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Talia sniffled and sat up straighter. “They took my sheet music. They thought it was incantations for battle magic.”
Lucas’s nostrils flared. “They did the same thing to me last semester with my poems.”
Talia wiped her eyes. “It’s fine. I can rewrite the songs—”
“It’s not fine,” I interrupted. “They’re taking your songs today, but what will they take tomorrow? Yeah, wands and crystals can be replaced, but they’ve already taken more than that. They can’t replace our friends… they can’t replace Amy.”
“I know, but what are we going to do?” Talia asked. “The last time we fought back, riots broke out and people died.”
“Then we try something else. This is just the beginning of whatever the priestesses have planned,” I said.
“We have to come up with a plan of our own,” Lucas agreed. “I already have some ideas.”
I shot a glance toward the open door. If we shut it, we’d attract Sheriff Baker’s attention, and I did not want to deal with him. I lowered my voice. “We need somewhere to talk—somewhere we can meet up all semester. It’ll raise suspicion if other Casts are coming and going from our room all the time. We’re already taking a risk by remaining roommates.”
“The abandoned mansion?” Grant suggested.
“That’s a safe spot, but do we want to go there every time we have to talk?” I asked. “I’d like something closer, if possible.”
“I might know a place on campus,” Lucas said thoughtfully. “There’s an abandoned classroom near the pool. The newspaper club used to use it to print The Epitaph, but no one’s been there in a while. No one ever goes down there.”
“That’s perfect,” I said. “Let’s split up, and we’ll meet there in fifteen minutes. I’ll tell Chloe. Lucas, see if you can find Mandy. Talia and Grant, find Miles. We need everyone.”
“Sounds good,” Talia agreed.
I left the room first, with Isa at my heels. I kept my head down as I passed the student officers, but they were preoccupied searching rooms, so no one bothered me. Isa and I headed downstairs, and I spotted Chloe leaving the cafeteria. Her eyes met mine. We fell into step beside each other, though we kept our distance so it didn’t look like we were talking. Our cats gave each other friendly nods.
“You saw what’s going on upstairs?” Chloe asked quietly.
“Yes. Meet us in the old Epitaph room in fifteen minutes,” I said.
Chloe went in the opposite direction. I circled back, until I found a dark hall beyond the locker room entrances. This had to be the place Lucas was talking about. There weren’t any doors, except the one at the end of the hall. The whole corridor smelled dusty, like no one had been down here in over a year.
I entered a small room with no windows. It had certainly been an old storage closet at one time, but had been converted into a meeting room for the newspaper club. Old shelves still stood along one wall, with piles of articles stacked haphazardly upon them. A counter stretched across the other side of the room, with an ancient computer and big printer on it. A single alchemy station with a burner and cauldron was set up on the opposite end of the counter. It was perfect.
Chloe was already there, seated at the large meeting table in the center of the room. Her cat prowled along the tabletop. The door opened. Talia and Grant slipped inside, followed closely by Miles. He glanced around the room.
“Where’s your sister, Talia?” Miles asked. “I thought she’d be here.”
Talia shook her head. “Tate’s in no condition to join us. She’s in rehab.”
“Is she doing better?” Miles asked.
Talia hesitated. “A little, but it’s going to take some time until she’s back on her feet.”
“Tell her I wish her well,” Miles said.
Talia nodded. “I will.”
Lucas and Mandy arrived shortly after. Everyone remained quiet as they took a seat at the meeting table. Miles sat on the counter. Lucas and I were the only ones left standing.
“Thank you all for coming,” I said. “We called this meeting because we’re asking you guys to join us in… a revolution, I suppose. What happened the night of the Burning cannot happen again. I’m not willing to lose more innocent lives. It’s clear that the priestesses are willing to risk anything to get our magic back and to control it themselves.”
“That’s not a risk that we believe is necessary,” Lucas added. “We’re here to develop a plan to end the Waning, the burnings, the hangings… all of it. We need to make sure that at the end of all this, everyone has access to their powers, not just the people the priestesses choose. The priestesses have started a war on their own people, and we need to find a way to bring all the Casts back together so we can solve this peacefully.”
“First, we need to know that we can trust everyone in this room,” I said. “If you’re not willing to go up against the priestesses, it’s best that you leave now, before you learn anything that could get you killed.”
Chloe gave me confident nods.
