by Sarina Dorie
“I’ll be spending lots of time with Mr. Reade. One-on-one.” She waggled her eyebrows. “I wonder what he might offer me after I tell the principal that he . . . touched me when we were alone.” She blinked her eyes and sucked in a breath like she was upset and about to cry.
Vega wondered whether this was how Jessica got through life, manipulating one person after another. It absolutely disgusted her, especially when Mr. Reade had volunteered out of the kindness of his heart—because he was actually trying to help this ungrateful student succeed.
Vega clenched her fork in her hand, wanting to spear Jessica in the face with it. “Mr. Reade doesn’t tutor students alone. He hosts study groups in his classroom after school.”
“That’s why you’re going to come with me and corroborate what I’m going to say.” Jessica batted her eyelashes.
“I will not! You vile little harpy!” Vega’s blood boiled in her veins. She stood, ready to dump her salad on Jessica’s head—even if it meant she wouldn’t get any more dinner. “Stay away from him!”
Teenagers at tables nearby turned to stare.
“Why? What do you care?” Jessica’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Do you like him? Do you have a crush on him?”
“No. Eew. He’s old. Like thirty or forty or something.” But Mr. Reade was kind, and he genuinely cared about the students. He had helped Vega through difficult times of bullying and troubles at home. It was wrong to twist someone’s generosity like that.
“Good. Then you won’t mind assisting me with my next project.” Jessica leaned forward. “And if you don’t, I’ll tell everyone that trolls speak treatment further constipation.” She made a face and tried again. “Shirking task of great gobberstoppers.”
Hearing the tongue-twister jinx still in place alleviated a small amount of Vega’s concern. Vega sat down. As long as Jessica was a student at the school, Vega’s secrets would be at risk of being exposed. Because of the properties of the jinx, Jessica wouldn’t be able to write out what she’d seen Vega do, but she could hint at it.
All of that was secondary to the cruel lies Jessica intended to fabricate.
Vega told herself she didn’t need to worry about Mr. Reade. He was an adult and far smarter than Jessica. He would see through a student’s plans to catch him in her web. He had seen through some of Vega’s mischief in the past. And yet . . . what if he didn’t?
Vega couldn’t allow Mr. Reade’s reputation to be hurt by a conniving student.
“I will accompany you to Latin tutoring after school,” Vega said. She would go and ensure that she thwarted Jessica’s plans.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Watch Your Dead Language
Vega sat beside Jessica in Latin Club and then in the after-school foreign language tutoring. Latin wasn’t the only class Mr. Reade taught. He assisted students with Spanish, French, German, and Welsh, in addition to archaic dialects. Students who took Chinese, Japanese, and Russian from the other foreign language teacher came to Mr. Reade, even though they didn’t have him as a teacher. He was good at all languages.
When Vega wasn’t watching Jessica, she worked on her own homework. Vega didn’t understand how anyone could sit for hours slouched in a chair doing nothing, but somehow Jessica managed it. Every time Mr. Reade attempted to help her with worksheets, essays, or reading comprehension, the knowledge rolled off her without sinking in. Mr. Reade attempted to modify assignments, make special accommodations, and drill her on vocabulary. Jessica just groaned and complained. Listening to her was like hearing nails being raked across a chalkboard. Vega didn’t know how Mr. Reade didn’t see she wasn’t doing her homework.
After two weeks of this, Vega finally snapped during after-school tutoring.
“What is wrong with you?” Vega slammed a book onto her desk, startling Jessica out of a nap. “You’re being handed an easy grade on a silver platter. The flashcards are right in front of you. You didn’t even have to make them. Mr. Reade wrote them out for you. Pick up the elfing cards and drill the vocabulary.”
Mr. Reade frowned at Vega and beckoned for her to come his desk. Grudgingly, she left her seat.
His smile was sad. “I appreciate what a good role model you are to others, but not everyone is like you. Jessica hasn’t had the same advantages that you have. She was raised in the Morty Realm, and she didn’t have tutors in Latin or a family who started teaching her magic like you did. We have to be patient with those who have had fewer privileges and excuse the faults of others that they can’t help. Getting angry about it isn’t going to do anyone any good.”
“Since when is being lazy an excuse?” Vega demanded.
Mr. Reade placed a hand on her shoulder. “If there’s one lesson more important than foreign language, a greater foundation than anything else, it’s compassion.”
Vega grimaced. Compassion wasn’t going to help anyone build a stronger ward or rescue them from one of the Raven Queen’s minions who intended to drain them. Compassion wasn’t going to save Mr. Reade from Jessica’s plot to exploit his kindness.
“He touched her!” Jessica said loudly, pointing at Mr. Reade. “He just touched Vega. Did everyone see that?”
Vega rolled her eyes. Other students just glowered at Jessica.
“Shut up, Jessica,” Charlotte said. “No one wants to hear your drama.”
Mr. Reade’s hand yanked away from Vega’s shoulder as if he had been burned. The exasperation on Mr. Reade’s face told Vega his own patience and compassion were coming close to an end too.
As Vega slid back into her seat, she glared at Jessica.
“Are you okay, Vega? Did he make you feel uncomfortable? Did he touch you inappropriately?” Jessica asked.
Mr. Reade’s face flushed red. His body was rigid with anger as he erased the chalkboard and wrote a new assignment for the following day. Vega loathed that the one person who had been kind to her—and all people at the school whether they deserved it or not—was being unjustly accused of something he didn’t do.
“I have a riddle for you.” Vega’s anger turned cold in her veins. “Do you know what’s red and bad for your teeth?”
One side of Jessica’s lips curled upward. “Is this like a joke?”
“A brick.” Vega shoved her books into her bag and slung it over her shoulder. “A brick is bad for your teeth if someone smashes it into your face.”
She grabbed Jessica by the arm, hauling her to her feet.
“Ow. You’re hurting me. Stop it!” Jessica whined.
“That’s unlikely.” Vega shoved Jessica out of her seat and toward the door, leaving Jessica’s study materials behind.
Jessica snatched up her bag. “Ow. Ow. Ow. Stop or I’m going to tell everyone about the time I saw you snickerdoodling patient gifts in the homeroom. Damn it! I hate that trick!”
Vega shoved Jessica into a wall outside the classroom. The custodian glared at them, though he didn’t chide Vega.
“Do you know why Mr. Reade tries to help you?” Vega demanded. “Do you understand why any of your teachers help you?”
“Because they’re idiots.”
“Because they are trying to save your life!” Vega waved a hand down the hall toward other classrooms where other students had joined clubs to better themselves. “If you don’t learn magic, you’re going to get drained by Fae or killed.”
“You’re one of those. You believe everything everyone tells you about the world being an unsafe place.” Jessica shook her head as if Vega were the pathetic one, not her.
“It is dangerous out there,” Vega said. She knew about the Fae monsters that could harm defenseless Witchkin. One of them had murdered her sister. More had abducted her classmates and killed them. “It isn’t like this is some kind of conspiracy a teacher thought up to get you to study. If you don’t want to learn magic, you could just get your powers drained and live in the Morty Realm.”
Jessica snorted. “Why would I do that? If I get drained, I can
’t use magic on Morties to make them obey my every command.”
“If you use magic in the Morty Realm, the Fae will catch you. They will claim you as a tithe, and it will be their right to do so because you broke the law.” Vega couldn’t believe this was Jessica’s grand plan.
“They’ll have to catch me first. Won’t they?” Jessica laughed.
Vega shook her head. Jessica was hopeless. She deserved reaping the rewards of her stupidity. “You’re going to die, and you deserve it.”
Jessica’s eyes narrowed. “Are you threatening me?”
Eunice Littleton and Charlotte Winters walked out of Mr. Reade’s classroom, their heads ducked down as they passed, no doubt pretending they hadn’t heard.
Vega supposed it did sound like a threat. That was the last thing she needed on her student record—reports that she’d threatened another student. She turned away and strode down the hall, her long legs taking her away from the foreign language wing. Vega wasn’t even aware of Jessica keeping up with her until she spoke.
“I’m going to have to change tactics. This is a lot more work than I had planned on. He’s never alone.” Jessica spoke openly, not even attempting to conceal her plan.
Vega didn’t look at Jessica. She said through clenched teeth. “Maybe you should give up that plan and try something else. Like studying.”
“Ha! That would be even more work.” Jessica slid a black leather notebook from her bag and shoved it at Vega. “Here, this is my potions homework. I need you to complete these potions for me. And don’t try putting anything in there that will make me look psychotic like you.”
“I’m not good at potions,” Vega said, thinking of her botched spell to see a vision of her true love.
Of course, that initial failure had been due to distraction and worry, not lack of skill. Her second attempt would have earned her an A if she hadn’t gotten a lesser grade for turning it in late.
Vega hadn’t even gotten to test it herself. She wondered how many times Ms. Suarez got to see the face of her true love while grading potions. Vega still needed to find out if her second attempt had been more successful than the first one.
“Don’t lie.” Jessica shoved her book into Vega’s ribs. “I don’t even go to class, and I know you have the highest grade in potions.”
Vega accepted the book without protest. She intended to complete them so thoroughly Jessica would never ask for Vega to do a favor for her again. Or anyone else.
CHAPTER NINE
Over Her Dead Body
Vega completed translating and transcribing the ingredients of the spells in English. She wrote the German incantation out in large clear letters for one, French for another, and several in Fae dialects. Most incantations worked better in the original tongue they’d been created in. As far as Vega was concerned, Jessica shouldn’t even have been in an advanced potions class. Vega had needed to earn her way in. It hardly seemed fair.
In each spell, Vega planted small deviations that would sabotage her work. One would make her nose grow into a carrot—thank Mr. Reade’s guest for planting that seed in her head. Another spell would make her teeth turn to bricks—probably a little too obvious but well deserved. Vega’s favorite one would cause the potion to splatter foul-smelling slime on Jessica. Hopefully no one was seated nearby, but if they were, Vega didn’t feel too terribly bad after some of the cruel pranks others had played on her earlier in the year.
The Spanish spell was her masterpiece. It was the one Vega focused most of her effort on because students would be presenting it the following day. She suspected Jessica would want to improve her grade quickly and insist on her notebook being graded tomorrow—and that meant she would have to make the potion in class.
The changes to the incantation were subtle, a few tiny deviations to the words that would have a vastly different effect from a healing tonic. She used the same ingredients as the potion in the translation, though the quantities and preparation were slightly different.
Instead of producing a natural air freshener with this potion, it would result in a pox on the person who cast it. Not just any kind of pox either. Any time Jessica spoke ill of someone in the future, an itchy boil would erupt on her face. It was the perfect revenge for a blackmailing blabbermouth.
Vega couldn’t wait for Jessica to try it out in class.
* * *
Vega could barely contain her excitement as students presented. She feigned disinterest as each student emptied the last ingredient and incanted the charm. Ms. Suarez shook her head as many of them recited the words, already seeing they had done something wrong. Instead of getting a potion that would fill the room with goodness and light—and a lemony aroma—most of the girls only made a puff of green smoke.
It was an insipid spell with little value—unless one wanted to clear the room after someone had passed gas. Vega waited impatiently for her turn so that she could get it out of the way and focus her full attention on Jessica.
Malisha Bane got the potion and incantation perfect. She smirked at Vega, a challenge in her eyes that said, “See if you can top that.”
Ms. Suarez called on Jessica next. Vega leaned forward to see if she had succeeded in the potion to put a pox on her enemy.
Unfortunately, Jessica mispronounced the words to the spell. She hadn’t emphasized the accent correctly, even though Vega had clearly written diacritic marks over the words of the Spanish incantation. At least Vega thought she had clearly written it. What if she hadn’t?
Jessica mispronounced another word.
Vega cringed. Pronunciation was key to accurate spellwork. Mr. Reade always said so.
The teacher shook her head. “No. Stop right there. You’ve already—”
Jessica spoke louder. Vega glanced at the knife next to Jessica’s cauldron and the remains of shredded bat wings on the cutting board.
The bat wings were not supposed to be shredded. They were supposed to be minced. Jessica didn’t need Vega’s assistance to help her fail, apparently. Vega could have written out the spell to cure the common cold perfectly and Jessica still would have messed it up.
Vega’s shoulders sagged as she realized she was not going to be able to put a pox on her enemy. Ms. Suarez tapped her foot impatiently as Jessica read the incantation to the end. She threw in a pinch of coriander and the bat wings. Ms. Suarez shook her head. Black smoke roiled out of the cauldron.
Vega’s spell wasn’t supposed to do that. She edged farther back, not knowing what it would do next. Jessica waved the smoke away and peered inside the cauldron. A geyser of blue flames six feet high erupted out of the cauldron, engulfing Jessica in fire.
Students screamed and leapt away. Vega’s heart seized in her chest. Horror froze her in place. The teacher hurried toward Jessica, putting out the fountain of fire with a water spell. It sucked all moisture from the room, leaving Vega’s eyes and throat dry. Students choked and coughed from the smoke and dry air.
“Open the windows,” the teacher shouted from where she crouched over Jessica. “Malisha, use your potion to clear the room.”
Vega could have used her own potion that she’d prepared—she would have gotten this one right. But she couldn’t stop staring at the blue fire and the smoke roiling out of the cauldron.
Once the smoke was clear, it was obvious to all that Jessica was a crispy, blackened corpse.
CHAPTER TEN
Diary of a Wicked Witch
The day Jessica Argyle died, Vega couldn’t get the smell of roasted human flesh out of her nostrils. In part because it disgusted her at how delicious it smelled. She couldn’t stop thinking of Jessica’s corpse in the middle of the classroom. It was a sight that filled Vega with horror, especially knowing it was a spell she had tampered with that had done that to her.
Vega didn’t know whether she was more frightened of being caught—or that the aroma of human flesh made her shiver with yearning.
The Witchkin Council arrived at th
e school on the same afternoon, hours after Jessica’s death. Vega assumed the family had been notified. The principal made an announcement at the start of dinner that Jessica had suffered from an unfortunate accident.
“Being Witchkin is a serious responsibility,” Principal Gordmayer said as her gaze raked over the teenage girls seated around the cafeteria. Her horn-rimmed glasses amplified her cold blue eyes. As usual, she wore her black pantsuit, her head topped with a conical hat over her short silver hair. “Using magic is a privilege, not a right. What happened today is unfortunate, but not unexpected. Accidents occur every year. Students die because they don’t use the proper precautions and take safety seriously. This is an important lesson for all of you. There is no dabbling in witchcraft. All of you are Witchkin. You need to harness your power and learn to use it safely so that you won’t hurt yourselves or others.” Her speech was delivered with such vehemence, her voice grew hoarse.
Vega couldn’t tell whether the principal actually felt emotion or it was an act. Principal Gordmayer might have looked eighty, but she was probably closer to two hundred. Vega didn’t doubt she knew how to play people to get them onboard with her plans. It was the kind of tactic the Raven Queen did to trick her enemies—and her allies. Vega would have done so as well if she understood the nuances of that art.
The principal didn’t stop Vega from leaving that night and going to the graveyard for solitude as she ate her meal.
Vega sat alone in the forest, picking at her food as she reflected on what had happened to Jessica. What if it had been her poor translation and lack of accent marks that had made her spell backfire? Vega should have double-checked what she’d written to see if there had been room for misinterpretations. What if she had said to shred the bat wings instead of mince them?
She tried to think back and couldn’t recall. Had she even camouflaged her handwriting this time? She didn’t think she had.