Page 19 of Monster's Melody

“It made the fun last longer,” I said.

“It’s also making the misery last longer too,” Mikaela groaned.

“Should have found a potion for sobriety,” Kasi said.

“Shit, we’re a mess,” I said.

“Food,” Mikaela announced, “to soak up some of that wine.”

“Time is it?”Kasi asked.

I fished my phone out of my pocket and peered at the screen, but couldn’t decipher the numbers.I finally held the phone out so they could see it.

They stumbled closer, almost knocking heads as they stared at my screen intently.

“Five twenty-three,” Kasi said proudly.

“Plenty of time for food,” Mikaela said, leading the way into the cafeteria.

We then proceeded to eat everything in sight, as quickly as possible.

“I’m not well,” Kasi moaned as she set her head down on the table.“Instead of just drunk and hungover, now I’m also bloated and sluggish.Why did we decide we shouldeachhave a bottle of wine?We could have just sharedonebottle, especially after you cast that doubling spell, Jasmine.”

“But the bottles were our reward for finding the cellar.It even told us so,” I reminded her.

“Yes, but those bottles were supernaturally potent.”

“I’m still disturbed at the idea of a sentient wine cellar,” Mikaela said.

Itwaskind of freaky.

In fact, overall, the entire experience inside the wine cellar had been a little strange, something we should have expected considering the supernatural nature of the Academy.

From the moment we’d entered the cellar, it had felt like another world entirely.

The air had been cool, with stone walls all around and aisles and aisles of wine to choose from.The selections had been diverse enough to be intimidating.In fact, it’d been so overwhelming, I’d felt paralyzed to choose.

When I’d said that out loud, the rack I’d been staring at had pushed one bottle forward.

The others had immediately asked the cellar to do the same for them.

Vorzak, Mikaela, Elliot and Jahrdran were each offered a bottle almost immediately.

Kasi, though, had to explore deep into the cellar, eventually disappearing into its shadows completely.

Jahrdran, of course, had gone with her.

While we waited for them to return, Elliot made the mistake of reaching for a second bottle.

This was clearly forbidden because the cellar began shaking right down to its foundations, wine bottles all around us rattling in their racks.

Vorzak, who’d been practically glued to my side the entire time we’d been in the cellar, stepped even closer.

I’d been going insane trying to ignore the flirting of his snakes, not to mention the sexiness ofhim, and now he was even closer than before, heat radiating from his body as he hovered protectively.

“My bad,” Elliot exclaimed, stepping away from the bottle he’d been about to touch.“I was just curious, didn’t mean to be greedy.We’re very thankful for your generosity.”

The shaking stopped and a moment later, Kasi and Jahrdran streamed from the shadows, regaining their physical forms.