Page 26 of Spellcaster (Weatherstone College #1)

“All good points,” Haley agreed, pressing her pen hard into the notepad she had in front of her. “At minimum I think it’s

worth seeing what the headmaster discovers. If the monsters are out in the open now, it’s going to be more difficult for this

asshole to keep bringing them into the school.”

I didn’t want to leave Weatherstone, so I ran with their suggestions. “Yep, I’ll wait and see what the officials discover. Until then, let’s go with the travel in groups plan.”

Belle relaxed now that we’d agreed on a plan that wouldn’t get me yanked out. Even though it had been her suggestion in the

first place. “It’s going to be difficult,” she said, tapping her finger against her chin, eyes unfocused. “We don’t share

all the same classes, now that we have our affinities.” She shot apologetic eyes at me, as we were all reminded of my uselessness.

“We’ll figure it out,” Haley said, forcibly. “I think the main point is that we can’t be as relaxed as we were before. No

more late-night wanderings into cemeteries.”

The three of them leveled their gazes on me, and I snorted. “Yeah, yeah, Moms. Keep your hair on. I promise to stop wandering

aimlessly and giving monsters a chance to eat me.”

“Excellent.” Belle dropped her pen, rubbing a hand over her eyes. “In better news, I think I’ve found the strongest defense

spell we have the capability of creating and utilizing. We’ll need to get herbs from the apothecary store because this is

beyond fourth-year advanced spellwork.”

Since it was late afternoon, and we were all exhausted and starving, we returned our books and gathered up the copious pages

of notes we’d taken. Then we followed Belle as she marched from the library and headed for the Stores, the small hut containing

all the herbs, potion mixes, candles, and other materials required in potion making.

Students couldn’t just help themselves to whatever they wanted, but when we showed Madam Craney, the witch who ran the apothecary, the spell we were studying, she was more than happy to help us out.

No talk of it being too advanced, she was all smiles as she waved her hands.

“Oh, yes, dears,” she said, pushing back the huge purple glasses that framed her wrinkled eyes.

Her hair was bright purple too, lovely against her brown skin.

“After last night we could all use protective energy around us.”

It had been twenty years since the last death at Weatherstone, when a spell had missed its mark and taken out a second-year.

The monster murder last night was a thousand times worse, and it would take this magical community a long time to get past

it.

“His parents are with the headmaster now,” Madam Craney continued. She’d always kept up a constant stream of chatter whenever

I’d come in here for supplies. “I hope they don’t take them to Aura Hall until the investigation is complete. They questioned

that poor Logan for hours, and he is such a hero.” Her eyes twinkled as she looked back our way. “Handsome too.”

That was Logan, the handsome hero.

Her monologue trailed off as she delved into the shelves to find what we needed. The familiar scents of an apothecary eased

the tension in my shoulders, reminding me of being back in Mom’s kitchen.

“Rosemary is my favorite,” Sara said, breathing as deeply as I was. “It reminds me of home, and the early mornings when Mom

would mix up her healing elixirs in the kitchen.”

Haley’s smile was genuine, for the first time today. “It’s oregano for me. Mom enjoyed using it for every-freaking-thing.

Not even joking. Cooking, spells, my homemade toothpaste.”

“My dad was into sage,” Belle said with a shrug, conveying that he wasn’t her favorite person. “Mom liked to grind up ashwagandha,

which isn’t as strong in the scent department, but that earthy smell always reminds me of India.”

It was my turn, and I brushed my fingertips across the leaves of the mint plant on the front desk.

“Mom doesn’t use active magic these days, but she has all the herbs you could imagine.

Lavender, thyme, oregano, sage, lemongrass.

You name it, it’s growing somewhere in the house.

Jars everywhere, windowsills crammed. I kind of miss all the greenery. ”

“No active magic?” Sara queried, and I nodded. “Yeah, it’s to do with whatever happened with Logan’s mom in the forest that

day.” I’d told them why there was a blood oath between us, or as much as I knew anyway. “But it doesn’t diminish her capabilities

as a witch.”

“It wasn’t her fault,” Belle said fiercely. “Logan is dumber than he looks if he believes otherwise.”

Madam Craney returned with a box of items, and I had a thought. “Would it be possible for me to take a few of the potted herbs?

I’d love to keep them in my room.”

Her whole face lit up. “Dear, you can take as many as you like. Our magic is stronger when we immerse ourselves in nature.”

All four of us ended up with a few trays of potted herbs. On our way back, each of us stopped in our room to drop off the

plants. I set my tray on the windowsill and hoped I’d inherited my mom’s green thumb, because I now had babies to keep alive.

When we were done, we snuck into the defense spells classroom, needing the pentacles and insulated walls in case we screwed

up the spell. With classes canceled, there were no students in this part of Writworth, minimizing our chances of getting caught.

“It’s complicated,” Belle warned, as she set down each piece of the spell before us. “We need to work slowly, and all of us

can check we’re getting every step correct.”

“Especially Paisley,” Sara added. “She’s killing it in spell making classes, and is top of the grade.”

I’d never been top of anything, and without an active affinity I certainly wasn’t going to be for most classes here, but I enjoyed this niche in spells. Hopefully my new skills were enough to get us through a spell of this caliber.

“Okay, we need to swap out the candles for ones with sage, fennel, and lavender,” Belle said quickly, checking her notes.

“They should have a dark wick laced with black basil.”

We checked to make sure Madam had given us the right ones, and thankfully their shiny surface and black wick were as described.

We placed them on the grooves in the pentacle and used the multitude of flints nearby, left for those who weren’t fire elementals.

“Light them now,” Belle said, and in a few seconds we had five eerily dark flames.

Next, she separated the herbs. A similar array to what was in the candle, with an addition of salt, dragon’s blood—powerful

at warding—and red pepper.

“You take the salt,” she told me. I read the instructions over her shoulder and grimaced at how quickly we had to move. A

single witch or warlock couldn’t have done this on their own. It would take at least two or three to be safer.

Holding the salt in the palm of my hand, I followed the instructions and flicked it in a counterclockwise motion across the

herbs on the table, purifying and mixing it through them all before we began.

“Okay, this is the order,” Belle said, voice steady, even if her eyes held an edge of panic. “I go first, and then within

two seconds, Haley, you drop the lavender...” She gave us all our tasks, one by one, before taking a deep breath. “Are

we ready?”

Belle didn’t give us time to freak out, barking out the orders again.

To no one’s surprise, with a spell this complex, we failed twice.

When we were down to what was our last stock of herbs, we sat in silence, staring at each other.

“Okay, this is it.” Belle barely looked as if she was breathing, wiping sweat off her forehead.

“One last time, learning from all of our mistakes.”

This time she remained quiet because we had the order memorized now. Somehow, this time, desperation etched across our faces,

all four of us managed to hit every action, direction, and time frame. As if the moon goddess herself were watching our backs.

When we were done, there was an extended silence, and I was the one wiping sweat as my blood pumped with adrenaline.

“How do we know if it worked?” Haley whispered, as we watched the middle of the pentacle closely.

“We’ll know,” Belle replied, her focus never wavering. “The last step that didn’t happen the last two times will give us the

sign.”

A puff of smoke emerged from the center, where the herbs swirled, and with a loud pop that had my frazzled nerves bouncing,

the smoke shifted from white to the darkest of grays. As it filled the room, there was no scent or acridity, and when it cleared,

all that remained of the multitude of herbs was a thick stem.

In the dim light of the candles, I examined it closer to find a dozen lethal thorns scattered across the length.

Belle reached out hesitantly, grasping a small section without thorns. “You need to stab this into the monster.” She twisted

the stem to show us shades of brown, gray, and silver embedded in the points.

Stabbing meant we had to get close, so it wasn’t the safest option, but it would come in handy if we got pinned.

Using one of the metal stirrers, Belle broke off sections of the long thorns for each of us, sliding them into glass vials so we didn’t accidentally stab ourselves. “We’ll split them,” she said. “That way, no matter who is with Paisley, we all can help her.”

“And yourselves,” I added quickly. “Even if the monsters are targeting me, and we don’t know that for sure yet, they are indiscriminate

with who they destroy on the way.”

Belle nodded. “I know.”

Slipping my thorny weapons into my pocket, we all promised not to leave our rooms without them. Last night’s death meant we

had to start taking this seriously.

If I wanted to make it through the rest of this school year alive.