Vile Sorcery by Eva Chase

Author:Eva Chase [Chase, Eva]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781989096420
Publisher: Ink Spark Press
Published: 2019-06-04T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Rory

“Do you think it’s possible?” I asked Imogen, leaning my elbows on the dorm room table on either side of my now-empty lunch plate. “Could a sickness spell be passed on through someone’s familiar?”

She tapped her spoon against the bottom of her bowl. The sweet tomato-y smell of the soup she’d eaten still laced the air. “Like I told you before, I’m not an expert at this stuff yet. And offensive magic isn’t what I’m specializing in anyway. But from what I do know, I don’t see why it couldn’t be possible. It can’t be what’s going on with Professor Banefield, though.”

I frowned. “Why not?”

“He doesn’t have a familiar anymore,” Imogen said. “Someone asked him about it in one of my classes with him. He got a little sad-looking and said the one he’d had for a long time had passed on, and he didn’t plan on taking another one.” We’d already been speaking quietly even though we were alone in the common room, but she lowered her voice even more. “I heard from one of my dad’s coworkers that it’s because of his wife.”

“How so?”

“It’s really tragic. She was in a car accident down by New York City years back. A drunk driver came out of nowhere. She was hurt so bad she couldn’t call for anyone to help, and the Naries who showed up couldn’t do enough to save her. The worst part is, she was pregnant, but not far enough along that they could rescue the kid either.” She grimaced. “Anyway, he and his wife got their familiars together—cats that were sisters. I guess for him it was one last connection to her. When his cat died, he didn’t want to get another one.”

“That’s awful,” I said. “The whole thing about his wife, I mean.” A pang of sympathy ran through me. Banefield had always seemed so warm and easy-going with me—other than when I’d gotten on his case about Shelby and her tree, anyway. The poor guy.

My mind slid back to my own parents with a flash of memory: Mom’s defiant face, blood on the kitchen tiles. I closed my eyes for a second as my own grief welled up the way it did here and there without warning. Breathe into it and breathe it out.

I was going to get justice for them. That was the only reason I’d stayed here at the university. Maybe Banefield would help me, whether he realized he was doing it or not—if I could help him first. I owed him either way.

“What about—” I started, and cut myself off at the squeak of the door. Shelby slipped into the dorm room, her face brightening at the sight of us. My jab of resentment at the sight of her was chased by a pinching of guilt. It wasn’t her fault I couldn’t talk about anything magical in front of her.

“One more week until the concert,” she said, coming over to the kitchen with springier steps than usual. “We’re going to knock your socks off.

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