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I sighed and lay down on the lounge, which now hadup one side I closedfreaks," I mumbled

"Pardon?"

I openedaboveher into a black shadow, but the shape of her hair made Mrs Casnoff easily identifiable

"A up

It was probably a hallucination brought on by the heat, but I was pretty sure I saw her smile as she leaned down to place a hand underposition

"According to Mr Cross, you have cellar duty for the rest of the sereat deal of trouble But that is Ms Vanderlyden's concern, not e, and her ust She placed her hand on the back of the chair and e beca pink cabbage roses

"Better," she said crisply, sitting down beside me

"Now, Sophia, would you care to tellto your next class?"

"I'st, Mrs Casnoff," I answered "I need to, like, write in "

She snorted delicately "Sarcas ladies, Sophia Now, I'e whatever pity party you have decided to hold for yourself, so I would prefer it if you told me the truth"

I looked over at her, perfectly turned out in her ivory wool suit (again with the wool in the heat! What rong with these people?), and sighed

My own ot nolia with her shellacked hair be?

But then I just shrugged and spilled it "I don't know anything about being a witch Everyone else here grew up in this world, and I didn't, and that sucks"

Her ht she was about to bust"sucks," but instead she said, "Mr Cross told me that you didn't know your father is the current head of the Council"

"Yeah"

She picked a small piece of lint off her suit and said, "I's, but I' his position from you And besides, your presence here is very

sensitive, Sophia"

"What's that supposed totime; instead she stared out at the lake

Finally she turned to me and covered my hand with hers Despite the heat, her skin felt cool and dry, slightly papery, and as I looked into her face, I realized that she was older than I'd originally thought, with tons of fine lines radiating from her eyes

"Follow s we need to discuss"

CHAPTER 13

Her office was on the first floor, off the sitting rooh this time that the spindly chairs had been replaced with prettier, uelycouches had been reupholstered in a cheery white-and-yellow-stripe fabric

"When did you get new furniture?" I asked

She glanced over her shoulder "We didn't It's a perception spell"

"Excuse me?"

"One of Jessica Prentiss's ideas The furnishings of the house reflect the beholder's e your comfort level with the school by what you see"

"So I iross furniture?"

"In a way, yes"

"What about the outside of the house? No offense, or anything, but it still looks pretty rank"

Mrs Casnoff gave a low laugh "No, the spell is only used in the public rooe areas, the classrooms, and so forth

Hecateair, don't you think?"

I turned in the doorway of Mrs Casnoff's office and looked again at the sitting room Now I could see the way the couches, chairs, even the curtains shi off a road

Weird

I'd thought Mrs Casnoff would have the biggest, grandest roo filled with ancient books, with heavy oak furniture and floor-to-ceiling s

Instead she led ly of her lavender perfuer, bitter smell After a moment I realized it was tea A se of the desk, which wasn't the wooden ined, but simply a small table

There were books, but they were stacked in vertical rows around three of the four walls I tried to make out the titles on the spines, but those that weren't too faded to read were in languages I didn't know

The only thing in Mrs Casnoff's office that was even remotely like I'd expected was her chair It was less of a chair, really, and more like a throne: a tall, heavy chair covered in purple velvet

The chair on the other side of the desk was lower by a good five inches, and as I sat in it, I iuessed, was the point

"Tea?" she asked after pri herself on her purple throne

"Sure"

A few more moments passed in silence as she poured , she added ar

I took a sip It tasted exactly like the tea my mom made for me on rainy winter days: days we'd spent curled up on the couch, reading or talking The fahtly