“If you are going to lie, at least be committed to it. You can’t just give yourself away like this,” I teased her. “Now, tell me what you are really looking for.”
She made a face before sitting cross-legged right in front of me. “I’m looking for the grimoire.”
“What grimoire?”
“Your grimoire.” She sighed, dropping her chin onto her palm. “Seeing as how you don’t want to show it to me.”
“Magdalena, I’ve told you a hundred times I don’t have a grimoire.”
“That’s not what the elders said!” she shot back and then pouted again. “I heard them talking about you, and they said with your book, Wiccans finally have more than enough power to fight back. I want to fight, too. I’m the best in all my magic training. Even Mr. Omeron said so, too, and he trained with me.”
“First, how do you know what the elders are talking about?” I asked her only for her to grin again, which meant she wasn’t just sneaking into my room. No wonder her cloaking was getting better, the sneaky little mouse.
“Don’t tell on me,” she said quickly, and I flicked her nose to her annoyance. “Hey!”
“You really shouldn’t eavesdrop on the elders or tell people what you hear. You most likely misunderstood whatever it was,” I said, rising off the floor. “Come on. I’ll take you back to your house.”
“But what about the grimoire?” she complained.
“For the one hundred and second time, I do not have a grimoire,” I said, reaching beside her to get my slippers and robe. “I promise you if I had one, I wouldn’t hide it from you, Magdalena. We are friends.”
She smiled wide at that. “Then can you teach me more spells?”
“I’m a horrible teacher.” My magic didn’t work like everyone else’s, so I didn’t know how to teach other people. “But I am glad you are working so hard. Keep up the good work.”
“Fine, then will you at least tell me about being a goddess.”
Oh, God. I wanted to crawl right back into bed and hide under my covers.
“I am not a goddess.”
“But that’s what everyone is saying. They said you disappeared right in front of their eyes and went to the heavens.”
“I did what?”
“You went to the heavens. Mr. Mallory said he saw a flash of light, like thunder in your eyes, and then you vanished. Mrs. Cromwell said when she saw you, you were floating up dressed in white, and then Mrs. Jones said she saw it, too, but you had wings behind your back right before you disappeared.”
I stared at her, all words lost from my mouth. Eyes of thunder? White dress? Wings? Were they serious? Was this how myths were started? None of that had happened. They were all there, and yeah, I went away, but surely someone else would have noticed wings! Especially me!
“Can you show me, Dru?”
“Yeah, sure. When my wings magically appear, I’ll fly directly to your window!” I rolled my eyes, but Magdalena didn’t get my sarcasm.
“Druella, you can’t do that. The humans will see,” she lectured as I held the door open for her to step into the hall with me.
“Yes, that is dangerous,” I said dramatically, shaking my head. As if any of this conversation were likely to happen.
“I can’t wait for the day when I don’t have to hide magic again. Do you think we can make a school like Hogwarts?” she exclaimed as we went down the stairs. “I don’t like normal school.”
“Why?”
“It’s boring. Who cares about fractions when I have magic!” she grumbled as she reached the last step then looked up to me. “And human boys in my class are weird. This boy stuck a crayon into his nose so he could see if he could blow out blue boogers.”
I tried not to laugh, especially with the holier-than-though are-you-freaking-kidding-me look she had on her face now, hand on her hip and all.
“I think boys are weird no matter what, Magdalena,” I said, and she exhaled dramatically, rolling her whole head and eyes. I moved to open the door but paused and then looked back to her. “And boys shouldn’t be your concern right now. Do you feel who’s behind this door?”
She frowned and tilted her head to the side. It took her a second, but then her eyes widened. Immediately, she moved to run back up the stairs, but I caught her by the neck of her shirt.