by Rye Brewer
Yet again, I’d managed to forget about the fact that I was supposed to be meeting him for a date on top of the astronomy tower. I shot Aidan a glare that he didn’t catch because he was staring at his approaching friend with an inexplicably annoyed expression. Aidan was always distracting me from thoughts of Calder, and I was becoming extremely sick and tired of it.
“What are you doing here, man?” Calder asked with a friendly smile, clapping his best friend on the shoulder as he finally made it to us.
I flinched at having him so close to me while I knew I looked terrible.
Aidan shrugged off his friend’s touch. There was a scowl on his face, but I could tell that he was trying to fake nice.
“Oh… I, uh…” For once in his life, Aidan was at a loss for words.
I rolled my eyes and cut in. “I’m doing a project on necromancer magic versus witch magic. Aidan offered to let me interview him for it.”
Aidan nodded fervently at my words. There was definitely no way that Calder could know that Aidan and I were planning on summoning my dead mother so that I could talk to her. That was way too deep and way too personal for a budding relationship.
“Oh,” he replied, his brow knitting in confusion. “When you didn’t show up for our date, I got worried and then in class Talia mentioned you were feeling ill. So you must be feeling better now?”
At the word date, I could feel Aidan’s scowl boring into my skull.
I still didn’t understand what his problem was with me and Calder, but I wasn’t about to let him continue inserting himself between us. Even if I needed his help, I wasn’t going to roll over and avoid his best friend. After all, I really liked Calder. He was sweet and kind and gorgeous.
What more could a girl want?
I shrugged at Calder’s question. “Yes, I’m a little bit better, but I don’t think I can come out tonight.”
“Well, anyway,” Aidan snapped, interrupting before Calder could respond. “I’m going to show myself out. See you tomorrow night, Moira, for our… interview.”
And with that, Aidan stalked off down the hall. He didn’t even spare a glance for his friend.
“Ignore him,” Calder chuckled, clearly not seeing how weirdly upset Aidan had sudden been. “He gets moody sometimes.”
That was definitely an understatement, but I wasn’t about to correct him. He knew Aidan much better than I did, but I honestly wasn’t interesting in understanding him intimately enough to comprehend the complicated machinations of his mind and his moods.
Yeah, I was going to have to pass on that one.
Aidan was good for one thing and one thing only, and that was helping me speak with my mom again so that I could try to begin understanding why I’d spent the entire day either writhing in pain, burning up with a fever, or coughing up smoke.
I offered Calder a smile in response. “Yes, he certainly is moody.”
Suddenly, he glanced down at his shoes. He appeared to be too nervous to say what had come to mind. “You guys aren’t…” He waved his hand, side to side. “Right,” he asked the floor, biting his lip.
I frowned in confusion. “Aren’t what?”
He shrugged, still unable to meet my eyes. “You and Aidan… you’re not, like, hanging out, right?”
I snorted. “Hanging out?”
He sighed and finally met my gaze. He looked embarrassed, but I still had no idea what he was trying to ask me.
“Yeah, hanging out as in… hooking up?”
I couldn’t help it. I burst into laughter.
He looked shocked at my response, but also visibly pleased at the fact that I considered the idea of hooking up with Aidan the funniest thing I’d heard in ages.
“Me and Aidan?” I cackled. “Hooking up? Please tell me you’re joking.”
He chuckled at my reaction, breathing a sigh of relief. “I don’t know. I mean, I know we had a date scheduled and everything, but you and Aidan are so similar and you’re always talking at dinner and… ugh, forget I said anything.”
He thought Aidan and I were similar?
Yikes, that was embarrassing. For me.
I giggled. “Trust me, I’m only interested in you.”
“Oh,” he replied, grinning. “That’s good.”
“Mhm.”
He glanced back down at his shoes, digging the toe of his sneaker into the glossy tile.
“So… does that mean we can reschedule our date?”
I blushed as my heart swooped in my chest. I couldn’t believe he was still interested in me after all of that. I assumed most guys would go running for the hills the second that a girl became a little too chaotic.
“Absolutely,” I replied.
He beamed at me. I felt myself go a little lightheaded at the sight, but not in a bad way. It seemed that my weird fiery sickness had fully abated for the time being, so whatever physical reactions I was experiencing in response to Calder were totally genuine. I really was head over heels for him.
“How about tomorrow night?”
I was just about to nod my head emphatically in agreement, but then remembered that I’d already rescheduled my meeting with Aidan for tomorrow night. As much as I wanted to go on a date with Calder and spend time alone with him, I knew that getting in contact with my mom was a lot more important.
Ugh, I hated being responsible. It was so unfair to have to make adult decisions when I wasn’t even eighteen yet.
However, the truth was, I couldn’t risk falling ill again like I had today. The symptoms had been more intense than they’d ever been before. In fact, I’d even fainted. For a brief moment, I thought back to the strange hallucination I had while I was unconscious, flying high over an unfamiliar mountain range.
The pretty, leathery wings that spread out on either side of my body.
Yeah, there was no way I was going to wait any longer than necessary to get answers. Though I hadn’t spoken with her since I was eight years old, I had a strong feeling that my mom wouldn’t brush aside my concerns like my Aunt Inez had.
She would have answers for me.
I bit my lip and gave Calder an apologetic look.
“I don’t know if I can do tomorrow night,” I replied, my voice clearly dripping with regret. “But maybe this weekend?”
His shoulders visibly drooped and I wanted to kick myself. Here I was, standing in front of the hottest guy in school, who wanted to take me on a date, and I was halfway rejecting him.
But luckily, he was a good sport.
“Yeah, sure,” he said, offering his trademark charming smile. “This weekend sounds great.”
“Okay, cool,” I replied, breathing a quiet sigh of relief. As long as I hadn’t completely ruined my chances with him, I was happy.
“Goodnight, Moira,” Calder said, taking a step back down the hall. “I hope you feel better soon.”
I offered him a wave in return and then stepped back inside my dorm room, shutting the door quietly.
Sheesh. What a day.
11
Miraculously, the next day, I was feeling better.
“That’s so weird,” Kendra said over breakfast that morning when I explained that it was like whatever illness I had yesterday was gone as quickly as it had come. “Like a twenty-four-hour stomach bug or something?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess so.”
Talia furrowed her brow in concern at that and took a sip of her black coffee. “I didn’t realize that witches could get the stomach flu.”
Before I could come up with an excuse that seemed plausible enough, Kendra thankfully jumped in with her encyclopedic knowledge.
“It’s actually quite common for witches to become sick with human ailments,” Kendra replied. “Since we are technically one the closest magical beings to humans in regard to genetic composition.”
I grinned at my best friend. “You’re so smart. No wonder Luca adores you so much.”
Kendra blushed.
Next to me, Talia giggled. “Well, anyway, Mo
ira,” she continued. “We missed you yesterday and we’re glad you’re feeling better. Let’s do something tonight, just us girls?”
I chewed on my lip. Tonight I was supposed to be meeting with Aidan. After our dramatic encounter in my room yesterday, and considering the fact that I’d already had to reschedule with him, it wouldn’t be a good idea for me to turn him down for the second night in a row.
“Let’s do Saturday night instead?” I asked. “I still feel a little iffy, so I think I just want to lay low in bed tonight.”
“Isn’t Saturday your date with Calder?” Kendra countered, visibly confused.
Oh, right.
How did I forget about that? I’d barely thought about my date with him, which also had to be rescheduled from yesterday evening, since I spoke to him last night. That was incredibly unlike me.
“Oh, yeah, I guess,” I replied, shrugging casually. “But we didn’t necessarily say it was at night. I could always meet him in the afternoon instead.”
Talia snorted. “But I thought you were meeting him on the roof of the astronomy tower… to make out under the stars or something like that.”
I elbowed her in the side playfully. “That plan wasn’t necessarily set in stone, but whatever I end up doing with Calder this weekend, I’m more than happy to adjust it so I can spend time with the two of you, right?”
Kendra chuckled. “Sure, Moira.”
Thankfully, no one else seemed all that concerned with finding out the finer details of yesterday’s illness, so I was basically in the clear. In fact, the only person who had ever seen any semblance of the bizarre symptoms I experienced was Aidan.
And even though Aidan was a menace and a possible danger to society, I doubted he cared enough to tell the entire student body about how I inexplicably coughed up smoke before melodramatically fainting in his arms the other night. If anything, that would mean he’d also have to explain why he was alone in my dorm room with me, which would’ve been far too embarrassing for both of us.
By the time classes were over and dinner rolled around, I was a bundle of anxious anticipation. The reality that I was going to be able to speak to my mother again, after almost ten years of not hearing her voice, filled me with hope.
However, it also filled me with fear. After all, what if she didn’t answer Aidan’s call. I wasn’t really sure how the finer details of necromancy worked, but maybe she would remain unresponsive. Or maybe she would be disappointed in me for doing something as taboo as contacting a dead loved one, especially since our witch cultural norms were strongly against such a thing.
Even worse than that possibility, though, was the worry that she might reach out to me and speak to me, but she also might be just as unhelpful as my Aunt Inez was. What if she told me that it was all just a figment of my imagination?
Part of me knew that I was being ridiculous and that my mother would never deny me the help that I so desperately needed. I knew I was letting my nerves get the better of me.
At dinner, Talia and Calder were missing because they had a late-night demon class to attend. I wondered if it involved more freakish animal possession like I witnessed Calder doing with the owl that one time.
I ate with Kendra and Luca, but it was more like eating alone. They spent most of dinner giggling and whispering to each other. They tried to include me in their conversation a couple of times, but I waved them off and paid more attention to my Potions textbook, not wanting to disturb the peacefulness of their precious new relationship.
Admittedly, I was also far too nervous about what was about to go down that evening to hold a normal conversation.
When the time finally came for me to go meet up with Aidan, I said goodbye to Kendra and Luca in the common room and then headed to the part of the castle where Aidan and I agreed to meet up.
It was strange. Though we weren’t particularly fond of each other, Aidan and I had a lot in common. One of those commonalities was the fact that we were good at finding all of the secret hiding places in the castle that Under Realm Academy called home.
In the south wing of the castle, not far from the witch classrooms, there was a small turret that had been closed off by the installation of a massive statue of a former alumni of Under Realm who died centuries ago but who contributed significant amounts of donations to the school.
Her name? Adelaide Darkmore.
And, yes, she was a distant relative of the one and only Calder Darkmore. I wouldn’t pretend like the reason I was so fascinated with the statue wasn’t because of my crush on him.
Still, the installation of the massive marble likeness effectively cut off access to the tiny wooden door that would open up to the narrow, winding staircase that led to the little turret’s intimate circular room.
That is, unless you were a witch.
When I discovered the secret hidden door, I spelled the statue to lift her arm just far enough out of the way to gain access to the tapestry behind her that hung over the small doorway. All you had to do was touch your fingertips to the ancient runes I’d painted into the hem of her full, flowing skirts. It didn’t matter if you were a witch, necromancer, or human. The larger-than-life version of Adelaide Darkmore would lift her arm and beckon you through.
The room she concealed was my best-kept secret. It was a great place to hide out when I wanted to skip class or when I just needed some extra alone time. Though I enjoyed spending time with friends and classmates alike, I did appreciate a private space to practice brewing potions or to merely think about life.
When I told Aidan about the hidden room, I was surprised to realize that he knew about it.
“Necromancers can read witch runes, you know,” he told me. “I found them sophomore year, but I didn’t know you were the one who drew them there.”
I remember I grew annoyed that Aidan already knew about my hiding place and questioned him as to why I never ran into him up there.
He had shrugged and said he simply thought it was a trick or a curse. He didn’t realize it was “little Moira Bloodworth simply causing trouble again.”
I had rolled my eyes so hard at that one that I was almost worried that would get stuck in the back of my head.
That night, when I reached the familiar statue of Adelaide Darkmore, which stood nearly ten feet tall and was a testament to the beautiful, powerful demon that she once was, I paused for a moment and took a deep breath.
I stared up at the white marble features of her face, knowing that I was already a few minutes late, but needing a few spare seconds to steady my hammering heart. Although she was a demon, rather than an angel, I sent a quick prayer to Adelaide.
Please let my mother hear me tonight, I begged.
The statue gave no indication that she heard me, of course, but it still made me feel somewhat better to at least attempt to pray. I wasn’t religious of course, given that I literally studied the occult and was a being that associated with the darkest creatures on the planet, but sometimes sending my wishes into the universe still felt like it would help me.
Shaking away my chaotic, disorganized thoughts, I bent down behind the statue and ran my fingers under the frilly hem of Adelaide Darkmore’s floor-length gown. My fingertips dragged along the cracking paint of my runes and I closed my eyes, feeling the rush of magic flow through me as the spell I cast years ago obeyed my command.
Smooth as water, moving as if she were still alive, Adelaide’s arm lifted up toward the ceiling, allowing me to slip behind her and duck behind the thick, dusty tapestry that hung against the rough stone wall. No one frequented this part of the castle, especially not at night, so I wasn’t worried about onlookers catching me.
Not very many people had the guts to go wandering around Under Realm’s castle alone searching for the hidden mysteries it held. After all, it had been home to dark creatures of the night for centuries upon centuries, even before it was turned into a school. Even I was wary of all the curses that might be clinging to these halls.
A creaking woo
den door with a scratched crystal doorknob stood before me, reaching only about shoulder-height. As I opened it, I heard the soft whisper of Adelaide’s arm moving back into its original position.
In front of me with a narrow staircase, spiraling up several flights. Moonlight poured in through thin shafts, illuminating thick cobwebs and crumbling stone.
A skittering shadow by my feet caused me to jump, but it was just a tiny mouse scurrying away from the sudden human presence that spooked it.
“Sorry, little mouse,” I whispered into the dark.
Holding out my palm in front of me, I blew softly until a gently flickering ball of flame was formed. It was cheerful and honey-yellow, casting a comforting golden light on the steps as I started the steep and risky ascent. Even though I’d been in this turret a number of times before, I knew that I still had to watch my step. I wasn’t in the mood for Aidan to have to come to my rescue again, especially not for something as embarrassing as a twisted ankle.
I counted forty-five steps curling tightly upwards. Finally, I made it to the top and hoisted myself up into the small, attic-like room. The ceilings were low and peaked toward the middle, making the room appear even smaller than it was, even though it was admittedly a little bit bigger than my dorm room. The wooden floorboards were thick and warped, covered in a fine layer of dust.
Aidan was already there.
“You’re late,” he said in lieu of hello.
I pursed my lips at him. “Didn’t realize you ran such a tight schedule.”
Aidan rolled his eyes but didn’t respond.
He was sitting in the center of the room on a rough, woven blanket. He’d already lit dozens of candles that dotted the perimeter of the room and they flickered as I moved toward him. He was cross-legged and looked more serene than I’d ever seen him before, presumably because he was doing whatever meditation the necromancers liked to do before they contacted the dead.
I stood in front of him awkwardly and shook out my hand to dispel the flame that I’d been holding.
“Are you feeling any better?”