Would it kill them to drop me outside the classroom so I can knock? One person’s sight in particular locks onto me and I toss my hair lightly over my shoulder, a habit I picked up from all those times I pretended to be my sister. Brandon's narrowed gaze brings a smirk to my face.
He steps close. “What are you doing here?”
“Working.” We lock glares and I can see the strain of holding himself back.
“I'll have them send you home.”
“We'll talk about this later.” I step around him. “Excuse me. I'm sorry for the interruption. I'm sure you've received notice that I will be attending your class today.”
“Ah, yes. Welcome.”
A handsome young professor smiles at me from behind his work station with several delectable cupcakes on display. “Class, we have a temporary guest among us. Would you like to introduce yourself?”
Some of the students around me mutter while I ignore their stares. “My name is Meghan Stiles. I'll be accompanying Mr. Devlin in his classes for the foreseeable future.”
Some gasps and then absolute silence echoes in the room. I tilt my head slightly toward the professor. “I will do my best not to disrupt your class any further.”
“Then you are welcome to take a seat.” He gestures toward a relatively empty table. It was obvious this was Brandon's remote work area.
“Thank you.” I move to the table and sit down. My purse goes on an empty chair next to me.
“You shouldn't be here.” Brandon doesn't take long to complain.
I wave off his concern. “I've been cleared by the Baba Yaga. Talk to her if you’ve got complaints. Your curse can't affect me again, anyway, so there's no danger.”
“What do you mean?” He asks loudly, then instantly ducks his head when he sees the rest of the class stare at him. “What do you mean by that?” This time his tone is a whisper.
I lean close and lock gazes with him. “Look, your curse is horrible. I'm not going to lie. It was the worst curse-based experience I've ever faced, but exposure builds up my immunity.”
I shrug, a bit blithely, then continue on.
“Most of the time, I can break down a curse right after I consume it. It’s like my body takes curses and eats them for breakfast. Your curse is more powerful than that. My body needs time to analyze it and I can’t finish the process until I’m exposed to it again.”
“Your wrist started to crystallize last night.”
I hold up my hand. “No mark. And there won't ever be another one. Do you know what that means?”
He shakes his head.
“It means there's hope that we will find your cure before this is over. If I have an immunity to it, there are other ways to stop it.”
A spark of heat lights up his gaze before he thoroughly suppresses it.
“Now that everyone is here, and Mr. Devlin has a lab partner, we can continue with our observation exercise.”
Cupcakes appear on the table in front of us. Five of them. One with green and white icing, others with chocolate and white icing, even one topped with berries. The last one, a chocolate delight with pink swirl icing, really tempts me.
“Understanding curses is the key to developing a countercurse skillset. As witches, we must protect ourselves at all times.”
The professor eyes each of the students and lingers long enough on our table to make me aware of just how isolating this curse must be for Brandon.
I fight the urge to glance over at him.
“I know that many of you wish to pursue a career in countercurses. That's why you're here. Today, we'll use all our senses to observe these cursed cupcakes. Remember, at least one of them is deadly, but every one of them will cause more than mild discomfort if ingested, so be safe.”
I tap my finger lightly on the table as I observe the class around me. Excitement, nervousness, and faked nonchalance rests in all the other students. Very few lack interest. If anything, they are already talking among themselves and taking notes.
“Is countercursing a lucrative career choice?” I ask as an aside, wondering if it could be any less stressful than mitigating my boss's bizarre mood swings every time we get close to deadline.
“It can be. Curses are big business. They always have been.”
I see the line between Brandon's brows and have to fight the urge to reach up and smooth it out. “Maybe I should switch careers.”
“And have another incident like last night? You're asking for death.” Is that frustration or anger that he's repressing? Whatever it is, I need to let him know the truth.
“I swear that your curse will never make me crystallize again, and I can prove it.”
“How?”
“This experiment.”
He sits back on the stool and crosses his arms. “Okay, how will you prove it to me?”
“Wait. If I prove to you that I am not only immune, but also capable of breaking down the curse to component parts, you have to promise to let me help you.”
His jaw clenches and his foot bounces slightly on the stool. I cross my legs and rest my elbow on the table. With relaxation I don’t feel, I prop my chin on my knuckles.
If he says no, I'm still obligated to stay here. At least until I can pour over my contract. If he says yes, things will get a lot easier. And if I am completely honest, spending more time around Brandon is an added bonus.
“The Baba Yaga has already cleared me. You can check with Bianca.” I smile at him, then.
He is wearing the school chef uniform, but in the same dyed color as my dress. The rest of the class wear traditional white, black, or blue chef's attire. And this guy looks like he's a prince among men.
He sighs and unbuttons his long sleeves, rolling them up over his tanned arms until they reach the elbows. “You have one chance to prove it to me.”
“Yes. You won't regret it!” I grin with joy and do a little dance on my chair.
A small laugh escapes and he covers it with a throat cough. That's okay, I caught you laughing. This is the perfect step in the right direction. Now I just need to prove my abilities.
9
Meghan
“So what exactly are the parameters of this lab experiment?”
“We’re supposed to observe each cupcake to isolate their curse components. Once we have those components, we can dispel the curse or create a countercurse.”
I prop my chin up on my hand and look at each confection. They all look delicious. “Will there be a test on it?”
“No. This is to evaluate the skills of the students,” the professor interrupts our conversation with a smile. “I've taught this class for eight years and have yet to see a student solve even one of them.”
“If it's not going to be graded, why teach it?” I'm genuinely curious.
“Because there is more to curses than formulas. Intention, power, materials used, even the slightest change in temperature during a casting can vary the damaging capability of a curse. It is a dangerous profession to walk into, and this class screens for the Food Curse Investigation Division.”
“Interesting.” The Food Curse Investigation Division sounds like something formal and suit-worthy. Like a men-in-black-magic kind of thing.
“Your familiar is one of the most proficient familiars in curse banishment.”
“Mystica?” I glance over at the cat, grinning at the way he lounges in the sunny spot on the windowsill.
“Yes. It's an honor to have him here. Of course, I've already asked him to let you solve the problem yourselves. So, do you know what the curses are for each cupcake?”
Brandon opens his mouth, but I interrupt before he can say anything. “Since I'm not a student, will he get credit if I help him out?”
“You're registered as a lab team on my books, so yes.”
“Do we have to agree on the results?” That question amuses him more than it should, but I ignore it and the glare Brandon is sending my way.
“No. I'll take the correct answer, though, so you won't ha
ve to worry about disagreements counting against your team score.”
“What are you going to do?” Brandon asks with an edge to his voice.
“There's only one way you'll believe me, right?”
“Don't do this.”
“Don't do what? Should I be nervous?” the professor asks.
“Okay.” I sit up properly and pick up the first cupcake.
“You shouldn't pick up—”
I immediately bite into the cupcake. The professor freaks out and Brandon just rolls his gaze up to the ceiling, shaking his head.
The rich flavor hits my tongue immediately. A sharp pain shoots to my stomach and then dissolves. My skin tingles slightly and changes tint. Then, it returns the normal almost instantly. I roll the flavor around in my mouth and then swallow it down.
“This one changes your skin color.” I smile at Brandon, realizing that he’s focused on me again. “Now, watch.” I take another bite and savor the flavor.
This time, my skin doesn’t change colors and I can analyze the curse components. Cursed or not, it tastes delicious, but there are back notes of flavor that's well-hidden. “I can taste a type of ash, I think.”
“What kind of ash?”
I realize that the professor and Brandon are both staring at me with intensity. Brandon's got a notebook open and a pen on paper and the professor is entirely too excited.
“Almost like charcoal. With a hint of sulfur. Also something really chalky in the texture.” I chew slowly and methodically before swallowing. This time my skin tingles, but there is no pain, and no other reaction in my body. “Do I taste pistachios, as well?”
“With those observations, what is the countercurse ingredient or spell, Mr. Devlin?”
Brandon taps his pen on the notebook and then looks up with a smile. “It's a modified stoneskin spell, so moonlight or the moon lover's countercurse spell would be effective.”
“Well done.” The professor smiles at us both. “How did you determine the stoneskin connection?”
“Pistachios,” Brandon says.
The class is in an uproar and I'm tempted to take another bite of that tasty cupcake, but the professor takes it out of my hand before I can take another bite.
“Eating cursed food isn't part of your job description.” Mystica is suddenly sitting on my lap. He settles his weight down comfortably on the silk dress and I uncross my legs to accommodate his furry body.
I stare down at him. “Do you want to try it? I have four more to go through.”
“No.” He mutters and lays down in my lap. His little glasses have been missing since he got there, so I assume he wants to spend all of class sleeping. “Sit still and don't spill any on me.”
“You don't have a problem with her eating the cupcakes?” Brandon's concern would be touching if he wasn't eagerly waiting for me to try the next one.
“I'm here in case something happens. Our organization will take full responsibility.”
His credibility goes down the tubes thanks to yawning while speaking, but even the professor seems content with his statement. Maybe this little guy is a big shot after all.
I look at the other cupcakes and my gaze falls on the second one. It has bright pink and white icing, piped in a lovely swirl.
“That one is likely allergy-inducing,” Brandon states and then watches me with interest.
“What makes you say that?”
“I can sense a fast trigger in the cupcake. There aren't many food curses with that kind of response time.”
“I’d rather you not eat it this time,” the professor says.
I shrug. “It’s not my fault you put eating triggers in the cupcakes. Give me one that affects me with touch, and it would be a different story.”
The professor sighs and turns to the rest of the class. “Don’t eat the cupcakes. Just observe.”
“Thanks for the heads up about the allergies,” I say to Brandon as I curl back the cupcake wrapper and take a small bite along the edge. I don't need a huge bite to test it and allergies are never fun.
The moment the fluffy chocolate cake touches my tongue, my skin breaks out in hives and it becomes slightly difficult to breathe. I have no known allergies, so this isn't something I'm used to, but I endure it.
“This is delightful. Let me test you for the curse.” The professor's hand hovers over my head and magic pushes into me almost immediately.
Pain ricochets through my body, interfering with my countercurse. Brandon grabs the professor's hand and pulls him away from me, but the damage is already done. The curse comes back worse than before.
Brandon reaches for me but I hold up my hands to stop him. “Wait,” I gasp out. “One second.”
Heat flares inside my skin, just beneath the surface. My lungs burn and panic is setting in, but I force myself to focus. The fire roars through me, burning its way across my nerve endings until the hives disappear. Instantly, my lungs open up and my heart thunders in my chest.
Okay, that one sucks.
“Are you okay?” the professor asks.
“She's fine,” Mystica replies for me while I get my heart rate under control. “She may need some water, though.”
“I'll get it immediately,” the professor's anxiety seeps through as he rushes out of the room, but I am more concerned with what went wrong than what he's feeling at the moment. Was it normal for a professor to get water for a student, anyway?
It takes a moment to realize that Brandon's hands are grasping my arms as he lowers himself to look me in the eye. “What happened there?”
“His magic interfered with my ability.” I speak quietly. “That's never happened before.”
No, that's not true. It happened once before, when I hadn’t built up an immunity to curses. I realize I'm trembling.
After that incident, for a long time, I couldn't stand to eat food I didn't prepare myself. Melanie's curses destroyed my trust in food early on. I spent years trying to overcome it and suddenly, I'm back there feeling the same fear as before.
“Your curse is way worse than this. And this one doesn't count.” I stare up at him in defiance.
His thumbs brush my arms. The thin material of his gloves is barely a barrier to his warmth. “Okay, I won't hold this one against you.” His hands drop away. “Interesting choice in clothes today, by the way. It won't protect you from my curse.”
“I keep telling you I won't need protection from your curse ever again.”
He tilts his head at me. “Unless you face another interference like the professor's.”
I nod slowly. “Okay, that's true. If we can avoid that in the future, I'd be eternally grateful.”
“So would I.”
“Does that mean you're willing to keep working with me?”
I didn't miss that smile on his face, as fleeting as it was.
“It means you're in a probationary period.”
I shrug. That's fine by me. This isn’t the first time that I have proved my curse canceling ability to someone that wasn't my sister and her familiar. I have to admit, it is kind of cool to have a magic power of my own that others didn't. My gaze falls on Brandon's hands and the dark gloves that covered them. “Is that because of the curse?”
The light dims in his eyes. “It's a precaution for now.”
“It wasn't your fault.” I flex my hand, stretching the skin where the wrist had crystallized. “When you touched me, my body pulled the curse into it.”
“Pulled it?” He glances around the room, noticing that we were still the focus of everyone's attention. “Let's talk about this later.”
Family curses have their own secrets. I get it, but I'd rather just get everything out on the table so we can move forward. A round of dizziness assaults me and I put my hand on my head.
The first thing I need to do is figure out what happened with that last cupcake. Obviously this wasn't the appropriate place and time to hash out everything, and the idea of trying the other three cupcakes turns my stomach.
The professor returns with a cobalt glass bottle. He immediately faces the class and waves a hand over the cupcakes. All of them are sealed in one of those shields I'm getting used to seeing everywhere.
“The first two cupcakes have been solved. You have three weeks to determine the other three curses and their countercurse ingredients. Each team that solves part of this puzzle will have a slot open in the advanced food curses course. There will be a sign-up sheet after school today for additional lab time. You're dismissed.”
The other students file out quickly, whispering all the while and giving us not-so-subtle glances. Once the last one leaves, the professor places the bottle gently in front of me.
“You were one hundred percent accurate in both cupcakes, but eating a cursed object is the most reckless thing I've ever seen a student do. I blame myself for not stopping you, but you seemed fine at first. Hold out your hand so I can check your condition.”
My cheeks heated slightly. “I'm fine. It's already over. I needed to trigger the curse.”
He sighs and takes my wrist anyway. Warm magic courses through me with the same pressure as earlier. “My apologies, but I have to make sure you're okay. I got too excited earlier and allowed you to do something so dangerous. Drink the potion in the bottle. It's a countercurse agent. It tastes like chalk, but it's better than the alternative.”
“I was hoping it was water.” He seems a lot less frantic than before, and the guilt in his gaze makes me uncomfortable.
“Ms. Stiles, I know that you're a guest in this facility, but your invitation doesn't extend to endangering yourself, my students, or this facility. And I will make sure you're no longer in danger. I extended the exam and gave the perks because you both will be unable to continue testing the curses. This mistake could have cost me my job and your life.”
His lecture drones on, but all I can focus on is the way I hate the way magic makes my skin crawl like this. I clench my teeth as my stomach twists again. Either my curse eater is starving or still suffering from indigestion thanks to the earlier cupcake situation.
The Kitchen Witch Switch Page 7