Page 84 of The Demon's Spell
“But why would I do that when I’m having so much fun?” Miles teased. He spun by her and grabbed her hands, yanking her into the middle of the room and spinning her around. Our cats raced to follow, and they frolicked around the room, tackling each other. Miles tripped over his cat, Kiki, and Chloe fell on top of him. She paused for a moment, staring down at him.
The door opened, and Chloe quickly scrambled to her feet and cleared her throat. “Headmistress.”
Headmistress Verla walked into the room. Professor Warren and Everly followed behind her. Verla took in the size of the room, before her eyes fell on me. “You did this?”
“I had some help.” I gestured to my friends. “I hope everyone’s a little more comfortable now. Let’s have a seat and discuss what we’ve learned.”
We all sat around the meeting table. The furniture was unaffected by our spell, but it was nice to have the extra room to move around.
“Let’s start with Everly,” I suggested. “How’s it going converting new members?”
“I’ve convinced a handful of witches to join our side,” she said. “However, the priestesses are keeping a close eye on me. They find it suspicious that I won’t ban certain Casts from my shop. I’ve been careful with my message, but I believe it’s effective. Our numbers are growing.”
“Miles, have you gotten anything from the Executors?” Lucas asked.
Miles leaned back in his chair. His Silly Slushie must’ve started wearing off, because his tone became serious. “I haven’t heard anything. The Executors are nothing but a bunch of idiots doing the priestesses’ bidding. The most interesting thing that’s happened is a fistfight between Ryan and James when they blamed each other for the Waning. It’s more or less a whose-dick-is-bigger contest.”
Chloe scoffed. “Ryan’s not winning that one.”
“Amen, sister,” Mandy laughed.
At least they could agree on something.
“Though the fight between Gregory and Leroy was pretty interesting, too,” Miles said. “Last night, Leroy tried to confiscate Dungeon tickets off Gregory, and Gregory cursed him.”
My jaw dropped. “Cursed?”
Miles waved his hand. “It was a short-lived hex. He made these boils break out on Leroy’s face. It was pretty grotesque. But once they popped, they were gone.”
Verla’s brow furrowed. “I wasn’t made aware of this.”
Professor Warren tapped his chin. “The Executors aren’t answering to authority. That’s not good.”
“Was Gregory arrested?” Talia asked.
Miles shook his head. “Nah, he made a break for it, and the other Executors let him go. We’ve all been itchy for Leroy to get what’s coming to him.”
“That means the Executors can turn against their own,” I said. “They’re not loyal to one another, just the priestesses.”
“This also means things are escalating,” Lucas pointed out. “Gregory never would’ve gotten away with cursing someone before.”
“No one else wanted to get cursed, either,” Miles added. “The Waning’s been hitting the Executors hard.”
I furrowed my brow. “What could that mean?”
“I don’t know that it means anything,” Miles said. “I mean, the Waning’s always kind of centered around the school, hasn’t it? It’s random.”
“Maybe it’s not,” I realized for the first time. “I mean, we know it’s more prevalent on campus. What if there are other patterns we haven’t noticed? What if there’s a way to predict when the Waning will affect someone?”
“I don’t think something as complicated as the Waning is predictable,” Verla said. “There’s simply more people living at the school than anywhere else in the coven.”
Lucas pressed his lips together. “Nadine, you’ve been working on your intuition. What does that tell you?”
“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “Intuition is difficult. It’s hard to tell if the thoughts coming through my head are my own, or if they’re a message from Mother Miriam. I’m still trying to learn how to tell the difference. But… I feel that if there’s a pattern, we have to track it down, right? It’s like a puzzle, and maybe we can solve it if we had all the pieces.”
“I know someone very good at puzzles,” Lucas pointed out.
I nodded. “I’ll look into it and see if I can find any patterns.”