Good Witches Don't Curse (Academy of Shadowed Magic Book 3)

by S. W. Clarke

  “And why’s that?” I asked.

  Fernwhirl glanced at me. “You’ll inevitably let them get away. I know Whitewillow’s entered the trials, and the gods know you’d never run her down like you need to.”

  Well, she wasn’t wrong.

  “Beyond that,” Fernwhirl said, “you’re welcome to catch the students as you see fit. Ride or fly alone or in groups—it’s your choice. But give it your all, for we only want the most capable of our students to join the guardian ranks.”

  Behind us, voices sounded. Out in the center of the meadow, the trial entrants had gathered around Umbra. She was explaining the rules to them, her hands moving as she described the intricacies of the trial. Even now I remembered it all with skin-prickling clarity.

  There was one real rule: Don’t be caught.

  Among the group, I spotted Saoirse bareback on one of the mares. So that was why Aidan was here to watch. I leaned toward Circe, pointed. “See the bareback rider? That’s my girl.”

  “From your class of first-years?”

  “That’s right. Bareback’s the new saddled.”

  I also saw Eva.

  Her lavender hair had been pulled into a tight braid, which she’d wrapped and pinned to her head. She wore dark colors to blend in with the world around her. As she’d dressed this morning, I’d wished I could have done more to help her. I wished I could have picked out places for her to hide, as she and I had done together last year.

  But I couldn’t. I was forbidden from helping her any more than I had already done.

  Faintly, I heard Fernwhirl telling us to scatter into the trees, to prepare for the trial’s start.

  “Cole,” a voice said. When I turned back, Liara hovered in the air in front of me. “Want to do some hunting?” Her lips curled.

  I patted Noir’s neck. “Sure you can keep up?”

  “In the trees, or out in the meadow?” She one-shoulder shrugged. “Either way, we both know who’s faster.”

  “Sure, Youngblood.” I started Noir into a trot toward the tree line, and Liara flew alongside. “In fact, how do you feel about a little competition?”

  “If you can hope to provide any.”

  We came into the shade of the trees, passed far enough through them that we weren’t visible from the meadow before I turned Noir back around. “We press our thumbs to each other’s forehead. Every time we tag someone, we call it out. If I win, you have to flash Frostwish in the Whisper common room. And I don’t mean with your lightning.”

  She snorted. “So banal.” Then, “If I win, then the moment before you kill the Shade, you have to say, “Liara Youngblood sends her regards, bitch.’”

  I nodded slowly, impressed. “You do know how to play the long game.”

  Her eyes darkened with intent. “So you agree to my terms?”

  “If you agree to mine.”

  “Fine.” She flew to my side, lifted her thumb. When she pressed it to my forehead, she whispered into my head, Prepare to lose.

  I pressed my own thumb to her forehead. You forget I’ve got one advantage.

  And what’s that?

  As Umbra drove her staff into the center of the meadow and lightning cracked from the sky straight down, I pressed my heels into Noir’s side. This horse.

  We burst from the tree line at a gallop, so many juicy targets scattering. Horses and fae rushed in every direction. I caught a glimpse of Eva darting southward.

  Fly, fae, fly.

  We raced on another vector, toward the nearest cluster of horses and fae. As soon as they saw me, panic laced the air, and I let out a manic cackle. The meadow was my purview.

  One hand went up, fire sprouting on the tips of five fingers, and I flung it at the departing backs of two riders and three fae.

  Three of my shots missed, but I did get one rider and one fae. The rider’s shirt caught on fire, and he scrambled to pat the sleeve out as he slowed his horse to a walk.

  The headmistress’s harsh reprimand echoed through the meadow, “No fire, Clementine!”

  I called out an apology; in my glee, I’d forgotten my fire burned right through Umbra’s enchantments.

  Two, I said to Liara.

  You’re kidding. There hasn’t even been time to tag two.

  Maybe for you. I was already galloping Noir toward the eastern tree line, where I had seen three juicy targets disappear amongst the trunks and foliage.

  I could do this every day.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  At the end of the hour, I rode a tired Noir into the meadow when Umbra’s lightning cracked, sounding the trial’s finish.

  I’d tagged five students—four riders, one fae. And during the whole hour, I never saw Eva or Saoirse. All the better; I didn’t want to.

  Those who remained came from all sides. The guardians, the professors, and the students who’d passed, all headed toward Umbra.

  I counted eight students who’d survived.

  And among them was Evanora Whitewillow.

  Her hair had been pulled loose, her braid hanging long and strangely more elegant down her back. Her cheeks were pink with the blood that still ran hard through her veins, and her chest moved as though she was still out of breath.

  When I rode up next to her, her face jerked up as though she hadn’t expected to see me. Then she blinked, her eyes soft, her brows drawing together.

  I leaned down, reached out my hand. When we clasped fingers, I squeezed. We didn’t need to say anything.

  Liara and I met eyes as I straightened atop Noir. Five. Can you top that, Youngblood? I said into her head.

  She wiped invisible dust off her shoulder. Eleven.

  I stared at her, mouth open. Of twenty-nine entrants, she’d been responsible for eliminating eleven of them.

  Umbra began naming the students who’d passed, Liara hid her grin behind the back of her hand. When she had finished, a voice called out from across the meadow, “One more!”

  It was Goodbarrel, riding his big draft horse alongside a bareback Saoirse Connelly. She had a twig stuck in her ponytail and her horse’s head hung low, but Goodbarrel wore an absolutely delighted grin. “A first-year made it through,” he bellowed.

  From where she sat atop Minibar, Farrow nodded at me. I’d known her long enough now to read everything that look was saying: You’ve done good, Clementine.

  Of course, it wasn’t the bareback riding. It wasn’t that she was my student.

  It was Saoirse.

  I didn’t know at what point I’d begun to believe that a person’s capabilities were determined by their own grit and persistence, but I knew now as Saoirse rode up that I would never take any credit for another person’s accomplishment.

  This was hers and hers alone.

  When Umbra had finished speaking to those who had passed the trial, I rode over to Saoirse. “Well, a first-year passed the first trial.”

  Her cheeks reddened. “It was a fluke.”

  “No.” I jerked my thumb at Liara, who was leaving with the other guardians. “If you weren’t better, she would have caught you. Trust me.”

  Saoirse glanced her way. Back to me. “I just wanted to thank you. I rode better bareback. My horse was faster, and—”

  I raised a hand. “What kind of mage are you, Sor?”

  Her face lightened at my nickname. “Earth.”

  “An earth mage.” Noir stamped a foot under me, shifted his weight. “You know, one of our earth guardians is graduating tomorrow. We’ll be down to just one.” I turned Noir away, looking at her over my shoulder. “Hope you’re as good off a horse as you are on one.”

  “Clementine?” she called.

  I brought Noir into a trot, turning him in a circle. “Yeah?”

  “Did you talk to him?”

  Aidan. She meant Aidan.

  “Not that it should matter to you right now”—I brought Noir around to the end of the circle—“but yes. He likes you. He’s just got issues. Magical ones.”

  I left it at that.
If she liked him enough, she’d ask the questions she needed to. It was up to him as to whether he’d get over his hangups about the everflame.

  That night, Eva, Aidan, Loki and I attended the graduation ceremony in the amphitheater. Most of the student body had shown up, all dressed in their fine school robes. Everyone’s house color hung on a sash over their shoulders, including mine—a blood red, of course.

  This was my first time. I’d been too preoccupied with my own disdain for ceremonies for the past two years to even consider attending.

  Clementine of two years ago had been such a drag.

  “Why didn’t I tangibly manipulated these,” I said as I tripped over my robes and narrowly avoided falling down the amphitheater steps, “to be shorter?”

  Loki hopped up onto the stone bench seat as we filed into the row, walking down it with his tail upright. “Because you clearly have a secret death wish by falling.”

  Eva patted my shoulder as we sat. “It’s because you’re not wearing heels.”

  I lifted one foot, observed my boot. “Oh. Right.” Set one finger to my mouth for her to keep that hush-hush as I tucked my foot back in under my robes.

  That night, Fi Waters and Circe Petalfleck were graduating. I came in support of them, because after all, they were my friends. We’d been guardians together, but they’d also protected me. Fi had once saved my life on a mission.

  As the students passed across the stage down below, Umbra tipped her staff, touching them on each shoulder and once on the forehead like a knighting. To each student, she said, “And now, graduate, you pass into the world with a promise to bring the shadows to their end.”

  To bring the shadows to their end.

  So that was the reason for the academy’s name. It was a command, an imperative. We had to heed the call.

  Eva leaned close to me. “Which guardian do you suppose I’ll duel tomorrow?”

  I half-shrugged. I was already envisioning the goblet of mead I would drink at the after-party. “Not me. Conflict of interest.”

  “Thank the gods.” She gave a great sigh as the ceremony ended and we fell into clapping. “As long as it’s not Liara, I’ll be happy.”

  Eva had to duel Liara.

  I returned to the amphitheater the next day for the second trial, this time in jeans and a t-shirt. The school year was over, and I wouldn’t wear that skirt and jacket until the clock struck midnight on the first day of classes next August.

  I had managed to pass all my classes. Even Hexes with Frostwish, who’d downgraded her expectations of me as the year went on. At the end, she’d told me I could pass if I managed to cast the paralysis hex on her just once.

  And when I’d done it, she had given me a begrudging pass. I had managed to evade all her scrutiny, and now I was free of her.

  I sat with Eva, Loki, and Aidan as the duels began. Frostwish was overseeing by picking names from the pot, selecting the duelists. Nearby in the amphitheater, Fi and Circe had stuck around for a last hurrah in case they were selected to duel—and in fact, Fi’s name was picked from the pot for the first duel of all.

  She was to fight Saoirse.

  “Earth mage against earth mage,” Aidan murmured. “Interesting.”

  I gave a soft laugh. “That stage’ll be a shipwreck by the time they’re done.”

  And it was. The whole thing was splintered, boards split and littering the ground after just a minute. Saoirse put up an admirable fight; she lasted a full minute and a half against Fi, which shocked just about everyone.

  But eventually, Fi had caught both Saoirse’s legs and knocked her off the stage with an upraised board before Saoirse could react.

  I crossed my arms. “She’s gonna be one to watch next year.”

  On my left, Eva’s legs jiggled up and down. She was an anxious mess, and I doubted she’d even heard me.

  On my right, Aidan had been watching Saoirse the whole time. He kept watching her as she stood, his hands bunching his pants as they had been throughout her duel.

  I doubted either of them had heard me, for entirely different reasons.

  I scratched Loki under the chin. “You’re the only one who pays attention to me.”

  His eyes closed as his face lifted in pleasure. “Whatever you say. Just keep itching that spot.”

  Two more duels passed. First Mishka fought a fae—and left her drenched and unable to fly—and then Elijah was placed against a fire mage, whom he clobbered off the stage with brute force.

  Then Eva’s name was called. And with it, Liara’s.

  Eva’s hand went to my kneecap, and she squeezed with so much force it actually hurt. “Did she say my name?”

  I extricated her clamped hand from my knee. “Yes. You’ll be fine.”

  She turned eyes like dinner plates on me. “She’ll incinerate me.”

  I turned to her in full, set both hands on her shoulders. “Evanora, believe in me who believes in you.”

  She blinked. “What?”

  I shoved her upright as Frostwish called her name for a second time. “Go kick her ass. Literally—get behind her, and kick. Tell her it’s courtesy of the fire witch.”

  A dumbfounded Eva threaded her way through the row and down toward the stage where Liara stood already waiting.

  Meanwhile, Frostwish had launched into a small monologue in the silence. “Soon, students, summer’s height will be upon us. And it will bring the longest days of the year. In some parts of the world, the sun will never set…”

  Never set. The sun will never set.

  That was when I stopped listening. As Aidan scooted closer to me, a gear in my brain began clicking.

  In some parts of the world, the sun would never set.

  There would be no witching hour.

  And if there was no witching hour during the summer solstice in Siberia, I couldn’t retrieve the chain.

  As Eva flew onto the stage, I grabbed Aidan’s arm and pulled him upright. We moved down our row, started up the steps to leave the amphitheater. All the while, he whisper-complained and asked me if I was crazy.

  Loki trotted behind, tail upright, not saying anything—he was used to this kind of behavior.

  “Clem,” Aidan was saying as we got out into the clearing, “Eva’s about to fight…”

  When we were alone, I dropped Aidan’s arm and turned to him. “Tell me there’s a witching hour during the summer solstice at the coordinates you gave me.”

  Aidan shook his head. “Why does this matter right now? This is Eva’s moment.”

  “Because the riddle may not tell us what we think it tells us.” I stepped closer. “And we may be running out of time.”

  Loki lolled in the grass between us. “Always out of time. Try being a magical cat who’s been alive more than three times as long as you—you’ll never care about time again.”

  Aidan sighed, pulled out his phone. After a moment’s research, he turned the phone toward me. “It’s near the Arctic Circle. There’s only daylight in the middle of summer, Clem.”

  As I stared, I saw he was right. Pure daylight.

  I looked up at him. “The riddle’s a warning.”

  “What?”

  “We need a witching hour to get the chain. We have just three weeks until the solstice, and every night that passes grows shorter.”

  Aidan glanced down at the phone as though for confirmation, then back up at me. “I think you may be getting smarter than me, Cole.”

  “No.” I walked slowly back toward the entrance to the amphitheater, gazing down into it. On the stage, Eva and Liara were duking it out. Lightning crackled, and the whole place gusted like the moments before a storm. “I just couldn’t stop turning it over in my head.”

  Two minutes later, Eva won her duel. She evaded Liara’s lightning, swept under her arm, swung around behind her, and with one raised boot kicked her straight off the stage.

  And then, breathing hard and half-keeled over, her gray eyes lifted. She didn’t see me as she looked out over the c
heering crowd. I hoped, for the first time, she saw herself.

  I hoped she saw herself as I saw her—as she really was.

  She was Evanora Whitewillow, and she was destined to become a guardian.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  That night, it was agreed: after Eva passed the third trial—which she would pass—we would set out to Siberia to retrieve the chain. We would go the following night before the daylight took over as the solstice drew near.

  Even then, I was nervous about how much darkness we’d have.

  After the second trial, everyone had gathered in the dining hall for a last hurrah. All the remaining professors and students and guardians, everyone chattering about the trials and graduation and what they would do over the summer.

  I hadn’t even given my summer plans a single moment’s thought.

  I wanted to leave tonight. But the others—Aidan, Eva, even Loki—insisted I wait, and Eva had been most vociferous of all.

  As we sat at a table and discussed the plans, Eva, with an enormous brownie in one hand and a finger pointed at me, said, “You are not going to Russia without me. Promise.”

  I swilled my goblet. “I’ll take you along if you pass the third trial. Fair?”

  She took an angry bite of brownie. “Absolutely not, but since I know you won’t give me any other choice, I agree to your terms.” Then, as she chewed, “This is delicious.”

  “I know,” Liara said as she came by with folded arms, a purple drink in one hand. “I conjured them. What’s this about taking Eva with you?”

  In a whisper, I explained our plans to Liara, at the end of which she glanced around at all of us and said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, “Well, I’m coming.”

  Before I could respond, Loki, who sat on Aidan’s lap at the table, gave a loud meow. Which translated to, “And why don’t you people ever conjure me anything?” He really was obsessed with food.