Yes, I could have cast this spell myself a year ago, with ease—but to watch my students discover the wonder of casting it together? And to see them do it so well on their first try?Thatwas a gift beyond any measure.
I leaned forward to catch every detail of their vision as colors settled into place...and my jaw clicked shut as sudden outrage overwhelmed my pride.
Oh,damnthe man!
That green did indeed come from vegetation, but not at all the kind I’d feared. Branches swayed around Luton’s shoulders, heavy with lush green leaves that brushed gently against his skin as he frowned in thought, tapping one hand against his chin.
No vines were in sight; nothing compelled him to remain. He stood free and unhindered, without the slightest trace of fear or anxiety in his expression. After all the hours I’d spent panicking that he might be trapped, tortured or worse,he, apparently, had been ignoring his teaching duties to take a pleasant stroll in my family’s woods—exactlyas I’d warned him against on his arrival!
A fleck of blue formed in the corner of the vision, and I sucked in a breath, leaning closer. There, just in the corner of the vision...
“Are thosebluebells?” Annabel inquired over my shoulder.
If there had been a wall nearby, I would have banged my head against it.
Gregory Luton had walked directly into the woods during bluebell season and hadn’t even made any attempt to avoid them.
As if Annabel’s words had been a summons, my seven watching students all leapt from their seats and crowded around us, bobbing up and down to peer over our assorted shoulders. Under other circumstances, I would have waved them back to preserve Miss Banks’s and Miss Stewart’s joint focus, but I was too busy battling down rage to trust my own voice at that moment.
He hadknownthat we were under Boudiccate inspection. He’d known just how vital these few days would be for Thornfell—for every new dream I’d cherished since I’d lost my magic, and for every girl who deserved a magical future of her own.
Against my own better judgment, I had given him a chance to prove himself—the kind of chance I would have given anything to win after my own time at the Great Library—and as his thanks, he had quite possibly ruined my school’s chances forever.
“Shall we—?” Miss Banks began.
I cut her off. “Excellent work, both of you.” My voice shook with anger; I ignored the tell-tale wobble as I swept one hand firmly between my two scrying students. “You may sever the connection.Now.”
“But—!” Miss Stewart began, even as the image fizzled in the bowl before her.
“I am very pleased with your first scrying attempt,” I said, “and so will Mr. Luton be. He wasn’t sure you’d be able to find him in that woods on your first attempt, especially if he stood so close to bluebells.”
And here I was lying to my students...again! This was the second time I’d deceived them for Luton’s sake. That knowledge burned into me like venom sizzling against the bright, open flower of Thornfell’s potential. But with the Boudiccate’s inspectors watching and waiting to pounce upon the slightest misstep...what choice did I have?
“Now,” I said tightly through whirling, furious regret, “I believe it’s time for our second attempt. Miss Hammersley, please? And Miss Rosenthal? I believe we’ll attempt a different challenge this time. Perhaps...an object rather than a person. Do either of you have a suggestion? Perhaps a landmark you both know?”
My students obediently shifted places around the basin. Miss Hammersley and Miss Rosenthal bent their heads toward each other for a quick, whispered consultation. Miss Stewart and Miss Banks gave each other half-shy, half-laughing looks of victory. Miss Fennell’s face returned to its previous cool mask, her gaze shuttered and enigmatic.
The vines from my nightmares had arrived in real life and were smothering my staff cottage. The only weather wizard willing to teach at my school was merrily ignoring his responsibilities so he could take a nature walk around the most dangerous and infamous fey flowers in the nation, leaving me to face the Boudiccate’s inspectors alone. And Annabel Renwick stood directly behind me, her breath on my neck, only waiting for me to make a single mistake that she could use to ruin me forever.
I drew a deep, steadying breath and forced myself to smile as my students looked to me for direction. “So,” I said. “Let us continue with our lesson.”
11
Mr. Westgate did not reappear within an hour or two, as planned. Instead, a note arrived in his place, whisking into mid-air in the middle of my final lesson with a brief flare of magical energy that must have been borrowed from his host.
Have been called away on an urgent matter. Will return. Until then, keep your students well away from Luton’s folly. – LW
I pressed my lips together and drew in a long breath through my nose.
Of course he hadn’t bothered to talk with me before he’d left.Of coursehe hadn’t been interested in anythingImight have learned in the meantime...or in theextremelypertinent details from last night that I’d tried in vain to share with him earlier.
Luton’s folly, indeed. Furious though I might be with Thornfell’s soon-to-be-dismissed professor of weather wizardry, Luton was not theonlyarrogant male to be contributing heavily to today’s chaos.
So much for last night’s promise to Wrexham that I would get magical help from his supervisor if we needed it!
“Interesting news?” Lady Cosgrave inquired from her seat, her silver pencil hovering above her commonplace book.
“Only a note from Mr. Westgate.” I folded the cream-colored paper and deposited it safely within a hidden pocket in my gown. “He’s been called away, but he trusts we can manage without him.”
