The Problem With Black Magic Read online

Chapter Thirteen

  Cassie didn’t tell Serenus or Sam that her parents hadn’t agreed to let her go to the convention. She was afraid they would suggest using some kind of demon magic to “convince” them, and the very thought of that made her feel sick. She did tell Jay, who was going to take her luggage, including her new dress, in his suitcase. If she was keeping it a secret from her parents that she was leaving for the airport after school on Friday afternoon, she couldn’t very well pack an overnight bag.

  Sneaking away to court was going to put her in the doghouse with Annette for a while— perhaps forever— but as long as she got to return home, it would be worth it.

  The time before the event seemed to pass quickly, with the days filled with school, homework, and shifts at DG. Cassie tried to ask Sam questions at work about witches and the nature of their bond, but every time she approached him, he suddenly found some urgent café-related task that required his attention immediately. She understood that Serenus wanted her to give him time, but she was beginning to fear that maybe the amount of time Sam needed before he’d be ready to talk to her approached geological.

  For the most part it was an uneventful week, but Cassie often felt that she was being watched; men on the street seemed to look at her a little too intently, making her clutch her amulet to feel its welcome buzz of power in her palm. Once outside on the school track during gym, she felt eyes on the back of her neck and turned around to see a muscular man staring at her from behind the chain link fence that surrounded the Silver Crown Academy athletic fields. He had walked away almost immediately, but she had felt jumpy for the rest of the day.

  It wasn’t just her, either; when she’d asked Mike and Jay if they’d felt like they were being watched lately, they exchanged worried glances and nodded. With court around the corner, it seemed like the only thing protecting any of them were the amulets. Cassie knew the only reason no one had attempted to snatch her outright again was that they could sense that she was protected.

  When the fateful day finally arrived, Serenus picked up Cassie, Jay, and Mike at school and drove them to the airport where they met Sam, Khalil, and Dwight. Cassie hadn’t flown since a trip to Disneyworld with her family when Hunter was a toddler, and she was expecting to feel nervous, but found herself strangely calm in the terminal waiting room, thumbing through a vocab review book while Jay played a handheld game next to her. She supposed being afraid of flying just felt quaint when she had something so genuinely scary to anticipate on the other end of the route. Besides, if the plane's engines failed, Sam could probably just freeze time again.

  She put her vocab book back in her bag and leaned back, trying to relax. Across the aisle from her, Sam was apparently doing the same thing, while Khalil zoned out next to him listening to his MP3 player. She had told her parents that she was going to be covering one of the shifts at the shop while most of the staff was at the convention— reasonable enough, especially considering she usually worked Friday nights. Her parents wouldn’t be concerned until after the shop closed and she didn’t come home.

  Sam sensed her watching him and met her eyes for a moment, and she turned away; she didn’t know what to think of him anymore.

  Mike was busy doing something with his tiny netbook (which Cassie had learned he owned in addition to his laptop and desktop computers), while Serenus and Dwight stood a little ways away from them, talking in hushed tones. What a strange team they had become.

  And now we’re called an entourage, Cassie thought.

  “Now boarding, Flight 384 nonstop to La Guardia Airport New York, leaving from Gate 12,” said the calm voice over the loudspeaker, and the group all got to their feet. She supposed Khalil hadn’t been listening to his music very loud, since he got his belongings ready the fastest.

  When Cassie leaned over to pick up her book bag, the only piece of luggage she’d been able to take, her amulet popped out of her shirt. Before she could tuck it back in, a large hand grabbed it, making her heart jump in her chest.

  She looked up to see Sam staring down at her, holding her amulet under her chin in his fist. “What is this?” he said, something akin to panic in his eyes.

  Cassie stared at him. “My amulet. You know, the one you made?” she said mockingly.

  He tugged on it, pulling her forward. Before she could protest, he hissed “Look at it!”

  Cassie did; where it had once been a pinkish-purple stone, the middle was now a gentle sky blue. The spot of blue she’d thought she’d noticed when she was trying on her dress had been real, and now it took up the whole center of the stone.

  Sam turned to Serenus, who had come up behind him. “What is this? Did I make it wrong?”

  “No,” said Serenus, stroking his chin. “You made it perfectly. But her own magic is seeping into it, changing it.”

  Sam looked at her with an expression of frank disbelief. “How is that possible? She’s not even…” he started and then bit his lip. He dropped the amulet, took a few steps back and crossed his arms, shaking his head like he didn’t believe it. Serenus put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

  “Don’t worry; its function hasn’t changed,” he said softly. “Maybe if she wore it for a year, enough of her magic would seep in to pervert it, but the spell isn’t meant to last that long to begin with.”

  “Pervert it?” said Cassie, staring the now multi-colored amulet on her chest. As usual, she had no idea what they were getting at.

  Dwight gestured to the gate. “Look, we have to board the plane. Whatever else is going on can wait.”

  Serenus nodded and motioned the rest of the group forward, and they all moved toward the gate, Sam leaving last with a baffled look before he turned away, tossing his duffel bag over his shoulder with a resigned gesture. When Cassie went to move towards the gate, Serenus put his hand on her shoulder.

  “It can’t be helped, Cassie; now that you’ve been tapped, you’re seeping magic. And this is what white magic does, takes black spells and turns them gray, then white.”

  “If that’s what it does, then why is Sam so freaked?” Cassie asked as Serenus guided her over to the line of passengers waiting to board.

  Serenus smiled, and whispered to her as they approached the flight desk next to the gate. “He’s not used to having his magic interfered with— well, no one is, really. It’s…a little scary.”

  “Scary?” asked Cassie. Sam was scared of her now? That was a laugh. “It’s not like I’m trying to do this, you know.”

  “I know,” he said. “That’s the problem.