Our eyes meet, and the memory of that night at the Granger house, dancing in the ballroom and seeing and feeling the ghost, slides into my head. Romy’s thinking about it too.
I knew when she saw that, there was something extraordinary about her. Not just that she was a witch; I thought she was a witch at that point. But even witches don’t always see ghosts, and when we both did, it was… magical.
But I’m not just thinking about the ghost. I’m thinking about how she felt in my arms, the warm, vanilla-sugar scent of her, and then kissing her until we both needed to come up for air.
The big guy downstairs stirs, and I resist the urge to adjust myself.
“Yes,” I say, my voice ragged. “Ghosts. Demons. Deities.”
“I see.” She clears her throat delicately.
“All right.” I clap my hands together. “Let’s start with some basics. The Orb of Night is governed by the Board of Elders—”
“I know this,” she says. “The elders are appointed by the supreme wizards, and the head of the Board of Witches is the archmage.”
“Right.” I blink. “Currently that is Ziggy Cox.”
“Ziggy. That doesn’t sound like a very powerful name.”
“Don’t tell him that. He’ll turn you into a caterpillar.”
Her eyebrows fly up to her hairline. “Really?”
“No. But you don’t want to be on his bad side.”
She rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling.
“You’ll meet him when you go for your interview.”
“What? Interview?” She jerks up straight, her mouth open. “Nobody told me that.”
“I’m telling you now. I don’t know when it’ll be, but the Board of Elders will need to interview you.”
“Why? What are they going to ask me? Like a job interview?” She blinks rapidly. “What if I don’t pass? What happens then?”
“Calm down.” I pat the air, trying to reassure her. “We’ll prepare you for the interview. It’ll be fine.”
Her eyes are huge. “Easy for you to say,” she mutters. “Felise and Magan told me that many of your ancestors were archmages.”
“That’s right.”
“Do you want to be archmage someday?”
My face tightens. “Jesus, no.”
“What about a supreme wizard?”
“That’s not going to happen.”
She frowns. “Why not?”
My insides tighten. “Never mind.” I wave a hand. “I told you about not being able to conjure money.”
“Yes. That’s disappointing.”
“There are other rules like that.”
“The charity thing.”
“Yes. Also, you can’t use a spell to make someone smarter.”
“Also disappointing. How about stupider?”
I have to laugh. “There’s no specific rule against that. As well, you can’t use your power to interfere with life lessons, like embarrassment, revenge, delayed gratification. Learning to work hard for something. And, uh… heartbreak.”
She purses her lips. “Okay.”
“Witches have to respect copyright law, so we can’t use our powers to conjure brand names.”
“Ah. Like Louboutins.”
“Exactly. Believe me, Felise has tried. But even witches have to work for their money if they want designer shoes. This also means witches cannot use their powers to create things for sale.”
“Oh.” She sits forward. “So I can’t create my designs using magic?”
“Not if you want to sell them.”
“And when you build houses… you have to do it the traditional way with a hammer and nails? Not magic?”
“That’s correct. But…” I too lean forward. “There is a loophole. We can use spells to make people love our houses. That’s an enchantment.”
“So you could build shitty houses and then make people love them.”
I give her a disappointed look. “Hey. We don’t do that.”
“I’m just asking! Hypothetically.”
“We take pride in our work. It’s the highest quality. But people have a special feeling of comfort and sanctuary when they buy one of our homes.”
She nods.
“One of the most important laws to know is that witches can’t use their powers to take over the Rucker realm. It’s a serious crime. The punishment is becoming a stuffed fish.”
She blinks. “What kind of fish?”
I shake my head. What the fuck? “Does that matter?”
“I suppose not.” She pauses. “I had quite the conversation with Magan and Felise the other night. About the patriarchal nature of the coven.”
I don’t know what to say to that.
“I think being on the Board of Elders needs to be more available to women witches. They make the laws for everyone, so everyone should be involved in making the laws.”
“Jesus Christ.”
She tilts her head. “Shouldn’t you be invoking your own, uh, deities when you curse?”
I rub my forehead. “Sometimes I do. But living in Rucker society, we pretty much absorb a lot of that culture.”
Her mind is… interesting. Creative. Curious. Unconventional.
She might make me lose my mind.
I need a sense of the strength of her power. That night at the Singing Horse when we conjured up a white flower, I felt strong energy. I want to confirm that. Because there’s something nobody seems to have thought of, and it could be important.
I pull my talisman out of my pocket.
Romy watches as I hold it by the leather cord. “What is that?”
“It’s a talisman. It belonged to my father.”
“But what is it?” Her nose wrinkles.
“It’s a raven skull. Not a real skull. It’s made of metal, with amethysts.”
She inspects it. “Cool.”
“Try to take it from me.”
Her eyes shift, she gives me a quizzical look, then reaches out her hand.
I keep my palm flat, the object lying on it. As she reaches for it, it vibrates.
Her eyes widen. Her hand comes closer. I don’t move.
“Concentrate,” I tell her quietly.
A notch appears between her eyebrows. Her fingers are near the raven skull when it rolls off my hand and falls to the rug. The amethysts glow.
Romy glances up at me.
“Take it,” I encourage her.
She sinks her teeth into her bottom lip and bends forward. She gets so close to it I think she’s going to get it. I realize I’m holding my breath, watching, waiting. Her fingertips grow closer… and almost touch it when it rolls away from her.
I scoop it up and put it back in my pocket.
She lifts her head and meets my eyes. “What was that?”
“A test.”
“Did I pass?”
“You did okay.”
Her eyebrows slope down and her lips droop. “Just okay?” She seems really downcast by that.
“You did fine. Let’s move on. We have lots more to cover.”
Her lips twist into a dissatisfied pout, and she sighs.
“Witches with great powers become supreme wizards, with the archmage being the leader of all.”