driving me nuts. She pretended like she hadn’t done anything at all.
“It’s good to see you, Odette,” Kiara said with a nod. “We’ve missed you.”
“Yeah. Things aren’t the same without your sparkly ass around,” Delmare said.
“Well, it is good to be back home,” Odette gushed. “And look! Here come Ethan and Stefan, more dear friends. This is looking to be quite the party.”
Ethan wrapped his arms behind me and squeezed. “Hello, onawilke,” he cooed, and my heart skipped a beat. “Fancy seeing you here.”
“Were we meeting up today or something?” Stefan looked confused as he entered the circle. “I seriously can’t remember shit.”
“No, just coincidence,” Kiara replied. “Though it’s so nice out, it shouldn’t be unusual that we’ve met up. Everyone’s got cabin fever from being cooped up all winter.”
Delmare and Stefan were totally giving each other sex eyes. Whatever she said about wanting to focus on her career, Delmare acted like she wanted to focus on something else.
Like, Stefan’s dick.
I got an idea. “Since you’re all here, I wanted to try something out,” I said. I pulled away from Ethan’s arms and ruffled through my bag.
“I’ve never attempted an orgy before, so forgive me if I don’t know how it goes,” Stefan began. Delmare smacked his stomach, and he bent over, wheezing.
Alexei choked. Ethan shook his head. I ignored him. “Actually... it’s a spell,” I confessed. I pulled out the grimoire from my bag and opened it, showing the page of a beautifully illustrated portal to the group. “It’s a transportation spell, harnessed by an Unseelie incantation. It says it can carry multiple people at a time without using a lot of magical energy. I want to see if it works.”
Ethan frowned. “Onawilke, that’s dangerous. We know that grimoire isn’t always helpful. It’s filled with dark magic.” He sent a harsh glance to Kiara, who remained passive.
“Unseelie magic? Ooh, that sounds exciting,” Odette swooned. “I very much would like to see what it does.”
“Odette,” Theo moaned, but she bounced on the spot.
“Portals are dangerous,” Ethan said. “They’re only meant to transport one person at a time.”
“What if they’re not, though? I’m good at them. And what if we get into trouble again?” I asked him. “Wouldn’t this be helpful, if all of us needed a way out?”
Ethan huffed, but Kiara said, “Let’s try it. What else do we have to do?”
Ethan scowled. He hadn’t approved of what Kiara had done to Gabby, and I knew he didn’t like the thought of us tampering with dark magic further, even if it was for a good reason.
“If we’re going to practice this, we should go to the woods.” Stefan thumbed behind him. “You know, so nobody can see what we’re doing.”
He had a good point. We left the school grounds and entered the sanctuary of the trees. Ethan kept looking around for monsters, while I read the spell over and over. Like most Unseelie magic, this one required an incantation.
Theo was acting like a skittish horse. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing, Emma?”
“No,” I responded. “That’s half the fun, right?”
Theo mumbled something incoherent under his breath. When we were far enough into the woods, I found a clearing that was big enough for the portal to grow.
“Where are you transporting us?” Ethan asked as I shuffled through the pages.
“Just a few feet, to start,” I said, and I raised my hand. “Stand back, everyone.”
I took a deep breath. All eyes were on me as I began to recite the incantation. “Fae world present, future, prior, take me to my heart’s desire.”
Nothing happened. I scowled, and tried again, but no portal opened up. Everyone stared at me like they expected magic to happen.
“Well, that’s dumb,” I said. “The spell doesn’t work.”
“Disappointing,” Ethan said, though he didn’t sound disappointed at all. He strode forward and grabbed me by the arm. “Come on, Emma. Let’s go.”
We started on the way back to campus. I felt pretty sour about the whole thing. The grimoire’s spells always worked before. Why had this one failed?
Suddenly, Odette halted in place. Theo slammed into her behind her— which caused Stefan to stagger and fall on his face. Odette tilted her head strangely, while Stefan got up from the ground, cursing.
“Do you hear that?” Odette said lightly. “It’s a ringing sound. Like bells.”
None of us heard anything. I tried straining my ears, but there was no noise. “There’s nothing there, Odette.”
“Of course there is!” She spun in place. “I can hear singing now! Come on, follow me!”