Page 24 of Reckless Witch

“Good, Ariel. And?” Miss Mack prompts as she slides her gaze across us.

I slump farther down in my seat.

“What about you, Leilah?” she asks. There’s a hint of harshness in her voice.

I hesitate. I’d never bought into the idea that all light is fluffy and good, while all darkness is unequivocally bad. Grams hadn’t either. Nature isn’t all rosy and light. There’s a dark, destructive side that’s necessary to the force of regeneration, she used to say.

“Leilah?” Miss Mack’s tone ratchets up a notch.

“There’s no light without darkness,” I say. “And no darkness without light.”

Several students gasp and heads swivel my way.

My cheeks warm. Shit. Wrong answer.

“Spoken like a Crowe,” Miss Mack observes in frozen tones.

I blink. The students’ snubs I get, but the teachers’?

Students turn in their seats and stare at me. After three heartbeats, all but Ariel swivel around and begin minding their own business. She watches me with a cold calculation that makes the street witch in me stand at alert.

Miss Mack returns to the chalkboard and writes a spell in Mandarin. Many of Grams’ potion books contained Mandarin spells. I know a thousand or so, though not this one.

“Light vanquishes darkness. It was with light, L-I-G-H-T”—Miss Mack jabs the chalk against the board with each letter—“and only light, that the Commanders used to banish The Shadows.” She faces the class. “From birth, we’re taught meditation and creative visualization with color. Who here knows what the different colors mean?”

“White is for protection,” Ariel says with haughty righteousness. “Green removes toxic emotions.”

Several other students call out different colors and their uses.

Miss Mack nods. “Excellent. “Now, what about armor?”

I try not to roll my eyes. Any witch worth her salt understands metaphysical armor. Without it, we leave ourselves open to all kinds of attacks on the spirit and magical plane—something we’re taught from childhood, as well. Though, I’m ashamed to admit, I don’t rebuild mine as often as I should. With Stony around, I’ve gotten lazy about adding protection.

“My armor is like a medieval knight’s,” a guy in the back says.

“Excellent,” Miss Mack says. “What about herbs? As per law, I’m sure everyone here has sachets hung about their homes that contain herbs like chamomile, calendula, basil, angelica…” Her gaze sweeps the classroom.

“My mother adds allspice and grass,” says one student.

“Yarrow,” another says.

“Verbena,” another adds.

Miss Mack nods. “Good, very good. Protection against negativity, along with the cleansing of toxins is our first defense against Shadow infection.”

“Isn’t that a spell?” Billy points at the board.

“It is,” Miss Mack says.

“But The Shadows feed on magic,” another student says.

“That’s right, which is why we are very careful about how we practice magic. You High Potential students are here at The Academy because of your power but, as everyone knows, all citizens of Margidda are required to attend school in order to learn how to practice light magic—and light magic only.”

Translation: that’s the excuse the Illumina uses to control Margidda.

Miss Mack returns to the board and taps the spell. “This spell is unique because it is performed within a lucid dream.”

I come to attention. A spell within a lucid dream? That would mean—