Page 80 of Heart of Mischief

As soon as the lamp arrived—whole, none of its parts left behind—she sent it right back, just in case Elias was right and her mom walked in to find it missing. It was good practice anyway, sending things in both directions.

Once she’d worked her way through her bedroom, she expanded her radius, reaching for objects that were even farther away. She’d looked at the time and determined that Abigail was in French class.

She would’ve given anything to hear her friend scream when her textbook vanished right off her desk.

When three o’clock rolled around, Charlie knew that Lou would be taking out the bag of chips she always ate before swim practice. Charlie almost felt bad about snatching the chips right out of her hands.

She would have felt worse if she didn’t bring Lou those same chips almost every day.

Every time she conjured a new item, the Vikings cheeredlike they were watching a football game. They were completely engrossed, and neither seemed remotely bothered by Elias’s presence.

Charlie was shocked by how quickly they’d forgiven him for ruining their chances of getting into Valhalla—especially when Bjorn had previously been so angry that he’d wanted to fight an empty wall. But Elias had shown up to the house every morning with two cases of beer and a plastic bag filled with bottles of mead, all of which the Vikings went through in a single day, an unthinkable amount of alcohol that didn’t even seem to make them drunk.

Or maybe they were just always a little bit drunk.

Whatever the case, Elias’s peace offerings worked. The Vikings were simple men, after all. Food, fighting, and booze—their holy trinity.

The good news: she’d finally gotten a handle on the first step toward learning to dredge.

The bad: it had taken until late afternoon to do so. She was expected home any minute.

They were out of time.

Elias jogged down from the porch to help her pick up the objects scattered on the grass. She wanted to practice sending them all back to where they’d come from, but there was only time to do the biggest objects—the desk chair and comforter. The rest she could only stuff into her backpack to return later.

“Should we meet after my mom goes to bed?” Charlie asked as she stuffed the notebook into her bag. “Get started on dredging?”

Elias shook his head, loading a pair of shoes into the extra plastic bag he’d brought out from the house. “You need rest. It’s more important that you get a good night’s sleep and show up to OET strong and well rested, in case he follows us there.”

“No.” She shook her head. “I’m not stopping here. I’ve barely gotten a handle on levitation and conjuring. I need to keeppracticing. If I can’t learn to dredge before we leave for OET, I at least need to be as good at the two types of magic Icando as possible.”

“What about your mom? She won’t be happy if you don’t show up for dinner.”

“I’ll have dinner, then pretend to go to bed, and at midnight, you can pick me up for more training.”

Elias shook his head. “Damn, Charlotte.” A smile curled the corner of his mouth. “Abigail isn’t the only terrifying one in this town.”

She scoffed. Then, remembering something, she straightened. “Hey. You never told me. What was your hypothesis? About why standing on the rock would make it easier to access my magic?”

“Oh, that?” He grinned. “I had none. But I knew that, with a little boost of confidence…” He winked. “You’d be able to do it all on your own.”

At midnight on the dot, Charlie slipped out her bedroom window, Henry clinging to her collar. She crawled down the shingles and came to sit with her legs dangling over the gutter. It was a fifteen-foot drop to the bushes below. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and summoning a few currents of magic, and pushed herself off the roof.

Thankfully, the currents carried her gently downward. She lost her grip on the magic just before she landed, abruptly dropping the final few feet. Still, nothing was broken or sprained, so she counted it as a win.

As promised, Elias was waiting at the end of the block, the convertible rumbling quietly in the still night. Charlie ran up to the passenger side, placed her hands on the windowsill, and leapt over the side. Henry squawked as they soared through the air, his little body bouncing twice when she landed on the seat.

Elias smirked sideways at her before shifting the car into drive. “Show-off.”

She couldn’t help but smile at having her own insult used against her.

When they arrived at the old house, Charlie was surprised to find Bjorn and Vidar in their usual rocking chairs, despite the late hour.

“What are you two doing up?” she called as she and Elias crossed the lawn.

“Don’t sleep,” Vidar called back, pointing at his chest. “Dead, remember?”

“Oh.” Charlie hadn’t considered that.