Dangerous Magic

10. Asking for Help

Friends can be weird. One minute they are fiercely protective and the next they're making fun of all your favorite things. All in good fun.

"Be nice, Orville, or I'll tell Mirbeau about the ferret you keep in your dorm." Maria threatened through a wicked smile. I didn't know if she meant it, but as somebody who recently did not follow orders when threatened, I didn't think Orville planned to obey her now. Even under the threat of the headmaster finding out about his illegal pet.

Emily had made sure I didn't skip dinner again to go hide in the library. I joined her and her friends in the caf even though I needed to spend as much time in the library as possible.

Joseph spit water all over the table. "What ferret? You have a ferret in our room?"

"Keep your voice down!" Orville clamped a hand over his roommate's mouth. "We don't want anyone to find out."

I enjoyed watching them razz each other. In my short time knowing this crew, they showed love through teasing. Though I knew how annoyed Maria must have been to bring Headmaster Mirbeau into it.

Emily didn't join the debate over Oscar the ferret--whether or not he was an appropriate pet--in favor of her A Study of Classic Runes and How to Use Them book. Scarlet asked for my untouched cookie.

I wanted so badly to belong here. If only belonging to this group wasn't going to put my mission in jeopardy more than it already had.

Besides, after next week I wouldn't be here anyway.

So I feigned exhaustion (a believable act) and went to bed.

Except on my way to my dorm, I stopped at the library. It was where I needed to be anyway. Sleep would be there when I got back home to Mom.

The librarian had stayed late today. Her glasses were propped in her dark, messy bun, and she seemed to be occupied reading something behind the desk. She did not look up when I approached.

"Hi," I said quietly, trying to figure out where to start. "I was wondering if you knew where I could find books about magic that would make a person disappear."

She squinted at me. I realized how young she was. "I don't work here. I'm just doing my work-study hours and making sure people put their books away and don't have sex in here."

Which I suppose explained why she hadn't been there yesterday. And why she looked so confused when I asked for her help. I guessed people probably didn't bother her much during her work-study hours.

Wait, people have sex in here? Gross.

She probably didn't have any ideas that I hadn't already ruled out. It didn't hurt to ask, though. "Can you point me in the right direction anyway?"

I thought of a way to explain my search without having to go into my sob story.

"I was wondering if there was a way to make a person disappear into thin air in a way that isn't traceable and doesn't feel like magic." No, that made it sound like I wanted to disappear someone. I back-tracked. "I mean, what if someone disappeared in front of my eyes and I wanted to find them but whatever magic was used isn't traceable?"

We had tried to track him; Mom and I stayed in that house for three months longer than we ever stayed anywhere, trying to get a trace of something that would help. The rule was six months in any one place and then move on to a new town and new identities. But we waited to see if any cloaking spell would wear off as time and the elements touched the place where he last stood.

No luck.

We ran after that. Everything he had been wearing disappeared with him. We couldn't track his phone; there was no activity on his credit cards or bank account. For all intents and purposes, my dad was gone. Like he'd never existed.