After spending the long weekend being counterproductive, Callie was eager to get back to Shipton. She had less than two weeks before the Council’s Winter Ball and her anticipation was growing with each day. She woke up one morning to Aubrey jumping on her bed and shaking her. She opened one eye blearily as her roommate pointed to the window.
Aubrey exclaimed in excitement, "It’s finally snowing!"Callie sat up and stared at the snow outside before deciding she was uninterested. She lied back down and pulled her comforter over her head. Aubrey tried to shake her again. Her roommate tried to plead with her, "Let’s build a snowman."Callie muttered through the comforter. "You’re too old to be playing in the snow, Aubrey.""I’m sixteen, not sixty. I’m not that old.""You’re not six which is the only appropriate age for this nonsense."She couldn’t see her roommate pouting but she knew Aubrey definitely was.Out of the list of things Callie could guess she would walk into after class, her roommate and Matthias kissing passionately on the bed wasn’t one of them. She would later think she should’ve seen it coming. They had been dancing around each other for weeks. Enoch’s little nudge did the trick to finally get them to acknowledge their feelings and they were expressing them with enthusiasm.They didn’t notice her at first as they were so caught up with each other. She could leave and let them do their thing but before she could decide on that Matthias finally noticed her. He leapt off Aubrey and fell off the bed landing on the carpet with a hard thud. Aubrey was wide-eyed and looked mortified."Callie!" she said. "What are you doing here?""I live here."Matthias shot up to his feet. "I should go."Aubrey looked dismayed. "You don’t have to-""I need to go." He dipped down and gave her a quick peck. "I’ll see you later."
On the way to their first class, Nadia grabbed both Callie and Aubrey’s arms and stopped them from walking. They both turned to her in confusion as she told her familiar, Tiya, to fly through the hallway first. When nothing happened, Nadia looked relieved and encouraged them to move forward. This continued on until they were outside the Potions classroom."Any reason why you’re acting weird?" Aubrey asked as she opened the classroom door for them to enter."Enchanted mistletoe. It’s a prank by some devious Second Years," Nadia answered as they made their way to their usual seats. "The professors have gotten rid of most of it but there are still a few around causing havoc."Ah, it explained why Nadia was using her familiar as a canary in a mine. Aubrey bit back a smile. "I heard about them."Callie questioned, "What do they do exactly?""You get caught under the mistletoe and you’re stuck until somebody gives you a kiss," the oth
The weekend before exams Aubrey and Nadia insisted they needed a reprieve and opted for a girls’ night to unwind. Finnegan decided to make himself scarce again as Nettie decided she didn’t trust him around her kittens. Aubrey was wearing her favorite purple cat onesie while Nadia was wearing a yellow bird onesie that looked like her familiar. Callie blinked at the box Aubrey handed over to her."Open it." Aubrey pushed the box closer towards her. "I decided to give you your Christmas present early."She hadn’t received a nice present since she was ten and those things she either lost or discarded due to bad memories associated with them. Those presents had been from her father whose gifts could range from knives and books on warfare to dolls and tea sets. She never knew what to expect with him. She had to be always grateful as he didn’t like it either when he thought she wasn't being appreciative.She absentmindedly rubbed her right wrist when
Exams were a nuisance. Callie was irritable and exhausted as she finished with her last exam. Everyone was going home for winter break the next day and she needed to pack all of her belongings. She made her way to the dining hall for lunch when there was a commotion at another table.A First Year girl fell from her chair and was convulsing on the floor. Her friends surrounded her concerned as the professors rushed over. Doctor Crane was checking over her as the girl continued to writhe on the ground. The girl sat up with a big gasping breathe, making everyone step back from her.She turned and stared directly at Callie with eyes completely black. Demon eyes. "Mother!" the girl shouted in a voice several octaves deeper than her own. The girl got to her feet and ran towards her, arms stretched to reach for her. Callie could barely think about running away or fighting before Nadia folded her hands together and pushed a blast of energy at the girl. It knocked back
Callie had two days to prepare for the Winter Ball. She booked a hotel in Rhode Island that allowed pets and memorized the address to the Castillo home. All her belongings were packed up in a suitcase and where she went after the ball was a mystery to her. She had only ever imagined the before and the Ball but never beyond that. Getting this close had been long and arduous just for her one opportunity. The night before the Ball she tried to sleep but found herself thinking about everything that had led to this. People were dead because of her. She had left a trail of misery in her wake and she promised herself that once she got to her father it would be all over. She would disappear and it would be like she never existed. Nicholas, Aubrey, Nadia, Matthias, and Enoch would all forget her and move on with their lives. She hadn’t left any real impact. She was a passerby in their individual stories and one day they wouldn’t even remember her name.She reassu
Callie threw the strongest sleeping spell she could conjure at her father as his mouth opened to say something. His eyes closed and he collapsed face forward to the ground with a loud thud. She had to work quickly. Cloaking the two of them in shadows, she dragged his body towards the terrace at the side and to the Greenhouse on the property, adrenaline giving the strength she needed for the task.She closed the glass doors of the Greenhouse and every locking and silencing spell she knew. She reached under her skirts for the knife she strapped to the holster around her thigh. It was dark but that didn’t deter as she cut into her forearm to draw blood. She drew a circle around him and the sigils quickly.When she finished, she got to her feet and stared down at her father. He almost looked harmless when he was asleep but she knew better. She threw another spell to wake him and conjured a small fireball for illumination. His eyebrows furrowed as he blinked to consciousn
Callie woke up in a cold cell. She was still dressed in her gown and her shoes were gone. Barefoot, she got up and looked around. The cell was narrow with no windows. The only light came from the steel door that was locked shut.She recognized the sigils carved into the metal. It burned her when she tried to touch the door. Anti-demon wards. There were sigils covered into the stone walls of the cell.The room was empty save for the thin cot on the floor. She sat down as she tried to figure out a way to escape. Her magic wouldn’t work because of the wards. She was trapped.She didn’t know how long she waited in that cold cell. She huddled into herself for warmth and she was starving. She wanted water. It could’ve been days before the metal door finally opened and Head Warlock Castillo walked in carrying a tray.He closed the door behind him and placed the tray in front of her. She didn’t hesitate to grab the bowl of oatmeal and spooned it i
Callie decided that laying on that thin cot and starving to death was the way to go. It wasn’t like anyone was going to miss her. She had no family. She kept her friends at arm’s length so it would make it easier for them to forget about her.There she was alone and waiting for death. It would be better than going with the master grand plan of the universe for her. She would rather just die and suffer in whatever circle of Hell they wanted to send her to than be some piece in the apocalypse. She was on the second day of her hunger strike when Police Chief Oliveira entered her cell and brought her a bowl of soup.He placed the tray beside the cot but didn’t leave. He took a seat on the ground and waited. She stared at the wall and ignored the gnawing in her belly. She was dizzy and weak and she just wanted to close her eyes and block out the world."You need to eat," Oliveira said. "They told me you haven’t had anything in days."She didn&r