Oh Hex No

Serena was still thinking about the cloaked figure and the monster while she changed into a nightgown and brushed her hair. She was shaken by what they’d seen, and concerned about an attack practically inside the school’s wards. Maybe if the Headmistress had listened to her in the first place, this could have been avoided. Serena sighed and shook away the thoughts. For now there was nothing she could do about the monster or the stranger who had conjured it, and she had other things on her mind.

She came out of the bathroom to find him sitting on the edge of her bed, and they both blushed a little. She cleared her throat.

“Um. You probably don’t want to sleep in your suit pants, and it didn’t occur to me that you didn’t have anything else to wear so, here.”

Serena pulled one of her extra blankets out of a drawer and used her wand to stitch some runes into the fabric, turning the blanket into a set of men’s pajamas. Erik was smiling slightly when she handed them to him.

“I guess I’m pretty lucky that you decided to teach me magic,” he said. “I can see why you’re top of your class.”

“Oh, I just spend a lot of time practicing,” Serena said, feeling a little flustered by the compliment. Erik went to change and Serena hopped onto the bed, burrowing under the covers. . Montague was curled up at the foot and opened one eye to look at her.

“What?” Serena asked defensively. He just sneezed and went back to sleep. Erik came back and climbed up next to her. Serena scooted closer and put her head on his shoulder.

“Thank you for staying,” she said. “I would worry if you walked home alone.”

“This is preferable to my apartment anyway,” he chuckled. Serena thought for a moment.

“You could study here sometimes,” she said. “There’s some things I’d have better access to if we were on campus.”

“Eventually someone is bound to notice me coming in here, and if word gets back to the school board we’ll both be in trouble.”

“You don’t have to walk in. There’s a spell I can try to teach you. It’s a little tricky, so technically we’re only supposed to use it under supervision. But I can show you. It’s a portal spell.”

“Are you just trying to get in trouble?”

Serena rolled her eyes. “We won’t get in trouble. You worry too much.”

She giggled when he gently flicked her forehead.

“I have to worry, cause you’re kind of a handful,” he teased. Serena smiled, shifting slightly to kiss him. She woke up the next morning thinking the night before might have been a dream, but she was still snuggled against Erik’s side. He was still asleep and she watched him for a minute, until Montague leaped onto his chest and meowed loudly. Erik startled awake and Serena laughed, shooing Montague away.

“Good morning,” she said. His ears turned a little red.

“Good morning.”

“Are you ready to learn a portal spell?”

He made a face. “Can’t it wait till noon?”

Serena laughed as he poked her sides and pulled her into a kiss.

“Okay, it can wait until noon,” she said. They stayed lounging in bed for a while, under the disdainful eye of Montague. She was trying to convince Erik that they should really get some spell practice in when her crystal ball flashed with red light and then the Headmistress’s face appeared. It was a school-wide announcement stating that classes would be postponed an extra week instead of resuming the following day. There was also a temporary curfew in effect, and all students were to be on campus and in their dorms before nightfall.

“At least they’re taking seriously now that something is going on,” Serena grumbled, leaning against Erik. She tilted her head back to look at him.

“But we really should try to do the portal spell now,” she said. “We might need it to keep practicing. But maybe we should try it from your place first, so you can get some of your regular clothes and you can perfect the spell going from there to here.”

“Are you sure you can leave campus?”

“They just said there’s a curfew, not that we can’t leave at all.” She shrugged. “Besides, it’s still daytime. The attacks only happen at night.”

Erik put on his suit from last night while Serena got dressed and then they walked back to his apartment. The school grounds were mostly deserted, between the attack and so many people getting drunk last night. They were able to leave without incident and since classes weren’t back in session yet, Serena spent the next three days helping Erik do the portal spell from his apartment to her dorm. They probably could’ve mastered it a day sooner but Serena sometimes became a distraction instead of a stern teacher.

On day three he was able to make a successful portal to her dorm and hold it for longer than a few seconds. Serena beamed and hugged him as the portal faded and he sat down, a little under. Spells like that required a lot of focus and energy.

“Now you can just pop into my dorm,” Serena said, scooting a cup of tea across the table to him. “It’ll be a safer way to go back and forth, at least for now. I don’t know if they’re any closer to finding out who’s behind the attacks.”

“I wanted to show you something,” he said. “Something else I’ve been practicing.”

He held out his hand and conjured up a tiny lightning storm, like the one Serena had shown him weeks ago. She laughed, raising her hand up next to his to create a double storm, little bolts of lightning flashing in unison. Serena dropped her hand and pulled him into a kiss, and their tea was cold by the time they remembered it.

“I should probably confess something,” Serena said. “I still want to find out who the order of exile was for that Professor Tamill was holding.”

Erik’s brown furrowed. “Serena, you can’t just walk into city hall and ask to see records like that. And if you’re caught using magic to snoop, they’ll take your wand.”

“Well, that’s why I’m not the one actually going in,” she said. “I asked Arthur to do it.”

“Arthur…the rat?”

“He’s very intelligent. He moved into the school library so he can read after hours and his comprehension is impressive. I asked him to sneak into city hall and find out who Tamill had been assigned to exile. He’s going to bring me the name once he has it.”

“I guess I should’ve known you wouldn’t just let it go,” Erik sighed.

“If we find out who it is, maybe we can get real proof of the monster and the school will have to do something about it,” Serena insisted.

“Just promise me at least that you’ll be careful? And don’t go off doing any sleuthing by yourself. And no monster hunting,” he added firmly. “I don’t want you around that thing.”

“I promise. I have a lot of incentive not to get eaten. Including the cute blond guy who worries about me so much.”

She smirked as Erik turned beet red. She kissed him again and then stood.

“Get a little rest,” she instructed. “I need to pop into town for some supplies, but then I promise I’ll go back to my dorm. I’m waiting on word from Arthur anyway. And if you’re feeling up to it, maybe you can use your impressive magic skills to come and visit me.”

“Be careful,” he said again. Serena nodded, though she wasn’t particularly worried with it being the middle of the day. She made her way into the shopping district to collect a few things she needed, and her last stop was Markus’s shop. She needed some extract of basilisk venom and some more dragon teeth. The sign on the door said open so she walked inside, though the store appeared to be empty. Maybe he’d run out to grab some lunch. Serena knew he didn't like her so he probably wouldn’t like her snooping around on her own, but she had probably accounted for half his business in the last couple of months, so he could stuff it.

Serena wandered the shop, looking for the supplies she wanted. She opened a door and ducked into the back when she didn’t see the dragon’s teeth; she thought she’d seen Markus get them from back here last time. The back room was indeed filled with jars and vials of strange things, it was actually a little creepy in there. But it was the second door that really sent a little chill down her spine. Her hand brushed the knob and she felt like she’d touched something oily. But to her surprise, the door wasn’t locked and swung open easily.

Serena stepped inside, finding what must have been Markus’s office. But where you would’ve expected to see receipts and ledger books cluttering the desk, there were instead black candles and some old books. Serena’s stomach clenched with a nervous feeling. Those candles reminded her of the wax she’d seen on the floor of the factory, and the books made her uneasy. She was about to flip one open to see what exactly it was, when she saw a flash of movement in the small crack of the curtains on the window. Markus was coming back.

Serena fumbled the door closed and hurried back to the main shop as fast as she could, skidding to a halt at the counter just before Markus walked in the door. He froze and narrowed his eyes.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded.

“Buying things,” Serena said, holding up the jars in her hand. “For a businessman you’re oddly adverse to having customers.”

“Only certain customers,” he grunted, making his way to the counter. Serena tried to scrutinize him without making it obvious. His permanent scowl was in place like usual. It was when he was taking the money for the things she’d bought that she realized what it was that was nagging at her. Tucked into an inner pocket of his coat was a black wand. But Markus said he hadn’t passed the graduation tests, which meant Mondhaven would have taken his wand.

And, now that she thought about it, it was a little strange that someone who’d been stripped of his magic ability would set up a magic supply shop right near Mondhaven. Serena realized she was just sort of staring intently at Markus and he was glowering back at her.

“Will there be anything else?” he snapped. She shook herself and grabbed her bag of supplies.

“Um. No, that’s it. Thanks. Have a nice day, Mark.”

His scowl deepened but Serena hurried out before he could say anything else. She wanted to go back to the factory and look around again, but she had promised Erik she wouldn’t go off investigating by herself. He was supposed to visit her dorm that evening anyway, for more portal practice. She supposed that she could share her suspicions with him then, and maybe they could both go back to the factory tomorrow.

With curfew, she barely had time to make it back to her dorm anyway. Serena hurried back toward the school as it started getting dark. She was scurrying up a side alley that she could use to sneak into her dorm building without getting noticed when she heard the sound of footsteps behind her. She whipped around, reaching for her wand. A hooded figure was marching toward her. Serena fumbled slightly because of the bags in her hands, and the hooded figure had the advantage of already having their wand in their hand.

She was hit with a stunning spell and crumpled to the ground, dazed. She was too sluggish to get away as the figure scooped her up.

“You just can’t resist being a pain in the ass, can you?” Markus’s voice was slightly muffled under the hood but the tone of derision was unmistakable.

“Well, whatever. When it gets late enough, I’ll let my pet deal with you. He could use an easy snack before all the work we have to do. I’ve had to speed up my timeline a bit, you see. Didn’t expect anyone to realize I was here yet and try to exile me. They’re going to regret that, of course, when the school board is dead and Mondhaven is destroyed. Ah, I can tell from your expression that you don’t approve. Don’t worry, you won’t have to witness any of it. You’ll be dead before then.”

Markus had dragged her back to the old factory, and now he was tying her wrists and ankles and stuffing a gag in her mouth. He put an enchantment on the ropes so that a spell couldn’t undo them.

“It’s a sort of poetic irony, don’t you think? Leaving you with a wand but rendering it useless for freeing you? Seems a fitting punishment for Mondhaven’s gold star princess. It was so nice catching up, Bellwood. I’ll be back for feeding time.”

Serena was still limp from the spell he’d used on her, but her mind was scrambling to come up with a plan to get free. Then she had an idea. She started conjuring the tiny lightning storms in her hands. They were a bit weak since she was fuzzy from Markus’s spell, but she figured eventually they’d work to burn through the ropes if she just kept at it long enough. And once the effects of Markus’s spell wore off and she was free, she could try to warn the Headmistress.

Assuming she could get loose before Markus came back and fed her to his monster.