Page 45 of The Demon's Spell

She nodded, and a tear streaked her cheek. She couldn’t take her eyes off the portal as I led her forward. I stopped at the edge of it, because I couldn’t go through with her.

“Goodbye, Professor,” I said. “And thank you.”

Professor Ward finally tore her gaze from the portal to look at me. “I’m sorry for being so hard on you, Lucas. I could’ve been a better teacher.”

“You’ll be a great teacher in the afterlife,” I said.

She smiled. “I hope to be. If there’s one last bit of wisdom I can give before I leave, it’s this. Never give up, Lucas. Your protection magic is strong, and the coven needs protectors like you.”

“I’ll do my best,” I promised.

“I know you will,” she said, before turning back to the portal.

She dropped my hand and stepped through, until the beautiful bright light enveloped her. In the blink of an eye, the portal closed shut. Warmth permeated my spirit.

Nadine gaped, like she couldn’t believe what she just saw. “She was your assignment—just like with Professor Daymond. But how come I could see the portal this time?”

“It must be because you’re on the astral plane,” I said. “Things are different here.”

Tingles spread through my form, and the room began to fade around me. Nadine’s gaze darted around the room, like she felt the same thing.

“The meditation must be coming to an end—” I started to say, but I didn’t finish before the room disappeared around me completely. I felt my spirit whip back into my body, and I gasped as I jolted awake.

Nadine’s fingers moved against mine. We were back in the meditation classroom, and Professor Poppy stood at the front of the room. Students started to sit up, but no one had seemed to notice that Nadine and I had been gone.

“I hope you have all enjoyed that experience, even if you did not manage to astral travel,” Professor Poppy said. “Did anyone happen to get it?”

Nadine and I exchanged a glance, but neither of us said anything. It was no secret that witches and warlocks could astral travel, but the priestesses didn’t know we could do it yet. This was a tool we could use to our advantage, and we didn’t want this getting back to them.

Professor Poppy excused the class, and I took Nadine’s hand as I left the room.

“Astral traveling could be useful to us,” Nadine whispered as we headed toward Professor Ward’s old classroom. “We could use it to get in contact with ghosts who can help us.”

“We have to be careful,” I replied. “The only reason we saw Professor Ward is because she wanted to contact us specifically. If there are spirits who want to help us, there are others who will want to help the priestesses.”

Nadine nodded and said, “If they’re not already.”

CHAPTER 6

NADINE

The first time I astral traveled was incredible. There were no words for an out-of-body experience, because the purely spiritual encounter couldn’t be communicated through language. I tried to astral travel each night following our meeting with Professor Ward, but I’d only achieved it once. I tried finding the priestesses in my astral form, but they must’ve had their own protection spells. The Imperium headquarters were warded tightly, as were their homes. In class, astral travel had been simple, but I had a lot to learn before it came naturally. In the meantime, we had to find some other way to fight against the priestesses.

During my dialysis session on Friday, I focused on honing my intuition. It was hard, because I wanted to be out there fighting and taking action; instead, I was attached to this machine. Figuring out how to listen to my intuition was all I could do right now. I prayed to the Goddess it helped us.

I put in earbuds and listened to a soft piano tune Talia had recorded for me. I closed my eyes and counted my breath, focusing on relaxing each muscle in my body from my head down to my toes. I couldn’t get comfortable, because my skin was really itchy. It was a side effect of dialysis.

I scratched my arms, then resituated myself and tried to get comfy again. Isa curled in my lap, and I stroked her head to distract me from my discomfort. She purred heavily, which really helped.

All right, intuition. What do you have to say? I wondered.

Nothing.

Okay, my intuition wasn’t going to be loud. Let’s try something else.

I played a game with myself. Every time I heard someone pass in the hall, I’d try to guess if it was a nurse, a doctor, or a patient. Then I’d open my eyes before they were gone to see if I was right.

I only got one right. That was something… right?