Page 81 of Rogue Witch

“Thanks,” I say, then, “Ariel, I’m coming in,” and enter.

Ariel turns from where she’s staring out the window. “Is my father here?”

I leave the door open and take only two paces into the room. “I’m sorry, not yet. Domini should be here soon. We need to talk.”

She crosses to her bed and drops onto the mattress. “I don’t have to talk to you.”

“You don’t have any feelings about killing a fellow student?”

“I didn’t kill anyone,” she says.

“We’ve got a dozen witnesses who say you orchestrated the hanging of Robert Janson and the attempted hanging of Chelsea Nightlow.”

She shrugs. “That was The Shadows’ fault.”

Bootfalls echo in the hallway outside her room and, an instant later, Headmaster Domini enters.

“Ethan.” His gaze shifts to Ariel. “Ms. Littleton.”

“I was just asking Ariel how she feels about leading the hanging of Robert Janson,” I say.

“Say what you want, I can’t help that Shadows got to me,” she replies without emotion.

“No one is blaming you for being infected by Shadows,” Domini said. “But you do have some responsibility for how you responded.”

“It wasn’t my fault,” she shoots back.

I glance at Domini, who asks, “Who’s fault was it?”

“Leilah Crowe.”

I blink in surprise.

“She was using Shadow magic—just like her grandmother,” Ariel rushes on. “She was using Shadow magic before we were taken in the Reaping.”

“What proof have you that she was practicing Shadow magic?” Domini asks.

“In the Reaping, we saw her. She was communicating with the Shadows. She ordered them to stop, and they obeyed. They were crawling on her arms and shoulders.”

Fear seizes my heart and squeezes. Is Jonas right? Did Leilah get infected?

“According to reports of other students, Shadows were crawling all over you and the other students who participated in the hanging,” I say carefully.

Ariel shrugs. “Like I said, that was her fault. She commanded them to chase us. Ask Anthony. He was there.”

“I understand you and Anthony were chasing Jonas,” I say. “Anthony threatened him and other students with a tree branch.”

She rolls her eyes. “The tree branch was to fight off the wolves. Leilah Crowe was there—with one of the wolves. I bet she didn’t tell you that. We were trying to save Jonas from her. She was feeding black balls of energy to the Shadows.”

“What?” Domini blurts.

I snap my head in his direction.

“What do you mean ‘feeding black balls of energy’?” he asks, his voice calm.

“She conjured these black balls of energy and tossed them at the Shadows,” Ariel says. “Everyone could see that she was using Shadow magic. I mean, who conjures black balls of energy? Things got way worse after that.”

Domini opens his mouth to reply, but I cut him off, “How could things get worse, Ariel? You instigated a hanging.”