Chapter Three
Three hours later, I was standing in the closet that housed the pack’s spell supplies. They called it metaphysics, which was laughable. It was magic and had almost nothing to do with science.
Wolves. I shook my head.
I scanned the shelves again, not believing that they could be missing sage. It was the base of almost every spell I did. I always had at least four bunches on had at all times. But there wasn’t a single solitary leaf in this so-called supply room. I hadn’t noticed it was missing before because I’d been trying crazy spells full of odd ingredients.
How was I supposed to break this oath if they didn’t even have the most basic supplies?
The shelves were carefully organized. Labels marked every vial and bottle. And it was alphabetized. I went back to the r’s and stopped at the t’s. Saffron. Safflower Oil. Sago Palm. Salamander. Salicin. Salsafy. Salt. Saxifrage.
“Son of a—” I cut myself off. I didn’t like cursing. Those words were too overused. Except in this instance, I couldn’t think of anything else that suited the situation better.
If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. I tried to live by the Peter Rabbit rule. But sometimes it was hard.
I stepped out of the room, and nearly walked into Cosette.
“Hi,” I said, trying not to sound suspicious. Mr. Dawson had loaned me one of the classrooms where the wolves attempted spells and the use of their supply closet. The others had been helping me, but Cosette had disappeared after breakfast without a word of explanation. Not that she owed me any, but something was going on with her. I had no idea what it was, but I’d seen her storming off, gesturing wildly as she spoke on her cell phone.
“I found this book.” She held out a leather-bound square without any other explanation.
She was helping me? I realized my mouth was hanging open in shock, and closed it. Cosette had been with the coven for three months. In that time, I’d gotten to know her as much as she let me. She wasn’t usually helpful. Sometimes she seemed frustrated by it. Almost like she knew more than she let on, but couldn’t let us in.
From what I’d pieced together, fey rules were hard to live under, and Cosette was having an especially hard time with them.
I took the book from her. “Thank you.”
She gave me a small nodded. “There’s a part that you might find interesting. Read Chapter Seven.”