“You never came to the dining hall! I know this because-” I halted my speech, heat rising in my face once again as I realized I had basically admitted to looking for him. I prayed he wouldn’t say anything, but these prayers went unanswered.

  “Evangeline Crawley,” He gasped playfully. “Were you looking for me?” His grin was nearly unbearably jovial, an uncommon occurrence on his face.

  “No.” I decided to deflect. “Where is that door?” I rushed my footsteps again, hoping to outwalk his amused questioning. To no avail.

  “Evie, did you miss me today?” His shoulder bumped gently into mine in a jestful action.

  Again, I deflected. “How did you eat if you didn’t come to dinner?”

  “I have my ways.” He shrugged, hands slipping casually into his sweatpant pockets as he did so. “Why didn’t you eat? Please tell me it isn’t for some frivolous reason like wanting to be thinner for the ball, because I can assure you that you look great.” Suddenly it was like my spit was ultra-thick as I gulped down his praise. Did that mean what I thought it meant? I bit my lip to hide my smile, though the pleased chuff he gave made me think he saw it.

  “If you must know, I didn’t like what they served in the dining hall tonight. On Tuesdays, they serve what can only be described as mystery casseroles that today reeked of armpit. I have too much dignity to subject myself to that.” As soon as I said this my stomach growled again.

  “Yes,” He chuckled. “You’re oozing austere energy.” His finger bopped the fuzzy bat charm hanging off my dorm room keychain. “So, you don’t eat dinner on Tuesday or Thursday nights?”

  “Who said anything about Thursdays?” I asked, my face contorted in confusion. He was correct, but I didn’t know how.

  “That day in the cafeteria when you smiled at me, I noticed you didn’t have any food.” The day he got dumplings ground into his sweater and he grimaced at me.

  “Oh.” I shyly tucked a strand of hair, which had fallen from the messiest of buns, behind my ear. Uncomfortable under his appraising, watchful eyes. “But I eat, just not in the dining hall.”

  “Where then?” He pried, holding open the thick wooden door at the end of the hallway that would lead us to a treasure trove of ancient relics.

  “I keep snacks in my room.” Frankly, I didn’t know why he cared so much.

  “Gummy toads are not enough food.” How did he know I liked gummy toads?

  “How do you know so much about me?” Now it was my turn to interrogate him.

  “Hmm?” This hum was higher pitched than his usual voice, leading me to think it was laced in deception. He was the one deflecting now.

  “You know I don’t eat lunch on Thursdays, you know I like gummy toads…how?” He began to open a box in front of him, hoping I would get distracted by our search and let him off easy. Not going to happen. “Milo?” My hand landed on his shoulder. I watched as his cerulean eyes landed on my hand, only to travel upwards and meet my gaze.

  “Because when you have only one friend at school and no one else will even talk to you, you start to pay attention to them.” He guided my hand off his shoulder with his own, only to reach the other down into his pocket and pull out a packet of sour gummy toads, placing them in my grasp. “I picked these up for you when I went into town Sunday, they’re a new flavor.” I stood frozen, looking at the packet of treats in my now outstretched hand.

  “Oh, uh.” I didn’t know what to say. “Thank you, Milo.”

  “You’re welcome, Ace.” His smile made my chest warm.

  “I looked that up, by the way.” I placed the toads gingerly into my pocket before continuing. “Like a really good investigator, right?”

  “Yeah,” He chuckled again, and I was pleased to have the light mood back. “Something like that.”

  Our gaze lingered and almost seemed to slow down time. It was nice. But it was the rising temperature in my face and his unwavering observation that convinced me to finally break our gaze.

  “Shall we get to looking then?” I was sure his scent was short-circuiting my brain, so I ran to the other side of the room for some peppermint-free air. “I’ll look over here!”

  Even at a distance, I felt his chuckle vibrating in my chest. “Sounds good, Evie.”

  “She used it when she was awaiting the hours of punishment for those who did wrong to end...what does that mean?” I whispered the phrase Iliana had uttered over and over to myself, hoping it would help me better identify the relic if I were to stumble upon it mixed within the hordes of dusty junk the school had crammed into this glorified storage room.

  Milo had silently worked across the room from me all the hours we had been looking. At one point, I dared a glance at him, watching his sharp jaw tilt in concentration as he eyed a mini cauldron. He was lost in the search, which made me think I should be too. And I was so good at immersing myself into things, that I didn’t notice when he had snuck up on me until he spoke.

  “Find anything?” He was so close his breath practically tickled my ear.

  “Ahh!” I cried, dropping the brush I had found as I sorted through yet another box of Iliana’s magical beauty supplies.

  The metal-handled hair tool fell back into the box, clanging loudly against another object.

  “Careful now, Evie.” Milo teased as he reached into the box, his chest cocooning me for a brief second before pulling away once he had an object in his hand. I didn’t take a single breath the whole time this exchange went on. “What’s a mirror doing amongst magical objects?” His tone was filled with perplexion.

  “Oh! I’ve heard of this.” I snatched it from his hand and held it to my face. In its reflection, the pimple on my forehead was gone and my slightly bulbous nose was dainty as could be, perching on my face like a little button. “It shows you how you’d like to look. I’ve heard that Iliana used it when she got a little older. Some say she was quite vain.” We shared a chuckle, thinking back to how even when astroprojecting from the afterlife she had cared to inspect her nailbeds. “Basically, it shows what you’d look like if you were like super-hot.”

  He scoffed. “Then you don’t need it.” He reached for the mirror, taking it gently from my hands and placing it back in the box.

  “Why not?” I asked quickly.

  “Just use a regular mirror.” His finger brushed mine as the second compliment he gifted me that night slipped from his lips. Speaking of lips, his eyes flicked down to mine, appraising them as he stepped closer and closer into my personal space. But I didn’t mind. I welcomed the aroma of peppermint and relished the warmth of his sweater as it scratched against my arm. I even liked the tingle his trailing finger left in its wake as it traced up my arm.

  I think Milo Lancaster was going to kiss me.

  My enemy turned reluctant partner turned friend was going to kiss me!

  His head angled downward, a smirk on his lips as he drew closer to my face, eyes never leaving my lips. My tongue darted out subtly, wetting my dry lips before I inhaled sharply, nervous energy taking me over. I forced myself to focus on his freckles, counting the little brown spots as a distraction so I didn’t puke from the overactive butterfly hurricane that was taking place in my stomach.

  I placed my hand down, for stability, and it landed on a flat golden box. At first nothing happened, other than Milo’s face continuing to get dangerously close to mine, but then the box grew hot beneath my hand. The metal burned hotter and hotter, causing me to pull my hand away and clutch it to my chest, successfully ruining the moment when I elbowed Milo in the stomach as I jerked my hand back.

  “Oof.” He doubled over, coughing slightly as he gathered back the wind I had knocked from him.

  “Are you okay?” I dropped my stinging hand, putting my uninjured one on his chest as I checked on him.

  “I’m fine.” He coughed. “Are you okay?”

  “I burnt my hand a little.” He took my hand in his, inspecting it under the light of his wand.

  “Doesn’t look too bad, a little salve of calendula and propolis should fix you right up. I can make you some if you don’t have any.” I felt my head tilt to the side, a wayward curl popping out of my bun as gravity took over. My eyes trailed his face, which held concern and genuine care as he fretted over my little first-degree burn. “What’d you burn it on?” He looked around us, seeing nothing on fire.

  “That box.” I pointed to the offending object, but it was gone. Well, less gone…transformed is a better word. “Is that…a dragon?” A scaly creature, no bigger than my mother’s cat, sat atop the table.

  “Evie, get behind me.” His tone contained grave warning, as if the pocket-sized beast had the power to kill us. I laughed out load.

  “Milo, it’s a micro-mini baby dragon. We’re fine.” I stepped forward toward the dragon, only to be dragged immediately to the ground by Milo as the mini monster spewed molten fire toward us. “What is happening?” I cried out. “Baby dragons can’t breathe fire yet.” My eyes widened with shock when I saw the hole the wee beast had melted through the stone wall. The very place my head had just been. Milo had saved me from death by dragon-fire.

  “That’s not a baby, I think someone shrank a full-grown one and hid it in that box.” He cast a spell, blocking us from another onslaught of fire as the dragon flew around us at lightning speed.

  “Okay, so what do we do?” My voice held a tinge of panic, something I would later reflect on in embarrassment. I wanted Milo to think me competent, as well as calm, cool, and collected.

  “We just have to get it back into the box.” He said calmly.

  “The box is gone!” I said much less calmly.

  “Then I guess I have to improvise.” He took his eyes off the swooping dragon to look at me. “Do you remember that protection spell you cast on the book in the library?” I nodded my head fervently, it was one of the first spells my father taught me. “I’m going to run over there and contain the dragon, you stay here and cast a protection spell around yourself. Okay?”

  “Milo, you could get hurt!” My hands clutched his sweater, refusing to let him go. Dragons were deadly, my father had told me as much. I had never seen a miniature, fully matured dragon before, but given the damage it had already done to the room I had no doubt it could take me and Milo down if it wanted to.

  “I’ll be fine, Evie.” His warm hand came over mine, releasing himself from my hold. “Cast the spell, I’ll be back soon.” And then he winked! Did he forget we were in danger? Or was he so smooth he had time to flirt even in the face of possible peril?

  “Dìon.” I flicked my wand, earning me an approving nod from Milo before he jumped behind a bookshelf and out of my line of vision – the dragon following him.

  I watched and listened with bated breath – nervously twisting my hands around my wand as Milo cursed and the dragon blew bursts of fire over and over again. It felt like hours had passed as I sat cowering under the table.

  I heard Milo call out a spell I had never heard before, and then a final bang rang out from across the room, followed by a bookshelf teetering over and crashing to the floor.

  My eyes bulged open, watching as a golden dragon statue flew across the room and landed at my feet.

  Milo had encased the beast in solid gold.

  The dragon was entombed in metal, frozen in time with a half blown spray of fire coming from his mouth that had frozen with him.

  I shimmied away from the statue. not trusting it even in a frozen state. “Milo?” I called out, not yet able to see the face of my savior. No answer. I dropped my protection spell and walked carefully toward the fallen bookshelf, praying I didn’t find a squished Milo beneath it. He didn’t deserve to go out like the Wicked Witch of the East. “Milo?” I called out again.

  He popped up, like a cartoon jack-in-the-box, from behind the fallen shelf. His hair was mussed, his cheek dusted in soot, and his sweater had a prominent burn hole in it – but other than that he was fine. “Milo!” I threw myself at him, wrapping him in a hug without a second thought. He tensed beneath me, all muscles tight as I wrapped my arms around him. It wasn’t until I said, “I’m glad you’re okay.” That he relaxed and wrapped his arms around me too.

  With his head tucked gently against the top of mine, he replied. “I’m glad you’re okay, too, Ace.” We pulled apart, eyes meeting once again in a pause that seemed to slow time. “I can’t stand the thought of harm befalling you.” His smell was slightly different, his usual peppermint mixed with the smell of burnt wool. But I kind of liked it. It was the smell of my hero. I leaned into his hold, letting him slip his arms tighter around me as I angled my chin up toward him.

  The moment had returned.

  But was fleeting.

  It wasn’t a dragon that interrupted our moment this time, but instead the barrage of footsteps coming down the hallway and the voice of a very angry RA.

  “They heard the noise!” I cursed, realizing we were about to get in a heap of trouble. “My mother is going to kill me.”

  Milo looked around for an exit, but upon seeing none whispered, “Hide!” His rushed voice came out like a command, and then the world went a little dark.

  Chapter Ten

  Milo threw his invisibility shawl over me before gently pushing me beneath a table.

  “Wait here and no matter what don’t make a sound.” This sounded like an order. One that I didn’t have time to process as the door to the room we were in flew open, and an irrate RA stood before us. Though they were only looking at Milo, as I was invisible and cowering beside his feet from under the table. My mother would kill me if I got caught sneaking around the academy after curfew... especially with a warlock...especially especially when that warlock is the son of known heretics.

  “Milo Lancaster.” The RA scoffed. “I can’t say I’m surprised.” They took a few steps forward, appraising the mess with disdain. “Do you have any idea how many priceless artifacts you’ve just destroyed?” I cast my gaze upwards, watching as gentle, protective Milo transformed into the villain the school saw him as. His smirk was condescending and his posture casual, his hands slipping into his pockets with ease as his shoulders shrugged upward.

  “Accidents happen.” His crooked smile was wicked.

  “If you’re aunt wasn’t on the Counsel your little warlock arse would be on the street.” The RA spoke these words with conviction through gritted teeth. “But since I can’t expel you I’ll do this – no owl privileges for a month and no going into town either.” Milo shrugged again, as if the punishment meant nothing to him. My lips pulled down in a frown because no owls meant no covert conversations with me anymore.

  “Such a shame.” Milo’s voice was drenched in sarcasm.

  The RA pursed his lips, poised to say another thing, but then snapped closed when he decided against it. “Get to your room, Milo.” He pointed a finger toward the door. “And don’t let me catch you out of your room after hours again.”

  Milo looked down, eyes somehow finding mine through the haze of invisibility. With nothing but a look he conveyed to me that I should stay put until the RA had left, and I listened. I watched with bated breath as Milo swaggered from the destroyed room, the irritated RA trailing behind him.

  With haste I ran back to my room, stopping only to throw the frozen dragon into my satchel. I snuck into my dorm, so as to not disturb sleeping Joey, and then carefully hid Milo’s shawl before climbing into bed.

  I hadn’t realized just how often I had been speaking to Milo via owl until Razor was taken from him. I had grown accustomed to talking to him basically every night, and suddenly that was gone...and I missed it.

  Almost all consuming thoughts of him infiltrated my brain. What was he doing? Did he find anything else out about the relic? Was he thinking about me?

  These thoughts were so distracting that even my friends had begun to notice how absentminded I was when we were having our weekly TV night in the common room.

  “Evie?” Joey snapped her coffin black nails in front of my face. “Coven to Evie?”

  I blinked out of my dissociation slowly. “Yeah?”

  “Are you okay? You love reality TV and snack night.” Circe pointed to my laptop, which was playing a show about non-magical people who rent super yachts and act like fools. Circe’s eyes drifted down to the half-eaten pack of sour gummy toads in my hand, before they darted up to Joey with a look of concern.

  “I’m fine.” I shrugged. Did I want to tell my friends about Milo and my almost kiss? And his subsequent saving of me? And his taking the blame alone for what happened? Yes. But I didn’t think they’d understand given his family history.

  “Your aura is off.” Joey gestured around me.

  “My aura is tired.” I insisted. “Plus, I didn't eat dinner today.” My friends eyed me suspiciously, but after several minutes of scrutiny, they gave up.

  “If you say so.” Circe checked the time on her phone. “I better get to bed anyway, I’m waking up early to go hunt for herbs with Sol.” Joey started ooo’ing with conviction – joined in shortly after by myself. Sol was Circe’s crush. “Shut up the lot of you.” She waved us off, cheeks tinting with pink.

  “I guess I’ll head to bed, too,” Joey said. “Since you’re so tired it seems like you should as well.”

  “I will.” I nodded. “I’ll finish my candy and head up there after.” Joey nodded with approval and then disappeared down the hallway, closing the common room door and leaving me alone.

  The zippy tang of sour candy spread across my tongue as I popped another toad into my mouth.

  “Thank coven, I never thought they’d leave.” Milo’s velvet voice floated into my ear just as his person appeared beside me on the couch. “That show is horrid by the way.” He pointed to the laptop, which was running credits of the last episode.

  “Holy hobgoblins!” I choked, coughing around the candy that was now lodged in my throat.

  Milo laughed, a light noise that danced through the air. His hand came down on my back, patting away the lingering coughs. “You okay?”

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8