The Problem With Black Magic Read online

Chapter Ten

  Serenus made up some ridiculous story about being an uncle from out of town who had swooped in to see his favorite niece for an hour in between business meetings. It didn’t sound very credible to Cassie, but somehow, Serenus charmed the ladies in the attendance office into believing it. Whether that charm was regular garden variety, or some form of demon magic she wasn’t sure; Serenus had said he had very little power, but “very little” wasn’t the same as none. Now that she was getting to know the man, she wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out that he downplayed the extent of his own abilities to give people a false sense of safety.

  In any case, she wouldn’t have two period cuts on her school record, something that would have been a pain to explain to her parents.

  Unfortunately, she normally saw both Mike and Jay at lunch, and she wasted most of the class before just staring at the unfinished collage in front of her, wondering what she would tell Mike. She decided to go with the story Serenus had invented— he wouldn’t believe it, but she couldn’t think of anything else. There was no earthly reason why she would run out of class like her butt was on fire.

  Jay and Mike had gym together fourth period, so she knew Jay would probably already be tipped off about her disappearing act. Great; now in addition to worrying what she was going to tell Mike, she had to worry about whatever Jay might have already said.

  Jay caught up with her first on the way to the cafeteria. He pulled her aside into an alcove near the lockers, and looked from side to side theatrically, to see if anyone was listening. If it were anyone else, she would have thought he was hamming it up, but that was just how Jay was.

  “Mike’s in the bathroom, so before he gets here— today? First period? Was that a demon-related thing?” whispered Jay.

  “Yes, it was a demon-related thing,” said Cassie. It wasn’t hard to sound pissed off while you were whispering, she noticed.

  Jay smiled. “I knew it. Sam SUMMONED you!” he said, and Cassie gaped at him. “He called you to him, right? Usually in the books it’s vampires that do that, but—"

  “Shut up!” she yelled, not caring that she was being loud. “Jay, you have no freakin’ idea what it’s like, okay, so don’t talk about it like you know!” She turned away from him and stomped towards the cafeteria; sugar would not solve her problems, but at the very least, it might help.

  Mike caught up to them by the time they were at their regular table in the courtyard outside with their sloppy joes. He dropped his brown bag on the table and swung his legs over the picnic table bench, fixing them both with a serious look that Cassie was sure bode ill for her.

  “So, have you two had a chance to compare notes?” he said, taking his usual peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich out of his bag slowly. Cassie paused with her sandwich halfway to her mouth before she caught herself and resumed eating.

  “What do you mean?” she said, trying to sound casual around her mouthful.

  Mike took an apple out of his bag and placed it in front of him, still with that same deliberate slowness. “I’ll level with you: I didn’t go to the bathroom. I was going to follow Jay and listen to the two of you talk to find out what the hell happened first period, only Beckett stopped me in the hall and I missed my chance. So much for my diabolical plan,” he said with mock malevolence. “So, why don’t we screw that and you both tell me what’s going on.”

  Cassie looked down at her sandwich; of course Mike was already clued in. When Mike had told Jay about her strange behavior, excitement would have clearly raced through those brown eyes, while Jay denied that he knew anything. It didn’t take a genius to figure out they both were hiding something from him, and depending on whose tests you believed, Mike actually was a genius.

  Taking a deep breath, Cassie decided to go forward with her cover story. “I got a text from my uncle, who wanted to see me real quick while he was in town for business, so I ran out of class and saw him for a little while before he walked me back. It wasn’t the smartest thing I’ve ever done,” said Cassie, shrugging and taking a generous bite of her sandwich. She wanted to be chewing when Mike responded, to give herself time to think.

  Mike looked at her incredulously. “You weren’t touching your phone the entire time. It was in your bag. You didn’t get a text during class, try again.”

  Cassie tried to keep herself from shrugging again, which would only look more suspicious. “Look, I got a text, you weren’t watching, I went. I didn’t think you watched me like a hawk for all of Golding’s class.”

  “No, I was enraptured by the Bard’s enchanting verse instead,” said Mike, glaring at her. “You didn’t have your phone; you never take it out during class, and if you had I would have noticed. You ran out of there like— like you thought you were gonna die or something, it was goddamn scary, and now you’re lying about it.” He spared a glare for Jay. “And Jay totally knows and he’s lying too.” At that, Jay bit off a huge chunk of his sloppy joe and immersed himself in chewing.

  Cassie gave up on her sandwich and began removing the plastic wrap on the large chocolate chip cookie on her tray; she was done being concerned with nutrition today. Again. “You’re losing it,” she said simply, tired of trying to argue with him. “Just drop it already.”

  “Fine, so you won’t tell me. I’ll just have to get it out of Jay,” he said, playing with his apple and turning to his friend. “I guess you’ll just have to continue avoiding my questions for the rest of the year. And next year. And the year after that. And in college. And—"

  Jay swallowed his mouthful loudly and then took a deep breath. “Sam at DG is a demon, he made the time skip happen, Cassie’s bonded to him now, and he summoned her this morning,” he said.

  Cassie’s jaw dropped. Jay had cracked that easily?

  He turned repentant brown eyes on her. “Look, he was going to find out, okay? We tried.”

  “I don’t know if that really counts as trying,” snapped Cassie.

  “Serenus said we didn’t have to hide it.”

  “Yeah, ‘cuz it’s just great for everyone to know about this stuff! It’s done wonders for my life,” she said bitterly.

  While she and Jay bickered, Mike just looked at them, still holding his apple in two hands. Eventually, Cassie snapped at him. “What, no comment? Isn’t it fun to look at the crazy people?”

  Mike looked down. “You’re not crazy,” he muttered. “I believe you.”

  Cassie stared at him. Seriously?

  “I don’t believe that you believe us,” she countered.

  He looked up at her, an expression on his face she couldn’t remember ever seeing before. “Look, I do, okay? I don’t even know why I do, but I knew what I saw today was…different. Something I wasn’t supposed to see. It was like there was this other thing in Cassie’s body, and she wasn’t even there.”

  “What did he need you for, anyway?” Jay asked her.

  Cassie began attacking her cookie with vigor. “The usual. Demons want to steal me away because I’m the best thing with magic since pants, or something.” She frowned. “That sounded much smarter in my head.”

  Jay looked perplexed. “So why would he summon you if they were trying to steal you? Aren’t you safer at school?”

  “It’s the whole claim thing— he had to prove that we’re bonded together, and now it’s this whole big legal issue—"

  “Whoa, whoa whoa,“ said Mike, holding up his hands. “Could someone please tell me what’s going on, starting from the beginning?” He took a quick look around, dropping his voice when two girls holding lunch trays walked past their table. “I’m still stuck on the fact that this explains the time skip.”

  Cassie and Jay took turns relating everything that had happened since the morning of the time skip, taking turns while they finished lunch. Jay had to be prompted to lower his voice on several occasions, but for the most part, Cassie wasn’t worried about their conversation being overheard; most people would hear talk of magic and just assume they were talking about somet
hing in an MMORPG.

  Mike didn’t touch his lunch, and looked from Jay to Cassie as they explained the events of the last week. When they were done, he was silent for a while, glancing out towards the center of the courtyard without appearing to be looking at anything in particular.

  “Wow. Just so you guys know, if you are lying to me about this, I’m going to kill you both.”

  Cassie glared at him. “You said you believed us!”

  “I thought I did, but wow,” he shook his head, “this is just…beyond…I’m just saying that if this turns out to be a joke, I will seriously kill you guys. I’m not kidding.”

  Again, there was silence at the table. Cassie looked at Mike, considering; sure, threatening to kill them was a little melodramatic, but she could kind of understand it. The foundation of Mike’s world was being rocked, and unlike them, he hadn’t seen any of the magic or otherworldy beings that gave them no choice but to believe. All he’d seen was Cassie run out of class like her life depended on it, which was unusual, but not irrefutable proof of supernatural forces at work.

  “We’re not lying to you, but I don’t know how we can prove it; I can’t do magic myself— which blows, by the way— and Sam’s not going to care whether you believe or not. It’s not like he’s going to cast a spell just to prove he can do it,” said Cassie, trailing off when she felt a vibration on the seat next to her and realized she’d gotten a text. She dug her phone out of her bag, curious.

  “So you can’t prove any of this to me. Riiiiiiight,” said Mike.

  Jay looked terrified that his best friend would seriously consider that he’d play such a cruel prank. “I know what it sounds like, but I’m telling you, I saw the vampires and they were the real deal— and it wasn’t like they were Halloween vampires with the plastic teeth, you can tell they were real and they just, I don’t know, it was like you could tell they were vampires, there was this feeling like—"

  “Don’t bother, Jay,” said Cassie, after she’d checked her text messages.

  Jay turned to her as the bell for the next period rang. “Cassie, he has to believe us!"

  Cassie shook her head. “I mean, you don’t have to bother because I think Mike may get to see some proof after all. Ser got the ingredients: Sam’s making the protection amulets today.”