Staying Under

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

I woke up on Monday morning with a sense of lethargy that couldn't seem to go away. Our classes were all moved back one period because we all got an extra class taught by the principal herself on the first period. Amy was no more a morning person than I was, and she grouched along the way to class. I hadn't told her about my late-night questioning yesterday. My own mind was still busy, reeling in the murder, the questioning, and...that other thing I didn't want to think about.

We all gathered at the lunch hall for the class because it was the biggest hall to hold everyone. Dee was the most enthusiastic about the class. It was so out of character for her to be enthusiastic, but I guessed if she could be enthusiastic about anything, it made sense that it was about having an extra class. "Isn't this great?" she kept gushing. "We finally have the same class together! And Edgerton is teaching us! I bet this is about some kind of extra protection!"

I nodded along absently. It had occurred to me this morning that if the Council was questioning a student, then it meant they really suspected whoever spell-drugged the principal and murdered Mr. Hollister was someone inside the school.

Principal Edgerton came in five minutes late, looked at our sleepy faces and barked, "Today!" After the students jumped in their chairs, she said again, "Today, we are going to learn a protection spell."

"I knew it!" Dee whispered.

"This spell works very simply to alert anyone linked to it when the person spelled is facing a real danger to their life."

Dee raised her hand.

"Wait until I'm done, Miss Thornton," the principal said. "Since this protection spell works more as an alarm bell than a true defense, I want every student to find at least five people to link themselves to. Find someone reachable that you trust. A guardian or a parent would be too far to link to, so try to keep your links here. If you couldn't find enough people, report immediately and a teacher would find you a link or be your link."

Dee raised her hand again, but the principal gestured to a senior guy on the front instead. "Yes, Mr. Kowalski?"

"Ma'am, what if we're already dead by the time our links registered the alert?"

"Oh, I forgot to mention that the links would also be able to provide you additional magic force, when you were really faced by a great danger. Now, this is how you perform the protection spell. Join your blood with the blood of the person you want to link with direct your raw magic linearly into the mixture. Younger students will be assisted by the teachers. No one will leave this hall until they are linked with five people."

Murmured echoed in the hall and everyone started moving from table to table to find their usual buddies. Amy whispered, "So are we doing this blood oath thing together or what?"

"It's not blood oath," Dee denied. "Blood oath involves an actual oath. This is just a mediocre spell to bind people by their magic temporarily." She looked disappointed. "I thought we were going to do an actual protection spell. This is just so...anticlimactic."

Amy shrugged. "Well, I don't care as long as I got an extra nap faster. Do we cut ourselves on the palm or what?"

"I think a pinprick will do," I said, taking a pin from my blazer.

"What about tetanus?" Amy asked, suddenly worried.

"We're witches," Dee said. "We don't even get flu. Stop being so paranoid." She took my pin and stabbed her middle finger, and then took Amy's finger and stabbed it, ignoring her loud exclamation. I watched as they directed their raw magic into the blood. A small flicker of light was all it looked like, but Amy and Dee staggered back as if they were hit by a car.