Wicked Wish (The Royals: Warlock Court Book 2)

by Megan Montero

  He groaned and leaned up against the counter. “What are you talking about?”

  “Why would they come here if they thought we were just a bunch of kids? If they weren’t threatened, they wouldn’t bother with us. But no, we get the headmaster and the council standing in our foyer making threats. Seems to me we shouldn’t be worried about what we’re doing wrong. But keep on doing whatever it is we’ve been doing to make them that scared.”

  Cross chuckled and perched himself on a stool at the island. “She’s got a point.”

  “They didn’t come here because they feel threatened. They came here to scope out the competition. So you need to study . . . now.” Beckett ran his hand through his hair. “Please, Astrid.”

  “Fine.” I spun on my heels and headed out of the kitchen.

  “Dude, you know when a girl says fine it means it’s anything but fine, right?” Maze whispered to Beckett loud enough for all of them to hear.

  “He’s not wrong!” I yelled as I walked into the foyer and up the stairs.

  Odin silently ran up the stairs at my side and jumped onto my shoulder. “I think you should give me a hammer.”

  I sighed. “What do you need a hammer for?”

  “Odin’s son has a hammer . . . I should have a hammer. You know, to smash things.” Once in my room, he hopped down onto my bed and sat perfectly still.

  I shook my head. “The last thing I’m giving a demon cat is a hammer that wielded lightning.”

  “Suit yourself, but I think that’d really scare the crap out of the council.”

  “The only thing that’ll scare them is a united line of heirs ready to take over.” I held my hand out and cleared my mind, picturing the book in it. A moment later it appeared, and I sat down on the bed with it. “There’s only one way for me to be ready.”

  Chapter 17

  Astrid

  Four hours later and my eyes were dry and burning from staring at the pages of my book. The sun had long since gone down and when I picked up my phone to check the time, it was two minutes to two in the morning. The house seemed quiet, but that didn’t mean anything when dealing with the other heirs. Tink. I snapped my head up. “Did you hear that?”

  Tink. Odin pointed his paw toward the window. “From there.”

  Tink. Was that a pebble hitting my window? Tink tink. I rose to my feet and walked over to the window in time to see the next tiny stone hit the glass pane. Tink. I grabbed the window and hauled it up. Cold air rushed in, flooding my room.

  “Astrid, oh, Astrid, let down your hair or some shit.”

  “Leo?” I peeked my head out to find him and Cassidy standing behind a bush with a handful of tiny pebbles.

  “Who else is gonna come free you in the middle of the night?” He took a step out from behind the bushes and waved for me to join him. “Come on, let’s go.”

  “Where are we going?” I glanced back at the book, knowing I should just keep my nose buried in it.

  “To have some fun.” A light flickered on, on the first floor and Leo dove to hide.

  “I’m supposed to be studying my grimoire.”

  “Hold up, the lost Lockwood grimoire, you found it? Girl, bring it out to play!” A wide smile spread across his face. “Do that leaf thing and come on.”

  “I don’t know.” I bit my bottom lip.

  “Are you a warlock or what?” He crossed his arms over his chest.

  I wanted to be under the full moon. I wanted to play with my powers. Most of all I wanted out of my room for just a little while. “Be right there.”

  He high fived Cassidy. “That’s what I’m talking about.”

  I walked into my room and grabbed my winter coat. We were more than halfway through November and the temperature dropped a lot over the past few days. Thanksgiving would be here soon and I paused while shoving my arms into the wool coat. Tilly would need me for the holiday. We always had Thanksgiving together. Sneaking out with Leo and Cassidy was just what she would’ve done. I miss her.

  I pulled on my black beanie and headed for the window.

  Odin lay on the bed next to my book. “Have fun.”

  “Cover for me, okay?” I swung my leg out of the window.

  “Meow?”

  I giggled. “Right, good job.”

  I swung my other leg out of the window and sat there for a moment. I reached my hand out and pictured the giant leaf I’d used to sneak out only last week. Except this time it wouldn’t be an accident and I would control the way this went. The tree on the side of the house bent and twisted its branches until a thick bare one drifted right under my feet. I placed both of my feet on the branch and came to a stand. I held my arms out to the sides for balance like I was surfing. Golden smoke poured from my hand and into the limb. I steadily lowered myself to the ground where Leo and Cassidy waited.

  I stepped off of it and waved. “Hey, guys.”

  Leo walked out and scooped me up into a hug and spun me in a small circle. I laughed when my feet finally hit the ground. “Well, good to see you too.”

  Cassidy came up and gave me a quick hug. Though she only came up to my chin, she was fierce. In fact, she was a commander in the Malback House, the house of warriors. She had her bomber jacket zipped up to her neck and a knitted black cap with a hydra on the front of it. The mark of the Malback House. She was tiny with pin straight black hair that fell to just below her chin. She had a wide round face that lit up when she smiled. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

  “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

  Leo threw his arm over my shoulders and guided me away from the house. “Because everyone heard about your ascension.”

  “You mean everyone saw it.” Cassidy felt into step beside us as we walked out onto the sidewalk that wound its way through the whole school. She held her hands up and made them arch over her head like a rainbow. “Pyrotechnic light show, dude.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Tell me about it. I was lucky the queens showed up when they did.”

  Both Leo and Cassidy stopped dead in their tracks, and I walked a few steps before I spun around. “What?”

  Leo glanced at Cassidy then at me. “You met the witch queens? Like all of them?” He removed his thick black glasses and rubbed at his eyes. “Was she here? Zinnia?”

  He said her name like she was the boogie man. Cassidy nodded. “Even I wouldn’t mess with that witch. She’s hella powerful. Like wipe your powers out in a matter of seconds powerful.”

  Leo looked over his shoulder, like it wasn’t two in the morning and nothing but dark woods surrounded us. He whispered, “I heard a couple months ago she took a warlock’s power and put it in another warlock . . . it killed them both.”

  The girl they were talking about and the girl I knew didn’t sound like the same person. “I met her and she was cool. I mean, she did take some of my power out, but she gave it back.”

  Leo’s stepped forward and looped his arm with mine and we started walking. “What do you mean?”

  Cassidy walked on his other side and looped her arm with his. The three of us strolled around the bend and my thoughts returned to the night of my ascension and how my body had been torn apart. “My, um, my power, it was too much. If she hadn’t stepped in, I would have died.”

  “Noooo shiiittttt.” Leo squeezed my arm. “Then I’m glad she was there to help you. Doesn’t mean I want to meet her, though.”

  Cassidy shook her head. “Me neither and I’m not afraid of anything, but that witch scares me.”

  I scoffed. “She’s not even close to as bad as the warlock council. Now those guys have got some serious evil going on.”

  They both stopped again. Cassidy looked up at me with panicked eyes. “You met the warlock council? You met Damiel Edward?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Oh yeah, that guy is a complete jerk and there is some serious tension between him and Beckett. If the rest of us hadn’t been there, I’m pretty sure there would’ve been a fight. It looked like Beck wanted to kill the guy.”

>   “Makes sense.” Leo nodded.

  “What makes sense? What happened between them?” I looked from Cassidy to Leo and back again. They just stared at the ground, not saying a word. “Oh come on, guys, tell me.”

  Leo shook his head. “Astrid, this is something we can’t tell because we don’t know all the details of what happened. You need to get it right from Beckett.”

  “Okay, but not even a hint?”

  Cassidy tugged us to keep going. “The only thing I can tell you is on the night that Beckett’s mom died, Damiel was there . . . in the house.”

  I quickened my steps to keep up. “You’re not going to tell me what happened to his mom or his dad? And why was Damiel there?”

  “Can’t tell you, now shhhhhhhh.” Leo pressed his finger over his lips.

  As we came closer to Lockwood House, they pulled me into the woods that encroached on all sides of it. The building was a light baby blue today with bright white shutters. The black dahlia flowers that I originally loved about this house were now bright white daises . . . in winter. It was a beautiful imposing two-story house, with a giant porch. Over the front of the porch stood the giant metal face of medusa with her mouth wide-open in a scream, the snakes all tangled around her head, each one baring their fangs. It was so different than the real medusa I knew.

  “First of all, what are we doing here? Second of all, what the hell happened to the house? It looks like a family of four belongs here with a freaking minivan.”

  “Kitty has been telling everyone that the power that exploded from the heir’s house the other day wasn’t yours. She’s saying you’re trying to make yourself look like the Lockwood heir and no one really thinks you are. That you made the whole thing up.” Leo pointed to the house. “She says that she’s the only one the rest of the students can trust because you have Beckett and the others tricked. I’m not going to say what she said you did to trick them, but it was bad.”

  “What the hell did she say?”

  Cassidy crouched down lower next to me. “He might not tell you, but I will. Basically she called you a ho. One girl in a house with four guys. She keeps telling everyone to do the math.”

  “That little bitch.” Golden smoke flowed from my hands and seeped onto the ground.

  Leo placed his hand on my shoulder. “Oh, we don’t get mad.”

  “We get even.” Cassidy finished for him.

  “What did you guys have in mind?” I eyed up the house, trying to think of any and all possibilities.

  Leo pointed to the side of the house where there was a small opening in the woods that hadn’t been there before. A brand-new porche 911 turbo was parked in the small clearing. It was a pristine silver with black trim. Too bad.

  “How did they even get a car on campus? There aren’t roads between the houses.”

  Leo chuckled. “Rumor has it that daddy Kalarook paid Professor Charles a small fortune to have her simply manifest it here from the Kalarook estate. I don’t know why since they can’t really drive it anywhere.”

  “Yeah, but that hasn’t stopped Kitty from telling everyone she brought it here with her own power and that you better watch out because she’s powerful enough to take your place with the heirs. She keeps telling everyone how her father is going to have a place on the council too. You know, once Beckett and her go public.”

  I swallowed down the rage in my veins. “Go public with what?”

  “Their relationship.” Leo chuckled. “As if that boy would look at her.”

  “That car is nothing but an ornament, a decoration . . .” An idea lit my mind and Beckett might not be mine, but he definitely wasn’t hers. Ew. I held my hand out and thought of my grimoire. It was getting easier and easier to manifest the more I did it. The book sat heavy in my hand and I flipped the pages open.

  Leo leaned over my shoulder. “I thought there were supposed to be spells in there. How is that going to help us?”

  I pressed my hand to the page and let my power flow. The words slowly appeared the way vanishing ink would. “It’s got built in protections.”

  “Cool. But what are you thinking about doing?” Cassidy pointed at the page I’d just opened. “Ohhhh, I like it.”

  “The ice queen wants to put on a show. Let’s give her the spotlight.” I rose to my feet and held my hands out to my sides. My power poured from me and seeped across the ground like a poisonous fog. The wind kicked up behind me and my hair flew around my face. It felt good to let my magic go, to let that tide rise within me and not worry about who or what I was going to hurt.

  Leo held the book up for me to see all the while chanting, “Do it, do it.”

  Cassidy clapped her hands together and practically bounced with excitement. My power seeped into Lockwood House. It went under the door and through the windows, though they weren’t open. I looked down at the book and recited the words the way Zinnia taught me, with feeling and a steady rhythm.

  “Sky above, ice below.

  Feel the freeze and make it flow.

  By power of night and flaking light.

  Let the snow fill this site.”

  The moment I spoke the spell I felt it imbed into myself. I knew what it felt like to create it, to unleash this madness. Now I could manifest it anytime. I crouched back down next to Leo and Cassidy. “Now we wait.”

  “How long?” Leo peeked at the house just as the lights flashed on in two rooms.

  I giggled. “Not long.”

  The rest of the lights flickered on and the front door flew open just as Kitty ran out screaming with Kyle hot on her heels. Beyond them inside the house the snow piled up at least two feet high. It blew around like a true blizzard. Ice formed on the railings and dripped from around the door. Kitty and Kyle stood out front watching as I went Elsa on their asses. But it didn’t feel like enough, not nearly enough.

  My power was flowing, and I wanted more. “You guys ever heard of a Whomping Willow?”

  Leo nodded. “Yeah, why?”

  “How about a Punishing Pine?” I opened my hands and my powers seeped into the woods and found the biggest pine tree it could.

  A crashing sound came from behind the house and I chuckled. “I’m suddenly feeling so Christmassy.”

  The pine tree marched out like a soldier then stabbed its roots deep into the ground, planting itself beside that ornamental car. The ground exploded up and chunks of earth flew over Kyle and Kitty, coating them in dust. The branches of the tree vibrated and lifted like a hammer over the car and slammed down. It crashed onto the roof of the car, crumpling it inward.

  Kitty threw her arms around Kyle and screamed, “Noooo, my baby.”

  I wanted to feel bad about it, I really did . . . sorry, not sorry. The tree lifted its branches once more and slammed them down again. The sound of crumpling metal filled the air, glass exploded outward, and the alarm blared to life.

  With that same thick branch, the tree slid under the car and tossed it up into the air. It flew end over end and came back down right into its waiting branches. Where it stayed hanging like an ornament on a Christmas tree. I dusted my hands off. When Leo and Cassidy looked at me with wide, proud eyes, I shrugged. “What? I’m from New York. I like decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving.”

  Chapter 18

  Astrid

  “And then it beat down my car. Crunched it like it was an aluminum can.” Kitty sat at her lab table before potions class started. Though the class was set up like a standard classroom with rows of desks, I knew at any moment the professor would walk in and transform everything. I found myself looking forward to seeing the most experienced manifestor at work. I sat next to Leo, waiting for her to get here.

  The other students all sat enthralled with her story. Kyle nodded along with everything she said. “And our entire house is an ice castle, covered in snow. We can’t even get to our clothes.”

  Kitty examined her nails. “Not that it matters. I just saw my father on campus. He’ll have it all straightened out in no time
. He even brought us more clothes.”

  I glanced at Leo, who sat opposite me. His lips were bursting with held in laughter. He was dressed impeccably with his gray button-down shirt and perfect black cardigan with the siren on the back for Whitmore House. He looked well rested and ready to go. He mouthed the words “oh my God” at me then pretended to flip his hair.

  A giggle burst past my lips and everyone turned to look at me. Kitty narrowed those dark green eyes. Her hair fell in waves down the sides of her face, giving her high cheekbones a softer look. In New York she’d be considered beautiful. Hell, anywhere she would be beautiful. Then she tilted her head and sneered at me, and any sign of her beauty was lost. “You two belong together.”

  I winked at Leo. “Good friends are hard to find.”

  “Well, I for one think it’s so cute that the two people nobody wants became friends. Kind of like an outreach program for losers. Losers helping losers.” She chuckled.

  I opened my mouth to snap back at her when the professor walked in. “Pardon my tardiness. I had some”—she eyed up Kyle and Kitty—“some unfinished business to handle on campus.”

  Kitty preened and smiled. “We can’t thank you enough, Prof—”

  “Like I had a choice. Your father and Headmaster Ridge are very chummy.” Professor Charles waved her away and turned her attention back to the class. “Now if all of you would open your books to page two hundred and fourteen.”

  She lifted her hands and her light smoky blue magic seeped from her palms. Her magic matched her flowing shirt. It was chiffon, with a bow tied on the side of her neck, the sleeves billowed and snitched in at her wrists. She wore black dress pants and sparkle covered sneakers. Every time I saw her I couldn’t help but think I wanted to be just like her when I grew up.

  The room lifted and changed from the classroom to a bowl-shaped stadium seating. The desks vanished and on each rise was a set of lab tables. I moved to where Leo and I worked together.