Spellbound - Cara Lynn Shultz [83]
“Forget about me,” Angelique said, taking a big gulp of orange juice. “It’s the flu. Big deal. I want to hear about what I missed.”
“Well, it’s been an interesting couple of days.” I slid into one of the white kitchen chairs and launched into my date with Brendan—and the revelations that came with it. She was pretty quiet until I got to the whole born-witch thing when she raised her hands in victory and let out a high-pitched cheer—only to end up in a coughing fit.
“I knew it!” Angelique coughed again and slid off the kitchen counter. “I knew I was right about you. There always seemed to be something about you—I knew it the moment I met you! But after we figured out the curse, I thought that might have been what I was sensing.”
“Well, I think maybe you were on to something.” I sighed, drumming my fingers on the blue place mat. Angelique chuckled.
“And just a few short weeks ago, you didn’t believe in any of this stuff. Now you think you’re a witch.”
I just shrugged. “Next week I’m probably going to get a pet unicorn. What can I say, the craziest explanations make the most sense these days. Oh—speaking of crazy, I didn’t even tell you what happened today!”
“There’s more?” Angelique asked, grabbing two bottles of water out of the fridge and handing me one before sitting at the table.
“You aren’t wondering why I’m at your house in the middle of the day?”
“Oh, yeah—that is weird.”
“You’re usually way more perceptive,” I observed. “This flu is messing with your head.”
“So, what happened now? Did you meet Frankenstein? I’d believe it, the way things are going.”
“Not quite,” I said, telling her about the packed drama of the day.
“Wow, I picked the wrong time to get the flu,” Angelique said when I was done. “So who do you think emailed the link to the edited video? I mean, it’s so obvious that you and Brendan were set up. Someone is trying to get you into trouble.”
“Most definitely,” I agreed. “Only it backfired. It had to be Anthony or—” I stopped short, remembering how self-satisfied Kristin had looked in English, and what she said—or rather, hissed—in the hall.
“Kristin,” I nearly shouted. “Whoa, that girl has it out for me.”
Angelique nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I mean, she’s usually pretty nasty, but she’s gone overboard on you.”
“I have no idea how to handle it,” I muttered. “The more I try to stand up for what’s right, the worse things get.”
“Just ignore her,” Angelique advised, getting up and refilling her orange juice. “It’s what I’ve done ever since the second week of freshman year.”
“There’s no way this could be the ‘danger’ I’m being warned about, right?” I asked, making finger quotes around the word.
“Nah, I doubt it. But you know, on that topic, I do have an idea,” Angelique said conspiratorially. She stood up and grabbed her water and OJ. “Come back to my room. We’re going to do a spell.”
I raised my eyebrows as I slid the chair back. “For what? Spells are what got me into this mess—well, not me, but my past life me—oh, you know what I mean.”
“This is different.” Angelique led me down a sunny, yellow-painted hallway to her room—which looked much more like what I was expecting from a witch. The walls were dark purple, with glow-in-the-dark stars stuck all over them and a sun, moon and stars-printed tapestry hanging over her bed. Candles dripping with wax and dog-eared books lined the messy shelves of her desk, and an ornate bowl filled with dried rose petals sat next to her bed.
“So what’s the spell?” I asked, kicking off my shoes and sitting cross-legged on her black velvet comforter while she rooted around in her desk drawer. Angelique pulled out a notebook and began scribbling some notes with an oversize blue pen.
“We’re going to amplify your powers—or more to the point, unlock them,” Angelique explained, tapping the pen on her desk for emphasis. “That way, whatever danger is on its way, you’ll have a fighting chance at beating it.”
“How so?”
“I don’t know, it’s not an exact science,” she mused, taking a wooden box off her desk and pulling out some crystals. “We know