I was so relieved that Hunter wasn’t leaving that the ominous note in his voice barely registered in my mind. “Who?” I asked.
“Sky.”
“What?” I asked. Sky was going to France? What about Kithic? “How long will she be gone?”
Hunter looked sad. “It’s unclear. She’s quit her job already. After she’s finished in France, she may go back to England,” he explained.
“But—but—” I sputtered. Sky and I had never been terribly close. Still, I didn’t want her to leave. Hunter reached out and touched the tips of my long hair.
“We’ll all miss her,” he said. “But she doesn’t want to stay here, Morgan. Things have been hard for her.” Hunter looked at me, and I knew that he was talking about Sky’s breakup with Raven. I knew she had to be excited at the thought of going home to her friends. “Besides,” Hunter added, “I need her help.”
I nodded. Hunter was right—this was important. I knew that even though he wasn’t saying it, Hunter didn’t want to send her. He wanted to go himself.
By the time I stepped into the school building, the bell ending first period had already rung. This was actually a good thing. If I had walked inside in the middle of first period, I would have almost certainly been stopped by Assistant Principal Collello, who seemed to think that it was his personal duty to hand out detentions to as many students as possible. But by coming in during the minutes between first and second period, I could just blend in with all the other students and make my way to class.
I pulled off my cap and felt static running through my hair. It was probably standing on end. I decided I’d better make a quick stop at the girls’ room to check if I was presentable before wandering into class. I didn’t want to look like I was just coming in from outside, after all.
A quick glance in the mirror showed me that the problem was more serious than I’d thought. My hair looked like a fright wig. I raked my fingers through it. It didn’t help. I was just concluding that the situation was hopeless when the door swung open and Bree walked in.
“Morgan,” she said quickly. “I’m glad you’re here. I’ve been looking everywhere.” She leaned gracefully against the sink and swung her backpack from her shoulder, balancing it on the shelf in front of us.
“I was way late.” I wet my fingers under the faucet and attempted to comb my hair with them again.
“Do you want a brush?” Bree asked, rummaging around in her leather backpack. She finally pulled out a wide-toothed comb.
“Fantastic,” I said, taking it from her. I pulled it through my hair, which began to settle down. Thank goodness.
“Listen, Morgan, I need to talk to you.”
Our eyes met in the mirror. “What’s going on?” I asked.
“Well, Robbie and I finally talked. He told me that he’d spoken to you and that he thought there had been a big misunderstanding. ”
“That’s great!” I said. “So are you guys back together?”
“Well, yes,” Bree admitted. She twirled the ends of her hair. The worried gesture.
I frowned. “So what’s wrong?” I asked.
Bree looked at herself in the mirror, then looked back at me. “It’s just that—when I thought that Robbie and I were breaking up, I sort of. .”
My stomach dropped. “What?” I demanded. “What did you do?”
“I sort of. . fooled around with Matt.”
“Oh my God.” I wheeled to face her. “Did you—”
“No.” Bree folded her arms across her chest. “Absolutely not. Just, you know, kissing.”
I couldn’t believe this. Matt Adler! My mind flashed back to the day I saw him cheating on Jenna with Raven. I felt ill. “And you didn’t tell Robbie?”
“I didn’t know how to.” Bree’s voice was pleading. “I mean, it isn’t exactly cheating because I thought we were broken up. It was really just a mistake. One that will not happen again. But I got scared that Robbie might not take it that way. So I kept my mouth shut.”
I looked at her closely, trying to remain calm. I knew from personal experience with Mary K. that keeping the truth quiet was usually a mistake. “Keeping your mouth shut about this is like lying, Bree,” I told her. “It’s the same thing.”
Bree bit her lip. I knew that wasn’t what she’d wanted to hear.
“So you’re going to talk to him?” I prompted.
Bree hesitated. “I guess so.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “You might want to do it soon—like before Matt tells anyone that he made out with you.”
Bree’s face went white. “He wouldn’t.”
I shrugged. “He didn’t think you were cheating, either, right? So he has no reason to keep quiet about it. And I’m guessing he’ll boast.”
That seemed to do it. Bree thought for a moment, then nodded. “Okay,” she said finally. “Okay.” I handed her the brush, and she stuck it in her bag. “Did you hear about Sky?” she asked.
“Just now.”
“I can’t believe it,” Bree said. “What’s Kithic going to be like? I just can’t imagine circles without her.” She shook her head and sighed.
“Me either.”
“I don’t know, Morgan,” Bree murmured. “Sometimes I feel like everything’s falling apart.”
I thought of Hunter, my father, my reined power, my family. . I considered telling Bree about my parents’ wanting to send me to Saint Anne’s but decided that could wait. She had enough to worry about. “Yeah,” I answered instead. “I know what you mean.”
12
Restoration
October 14, 1971
I can feel the darkness closing in.
Today, the day after my argument with Mother, I went back to the library and pulled out the Book. I don’t know what made me do it—I suppose I thought that it might have some advice on how to stop the same dark magick it unleashed. Which it did. Page after page on binding witches, both in secret and in the open. It even had a section on how to bind one’s own magick. But I wasn’t sure—I mean, I didn’t know for sure that Sam was behind the latest piece of dark magick.
I decided to look for another option.
I flipped through the book, skimming it, and finally came across a chapter called “On the Movements of Objects through the Aire.” Just like the plates and the drawer in the kitchen, I thought, and the lamp in the corner. So I read it. And guess what it said? It said that some witches, when they’re in an agitated state of mind, can mentally move onjects without realizing it.
So Sam could be behind these events, I realized. He wouldn’t have to be into dark magick to be behind them. As long as he is nearby and is familiar with the objects in question, he could move them with his mind. Obviously he’s eaten off the plates in the kitchen often enough to be able to picture them. And he was in the house both times.
I went to leave the library. But as I stood there redrawing the sigils of protection and obscurity around the door, I suddenly realized something.
Sam doesn’t know about the library.
He won’t be shown the library until his initiation. He doesn’t even know it exists. So how could he have made the lamp fall over inside it?
In fact, there’s only one witch in the house who knows about the library and is in an agitated state of mind. The same person who was present at both events. The one person I would never suspect.
Me.
— Sarah Curtis
“With this salt, I purify my circle.” I couldn’t wait to be unbound. I sprinkled salt around the large circle I had drawn lightly on the floor of my room. It was midnight, and my family was asleep. Still, I had shoved a chair up against the door leading from my room into the bathroom and a few books up against the main door to my room. I didn’t want any more people accidentally barging into my room while I was in the middle of making magick.