"What is that bad in black magic terms?" I ask.
"The person in the middle is the one most at risk of being hurt."
"Great. Just what I want." Though it's a small price to pay for the freedom it'll give me. "But no one else is?" If that's the case, then maybe this is something I should be considering after all.
"No. It'll drain some power, but nothing that can't be recuperated."
"You're seriously considering this, aren't you?" I ask her, a little in awe of the fact she's willing to go to such lengths for me.
"Of course. I want to help. And if I'm a quarter of the magic this spell needs, then that's what I'll do."
"And that's just the pr
oblem, isn't it?" I point out. "You're only a quarter of the magic we need."
"That's fine. Thomas will definitely help. Let's face it, that's why he left the books in your room in the first place. He probably even managed to figure out I'd be the one to persuade you..."
"You're talking about this as if it's a done deal." And while I'll admit to almost being swayed by her reasoning, I'm not quite there. The last thing I want is to get her into trouble, and this is heading there. Quickly, at the rate she's going.
"And then we'll just ask Ryan." Excitement shines in her eyes, but I'm already shaking my head.
"We can't ask Ryan."
"Whyever not? He's half in love with you, he'd do it."
"I'm not taking advantage of him just because he has a crush on me," I counter.
"Oh, Mona. It's not a crush. It's so much worse than a crush."
Part of me wants to point out she uses the same denial technique when it comes to Ryan's best friend, but I don't think it's worth it. Not when she's trying to help me.
"I still say no to Ryan."
"But Mona, we need him to make four plus you."
"No, we don't. He'd only be three plus me," I point out. "And that means we're definitely not bringing him into this."
"Bringing me into what?" Caspian asks from the doorway.
I groan. "You need to learn to knock," I chide him without thinking. My hand flies to my mouth, wanting to stuff the words I've just said back in so he can no longer hear them. "I'm so sorry, I don't know why I just said that."
Caspian chuckles. "It's okay, I deserve it. But this time, I did knock. You didn't seem to hear me. Now, what were you not asking me?"
"It wasn't you we were talking about," Daphne cuts in. "But we can ask you too."
I shake my head and draw a finger across my neck, trying to get her to stop talking and let me handle Caspian. I don't want him to be in on this. It'll put us in a more precarious situation than before. We only just got our relationship back on track, I don't want to ruin it.
"Now I'm intrigued. What is it that Mona doesn't want me to know?"
"Black magic," Daphne says, her matter of fact tone destroying any doubts that she's joking.
I sigh and rub a hand over my face. What have I gotten myself into?
No. Wait. None of this is my fault. All I did is come to the academy I wanted.
"You have instructions about that? Where did you find them?" Excitement taints his words.
What is it with the people I know and their excitement about something so illegal. I've never had the urge to do anything wrong, and I don't think I pick people who want to be trouble makers either.