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At last, after the long seminal seminar exam, I’m officially exhausted. On our way out of the building, I excuse myself to the bathroom to splash water on my face. West instructs me to meet him outside Nightingale Hall. I expect a chaperone to bring me back to my dorm.
When I get outside, I don’t see anyone waiting. I look to West for an explanation, and he glances over his shoulder. Then he stiffens and goes still as though listening, sensing.
Clouds creep across the sky and the moon glows for a moment before disappearing. The campus is quiet, everyone at Riptivik is asleep, it would seem, except Chancellor West and me.
He takes a deep breath and says, “Did you know it’s the spring equinox? It’s a night when magical energy is naturally magnified.”
I didn’t know about either. “Did the chaperone forget?” I ask, hoping I don’t have to spend the night in Nightingale.
West scans our immediate area and his eyes narrow slightly as he peers into the darkness. “Slight detour. Change of plans. An extension of your exam, if you will.”
He ushers me toward the middle of the sloping lawn in front of Nightingale and away from Penny House. I shiver. I regret the cold water in the bathroom, but I needed to stay alert on the way back to my dorm. Maybe he knows a shortcut.
“Professor,” I say, hastening to catch up to him. I extend my arm, reaching for his silver robe, but it vanishes between my fingers.
I stop. My pulse quickens. “Professor?” I call. My voice is soft but sounds altogether too loud considering I’m alone, in the dark, long past curfew. There are demon snatchers on the loose, including Honey, who I don’t expect would have a problem making me ghost meat.
I glance around, but all I see are the dim lights along the path. A waft of cold air, too cold to breathe, freezes me in place. A shadow with ribbons of opaque hair and an angry look of determination approaches. I know without it coming into focus that Honey is about to attack.
On Hallows Eve, I had the vague sense of a menacing presence, but this time I’m altogether too aware of what it is and has the potential to do.
“Leave me alone,” I command as the demon-wraith’s vaporous body nears me. I feel it drawing my remaining warmth. I repeat, “Leave me alone. Go away.”
I hear a swishing sound like a distant whisper. Why would West leave me out here? Then I realize he must have walked right into the demon’s trap. There was no time for him to act. My heart sinks. My stomach lurches with anxiety.
He’s gone.
The demon snatcher’s dark, obsidian energy cuts into mine. I resist, blocking memories and thoughts. I want to block my energy, but the demon snatcher is more powerful. I feel myself slipping, as if I’m in a tunnel, and the world is getting smaller and smaller.
Then a flash of white light jolts the demon once and then again. I blink my eyes several times.
West and JJ come into view like a pair of apparitions, each casting spells, thrusting the demon snatcher backward. JJ’s magic streaks blue and aligns with West’s silver stream of power. To my surprise, JJ almost rivals the chancellor. Although, given how long he’s been trapped in a half-life, he’s had plenty of time to study and refine his magic.
I’m ready to run, but get colder, freezing to the spot. I can’t move.
Multiple demon snatchers surround me. There must be six, at least. The magic continues to blast them when Derrington appears, as fierce as ever. Her green-hued magic rockets toward the demon snatcher closest to me, driving it away. She forces the circle wider, giving me more room. JJ rushes over to me, casting a net of what looks like bluish ice around us. I’ve never been so cold in my life, but never so relieved.
JJ keeps the demon snatchers at bay while West and Derrington cast spell after spell, temporarily immobilizing them, but not destroying them.
“I see you’re feeling in fine fettle,” West says to the professor.
“Nothing like an imminent danger to get someone out of bed,” Derrington replies.
West chuckles. “You always liked to be in the center of the action, Augustina.”
“Yes, well, I have my own ideas of how miscreants should be handled. Seeing how members of our trusted law enforcement squad aren’t here, I say they made a grave error denying me a position—with no thanks to your letter of recommendation, which was more of a disapproval.”
They continue to whip the demons with their magic, but they have grim power of their own that flies toward the chancellor and professor.
“You’re still sore about that?” West asks as he uses both hands with open palms to drive the demon’s snatching energy away. “Of course, I thought your talents were better served here at Riptivik.”
She scoffs.
They banter, all the while casting the demon snatchers back, but not dispelling them. Several more demons appear and Derrington suddenly becomes very still.
“Augustina,” West says in a measured tone.
It’s nearly upon her, capturing her energy. I recognize her expression of fear as the same one I had minutes ago. I close my eyes, hoping to wish this moment away, wish her to safety, anything.
West blasts the demon, but as he forces one away, another appears.
I gaze up to the sky, digging deep, begging and pleading for this to stop. Where is the Coven? Since October, there are always several on campus. I seek the stars within. Something sparks. It’s a tiny glow at first and hardly warm enough to burn. Then I choose to believe in it, in myself. I tap into a source of heat, of fire, and then I make a wish.
Warmth floods through me and my eyes snap open as a red-orange-yellow glow pours forth. It’s the color of flaming stars and fills the gloomy night with a radius of light, casting the demon snatchers from the lawn in front of Nightingale and into the darkness.
When it reaches beyond where we can see, I realize I’m breathing heavily as though I just ran a race. In the distance, flashes of blue flare and then disappear: one, two, three, ten.
West says, “Ah, I see the Coven finished the job for us.”
“Where were they?” I ask. “Where did you go? You were walking ahead of me one moment and then gone the next.” My questions come rapid-fire.
West lifts an eyebrow and grips my shoulder. “You were being hunted, Maija. Likely for weeks now. Although you were ultimately successful in blocking your memories and thoughts, I saw traces of magic, dark magic, trailing you. One particular demon snatcher was wearing you down, waiting for the right moment for you to be weak enough, unfocused enough to slip up, to wander off and fall into its trap.”
JJ scowls at this news. “Had you been feeling not quite yourself lately?” The way his accent and the anger on my behalf solidifies the words brings the answer to my lips.
“I had been feeling cold and rather dreadful lately,” I say, putting it together. “Chancellor, if you knew that, why’d you leave me on the lawn alone, at night?”
JJ stiffens beside me and growls. “Did you used Maija as bait, West?” He doesn’t wait for a reply. “Don’t put her in that kind of danger again,” he warns.
“Danger yes, but more dangerous than to leave them loose. However, I do apologize. I believed there to be one, two at most. Not ten.”
“Thank you,” I say. “Not for using me as bait, but for well, getting rid of the demon snatchers.”
“No, I think the thanks lies with you, Maija. It seems you passed your exam. If I’m not mistaken, you summoned a wish.” He looks me over carefully. “Remember to believe in your magic, brixta.”
JJ puts one arm around my shoulder and pulls me close.
“And thank you, professor Derrington,” I say.
“Ah yes, Professor, thank you for rising to the occasion,” West says. “May I ask what put you out of commission in the first place?”
Derrington’s expression is as sharp as a blade. “Winslow, you kept me from operating within the law as a member of the Coven. However, that disappointment didn’t quell my desire to seek justice. You can be sure I will take measures to ensure the person who poisoned me gets what’s coming to them.”
West raises an eyebrow in her direction before saying, “JJ, will you see to it Maija returns safely to Pennylegion House? I believe the imminent danger has passed.” Then he mutters, “I have to make sure our professor here doesn’t do anything foolish.”
JJ and I walk back to my dorm, hand in hand. I am warm, grateful, and at last, ready for bed.
