“Maybe you should’ve thought about that before you snuck off campus and got caught by humans.” Willa’s words sparked a thread of annoyance.
“I didn’t see you complaining when we snuck off so I could help you.” The words came out before I could stop them. I was so tired of being blamed for everything.
“Yeah, well, you know how well that turned out for me.”
“You know what Wil…” I raised my head and let the words I’d been holding back fly, but all the fight left me as I looked at her, Gracie, and Hudson standing in front of me. What did it matter?
“You know what, you’re right. It’s all my fault. I’m sorry I ever inflicted myself on your life. It won’t happen again.” I tried to focus back on the book in front of me, but the words wouldn’t quit blurring. I tried to wait for the sounds of the three of them walking away before reaching up and wiping the tears. There were no footsteps. They didn’t leave.
“What happened to your face?” I stared at Gracie for a moment, trying to decide if she was making fun of me or not. She handed me a tissue, and I dabbed at my busted lip that had started to bleed again. I’d refused to look at myself in the mirror that morning, but I could tell from the swelling I had two black eyes and a broken nose from Drew’s kick in the face the day before.
“I fell down.”
“Sophie, that’s a lie and you know it. She got beat up.” He relayed a version of my beat down that was surprisingly accurate to the girls. Rumors really did travel fast.
“Thanks for spelling that out for them, Hudson.” I pushed the book in front of me away and opened another one.
“I can’t believe no one in your class helped you. That’s terrible. Why didn’t you tell the professor or go to Headmistress Adiana? They should all be punished.”
“They’re just scared.” Although remembering Drew’s face, I couldn’t help but think he enjoyed getting the upper hand on me. “Our world has been exposed to humans. and I didn’t stop it. I’m the only one to blame. Maybe I wish they had, but I don’t blame the other students for not stepping in.”
“Well it is your fault we were exposed.”
“I know, Willa. I know. You think it doesn’t keep me up at night? Should I have just let the others attack the humans? If I hadn’t stepped in, those women might have been hurt, or even killed.” I put my hands on my head and rubbed my temples. “While this reunion has been lovely and all, I need to get back to this.”
“Hudson said you’re trying to figure out how the humans saw you guys?”
They were still watching me.
“Yeah. It doesn’t add up. We were close enough to the school, the lot we were in should’ve been invisible to the humans. That begs the question: why? And how? With that, and the thief getting in this year, it means something is going on.”
“Like what?” Gracie picked up the book.
“That’s what I don’t know. I’m looking for any reason—anything that would cause the protection to falter or the illusion shields to be down.”
“Well, let’s get started then.” Willa sat down in front of me and grabbed another book. “I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing this for the school. Hopefully they’ll lift some of these restrictions if we figure out what happened. And no, you shouldn’t have let the others attack the humans. You were right to protect them.”
We settled into the rhythm of looking through book after book for more information. It felt peaceful to be sitting with Hudson, Gracie, and Willa. For a moment it was easy to believe we were all friends again.
“Hey! Look at this.” Hudson motioned us over to a book had on his lap. It was an old volume with lettering that was flaking off on the spine. We crowded around behind Hudson to peer over his shoulder. His warm voice filled the room as he skimmed the section he’d been reading.
“Basically, it says here all the magical schools are protected by wards—”
“We knew that already,” Gracie cut in.
“Yeah, but what we didn’t know is the spell for the wards is bound up in the headmasters and teachers that work at each school. The oath they take binds them to the wards so they’re the reason the wards work.”
Something stirred inside me. It was the only thing that made sense. “Does that mean?”
“Yes.” Hudson looked over his shoulder and met my eyes. “Only a headmaster or professor would be able to bring them down willingly.”
I knew something was going on at the school, but I never imagined it would be that.
“We have to tell someone,” Gracie said.
“I know who.”
We’d spent all day in the library, so it was late when we headed for Professor Vickers’s office. I felt my heart pounding in my chest as we ran from the library to the admin building. With the wind whipping through my hair, something stirred inside me. I wanted to fly. But even as the feeling moved through me, my dragon didn’t rise to meet it. I fought back the crushing disappointment to focus on the task at hand. We arrived at Professor Vickers’s door and the brass lion’s head door knocker made a huge gonging noise as I knocked.
I couldn’t help but notice how much Professor Vickers looked like his own door knocker. Confusion filled his eyes. He opened the door wider.
“Come on in, guys. Make it quick, you have 15 minutes before you need to be back in your rooms.”
All four of us rushed inside. We squeezed in front of his desk and shoved the book at the professor. I shoved the book in his hands as soon as he shut the door.
“Professor, those humans shouldn’t have been able to see us. We were right next to the school. Something’s
