Second Time's A Curse

by Laura Greenwood

  "Thomas?" she asks.

  "I don't know," he whispers. "Clear everything up."

  I nod and scramble to collect them into a pile, along with anywhere we've written notes about illegal magic. We may never be doing it again, but that doesn't mean there isn't use in it. If someone is trying to get in here, then the last thing we want is for them to find information about black magic, especially because it's not even magic we've done.

  Hastily, I stick them into the hole in the wall we made. I'm glad the black magic books themselves are still in Caspian's room, so at least we won't be caught with them. I step back and smooth down my skirt before nodding to Thomas. At least he hasn't opened the door yet, nothing looks more suspicious than loitering next to a wall.

  Caspian beckons me over and I take it as the invitation I need. He puts his arm around me and pulls me close even as the banging outside fades. "You're shivering," he whispers against the top of my head.

  "Oh." I hadn't noticed.

  "Here." Daphne throws her jumper at me.

  "Thanks."

  Caspian's arm slips away from me as I pull it over my head, instantly relaxing.

  "I'm going to open the door now," Thomas tells us.

  I bite my lip, trying to ignore the butterflies starting to make themselves known in my stomach.

  The banging starts up again, more frantic this time.

  Thomas disappears through the gap in the wall. Nerves gnaw away at me at his absence.

  Three men in dark black robes swish into the room, none of them saying a word. Without the banging, the effect is startling and fills me with even more dread than I already had. Not great then.

  "Which one of you is Caspian Peters?" the man at the front asks, his voice completely devoid of emotions.

  "Well it's not me," Daphne mutters under her breath, clearly not at as worked up by the situation as I am.

  "That's me." Caspian gets to his feet, an uneasy look on his face.

  "Caspian Peters, you're under arrest."

  "What, no!" I shout. "He's never done anything."

  The men ignore me. Not even a glance in my direction. It's like they can't even hear that I'm here.

  Two of them step forward and take Caspian in hand, squeezing his arms so hard he winces.

  "Stop it," I say, stepping towards them and completely forgetting about my nerves. Caspian is far too important for that.

  "What am I under arrest for?" he demands, struggling against the men holding him.

  I take out my wand, aware that both Daphne and Thomas seem frozen in the face of whatever is happening.

  "Mona, no," Thomas whispers.

  "I..."

  "You're under arrest for the use of black magic," the first man says.

  "What? No!" he insists, but even I can hear the lie in his voice. He knows enough to get him in trouble, there's no doubt about that.

  "Records show that you do, Mr Peters." He nods his head towards the door and the others start dragging Caspian through it.

  "We'll sort this out," I call after him. "I promise."

  Caspian looks behind him, his eyes meeting mine. But they're not filled with hope. Far from it. It's anger lingering in his gaze. "I should have known better," he spits out.

  My heart falls and the hand holding my wand drops to my side. The look on his face is so hate-fuelled that I don't know how I'm going to carry on.

  But I have to. If it's the last thing I do, I'll get Caspian's name cleared. Which could be difficult depending on how much they know about the Unleashing. We may not have gone through with it, but I think we went far enough for it to count as doing black magic.

  One thought keeps spinning around my mind.

  What have we done?

  Thank you for reading Second Time’s A Curse. If you want to continue Mona’s journey, you can in Third Time’s A Crime: http://books2read.com/thirdtimesacrime

  Or you can read on for the author’s note and an excerpt!

  Author’s Note

  This is the first time I've done an author note in a long time, so you'll have to excuse me if I'm a little bit rusty!

  First, there are a few people I want to say thank you to. Special thank you to the two readers who named Seth (Keisha) and Romeo (Jacquie), thank you for trusting me to bring your kittens to life! To my partner, without who this book (or any of my others) wouldn't happen. To Arizona Tape, for writing the "What happened before" for me when I was worried it would be too boring (I think you'll agree she did an excellent job!) And because she told me that I missed the point of her writing (10 Points) next to the title, I'm awarding her ten points for her essay on what happened in First Time's A Charm (I've found it's best to keep co-authors happy or bad things happen to shared characters!)

  Three of the other kittens are named after the characters of some of my best friends, Skye MacKinnon (Isla - Claiming Her Bears), Arizona Tape (Aspen - My Winter Wolf), and Asia (Bea Paige - Academy of Misfits). Without these amazing authors, I wouldn't be where I am today. I don't think I can fully express how much they mean to me. I'm lucky to have found not just my author tribe, but real friends in this business. I consider myself truly lucky, and naming kittens after their characters is the least I can do to show that.

  I also want to say thank you to you! The support I've had for Grimalkin Academy: Kittens has blown me away, and I hope you stick with me through the final two books in the series (and Daphne's series too!)

  Laura

  Excerpt: Third Time’s A Crime

  Read on for an excerpt from Third Time’s A Curse. You can find it here: http://books2read.com/thirdtimesacrime

  I pace back and forth, trying my best not to tear my hair out.

  "What are we going to do?" I demand of no one in particular. There's only the twins here with me anyway, and they've been through every possibility imaginable.

  "There's nothing we can do," Daphne tells me for the sixth time. "We don't even know what they arrested him for."

  I growl. We do know. We did black magic and now we're suffering the consequences. Caspian's just the one in the most trouble, the rest of us are stuck waiting to hear what the verdicts going to be. We all know there won't be a fair trial, not if word gets out. The death penalty is still in place for black magic, that's how rare it is.

  And how much danger Caspian is in while he's under their control. It's not something I want to think about too much.

  A tiny meow comes from under the bed, and I lean down to pick Isla up. At least I can take some comfort in my kittens.

  "We'll figure this out," Ryan promises, getting up from where he's sitting and pulling me into his arms.

  Without meaning to, I relax. He smells good, and the worries slip away.

  "I promise, it's going to be fine. We just need to find out what they know, and go from there," he whispers into my hair.

  "How are we going to do that?" My voice is laced with the threat of sobs, but I hold myself steady. I can't let go now.

  "Let's start with how they know we've done black magic. It doesn't seem likely there's something obvious, or they'd have arrested all five of us." He looks over at Daphne, clearly expecting her to know something about it.

  "I'll need to ask some questions. Maybe Cade can help? He's been taking magical law, right?"

  Ryan nods.

  No wonder his best friend hasn't been around much. I've heard the course load for magical law is insanely high.

  "Daphne can take the legal angle, and we can take a more practical approach."

  His twin chuffs. "By that, you mean illegal, right?"

  "We can't break any more laws," I insist. "Not unless it's absolutely necessary."

  I'm not risking any more of them. Not unless this turns into an actual life or death situation for Caspian. At the moment, the issues are mostly hypothetical. I don't want that to change.

  "Okay. I'll go find Cade now." She leaves before either of us can say anything.

  "When did she stop avoiding him?" I ask Ryan.
<
br />   He shakes his head. "I thought they were still in denial about the fact they want to date," he admits. "I'd prefer them not to."

  "Because..."

  "He's not the only guy she's dating," he admits sheepishly.

  I chuckle despite the stress of the situation. "We're best friends," I point out. "We tell each other everything."

  Horror crosses his face.

  "Don't worry, she draws the line at talking about you." I kiss his cheek, enjoying having one up on him for once.

  "But she can't have a relationship like that."

  "And yet, you're fine with me having one?" I raise an eyebrow. "Double standards aren't attractive, Ryan," I tease.

  He's saved from answering by my bedroom door swinging open and an irate Thomas stepping into the room.

  I uncurl from Ryan's arms. Not because I'm embarrassed being seen there. Only that I think it's a little rude for me to be so close to one person and not the other.

  "Are you alright?" I ask.

  He's flustered, and I don't like it. But I also don't know what I can do about it.

  "They have him locked up in Gevang Prison."

  I gulp. That's not good. I've heard rumours about that one. We all have. It's supposed to be the most secure facility in the world for keeping witches and warlocks locked up. If Caspian's there, then it must mean that they think he's a serious threat.

  Which doesn't make any sense. Black magic is illegal, but we didn't get far enough to hurt anyone. Not even ourselves.

  "So how do we get him out?" I ask, hoping Thomas has a better solution than I do.

  If I'm unkind, then I can blame him for what happened. The black magic was his idea to begin with, and he's the one in a position of power above the rest of us. But I know he's not to blame. That rests firmly on my shoulders.

  "I don't know about getting him out, but I think I can get you in as a visitor."

  "You do?" I perk up.

  "Someone owes me a favour, I can cash it in."

  I nod eagerly.

  "How long do you think that will take?" Ryan asks, trailing a hand over my lower back.

  "Hard to say. But I'll push him hard and get it moving as quickly as possible," he promises.

  "Thank you." I just hope he's right. I need to get to Caspian as soon as possible, then we can get him out and back to the safety of the academy.

  Maybe then, I'll be able to relax.

  You can find Third Time’s A Charm here: http://books2read.com/thirdtimesacrime

  Or you can start Daphne’s trilogy here: http://books2read.com/catchingavampire

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