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My thoughts halted in their tracks when I unwrapped the wand and saw no Cast markings. The other Oaken Wands all had a symbol of their Cast on the handle. This one was beautiful, etched with a very intricate swirling design, but there was no Cast symbol. Whatever Cynthia thought this was, it wasn’t an Oaken Wand.
But it was powerful; that much I could tell. My magic sensed something inside unlike I’d ever felt before. Some wands had magical properties, like those made with unicorn hair or dragon scales, but most were mere tools to focus our magic. This was entirely different, easily as strong as one of the objects we’d worked with in my Enchanting class. There was some sort of spell attached to this wand. If I could figure it out—
A scream tore down the hall, and I jumped. My friends!
I whirled toward the door, and the handkerchief slipped. I felt a surge of magic the moment my skin touched the wand. Magic twisted up my arm and tightened around me. I didn’t even have a moment to push against it. In the blink of an eye, the magic had encompassed me. Internally, I panicked, but when I tried to open my mouth and scream, nothing came out.
I was trapped.
CHAPTER 17
LUCAS
Horror flooded my veins when the door slammed behind Nadine. I yanked on the handle, but the door didn’t budge. My friends and I huddled in the corner, as there was nowhere else for us to run.
“Cast the ward!” Miles screamed.
Chloe grabbed my shoulder and pulled me away from the door. “We’ll get to her!” she shouted. “Follow my lead to cast the spell!”
I had to do something, damn it. Chloe and I joined hands, and she began reciting a spell in Latin. I spoke the words along with her, as clearly as I could follow. I stumbled a few times, and I hoped to the Goddess it was a good enough spell.
Talia steadied herself against the wall, and I witnessed her eyes roll back in her skull as another vision overcame her senses. She collapsed, and Grant screamed her name.
Leroy reached us, and he swung his knife down at Mandy. Miles lunged at the ghost at the same time, swinging his iron rod like a baseball bat. The ghost vanished, but not before Mandy got nicked by the knife. She screamed as the ghost reappeared, aiming his knife at Miles.
“Miles!” Chloe yelled as the knife aimed to slice his guts open.
But the knife never got him. Leroy disappeared into a puff of smoke as our spell activated throughout the hallway. Talia’s visions cleared, and she blinked as she came back to the present. Grant helped her stand.
Mandy placed her hand over her racing heart. “What just happened?”
“Our spell warded him off,” Chloe said. “But it won’t hold for long. Let’s get Nadine and find a way out of here!”
I jimmied on the door handle again, but it wouldn’t budge. I spoke an incantation to unlock the door, but nothing changed. This wasn’t an ordinary lock—it’d been sealed by magic.
“Everyone stand back,” I ordered.
My friends backed away. I shot battle orbs at the door, but the lock didn’t break. Fuck, Nadine was in there all alone! Leroy could return at any moment and go after her! I kicked the door as hard as I could, but it barely shook. Desperate, I backed up and tried again, aiming my shoulder at the door. I thought maybe I could break through it like in the movies, but damn, it did nothing but give me a sore shoulder.
“Everyone conjure a battle orb,” I barked. “We’re going to break our way through this thing! On three! One… Two…”
The door swung open, and relief flooded through me when I saw Nadine standing there. Her chin was tilted downward, and her hair concealed most of her face. I couldn’t read the cold expression she wore. It was like she’d just witnessed something she couldn’t explain and she was still trying to process it.
I rushed forward, but her eyes connected with mine and gave me pause. Something in her eyes wasn’t quite right. All the warmth I usually saw in them had vanished, replaced by a chilling darkness. It was like some monster had taken on Nadine’s features, because they weren’t quite right.
“Nadine!” Talia opened her arms to embrace her friend.
I didn’t let her get that far, though. I grabbed her by the arm and began backing up. “Nobody touch her! Whatever this is, it’s not Nadine!”
Nadine smirked, then pulled something out from the fabric of her dress. Lightning flashed against the edge of a blade—a letter opener, by the looks of it. She lunged toward Talia, but I threw up a shield at the last second.
Nadine wasn’t a ghost like Leroy—she was still very much alive and solid, so she slammed straight into my shield. But it barely fazed her. She bounced off it, then waved her hand. My shield vanished, and I felt my magic drain away. Nadine must’ve been using her Curse Breaking powers to redirect my spell. If her Curse Breaker powers were still working, that meant Nadine was still in there somewhere.
I threw myself in front of my friends. “Nad, please! It’s me, Lucas. Don’t do this—”
Nadine drew her fist back and wacked me across the face so hard I stumbled to the side. I landed against the wall and tasted blood in my mouth. Whatever spell Nadine was under, it made her fucking strong. I looked at her, begging her to see through the spell, but my Nadine was nowhere to be seen behind those dark, murderous eyes. She aimed her letter opener at me, but I reacted fast with a stunning spell. I didn’t want to hurt her—just slow her down.
My spell should’ve knocked her off her feet, but it did no such thing. It landed on her gut, and she looked down as it fizzled out, like the spell merely tickled.
