Reluctantly, I held the book in my hand out to him.
Lakeshore looked at my offering and sighed deeply. He took the book and placed it inside his bag. “When you leave this room, please ensure you are not seen. And I’d strongly advise you to stop snooping around. The time will come when more information will be delivered to you. But if you seek it out too soon, everything we’ve worked for will come crashing down.”
We? Who’s we?
Lakeshore turned the handle but immediately stopped and slowly released it. “Something is not right,” he muttered and turned back to us.
Chapter 15
My heart nearly stopped.
“What’s happening? The magic in Holly’s hand snuffed out, and the room went dark.
“Don’t light your magic again,” Lakeshore warned as his silhouette moved closer to us. “I think I may have been followed.”
By whom? Nine’s tail flicked against my foot.
“I’m not entirely sure yet, but I can’t take the time to find out. Miss Barrows, please grab your cat.”
I bent to feel for Nine at my feet. His soft fur slipped under my hand. “May I carry you?”
He let out a barely audible mew that I could only interpret as a yes. I threaded my arm under his chest and brought him up over my shoulder. No complaints from the cat, only loud, nervous purring that vibrated in my ear and sounded like a lawnmower.
The professor fumbled for his pocket watch and popped open the lid. Instead of the time, a glow of magic emanated from the face. Lakeshore let out a loud sigh. “Be warned. This method of travel is extremely temperamental. I only use it in case of emergencies.”
“Temp—” But before I could finish, the professor quickly muttered a few words under his breath and the watch’s face burst with bright light, illuminating the entire office, casting creepy shadows from all the dried plants hanging from the ceiling.
The light split into multiple beams and snaked around our group. My eyes widened as my body gradually disintegrated into tiny glowing particles. First, my feet disappeared, then my calves. I held my breath and looked away. Holly threaded her hand through the crook of my arm, and Nine’s claws dug into my shoulder to keep himself from falling. I gritted my teeth against the needle-like pain. Nine’s tail disappeared into thin air. The disintegration effect spread up to our necks, and then everything went black.
Are we dead? Nine’s voice yowled in my head, but I couldn’t see or feel him anymore.
Death was a plausible theory. If not, where were we? My mind spun with possibilities, but if Lakeshore had wanted to kill us or do something terrible, I’m pretty sure he would have done that the moment he caught us breaking and entering.
I didn’t even get an answer out to Nine before the four of us tumbled from wherever we’d been onto a solid, scratchy surface. My shoulder slammed into the ground, forcing a grunt from my lips.
Holly coughed and moaned from somewhere beside me.
I rolled onto something slightly softer and fuzzier and caught a mouthful of fur in my mouth.
Nine let out a cry and dug his claws into my skin again. You’re squishing me!
Immediately I spat out the fur and grabbed for the cat. I wrenched his two front legs and paws from around my neck, then craned my neck to get an idea of our current location. My eyes stopped on the professor.
“On your feet.” Despite Lakeshore’s old age, the man was already standing and holding his hands out to Holly and me.
Beyond him, I could make out trees lit by the moon. It looked like we were back in the forest near Eagle’s Height.
“What are we going to do?” Holly accepted his hand and pulled herself up.
I pushed Nine to the side and tried to ignore the burn of his scratch marks on my neck. We’d have to have a chat about that later. I scrambled to my feet. “You need to tell us what’s going on, Professor Lakeshore.”
“There’s no time for that, my dear. The three of you must follow me. Do everything I say and ask no questions.” Beads of sweat on Lakeshore’s wrinkly forehead glistened in the moonlight.
I glanced around and saw the Academy’s night lights in the distance. We were definitely near Eagle’s Height.
“Come, come,” he urged and waved us toward the forest.
I looked at Holly, who was biting her lip, and then back to the professor. Despite all the questions I had for him—like, if he wanted us in the forest, why didn’t he transport us directly there—I asked none of them since I still didn’t understand magic at all.
From seemingly nowhere, a piercing screech sounded, and I swung my head back and forth to try to figure out where it was coming from. Holly sidled up next to me and grabbed my hand.
“What is that?” she croaked out.
“You don’t want to know.” Professor Lakeshore waved us further into the cover of the forest. “There’s only one place that’s safe from them out here. We must get there before it’s too late.”
Who? The Directorate? The Morelli? My mind carouseled as we sprinted through the forest. Professor Lakeshore led the group and ran with the speed and agility of a much younger man, leaping over fallen branches and large stones. He still had the bag slung over his back with the precious books inside.
Another screech came, louder this time if that was possible, and it sent a shiver down my spine. I checked around me and still couldn’t find the source.
Nine kept up at my side, bounding over the forest floor. He wasn’t about to get eaten by whatever that thing was, either. Holly trailed slightly behind.
“Where are you taking us?” I panted, but the professor kept moving and didn’t answer. He only continued to wave us forward.
Several minutes later we raced past the overlook area where Aspen and I ate lunch today and saw Professor Lakeshore meet with that guard. He must have been the person that Lakeshore mentioned.
“Did that person you paid off to help you disappear sell you out?”
“We’re almost there, Miss Barrows,” the professor urged. “Please be patient.”
Holly caught my arm and leaned to my ear. “How do we even know we can trust him? Maybe he decided we know too much and brought us out here to feed us to whatever that thing is?”
As if on cue, multiple screeches echoed through the air.
Holly might have been right, but I didn’t have the brain power at that moment to try answering. All I wanted was to be safe from the invisible monsters making that horrible noise.
As we ran, the trees grew tighter around us, and my pulse drummed in my ears. I didn’t know if it was my imagination, but the branches seemed to be moving and actually closing us in.
Lakeshore picked up the pace, putting about ten feet between himself and us until he arrived at a boulder taller than he was. Immediately his hands illuminated, and the boulder began to glow and spark silver.
Holly and I stopped just behind him, panting and staring intently at the glowing rock. Our hair went wild in the wind that gusted from the magic. I reached down to pick up Nine, and he buried his head in my chest.
“They are only after me.” Lakeshore continued to wave his hands at the boulder, now in a circular pattern. “They most likely still don’t know that you are here.”
A rift formed in the rock’s center and continued to grow larger.
“I need the three of you to step inside. After you do, I will seal the portal, and you should be safe.”
“You can come too!” I took a step toward him.
He waved me off. “No, it’s too late, and they will not stop until they find me.” Lakeshore’s expression grew grave. “You must listen.”
The glowing portal consumed most of the rock, and the professor gestured with his head for us to step inside. “No matter what you see, stay inside the portal until dawn. Once dawn arrives, they will be gone.”
Holly and I nodded. I placed Nine on the ground, and he was the first to enter. Holly was next, and before I stepped inside, Lakeshore caught my arm. He pulled the stra
p of his book bag from his shoulder and pushed it into my hands.
“If I make it out alive, I will need this back, but if not, do everything you can to hide it. If the wrong people ever find out you have it, you’ll regret that you ever got involved with any of this.”
I pulled the bag close to my chest and stayed silent.
“And I’m sure I’ll regret telling you this.” He stared deeply into my eyes. “Under the main library, there are many more books on the Morelli— their history, their magic. It will take a spell to find the passageway, but if you can get there, you may find what you are searching for.”
I opened my mouth to speak but a screech pierced the air, and Lakeshore shoved me into the portal.
Inside, my body was tossed forward, and I fell. Down. Down. Down. A scream lodged in my throat, and my arms and legs flailed in the air. Then, like time snapped, I found myself standing next to Holly and Nine.
Before I could get a word out, Holly grabbed my shoulders and spun me around. We were facing the portal opening and could see everything going on outside as if we were peering through a window. Around us was not stone, but darkness.
Are you sure none of those creatures can come in and get us? Nine crouched low to the ground.
Professor Lakeshore faced the entrance and waved his hands again. The air glistened in front of us.
“I think he just sealed us in.” I clutched the book bag to my chest and lowered myself into a squat.
“Maybe everything will be alright—” Just then, something dark swooped in and slammed the professor to the ground.
I covered my mouth with shaking hands.
The creature had no real form I could make out, just some sort of dark force, like smoke.
Professor Lakeshore rose and shot a blast of energy toward the dark creature, but the magic went straight through. Two more of them appeared and surrounded him like a whirlwind. From inside the portal, all I could see was Lakeshore’s mouth open in what appeared to be a silent scream.
We could hear nothing from the outside. The portal acted like a soundproof room.
Holly flung her body next to mine, and Nine skittered close to us. Since there was nothing I could do, I buried my face in my hands while Holly wrapped her arms around me.
When I finally looked up, the creatures and Lakeshore were gone.
Chapter 16
Holly sat to my left on the stone that Aspen and I shared yesterday at lunch. Next to us, Nine lay on the ground like a sphinx, his tail twitching. I clutched the ancient diary in my lap as the pink and gold light of the sunrise shone over the trees and glinted in the water below Eagle’s Height. The scene would have made for an amazing start of any other day.
But today every glimmer only left me empty. The professor was right: the creatures were gone. We didn’t see anything else from inside the portal after he vanished, but just as he’d instructed, we stayed until first light.
“Professor Lakeshore gave up everything to keep those creatures from finding us.” I hung my head.
“We don’t know that he’s dead,” Holly whispered. She stared transfixed toward the sun peeking through the trees across the canyon.
My mouth hung open, and I looked down at my trembling fingers. I was pretty sure that I’d never stop shaking again. “You saw those creatures surrounding him, and he isn’t here anymore. If he isn’t dead yet, he will be soon.”
Holly sat there stone-faced, and her eyeliner smudged down the side of her cheek. I’m pretty sure that she was still in shock. I know I was.
After a few moments, Nine glanced at us. Did Lakeshore ever tell you what the creatures were? Who sent them?
I dug into the memories of the past hours. Were they from the Directorate or the Morelli? Someone or something else? I was almost certain that Professor Lakeshore never said. Why?
I shook my head, and Nine blinked in acknowledgment. He rose and slunk to the canyon’s edge.
“We can’t go back to campus pretending that everything is normal, when we all know it isn’t.”
“What do you propose we do?” Holly asked. “Tell everyone that a man who was seen dead by at least twenty-five students actually wasn’t? But that weird smoke creatures took him, and he’s probably dead now?”
It’s the truth. Nine twitched his tail vigorously.
Holly pinched the bridge of her nose. “Truth or not, the whole thing sounds crazy. Then add in the story about the Morelli curse.”
I frowned. “Story? Is that all you think it is?”
She let out a long, exasperated breath. “I don’t know what to believe. Everything about last night was insane. Even if the whole curse thing is true, no one is going to listen because even if the Morelli were good at one time, they are trying to kill us now!”
I looked away. Holly was right. My uncle would have killed everyone on campus during the battle if my magic hadn’t ignited. I stared at the diary, desperately wanting to open it and learn more. There had to be a way to stop my uncle and repair the damage that had been done to the Morelli people—to my people. What the professor had told me last night spun in my brain. The Morelli were forced from The Side of Magic, and a death curse was put on them. I gripped the book more tightly. Somehow, I need to find those other Morelli books he told me were under the library.
“You know I don’t think you’re like that, though.” Holly softened her voice. “And the curse probably is true.”
“There may be others who are good, too. My mother was, and she and my dad died because of this stupid curse.”
Holly shook her head.
The curse. I’d been trying not to think about how it could affect me personally since Lakeshore had mentioned it last night. My heart sank into my stomach the same way reality sank into my brain. “I have to break up with Aspen.”
“So you two were dating?”
I closed my eyes and held back the tears stinging the corners of my eyes. “I told you the truth when I said we were just getting to know each other. But I really like him, and I can’t risk this curse killing him. It killed my parents.”
“But it didn’t kill you. Maybe it’s different with you.”
If the curse was real, it likely did affect me, even if I was the oldest living half Morelli. “The only way to make sure is to break the curse.” I covered my eyes with my palms. The vision I’d had a few weeks ago about my uncle being so angry at my parents’ marriage because my dad was not a Morelli came to the forefront of my mind. He knew about the curse and didn’t want his sister endangered. Maybe her death drove him insane and made him want revenge.
“I wish I could tell you not to worry about it, but it does seem like a really big risk.” Holly sighed and placed her hand on my shoulder. “How are you going to tell Aspen?”
A heaviness settled over me. I was only seventeen. How was I supposed to live with the knowledge that I was destined to live my life alone, and how was I supposed to keep myself from falling in love with Aspen or anyone else who wasn’t Morelli?
“Tell him the truth?” I shrugged. I didn’t want Aspen to think that I didn’t like him. He’d probably just crawl right back into the shell that he was starting to come out of. My thoughts wandered to his lopsided smile and how he had sweetly brought me food twice, but I pushed the memory of our kiss right out of my mind. I couldn’t go there.
But what if he doesn’t believe you? Both of you could be at risk. Nine walked back to us and jumped onto the rock next to me.
I shook my head. I would not risk Aspen. “I guess I’ll just tell him I can’t be with him because I need to focus on my studies and that I’ll need to find a new tutor.” The words were almost painful for me to say. I was losing Aspen not only as a potential boyfriend but as a friend, too. I didn’t even bother holding back the gushing tears. The diary fell from my lap to the ground.
Holly wrapped her arms around me and squeezed. I returned the embrace. “I’m sorry, Josy. This is way too much to take in for one day.”
We stayed that wa
y for several minutes until I finally loosened from her and dried my tears. “We need to get back before Emiko reports us missing—if she hasn’t already.”
Holly wiped her face dry. “I left her a note so she wouldn’t freak out if we weren’t back before she woke up. Hopefully, she’s still asleep.”
I patted Nine on the head and stood. After plucking the diary from the ground, I turned back to my friends and forced a smile. I held the book to my chest, and the ring on my finger warmed with magic, settling my nerves a little.
Before we left, I released a long sigh and straightened my back. People like Professor Lakeshore had given up their lives, and I would need to make sacrifices, too. There were far more important problems with this curse than my love life.
I just needed to figure out how to break it. And that is exactly what I planned to do.
Fire & Lightning, Episode 3
Jenetta Penner
Chapter 1
The frigid air nipped at my nose as I gazed over the canyon. Rays from the full moon peeked through fluffy clouds and cast an eerie blue light over the landscape. My condensed breath puffed out in front of me, and I pulled my academy-issued navy peacoat more tightly around my body.
The first of December had come and gone, and we would be getting snow any day now. Maybe even tonight.
I still could not get over Professor Lakeshore’s demise. The Directorate had declared his death of “naturalish” causes—too many years of handling poisonous plants. But I knew that body they’d found wasn’t even his. Did the Directorate really think it was natural causes, or were they the ones who’d sent those smoky creatures after the professor to finish him off? All I knew was they’d replaced him with a new and much younger Herbology teacher named Professor Clay. He couldn’t have been more than thirty.
I’d been coming to Eagle’s Height every weekend after dark for two months. Out here, there was no one to bother me, and if I were honest with myself—I missed Aspen. Sitting in the same spot where we’d shared an amazing kiss made me feel close to him even if I was forced to ignore him on campus.
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