Рейчел Хоукинс - Hex Hall

"Mrs. Casnoff," I ventured, "do you think . . . Do you think it's possible that L'Occhio di Dio has gotten into the school?"

"Why would you even think that?" Elodie asked, but Mrs. Casnoff held up her hand.

"It's just that I saw this picture of a witch they had killed, and she had two holes in her neck and hardly any blood, just like Holly and Chaston and

Anna. I mean, maybe it's possible--"

Mrs. Casnoff interrupted. "I've also seen that illustration, Sophia, but there is no way L'Occhio di Dio could infiltrate Hecate. There are simply too many protection spells. And even if they could somehow get past those, what would they do? Hide out on this tiny island for months waiting until they could sneak into the school?" She shook her head. "It doesn't make sense."

"Unless they were already in the school," I said.

Mrs. Casnoff raised her eyebrows. "What, as a teacher? Or a student?

Impossible."

"But--"

Mrs. Casnoff's voice was gentle, and her eyes were sad as she said, "Sophia, I know you don't want to believe that Jenna is responsible for this.

None of us do. But I'm afraid that at this time, it's the most plausible explanation. Jenna is being transported to Council headquarters now, and she'll have a chance to plead her case. But you have to accept that she may be guilty."

My chest tightened at the thought of Jenna, scared and alone, on her way to London, where she'd probably be staked. Maybe even by my own dad.

Reaching across the desk to pat my hand, Mrs. Casnoff said, "I am sorry." She looked over at Elodie. "I'm sorry for both of you. But perhaps this will give you an opportunity to put aside your differences for now. After all, you're the only members of your coven left here." She looked back at me and gave a wry smile. "Whether you like it or not. Now, I'm excusing the two of you from classes today. Until we get the results of the Council's inquiry, I want you to keep a close eye on each other. Understood?"

We both mumbled yes and then shuffled out of Mrs. Casnoff's office.

I spent the rest of my day in my room. Without Jenna, it felt big and lonely, and it was all I could do not to cry when I looked at her stuffed lion, whom we'd named Bram as a joke, and all her books. They hadn't let her take anything with her.

I stayed in bed through dinner. Sometime after night had fallen, I heard a soft knock on my door, and Archer saying, "Sophie? You in there?"

But I didn't answer, and after a while, I heard him walk away.

I lay awake until midnight, when the soft green glow of Alice's spell crept through my windows.

Throwing off my covers, I jumped to my feet, eager to get out of this house and into the sky, and wanting to tell Alice everything that had happened.

I didn't even bother being quiet on the stairs as I walked to the front door. My hand had just turned the knob when I heard a voice hiss, "Busted!"

My heart in my mouth, I turned around and saw Elodie standing at the foot of the stairs, her arms crossed, and a smirk on her face.

"I knew it," she said, louder now. "I knew you were up to something.

When Mrs. Casnoff finds out you've been doing a spell on the whole school, you're going to join your little leech friend in London."

I was still frozen at the door, the knob half turned in my hand. Of all the people to catch me sneaking out, why did it have to be the one person who hated me the most? I stood there thinking of something to say that would keep her from running to Mrs. Casnoff right then and there.

Then I remembered the look on her face when she'd asked me about the bone spell, and an idea occurred to me. I just hoped Alice would go with it.

"Okay, you caught me." I tried smiling sheepishly, but probably just looked deranged, because Elodie moved back a step as I came closer.

"Since my magic was going so badly--no thanks to you--I've been taking, um, private lessons from one of the ghosts here."

Elodie rolled her eyes. "Oh, please," she said. "A magic tutor? Who happens to be a ghost? You must think I'm completely brain dead."

Her eyes narrowed. "Who are you really meeting out there? A guy?

Because if it's Archer--"

"There is nothing going on between me and Archer," I said, which wasn't technically a lie. I mean, I was pretty sure I was in love with the guy, and I think he might've kissed me at the ball if Elodie hadn't rushed in, but it's not like we were meeting for secret trysts in the woods. No matter how much I wished that might have been true.

Now I smiled at Elodie and held out my hand. "You wanna learn some awesome magic? Come with me."

Just as I'd hoped, the thought of learning new magic was too seductive for Elodie to pass up.

"Fine," she said. "But if this is some trick that ends up getting me killed, I'm so haunting your ass."

Alice must've known Elodie was coming, because there were two brooms waiting outside.

Elodie's eyes widened like a kid's on Christmas morning. "You ride brooms?"

I just smiled and hopped on. "Come on," I told her, repeating Alice's words to me. "Be traditional for once."

Then we were riding through the night, the cold, clear air burning our lungs. Overhead, the stars sparkled in the inky sky. I could hear Elodie laughing next to me, and I looked over at her, our eyes meeting in the first smile we'd ever shared.

After we landed in the cemetery, I introduced Elodie to Alice, leaving out the part where Alice was my great-grandmother, and introducing Elodie as a "member of my coven."

Alice gave me a sideways glance at that, but she didn't say anything.

"So. What sorts of magic do you two do out here in Creepyville?"

Elodie asked.

"A number of things," Alice replied. In the moonlight, her skin looked like porcelain and her cheeks were rosy. Even her eyes seemed brighter. I wondered if she had some sort of beauty spell. If so, I really hoped we'd learn that one next.

"Sophie has mastered summoning objects," Alice continued, "and she is currently working on a transportation spell."

Elodie turned to me, surprised. "You can make things appear out of nothing?"

"Yeah," I said, like it was no big deal even though I still couldn't summon anything bigger than a lamp, and that made me sweat buckets.

Concentrating on something small that wouldn't leave me gasping for breath, I waved my hand and an emerald brooch appeared in the air right in front of

Elodie. Her mouth fell open, and I smiled at Alice.

Elodie reached out and took the brooch, turning it over and over in her hands. "Teach me."

She was a quick learner, faster than I had been, and within an hour she had made a pen and a tiny yellow butterfly appear. I was a little jealous; I'd never conjured anything that wasn't inanimate. On the bright side, Alice didn't seem very impressed with Elodie, and she didn't praise her nearly as much as she had me.

While they worked on that, I worked on transporting myself from one spot to another, a spell I still couldn't master. Alice said the best witches could cross oceans with that spell, but so far I couldn't even move one inch to the left.

Finally, Elodie and I were both exhausted and pretty tipsy with magic, so we sat on the grass, our backs against the cemetery fence while Alice leaned against a tree, staring off into space.

"I hope it's okay that I'm here," Elodie said to her.

"Why did you come with Sophia tonight?" Alice asked. She didn't sound angry, just curious, so I answered, "Elodie caught me sneaking out, so

I invited her to come along. I thought she might like to learn some new magic, too."

"Mrs. Casnoff said to keep an eye on you," Elodie said to me, but she was smiling. I wasn't sure if it was from the magic or if she was just genuinely happy to be here.