Chapter Twenty-Seven
Gemini boomed with thoughts on the Spring Showcase. Even the second- and third-year students in the building gossiped.
A Novak was defeated by a branchless student.
The kid ranked dead last managed a perfected root cast.
Voucher students took the top two slots.
These were the same students who stopped the warlock incursion.
One even told off the entire guild industry during his speech.
I sulked, realizing that when it came to Kenzo’s third year, I’d have incredible difficulty landing him an internship. And he still had so much more time to burn more bridges in the industry he wanted to join.
“You did fan-fucking-tastic, and you need to own it.” Katherine strolled toward the classroom, her arm linked with Caleb’s. “ And if one more person questions it, I will gladly remind them of where their roots lack and where their ranking got them. ”
“I guess.” Caleb kept the weighted blocks afloat overhead, still practicing, still finetuning his roots. “It’s not like I controlled it. Sort of just happened.”
I cleared my throat, eyeing the two and their interlocked arms. They quickly separated.
Caleb’s face burned bright red. Katherine giggled, then rolled her eyes at me before dragging Caleb into the classroom.
Teens were the worst. Sure, they could date.
Whatever. But I drew the line at affection.
It always started innocently with hand holding or resting on a shoulder, and next thing you knew, they were trying to share the same desk chair—side-by-side or on a lap—getting handsy or making out in the hallway.
Dealing with explicit teenage PDA was not how I wanted to spend my day.
Ever. It was bad enough when they flirted by slapping each other or name calling or a thousand other hormonal factors they didn’t quite comprehend the intent behind.
Once the bell rang, I spent homeroom preparing my students for their upcoming final exams. The next six weeks would fly by, and then the end of May would be here, so I wanted them ready for all their classes.
“This is so unfair.” Gael pouted.
“Ba-bawk.”
“What’s unfair is that you all believe you can ride the blip of the Spring Showcase to shirk your responsibilities.
” I glared, eyeing each and every one of my homeroom coven—including an angry Kenzo, a somber Tara, and an anxious Caleb.
“The fact is, no one remembers a first-year showcase, few remember a second-year showcase, and no one will remember your rankings here and now. ”
Katherine scowled. “But you said—”
“I said they’re important for the industry, and they are.
But do not think for an instant you can rest on the luck our homeroom had at landing in the showcase or the well-deserved success of others.
You each chose Gemini because the industry was your dream.
” I hated crushing their aloof excitement but knew the truth behind what I said.
None of them picked our academy out of family obligation except Tara, who’d since revised her opinion.
They needed motivation and to remember not everything ended with a fucking golden star of achievement.
“If you want to practice your branches, your roots, then do it on your own time. That’s why you have fledgling permits.
The next six weeks, we’re prepping for exams in content some of you—no, most of you—need to thoroughly review. ”
A collective sigh followed, and a pinch of guilt hit me. I would endure their sour thoughts and bitter, breathy comments because they needed to ready themselves for the years to come. The first year was supposed to be the easiest, yet they’d nearly been killed by warlocks their first semester.
I couldn’t—wouldn’t—let up just because of unfortunate circumstances.
They deserved the best opportunities. There was little in the world I controlled.
Not demons. Not outcomes. Not choices. But I could lay out the best strategies and study groups any fucking teacher at this academy could muster, ensuring my homeroom coven each prepared based on their specialized learning style.
I’d make certain they aced these exams if it killed them. Okay. Dramatic, but also, it felt invigorating to focus purely on academics and helping my students finish the year strong. Even if it broke them over the summer. They had the season to recover, after all.
I slipped out after classes to indulge in the first cigarette I’d had in hours. Each hasty inhale did little to settle my nerves, concerned that somewhere out there, Milo faced demon threats. Unknown threats. Sure, he managed obscurity well—better than most witches—but I couldn’t shake this dread.
“Fuck.” I slowly exhaled smoke as my telepathy leapt across the city, rocketing directly toward Milo’s mind. “I can’t even finish a cigarette.”
“So glad you could join me.” Milo opened his office door bringing in Acolyte Reed and Novak. “Have you each reviewed the documents I sent?”
Acolyte Novak had a ghostly complexion. Not from the lack of glamour that’d altered her features subtly during the investigation.
No, this came from the hollowed out, broken expression plastered on her face.
Whatever Milo had them read left her unsettled and frightened.
I almost dropped my cigarette in response to her obvious pain.
I remained close to Milo, taking a deep inhale, hopeful he’d reveal what he had planned.
No. I released a breath, quelling my telepathy.
It hurt to restrain my mind from linking to his, but I couldn’t see, know, feel all his actions in the field without reacting.
The only way I could function was by distancing myself from everything Milo—everything Enchanter Evergreen—did to keep the city safe.
I wished I were better at compartmentalizing it all, yet whenever Milo was in the picture, my emotions took hold, and my rationality faded.
My phone buzzed.
I tossed my smoke and cut across the parking lot to reach the buses. Chanelle checked off students as they got on the bus for her after-school program .
“You’re late.” Chanelle glared, sending a shudder down my spine.
I cracked my neck, eyeing the wary student who invoked the frightened sensation. They feared her stern comment, not me.
“Not you, darling. You’re fine.” Chanelle turned back to me as the student hopped on the bus, and maybe a bit of the trepidation resonating was my own.
“I was on a parent call.” I averted my gaze, momentarily avoiding her stern stare.
“Damn liar,” Chanelle mouthed, not even indulging me in telepathic conversation. Since the Spring Showcase, she’d gone back into hyperfocus—more like her first few years of teaching, where she didn’t accept or tolerate slackers, which meant I was royally screwed.
Whether the way admin treated her, our conversation, the end of so many extra duties as we reached the end of the school year, or a thousand factors I didn’t account for, Chanelle wanted to end on a high note before summer.
All the same, I joined her on the bus for another trip monitoring the students who’d volunteered to help banish demonic energy, a task that’d grown in high demand with so many demons dwelling in the shadows.
Sadly, those threats remained in the shadows, stalking, and preying in the darkness of night while evading enchanter intervention.
But I counted the blessings as we reached our destination, knowing Milo had a plan that would hopefully bring the horrors raining down on Chicago to an end soon enough. He always had a plan.
Kids grouped up and attempted to partner with second- and third-year students to avoid ending up stuck with teacher chaperones.
“Not happening.” I waved a hand at my homeroom coven, where Kenzo intended on pairing off with Gael for some solo volunteering, Katherine had dragged Caleb toward a group of upperclassmen, and Gael, along with King Clucks, partnered up with Tara, avoiding wannabes and whatever he considered irksome—completely ironic. “I’m rearranging you all.”
“The hell you are,” Kenzo growled. “This is our free time we’re offering, and we can spend it how we want.”
“Oh, so close…yet not at all,” I retorted. “This is your volunteered time through an academy-sanctioned program. If you want to do this on your own time, file the proper paperwork, apply to the city, gain approval, and help in your own small way. Otherwise, accept my judgment and silently protest.”
“ Asshole. ”
I linked my thoughts to his and replied, “ Back at you, ” before rearranging my homeroom students into groups that’d benefit them during this outing.
“ Picky much? ” Chanelle rolled her eyes yet grouped her own students similarly, ignoring their pleas to work with friends.
“ They’ve grown too accustomed to each other and need to learn to collaborate with others. ”
Chanelle scoffed. “ Not according to recent trends. Sticking with the familiar seems the new norm. ”
Another reminder of how saving Caleb, stopping Theodore Whitlock, and revealing the skeletons in Whitlock Industries had created ripples forever affecting Chicago.
It couldn’t be helped, and the world was better without Tobias and Theodore feuding with an entire state as their chessboard.
Still, I partnered my students away from their preferences, hopefully encouraging new collaborative teamwork.
I assigned Kenzo, Katherine, and Gael together.
Plus, King Clucks. Then Caleb, Tara, and Gael.
It wasn’t that their grouping was unhealthy, but Katherine and Caleb had begun latching onto each other as much as Kenzo and Gael.
Tara seemed to actively avoid almost everyone except for her irritating bestie .
I wouldn’t let them fall into the same bad habits I’d developed, which involved me lacking the ability or willingness to collaborate with others day to day. So maybe I was projecting. I didn’t care. They could go one after-school program without making googly eyes.
Begrudgingly, Kenzo dragged Katherine and Gael with him—much to each of their protests alongside a crowing rooster—so they could banish the most demonic energy this outing.
It didn’t matter that there was no more showcase to compete for; Kenzo wanted to outperform Caleb and worried that soon, Caleb’s perfected banishment would outperform him.
Meanwhile, Caleb reluctantly went with Gael and Tara, continuing his training, but worried he had no understanding of his roots.
He’d achieved the impossible, the highly coveted, and had absolutely no idea how he’d done it.
I’d assist in any way I could, but I barely considered my roots proficient after months of toning and retraining, let alone perfected.
Tara, Gael, and Caleb levitated down the street, turning the corner, while I trailed off with Jamie’s group.
Since he’d taken it upon himself to continue attending Chanelle’s volunteering program, I decided it best to keep a close eye on him—and as far from Tara or Caleb as possible. Any student, preferably.
The wisps had thinned in the neighborhoods we covered from weeks past. Perhaps a sign of the vigilance of guild witches desperate to clear demonic energy everywhere they’d encountered it since the presence of demons had swelled in Chicago.
The clouds did little to alleviate the heat of the humid breeze. I practically gagged on the hot air as Jamie chased two wisps.
“Let someone else catch them,” I said since he’d let them trail further than someone with his proficiency should’ve.
The wisps were heading in the direction of Tara’s group, and Jamie would likely let them go a few blocks as an excuse to accidentally encounter Tara.
His thoughts had become fuzzy, muddled, and difficult to read. “Are you listening to me?”
“I can catch them.” Jamie floated after the wisps, which resisted the wind blowing against them, ignoring Jamie’s flux of magic, too.
I cocked my head. Why?
“ And now the real fun begins, Dorian. ”
My chest tightened. That was the gorgon’s voice.
Stretching my telepathy, unraveling, and amplifying my branch, I searched for the demon whose thoughts had vanished as quickly as they’d surfaced.
Frantically, I scanned the street. Where’d he gone? When had he arrived? What was he doing here? Who was he targeting? How’d I lose his trace so fast?
Steadying my breathing, I focused. Demonic energy was harder for branches to pinpoint, but I could track his location through my sensory root.
Casting waves of magic in all directions, I ignored the tiny fragments of wisps in the air and followed the powerful radiating energy luring those wisps. My eyes snapped open. Tara’s group. Was he after her arcane branch?
I flew past Jamie, snatching him by the shoulder.
“What the hell?”
“Go back to the bus.”
“I don’t know what your—”
“Now, Jamie.” I glared. “There’s a demon nearby.”
He trembled, then quickly ran back, avoiding using any magic to make his presence noticeable.
I continued flying toward the radiating magic and used my telepathy to search for as many minds of students as I could. “ Everyone needs to return to the bus immediately. There is a demon in the area. ”
“ A demon? ” “ The news said they weren’t a big deal. ”
“ Where the fuck are they? If that demon so much as touches them… ”
“ Dad said his guild had it handled. ”
“ King Clucks, we need to find Tara. ”
“ Un demonio real. ” “ I got this. I can do this. I can fight this. ”
“ I said back to the bus—nowhere else, or it’ll be more than your fledgling permit you lose.
” I ground my teeth, erasing the flurry of panicked thoughts.
Making threats wasn’t how I wanted to redirect my students’ fear, but some were already composing ideas to intercept, search, fight, and protect.
That blame fell on me. I’d forced their hands last semester, inadvertently drawing the ire of warlocks.
There was no way I’d allow them to battle a demon.
“ Mrs. Whitehurst. Please contact the academy and notify guilds assigned to these neighborhoods. ”
“ Of course, ” Chanelle thought. “ Where are you? ”
“ Searching for Tara, Caleb, and Gael. ” Their minds were swimming in terror the second I cast a widespread link. It wasn’t about getting to them before the gorgon found them...
Caleb’s fear spiked. “ This is a gorgon. We need to run, but my legs won’t move. ”
The demon had already found my students. Now, it was about getting to them before he killed them.