Chapter 15
Crane
“Good morning, Professor Crane,” Paul says to me as he walks into my classroom. His voice has a knowing tone to it, and when I look up from my books, he’s smirking to himself as he goes over to his desk.
Then I see Kat in the doorway, and my heart blooms in my chest at the sight of her sweet, beautiful face, a halo of blond hair around it, an angel descending to my domain.
Until I see Brom close behind, towering over her, his eyes meeting mine. And though I also feel something soft inside for my beautiful boy, it’s getting tangled up in a tight knot of jealousy, because why are they together? I thought I told him to stay away from her?
But with that dark look in his eyes, the way he lifts his broad chin, he’s telling me he’s going to do what he wants, regardless of what I say.
White-hot anger flares inside me but I remember where I am and I swiftly swallow it down.
Bastard. He just loves punishment, doesn’t he?
They take their seats, and it takes me a moment to get sense back into my head.
I open my desk drawer for chalk and see the tincture I made for Kat in the corner.
After our visit to the herb garden yesterday, I spent the evening making this tincture for her.
Brom was with me after nightfall—a miracle he still willingly lets me bind him in chains—but when he asked what I was making, I just said it was for Kat and didn’t explain what it was.
It’s not an abortifacient per se, though I’m sure it could have those effects, rather it prevents pregnancy from taking place.
I can’t help the pinch in my chest. It must be done to keep her from becoming pregnant with Brom’s child, and if that’s what the coven really wants from their union. But if I happen to get her pregnant and we…No, I don’t want to think about that potential loss.
Either way, I’m hoping to hell that the two of them didn’t just fuck on the way over here because Kat does look a little guilty as she sits in the front, and that defiant look in Brom’s eyes is telling me he at least wants me to think that, and if it’s true, I’m going to rip his fucking head off.
I take in a deep breath, and as the last student comes in, I motion for them to close the door.
“I hope you all had a nice weekend,” I say to the class, though I have to admit I have no idea what the students get up to here when they aren’t in class. It’s not as if they can go into town for a change of pace. “Did anything interesting happen?”
“Someone was murdered in Sleepy Hollow,” Martha says, looking a tad too excited for the subject matter. “Again.”
“Headless horseman cut a man’s head off and left his body outside the bonfire,” adds Josephine. “They never found the head.”
“Oh?” I say. “I hadn’t heard about that. That is interesting.” I meet Kat’s and Brom’s eyes for a moment and then clap my hands together. “All right, so we have a murderer on the loose. Anything else? Anyone pick up any magic or spells?”
No one says anything for a moment.
Then Martha says, “Who do you think the headless horseman is?”
“Yes, Professor Crane, is he real?” asks Mark.
“You know what, class, I’m not sure,” I say, pressing my palms together. “But if there’s been a murder, I am sure the police in Sleepy Hollow are dealing with it.”
“Yeah,” speaks up Matilda. “We’re safe here at the institute. The wards will keep the horseman out.”
A nervous laugh escapes my lips. I can’t help it.
“All right, time to get on with today’s lesson,” I say, turning around and writing the words ENERGY AUGMENTATION on the chalkboard.
I turn back around, and everyone squints at it.
“What does that say?” Paul asks, pointing at the board.
“It says ‘energy augmentation,’ ” I snap, looking over my shoulder at the board.
Clearly that’s what it says. “And what is energy augmentation when it comes to magic? Good question. Energy augmentation differs from bestowal and absorption, because it’s about the ability to weaken or enhance someone else’s powers.
Why, you ask, would we want to know how to do that, especially the latter?
Well, let’s take the headless horseman for a moment. ”
Now I seem to have their attention, though both Kat and Brom shift uneasily in their seats.
“What would happen to this school if the headless horseman were to break through the wards?” I go on, pacing back and forth.
“Wouldn’t you want to know how to defend yourself?
Or say it’s not the headless horseman, but another witch, or coven, or some leader of the dark arts, coming here to hurt you and your friends.
Wouldn’t you want to know how to defend yourselves? ”
“Yes,” Paul says, a determined look on his face.
“Yes,” Martha says. “Please teach us.”
The rest of the students nod eagerly.
I can’t help but smile at their enthusiasm. A classroom full of students who know how to fight back goes a long way when I know I have to protect them from whatever the future holds.
“I need a volunteer,” I say.
Paul is first to raise his hand, and I wave him over onto the platform in front of the class. Paul’s always been dependable for any demonstrations.
“Hold out your hand,” I say to him. “Palm up.”
He does as I ask.
I take my hand and place it above his, hovering just a few inches.
I focus my concentration on the empty space between our hands, willing it to fill with energy and light.
At first, heat begins to pool in my hand and then radiate downward toward Paul, then light begins to build, like a firefly is caught between our hands.
The class oohs and aahs and Paul lets out an impressed chuckle.
“Keep your hand still,” I tell him, slowly taking my hand away. “And concentrate on hanging on to that energy. Visualize it going into your skin, into your muscle, your veins, your bones, and hold it there inside you.”
I step back, and though my hand still gives off warmth and light, it’s fading, while the rest seems to sink into Paul’s skin.
“Now that isn’t augmentation, that’s just a very visual representation of bestowal,” I announce to the class. “But, for demonstration purposes, I have to give Paul magic that you’ll be able to witness when he augments it.”
I face Paul again. “Now, I’m going to try and use something called the voice on you.
With the voice, I’m going to try and talk to you inside your head.
You’ll notice my lips barely moving, but you, and only you, Paul, will hear me.
When you hear my voice, I want you to use the power I gave you and try and pull the voice from my throat so that the whole class can hear it.
That will be a good example of augmenting another’s power. ”
“All right,” Paul says, looking nervous.
Hello, Paul, I say to him in his head.
His eyes widen.
“H-hello,” he says.
You can tell the class that you hear me.
He gives the class an anxious look. “I can hear him in my head.”
More impressed murmurs abound.
Now, I’m going to keep talking to you and I want you to take that magic I just gave you and try to pull this voice from my throat. Keep visualizing that heat and light that you saw that went in you. Make sure it goes back out of your palm.
He nods. “Okay.” He looks at the class again. “He’s telling me to take his voice.”
I stare into Paul’s dark eyes. Are you ready?
I’ll keep my voice going, but I need you to start visualizing and manifesting this to happen.
His pupils go large as he frowns in concentration.
Focus on my voice, focus on taking it, focus on that golden light, that pure energy and life force and using it to—
Golden streams sprout out from Paul’s hand and come for my throat. I try to keep using the voice, but already I feel it being taken from me.
I watch as the gold twists in the air and then suddenly:
IT WORKED!
Paul’s voice blows through the room, enough to make me stumble backward against the desk, my hands over my ears.
Then the light goes out, and he rushes over to me. “I’m so sorry, are you all right?” he asks, sounding panicked.
I laugh, straightening up. “I’m fine. I’m fine. You were just a little loud, that’s all.”
“So it really worked?” he asks. “How long do I have it for? Will it ever go back to you?”
“I hope so,” I admit, since I’ve never actually had it taken away from me.
“Energy is renewable. My voice is earned by magic I’ve practiced so it should come back.
But for now, I’m depleted of it. As for you, it depends.
” I look at the class, feeling a burst of pride at how enraptured they all are.
This is why I am here. This is what I was meant to do.
“I don’t expect this exact scenario to ever come up,” I tell them, “because all it will end up being is a shouting match, but now you know that if you are in a situation, where perhaps someone is attacking you with fire, you can take that fire from them and either use it for yourself or disable it within the person, at least for a period of time.”
“Can we have another demonstration?” Matilda asks. “Something that would hold back the headless horseman?”
“Of course,” I say, but I don’t ask for a volunteer. I pick on Kat all the damn time so I decide to pick on Brom for a change.
Brom, who has shown zero magical ability.
But if he’s related to Sisters Sophie and Margaret, there is potentially a lot of power lying in those bulky veins of his.
After all, there must be some reason why he’s the one chosen to be with Kat.
What does it say about me that I’m a little disappointed that I was never the chosen one that Kat was supposed to marry?
“Brom Bones,” I say to him with a flourish of my hand. “Care to step up here, help me demonstrate how to defend yourself against the headless horseman?”
Oh, if looks could kill, I would be a dead man.