“I always forget that you’re a water witch.”
“What the fuck did you do to Lena?”
Max’s gaze hasn’t moved from my face and Colin and Finn are also
looking at me horrified. My lips do still feel hot as if I had a fever.
“Can someone tell me what’s going on?”
I plead and Finn tells me that whatever Mandy dropped on me, made my lips change color.
“They turned a dark purple, almost black.”
Max growls again at the three girls who seem satisfied with whatever
they were trying to achieve.
Jessica’s light blue eyes flash with anger when she answers, staring
Max down.
“It’s quite simple: I don’t appreciate being jerked around. I was
expecting an invitation to the ball from you, and so were Mandy and Sandy from your friends. But you three decided to go with this skank. So I thought we’d give you the opportunity to rethink your dating choices.”
Max’s gaze looks murderous when he grits through a clenched jaw: “What. The. Fuck. Did. You. Do?”
Jessica looks satisfied and defiant at the same time when she tells us what they did.
“It’s just a little spell. The Romeo and Juliet spell.”
Colin huffs impatiently.
“You better explain what the fuck that is.”
But the explanation comes from Finn who’s taking an AP class in
Medieval Spells.
“Are you fucking kidding me? Please tell me you’re making this up.
And where did you find that spell? It’s believed to have been lost and some sources even question that it ever existed.”
Jessica won’t fess up.
“I have my own sources. And that’ll teach you all to underestimate my powers, by the way. I know that people say that I was only accepted into Draiochta because my mom’s the headmistress.”
I keep feeling colder and colder by the minute and when Finn’s silver eyes settle on me, I don’t miss the worry in his gaze.
“The Romeo and Juliet spell was originally crafted in the Middle Ages by a coven elder who wanted to punish a witch who refused an arranged marriage with a member of another powerful coven. It’s basically a curse, the worst kind of black magic. The cursed person becomes Juliet: kissing her lips would prove lethal for anyone and for Juliet herself. The kiss would drain Juliet of her powers and we all know that taking all the power from a witch will inevitably cause his or her death. But all that power, transferred so quickly and violently will also prove lethal for the kisser, Romeo.”
Max and Colin gasp horrified.
“That’s horrible! Who would ever do something so evil?”
Finn nods and explains that the purpose of the spell was to punish the young woman who had refused a loveless marriage for the convenience of her coven, with a loveless life.
“This is why the lips turn black, as a visible mark, a warning that Juliet is cursed.”
Max takes a menacing step towards Jessica and her friends. “Revert that spell. Now!”
Jessica refuses to look at him. “Then take me to the ball. And you’ll be my boyfriend.” Mandy and Sandy intervene, outraged.
“Hey! We helped! We want to be taken to the ball by Colin and
Finn.”
The guys look at the three mean girls at a loss for words.
“What the fuck is wrong with you three? First of all, if we went out
with you and dated you now, it would be only to save Lena. How would that make you happy?”
Jessica won’t budge.
“You’d learn to love me.”
Max scoffs, shaking his blonde head. “Would I? After what you just did, the only thing I could ever feel for you is disgust. I thought you were mean and shallow but you’re much worse than that.”
The headmistress’s daughter narrows her eyes and seethes:
“Very well. You might despise me but you won’t get to kiss Lena ever
again.”
Colin changes tactics, addressing Sandy who’s the kindest of the three.
“Please girls, be reasonable. I get that you were mad and got carried away but don’t you think that threatening someone’s life out of scorn is a bit much for not being asked to a ball? Come on, revert the spell and we’ll forget this whole thing ever happened. I promise that if you do that, we won’t report you to the faculty or the Covens Supreme Council.”
The only effect that has is for Sandy to turn to Jessica for a decision.
Her next words make my blood freeze in my veins.
“There’s no counterspell. The last page of the book was missing.”
Antidotes
Finn
Headmistress Morgan looks like the older version of Jessica: tall and thin with pale blonde hair and light blue eyes.
She likes to wear tailored suits that make her look austere and give more of a business woman vibe than a witch in charge of a magic academy kind of image.
We’re all standing in her office, lined up to face her desk.
Lena is standing between Max and Colin and the three mean girls are waiting on the other side of me.
While Sandy and Mandy look concerned, Jessica is wearing her most arrogant expression, probably sure that her mother will let her walk away scot-free, like she’s always done since kindergarten. I explain what happened and the headmistress’ blue stare moves to each of us.
For a moment the office is so quiet that you could hear the proverbial pin drop.
When Ms. Morgan speaks, she’s looking at all of us but her gaze stops on the three girls. “What’s the first rule of Draiochta?” We all recite: “Black magic is prohibited.”
She nods. “That’s right. What’s the second rule of Draiochta?”
Jessica has the nerve to scoff and roll her eyes at her mother.
“Oh come on, mom! What are we, fucking Fight Club?”
Ms. Morgan seems completely untouched by her daughter’s reaction
and insists: “This is serious young lady. And right now, I’m Ms. Morgan to you, not mom. So remind me, what’s the second rule of Draiochta?”
Jessica’s tone is annoyed when we all recite in unison: “Black magic is prohibited.” The headmistress shakes her head, her lips flattened in a thin line.
“So since that’s abundantly clear, can you tell what got into you? I don’t even know where to start with the list of infractions you three committed. And since there’s only one place where you could’ve possibly gotten that spell, this goes beyond expulsion. I have to report it to the Supreme Council. We’ve been entrusted with that book because the coven that collected those spells were one of the founding covens of Draiochta. But there’s a reason why that book is kept under lock and key: all those spells have no known antidote and they’ll also prove lethal to the person who cast the spell if they aren’t reversed within a moon cycle.”
Jessica looks at her mother with a suspicious expression. “What do you mean ‘lethal to who cast the spell?’”
She earns a withering look from Ms. Morgan. “What do you think it means, foolish girl? Why do you think that black magic is so frowned upon by the Council? Black magic is dangerous, it always requires a price for bending the laws of nature and often that price isn’t known until it’s too late. In this case the spell requires at least one life. So Romeo and Juliet die and also the person who cursed them. And once the spell caster is dead, there’s no way to break the spell and Juliet will be condemned to never being kissed or to kill every man who does kiss her.”
The twins’ reaction is quite undignified: they both burst into tears, saying they’re sorry and that it’s all Jessica’s fault.
“Fucking friends you two are! Way to throw me under the bus!”
“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen! I just wanted to make Lena fat and give her pimples, I swear!” Mandy wails like a banshee and we all cover our ears: if her voice is so shrill when she cries, I can only imagine h
ow she sounds when she comes.
I shudder thinking that I definitely dodged a bullet there and thank the goddess that I never gave in to her advances.
“Look ma’am, Colin, Max and I really care about Lena. Is there any
way to break that spell? I understand that it’s a powerful spell and all but every spell, no matter how formidable, is supposed to have a loophole or some kind of a way out of it. Especially black magic.”
Ms. Morgan nods. “Trust me, I want to find that more than you do, since I’ll lose my only daughter if we don’t. But that book is very ancient and the last page is missing. The only thing I can think of, is to see if Miss Lockwood knows anything. I already summoned her here. She’s the oldest witch in the Academy and she’s trustworthy. Because one thing is for sure: if the council hears of this incident, it doesn’t matter that the spell will kill you three eventually. The council will see to it that it happens as soon as possible.”
Right now Jessica and her minions are the least of my worries, so I voice my opinion.
“But is it possible that some of the elders might know a way out?” Ms. Morgan shakes her head in denial. “This is why the book was locked up: there’s no known way out of any of those spells.”
There’s a knock on the door and Miss Lockwood enters the office,
throwing a cautioning look at me and my friends: she obviously hasn’t forgotten telling us off earlier at the library.
And I have to admit that out of all the teachers and faculty at Draiochta, she’s the one that terrifies me the most.
She’s super old and her snow-white hair is styled in a bun at the top of her head. She’s wearing a purple dress and she reminds me of the librarian at the beginning of Ghostbusters.
I wonder if she’s intentionally trying to look like that creepy ghost or if it’s a coincidence but nonetheless she scares the shit out of me.
“What do you need, Ms. Morgan?”
The headmistress explains the predicament we’re in and, after a moment of silence, Miss Lockwood shakes her white head.
“I knew you lot weren’t up to no good. I always beware of noisy kids. A child who can’t be quiet in the library, is a child who has no respect for the rules and therefore a troublemaker.”
I do my best to keep quiet in the hopes that Miss Lockwood will have a solution but I don’t miss Jessica’s eye roll and I think that she either has guts or she’s a fool.
Probably the second option, since she cast a dangerous spell without looking into the consequences first.
“I’m afraid there’s very little that can be done. And you know that as the academy’s administrators we’re obligated to report this to the council. They’d find out anyway when there’s some unexplained deaths at the academy and Lena’s lips are a sure sign of what happened.”
Ms. Morgan sighs. “I know I have to report the incident. I was hoping that if we had a solution, they might show some leniency. But you’re right that two deaths are impossible to sweep under the rug.”
Miss Lockwood turns her attention to the trio that has caused this giant mess.
“You three are still students and from what I hear, definitely not at the top of your class. Can I know how you got through the very powerful ward that protected the spellbook?”
And yes, Jessica is definitely a fool, because despite having her days numbered, she juts her chin up in a satisfied expression.
“Yeah, powerful my ass!”
The instant looks of disapproval that her mother and the librarian
cast her way don’t seem to have any effect and she gloats.
“The ward spell might have been powerful but I knew that the
magic of the witch who cast it has a fundamental flaw and I used it to break through that ward like a hot knife through butter.”
Ms. Morgan gasps in surprise: “You know about it?”
Jessica cackles at her mother’s astonishment. “I’ve known about it since I was five when I was looking for a way to open that cookie jar that you spelled shut in the kitchen.”
The headmistress explains that black pepper will neutralize her magic but it’s Miss Lockwood who gets everyone’s attention.
“That might be it! The Romeo and Juliet spell might not have an antidote but if the witch who cast it had a flaw in her magic ...”
We all turn to Jessica but she takes a step back. “No. My magic’s perfect. I have no flaws.”
I immediately call bullshit on her statement: I took magic biology last year and magic flaws are often inherited.
So while it might not be the same thing that neutralizes Jessica’s
magic, she’ll have most likely inherited some kind of flaw.
“You know Jess, I can forgive you being evil but what I have more
issues with is your stupidity. You better tell us what your flaw is, unless you want to die in four weeks, because your plan could’ve worked as long as the guys didn’t know the dangers of kissing Lena. But now they know that as long as they wait a month, you’ll be the one paying the price of the spell.”
That seems to convince her, and Jessica utters one single word: “Hot sauce.”
Hot
Lena
I feel relieved that there’s a way out: both because I don’t wanna die and also because I don’t wanna live my whole life without being kissed, especially now that I know how amazing it feels to be kissed by my boys.
Ms. Morgan makes a swift decision: “Ok, there’s no time like the present. Let’s go to the kitchen and test this theory: the only good news is that we’ll see immediately if this works because your lips will revert to their normal color once the spell is broken. I hope you like hot sauce, Lena.”
As I follow the headmistress, eager to put an end to this situation, Max grabs my hand and winks at me, lowering his head to whisper in my ear: “I can’t wait to kiss you once this mess is over.” His warm breath makes me shiver for all the right reasons and I hope that he’ll do much more than kiss me.
The academy’s kitchen is in the west wing of the main building and it’s what you’d expect to see in an ancient boarding school: high vaulted ceilings made of grey stone, a deep hearth with a black cauldron hanging over it and a huge wooden table where the head cook, Mrs Patmore is kneading some kind of dough.
She turns her head when she hears our footsteps without stopping the energetic movement of her arms as she keeps kneading.
“What are you doing here, kids? Shouldn’t you be in class right now?” Then she spots Ms. Morgan and Miss Lockwood and stops to ask what
she can do for us, wiping her brow with her forearm and leaving a smudge of flour. “Sorry ma’am, I hadn’t noticed you. I was preparing the dough for tonight’s chicken pot pie.”
The headmistress asks for some hot sauce and a tablespoon and Mrs Patmore complies without asking any further questions and excuses herself to go to her extensive pantry right outside the room.
“Here we go, Lena. Fingers crossed that this will work.”
She hands me a heaped spoon of hot sauce and as I put it in my
mouth, I feel Colin, Finn and Max’s gazes on me.
After a few seconds it’s clear that the only effect of the hot sauce will
be heartburn, because the disappointment on the boys’ faces says all I need to know.
“Maybe it’s not enough. Try drinking the whole bottle, Lena.”
I think that I’ll be sick and I’m about to tell Ms. Morgan but Sandy
intervenes.
“Maybe she doesn’t have to eat it. Whenever Jessica tries to neutralize your magic, she sprinkles black pepper on the things she wants immune. Maybe Lena needs to bathe in hot sauce?”
Jessica laughs with an evil glint in her eyes: “That was gonna be my next suggestion. But I’d try drinking the whole bottle first.”
Max scolds her, annoyed by her constant taunts.
“I wouldn’t be so cheerful for someone who’s gonna die if we don’t
break the spell. Aft
er all, you don’t grind the contents of a whole pepper mill when you use it on your mom’s magic, right?”
In the end, it’s decided to try and cover my body in hot sauce.
“But we don’t have nearly enough hot sauce for the task.”
“Of course we don’t! Only to cover Lena’s fat ass we’ll need a whole case!”
I don’t even have time to tell her to fuck off that her mother
disciplines her.
“I’ve had enough of your attitude, young lady! You and your friends
will be confined to your rooms until this is resolved or the Council summons you. And don’t get any ideas, I’ll have Miss Lockwood magically seal you in your rooms. So there’s no amount of black pepper that’ll get you out this time. Maybe a little bit of alone time will help you reflect on your actions.” Then she turns to me. “I’ll get Mrs Patmore to order some on express delivery for tomorrow. You’re excused from classes until then, Lena. And I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am for my daughter’s behavior.”
Jessica looks extremely unhappy with this latest turn of events.
“Hold on a second! You can’t ground me now. What about the ball on Friday night?”
Ms. Morgan shakes her head, incredulous with her daughter’s
reaction.
“If you think this is harsh, wait until the Council will judge you. They could banish you, or put you to death.”
Jessica looks at me with venom in her blue eyes:
“It’s all your fault for stealing Max from me, you fat skunk!” And all this time, I’ve tried to be the bigger person and not react to her mean remarks but I can’t help myself this time: when I think that because of her, I might never be kissed again, I tell her with a shrug:
“Don’t worry about missing the ball, Jess. It’s not like you had a date anyway!”
Colin
I wait until after curfew to go and check on Lena: I’m an air witch, so I turn into a gust of wind and get into her room from the keyhole in her door. This kind of magic is quite advanced and they don’t teach it to us for obvious reasons, but my grandmother is a very powerful air witch and I spent the summer learning all sorts of cool stuff from her.
Draiochta Academy: All Genres Academy Anthology Page 22