Cackles and Cauldrons Read online

  I felt bad about leaving without putting a sign on the door like Gertrude had asked, but I couldn’t do that very well without it leading to more questions. If no one was around after dinner, I would post a sign then.

  Josie and I caught the tail end of dinner, the selection of food meager in comparison to the times I got there at the start of the meal. Afterwards, I put up a sign in the library to announce that it was closed for the evening. I wanted to go see Thatch, but the dungeon was locked up with a note that said he was busy recruiting and he might be out late. At least he’d communicated with me this time.

  When I returned to my dorm room, I found Vega absent. It was just as well. She probably was in a bad mood about not being able to get her Red affinity to do all the freakish things I could do. I did feel bad about that. She wanted to be able to resurrect the dead. If she couldn’t do the other things I could do as a Red affinity, I wondered if she truly was a Red affinity. Maybe I needed to give her more doses of electricity.

  What if making her a Red affinity didn’t actually give her other attributes like fertility? I might not have solved the Fae Fertility Paradox. If that was correct, and I couldn’t make other Witchkin fertile, that meant I was still going to owe Elric an heir. I wasn’t going to be able to fulfill my end of the bargain by making someone else a Red affinity as I had hoped.

  I had no idea how I was going to prove Vega or anyone else could get pregnant—unless I convinced them to sleep with a Fae. I didn’t want to sleep with a Fae. I couldn’t blame anyone else if they didn’t want to either.

  The rag she’d made me wipe down the desk and other places that could contain the dust of forbidden magic lay on the floor. I picked it up, about to fling it into the laundry, but I paused, seeing the pink stripes of the fabric. It was cute, like something I would wear.

  I realized it was something I wore. She’d used one of my shirts—the same one she’d cut a section out of to make her voodoo doll of me—as a rag. That wicked witch! Suddenly I didn’t feel so bad for her anymore.

  The following morning, I was on my way to the library before school to let Gertrude out of the chamber of secrets when Khaba intercepted me. His eyes were shining and excited. I hadn’t seen him grin like this for a long time.

  He snagged my arm, pulling me in the opposite direction. “I need to talk to you. I can finally prove to you that Felix Thatch is up to no good.”

  “Um… .” I said, uncertain how to respond. I knew he wasn’t up to no good. No one needed to prove anything to me.

  “I need to go to the library before school starts,” I said. “I need to . . . talk to Gertrude.” As long as I didn’t tell Khaba I was going there to unlock her chamber of forbidden knowledge, neither of us would get in trouble.

  Khaba tugged me after him. “Your library books can wait. This is more important.”

  “I really don’t think it is.” I tried to grind my heels into the floor, but Khaba must have used magic on me because my feet kept on walking.

  Gertrude was a powerful Celestor, but she didn’t have the sun, moon, or stars to power her affinity. I didn’t know how long she would be able to keep herself charged—and not need to eat or urinate. I couldn’t leave her all night and all day.

  Khaba waited until we were in his office and closed the door behind us before he spoke. “When the security team were doing a sweep yesterday evening, they found some suspicious items in Felix Thatch’s possession.”

  The warmth drained from my face. “Like what?”

  “In the drawer of his desk, we found three items. First was an iPod.” He waggled his eyebrows at me.

  “He’s probably going to say it’s a student’s that he confiscated. And it probably is.”

  “That isn’t all they found.” He opened one of the drawers of his hot-pink file cabinet. He removed the watercolor I’d painted of Thatch. “Look at this dark, demonic self-portrait he painted of himself.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I made that.”

  He stared at me, baffled. “You paint watercolors?”

  “I’m an art teacher! Duh!” I had forgotten he hadn’t been around when I’d had my solo show at the art gallery. So much had happened during that year Khaba had been away.

  “Oh,” his shoulders sagged.

  “Besides, making dark self-portraits or portraits aren’t crimes. If it is, let me know, and I’ll be sure to keep my students from making any more in my classes.”

  “Well, there’s one more thing. He made a poppet of you we found in his desk.”

  “A puppet?”

  “A poppet. It’s a kind of doll used as a substitute for someone. A witch can do horrible things to the doll, and the victim will experience those manifestations. It’s similar to a voodoo doll.” He held up the doll. She still sported my pink hair, stripes, and polka dots. “I detect traces of Celestor magic on it. Obviously he intended to do something to you.”

  “Thatch didn’t make that,” I said.

  “I know you’re going to deny he would be capable of doing something like this. Someone obviously took a snippet of your hair for this.” He reached behind my head, fingers searching my scalp for the missing chunk of hair. “There it is!”

  I wanted to explain who it had really been, but I hesitated, fearing what the consequences might be for Vega if I did. She was being coerced to help someone else. I didn’t know whether she might lose her soul or that had been a ruse. Ultimately, I decided Thatch’s job was more at risk than Vega’s soul in this case.

  “Vega made the poppet. I found it in our room and confronted her about it. She didn’t deny it. I brought it to Thatch to see if he could undo the spell. He said not to worry about it. She hadn’t hidden it in my bed long enough for it to absorb much of my essence.”

  Khaba sat down in his chair. He rubbed his bald head, looking crestfallen.

  “I’m sorry. I know you wanted this to be the proof you needed that Felix Thatch is evil, but he isn’t. He’s not my enemy. I was mad at him before about his bargain with the Fae court because I felt like he’d tricked me and made me look like a fool for fawning over him, but I’ve forgiven him.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t forgive so easily. Elric said Thatch hit you. He said he forced you to kiss him in front of the Silver Court to demonstrate how little he respects you.”

  I placed a hand on Khaba’s shoulder. “If he hadn’t done that, my soul would belong to the Silver Court. I would be their slave. He saved me.”

  He shrugged away from me. “He saved you for the Raven Queen.”

  Khaba was a broken record. I could see there was no reaching him.

  “Okay. Whatever. I’m going to the library now. I need to catch Gertrude before breakfast.”

  “You aren’t going to find her. Something happened last night. Gertrude has gone missing. Thatch didn’t return from his ‘supposed’ recruiting. Highly suspicious. Thatch and his ex-girlfriend both happen to disappear the same night. Either they’re off somewhere fornicating together, or he’s done something to her.”

  Craptacular! Now Thatch was going to get blamed for me tempting Gertrude with the joy of books.

  Khaba must have mistaken my wide-eyed expression as fear. “It’s okay. He won’t hurt you. I’ll make sure he doesn’t.”

  My powerlessness to change his mind came out in a burst of frustration. “Stop saying that! He does not work for the Raven Queen. Everything he’s done has been to keep me out of her hands.”

  Khaba’s voice rose to match mine. “You’re growing too close to Thatch for your own good. I know you bargained with Elric to get him to drop those charges. I don’t know what you offered him, or why you would try to protect someone who hurt you once and is just going to—”

  I moved closer to the door, but I didn’t leave. “No. What happened between Thatch and me is no one else’s business. I said he didn’t do anything. You need to believe that.”

  Khaba crossed his arms. “This is why it’s a good th
ing we have a school policy against fraternization among colleagues.”

  At this rate, Khaba was never going to be friends with Thatch as I wanted them to be. If he found out we were dating, he would accuse Thatch of coercing me magically.

  “I will prove it to you,” he said. “I’ll find out whatever spell he’s cast over you and break it before he hurts you. I owe it to your mother to keep you safe.”

  “No. There’s no—”

  “I’ll show you what a deceitful, murdering scoundrel he is and punish him for it. And I’ll have the blessing of the Witchkin Council and the school board to drain him once and for all.”

  I knew what this was really about. “What will it take to prove to you that Felix Thatch didn’t kill Brogan?”

  He sucked in a breath. Without even trying, I could sense the pain radiating from him when I spoke the name of his deceased lover.

  “Would you believe Derrick if he told you himself?” I asked.

  “I don’t know.” He rubbed at his bald head, looking weary. “He’s dangerous now that he’s under the Raven Queen’s influence. I don’t want him hurting you. It wouldn’t be a good idea.”

  No, it wasn’t, but when had that ever stopped me before?

  I went to the library to let Gertrude out before Khaba sent out a scouting party for her. When I told her about what had happened and how everyone thought Thatch had abducted her, she agreed she would go to Khaba directly to clear the matter up. As for Felix Thatch’s disappearance, I felt easier when students reported he’d taught class that morning.

  All day I thought about what I would have to do to prove Thatch’s innocence. During my lesson in Thatch’s office after dinner I was especially distracted. I couldn’t focus. My inability to practice my forbidden magic in secret was only made worse when Vega pounded on the door of Thatch’s office, demanding he do something about the new principal’s duty schedule.

  I returned to my room early. I didn’t want to see Derrick. I didn’t want those feelings I’d once had for him to confuse what I felt for Thatch.

  Nor did I particularly want Derrick to try to kill me again. But maybe that was what it would take. I was going to have to face my own ghost of boyfriend past in order to help Khaba let go of his.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The Price of a Favor

  Thatch was the last person on earth who would help me find Derrick. He would tell me to leave him be—just as he had before when I’d botched everything up. No, this was a favor to ask from a Fae, particularly the Fae who had assured me Derrick was alive on the other side of the world and far from the Raven Queen—and me.

  I wrote Elric a letter. I didn’t know if he would respond. He hadn’t written to me after my last letter when I’d asked him if he knew who the Princess of Lies and Truth was. Then again, that might have had something to do with Vega or someone else intercepting those letters.

  I kept my letter appropriately vague as to why I wanted to know about Derrick, in case the new principal decided it was in his best interest to go through outgoing mail.

  Dear Elric,

  Previously you mentioned that you took Derrick someplace far away. Is he still evil and suffering from the Raven Queen’s curse? Where is he? Can you arrange for me to speak with him?

  Your friend,

  Clarissa

  It was torture waiting for Elric’s reply. In the meantime, Vega interrupted my sexy magic lessons with Thatch twice in one session. Thatch was too busy with meetings with the new principal to reschedule.

  Elric’s letter came the following day. The seal with his family’s crest stamped in gold wax was broken on the envelope.

  Dearest Clarissa,

  I regret to inform you that your friend is still under the Raven Queen’s spell, as I expect he will continue to be for the rest of his days. There is no cure as far as I can tell, though I am pleased to report that he doesn’t suffer. So long as Derrick remains far from your presence, my own magic is able to keep him grounded. If he returns to you, he will be unable to resist the curse that lives inside him.

  I am sorry I cannot bring you greater tidings.

  By the by, it may be of interest to you to know that this letter arrived to me in a state that suggested it had been tampered with. Someone used magic to unseal the envelope and glued it back together. They did a very skilled job of it; the spy is someone who knows what he is doing. I am inclined to believe it is someone at your school, a certain Merlin-class Celestor perhaps who should mind his own business. Perhaps he’s jealous of our friendship and sees me as a threat.

  Have a care to be wary of this man.

  Yours truly,

  Prince Elric of the Silver Court

  I rolled my eyes. Thatch was not reading my mail. If he had, he probably would have chewed me out for inquiring after Derrick. More likely it was the principal, though I hadn’t given him credit for being able to do any kind of magic with skill. Perhaps he was only a dunce at using wards.

  I wrote Elric again.

  If I write a letter to Derrick, would you deliver it? I need to ask him something.

  Elric wrote back: No. It would not be in your best interest, nor Derrick’s, to resurrect his demons. Several times he has asked after your health, and I am afraid just hearing your name causes him such grief that it sets back his recovery toward normalcy.

  I didn’t want to reveal Khaba’s secrets and heartache to Elric, nor to the principal. I was careful in my response:

  Would it be possible to arrange a meeting between Mr. Khaba and Derrick? Khaba has some unfinished business that Derrick might help resolve.

  Elric didn’t promptly respond to that letter as he had with the rest. I was sort of surprised he had responded to the first ones at all.

  I would have liked to spend the weekend with Thatch, but he didn’t want to risk drawing attention to our relationship. Instead I spent my time with Josie and Pinky. Twice Gertrude asked me to take her to the secret library. I did my research as she catalogued titles—a librarian’s wet dream.

  When Elric did reply, the letter floated in on a breeze through the open window of my classroom. I could see he hadn’t intentionally been neglecting me from the content.

  Dearest Clarissa,

  It has come to my attention that I have a spy in my household. Something is amiss in the Silver Court and mysterious forces are at work that I do not understand. I cannot fathom the intentions of this person, or whether this individual works for the Raven Queen, my parents, or someone else. I cannot speak in depth on this subject, but I will continue to look into it. I do not tell you this to cause you distress, but I wish you to understand it is in your best interests for us to find another method to speak with each other instead.

  As to the other matter you mentioned, I am always happy to grant a wish to someone should said person be willing to pay me with a favor of his or her own. If Mr. Khaba desires to be put in contact with Derrick, I will oblige him if he comes to me with an offer I cannot refuse.

  Your friend forever and always,

  Prince Elric of the Silver Court

  I had been afraid it might come to favors and bargains if I mentioned the reason I needed to contact Derrick had been for Khaba.

  Since I’d had such good luck hearing back from Elric, I wrote him asking about the Princess of Lies and Truth, but that letter went unanswered. I didn’t know whether that meant he wasn’t willing to speak on the subject or the person intercepting our mail was in the employment of the Princess of Lies and Truth. It was scary enough knowing she had infiltrated the school, but the idea that she might have gained admittance into an impregnable Fae castle worried me even more. She had to be powerful. She obviously had connections, which she’d hinted at in her letter to Jeb, since she’d pulled some strings with the school board to get Jeb into the position as principal.

  I could only hope she hadn’t pulled strings to get Chuck Dean into the position of principal. If she had, that meant all
his imposed rules were for more than reasons pertaining to the school board wanting to cut teachers with poor conduct. It meant she wanted to make my life miserable. Probably it meant she wanted me to get fired so I would no longer have the protection of the school wards to keep me from the harm of Fae. And if I did go anywhere as refuge, it would be to Elric since I had allied myself with him. Yet if she was already there, I would be walking straight into her hands.

  Thatch didn’t have the protection of any court. I couldn’t imagine him going to the Raven Queen to seek her protection. He would have rather poked his eye out with his wand than go to the Silver Court and allied himself with them. If Thatch was fired, he wouldn’t have anyone to keep him safe.

  Khaba was already looking for a reason to terminate Thatch. If I was to ensure Thatch’s safety as well as my own, I had to find another way to show Khaba that Thatch was innocent of any crimes. I needed him on our side.

  That meant I was going to have to visit Derrick myself to extract his testimony.

  CHAPTER NINE

  A Pipe Dream

  Considering I didn’t know where Derrick was or how to reach him, there was only one way I might be able to do this. I had one magic skill at my disposal that had worked once before.

  Lucid dreaming.

  What I was doing might not work. If Derrick was far away, I might not be able to find him. If I succeeded in contacting him through his subconscious, it might be dangerous, but I didn’t know what else to do. I had to try something.

  I prepared myself with meditation before bed and recording my dreams in my journal, which I’d neglected of late. After ensuring I practiced lucid-dreaming techniques in my own dreams for two nights, I found the exit from my dream. The door was hidden in a wall of ivy, almost invisible save for the glass knob glittering like a giant diamond. Ivy parted for me as I opened the wooden door.