Oh Hex No

Serena twirled her wand through her fingers as they walked back to Mondhaven, her mind spinning. She wondered if anyone else had seen the thing that had almost ripped her to shreds. The school should probably up their security wards with something unnatural and dangerous flying around. Thinking about the professors reminded her what Erik had told her about his situation. She disapproved of Headmistress Norris allowing such a thing; it was grossly unfair. She abruptly turned to Erik.

“You’re an official student here, which means eventually they have to let you do final exams,” she said. “And if you haven’t been able to actually learn any magic, then you can’t possibly pass with a high enough score to officially graduate. Which means they’ll have put you through all this for nothing. If you’re enrolled and working at the school, then they should be teaching you.”

“I mean there’s not really anything I can do about it,” he shrugged.

“I can teach you,” Serena said and he skidded to a halt, looking at her like she might be insane.

“You…can teach me,” he repeated skeptically.

“I’m a final year student and I’m one of the best. That’s not a brag, I’m just very dedicated to my studies. Some people would use the term obsessive, but I prefer ‘disciplined.’ Anyway, I can tutor you. I only have a few official classes this year.”

“But I have work,” he reminded her, still looking a little wary.

“I’ll make fake errand lists for you from different professors,” she said, lifting one shoulder in a casual shrug. “The teachers will think you’re working and then you’ll have more free time for lessons.”

He blinked. “Why would you do all that? We just met.”

“I owe you,” Serena said. “I got you in trouble with Jorgensen, and you just helped me dodge being chopped up by whatever that thing was. I should probably talk to the Headmistress about that tomorrow, but the point is, you said you scored well when you were tested for magical aptitude, right? And you learned some of the basics already. So it shouldn’t be too hard for you to learn more advanced spells and potions.”

“You want to teach me magic just because Jorgensen yelled at me?”

“And because it’s wrong, what the school is doing. I have plenty of free time that goes to studying and spell practice anyway, I can use some of it to teach you. I can come back to your apartment tomorrow afternoon, once I get some of my old textbooks together and make one of those fake errand lists.”

“I’m not sure you should-“

“I definitely should,” she interrupted. She tapped him lightly on the nose with her wand. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I…uh, okay,” he said reluctantly. She flashed him a cheerful smile before slipping into the dorm building and up to her room. In the morning she collected some old books to give to Erik, then she went to see the Headmistress. Her secretary was a small woman with huge glasses that made her eyes seem almost three times too big, so she always looked startled.

“Morning, Mildred,” Serena said politely. “Is Headmistress Norris in? I need to speak with her. It’s a bit of an emergency.”

“She’s in a meeting but it should be wrapping up any minute.”

“Thanks. I’ll wait.”

“I’ll let her know you’re here.”

Serena’s grandfather made donations to the school and spared no expense when it came to securing Serena things like her private dorm, and her grandmother had been a prominent witch before her sudden death when Serena was seven. As a result, people at Mondhaven tended to either despise Serena or suck up to her; teachers and staff included. It was a little awkward but occasionally it came in handy, like when she wanted an unexpected meeting with the Headmistress.

Unfortunately, being the granddaughter of Philippe and Madelyn Dupont could still only get her so far. Headmistress Norris had agreed to see her but didn’t seem to share her concerns about the strange creature.

“Miss Bellwood, I’m sure what you saw was someone’s idea of a prank. It’s likely long gone.”

“Headmistress, I mean no disrespect, but that thing was not a prank,” Serena insisted. “It very nearly took my head off, and I think it poses a threat to the city and to Mondhaven.”

“Our protection wards are very strong, as you know.”

“So was this thing. It was unnatural, and it practically oozed dark magic. It may have been the work of a dark mage.”

Headmistress Norris pursed her lips slightly and Serena knew the woman wasn’t going to listen.

“I appreciate your concern, but it’s highly unlikely that we have anyone working dark magic in the city. I know you work very hard with your studies, and you were probably just tired. It’s easy to make mistakes when you’re overworked.”

Serena wanted to argue but she bit her tongue. Sometimes Serena got the sense that the headmistress was one of the people who only acted friendly because of Serena’s grandpa and those donations of his.

“You’re probably right,” Serena forced herself to say. “Thank you for your time.”

“Try to get some rest, Miss Bellwood.” The headmistress was already turning her attention to a stack of papers on her desk. Serena left the administration building with a huff, but she had no evidence of the creepy thing she’d seen so she had no way to convince the headmistress that it wasn’t a sleep-deprived hallucination. For all she knew, maybe it really had been something conjured up as someone’s idea of a joke. There wasn’t anything particularly funny about it though, and she still suspected that it was made or summoned with illegal forms of magic.

Either way, there was nothing she could do about it for the moment and she had magic lessons to get to. She made her way back to Erik’s apartment, glancing around occasionally for any sign of the monster they’d seen last night. She was flipping through one of the books she’d brought along as she climbed the stairs and nearly tripped over Bea.

“You’re back,” Bea said, looking intrigued.

“I am. Is Erik back yet?”

Bea shook her head. “I can let you in again to wait, if you-“

“Yes, I know. Your fee is candy.”

Serena dug in her bag and handed over some lollipops in bright colors and more chocolate. She could easily have used a lock picking spell to get into the apartment, or waited in the hall. But she didn’t mind giving the girl some candy and letting her feel important with her crudely copied key.

“Can I wait with you this time?” Bea asked around the lollipop in her mouth.

“If you’d like.”

Serena sat down at the kitchen table and Bea sat across from her, munching happily on her candy.

“You go to the school?” she asked.

“It’s my last year.”

“Do you like it?”

“Learning magic? Of course. It’s hard work but it’s worth it.”

“You’re really pretty.”

Serena smiled. “Thank you.”

“Why do you keep coming over here? This place is kind of a dump.”

“It’s just neglected,” Serena said diplomatically. “And I’m here because I have business with Erik.”

“Are you guys doing something illegal?” Bea asked, looking interested.

“No,” Serena replied, amused.

Bea looked a little disappointed. Erik showed up then, putting an end to her random line of questioning. While he convinced Bea to go home, Serena pulled out the pile of heavy books she’d brought along. Erik eyed them like they might bite. Serena tapped the books with her wand and they organized themselves into a neat stack.

“You said you had taught yourself some basic spells,” she said, getting down to business. “I’ll need to see what you can already do so I can figure out where to start.”