Behind the Eight Spell Read online

  Behind the Eight Spell

  Samantha Silver

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Also by Samantha Silver

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  I lived every single day on tenterhooks, knowing that at some point, my biological father, one of the worst wizards to have ever roamed the earth, would be coming after me.

  Of course, a part of me still lived in complete and total denial. Prophecies weren’t a real thing, after all. Right? And no one had heard from him in over twenty years. Most people in the paranormal world had assumed he was dead.

  And yet, the prophecy said that I was going to be the one to destroy him.

  Talk about expectations.

  The thing was, I had just passed the one-year anniversary of my living in the paranormal world. Ellie made me a cake, and Amy and Sara worked together to make a scrapbook of my first year in this new life, with memories of all the adventures we’d had so far.

  I was not ashamed to admit I cried just a little bit while going through it.

  But in reality, I was basically a beginner witch in a world of experts. And by all accounts, Titan, my biological father, had been one of the most skilled wizards of his generation. There was absolutely no way I could compete with that, and I had absolutely no idea how to even try. How on earth was someone like me supposed to defeat a wizard like him? It just wasn’t possible. So the prophecy couldn’t really be true after all, could it?

  On the bright side, the prophecy had left no timeline, so there was a chance that I was going to get another ten years or so to hone my skills before he came out from hiding to take me on.

  The problem was, I doubted that was true.

  A little over six weeks ago my existence was made known to the entire paranormal world when I saved my best friend from a killer. And while I’d do it again in a heartbeat, I knew that now, if he was out there, Titan knew I was alive, and he would stop at nothing to destroy me.

  That was why, when I was awoken in the morning by something landing directly on my chest, I let out a yelp of horror, immediately sat up, grabbed the wand I always kept under my pillow, and pointed it directly at the intruder.

  “Stop! Who’s there?” I shouted.

  “It’s me,” Mr. Meowgi, my familiar, replied. “No wonder you can’t see me, though. I’m wasting away from hunger.”

  “Oh, Jupiter,” I muttered, putting the wand down and clutching at my chest. My heart was beating at a million miles a minute and I felt like I was going to puke. “What is wrong with you?”

  “Me? What’s wrong with you?” Mr. Meowgi asked. “It’s almost eight thirty in the morning. It was time for my breakfast an hour ago.”

  I groaned and rolled out of bed, sliding onto the floor as my body delayed getting up for as long as humanly possible. “You do realize one day I’m going to curse you into a different dimension if you keep doing that, right?”

  “As long as that other dimension has tuna, then it’s an upgrade over this one,” Mr. Meowgi grumbled, making his way to my feet and pawing at them.

  “If those claws come out, you’re in trouble, mister,” I warned with a shake of my finger. I slowly got up off the floor, threw on some clothes, cast a quick spell to fix my hair, and made my way down the hall, with Mr. Meowgi’s paws padding quickly in front of me as he led the way.

  “Out of the way, inferior witches, it’s time for me to have breakfast,” he announced as I made my way into the kitchen. Ellie and Sara were at The Witching Flour this morning, serving delicious baked goods to customers, but Amy was sitting at the dining table, her head barely visible behind the mound of leather-bound books that surrounded her.

  Mr. Meowgi strutted into the kitchen, then, realizing the only witch in here was Amy and that she wasn’t paying him any attention, he made his way to his food bowl and sat down, moving his tail from side to side and waiting impatiently for it to be filled while I went to the cupboard to open a tin of food.

  “Studying going well?” I asked Amy, watching her eyes as they scanned the page at a rapid pace.

  “I’m nervous,” she replied. “My first exam is tomorrow, and I don’t think I’m the least bit prepared for it.”

  “Well, I know you, so that means you’re absolutely over-prepared, and you’re going to get a perfect mark on it,” I replied. She looked up and gave me a small smile.

  “I do hope you’re right. Studying the law is so different from studying magic, though. There’s the rote memorization of thousands of years of law-making, of course, and then the rote memorization of all of the laws local to Western Woods. Of course, if I want to practice elsewhere, I’ll need to memorize those as well. Then there’s the critical thinking skills required to put them all together into good arguments for my potential clients. At least that part is similar to how we have to study the relationship between various herbs in concoctology, but it’s still pretty hard.”

  As she got further and further into the sentence, Amy’s voice got more and more high-pitched.

  “Hey, it’s going to be fine,” I said, trying to calm her down. I couldn’t help but notice that her hair was untidy and her clothes were wrinkled. “When was the last time you went outside?”

  Amy shrugged. “I don’t know. What does it matter? My books are indoors.”

  “Alright, fine,” I said. “Come on, time to get up. We’re going for a walk, and you’re going to relax for just a little bit.”

  “I can’t relax. The exam is tomorrow.”

  “Well, fine, but you can panic about stuff in the fresh air,” I replied. “Come on. Summer is coming to an end and the weather is perfect.”

  Amy let out a little bit of a whimper as she stared at her books longingly, but when I made my way over to her and gently prodded her, she got up.

  “Go have a shower, and I’ll meet you down here in ten minutes,” I said. While Amy went upstairs, I poured myself a bowl of cereal and made my way to her infinite collection of books. I began to read but my eyes quickly glazed over the words. How she managed to study this stuff for hour after hour, day after day, I had no idea.

  I had started doing my own studying, as well. Veterinary science didn’t exist in the paranormal world, and I was planning on becoming the very first Animal Healer. My boyfriend Kyran had gotten me a number of textbooks from a college in the human world, and I’d begun my studies, finding that textbooks filled with pictures of cute animals and plenty of diagrams were far more interesting than the walls of text Amy was dealing with.

  “Alright, I’m ready,” Amy said, retuning a few minutes later. “But I’m only going out for half an hour, enough to get a daily dose of vitamin D, and then I’m coming back in.”

  I hid a smile. Only Amy could give a casual, relaxing walk a scientific reasoning.

  The two of us made our way out into the sunshine and began heading toward the Coven Gardens. I loved the gardens, especially the large lake in the middle. Of all the spaces in this cute little town that I liked, I liked the lake most of all.

  “Business is booming at The Witching Flour,” I said, trying to move the subject from that of studying. “Ellie was talking about hirin
g a fairy to help out, since Sara and me both working part-time isn’t going to be enough. We’re going to need two people working at the front while Ellie does the baking in the back.”

  “That’s such wonderful news,” Amy said with a smile. “I was really worried when one of the customers was murdered on the first day, but thankfully things have picked back up.”

  “Yeah. Plus, as I always said to Ellie, a bite of those cinnamon buns was worth risking death for.”

  “There’s always that. How are your Animal Healer studies going?”

  “Pretty well,” I replied. “I’m starting to get the hang of things, and while Mr. Meowgi is absolutely not enthusiastic about being tested on, he’s learning that he doesn’t have much of a choice. And that I give him salmon jerky if he manages to not be a jerk for an hour while I try things out. That’s definitely helping on the getting-my-familiar-to-cooperate front.”

  Amy laughed. “I can’t imagine he’s too pleased with his new role in your life. Still, that’s good. It’s important that you have some practical experience.”

  “Yeah. I’ve also developed a few new potions that are animal-specific. I know it’s still going to take a few years before I’m ready, but I’m really looking forward to being able to help familiars and other animals.”

  “Good,” Amy said as the two of us made our way into the garden. “Now, can we head home?”

  “It’s barely been five minutes,” I said, shooting her a look. “You’re all about science. Haven’t you read all those studies that say you need to give your brain time to absorb all the information you’re learning? You can’t just cram for the exam and expect to know everything. Besides, you’re Amy. If anyone knows everything, it’s you.”

  Amy sighed. “I know. Normally, I’d agree with you. But I’m especially nervous about this exam. It’s my first opportunity to prove myself against the elves. If I fail at this, it’s going to be a major sign that I’m going to fail at the whole thing, and then what have I done? If I fail, no other witch is going to be allowed to try and be a lawyer for thousands of years, if ever. How do I deal with it if that happens?”

  “Hey,” I said, leading Amy to a bench and sitting down next to her. “Look at me. You can’t think that way, ok? For one thing, you don’t know that you’re going to fail. You’re Amy Perkins, for crying out loud. You’re the witch who got one hundred percent on a test at the Academy that no one else in the entire class passed. You’re the witch who listed the coven library as her home address on a form when you were six years old. You’re the witch who once corrected a professor so many times she told you to teach the class if you knew everything so well, you did, and the professor complained to Lita.”

  Amy laughed. “Who told you all these stories?”

  “Who do you think? Ellie and Sara, of course. You’re the best witch we know by far. If anybody can do this, it’s you. And yes, what happens might end up having an impact on whether or not witches and wizards can study to be lawyers in the future. But you know what’s more important? That you do the best for you. Don’t do it for all of witchkind. Do it because you want to be a lawyer. You put enough pressure on yourself. You don’t need to add pressure from an entire species of paranormals to your shoulders, too.”

  Amy gave me a smile. “Thanks. That helps. You’re right, I need to keep things in perspective. I can’t have this much pressure on myself and still succeed.”

  “Good. Now stare out over the lake and enjoy the view. Let your eyes relax for a bit and clear your head.”

  Amy did as I asked, and the two of us stared out over the lake. It was a gorgeous August day. The temperature was in the low eighties, which was absolutely my happy place, temperature-wise. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and birds sang their songs as they swooped between the trees. A couple of ducks paddled along the edge of the lake, occasionally poking their heads down into search of a snack, sticking their fluffy little butts into the air.

  In the distance I was fairly certain I could see Sara’s broom ducking in and out of the trees as she practiced for the next season of the broom championship – I supposed business was slow at The Witching Flour and she was taking a quick break to practice. Sara was finally coming to terms with being the paranormal world broom flying champion. After a huge parade was held here in Western Woods in her honor, reality seemed to finally set in, and she began focusing on the next year’s competition, in which she would defend her title. Sara had always practiced hard, but now it was like she had shifted into a whole new gear. Whenever she had a spare moment she was on that broom, doing drills and practicing hard to be faster and more aerodynamic.

  “So,” I asked Amy after a minute. “What are you thinking about?”

  “I’m going through the list of exceptions to the Vampire Biting Act of 1642.”

  I sighed. “Alright. We might as well head home. I’m not sure this is actually getting your mind off things.”

  Amy gave me a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry. I know you’re trying, but I’m just not wired to relax this close to an exam. Don’t worry, after tomorrow I’ll be fine.”

  “You will,” I said. “Especially when you come out of there knowing you kicked butt.”

  The two of us got up and headed back home. Amy was going to be fine. I just knew it.

  Chapter 2

  When we got back I dove into my own books and spent most of the day studying, with Mr. Meowgi doing his best to stay as far away from me as possible—he wasn’t a fan of being a test dummy—but as six o’clock neared, all the words on the page began to blur and I figured I’d make some dinner for Ellie and Sara when they got home, as they’d have been on their feet the whole day.

  As a ragu simmered away in the kitchen and I got ready to cast a spell on the water to boil it and toss in some spaghetti, Sara and Ellie made their way through the door looking haggard and more than a little exhausted.

  “Any chance you can come in tomorrow?” Ellie asked me, her eyes pleading. “I’ve got four interviews lined up, and we so desperately need someone else. Sara was able to pop out for her break for half an hour, but I still had to call her back and beg her to come in and help me. It was a madhouse out there. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. I love how popular The Witching Flour has become, but boy will it be easier to manage when I have more staff.”

  “Of course,” I said with a nod. “Whatever you need.”

  “Thank Jupiter, I’m so glad you made dinner,” Sara said, plopping down on the couch in the living room. “I swear, we didn’t get a single break from open to close today. It was just paranormal after paranormal after paranormal. It was absolutely crazy.”

  “I spent half the day that I should have been baking manning the coffee machine,” Ellie said, grabbing a glass from the cupboard and pouring herself some water from the dispenser that was built into the fridge. “We’re just so busy. I really hope one of these fairies works out.”

  “They will, don’t worry,” I said. “I have faith.”

  “I made you up a sheet you can use as a model for interviews,” Amy said from her spot at the dining table, digging through the mounds of paper, searching for the right one. “I looked up what modern psychology considers to be the ideal questions for a job interview. These aren’t like the old days where you just list your strengths and weaknesses. The most important thing isn’t for an employee to know exactly how to do everything, it’s for their vision for the company to align with your own.”

  “When on earth did you have time to do all that?” I asked as Amy triumphantly pulled a sheet of paper from a large pile and passed it over to Ellie.

  “I took a twenty-minute break at one point and thought I should do that for Ellie,” Amy explained. “After all, she doesn’t have any hiring experience.”

  “I appreciate this, thanks,” Ellie said, her eyes scanning the sheet of paper as I made my way to the kitchen and cast a spell on the full pot of water. It immediately came to a rolling boil and I added a box of spaghetti, stirr
ing the noodles as they began to soften.

  “Do you want me to help?” I asked. “I actually do have a bit of experience hiring staff. When I worked at the bar in Seattle the manager was often too lazy to do it himself, so I got to run a couple of interviews.”

  “If you’re willing, absolutely,” Ellie said. “Thanks.”

  “No problem.” I grabbed a loaf of garlic bread from the fridge and put it in the oven I had preheated a few minutes earlier. Five minutes later dinner was ready, and I poured sauce over the big bowls of spaghetti, putting the garlic bread on a large plate. Amy grumbled as the dining table was slowly taken over, moving her papers to the side but still trying to sneak a peek at her textbooks while the rest of us ate dinner.

  “Do you want to give that new potion you were looking at a shot tonight?” Ellie asked me after we finished the first bowl. She went up for seconds while I looked at my bowl, wavering. I wanted more spaghetti, but I wasn’t sure I needed more spaghetti. Eventually, I made a decision and wandered back to the bowl as well. After all, you only live once. Might as well eat the spaghetti while you can, right?

  “I’d love to,” I answered. “But aren’t you exhausted? We can wait until tomorrow if you’d like.”

  “No, it’s fine,” Ellie said, shaking her head. “The spaghetti really helped.”

  I was so incredibly touched by Ellie. Here she was, trying to start a new business and working herself to the bone, and she was still willing to teach me how to make a potion I needed to get right.

  “You’re the best,” I said. “Thanks so much.”

  “Of course. It’s not a problem. I want to see you become the first Animal Healer the paranormal world has ever seen, after all.”