had a few times already.

“So what’s up?” Gloria asked, clearly understanding that I was there with a purpose.

I cleared my throat and slid a folder over to her before settling my napkin on my lap. “It’s been brought to my attention that people are working on their points in the hopes of getting close to me and being in my court. I thought it was a joke, but I checked the current standing—”

“And you’re killing it ,” her friend, Carmen, purred. She’d asked for help getting a job and was doing well now helping the treat trucks and prepping at the factory when she could. “Like the next highest witch is leagues behind.”

“Right, but did you notice the name of who it was?” I hedged, meeting her gaze, glad when she winced. “Yes, so this could be a problem for me. A big one. A trap even because I’m not an idiot.”

The others didn’t know, so Carmen answered. “It’s Raquel Hoff. Everyone thought she was going to be the Wicked Queen this whole year before she graduated. I heard people saying it would be suicide to go against her.”

“And she doesn’t fuck around,” someone muttered.

“I didn’t know that part, only that she’s the eldest daughter of the main Hoff family, and they are not friends with my former family,” I admitted before sighing. “I didn’t realize my idea might put a target on you.”

“You’ve got something here because you want to help us be your court,” Gloria said, catching on. She quickly wiped her hands and opened the folder, her eyes going wide. “Is this for real?”

I nodded and tucked into my own food. “It is. I verified it. I got it from—apparently, it’s a popular spell to use at stag parties—bachelor parties—whatever. You won’t get as many as I did because lots are trying to block against doorway spells now, but most aren’t going big enough because I’m just a freshman. You are not.”

She threw back her head and burst out laughing. She handed it over to Carmen when she couldn’t answer what it was and just kept laughing.

Carmen and their other friend, Robin, had about the same reaction.

“Oh yeah, we’re in,” Gloria promised. “Shit, this is good.”

“Really? I didn’t want to make you a target,” I worried.

Gloria smirked at me. “I don’t mind fighting back, Bevin. Sometimes it’s just—I balance a lot too. School is hard and with my family—” She grabbed back the folder and wiggled it. “Thank you for this. Yes, I will take this gift and have at it.”

“I don’t know we have enough magic to make it happen,” Robin worried. “I’ve been so bogged down with midterm projects that—I just don’t know I do.”

That seemed to be the consensus between Gloria, Robin, Carmen, and their other friend I liked, Kate. The others I didn’t know as well and hadn’t really apologized to me after our first meeting. They didn’t seem to care anymore if I joined but didn’t really want to be involved with me.

The feeling was mutual, and I got the idea they were on the cusp of the friend group—or extended group? I wasn’t really sure how that worked.

Either way, I didn’t want to discuss that with the full group.

“Let’s talk after we eat,” I suggested, giving the four of them looks not to worry.

Gloria chuckled. “I’ve learned not to doubt you, girl. Sounds good.”

Once we were done eating, we said goodbye to the others and left our trays on the cleaning line before heading outside where there were less ears. I realized I needed to check something with Kate. “What’s your familiar?” I waved her off when she opened her mouth. “Sorry, right, I remember you with a cat.”

And I’d seen Carmen with her raccoon familiar waiting for the treat truck. Yeah, this could work.

“Okay, if you don’t ask questions—I’m going somewhere safe to work with Mrs. Reid on how to harvest without a familiar,” I told them. Not really lying but… Mostly. Leaving out that much information was pretty much the same thing.

And we all knew that.

“I could handle bringing four small familiars to harvest,” I told them.

“And they’d be safe?” Robin worried. She smiled when I snorted. “I heard the Reids kept a bunch of familiars safe and lived with them when their witches and warlocks went off to the human military like Taylor had. I’ve seen him around you and his people are your guards. It makes—”

“I’m not saying it’s their estate,” I said firmly.

But if they thought that, I wasn’t going to tell it wasn’t really either. It was a better idea than letting them know my estate was teeming with magic that I’d made happen. I liked them, but I didn’t remotely know them that well.

“I would feel more comfortable if we could talk to Mrs. Reid about it,” Kate said after a moment. “No disrespect, Bev. Seriously, and it’s not even about you not having a familiar. People target you, and four familiars even if small ones—I don’t know I would feel comfortable taking charge of them and we’ve known each other for years.”

“Fair,” I accepted. “More than fair. I’ll text her. Meet me with your familiars by the guard station after class and we’ll make sure she’s fine with it.”

They were thrilled. Beyond thrilled.

Cool.

And Mrs. Reid was “intrigued” by what I was plotting now and especially when she heard it helped other witches.

Physical Training I was good. We had a test of what we’d learned, and Coach Dunham didn’t hide that he was annoyed that he couldn’t have full access to me with Emma as my shield. Though I wasn’t the only one who noticed that she tested all the females faster than he did the males with all his aides.

Yes, there was a much higher percentage of male students at Morrigan than females… But he had five aides. Seriously?

Coach approached us when Emma was wrapping up. “I understand you answer to Kerwynn—you’ve made sure everyone knows that—but I have valid objections to you grading Millen when you’re on her payroll.”

“Did you hear that from the Haddocks?” I drawled, giving him an annoyed look. “Have you ever strived to be accurate in life, Coach? Or do you just enjoy causing trouble so much that—”

“This is still my class, Millen,” he snapped. “And you will—”

“Show you respect? Why? When have you shown me any?” I interjected. “But I will give you the gift of correcting you so you don’t once again look the fool.” I ignored the whistles and people chuckling as I pointed at Emma. “She works for Taylor Reid. Taylor has a contract with Familiar Treasures which I also work for. That makes Ms. Wagner and I colleagues outside of class.”

“Correct, but still something petty people would pick at,” Emma said firmly, clearly putting Coach in that bucket. “As such, Taylor will also be evaluating Millen at Mrs. Reid’s request just as she is reviewing everything for Professor Wyatt.” She gave me a sad smile when I looked at her. “People brought up the same petty with him and he asked to sidestep it.”

“Unreal,” I whispered, shaking my head. “Two aides have actual family friends in this class and act like they’re besties, waving them off from warm-ups and more. And I’m once again being picked on.” I met Coach’s pissed-off gaze. “Which you were warned not to do again.”

“Bringing up possible—”

“Bull,” I snapped. “You did it in front of everyone after I’ve just been cleared of the Curtis Rice crap. You can’t stand me not being harassed or the bad guy after you got spanked because of how you behaved. You could have brought it up to Ms. Wagner privately later—that would have been the professional way.

“Or the headmaster if you felt more comfortable after he sidestepped you. But you wanted to humiliate me—imply I’m getting favoritism and a pass. The kicker is my other teachers praise me for working harder than any other freshman they have.” I nodded when he seemed shocked. “I had to hide my magic. Use your head. What does that mean?”

“You didn’t learn what you should,” that bitch who always harassed me sneered. “It’s a joke the way you’re always behind in—”

“She was behind in Spell Circles 101,” a different woman in our class corrected. “Her point is that she’s caught up. In under a semester while getting her business sold to Familiar Treasures and all the other drama of her life.” She met my gaze. “I believe that’s your point.”

“It is,” I confirmed, thanking her. “And since it was Professor Wyatt’s first independent study, we actually did more work and I’m getting an extra credit hour.” I moved closer to Coach, stopping when Emma grabbed my arm. “Apologize. Apologize for mishandling this and making it a scene instead of calmly addressing possible concerns.”

He snorted. “It’s only a scene because you blew it up and gave everyone here too much information about yourself to play the victim, Millen.”

I shook my head in disgust. “We both know that’s not what happened. I might have been too na?ve to understand what happened last time and how you were tearing into me, but I fully understand this type of attack. I was born of people who teach master classes in this sort of bull.” I curled my lip at him. “And defending myself is never blowing things up.”

He ignored me and glanced at Emma. “I expect a report from Taylor then to say he really tested Millen. I can’t go around a councilman’s wife.” He snorted like the whole thing disgusted him. He turned around to head back to his cronies, dismissing me.

“I looked up the rules and you can’t teach with a pending lawsuit against you, can you, Coach?” I said with a dark chuckle. “Enjoy your unpaid suspension again.” I smirked when he spun around on me. “You should have just apologized.”

Coach exploded .

And Emma got her wish to fight him.

He sputtered vile everything at me as he stormed down on me and she pushed me away before squaring off with him. Nigel was there the next second to block me as well… But so were several other women from our class, getting that this could get bad.

Emma tried to de-escalate the situation, she really did, but when Coach called me a stupid whore, it was like a switch flipped in her. She shoved him back harder than needed when he was crowding her space, and that was the match that set off the next explosion. He tried to push past her and Emma took him down.

But she didn’t knock him out like she could have. She’d had the upper hand and—I’d seen her do better.

She gave me a subtle wink as she flipped Coach again. Wow. That was so cool. To have the confidence to draw out a fight so she could get her aggression out… I wanted to be Emma when I grew up.

After several minutes of dancing with him, she knocked him out and gave a look at the aides. “I’d be smart here because he’s out of a job. Do you want to join him or be up for a promotion?”

I swallowed a snort when they were all chicken and backed off, greed in their eyes.

What useless assholes. Not that I wanted Emma to get jumped—far from it. But they were just all talk and… I hated all of this so much. Seriously.

Emma ordered a few students to contact security, but one said he already had and they were on the line with him. They showed up a second later and things moved fast. Headmaster Kerwynn was called in and then Mrs. Reid as my advocate.

I wasn’t sure why that was needed when it was all on camera, but I appreciated the backup. While we were waiting for Kerwynn and a few of the school board to review the footage and take Emma’s statement, I told Mrs. Reid what I was plotting with Gloria and her friends.

Unfortunately for timing, she was laughing when the others came out and they weren’t happy about that.

“I was—someone is about to pull off a Wicked Challenges prank and they wanted to discuss it with her,” I explained. “They asked me to—I was multitasking.” I gestured around as if to say we weren’t doing anything else.

Mrs. Reid took it all in stride and focused on Kerwynn. “The witches of Morrigan are pushing the envelope now that they feel supported. You’re going to enjoy this next round.”

“I hope so because the last one…” He blew out a harsh breath.

“I just wanted people to be more positive and not such snakes,” I defended.

“None of us could have foreseen the fallout that happened, Ms. Millen,” one of the school board agreed. “And you’ve been cleared of any wrongdoing. However , Headmaster Kerwynn is going to have a talk with your other teachers to make sure this isn’t a pattern.”

I knew exactly what he meant even if he didn’t say it specifically. I met his gaze. “All of my other teachers have been professional and respectful of their students. Professor Daly is insightful and noticed I could move up to the next level, but I didn’t feel comfortable with my current course load. Dr. Haskins has worked with me—I’ve disrespected none of them.”

“Good,” he accepted. “Then it will be a quick discussion as we expected.”

To cover their asses. Fine, I had no problem with that.

Especially if it got Coach Dunham out of our lives for good.