Good Witches Don't Cheat (Academy of Shadowed Magic Book 2) by S.W. Clarke

Author:S.W. Clarke [Clarke, S.W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-12-08T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Six

That night, Aidan showed me a room on the grounds I hadn’t even known existed.

“This was originally a storage area,” he said as we passed through a door I’d never noticed before. It was built into a fat-bottomed tree on the edge of the clearing, whose branches encroached on the other trees as though it was reaching out to be touched.

We came into a darkened space, and I lit a flame in my palm. I had to admit: every day I trained with Rathmore, the fire came more and more easily. Around me, the fire reflected off the hard edges of looming shapes. I recognized a desk, a bookcase, an old saddle stand. “What is all this?”

“Detritus, now.” Aidan shoved his way through the room, cutting a path to the other side. “Some of this stuff is over a hundred years old. They just forgot about it.”

“How did you know it was here?”

He shrugged. “When you’re a new student ambassador, you take your responsibilities seriously.”

“By which you mean, you poked and prodded everywhere you could.”

“Something like that.” He shouldered up against the wall, pushing against it. “Ugh, this one’s always sticky.”

“Aidan, you’re just pushing a wall.”

He ignored me. With a grunt, he shoved all his weight into it—and the wall opened. When he disappeared inside, I just stood there with the flame in my hand.

“All right,” I said. “You were doing more than poking and prodding.”

“Come on,” his voice called from the darkness. “Bring the light with you.”

I came forward, found myself in a room smelling of earth and roots and must—a strange combination.

Aidan’s hand took my wrist, and he guided my flame up. A moment later, it took in a light fixture hanging from the ceiling—a magical lantern in the shape of one of those round IKEA shades, casting its soft light over every surface.

Before me stood a circular table, chairs at odd angles like whoever had been seated in them had risen and left abruptly. The walls had been adorned with strange, carved graffiti I couldn’t really read.

Someone had carved ELISE 1853 in large letters on the far wall.

I bent, uprighted a fallen chair. It was covered in must. “This is weird.”

“It’s the only safe place I could think of.” Aidan used his cloak to swipe at the table’s surface. “Everywhere else is…unsecret.”

The storage door opened, and we met eyes. Turned toward the partly-ajar door to the secret room.

A thud. A high, breathy voice cursed.

“Eva?” I called, stepping to the door.

“It’s me,” she called back. “I’ve got Loki and Jericho. I can’t see anything.”

I emerged into the doorway with the flame in my hand. “Back here.”

When all five of us were in the room, Aidan shut the door, his back to it. Eva dropped Loki to the floor, and he proceeded to lick himself clean. Meanwhile, Jericho ran a hand over his head.

“This is new,” he said.

“Apparently it’s old.” I pointed to the carving on the opposite wall. “Really old.”

“So old it’s new,” Eva said, eyes on Aidan.

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