“Excellent.” Fuck. “Can we—” I wave at my whiteboard. “And, I’d like to point out, you’ve contributednoideas to my list. Maybe there isn’t anything useful to conjuration after all.”
Granted, I’ve only addedoneidea to my own list—a rune that softens the severity of any lightning spell; figured something’s gotta be in there about affecting multiple spells with one single spell—but still.
Elethior doesn’t echo my thought, though it’s clear on his face. “There’s a spell I’ve been researching by a conjuration wizard in the twelfth century. Kojyngilla. She used it to braid several spells into one, but I’m still trying to work out if her spell was successful or if it’s something historians recorded but was never tested.” He lifts one of the kindergarten workbooks. “But now, I’ve got all these extra assignments on my plate. I mean, I have to write the alphabet several times. And, oh, there are coloring sheets for each letter, too? I’ll be here all night.”
He smiles at me.Smiles.Not smirks, not grimaces.
“Good. Okay. Thanks. Perfect.” Too many monotone words in a row but my hands can’t burrow any deeper into Orok’s sleeves, and running out of the room isn’t an option.
I sit back at my desk and grab my phone, tapping frantically on the screen. This conversation is over and I am very, very busy.
My dad tried to call me again. He left a voicemail.
My body already feels like it wants to claw out of itself, so I delete it without listening to it. Honestly, it’s nice to have something to do with my hands so I’m not pretending to be distracted.
Elethior turns back to his desk when it’s clear I’m done interacting with him. But with every passing second, Ifeelthe memories ofjoking with him, of him smiling at me, of all thisbondingwe’re doing. We hop-skip-jumped right over professional and into camaraderie, and no part of me is okay with that.
He was only supposed to be another greedy, power-hungry Tourael.
He wasn’t supposed to buy treats for myfox.
I drop my phone, pull out one of my own books, and research nothing that sticks in my brain.
Chapter Seven
The next day, Elethior’s stolen all my pens.
I check my desk for more, and he’s cast a darkness spell inside the drawers so there very well might be some in there, but I can’t see them.
He played a prank on me.Elethior,king ofmaturity,played a prankon me.
I can feel him at his workstation, reclined in his chair with his feet on his desk, watching for my reaction.
A tremor starts in the center of my palm.
I slam the drawer closed, leaving the darkness spell intact, and fire up my laptop. “You get that research done about Kojyngilla?”
Silence is thick in the air. Another abyss that tugs on me, beckons me to fall.
His feet smack against the floor when he sits upright. “Yeah. I did,” he says, voice stiff. “It’s worth testing. I can add it to the board.”
He stands to do that.
I throw myself out of the chair. “No, I got it.”
I wince. I’m being a dick. But I write his idea on my list, bringing us to a grand total of… two. Awesome.
I’m not sure what I’ll say to him when I turn around, but the awkwardness is taken away from me as a faint buzzing vibrates from his pocket.
He pulls out his phone and glances at the screen, back up at me—
—then does a double take at his phone.
The energy shifts. An undeniable narrowing.
His face pales and he answers, shoving the phone against his ear. “Hello?”
The responding voice is too low for me to hear, but I catch a caring tone, and it’s obviously someone Elethior recognizes; his eyelids flutter.
