Page 13

CHAPTER 13

I had barely got any sleep the night before. I’d practically torn apart our room, trying to find the ring.

The only thing I’d discovered was that my grimoire was also missing.

The sleep I had gotten was broken and full of nightmares, despite being curled up in Aiden’s arms.

I was up before the sun. The first thing I did was call Grandfather through my mirror.

“Congratulations!” he said cheerfully. “I heard you led your team to vict—” He cut himself off when he registered my tearful face. “What’s wrong? Who died?”

I shook my head. “Nobody died. My grimoire and ring have been stolen.”

Grandfather blinked in surprise. “Have you tried the lost item spell?”

“Before I even knew the grimoire was missing. I thought it would work better than trying to find Clarissa’s jewelry, because the ring is tied to my bloodline.” I sighed heavily. “It just circled back to me.”

“I hate to ask, but it wasn’t in your pocket?”

I chuckled dryly. “I didn’t have pockets.”

“Tucked in your pants or bra?”

“Grandfather, I was naked.”

He blushed and laughed. “Okay, okay. I was asking for that one. The spell latched onto your bloodline instead of the object.” He frowned in thought. “Why would someone steal both? They’d have to know they were linked. Who knows about that?”

“My friends and a couple of my professors. It’s not something that comes up in conversation.”

“And they’d all know that they’d be useless without you.”

“The grimoire doesn’t open except for me?” I asked.

“You haven’t asked Aiden to turn to page whatever and have it be blank?” Grandfather asked. When I shook my head, he nodded slowly. “You’ve always been a take-charge kind of person.”

“What do you mean?”

“You like to do things yourself.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but he was right. “The pages would be blank without my bloodline opening it?”

“That’s right.”

“But the ring would still be valuable.”

“That’s true.”

“I’m sorry I lost it.”

“You didn’t. It was stolen. It sounds like there’s a thief in the academy.” Grandfather’s expression darkened. “They will regret it.”

I swallowed hard. I hadn’t seen him this angry, well, ever. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Focus on your studies and the Olympics. I’ll see you tonight.”

“You’ll have a plan?”

“I hope so.”

“ Déan deifir !” shouted a tiny voice from our adjoining room. “Hurry up! I’m hungry!”

“He’s up early,” Aiden said around a yawn.

“And talking in full sentences,” I added.

“Sounds like he’s grown again.” Aiden went to get the professor. “Good morning. Are you feeling more like yourself today?”

“I’m hungry!” Professor Reynolds said petulantly.

“Let’s change your clothes. What do you want to wear?”

I headed into our bathroom to get ready for the day, and didn’t hear the child’s answer. I’d find out soon enough.

“What do you think Professor Dunlop will have us do in Qualitative Spellcraft?” I shouted to the other room after I got washed.

“More research on how to reverse this curse?” Aiden suggested, from much closer than I had realized.

I peeked at the two over my towel as I dried my face. “Any ideas on how to do that, Professor?” I asked the child.

“No,” he replied, crossing his arms and scowling.

Professor Reynolds was dressed in a t-shirt and sweatpants, no shoes or socks.

I raised my eyebrows at Aiden.

“He says that socks hurt his feet.”

“I don’t blame you,” I told the child. “We’ll just put a warming spell on your feet so you don’t get cold, okay?”

“Kay.” He obediently held up one foot and then the other while I attached the spell to his pant cuffs.

“Nice and toasty?” I asked.

“Hungry!”

Aiden chuckled. “Let’s get you fed, bud. What do you want to eat?”

“Spaghetti!”

“I’m not sure they’ll have it for breakfast, but maybe we can transfigure oatmeal into spaghetti, what do you think? Do you want to try that?”

“Ew!”

The child’s protests faded as the door closed behind them, leaving me alone in the room.

I went back into the bedroom and tried the spell to find my ring again, with the same results.

“Unless I accidentally swallowed it, this isn’t working,” I grumbled, grabbing my school things for the day. I reached for my grimoire before I remembered that it too was missing. “Fuck.”

I felt so bereft without my grimoire. It had all my spells and notes. I’d have to write my lessons on regular paper and then transfer them once I found it.

* * *

I met up with my friends in the mess, and told them about my missing things.

Clarissa looked worried. “Do you think there’s a thief in Blackthorn?” she asked.

“That’s what Grandfather says,” I told her. “I think we should start by letting the headmistress know, and she can make a list of who stayed behind from the opening ceremonies. We were some of the first people who arrived back, so anyone who was present after I left is a suspect.”

“What a mess,” Una said, shaking her head.

“Grandfather is going to come up with a plan,” I told them. “We’ll see him at tonight’s event.”

“I hope it works,” Bruce muttered, squeezing Clarissa’s hand.

“Me too.”

Professor Dunlop handed out papers when we entered the classroom after breakfast. “You are each going to try building a reversal spell today, and then under my supervision, you will perform it.”

I raised my eyebrows. We didn’t usually test our spells out on a human being.

The professor grimaced at me. “If you don’t think I’m capable of protecting your professor from a spell gone awry, you don’t know me very well.”

Tense sporadic laughter filtered through the room.

“Each of you has a paper with the beginning blocks of what might potentially be the curse. Get to work!” he barked.

He led the tiny professor to the blackboard and gave him some chalk. “See if you can remember anything from your time as a teacher,” he encouraged.

I looked away from the small professor scribbling on the chalkboard. It was obvious his mental acuity had not returned yet. I sighed, concerned for him, and focused on my paper.

The curse components I had were fairly basic. I figured the professors had given us a variety of combinations. The more tests, the better.

I settled into figuring out the counter-curse for my set problem. It was tedious, and I understood even more why we had been given the task. Having a class deal with this would be much faster than the professors doing each one by hand.

I double checked my math before raising my hand and calling Professor Dunlop over. “I think I’ve got mine solved,” I told him.

He raised his eyebrows. “You think ?”

I swallowed hard. “Yes, sir.”

He held out his hand for my paper, and I handed it over. I had explained my reasoning for each component as well as the quantities.

“Very well. You may proceed to the store cupboard to retrieve your components.”

I sighed, relieved.

Most spells were fairly simple, and didn’t need components, but counter-curses and some of the more complex spells especially, required extra boosts or power from external sources.

I gathered the salt, nettle, and lavender, but frowned, stymied, when I couldn’t find the silver.

I brought everything else back to my place and raised my hand. “The silver bowls aren’t in the cupboard.”

Professor Dunlop scowled. “Nothing has been in its proper place lately. Try the professor’s office.” He handed me a key. “Get ten, if you can find them.”

I nodded.

Professor Reynolds’s office was tidy, sparse, and exactly how I expected. I couldn’t believe I’d never actually been inside.

There was a neat stack of silver bowls on a bookshelf. I counted out ten and brought them back into the classroom after locking the door behind me.

Several other students were preparing their components as well. I hoped the professor was proud of us. He’d taught us well.

I took the nettle and started stripping the leaves into my bowl, mixing it with twice as many lavender petals. The aroma was heady, as intended.

I sprinkled the salt in a continuous circle around the bowl before sending a careful burst of power into the basin.

It glowed a light purple shade, emphasizing the lavender’s effects.

I hoped I hadn’t messed up on the calculations.

“Ready,” I said.

“Attempt one,” Professor Dunlop said, taking my paper and attaching it to his clipboard. “Let’s see what happens.”

“Professor Reynolds, I need you to smell this,” I said. “It’s supposed to help stimulate the memory centers of your brain.”

The child professor wrinkled his nose as he got closer. “It smells funky.”

“That’s the nettle,” I explained. “It’s to target the curse and try to revert it.”

“I don’t like it,” he said, pulling away.

“I think you’d like being an adult more than a child,” I tried to reason with him.

“Ugh, fine.” Professor Reynolds rolled his eyes.

Professor Dunlop chuckled. “Well, at least his attitude is maturing.”

“Not sure I’d use that word,” I muttered.

“Five going on fifteen,” Aiden whispered in my ear.

“Lean over the bowl,” I encouraged the child. “Breathe in while I count to two and then hold your breath for as long as you possibly can.”

Professor Reynolds followed my instructions until he turned red.

“You can breathe again,” I said with a sigh. “It didn’t do anything.”

“You did everything right,” Professor Dunlop said, patting my shoulder reassuringly. “It isn’t the correct curse, so the counter didn’t work.”

“At least I didn’t make things worse.”

“No, that’s true.” He smiled slightly. “Good luck tonight.”

“I don’t know if I’ll be competing yet,” I said. “Are you going to go?”

“That depends on Professor Reynolds, I’m afraid.”

“Right.” I wrinkled my nose. “I’m sorry you’re stuck with babysitting duty.”

“I have seen many Olympics. I will survive missing this one.”

“Still not fair. It’s not like it was your fault he’s a child.”

Professor Dunlop inclined his head. “Nor is it yours. Excuse me.” He left to oversee the next student’s attempt at the counter-curse.

I squeezed over to watch Aiden work on his problem. He was almost done, his pencil flying across the page as he completed the mathematical calculations.

“Have I mentioned lately how hot I think you are?” I whispered to him.

“Hm?” he hummed, distracted.

“The way you do math is so sexy,” I continued, sliding my hand over his thigh.

His pencil nub snapped from too much pressure.

“Siobhan,” he gritted out, eyes wide as he glanced around the classroom. “What are you doing?”

I shrugged, my fingers traveling higher, to where he was filling out the crotch of his pants. “I’m done. I’m bored.”

“You could work on your thesis,” he suggested, his fist making the pencil in his grip creak. “This isn’t like you.”

I blinked at him. “You’re right. Why am I so horny all of a sudden? I can’t concentrate.”

Aiden’s eyes flared with heat. “It’s starting to affect me, too. Having you near me... It’s too much to resist.”

“Professor!” I gasped, clutching my fingers tightly in Aiden’s shirt. “Something’s wrong!”

That was all I was able to say before Aiden plundered my mouth. The heat of him against me was setting my nerve endings on fire. It was hot, too hot. I needed to get out of my clothes, needed his hands on my skin, his cock deep inside me...

His lips left my mouth to trail kisses down my throat.

I opened my eyes to see the students behind us in a similar state of arousal.

Summoning all my concentration, I cast a shield spell over the smoking silver bowl on the table behind us, tying it to my chair before I surrendered to the bliss Aiden was spiking in me.

With the source of the smoke removed, it dissipated, and the intensity of my passion left.

“Good thinking, Ms. Doyle,” Professor Dunlop said, his tie undone and shirt buttons half-undone. His hair was mussed as if he’d run his hands through it. “Is everyone all right?”

Aiden groaned into my shoulder. “That was...” He blew out a breath.

I gripped the two sides of my shirt and pulled them together over my breasts. “Yeah.”

“Class dismissed while we deal with this mess,” the professor said. “Clean up your stations— No! Not you!” he barked at the people behind me. “Leave that one alone. I’ll take care of it.”

“What happened?” I asked, casting a spell to put my clothing to rights.

The professor examined the spell components behind me, comparing to the list on the paper that he had approved. “Those idiots grabbed aphrodisia instead of forget-me-nots. No wonder it was so potent. Combined with poppy...” He trailed off, shaking his head. “If you hadn’t managed to contain that smoke, it could have spread to the entire school, building upon itself.”

I shuddered. “That’s a relief.”

“You two get going. Professor Reynolds is going to help me put everything away. Any spells that are mostly complete, we’ll test.”

The child professor pouted.

“It’ll be fun,” I said, crossing my fingers. “Maybe one of them will work!”

Aiden tugged my hand, pulling me toward the door.

“See you at lunch!” I called before leaving the room. “What’s the hurry?” I asked my boyfriend.

“I’m still horny,” he mumbled, pressing his face into my neck and inhaling deeply.

I wiggled, trying to extricate myself. “Are you okay? Do you need to see a medic?”

Aiden chuckled darkly. “Only if you’re into roleplaying one. I need to be inside you.” He nipped my earlobe, making my knees buckle.

“Ohhh,” I moaned, gripping his shoulders tightly. “Yeah, okay. Our room, now.”

* * *

That evening, everyone filed through the portal immediately following dinner. I had barely been able to eat, I was so nervous.

I sniffed the air, trying to figure out where in the world we had exited.

“Cairo,” Aiden said, pointing to his left.

I followed his finger to see the Great Pyramids. We hadn’t exited the portal in the city, but in the desert on the other side of the pyramids.

“They’re even more impressive in person,” I marveled. “And at night.”

There were magical lights illuminating the massive wonders. I couldn’t imagine how difficult it must be to hide the magic from the humans.

“Contestants, this way!” piped up an attendant. “If you have a green light, you’re a contestant in this event.”

I tapped my temple. “I’m green.”

“Me too.” Aiden grinned. “That means we’re flying.”

My stomach rebelled, wanting to lose what little dinner I had managed to eat. “Oh no,” I whispered.

“This is good,” he said encouragingly. “It’ll get it over with.”

We followed the other contestants into a tent. There was food and drink on tables, and many people milling around. I recognized a few faces from the previous evening, but I wasn’t sure if they’d been competing or if they had just been at the ceremony.

“Drink,” Aiden said, pressing a glass into my hand.

“What is it?”

“Water with sugar in it,” he said. “It’ll give your energy a boost. You look like you’re about to pass out.”

“I feel like it, too.”

We made small talk with the other competitors as the noise level outside the tent increased. I met so many people, but I wouldn’t have been able to tell you their names or describe their faces two seconds after they had walked away.

I was so flipping nervous.

“Aiden,” I murmured, pulling on his arm until I could whisper in his ear. “Do you think we could sneak away for you to distract me thoroughly?”

Aiden chuckled and kissed my temple. “I don’t think we have time for that. Also, I don’t think you’d enjoy it all that much, what with how distracted you are.”

“I’m almost offended,” I said, shaking my head. “But you’re probably right.”

“Contestants, find your contingents,” the attendants said as they passed amongst us. “The event will start in five minutes.”

“When you’re right, you’re right,” I said, gracing Aiden with a small smile. My stomach was flipping around like a gymnast.

“Everyone ready?” The attendant pulled on a rope and an entire side of the tent opened up, revealing the stadium. The far end of it was the open desert, and viewing platforms flanked the sides.

We all shuffled forward, spreading out once we got to the middle of the stadium.

“Welcome, magical community, to the second event of the Olympics!” the announcer boomed. “Tonight, will be the ley line sky surfing event. As an added complication, the contestants will be provided with an item that they must transfigure into a rideable object. They will be given points on style, aerodynamics, durability, and speed of transfiguration, as well as for their flying abilities. There is a timed component to the flight; they must complete their turn within fifteen minutes, performing a minimum of five tricks in the air. The scores for each contingent will be added up, and the team with the highest score will win first place. The countdown has begun. Prepare yourselves.”

A ginormous clock appeared overhead, counting down from thirty.

“What item?” I asked frantically, looking around the stadium. There was nothing visible beyond the sand and the stands.

“Patience,” Aiden said. “They’ll probably appear once the countdown runs out.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “Transfiguration,” I murmured. “Without knowing the material composing the item, that’ll be difficult.”

“You can do it.”

I squeezed his hand. “So can you.”

“I know.” He grinned cockily at me.

The crowd started chanting the last ten seconds, the sounds echoing around the stadium.

I shook out my hands and rolled my neck on my shoulders. “Let’s do this.”

“ One! ” they screamed.

The floodlights illuminating the crowd went out, leaving the contestants in the light.

I blinked, taking in my surroundings once more. Tables had appeared around the circumference with objects too small to make out on top of them.

Everyone had started running to the tables closest to them. I didn’t quite understand why, and instead, focused on an object and summoned it to me.

It sped across the sand into my hand, much to the crowd’s delight.

I looked down at what I was holding; a chipped and cracked china plate.

“Seriously?” I muttered to nobody in particular.

It was simpler to transform matter and shape at once, rather than one at a time. However, the broken quality needed to be fixed first, or else it wouldn’t be as durable.

Since we were in Cairo, one of the strongest nexus points in the world, I would only have to use a drop of my power in the transfiguration.

I squatted in the sand, placing the plate on the cool ground. It was a matter of seconds to use the sand to fix the damage. I colored the broken, jagged lines gold, giving the plate a shimmery marbling effect.

“Flying,” I muttered. “Not just flying, but trick flying. A standard broom would work, but not be super flashy.” I chewed my lip for a minute, thinking about what I could do that wouldn’t knock me off my feet. “They called it sky surfing. Why not take them at the letter of their word?”

The plate in my hands grew, elongating and thickening. I used the sand at my feet to craft more marbling into the surfboard. China to fiberglass wasn’t a difficult task, but I added the extra step of complexity by turning the material transparent. From the ground, it would look like I was surfing on golden lines.

Satisfied with my transfiguration, I placed the surfboard flat on the ground and hopped up onto it. They didn’t say that we couldn’t use a bit of help to stay on our object, so I cast a combination balance and sticking spell on myself before I took off.

“Ride this wave!” I shouted, taking off into the air.

A beep sounded in my ear, marking the beginning of my timed session.

There weren’t many people in the air yet. Running to the objects had taken a lot of time, and I was confused as to why more people hadn’t used my method. I shrugged. It wasn’t important, and it was distracting me.

I did a few slow loops, getting the feel for the movement of the board. I didn’t like how it felt like I left my stomach behind every time I changed direction.

“Okay,” I said, psyching myself up. “I need to do something more complex.” A cartwheel mid-air made me squeak, but I managed it, breathing hard afterward.

More competitors were in the air now, and it was getting crowded. I decided to do a drop like in skateboarding, using the audience as the ramp. At the top of the stands, I did a one-handed flip, grabbing the edge of my board with one hand. A sea of faces was looking up at me, and I made the split-second decision to ride along the edge of the stadium, reaching down into the audience to give high fives.

I reached a light post and looped around it, trying to decide what to do next.

The timer in my ear started to beep slowly, indicating I had one minute left.

Something spectacular .

I wasn’t sure I had “spectacular” in me.

But I had to try.

I cast a color-trail spell on myself, hoping it worked. It wasn’t exactly a practical spell, so I hadn’t had the chance to use it before.

If it worked, it would leave a trail of color behind me as I moved, kinda like a rainbow attached to my back.

“Oh dear,” I muttered, nervous to draw so much attention.

The timer was counting down. I had to do this. It was now or never.

I streaked down the wall of the audience.

Gasps met my ears. I hoped that was for me.

I crouched lower on my board, speeding faster. If I was lucky, I could splash the sand behind me. That would look pretty cool.

My stomach did not enjoy the speed, but it was kinda exhilarating. Loose strands of hair that had fallen out of my French braid were whipped around my face by the wind.

The last few rows of the audience were coming up. I zipped past them, changing angle and direction to dart along the center of the stadium.

I had been right; the sand was splashing up behind me like a solid wake, mixing with my rainbow tail and shimmering in the light.

The beeping in my ear got a little louder. I only had ten seconds left!

Closing my eyes to avoid the sand, I did two backward cartwheels and came to a standstill just as the beeping stopped.

My turn was over.

I waited a moment to let the sand settle before opening my eyes, trying to figure out what I was supposed to do now.

Attendants were waving me to the side of the stadium, so I slowly rode my surfboard over to them, keeping an eye open for any other competitors who might stray across my path. Almost everyone was still in the air.

I wondered where the judges were, and how they could possibly keep track of everyone.

“Please return to the tent,” the attendant said when I reached them. “Keep to the side. Your object will be evaluated there and added to your score.”

“Thank you.”

I didn’t want to walk in the sand, so I stayed on my board and floated back to the tent. The power from the ley lines quickly replenished the slight amount of magic I had used in the event, making me feel almost giddy.

When I got back to the tent, I stripped the extra spells off me, almost falling over once my feet were back on solid ground.

I handed my surfboard over to the judge, who examined it physically and magically. He made a notation on his clipboard before handing the board back to me and walking away without a word.

“I guess I’m done then?” I said to nobody in particular.

A muffled snort came from behind me.

I whipped around to see my grandfather.

“You made it!” I exclaimed, dropping the surfboard at my feet and throwing my arms around his neck.

He hugged me tightly. “If your performance at the accuracy event was anything like tonight, I’m sorry I missed it. You were brilliant.”

I waved aside his praise. “You’re biased.”

“You’ll see once you get your score.”

“Look at them,” I said, pointing over his shoulder at the other competitors. They were doing tricks on various flying objects. Most seemed to be brooms, but there were bicycles, skateboards, and surfboards, among others. “They’re doing more complex tricks than I was. I thought I was going to throw up the entire time.”

Grandfather chuckled. “And yet, you were still brilliant.”

“Thanks,” I said bashfully.

“I have something for you,” he said, picking up my surfboard and leading me to the side of the tent.

“You figure out how to trap the thief?”

He nodded, and took a small box out of his jacket pocket.

I shrank my board down to a miniature. The gold glittered in the lights and I smiled, pleased with my abilities.

“These are glass,” Grandfather said, drawing my attention to the ruby earrings in the box he’d opened. “I bought them in town this morning. And then I added two spells onto them. Tell me what they are.”

That was a fun challenge. I cast a spell on my vision to help me see what he’d added. “One is a cleaning charm,” I said at last. “Keep infection away from the wearer?”

Grandfather nodded, pleased. “And?”

“And it looks like something to do with antiques? Protection from damage or something.”

“That’s right. Almost right, that is.” He looked proud of himself. “I twisted the protection spell to include protection from theft.”

“Oh, that’s clever,” I said, grinning at him. “The thief won’t realize that the theft will be tracked if he checks the spells on them.”

“Very good. Once they’re stolen, it’s a simple matter of searching for the protection spell. Only the owner can find them, so I am giving these to you.”

“Thank you. You shouldn’t have,” I teased.

“Keep quiet about the properties of the earrings,” Grandfather cautioned. “Tell only those you must.”

I nodded solemnly. “Got it.”

“Tomorrow night is the Dragon Polo event,” Grandfather continued. “I have a standing meeting with a friend in town, so I won’t be able to make it. Have fun!”

“How do you know what event it is?” I asked.

“The dragons have to be prepared for the event,” he said with a chuckle. “You just have to know who to ask.”