“Oh, that’s great news,” Amy said. “I’ve been feeling so helpless sitting here thinking about how my future has been ruined.”
“Hey, don’t give up hope just yet, ok?” Kyran said with a small smile. “Elves have a tendency to work slowly. Things will get done, it just might not be at the speed you expect.”
Amy nodded, but she didn’t look any more hopeful.
“I, for one, am going to be glad that you don’t need to sneak nice food in here anymore,” I said. “Please tell the girls I’d like a burger and fries from Two Wizards. And also some onion rings. And maybe some garlic bread.”
Kyran laughed. “I’ll put that order in for you, no problem.”
“You’re the best.”
When, a few hours later, Heather came by and discharged both Amy and me, we walked home together. It was nice to feel fresh air on my face for the first time in a few days, and I couldn’t help but feel so incredibly grateful for everything the world had to offer. There was nothing quite like a near-death experience to make you feel grateful for the little things in life.
The leaves on the trees seemed greener, the cobblestones under my feet seemed cleaner, and the air seemed fresher when I had come so close to having it all taken away from me.
As soon as we walked through the front door there was an explosion of cheering. Sara, Kyran, and Ellie were all there and clapping. Tiny fireworks that somehow didn’t set the house on fire—they had to be magical—exploded all over the room while Mr. Meowgi darted away from the sound at the first explosion, and a giant banner above read Welcome back Amy and Tina.
“Oh, you guys,” I said, tears of gratitude welling up in my eyes. “You guys are the best.”
“We really are. We even got you the garlic bread,” Ellie grinned. “Now come on, there’s also cake. If there’s any time to celebrate, it’s now.”
The four of us made our way into the kitchen where Ellie and Sara had ordered a veritable feast. Digging in, I found myself feeling ravenously hungry—it wasn’t as though I had been starving at the hospital, but given as we only had one really edible meal per day, I had been running a bit low on fuel—and noticed Amy next to me doing the same thing.
“So there’s one thing I need to know,” I said, grabbing an onion ring and biting into it with a satisfying crunch. “Why did you guys come to the lake?”
“It took you too long to get to the hospital,” Ellie said. “And I was hungry. We stopped by the pizza place and you weren’t there either, so we placed the order and came to the Coven Gardens to come and get you.”
I laughed. “And let me guess, you didn’t order a single pizza with pineapple on it.”
“It worked out for the best; you didn’t get to eat any. You passed out as soon as you finished casting the spell. We rushed you to the hospital. Kyran called Chief Enforcer King and stayed with the body.”
“I wonder why I fainted,” I mused.
“I can answer that one,” Amy replied. “By all accounts it was quite a powerful spell you cast. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone calling forth almost a hundred thunderbolts at once before. You must have expended every single ounce of magical energy you had, and then collapsed from exhaustion.”
“Oh, ok, so it wasn’t from the thunderbolts?”
“No,” Ellie said. “I spoke with Lita today, and I told her about Amy’s theory. She thinks it’s possible that’s exactly what happened. I think she wants some witches and wizards from Spellford to come over and have a look at Tina, see if they can confirm it or not. But it appears that Tina may very well be the first witch in history to belong to two covens at once.”
“That would be cool,” I said. “You’ve all made me feel so at home, I think it’s actually fitting that the planet Jupiter has now taken me into its fold.”
“You’ll have an easier time learning the spells now,” Amy said. “Actually, there is one way we can test whether or not you’re a part of the coven. And we can do it right now.”
“Oh?” Ellie asked, raising her eyebrows.
“We have to go to the library!” Amy announced, and everyone at the table burst into peals of simultaneous laughter.
I couldn’t help but notice, however, that Amy was a little bit subdued. She had to be worrying about her future as a lawyer, which seemed to be vanishing in front of her. My heart broke for her; I would do anything to find the people who did this.
After about five more minutes, it was decided that we did, in fact, need to know right now whether or not I was truly a part of the coven of Jupiter. Abandoning the feast, with the knowledge that it could all be reheated with a wave of a wand, we all made our way out and flew to the library, with Kyran hitching a ride on my broom.
“You know, as far as I’m concerned, you’ve always had a certain spark to you,” he murmured into my ear as we rode toward the library, his arms wrapped close around me. “Frankly, if we go by what things are like in the bedroom, I’d check to see if you haven’t been adopted by one of the fire covens, too.”
I nudged him playfully with my elbow, a blush rising up my face as the five of us arrived at the coven headquarters, home to the library. We crossed the threshold to find Estelle Thurman standing there, her eyes widening when she saw us.
“You,” she started, looking at Amy. “I’m—I’m really glad you’re ok.”
“Thanks,” Amy replied softly. The two nemeses looked awkwardly at the ground for a minute before Amy said, “We’re just going to the library. Have a good night.”
“You too,” Estelle replied.
“Wow, better look out the window to see if you spot a flying cow,” Ellie said.
“Flying cow? Isn’t the expression ‘when pigs fly?’” I asked, tilting my head, and the three witches looked at me strangely.
“When pigs fly? That’s ridiculous.”
“How is that more ridiculous than when cows fly?” I asked, crossing my arms.
Kyran laughed. “The human world version of the saying is about pigs, the paranormal version includes cows,” he said. “So you’re all right.”
I laughed as we made our way down the stairs and into the library. “Alright,” I said to Amy. “What do we do now?”
“We go to the Book of Jupiter,” Amy announced.
“Ohhh,” I said, understanding immediately. The Book of Jupiter was an enormous tome, a foot thick with pages at least two feet wide, held on an elaborately carved wooden stand near the center of the library. Ellie had shown me how it worked on my first visit to the library, but when I had tried to use it, nothing happened, because I wasn’t a member of the coven of Jupiter.
The four others looked at me expectantly. I stepped forward, pulled my wand out from my pocket, and placed it gently on the page in front of me. Then, taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and spoke.
“Book of Jupiter, I require a spell to turn my hair purple.”
The last time I had tried this, when I was not a part of the coven of Jupiter, absolutely nothing had happened. This time, when I said the words, there came a collective gasp from the others. I opened my eyes to see the words on the page had disappeared, replaced by a flowery script. An invisible hand seemed to write Jupiter, god of thunder, make my hair a different color. Purple.
“Well, that settles it,” Amy said. “You’re officially a part of this coven. Congratulations, Tina.”
I grinned. I had always felt at home here, and I would always be grateful for the way the coven of Jupiter had adopted me. This, however, was something else completely. I was now officially a full-fledged member of the coven.
“We’re going to have to tell Lita. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled,” Ellie said.
“You’re also going to get a lot of attention, I think,” Amy said. “After all, not only are you going to be the first witch in history to belong to two covens at once, but don’t forget you’re also the witch who killed one of the most infamous wizards in the world.”
“After what I’ve gone through, don’t wo
rry, I can handle anything,” I said with a smile. “Besides, I have my best friends—and coven members—at my side.”
Ellie swept me up in a big bear hug, and I blinked back the tears of joy that threatened to spill over.
Chapter 21
As much as my life was going swimmingly—and frankly I was just happy it was still going—Amy’s definitely wasn’t. It broke my heart every day to see her looking despondent. At one point, I even spotted her on the couch watching television, something she almost never ever did.
I had promised her I would do whatever I could to find who had stolen the exam papers, and I fully intended to keep that promise.
I texted Kyran and met him at Two Wizards and a Griddle for breakfast that morning.
“The exam papers have probably been destroyed, haven’t they?” I asked him, but to my surprise, he shook his head.
“Almost certainly not yet.”
“Wait, what? Wouldn’t whoever did this have burned them immediately?”
“Not if it was an elf, and it sounds like only elves had access to those exams,” he replied. “We take the environment seriously and care for it much more than witches and wizards, in general. Many of us have been on this earth for thousands of years and expect to be on it for thousands more, so we are extremely conscientious about conservation.”
I nodded. That made sense. “So what would be done with the exam papers?”
“They would have to be properly recycled. But the elves that do our recycling only come by once a month. They’re not due for another week. If the paper thieves are intelligent, they aren’t going to have added the exam papers to the pile where they could be easily found; they would hang onto them until the last possible moment. Most likely hiding them somewhere safe.”
“So that means there’s a chance the exam papers are still floating around somewhere,” I said. “If we could find them, we could get the results for Amy.”
“We likely have one week to solve this until the papers are gone forever, yes,” Kyran replied.
“Alright,” I said. “Tell me everything you’ve found out since we went and spoke with Regindir and Portindir.”
The waitress came by just then with our food, and I dug into my waffle topped with caramelized bananas while Kyran spoke.
“I went and spoke with Ungordir. I don’t believe he’s the one who did it. He was the only elf who didn’t seem completely insulted at the idea that a witch was allowed to study law. I believe your presence stopped Regindir and Portindir from saying exactly what they thought, because I heard a lot of less-than-pleasant comments when speaking with others.”
“Well, that’s disappointing, but probably to be expected,” I said. “Did anyone stick out to you as being particularly bad?”
“Almost all of them,” Kyran replied. “In fact, Regindir and Portindir seemed to be the least upset about Amy being allowed in the program.”
“They seemed more upset about Ungordir being nice to Amy than they were about Amy being in the program,” I said.
“That’s right,” Kyran replied. “I got the same impression. Most of the other elves I spoke to were more upset about Amy specifically being in the program than anything else.”
“So that means you’re leaning toward Regindir and Portindir being less likely to be the ones to have stolen the exam,” I said, taking a long sip of a chocolate-dragonberry milkshake.
“Right,” he replied. “The others were angrier about Amy. But the thing is, I can’t really imagine any of them doing anything about it. They all seemed to me to be the type to complain about things without actually doing anything that might change the situation.”
“Strange,” I said. “So, really, you have no idea.”
“Sorry,” Kyran said, opening his hands. “I wish I could help. But honestly, I think you’ve done enough for this town, and for its people.”
“I know, but this isn’t just the town. This is Amy.”
“She is special to you, I know that,” Kyran said. “And I want to find the missing exam papers, too. But remember, to the elves, she isn’t special. She’s an outsider who’s seen as someone intruding on our way of life.”
“Maybe that’s it,” I muttered as a thought began forming inside my brain.
“Maybe what’s it?” Kyran asked.
“I think that might actually be it,” I replied, getting more and more excited. Things suddenly seemed to make a bit more sense.
“What might be it?” Kyran repeated.
“Amy isn’t special. This isn’t about Amy. I mean, it is, but not directly.”
“I am definitely not following.”
“It’s ok, I’ve got it. I think Regindir and Portindir are the ones who took the exam papers, but I don’t think they took them because of Amy.”
“But that’s ridiculous. No exam papers have ever disappeared before, and Amy’s presence has been a major shift in elven life.”
“Yes, it has been. For everyone. Including Ungordir, who is the one elf who seems ok with Amy being in the class. He’s the one elf who’s been on her side this entire time.”
Kyran’s eyes widened as understanding dawned on him. “And Ungordir was one of the other elves whose exams disappeared. You think they did it to punish him.”
“That’s right, and Amy’s exam being stolen was just an unhappy coincidence. Whichever one of them stole the paper grabbed Ungordir’s and a couple others at random, but they didn’t necessarily mean to take Amy’s.”
“That actually makes perfect sense,” Kyran said. “I think you may have figured out who the thieves are.”
“Now all we have to do is find those exam papers,” I said. “Do you know where they live?”
“Of course,” Kyran replied. “Let’s get over there now.”
Chapter 22
Fifteen minutes later Kyran and I were in town, at a small apartment building a few blocks away from coven headquarters.
“They live in one of these apartments,” Kyran said. The building was small and made of wood, painted a deep brown color with white accents. “Ground floor, furthest back.”
“Good,” I said, the two of us making our way into the building. “Do you want me to cast an invisibility spell on us?”
“We shouldn’t need it,” Kyran replied. “Law studies take up most of the day on Wednesday. Neither one of them will be home.”
Because I wasn’t quite as confident as Kyran, I still knocked on the front door and waited a couple of minutes to confirm there was no one in the apartment before casting an unlocking spell on the front door. I checked the hallway to make sure there weren’t any nosy neighbors poking their noses in.
“Seriously, this is way more stressful when you’re actually visible,” I muttered as Kyran closed the door behind us, the two of us safely in the apartment.
“Some of us don’t have the luxury of being able to cast spells at will and have to do these things the old-fashioned way,” Kyran replied with a wink. “Besides, it’s fine. They’re not going to come home while we’re here. Do you want to take the living room?”
“Sure,” I said, scoping out the lay of the land. Directly to my right was a small kitchen with a handful of dishes in the sink but all in all not particularly messy given the two bachelors who lived here. Of course, despite their youthful appearance, I realized Regindir and Portindir were probably hundreds of years old, so they had had plenty of time to learn to keep a tidy home.
Past the kitchen was a living room featuring a couch on one end, a coffee table in the middle, and a wall-mounted TV above the mantle of the fireplace. To the side was a small cabinet filled with books and a couple of DVDs. To the left of the entrance was a hallway leading to what appeared to be a couple of bedrooms and a bathroom.
I went straight for the cabinet while Kyran made his way down the hall. I made sure to check everything thoroughly—I would never forgive myself if it turned out the exams had been hidden and I had missed them by not searching closely enough. I even opened th
e covers of all the books to see if they had been slipped inside. But alas, my search remained fruitless. Making my way to the couch next, I looked underneath the cushions, inspected the space behind the television, and even looked underneath the coffee table to see if they had been taped there.
Still nothing. I was making my way to the kitchen to begin a thorough check there when I heard Kyran call out from the bedroom. “Got them!”
I practically sprinted through the small apartment until I found him in the bathroom, holding a small sheaf of papers triumphantly above his head.
“Is that them?” I said breathlessly, my eyes on the papers.
“It is,” he said. “They were shoved behind the mirror in the medicine cabinet.”
I grabbed the papers from Kyran and flipped through them until I found Amy’s copy, and I let out a squeal. “This is amazing. You’re the greatest.”
Kyran grinned. “Hey, you’re the one who figured out who had taken them. I’d written these two idiots off as suspects. Now come on, let’s go get these papers back to Filmordir so he can grade them. We’ll tell Chief Enforcer King as well. I know the elves will want it dealt with in-house, but seeing as she’s been made aware of the situation already, she needs to know it’s been resolved.”
“Right,” I said. “Good plan.”
Just then, the front door clicked and swung open. My first instinct was to hide, to run away and wait for the two elves to leave again before running out, but then another part of me was tired of running. I wasn’t going to do it anymore. No, I was going to stay here, and I was going to fight, for once in my life.
Portindir came through the door first, and he looked surprised when he saw me.
“You. What are you doing in here?”
“Looking for these,” I replied, holding up the exam papers. The elf’s face lost what little color it had.
“What the? You had no right to come in here,” Regindir said a moment later.
“You had no right to steal exam papers, either. And yet that didn’t stop you,” Kyran replied, crossing his arms. “You really hated Ungordir that much that you would steal his exam paper?”
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