Page 27 (1/2)

Archer and Elodie were sitting up front and to the left ofdown her face Archer had his ar in the hair at her te them, he turned and looked at me I dropped my eyes, my hands fisted in otten about ht ca into my heart

Thankfully, Mrs Casnoff stood up and raised her hands for silence, so I could turn an, "as I'ht Miss Gilroy is going to be all right, but as this is the third attack in less than a year, we obviously have had to take some drastic measures As I'm sure you've all noticed, Lord Byron is not here Nor is Miss Talbot Until the Council can get to the bottoer welcome at Hecate"

My heart sank as everyone around ht of Jenna, how happy she'd been last night in her pink dress, and felt tears prick my eyes Where had they taken her?

Mrs Casnoff said a fewcareful and aware of our surroundings, and that we couldn't drop our guard until we knew for sure what had happened, but I barely heard her It was true that Jenna had been back up in our room when Anna was attacked, but I'd seen Jenna after she ca at the infirht, when Casnoff caet her, she'd just looked scared

I didn't realize that the asseetting out of his seat

Numb, I stood, only to hear Mrs Casnoff say, "Sophie, Elodie, please wait a moment"

I turned back Elodie looked as confused as I felt

"If the two of you would kindly go to ave Elodie's ar His eyes ave me a smile, and I tried to smile back

Whatever had happened between ht had been a freak incident, one I kneould just be easier to pretend had never happened He was clearly with Elodie, and I couldn't blaeous, but now all her friends were gone What kind of jerk would break up with a girl the day after her best friend had had nearly all her blood drained?

Not that it was a situation that cauess

Elodie and I walked to Mrs Casnoff's office, our shoulders brushing in the narrow hallways

"I'lacial stare

"What, that your best buddy nearly killed another one of my friends, or that you tried to kill iveskills a shot "The spell wasn't supposed to hurt you It was just going to turn your dress a different color when you put it on"

Elodie was silent, and when I glanced over at her, I saw that she atching ic," she said "And while I don't appreciate nearly being strangled by clothes, it ht be a cool spell to learn"

"I'll teach it to you if you'll teach me the curse you put on my dummy," I offered

Before she could reply, Mrs Casnoff ushered us into her cra, ladies"

Once Elodie and I were seated in the tiny chairs, Mrs Casnoff moved behind her desk "I'm sure you both knohy I wanted to speak with you"

She sighed as she sat down If it had been anyone else, I would've said she flopped into the chair, but Mrs Casnoff ay too forraceful collapse

"I'm sure it's occurred to you that all these attacks have been exclusively on irls"

Confused, I said, "Oh, I'm not a member of their coven"

Now Mrs Casnoff looked puzzled She glanced over at Elodie, who I now noticed was looking anywhere but at either of us

"You joined Sophia to your coven without her knowledge?" Mrs

Casnoff asked

"What?" I yelped "How is that even possible?"

Elodie blew out a long breath that ruffled her bangs "Look, we didn't have a choice," she said, still looking down at her lap It eird to see Elodie so subdued Normally she would have rolled her eyes a bunch of ti with conteuilty

"We needed her," Elodie said to Mrs Casnoff, her tone pleading "She wouldn't join with us willingly, so we did the joining ritual without her"

Mrs Casnoff was glaring at Elodie "And what did you use in place of her blood?"

"I snuck into her room and took some hair from her brush," Elodie muttered "But we didn't think it had even worked There was just this big black puff of smoke e threw her hair in the fire That's not supposed to happen"

"Ohlike that! I can't believe I felt bad about putting that stupid bone in your dress"

Mrs Casnoff's glare swung back to me "You did what?" she asked in a voice so frosty, I was sure I was about to be flash-frozen like a wooly ht! She's the one who nearly killeda charmed bone in my dress!"

"Only because you put a curse on my dress," I fired back

"Only because you're trying to steal my boyfriend!"

That was apparently the last straw for Mrs Casnoff

"Girls!" she yelled, standing up and sla about dresses and boys is over Two of your sisters were severely injured, and another is dead"

"Butyou've fixed it," Elodie said softly "You kicked out the vampires"