Epilogue
EPILOGUE
I was looking forward to my final year at Blackthorn Academy, but everything was starting to feel bittersweet.
The ferry crossing with Hazel would be the last one I’d take—in this direction, anyway. The last first day of school was tomorrow. And what made my heart twinge the most—the last time my friends and I would all be together, just a few short hallways away.
Hazel sniffed beside me as we waited to be checked in.
“Are you feeling okay?” I asked. I knew the ferry crossing was always difficult for the dryad.
“Yeah, it’s just…” She sniffed again. “It’s the last year we’re going to be roommates.” Tears escaped her eyes, leaving wet tracks down her cheeks.
“Oh,” I made a sad face, “but we’ll still be able to talk to each other. We have the mirrors.”
“It won’t be the same,” Hazel wailed. “You’re going to have Aiden, and then babies, and you’re going to be traveling the world—”
“Hopefully, not in that order,” I muttered under my breath.
She sniffed once more and wiped her cheeks. “What do you mean?”
“I’d much rather travel the world before I have babies, thank you very much,” I declared emphatically.
“Oh. Well, yeah.” Hazel chuckled a little. “That makes sense. Babies are so much work.”
We moved forward one step before coming to a halt again.
“I hate it when the ferries from both directions arrive at the same time,” I groaned. “And the Brits got to the dock first, so they got the carriage ride first, and now they’re getting their rooms first.”
“It doesn’t matter, though. Our rooms are assigned in advance. We’re just one floor down from where we were last year,” Hazel pointed out.
“But we have to wait in line,” I complained.
“Oh, poor baby,” Hazel teased.
But I held up a hand to quiet her. Someone had said my name, and she sounded angry.
“I don’t care what it takes,” a girl named Emma snapped, a few people ahead of us. She was talking to her roommate, I assumed. “I’ve done everything I can to get Professor Reynolds to notice me, but he only pays attention to that goody-goody Siobhan.”
“So you’ve mentioned,” sighed the girl with her. “Multiple times.”
“Well, I’ve got a plan that will make him only have eyes for me.” Emma leaned in closer, her voice dropping to a whisper that I strained to hear. “Over the summer, I created a love potion from my great-grandmother’s spellbook. In the notes, she declares it foolproof.”
“Yeah, right,” Emma’s friend scoffed. “You’ve managed to screw up easy potions before. What makes this one any different?”
“Pish posh, it’ll be fine!” Emma waved off her friend’s concern. “This was really easy. I made it back in June.”
“What kind of expiry did the potion have?” her friend asked.
Good question .
“Nothing was mentioned. It’s fine. I’ll just slip some in his coffee tomorrow morning before class, and he’ll be mine!” She did a little happy dance. “Emma Reynolds, can’t you imagine?” she squeaked. “God, can you imagine what he’ll be like in bed?”
I stopped listening and rolled my eyes. “I’d better warn the professor about that girl,” I whispered to Hazel out of the corner of my mouth. “Who knows how that love potion might backfire if it’s two months old.”
Hazel nodded grimly. “I’ll get the keys. You go find Professor Reynolds.”
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