Basics of Spellcraft (Ember Academy for Young Witches Book 1)

by L. C. Mawson

  MS GRIFFIN LEFT CHARLOTTE in charge of the rest of us, trusting her to prepare the main hall for the ritual.

  She’d come very prepared, with a list of tasks, along with how long they should take and how many people would be needed.

  I volunteered for the first solo task on the list, not wanting to give Natalie the chance to press me further about my scars.

  I knew that I would have to tell her what happened eventually, but ‘eventually’ didn’t have to be today.

  Especially when I was pretty sure that her reaction was going to be to tell me just how stupid I’d been.

  I kept my attention on the chalk pattern I was supposed to be drawing on the wall, trying not to think about that upcoming fall out.

  “Hey.”

  I frowned a little as Lena approached.

  “Hey,” I said. “I thought you were helping Natalie.”

  “I was, but she’s got her Vampire speed. Charlotte forgot to take that into account with her calculations, which she’s now hurriedly redoing.” She gave me a wry smile. “She’s really worried about this going well.”

  I shrugged. “I can understand that. And I promise, I’ll do my best not to screw it up.”

  “Even if someone accidentally nudges you and you lose control of your hand?”

  Before I had a chance to realise what she was saying, she prodded me in the side.

  My vision swam and I tensed every muscle in my body in a futile attempt not to collapse.

  It didn’t work.

  It took everything I had not to cry out as I dropped to my knees.

  “What the fuck was that for?” I hissed between my teeth as I finally recovered enough to stand once more.

  Lena gave me a worried frown. “Natalie told me about this morning. She was worried about you but said you wouldn’t tell her anything. Then I remembered that you’ve only been wearing your bag on your right side, not your left, and you’ve been flinching away from physical contact more than Charlotte does. Which is saying something. And I figured if they were that bad, Willow must know about them, otherwise she’d knock you out every time you kissed. So, I went and asked her, but she wouldn’t tell me anything. Though, I know her well enough to know when she’s worried, and Lia, I’ve not seen her that worried before. So, now I’m worried.”

  “You don’t need to be worried. I’m fine.”

  “Lia, I gently poked you, and you almost passed out. That’s not fine.”

  I gritted my teeth. “Okay, fine. So, it’s not fine. And it will never be fine, Lena, because these scars can’t be healed. What else do you want me to say? I’d just rather not talk about it.”

  Lena’s frown deepened. “I’m sorry, Lia. That must have been one hell of a curse to do that to you. But I’m your friend, and if you get cursed, I want to know.”

  I sighed. “Promise you won’t get mad or call me stupid?”

  She hesitated, but then nodded, though it looked far from easy.

  Lena had never struck me as someone all that capable of holding her tongue.

  Maybe Charlotte appreciated the bluntness – it was true that you never had to guess what Lena was thinking – but I was too raw to deal with it right now.

  “I promise. Now tell me.”

  “I found the curse my mother was under, and how to lift it. But I needed to be the one to cast it, and I knew that everyone was still worried about me pushing myself, so I... Well, I asked Willow to help and didn’t tell anyone else. And we managed it. We would have lifted the curse. But there was a second curse underneath it. I managed to save Willow, but now I’ve got these scars for the rest of my life.”

  “Lia, I am so sorry.”

  I shrugged. “No point in focusing on what can’t be changed. And I’m fine, really. It only hurts when someone touches them. And I’m getting used to it. I’ve had to. You can’t really shower without touching half your body...”

  “And what about classes like Magical Self-Defence?”

  “When I’m a little less likely to black out with the pain, I’ll re-join them.”

  The longer I’d sat with the idea of not doing so, the more sure I’d been that I’d have to.

  “Lia, you don’t have to do that-”

  “Yes, I do. My mother was cursed because they were trying to get to me. I can’t risk anyone being hurt because I can’t defend myself again. Not to mention, Taekwondo was the one thing I had outside of school work. If the latter is going to take a hit while I try to catch up on my magical education... Well, I’m not so ready to give up the former.”

  Lena sighed. “You know that you’re the most stubborn person I’ve ever met, right?”

  I gave her a wry smile. “It’s part of my charm.”

  She rolled her eyes. “What I still don’t get, though, is how your mum got hit with such a powerful curse. I mean, a couple of rogue Demons shouldn’t have been able to do that to you.”

  I cringed. “I know. But, Lena, is it okay if I don’t tell you this? It’s just... It’s something about me that I’m not supposed to tell anyone. For security reasons.”

  Lena frowned. “If I didn’t know who your aunt was, I would worry that you were some long-lost Princess or something.”

  I snorted. “That would probably be simpler than the truth.”

  “Does Willow know? I mean, you two are dating, right?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. We’ve not really used the word ‘dating’. We’re just... seeing what happens, I guess. And yes, she does know. She just stumbled across it, though.”

  “And Natalie? I mean, she is your roommate.”

  “No, Natalie doesn’t know. Only Willow and some of the teachers do, but not all of them.”

  Lena nodded. “Okay, then. But if you ever do want to talk, I’m here.”

  I smiled. “I know. And thanks. It means a lot to me.”

  The sound of someone clearing their throat drew our attention.

  “Ms Maltere,” I said as I recognised the intruder.

  She smiled. “I didn’t mean to interrupt, but Amelia, I need your help with that task.”

  I nodded, getting up as fast as I could.

  Once I helped Ms Maltere to lift this curse on her sisters, we could finally free my mum from the curse she was under.

  I would finally have her back.

  Lena frowned. “What ‘task’?”

  Ms Maltere answered for me. “I had a spell that I wanted to cast at dusk, and I asked Amelia for her help. Don’t worry, I should have her back soon.”

  “Okay. I guess I’ll finish up here and let Charlotte know.”

  “Thanks,” I said before following Ms Maltere outside.

  “So, how do we do this?” I asked as we made our way through the gardens.

  “I have set up everything we need inside of the hedge maze.”

  I frowned as we headed towards the towering hedges. “Because of the channelling effect?”

  “Partly. But mostly for the lack of distractions. This isn’t going to be easy, so it will be best if we’re not disturbed.”

  I nodded as we made our way inside the maze. “What are we doing exactly? I mean, I know you said that your sisters were cursed, but what exactly happened?”

  “It’s a long story.”

  “But what kind of curse is it? Is it the same kind of curse that my mum is under?”

  “This one will be harder to lift.”

  I bit my lip. “But Maria Brown was the one to curse my mother, and she’s one of the most powerful Witches to ever live.”

  Ms Maltere just gave me a cold smirk. “This curse we’re lifting today would have stumped even Maria Brown.”

  My frown deepened. “Then who cast this curse? And why would they curse your sisters?”

  She sighed, presumably realising that I wasn’t going to take ‘it’s a long story’ as a real answer. “Let’s just say that the Angel who gave me her powers didn’t always see eye to eye with me, and my sisters suffered for my mistakes.”

  �
�And the Angel really cursed them? That seems... cruel.”

  Ms Maltere sighed once more. “Remember when I told you that Witches forget their Human families, and you looked at me as if I had just said that we eat children?”

  I cringed, wondering if I had really been that obvious.

  Ms Maltere continued, not even looking back at my reaction. “Angels are even more powerful than we are, and they live even longer. Where we eventually struggle to relate to Humans, they eventually struggle to relate to us.”

  “Freya wouldn’t,” I said, before I really thought about what I was saying.

  Ms Maltere finally turned to me with a pitying look and my stomach twisted.

  Who was I to say what Freya was like now?

  She’d left years ago, and I hadn’t seen her since.

  “Are you still willing to help me?” Ms Maltere asked.

  “Of course. Your sisters shouldn’t be left under a curse. And like you said, you need them to help free my mother.”

  Ms Maltere smiled. “You don’t know how few people would agree to free them. To many, Angels are just one step away from Gods. If they feel the need to curse someone, then they must be right.”

  “That’s ridiculous.”

  “And I am glad to have finally found someone who agrees with me on that.”

  We finally arrived at the centre of the maze. I paused before stepping forward, realising that an intricate pattern had been drawn on the stone, spiralling out from the small stone basin in the middle.

  “Be careful and step over it,” Ms Maltere said as she realised my hesitation. “It will be fine once we activate the spell, but for now, don’t disturb the pattern. We both need to be in the centre.”

  I nodded, doing as she said and following her to stand by the basin.

  “So, how do we do this?” I asked.

  “The pattern surrounding us will draw on the energy source that I’m going to use to lift the curse. You and I need to channel it.”

  She took a vial of black liquid from her pocket and emptied it into the basin.

  “Pay attention,” she said and then took her wand and circled it around the liquid, which then rose up to meet the end of her wand.

  I frowned as it seemingly drew in the surrounding light.

  “You need to do the same.”

  I nodded, gripping my wand tight to counteract my sweating palm.

  I frowned in concentration as I moved my wand, doing my best to mimic the way Ms Maltere had moved hers.

  Thankfully, the black liquid moved just as it had for Ms Maltere, and I gasped as it touched my wand and connected me to the magic of both the liquid and Ms Maltere.

  I’d known that she was Angelborn like me, but feeling it now, it was as if her magic shone within her, brighter than the sun.

  Was that what mine felt like, or was she even more powerful?

  “Now what?” I managed, gritting my teeth as I struggled to keep my thoughts clear despite the magic washing over me.

  “Don’t fight it, Amelia. Let the magic flow through you until the spell has completed.”

  I nodded, taking a deep breath and unclenching my jaw, resisting my instinct to fight the strange magic coursing through me.

  As soon as I let go, the magic flowed faster, and I doubted I could stop it if I wanted to, the liquid in the basin sapping almost all of the light around us, leaving me in impenetrable darkness.

  “Amy!”

  I turned my head at the sound of Natalie’s voice, though I still couldn’t see anything.

  I frowned, the magic flowing through me slowing as I strained to see through the absence of light.

  “Don’t stop the spell,” Ms Maltere warned.

  “I’m not, I’m just...” I could finally see enough to see that Natalie was, indeed, there. “Natalie, what are you doing here?”

  “Lena said you were out here and then I could feel... Well, this. What the hell are you doing?”

  “It’s none of her business,” Ms Maltere growled. “We need to finish the spell. Stop fighting it, Amelia.”

  I frowned. I didn’t want to just tell Natalie to go away. And once she knew what we were doing, she would agree that it was fine.

  “We’re lifting a curse.”

  Natalie looked at me as if I’d just grown a second head.

  “Amy,” she eventually said, “pay attention to the magic you’re channelling. I can feel it from here. What kind of curse requires death magic to counter it?”

  My frown deepened. “Death magic?”

  “Magic powered with another’s life force. Can’t you feel it?”

  I turned my attention back to the magic coursing through me.

  I hadn’t really paid attention to it before, but now that I was, I felt a familiar structure underneath.

  The binding spell that had been in Maria Brown’s book, pulling something into the spell, fuelling it.

  I tried to slow the currents of magic further, needing an explanation before I could let the spell run its course.

  I couldn’t pull away.

  The spell wouldn’t let me.

  I was trapped in place and I turned to Natalie, giving her a pleading look.

  That must have been all she needed, as she rushed forward to help.

  A blast of dark light struck her in the chest before she could reach me, sending her flying back.

  She hit the grass with a heavy thud.

  She didn’t move.

  “Natalie!” I tried to rush over to her, but the spell still had me in its grasp.

  I turned back to Ms Maltere.

  Her wand was pointed at Natalie.

  She had been the one to strike her.

  “Why did you do that?” I demanded as I kept resisting the magic trying to flow through me, slowing it further and further.

  I wasn’t going to keep helping her until I had answers.

  “Stop fussing, Amelia. She’ll be fine. But I couldn’t let her stop us.”

  I stared at her, not recognising the coldness in her voice.

  I pulled away from the basin, and finally, the spell let me, loosening its grip enough that I could run over to Natalie, though the trail of black liquid thinned enough to stay connected to my wand, the magic not letting my grip on the wand loosen.

  I kneeled beside Natalie, my hand going to her cheek.

  She was cold, but then, the half-Vampire was always cold.

  Her chest moved slightly with breath, and I bit my lip as I realised that I was out of other ways to check that she was okay.

  Even something as basic as taking her pulse... I had no idea what a normal heart rate was for a Vampire.

  “Amelia...”

  I turned back to Ms Maltere to see her giving me a pleading look, the coldness gone.

  “Amelia, please. This is the only way to save my sisters.”

  “But she was right. You’re drawing on someone’s life force to cast the spell.”

  “It was the only way. An Angel of Life cursed them, and I need to draw on death to counteract her magic. This is the only way, and then we can save your mother. I promise.”

  My head snapped up as I felt another presence enter the centre of the maze.

  The fact that I had felt anything at all confused me, but as I focused on the sensation, I realised that my awareness had stretched to fill the space needed by the spell.

  It seemed the spell flowing through me connected me to it in some way.

  Allowing me to sense Mr Stiles as he approached.

  He wasn’t wearing his glamour now, not making the effort to hide who he was as he glared at Ms Maltere.

  “Would that be the same mother that you cursed?”

  I frowned. Ms Maltere hadn’t cursed my mother. That had been...

  Ms Maltere frowned. “It was a minor sleeping curse. She’s not in any danger, and it shouldn’t have hurt anyone. It was the only way to get Amelia here.”

  I stared at her.

  She had cursed my mother.

&nb
sp; My scars twinged as I realised that she had been the one responsible for them.

  Had she lied when she’d said that she couldn’t heal them?

  The anguish in her gaze had been so real when she’d apologised, but maybe that had been an act.

  Everything else had been.

  I cursed my obliviousness as I thought back over the past several weeks.

  She had given me Maria Brown’s book.

  How had I not seen it before?

  Black sparks crackled over Mr Stiles’ arms. “You can’t hide anymore, Maria. It’s over.”

  Maria Brown shook her head. “I’m not the only one of us hiding, Aaron. You know, for one of the Queen’s guards, you’re awful at casting glamours. If you actually wanted the girl to trust you, you should have just told her who you were, instead of allowing her to speculate on your secrets.”

  Before I had time to think on what that meant, Maria flicked her wand and the spell cascaded through me, overwhelming my attempts to stop it.

  As it got stronger, the life force it was drawing from became clearer.

  Just as Mr Stiles dropped to the ground, gasping in pain.

  I rushed over to him. “Mr Stiles, I... I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

  He shook his head and I realised that he was even paler than usual, his skin clammy. “It’s not your fault, Amelia. She’s right, if I had just told you... But I wasn’t... I wasn’t supposed to push you... Light or Dark... Always your choice... Freya didn’t want...”

  He tensed, clearly in pain, and I pushed aside the mention of my sister.

  We were both still in danger.

  “How can I stop this?” I asked. “I’ve tried to stop the spell, but she’s too strong.”

  “I don’t know... I’ve never seen this kind of spell before... I don’t even... Don’t even know how she’s drawing from me.”

  I bit my lip as I remembered the ‘listening device’ she’d had me plant. “Some kind of enchanted object in your house.”

  He groaned. “Then we cannot get to it to break it. You will have to stop the spell yourself.”

  “But I don’t know how. It’s too powerful, and if you’re the power source...”

  I thought back over everything I had learned of Maria Brown’s magic, and all of my other reading...

  “You’re not the only power source.”