Page 69 of How to Flirt with a Witch

The crushing failure returns like a boulder on my chest. I rub my face and say into my hands, “She made a test to see if I could pick out a curse again. It sucked. I picked the wrong object.”

There’s a pause. I drop my hands to find Hazel’s mouth hanging open.

“She made—wow—I have so many questions.” Her gaze darts around, her mind clearly whirring. “You probably just have to hone your skills. I bet this sort of thing takes practice.”

I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter. There was one test, and I failed it.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Giving up? That doesn’t sound like you.”

I glare at her, the accusation igniting a spark of defiance.

She returns a cheeky smile before reaching out of the frame and coming back with another mochi. “There are other ways to test a person’s abilities.”

I chew my lip, her faith in me inflating my shriveled sense of hope. Her co-op application comes to mind. “Like the real world? Working in the field is more valuable than writing exams, right?”

She grins, a glint of excitement in her brown eyes. “You should go with her to find a curse again. Next time she gets a call-in.”

I want to share her enthusiasm, but the realist in me wins. “She won’t let me.”

“Insist on it. Follow her. Whatever it takes. You know what I plan to do if my co-op application is rejected? Apply for internships anyway.” Her voice rises passionately like it does when she talks about career plans. Her mochi sits forgotten between her fingers, her face pressed close to the camera.

I let out a breath of laughter. “Inspirational as ever.”

She leans forward. “For my app project last term, I needed access to corporate emissions data that wasn’t available online. I knew the government had it, and I wanted to use it. The prof told me not to reach out because I had no business contacting them as a student. But I did anyway. They gave me the dataandasked if they could see the final app. So, was it worth going around the prof and proving my idea? Yeah. It was.”

A nervous tremor goes through me. Hazel has always been bold when it comes to academia, doing whatever necessary to achieve her goals. In high school, teachers loved her and were exasperated by her in equal measure. I was never that bold—but I’ve seen what it’s gotten her.

If Fiona won’t let me use my ability, should I go around her and the others to prove I could be useful?

Hazel’s story is inspiring, but this is different. This is about something more perilous than academic ambition.

Security risk… Dangerous mistake…Fiona’s doubts about me hiss in the back of my mind.

But she’s wrong, and I can’t let her decide my fate. It’s time to find my version of an internship and show these witches what I can do in the real world.

I have to tag along with Natalie to the site of a curse.

My pulse quickens at the potential danger. This could backfire spectacularly. If I fail again, that’s it. I’ll have to accept that I’m meant to stay hidden while more capable people protect me from the Madsens.

But I’m going to do everything in my power to be more than that.

I’m just sorry it had to come to this. Sorry I have to take such drastic measures to prove myself. But if I don’t, I’ll have to leave Natalie and CSAMM behind. And the threat of that is worse than what any curse could do to me.

Chapter 17

More Important than a Sociology Lecture

“Absolutely not,” Natalie saysfirmly, her knuckles tightening over the steering wheel.

“Come on!” I turn in the passenger seat to face her, disappointment cinching my stomach. “This is a perfect opportunity. Libraries are huge, and there are tens of thousands of items that could be carrying the curse. Let me help you narrow it down.”

The morning is chilly and overcast, and we’re headed to UBC, where she’ll come to all three of my lectures in case the Madsens decide to stalk me. That’s what she and Fiona decided—that she’ll guard me while I continue everyday life until they can be sure the Madsens won’t come after me.

“We have an idea of where it is,” Natalie says. “Mostly because the librarian keeps stubbing her toe in one corner.”

“But my help pinpointing it would save you a lot of time.”

She hesitates—either realizing I’m right or regretting telling me her assignment is in one of the university libraries. She shakes her head. “You’re not coming.”