Cackles and Cauldrons

by Sarina Dorie

  “It would be best to move him to his own quarters. Mr. Khaba can find him tomorrow when he doesn’t show up for his shift.” Awkwardly he reached out and patted Gertrude’s shoulder.

  “His body is resistant to being moved by magic,” she said.

  “I have a few spells that might prove useful.” He offered a small smile. “If you would be so kind as to walk Miss Lawrence to her room, I will take care of this matter for you.”

  “Thank you.” She still couldn’t look him in the eye.

  “Don’t mention it.”

  I wanted to hug him before we left, but I suspected that would have been even harder for her to see. She didn’t need another reminder that I got the man she loved, and she hadn’t.

  Thatch didn’t appear in my dreams that night. I couldn’t even find his red light twinkling on the horizon when I searched for it. I worried he was up all night, dealing with Gertrude’s mess.

  I suspected he wouldn’t have gone back to her room to console her. I told myself she wouldn’t try to seduce him because she knew he wasn’t with her anymore.

  I practiced lucid-dreaming without him.

  Vega found the note under the door in the morning, announcing that we had an emergency staff meeting. It didn’t take a Merlin-class Celestor to guess the agenda of the meeting since I had been privy to the events of the previous evening. I feigned surprise as Vega read the note to me. My pretend surprise turned real when she kept reading.

  Two staff members had turned up dead. I had to wait until the meeting to find out who the second body belonged to. I prayed it wasn’t Felix Thatch.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Dead Wrong

  The principal stood before the entire staff in the conference room, all of us crowded into the small space except for Mrs. Keahi, who was watching students in the cafeteria. Teachers murmured amongst themselves, asking each other whom they thought had died.

  I scanned the faces for Felix Thatch and Gertrude Periwinkle as I waited but didn’t see them. Dread settled like a lump in my gut.

  Chuck Dean’s expression was somber. “I’ll make this a brief announcement. I don’t want to keep you tardy for homeroom.” He glanced at Khaba, who leaned against the chalkboard, looking weary.

  “Late last night we found the body of Camelia Llewelyn. A few minutes later—”

  What?

  “Not Cami!” Grandmother Bluehorse wailed.

  She must have been one of Camelia’s former teachers. Coach Kutchi hugged Jasper Jang as he cried with the pathos of a thespian, which made sense because he was our drama teacher.

  I stared, openmouthed.

  He lamented, “She was my favorite student of all time! Why Cami? Why?”

  Mr. Dean raised his voice above the rising cries. Teachers didn’t stop wailing, even when he pounded his metal-encased hand on the table. He finally used a silencing spell.

  “As I was saying, a couple minutes later, our other security guard, Rudy McDougal was also found dead.”

  No one lamented his end. I felt bad for him. He wasn’t very nice, but he hadn’t deserved a heart attack. If it had been a heart attack. I was now starting to wonder about the coincidence of two deaths in one night.

  I raised my hand. The principal ignored me as he tried to reassure us that no one was in imminent harm.

  “How did they die?” I asked. “Were the deaths related?”

  “Of course they were related. They happened the same night,” Silas Lupi said, glaring at me like I was a moron.

  “Was it a Fae attack?” Vega asked. “Or students?”

  “We are looking into the causes of the deaths and motivations. There is no reason to believe another attack will happen. The suspect has been apprehended and has been removed from campus.” Principal Dean smiled with grim satisfaction. “We believe this individual has been behind several other murders on campus. We will inform you of the results of the investigation performed by the Witchkin Council.”

  The Witchkin Council? I remembered the last time they’d been on campus to execute Josie. From what I gathered, they didn’t do much investigation. They were more of a punish-now-ask-questions-later kind of crew.

  Vega leaned forward with interest. “Who is the suspect?”

  Please don’t be Thatch, I silently prayed.

  “Moving on,” Khaba said. “As a result of these unfortunate incidents, we have some extra duties and classes for others to fill. I need the following people to stay after the meeting: Vega Bloodmire, Darshan Rohiniraman, and Jackie Frost.”

  No! He could not do that. I had to know if it had been Thatch.

  “No worries about security, mates,” Dean said. “We’ll have new guards hired in the next week.”

  I hadn’t been worried about guards, but now that he brought it up, I was. The same night a Fae presence had gotten in and sexually invaded my personal space, the two people who were supposed to be patrolling the school and making sure students and teachers were in a safe environment were gone. The school had survived for two years without security guards, but we hadn’t had this new Fae enemy attacking people either.

  All but the three teachers named rushed out. I lingered as Khaba quietly spoke with the three teachers about what classes they would each be covering today. With them huddled around him, and the discreet whisper of his voice, I couldn’t hear anything.

  “How am I supposed to prep for my class if I give up my homeroom?” Vega asked.

  “I know all of you are being asked to sacrifice something for this,” Khaba said. “Just remember, if we need a new department head in the near future, we’re going to be more likely to select someone who has exhibited exemplary dedication and teamwork. And probably someone who doesn’t complain about it.”

  A department head? Oh no! It was Thatch!

  I waited until the three other teachers had left. Khaba and I were alone at last.

  “I need to talk to you,” I said.

  Khaba pointed to the door. “You have a class to go teach. Unless this has something to do with the two deaths that occurred last night, I don’t have time, and neither do you.”

  “It does have to do with those murders. You think it’s Thatch, don’t you? He’s innocent.”

  He gave me a knowing look. “Is it your intuition telling you this? Or do you have any evidence?”

  “It was the Fae. Did you read my incident report? And Thatch’s report?”

  Khaba grabbed me by the arm and hauled me down the stairs. “I read it.”

  “I need to tell you in private. In your office.”

  “Honey, I’ll give you three minutes, then you have to run to class.” He corrected. “Walk. Running in the halls is against the rules—unless it’s an emergency. Being late for class because you were making excuses for someone doesn’t constitute as an emergency.”

  “It does if he might be put to death for a crime he didn’t commit.”

  A minute later we were in Khaba’s office. I didn’t know how I was going to keep myself from getting in trouble in all this. Someone was going to get fired, either me, Periwinkle, or Thatch. I just didn’t want Thatch to be killed along with being fired.

  “At dinner there was a Fae presence,” I said. “It touched me and tried to attack Thatch. He thought it was me at first, but—”

  “You? With how little magic you have?” He crossed his arms. “As I understand it, Derrick drained you. Then you were struck by lightning. I can’t imagine you have enough energy to—”

  I was tired of hiding what I was and people thinking I was powerless. I wanted to beat my fist against his desk. My anger built up, overwhelming the need for safety and intelligent decisions. I pushed out with my mind, using kinetic energy to push over the chair.

  It toppled over with a thud. I stared in wonder, not even sure how I had done that. Telekinesis was a different skill than just moving my awareness.

  “You have my attention.” Khaba lifted the chair and wav
ed a hand at it as if wanting me to sit.

  I couldn’t sit. Too much restless energy tore at my insides. “Thatch has been teaching me in secret so that I can defend myself against Fae,” I said. “Last night I was with him. We were discussing what had happened at dinner in private. In his office.”

  “Uh-huh.” He opened one of the drawers of his pink desk and placed a crystal ball on it. “Keep talking. What else happened?”

  “I’m his alibi. He was with me, so he couldn’t have murdered Rudy McDougal.”

  The crystal ball glowed green. He waved his hand in front of it. The light disappeared. “And he couldn’t have killed Camelia Llewelyn either?”

  “Exactly.”

  “And you went to Thatch’s office directly after dinner?”

  “Yes.”

  The crystal ball glowed green again. I wondered what that meant.

  “How long did you talk to him in his office?” he asked.

  “I’m not sure. At least an hour.”

  The ball glowed red.

  Khaba’s brows knit together. “No, that’s a lie.”

  I stared at the crystal ball. “It’s true. We had to have been there for over an hour.”

  The ball flickered from green to red. I could see what it was doing now. There was no way I was going to be able to deceive him with his magical lie detector.

  Khaba leaned back in his chair. “You’re telling a partial truth. You’re exaggerating to cover for him.”

  “I was in the dungeon for over an hour after I left dinner. We did discuss what we had both felt in the cafeteria. When we were done talking about it, he insisted we fill out an incident report, and we did.”

  The ball remained green.

  “Where did you go next?” Khaba asked.

  “The library.”

  “What did you see?”

  I debated telling him the truth. I didn’t know if I was going to make things better or worse. “A dead body.”

  He raised an eyebrow.

  “Thatch left me at the library and eventually Gertrude came out of her office all upset. She asked me to come to her room and try to resurrect Rudy because he was dead, and she had heard a rumor I could use necromancy.” I watched the crystal, careful in how I worded my statements. “People keep asking me if I can do necromancy because I used CPR on Vega. When Jackie Frost saw, she thought that was forbidden magic or something. It was Morty medicine. There’s a difference.”

  The sphere remained green.

  His gaze flickered from the green light to my eyes. “I’m aware of what happened with Vega. I know you aren’t a necromancer. Tell me about the body.”

  “I have this ability to see inside people. It’s a skill I’ve been developing with Thatch so I can be more aware of people around me that might want to hurt me. He thought it would be useful because of the death threats. I could see Rudy had a heart attack.”

  He tilted his head to the side. “You saw something you believed may have been a heart attack.”

  “Yes. Wasn’t it? Or was it a hex?”

  “It’s difficult to examine an invisible body. It will take us several days to reverse the enchantments.” He watched me. “Where did you find his body?”

  Here was the part that was going to get someone in trouble.

  “Gertrude was upset because she thought someone would blame her for using siren magic. But she didn’t. He coerced her.” His lie detector didn’t flash red.

  “That’s what she told you, anyway.” He frowned. “Where did you find his body?”

  “In her bed,” I whispered.

  “Have you considered how it was we knew Thatch was involved in this?” he asked.

  I had a guess. “No,” I said.

  The ball flashed red. He raised an eyebrow. “Elaborate.”

  So much for not being late to class.

  “I’m guessing you found his handprints on Rudy. Or his essence.”

  “Only partially. We checked for residue afterward.” Khaba tilted his head to the side, watching me. “We caught him dragging the body back to Rudy’s room.”

  “Yes, but he was only putting him there because he didn’t want Gertrude to get in trouble and get blamed for seducing a man who was coercing her to have sex with him.”

  “Yes. How selfless. Apparently he didn’t want anyone to catch him in the act either. This proved to be rather unfortunate for Camelia.” His expression turned cold. “Someone reported an invisible obstacle blocking a hallway. It happened to be along the same path Thatch had just traveled to reach Rudy’s room. Unlike Rudy’s invisibility, Camelia’s spell was released a few hours after her death. She was easier to examine once we could see her. Someone broke her neck.”

  It must have been the Fae princess. She was opportunistic. She had used this as a way to frame Thatch.

  Khaba’s eyebrows lifted. “You do see what happened, don’t you? Gertrude Periwinkle’s residue was all over Rudy. Thatch must have caught them together and killed him in a crime of passion, just like he killed Sebastian Reade. Then he killed Camelia because she happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and she caught him dragging the body back.”

  “That isn’t what happened,” I said. I pointed to the ball, glowing green. “Look! I’m telling the truth. Thatch did not kill Rudy McDougal.”

  “I know you’re being honest. You believe everything you told me.” Khaba folded his hands in front of him, the picture of calm. “The problem is, they deceived you.”

  “No!”

  “Have you considered what Thatch was doing before dinner? Have you considered how coincidental it was that a presence happened to disrupt your dinner? He was playing you so that he could use you as an alibi and validate the suspicion of a convenient murderer who happened to be someone else. It wouldn’t surprise me if we dig a little deeper and discover who else he’s killed. Perhaps the rash of murders that he’d supposedly proven wasn’t Gertrude Periwinkle all those years ago were actually his doing as well.”

  “Felix Thatch is not a murderer!” The orb glowed red.

  I stared at it, confused. That was the truth as I knew it. Didn’t I believe that? Thatch didn’t kill good people anyway, only bad people, I amended in my head. The light shifted to green.

  “I’m sorry, Clarissa, but he deceived you and used you.” Khaba stood. “Go to class. You’re five minutes late. Your students need you.”

  My students. Homeroom. Balthasar Llewelyn. Oh no.

  Balthasar was a handful on a normal day. It was hard to predict what he would do now that he’d been informed his only living relative was dead.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Peace Corpse

  I ran to my homeroom, throwing rules to the wind. It was an emergency. My door was locked. No one would be able to get in without me. Students would be waiting on the landing and the stairs outside. If I was lucky, it would be one of the days Balthasar wouldn’t show up anyway. He often skipped. Plus, the principal might have pulled him out of homeroom to tell him the news.

  His bad behavior was more in line with pranks like freezing all the water in the toilets. Of course, that might have also been from lack of control. If he was an emotional wreck, he might explode. Derrick and I both had experienced accidents during our teenage years. I had also drawn out his powers, making them more unstable.

  If Balthasar was near Imani, she might draw out his powers. My mind thought of every possible worst-case scenario. I remembered how Balthasar had once tried to hex me when I chased after him because I’d thought he’d stolen an answer key. I wanted to believe he’d matured.

  I didn’t put much faith in wishful thinking.

  As I ran up the stairwell to my room, I heard the commotion of student voices echo out toward me. No one was in the stairwell or on the landing. The door was open. That meant students were in my room. Hailey stuck her head out the door and ducked back.

  “Be quiet. She’s coming.”

&n
bsp; It sounded like they were up to something.

  I was panting by the time I reached the doorway.

  Hailey sat at my desk, but I was so out of breath, I couldn’t tell her to get out of my seat. She knew my chair was off-limits to students. I pointed to her and tried to shoo her out of my seat.

  She stood. “Everyone, hold up your papers if you finished writing your goal.”

  Students held up notebooks and binders. I stared at the quiet group of thirty students in confusion. They were actually doing work? Had my classes been abducted by the pod people and been replaced by good students? Maybe I was dreaming?

  I pinched myself. No. I was awake.

  “I got them started on their warm-ups because I knew you would want us to work,” Hailey said proudly.

  Students beamed at me.

  “Great. Good job.” I tried to project enthusiasm, but I was too distracted. I searched for Balthasar’s face. He wasn’t in his assigned seat.

  Hailey pointed a finger at the class, shouting at them. “Now, get to work on those goals. Anyone not doing homework is going to get a punch in the face.”

  Her Machiavellian approach to helping her peers was more like Vega’s methods than my own. I considered telling her she couldn’t threaten others but decided I didn’t want to get distracted from the problem at hand.

  “Where’s Balthasar?” I asked.

  “Probably skipping.” She handed me my clipboard, beaming. “I took attendance. You’re welcome. I’m your best student ever, I know.”

  Maybe the principal was talking to Balthasar. Maybe someone had warned him about Balthasar’s volatile temper.

  “I liked being the teacher,” Hailey said. “It’s fun to get to boss people around. And I’m way better at this than Imani and Greenie. You should let me be a TA next semester. It will be your last opportunity to employ my brilliance before I graduate.”

  “How’d you get in?” I asked.

  “Duh. Magic. I do pay attention in some of my classes.” Hailey’s grin faded. “What’s wrong with you, Miss Lawrence?”