Spellcaster (Spellcaster #1) by Claudia Gray Page B
Authors: Claudia Gray
Tags: Young Adult
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swirling outward, invisible but powerful—
—really powerful—
“You know what?” Jeremy said loudly. “I’m sick of this.” With that he shoved all the lab equipment off their table; it fell to the floor with a crash.
“You know what I’m sick of?” The Piranha put her hands on her hips. “You. All of you. This entire school. I could be in yoga right now instead of trying to pour information into the sieves you call your brains.”
Several students started laughing. One girl started crying. Another reached around her own back and unfastened her bra through her sweater, groaning in relief as it went slack.
What the—
Another girl and a guy started making out. So did two guys in the far corner. Jeremy started tearing up his chemistry book, ripping pages out in hanks, then shredding them one by one. The Piranha kicked off her shoes and took a one-footed position that Nadia remembered from her own yoga class as Tree Pose.
Mateo sat up straight. “What’s wrong with people?”
“I don’t know,” Nadia said. But she was starting to put it together. A spell of liberation could make people feel a little, well, uninhibited. But that was normally a minor side effect, enough to maybe give someone the giggles, not to make an entire roomful of people completely forget where they were. The spell had been more powerful than usual—no, more powerful than ever .
That wasn’t the effect of whatever lay beneath this room. If anything, that would have dimmed the spell, not enhanced it.
That—that was the kind of boost you could only get from a Steadfast.
Verlaine was nowhere near here, and besides, Nadia already knew the spell hadn’t worked on her. Which meant the only option—the only possibility—
It can’t be true , Nadia thought wildly. Everything she knew about magic was built on a few fundamental principles, and the most fundamental principle of all was that men couldn’t hold magic. A curse was one thing—you didn’t hold that; it held you. So men could be cursed. But being a Steadfast should be as impossible for a man as the sun circling the Earth.
“What’s going on?” Mateo said. He was clearly unaffected by the spell—another sign. Steadfasts weren’t as susceptible to simple magic. Then he turned toward Elizabeth—who remained still by his side—and gasped out loud. “Oh, my God. My God .”
Mateo started backing away from Elizabeth, and the expression on his face was the last thing Nadia would have expected to see: utter horror.
Elizabeth made a swift, fluttering gesture with one hand; for the first time, Nadia noticed that she wore little rings on each finger—rings made out of the same materials Nadia wore on her bracelet. Mateo swayed once on his feet, then snapped out of it, turning again to Nadia. “What’s going on?”
All around them, the kissing and laughter and even singing continued unabated. The Piranha, instead of calling for order, was on the floor in Low Cobra Pose. Nadia didn’t look at any of it; she could only stare at Elizabeth. Meanwhile Elizabeth held her hand out over the floor—parallel to it—almost as though she were trying to calm an animal or a very small child.
Or , Nadia thought, something buried beneath the school .
That was ludicrous, wasn’t it? Surely it had to be. Probably Nadia was freaking out because her spell had spun so wildly out of control, and because she’d just learned the incredible truth that Mateo was her Steadfast. Her imagination was running away with her.
But she wasn’t imagining Elizabeth’s reaction.
Elizabeth didn’t look confused by any of this. Instead she took a gulp from her water bottle, and then her sweet, clean-scrubbed face shifted into a smile that was anything but sweet.
It felt more like—a dare.
Nadia’s stomach dropped as she realized that Elizabeth wasn’t any other girl in her class.
She was another witch.
8
CLASS ENDED WITH THE SECURITY GUARD TALKING ONE girl down from the top of the file
—really powerful—
“You know what?” Jeremy said loudly. “I’m sick of this.” With that he shoved all the lab equipment off their table; it fell to the floor with a crash.
“You know what I’m sick of?” The Piranha put her hands on her hips. “You. All of you. This entire school. I could be in yoga right now instead of trying to pour information into the sieves you call your brains.”
Several students started laughing. One girl started crying. Another reached around her own back and unfastened her bra through her sweater, groaning in relief as it went slack.
What the—
Another girl and a guy started making out. So did two guys in the far corner. Jeremy started tearing up his chemistry book, ripping pages out in hanks, then shredding them one by one. The Piranha kicked off her shoes and took a one-footed position that Nadia remembered from her own yoga class as Tree Pose.
Mateo sat up straight. “What’s wrong with people?”
“I don’t know,” Nadia said. But she was starting to put it together. A spell of liberation could make people feel a little, well, uninhibited. But that was normally a minor side effect, enough to maybe give someone the giggles, not to make an entire roomful of people completely forget where they were. The spell had been more powerful than usual—no, more powerful than ever .
That wasn’t the effect of whatever lay beneath this room. If anything, that would have dimmed the spell, not enhanced it.
That—that was the kind of boost you could only get from a Steadfast.
Verlaine was nowhere near here, and besides, Nadia already knew the spell hadn’t worked on her. Which meant the only option—the only possibility—
It can’t be true , Nadia thought wildly. Everything she knew about magic was built on a few fundamental principles, and the most fundamental principle of all was that men couldn’t hold magic. A curse was one thing—you didn’t hold that; it held you. So men could be cursed. But being a Steadfast should be as impossible for a man as the sun circling the Earth.
“What’s going on?” Mateo said. He was clearly unaffected by the spell—another sign. Steadfasts weren’t as susceptible to simple magic. Then he turned toward Elizabeth—who remained still by his side—and gasped out loud. “Oh, my God. My God .”
Mateo started backing away from Elizabeth, and the expression on his face was the last thing Nadia would have expected to see: utter horror.
Elizabeth made a swift, fluttering gesture with one hand; for the first time, Nadia noticed that she wore little rings on each finger—rings made out of the same materials Nadia wore on her bracelet. Mateo swayed once on his feet, then snapped out of it, turning again to Nadia. “What’s going on?”
All around them, the kissing and laughter and even singing continued unabated. The Piranha, instead of calling for order, was on the floor in Low Cobra Pose. Nadia didn’t look at any of it; she could only stare at Elizabeth. Meanwhile Elizabeth held her hand out over the floor—parallel to it—almost as though she were trying to calm an animal or a very small child.
Or , Nadia thought, something buried beneath the school .
That was ludicrous, wasn’t it? Surely it had to be. Probably Nadia was freaking out because her spell had spun so wildly out of control, and because she’d just learned the incredible truth that Mateo was her Steadfast. Her imagination was running away with her.
But she wasn’t imagining Elizabeth’s reaction.
Elizabeth didn’t look confused by any of this. Instead she took a gulp from her water bottle, and then her sweet, clean-scrubbed face shifted into a smile that was anything but sweet.
It felt more like—a dare.
Nadia’s stomach dropped as she realized that Elizabeth wasn’t any other girl in her class.
She was another witch.
8
CLASS ENDED WITH THE SECURITY GUARD TALKING ONE girl down from the top of the file
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