Fortunately, he looked at another girl.
“You,” he said. “What do you think?”
She looked up at him and pointed to herself, as though she couldn’t believe he’d spoken to her.
“Yes, you,” he said drily. He stared at her, and Wolf’s cheeks flushed with secondary embarrassment. She hated being put on the spot like that. How terrible did that girl feel right then? It simply wasn’t fair.
“Um,” the girl looked away, and then she looked around the room, as though any other student could help her.
Wolf knew that the student – Jas – had been out of town for the last week. Her aunt had been sick, or something like that. She’d had a family emergency come up, and she’d gone to be with her relatives. She was a little bit behind now, and she was obviously uncomfortable simply telling Codsworth she didn’t know.
“I, um...”
“Um? Um?” Codsworth walked closer to the girl and mimicked her in a high-pitched voice. “Um? Is that how you ensure your ingredients are high-quality? Um? Um?”
Wolf felt her entire body burn hot and then cold and then hot once more. She couldn’t take it. Her inner-wolf was scratching at her brain, begging to break free. She wanted to shift and run away. That’s what Wolf wanted at that moment. She wanted to stand up and turn and just escape from this classroom because Codsworth was being totally impossible.
The girl started to cry.
Well, crap.
Codsworth looked shocked, and he opened his mouth to make fun of her some more, but before he could say anything, Wolf jumped to her feet. The entire class gasped and looked at her. It was probably a really bad idea, but she couldn’t just sit there and do nothing when a fellow student was suffering. That wasn’t fair.
“Mr. Codsworth, if I may?”
“That’s Professor Codsworth,” he snapped. “And no, you may not. This student was about to answer me.”
“Professor,” Wolf tried again. “She’s been out of town. Her aunt was sick.”
The entire class was silent, listening to what was going to happen. They all knew that confronting Codsworth wasn’t going to end well, but Wolf knew that if their roles had been reversed, she’d want someone to stand up for her.
Wasn’t that what friendship was all about?
Wasn’t that what being a good witch was all about?
Wolf had made many mistakes in her life, but she wasn’t going to let this be one of them.
“I believe,” Codsworth said. “That I wasn’t speaking to you.”
“The best way to ensure that you have the best and most potent ingredients for any potion or enchantment is to purchase them from a reputable coven,” Wolf said all in a rush.
She blurted it out in a single breath.
Codsworth stared at her.
The class stared at her.
Red stared at her.
Jas stared at her.
Everyone was looking at Wolf to see what was going to happen next because what she had just done was totally unheard of. What right did she have to call out a teacher like Codsworth? Who did she think she was, after all?
Did she really think it was okay to stand up to him even if it meant getting in trouble?
“Miss Wolf,” he said, narrowing his eyes. “Since you believe you know so much about potions, then please, why don’t you tell me where the best place to source violaptri oil is?”
So that was how Codsworth was going to handle the embarrassment of having a student speak up. He was going to give her a pop quiz in front of everyone, and she was the only student taking it.
Okay.
She took a deep breath.
She could do this.
“The Darling Witches acquire their oil from the wizards in Brooksville.”
“What can you use to soothe a burn caused by a potion that was improperly mixed?”
“Rex juice and daisies.”
“Which Darling Witch was the founding member?”
“Trick question,” she said. “There were three founding members and their true names are a closely guarded secret.”
Codsworth seemed to grow redder and redder with each passing question. He simply couldn’t stump Wolf, and she knew it was making him quite irritated. The truth was that Wolf had grown up with a coven leader for a mom. She wasn’t going to miss any of these questions. She might suck at actually mixing things together in her cauldron – after all, learning to stir things in just the right way was quite difficult –but as far as a quiz went, she couldn’t be stumped.
He asked her question after question, but she kept knocking them out of the park.
Finally, it was time for class to end, and Codsworth glared at her as the rest of the class started to file out of the room.
“I expect your project to be on my desk tomorrow,” he said.
“But the deadline isn’t until Monday,” Wolf pointed out.
“Tomorrow,” he repeated. “It shouldn’t be a problem for a smart student like you.”
He turned and walked away, and Wolf’s heart sank. Tomorrow? She had most of her project done, but she could basically kiss the weekend goodbye. Tonight was the bake-off for the school and several other classes, including Stacy’s, were going to be presenting enchanted and magical food items to share with the school. She had hoped to attend, if only to cheer on her roommate, but now it seemed as though Wolf would be spending the next 24 hours locked in her dorm room, destined to try to finish everything in time.
Perfect.
Just perfect.
Chapter 5
I met Wolf in the hallway after Cooking In Cauldrons. She was one of the last students to exit the class, and she came out looking forlorn and more than a little bit sad. That class always seemed to have a negative effect on her, and I hated that Wolf was stuck taking a course that she hated so very much. It simply wasn’t fair. Nobody should have to take a class that they hated. Least of all her.
“Hey, how was class?”
“Don’t ask,” she said.
“That bad, huh?”
“I just don’t get what Coldsworth’s problem is!” She said. “He’s always mean to me. Today, he wasn’t just cruel to me, but to another girl, too. I mean, why is he so damn cranky all of the time?”
“Maybe he’s just misunderstood,” I offered.
“I doubt it,” Wolf said. She marched away from the classroom. I glanced over my shoulder, looking back toward the class. I saw a boy there: one I knew. He had a strange name. Red. He wasn’t looking at me, though. He was watching Wolf, and he looked almost sad.
Why was he watching her?
And what had happened in their class?
“Hey,” I asked. “Is that kid, Red, your friend?”
“What?”
She stopped and turned back, but he was already gone.
“He was just there,” I said. “He was looking at you.”
“He was?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Well, perfect,” Wolf said, shaking her head. “Just perfect. I make a fool of myself in class, and Red is there to see. Great.”
“What do you mean?”
She filled me in on what had happened in her class. She told me everything that had happened, from Codsworth going nuts to the boy she liked watching the entire ordeal.
“It sounds like you did an awesome thing, Wolf,” I said. “Not embarrassing at all. You stood up for Jas. You didn’t have to, but you did.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t want Red to see me getting quizzed like that.”
“Why not?”
What was the big deal with Red? I mean, he was a nice boy, apparently, and I had seen him around school plenty of times. Wolf seemed really concerned that he not think she was crazy or dumb or idiotic, though.
Wolf stopped and turned to me. She opened her mouth. Then she closed it again.
Opened.
Closed.
Opened.
Finally, she spoke.
“I’m secretly in love with him,” sh
e said, blurting out the truth. She didn’t try to hide it. She didn’t deny it. She just put herself out there.
Respect.
“Does he know?”
“Probably.”
“Does he feel the same way?”
“No idea.”
“Cool.”
“Yeah.”
We walked away from the class, exited the main castle, and went toward the dormitories. Wolf looked anxious and she was kind of sweating a little bit as we made our way over to the other buildings. Enchanted Academy was kind of spread out when it came to its buildings. Sometimes I wished we got to sleep in the big, sprawling castle. It would be a wonderful experience, I thought. The rest of the time, I just accepted that we were going to be tucked away in the dorms, and that was fine.
Wolf sneezed loudly.
“Bless you,” I said off-handedly.
“Uh, sure. Thanks.”
“Are you okay?” I asked. She was pulling on her collar, like her shirt was too tight, which was a little crazy. All of the shirts were the exact same size. There was no way hers was too tight for her. She just shook her head.
“I need to shift,” she said. “It’s been too long.”
“Shift?”
“That’s what it’s called when I change into my wolf form,” she told me. “My actual wolf form.”
“Wow,” I said. “How often do you have to shift?”
She shrugged and shook her head, like she didn’t really know. Maybe it depended on the wolf. There were a lot of factors that impacted personal stress levels. I was a key example of that. Compare me to other foster kids and you’ll end up with an incredibly mixed bag of emotional trauma and psychological abuse. Compare me to myself, though, and it would be easy to see how much I’d grown and changed.
“Does it just depends on the wolf?” I asked.
“Yeah. Some people...shifters...can change on command. Like, they just shift when they feel like it, and they’re fine.”
“And others?”
“Others need it more often.”
“What does it feel like?”
“What?”
“Shifting. Does it hurt?”
“Not really. No. It doesn’t hurt. Not at all.”
“Not even a little bit?”
“No.”
Wolf looked like she was thinking, like she was trying to figure out exactly how to describe what happened to her when she changed. I had to admit that the entire process fascinated me. I’d never seen anyone shift and until I met Wolf, I honestly had never really considered that some people at my school might be shifters.
It was kind of cool, actually, and it made me wonder who else might be a shifter.
Beast, for example.
Was he an animal?
Could he change into other things?
“What’s it like?” I asked Wolf.
“The first time I shifted, it was a total shock. It was a surprise. I didn’t know my dad, so I didn’t know I was a shifter. Don’t tell anyone,” she added.
“Fingers crossed.”
“When I shifted, it was kind of shock to everyone. I mean, imagine going to a normal school and then turning into a wild animal. Imagine the kind of reaction that got.”
“So, what did you do?”
She shrugged.
“Went home. Told my mom. I guess the rest is history.”
“Was it hard to shift back?” I asked. That would be the thing that would scare me. Even if you could turn into a magical creature, would getting back to your normal self be hard? Would it even be possible?
That was something I wanted to know about.
“You know, it was a little awkward,” she said. “I was so caught off guard by what happened that the first time, it took me a little while to calm down. I kind of freaked out,” she grimaced at the memory, and I felt bad for bringing it up.
“Sorry,” I said quickly. “We don’t have to talk about it.”
“No, I want to.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, but I don’t know why.” She shook her head. “Look, Jessica, this sort of thing is really uncomfortable for me. I don’t like talking about my past and I certainly don’t like talking about the fact that I’m a shifter.”
“So why don’t we change the subject?”
“Because maybe it’ll help you.”
“Help me? How?”
“Well, not everyone at Enchanted Academy is a human, you know.”
“Like who?”
“I can’t say for sure,” she said. “But perhaps someone you like may not be exactly what he seems.”
She sounded mysterious and vague, but I still blushed. Was she talking about Beast? Oh, crap. Did she know about Beast? Could she tell that I liked him? How could she tell?
Wolf erupted in laughter.
“What’s with all of the faces?” She imitated me. “Why are you freaking out?”
“I didn’t say I had a crush.”
“Yeah, well, you didn’t have to. I’m not dumb.”
“I haven’t told anyone that I have a crush.”
“Again,” she said. “Not dumb.”
“But...”
“Look, he’s bad news, Jessica. You know that, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, Beast is kind of a bully.”
I wanted to argue with her that he wasn’t, that she was wrong, but I also knew that unfortunately, she was very, very right. Beast wasn’t exactly known for being kind-hearted. In fact, when I first met him, he had promptly tricked me into going the wrong direction and getting totally and completely lost.
It was horrible, and I was embarrassed, and I don’t really want to think about the way that made me feel.
I knew that Wolf was right.
More importantly, I knew that she only wanted what was best for me. Wolf was like...well, in some ways, she was kind of like a great older role model. That sounded dumb, but I knew I could trust her. She wasn’t going to lead me down the wrong path. If she was willing to tell me that she wasn’t comfortable around Beast, then I should have listened to her advice.
I didn’t really want to listen.
I kind of felt happy with my crush.
It was bad for me.
He was bad for me.
“Maybe he’s changed since you met him,” I said, but Wolf just rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, maybe,” she said. “Just watch your back, okay? When you’re at Enchanted Academy, it can be easy to get swept away in the magic.”
She wasn’t wrong.
If I’d learned one thing, it was that Enchanted Academy felt pretty incredible.
I wondered what other secrets were lurking in the darkness around campus.
Chapter 6
Wolf and I went inside the girl’s dormitory. We walked past a few people studying, a couple of people practicing spells, and the cookie area, which was one of my favorite things about the academy. Our dormitory had a special place where we could get cookies, cocoa, snacks, or even just good conversation with the woman who ran the cookie corner.
“No cookie lady,” Wolf said, cocking her head. I turned to see what she was looking at. Usually, there was an older woman standing there. She was always baking cookies, cocoa, and coffee for the students. She was kind of wonderful, actually, and always really kind.
“Maybe she went home early.”
“Maybe,” Wolf said, but she eyed the area suspiciously as we walked by. We made our way up the millions of stairs to our bedroom. Every time I took the stairs, my muscles ached. They hurt. They felt like they were going to explode.
Maybe that was my problem: I wasn’t fit enough to be a student at Enchanted Academy. It wasn’t the lack of magical abilities. Nope. It was the fact that I couldn’t make it up eight flights of stairs without losing my mind.
“Come on,” Wolf yelled back to me. She was far ahead of me. She always was. Even though I knew she felt like she wasn’t in very good shape, she practically leapt up th
e stairs. I wondered if physical activities were ever easier for her because she was a wolf.
Maybe not.
We finally reached the dorm room, went inside, and closed the door. Belle wasn’t back yet, but Stacy was in the bedroom she shared with Wolf.
The door was closed.
“Come on,” Wolf growled. She ran over and banged on the door. “Stacy!”
“Hold on.”
“Stacy.”
“I said, hold on!”
Stacy thrust the door open. Her hair looked crazy and wild. It was kind of all over the place, honestly. I’d never seen her look so frantic or so anxious.
“What do you want?” She asked.
Wolf sighed. For a second, I thought she was going to ignore the problem. It wouldn’t be the first time Wolf had ignored something for the same of keeping the peace. She and Stacy weren’t just close friends: they shared a bedroom. You didn’t want to burn bridges with people you shared a bedroom with. It was just a bad idea.
Wolf surprised me, though.
“What’s going on?” She asked.
“What do you mean?” Stacy looked defensive.
“I mean, you’ve been locking me out for weeks now. It’s almost like you’re hiding something – or someone – in the room, and you don’t want me in there.”
Stacy laughed nervously.
Wait, could Wolf be right?
I guess I kind of just thought that Stacy had been stressed with school. Could there actually have been more to it than all that?
I didn’t want to think about it too much. After all, I had some schoolwork to do, anyway. I was embarrassed to be standing as a witness to my suitemates’ argument, so I ducked into my own room without a word and quietly closed the door.
It didn’t matter.
They were yelling at each other within minutes. I climbed up into my hammock and pulled my blanket up to my neck. I hated listening to people yell. As a kid, it was constant. That kind of happened when you bounced around from home-to-home. People yelled and screamed and were angry.
People were short-tempered.
But I’m not that girl anymore, I reminded myself, and I was not in that place.
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