Reaching for the door handle to the labs, she paused as someone came from around the corner. She quickly went into the room and shut the door behind her. The lights were still off in the room, and Cassie didn’t try to turn them on. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with anyone.
The people in the hallway walked closer, and Cassie wished she could hide behind her lab bench in case she needed to cast an invisibility spell to avoid whoever it was.
Cassie held her breath as the people stopped not too far away.
“Do you think she’ll be at the dance?” one asked the other.
“I hope so. My mother told me that she’s probably the most powerful witch of our generation,” the other voice replied. They were both guys, but Cassie had no clue who they were.
“My parents said the same thing,” the first replied.
Cassie’s heart beat faster, and she tried her best to not move or make a single sound. They were discussing who the adults thought was the most powerful witch. Uncle John never talked about anything like that. Uncle John didn’t talk about much of anything. If it wasn’t for Aunt Maria, Cassie wouldn’t have learned a single thing about her ancestry.
“And you know that it means whomever she chooses to be her mate will get all that power, too.”
Mate? Cassie was more confused than ever, even though it was her natural state of being. She always felt like she was missing the punch line to the secret in school and around town, but these guys were just strange.
“Man, I’d give anything to be the one she chooses,” the first said as they started to move away.
“Like she’d choose a bird brain like you.” The second started to laugh.
Cassie listened as they grew too faint to hear what they were saying. Weird as it may have been, and it was also a bit of a disappointment. Cassie had hoped by taking the exam and passing she would finally be told what she was missing. Whitney was the only one that didn’t seem to be keeping things from her. At times, it actually seemed like Whitney knew less about the witches in town than she did. But her passing the day before didn’t open any new doors. It was still the same.
The neat, orderly desks had been washed since class on Friday, and everything had a clean lemony smell. She gave the guys a few more seconds before she reached for the classroom light. Cassie was going to miss the lab room the most. Now that she passed she would have no more witch classes at school. She still had to attend the normal morning classes, but her favorite part of the day would be gone. She clicked the light on, and her eyes quickly adjusted to the brightness in the room.
It will be worth it, Cassie repeated in her head. She had been saying that to herself since she turned in her ‘Intention to Test’ slip a week ago.
Cassie nearly screamed when she noticed someone lying across one of the desks like a cat, curled up to keep warm using body heat. She would know those blonde curls anywhere.
“Gosh, are you trying to give me a heart attack?” Cassie complained to Whitney.
Whitney yawned and stretched her arms above her head. Slowly and more gracefully than Cassie could ever imagine being, Whitney stood.
“Guess you didn’t stop by your locker. If you had, you wouldn’t have gotten scared.”
She had Cassie there.
“I went to your place, and John said you were here. I had no clue you were coming to school today,” she continued.
Not completely awake yet, Whitney stood and leaned against the nearest desk.
“Just stopping by to clean out my lab bench since I don’t have class anymore,” Cassie replied.
“Figured that much. I’d join you if they’d let me,” Whitney complained. She hated the witch classes with a passion.
Cassie made her way back to the last bench in the back of the room. Opening the drawers, she began to take the jars out one at a time. As she placed them on a tray, Whitney was finally awake enough from her nap to join her.
“Can’t I have that one?” Whitney asked, pointing to the vial from class the day before.
“Why not?” Cassie replied and handed it over. Cassie didn’t have to pass the class anymore, and it wasn’t like it was cheating. Everyone already knew Whitney wasn’t going to ace the class. No one would actually believe she made it anyway, but if she wanted to try to pass it off as her own, Cassie wasn’t about to stop her.
“Have you thought any more about who you want to apprentice with?” Whitney asked as she continued to look through Cassie’s vials with her.
“No. I want to talk with Aunt Maria, but she’s still on retreat. I think they’re punishing her,” Cassie added, leaving out the exact reason why.
Aunt Maria had warned Cassie she would be punished before they had gone into the backward sidhe witch village, but she didn’t want to say no to Devin. He’d been a friend for several years, and she said that she owed him. Cassie was more than happy to break the rules and not tell anyone, but it seemed that it didn’t matter. The coven knew where they had been the whole time. Once they returned, Maria had been sent on assignment after assignment. Cassie kind of felt bad. Her aunt was the only witch in town that Cassie really knew, and without her around she felt a bit lonely.
“Too bad they don’t let you apprentice with family,” Whitney added what Cassie had already thought.
Family would have been the perfect solution if it were possible. Cassie didn’t know why, but she always felt like she wasn’t part of the group with the witches. They let her learn, and she took all the classes, but it just seemed off. It could have been because everyone was afraid to look her in the eyes—everyone knew she had the ability to see a person’s soul inside their eyes—but it seemed like more than just that. Others in town could do even weirder stuff than that, and they didn’t seem like outcasts.
“Is that all?” Whitney asked, looking into the empty drawer.
Cassie glanced down at everything that was left over and took the supplies she would use. The rest wasn’t her problem. The teachers would probably put it all back in stock. Cassie wasn’t one for using everything they gave her like other students.
“Yep,” Cassie replied, shutting the drawer.
“Good. That gives us plenty of time to get ready for the dance.” Whitney placed her hand over Cassie’s mouth before she could protest. “Mrs. Sherman already gave me permission to use the girl’s locker room to change and get ready in.”
Cassie glared at her friend and down at the hand still covering her mouth.
“Before you complain, I already bought you a dress and shoes, and your uncle said yes to you going.” Whitney dropped her hand.
Cassie was at a loss for words. Uncle John never allowed her to go out, let alone to a dance, even if she had wanted to. It had to be a joke.
“We don’t have enough time to go out to eat, but I brought burgers from Jimmies.” Whitney pushed Cassie toward the door.
“But,” Cassie finally sputtered.
“But, but, but.” Whitney tsked her. “I told John that I was taking you to the dance. Not some guy. Just a ‘girls at the dance’ thing. I called my mother to deal with him. After ten minutes of her on the phone, he easily agreed.”
Whitney’s mother was not only a leader in the coven but also a lawyer, a really good lawyer. No one stood a chance arguing with her.
“She didn’t tell him about the test?” Cassie quickly realized that it wasn’t a good idea to have others from the coven talking to her uncle quite yet, at least until she found a way to tell him.
“No. Because I didn’t tell her,” Whitney added, grabbing Cassie’s bag which she had dropped at the doorway earlier.
Cassie raised her eyebrows as Whitney continued to pull her down the hallway toward the gym. Atwood was a small town. It was very rare that someone didn’t know everything that was going on. Cassie was holding her breath all week to her uncle finding out beforehand, and since he didn’t, she kind of felt like she got off scot-free … that was at least until she really did have to tell him. Then he was going to be ticke
d off. Cassie hoped that her birthday would shock him into reality in a couple months when she turned seventeen, but she kind of had hoped he would stay oblivious to her new status until she was eighteen.
“Really. She didn’t say a thing. I was beside her the whole time. She just argued that you had to get out of the house, and a chaperoned school dance was safer than a date with a boy.” Whitney shrugged. “You know, the whole ‘these girls are growing up’ and the ‘we have to let the birds leave the nest some time’ speeches.”
Cassie could smell the burgers as Whitney pulled her into the locker room. On their favorite bench, two places were set up with burgers, fries, and milkshakes waiting to be eaten. Cassie’s stomach growled in response to the meal before them.
“See? I’m a great date. Best friends are so much better than boyfriends. I knew you’d be hungry, and had food waiting. Dinner and dancing. Isn’t that a great first date? I know you’d like it better if I were Than,” Whitney teased, sitting down on her side of the bench, and grabbing her burger.
“Not in a thousand years. I’m completely over him,” Cassie replied.
“Sure, sure,” Whitney responded with a mouthful of food. “Like one can just get over Nathaniel Bay.”
Cassie sat down and started to eat as well. It didn’t matter how many times she told Whitney she wasn’t interested in Nate anymore, Whitney always brought him up. Cassie was ready to move on with a new crush; she just had to find one first.
“So how’s it feel?” Whitney asked between bites. She was obviously as hungry as Cassie.
“How does what feel?” Cassie asked. The burgers tasted like burgers. There was nothing to feel.
“Passing your exam, the protection spell,” Whitney replied and rolled her eyes at Cassie.
Cassie shrugged. She didn’t feel anything yet. She felt like the protection spell wasn’t complete. She had added the correct ingredients and made it correctly, but she was pretty sure the spell included using it on herself. Why else was the protection spell the one thing she needed to do to pass from witchling to apprentice? She felt nothing after her test yesterday or even today. But last summer? Now that felt real. Her trip to the sidhe witch village included lots of spell and potion practice, and was the most exciting thing she had ever done in her life. Counteracting someone else’s spell and breaking a blood bond? That was exciting; challenging, but fun.
“Breaking a blood bond?” Whitney asked in shock.
Cassie covered her mouth. She had said it out loud.
“You have to promise you never heard that.” Cassie turned to her best friend. It had been torture to keep her summer adventure from Whitney. “Maria will be in more trouble if anyone knows.”
“My mother said Maria took you on an unauthorized trip, but she never mentioned doing magic on the trip,” Whitney stated, proving that she partially knew something already.
“No one knows that,” Cassie added. That explained Maria’s constant workload. They just thought Maria had taken her on a trip.
“Of course not. Maria would be in a lot more trouble by now,” Whitney replied, taking another bite of her food, but not removing her eyes from Cassie. “Where’d she take you?”
“To another village of magic users,” Cassie replied, unsure how much to tell her. Whitney’s mother had a lot of power in the coven, and Cassie didn’t want to get either Maria or Whitney in trouble.
Whitney’s eyes got larger. “She didn’t. You aren’t allowed to visit other magic villages until you join the coven.” Whitney didn’t take another bite. She was just staring at Cassie.
Cassie shrugged. “It’s not that big of a deal. The sidhe were actually nice … well, at least the few we met. We were there to help Devin. Remember that really cute blond that visited years ago?”
“Sidhe?” Whitney sputtered, food coming out of her mouth.
“Yeah, they practice some sort of earthy, Mother Nature magic. Not my kind of stuff,” Cassie replied with a shrug. The little magic she saw them do was cool, but their lifestyle of living in the woods in a community made in the trees seemed a little off. Having no modern conveniences at all was a bit much for Cassie’s tastes.
“She took you to the sidhe.” Whitney’s eyes were still bugging out.
Cassie realized that she had just said more than she should have.
“Please don’t tell anyone. Maria is already in trouble,” Cassie replied, trying to cover up that she now gave an exact location of where they went.
“No one would believe me if I did.” Whitney shook her head with a laugh. “The sidhe don’t let people visit and leave. Once you enter their village, you stay for life. If I said that’s where you went, everyone would call me crazy.”
“You’ve heard of them?” Cassie asked in reply. She had never heard of them, but then again, no one acted strangely around Whitney or withheld information.
“Yeah. My parents have spoken about them before.” Whitney finished off her burger and began to eat the fries just as quickly, leaving no room to talk more.
Cassie nodded. She would give anything to have parents around to explain all the weird stuff in the witch world to her. There were many reasons Cassie wished for her mother and father to be with her, and this just added to the list. Cassie had to wonder how much more she could have learned with parents to talk to, or at least to eavesdrop in on. Whitney was great at overhearing the things her mother said.
“Let’s do makeup and hair first to keep the dresses clean.” Whitney finally was able to speak again.
Cassie quickly shoved the last of her burger in her mouth. No time for fries. Even if she didn’t exactly want to go to the dance, there was no way she wanted to go half done up. Homecoming was almost as formal as prom, or so Cassie had been told. She was in her junior year of high school and had thus far, in thanks to Uncle John, gone to neither of them.
“Hurry up, girlie,” Whitney called from the sinks across from the locker benches. “We only have seventy-five minutes to get ready.”
Cassie rolled her eyes. Seventy-five minutes would be plenty of time for Whitney. She looked great no matter if she were wearing a little or a lot of makeup. Cassie hoped seventy-five would be enough time for herself, though. She sadly glanced one last time at her fries and shake.
“But my food,” Cassie complained, slowly standing.
“We can go out afterward for more,” Whitney added as she came back to their locker room cubby. She stood with her hands on her hips just waiting to stop Cassie from delaying the inevitable.
Cassie was trying to hide her hesitation of going to the dance. She didn’t particularly love crowds, but she was more worried about the dress in the garment bag next to her.
Whitney hooked her arm in Cassie’s to pull her away from the food; she was only using it as an excuse anyways.
“We’d better,” Cassie replied. “I’m not a good date when I’m hungry.” Whether or not she wanted to go to the dance—which she secretly did but would never tell Whitney—it was time to get ready.
CHAPTER 2
Cassie stood just outside the locker room doors in the shadow they created. She could see the whole elaborately decorated gym, but no one saw her. Her hair was mostly pulled back, and the loose ringlets that fell to frame her face were tempting to curl in her fingers as she nervously watched the crowd. Whitney had already walked into the group of students and was lost in the sea of sparkly dresses. Cassie tugged at the short purple number she was wearing. The dress was more of a shirt on her taller friend, so Whitney assumed it would make a great dress on Cassie. Cassie didn’t agree with the assumption, but there was nothing she could do now. The dance was already going, and the short dress was better than nothing. It wasn’t like Cassie owned anything as nice, either. Uncle John would be boiling mad by now if he could see her.
From her dark corner, Cassie watched the students dance to the fast beat of the song that was playing. Taking a deep breath, she tried to reassure herself that it was fine. For one night, she would fi
t in with everyone else. Couples moved in sync while friends laughed and danced in groups. Nope. Cassie wasn’t about to fit in, or leave the shadows of her blackened corner spot.
As people laughed and had fun, Cassie knew that this wasn’t for her. Dances weren’t her thing. Atwood High wasn’t her thing. Cassie didn’t fit in, and never would. She turned to leave, but the parting crowd caught her attention. Whitney in her all-white, sparkly dress walked through to Cassie’s hiding spot like she knew that Cassie was just seconds from bolting.
“I got us a table on the other side of the gym,” Whitney yelled over the music as she reached forward and grabbed Cassie’s arm. “We can see everything from there. You wouldn’t believe how uncoordinated Elijah Miller is. You’d think he’s trying to invent a new dance.”
Cassie wanted to protest. In fact, running as quick as she could back into the locker room sounded like the best plan. Unfortunately, Whitney turned to her, almost as if she could sense her hesitation. Whitney’s eyes locked on her own, and Cassie could sense the feeling coming. It wasn’t like she only could tell if a person was good or bad, but often times, and especially with Whitney, Cassie could almost hear the thoughts that were directed at her. Whitney was begging Cassie to join her. The dance meant so much to her. No one ever asked Whitney to the dances, even though she was one of the most beautiful people in the school. She was just as much of an outcast as Cassie was. This was Whitney’s one dance. She had begged her mother for over a week to get John to let Cassie come, as if there was no way she was going on her own. Whitney needed Cassie to stay and join her. She wanted to be there with her best friend.