“Excuse me?” Milo quirked a brow, then tilted his head ever so slightly to make the expression appear intentional for the camera.
“Between Gael Rios-Vega, Kenzo, and Caleb, I can already see them working harder because they feel they missed an opportunity—”
“They are each blessed by the enchanters they’re working with.” Milo gripped his suit jacket firmly, shifting his pose.
“I’m just curious. Maybe you thought Gael could spark their potentials by working with you.”
“You think I’d compromise his future outcomes for someone else’s? Preposterous.” Milo shook his head disapprovingly. “I never rely on the trolley problem for my moralistic compass. I divert the train and teach it new life skills, so it’ll stay off the tracks.”
“That doesn’t make any goddamn sense.”
“Not much of what I do does.” Milo turned back-to-back with Gael, each folding their arms and standing tall. “Still, it all works out in the end.”
“You and your happy endings.” I tsked.
“Hey, if you’re a good boy, I’ll give you a happy ending later tonight.” Milo sent a slew of dirty thoughts my way. Wave after wave of kinks that sent my blood rushing from my head to my other head.
“You’re becoming a distraction.” I severed my link before Milo could retort with something slick and focused my telepathy back to analyzing the Celestial Coven witch in our custody.
Despite all my progress, I still had to be wary of traps and tricks placed by The True Witch. It didn’t matter. I’d unravel everything and bring an end to her.
The Global Guild facility must’ve relocated close to Cerberus Guild because the familiar minds of those who worked there practically walked right into my head. Their thoughts were like noisy feet stomping in an upstairs apartment.
I allowed their thoughts in, letting them ground me and keep the rest of the city at bay.
Katherine clutched a stack of papers to her chest, nostrils flaring as she bit back her frustration. Once again, Layla and Amani had banded together to cut Katherine off and finish their paperwork tasks before running downstairs to fetch Guild Master Campbell a coffee from the incoming cart.
“Oops.” Layla brushed by Katherine with a hard shove.
“Sorry.” Amani knocked into Katherine, too, adding a bit of telekinesis, which sent the papers scattering to the floor.
Name: Amani Williams
Branch: Psychic (Glamour)
Campbell kept her interns busy, and she spent most of the time treating them like glorified assistants. Which in turn lightened the heavy workload Campbell’s three PAs already had.
While Layla and Amani thrived in the menial tasks, seeing the purpose—or what they believed to be purpose since the girls often put the girls in their clique through the ringer for petty tasks and errands before moving them up some social ladder I couldn’t be bothered to learn a goddamn thing about—Katherine struggled to find joy or meaning in this trivial labor. Nothing she did helped harness her magics, nothing she did taught her the inner workings of the industry, nothing she did seemed like a step toward leadership.
Part of me wanted to link Katherine’s mind to Layla’s, offering a glimmer of insight into the mindsets of mean girls. Since, according to Layla’s logic, everything Campbell did fell in line with her expectations of a mean girl flourishing into a girlboss.
Katherine knelt to pick up the papers, and Jennifer skirted over to assist. Unlike Katherine, Jennifer didn’t see this as an opportunity so much as something she merely needed to endure. Honestly, Jennifer probably had the healthiest outlook of all my homeroom coven students.
Katherine picked up her papers and watched Campbell make her way through the office, using her words more proficiently than the swirl of pink mist she emitted to direct her staff. Curiosity percolated in Katherine’s mind, wondering ways she could mimic that magical versatility, and wondering how Campbell managed to use her rejuvenation magic for day-to-day tasks.
Some would argue that Campbell’s branch was actually classified as an arcane style, which in most instances would’ve afforded her a leg up in the industry. However, given the speculations that her arcane magic was a mixture of rejuvenation and entropy energy, she officially applied for a rejuvenation branch to squash such theories. Somehow, she convinced the board assigning her license that the caustic burn of her mist fell within the rejuvenating parameters. Anything to avoid a career-ending branch association with the entropy magics.
“Tia, Katherine, come along.” Campbell waved them over, using one of her assistants as a sign language translator for Tia since she didn’t want the academy-assigned translator underfoot in her office.
“Yes, Guild Master Campbell,” Katherine said, almost questioningly with curiosity as they followed her to her next meeting.
It didn’t take long for Layla and Amani to intercept Campbell. Layla politely handed off the coffee and strutted beside the guild master, while Amani boldly pushed herself between Campbelland Katherine, giving a glare that’d intimidate most, but Katherine wouldn’t back down when she’d somehow gained. She unfastened her grimoire, the frayed, bulky book, and clutched it close to her chest.
I quirked my brow, mentally tagging along and attempting to understand the bizarre move. Before her thoughts revealed anything, Katherine’s actions demonstrated her goal. She used the book as an excuse to brace herself and bulldozed right into Amani, shoulder bumping her—practically tackling her fellow intern—and then bypassed Layla with the same ferocity.
A mistake that nearly knocked her into Campbell, but even as she pivoted, the coffee in Campbell’s hand was knocked from her grip.
Katherine froze, mortified.
