Page 22 of Reluctant Witch (A Course in Magic #2)

22

Ellie

When Ellie left her class—History of Magical Bonds—the next morning, she was not expecting to be greeted by the headmaster’s wife and two of her other classmates. They bustled her back into the classroom as their professor was leaving. The professor had a towering hat, peacock feather bouncing erratically as she looked back at them with a reproving look.

“I’m not to talk to you,” Maggie Lynch stated by way of greeting.

“Then don’t.” Ellie put more distance between them. The moment felt like an ambush.

Maggie made a face that was halfway between amused and irritated. “My son is going to live with your aunt. I thought we could try talking since we’ll be almost like distant relatives. That’s not breaking the rules, is it?”

“I don’t know you.” Ellie stared at her, feeling like there was clearly more going on than she knew.

“Awkward panda,” one of the men said softly.

“Monahan, right?” Ellie said.

At the same time, all three of her classmates said, “Dan.” Then exchanged looks as if there was a joke there.

“Right, well, Dan… and Maggie… and…” She looked at the third student.

“Axell,” he offered.

“Axell,” she echoed. “Why do I feel like the three of you are up to something?”

Maggie grinned. “I’m the headmaster’s wife. What could I possibly be up to? Do you know something about me that would make you think that?

Ellie rolled her eyes. Obviously, she didn’t, and she didn’t love the gap in her memory making the whole conversation feel like she was the only person in a game who couldn’t see her adversary’s cards while hers were all face up. She shoved all her anxiety away and said, “Hestia is going to be looking after your kid? Lucky boy. She raised me, and she’s amazing.”

“Truly?” The bravado in Maggie’s expression slipped briefly, and she looked like someone Ellie wanted to help.

“Truly.” Ellie nodded her head. “I wanted her to live here, but…” She motioned to the window of the castle, through which dappled light cast interesting shadows on the floor. “It’s poisonous out there.”

“My kid’s not magic. That’s why he’s going back,” Maggie offered.

“And you?” Ellie prompted.

“They won’t let me. Witches can’t move back there, can’t even visit long, or magic… spills.” Maggie stared at her, seeking something that she obviously wasn’t finding. “Did you know that?”

“My wife is the one hunting the witches who shot Lord Scylla and created the rift, so… yes, I know,” Ellie hedged.

“That’s the only reason you know?” Dan asked. “No other stray details that might cross your mind?”

“Obviously, you think you know something about me.” Ellie crossed her arms. “Spit it out.”

“I met you in Ligonier,” Dan blurted. “I know your magic is intense. You were scary when we met. I’m really sorry for my part in everything, but it was either help the bad guys or be forced to give up my magic.”

Ellie paused, staring at the three of them. “We met before I was a witch?”

“No.”

“No,” a second voice answered as the headmaster appeared with a hob on his shoulder, teleporting into the classroom like an angry bull. “Shut your gob, Monahan. Not a word more. Are you trying to get called before Congress?”

Ellie opened her mouth to reply but then realized he was talking to Maggie.

“Now, Sondre…” Maggie put her hand flat on his chest. “We just ran into a classmate in the passageways. No one nearby. No one—”

“Woman, there are ears everywhere.” The headmaster ran his hand over his face as if to wipe away worry. “And you two. Go on. Anywhere but here.” He glanced at Ellie, softened his tone, and said, “Prospero risked everything for you. I don’t like her, but… seriously? Stay away from my wife.”

Then he disappeared with Maggie.

“I don’t want to get deported,” Axell said. “We should go, too. Until next time.”

“Deported?” Ellie echoed.

Axell paused. “Some witches can be sent back there. Siphoned and disposed. Others…” He glanced pointedly at her and then at Dan. “Others are too special to send away, even if they want to go.”

“Do you want to go back?”

Axell shook his head.

Dan gave her a sad smile. “No. I’d do just about anything to stay. Going back would be a death sentence for me. Cancer. In and out of remission.”

“You know what I forgot,” Ellie said baldly. They had obviously been trying to suss out what she knew before Maggie was snatched away.

“Parts of it. Maggie knows most of it,” Axell said in a very quiet voice.

The next group of students started filing into the room, darting awkward looks at her, and Ellie decided that she was going to go wherever Dan and Axell were headed to get answers, but in the moment she’d looked away, they were gone.

That leaves Prospero or the chief witch.…

Ellie looked for the two men as she left the classroom and wound her way through the halls. Wherever they’d vanished, they’d gone quickly. She marched to the exit and out the front doors, only to be stopped just outside the castle by a young woman who looked about as threatening as a daisy.

“If you don’t go with her, she’s going to get hurt,” the woman said in lieu of greeting.

“And I should trust you why? Who are you? Who will get hurt? Less riddles, more facts.” Ellie stared at her. “Do I know you?”

“No, but I know you, Elleanor Zelena Brandeau. I foretold your arrival and—”

“Got it. Prophecy.” Ellie held a hand up in a “halt” gesture. “We make our own destinies in the world.”

“So you’ll risk the woman you love?”

“ Do I love her?” Ellie countered. “Apparently, she erased my memory.”

“You have to save her.” The stranger offered a beatific smile that mostly just pissed Ellie off. “Or we’re all doomed.”

“From what?”

“Peril. Pigs. Any number of things… or all is lost.”

I’m over cryptic warnings and strangers interfering in my life.

“Who are you?”

“Cassandra.”

At that, Ellie paused. “Like the seer no one believed?”

“Yes, but you must listen, Elleanor Zel—”

“Stop.” Ellie stepped around her and kept walking, calling back over her shoulder, “You’ll find that I’m not a huge fan of secrecy or being told what to do. If you think I need to go with Prospero, tell her. Tell the chief witch. I’ve tried to, but she refused.”

“I’ve tried, too,” Cassandra snapped.

And for a moment, Ellie felt sorry for her. Obviously, Ellie offered to go with Prospero, but no one seemed willing to let her.

Because I was an escapee. That was the undeniable truth. She doesn’t want to take me over there because I was an escapee before this!