“Thank you, Mom,” he sobbed into my hair. It was then that I realized how incredibly tall he was. Yes, he’d bypassed me in the height department long ago, but for some reason, now he seemed to stand taller than I’d ever seen him. Strange.

  “Mom, are you okay?” he whispered.

  I nodded as I held onto him even more tightly. Meanwhile, Finn helped lower me down to sit in one of the guest chairs in front of the desk, but continued to hover anxiously. He didn’t seem to want to let go of me, like he was afraid I’d vanish if he did. I patted Finn’s hand where it rested on my shoulder as I tried to reassure him that I was fine. All the while though, I struggled to understand what had just happened to me.

  I’d never felt anything like it. Had it been the coven’s combined magic that had welled up within me? Had I somehow accessed all of their power through our shared bond? Was that what Wanda felt like all the time? I shook my head and gave a little mental poke at the area where the power had been sitting, and found it still and quiet again, like it had gone back to sleep.

  I was definitely going to have to talk to Wanda about this whole magic thing, but at the moment, I had a son to take care of, and a little girl who needed help.

  “Easy, sir. Just try to take a few breaths.” Andre urged Principal Stillwater to sit back in his chair and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder.

  The poor man was sweating and began looking around, appearing entirely baffled. “What in the world is going on?” He frowned as he faced Finn, who was still crying, and then me. Then his attention turned to Andre once more. “Who are you?”

  “I’m afraid you’ve had a bit of a medical emergency, sir,” Andre lied smoothly. “Please, just sit tight until help can get here.”

  Well, it wasn’t really a lie. I’d say being turned to gold would classify as a medical issue, especially if the person in question couldn’t be turned back. Luckily, whatever the heck I’d just experienced—whatever or wherever that power had come from—it had worked. And I was suddenly so grateful for it—grateful at the same time that it intimidated me.

  There wasn’t any time to dwell on it, though. So, I shoved the confusion, the exhilaration, and the fear to the back of my mind. We needed to get to Sophie, and we needed to break this Midas curse that was plaguing Mr. Lannister.

  I sent a quick S.O.S text to the council group chat, along with the address of the school. With any luck, the cavalry would be here soon. Then I flapped a hand in Andre and Mr. Stillwater’s general direction. “Can you stay with him? Make sure he’s okay?” I wheezed.

  Andre looked torn for a second, as if he wanted to make sure Finn and I were okay, but then he nodded.

  I staggered to my feet, with Finn holding me up, and grabbed the handle of my bag. Mr. Stillwater was asking increasingly confused questions, but Andre was doing his best to keep him calm until the others could get there and actually make sure he really was alright.

  “Okay.” I squeezed Finn’s hand. “Take me to Sophie.”

  Just before the door swung shut behind us, I heard Mr. Stillwater ask in a plaintive voice, “Why am I covered in oil?”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Finn and I hurried through the halls of the school, and all the while I was so grateful that school was out and, so far, no mundanes had witnessed any of what had happened to Mr. Stillwater.

  Finn’s shoes squeaked against the tile, the poor guy having to half-drag me along with him as I moved as quickly as my shaking legs would allow me. I still felt hollow and a bit light, like a soap bubble bobbing along on the breeze. And I still couldn’t comprehend what had happened in the principal’s office, but I was trying not to poke too much at the sleepy, quiet place inside my chest where a storm of magic had just been brewing.

  Whatever was going on with me, I needed to talk to the coven as soon as possible about it.

  “Here,” Finn panted as we skidded to a stop outside a classroom at the end of the hallway. “This is the science lab.”

  I could already hear a man’s raised voice, even with the door closed. On top of that, there was the sound of muffled sobbing that just tore my heart in half. At the same time though, I was happy to think that muffled sobbing meant Sophie was still Sophie and not a gold version of herself.

  I stepped up to the door and glanced through the little window, pressing my head almost flat to the cheap wood to try and see inside. Through the reinforced glass, I could see a girl about Finn’s age, huddled into a desk. She was small for her age, dark-haired, her glasses smeared with tears as she clamped both hands over her mouth, trying not to make too much noise as a grown man stood over her, pointing a finger in her face, spittle spraying from his mouth as he yelled.

  Oh, heck no.

  Forget magic, my inner mama-bear took one look and let out a roar that should have rattled the building to the foundations.

  The doorknob rattled in my hand. Locked.

  “Finn.” My voice came out funny, squeezed out between my clenched teeth. “Open the door for me, buddy.”

  Finn swallowed, his eyes huge. I rubbed his shoulder as he reached for the door handle, his hand shaking. But with a murmured word, and a light rap on the wood, the knob was instantly turning smoothly under his touch, and the door swung open.

  “I want you to wait outside where it’s safe,” I told him as I turned to face him and gave him an expression that told him not to argue with me.

  “Mom, it might not be safe for you,” he started, but I shook my head.

  “Whatever is going on with my magic... it will protect me.” I hoped. I really hoped.

  Finn swallowed hard, but then nodded and held the door open for me as he stepped aside and made a point of waiting behind it, where Mr. Lannister couldn’t see him.

  “If anything goes wrong, you need to run and get Andre,” I said.

  He nodded again.

  Inside, it was easier to both hear Mr. Lannister, and see what was going on. There was a lab bench at the back of the room, with a sink and stools and a sturdy black counter top made to withstand all the punishment the students performing experiments could put it through. Two of the stools had been turned to gold, along with the arched neck of the faucet, but oddly enough, not the rest of the sink. A few golden beakers lay dented on the floor, and my heart clenched with something between terror and rage when I noticed that all of the desks surrounding Sophie had been transformed to glittering metal.

  The finger hovering two inches from her sobbing little face wasn’t just an expression of fury. It was a threat.

  Now, under different circumstances, I might have felt an ounce or two of pity for Mr. Lannister. The Midas curse had certainly taken its toll on him. He looked terrible: gaunt, his eyes sunken back into his skull until he could have passed for an early Halloween decoration. The bones of his face were pressing a little too tightly against his skin, and his hair was greasy, his clothing stained and rumpled, like he’d been wearing it for days and hadn’t showered in just as long.

  But with the way he was shouting, nearly incoherent, saliva flecking his lips, any pity I might have felt for him faded instantly.

  “You did this to me! I know you did, you... you witch! Take it back! Take it back!”

  He was human, after all. And a science teacher. He’d never had any experience with magic. And now that he’d obviously realized it was real, he was terrified. In his mind, magic had hurt him, deeply—that much was obvious. I could only thank my lucky stars that annoying Kenzie hadn’t found him...

  As to Lannister, he appeared lost, terrified and furious all at once. But seeing him jab his finger towards little Sophie, and watching her flinch back as she tried to sob silently behind her hands, and I was just suddenly so mad, I could have spit. My vision went red at the edges.

  “Get back.”

  Everyone froze. I wasn’t someone who raised her voice often. I’d never seen the point. If I couldn’t say something calmly, then that meant I should go away and come back to discuss it later when my emotions were under control. Shouting just meant you were out of control, and probably making things worse.

  But my command sure surprised Mr. Lannister, who hadn’t even realized I was there. It was enough to get him staggering back a few steps on sheer instinct, and that got him out of arm’s reach of Sophie. My heart eased a little then, my lungs unlocking so I could take a calmer breath.

  While Mr. Lannister blinked at me, his mouth opening and closing slowly, I spoke to Finn out of the corner of my mouth, realizing I’d have to get him involved if I wanted to make sure Sophie escaped.

  “I’m going to keep Lannister occupied. Once you can, you get Sophie, and you get out of the room. Do you understand?”

  I didn’t want to take my eyes off Lannister, but I could tell Finn was nervous—his breath hiccupped a little on the way in. He was scared, and all I wanted to do was to hug him and tell him everything was going to be okay. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t risk giving Mr. Lannister a chance to pull himself together. Whatever I’d done, whatever my magic had done to free the poor principal from the gold curse, I wasn’t sure I had it in me to do it again. Instead of a bonfire, there was nothing but cold ashes in my chest.

  I couldn’t risk him getting his hands on Finn or Sophie.

  “Mom…”

  “Finn.” It took more control than I was proud of to keep my voice even. “Do you understand?”

  He must have heard how serious I was, because he didn’t kick up a fuss or insist on playing the hero. He just took a shaky breath. “Yeah, I understand.”

  “Good.”

  I took two steps to the side, away from Finn, even though it broke my heart to do it. But I didn’t want any of that man’s attention on him. Finn just needed a chance to grab Sophie and get them both out of the classroom. I knew he could do it. I just needed to give him the chance.

  Mr. Lannister was focusing on me now, but his eyes were still glassy. Dazed, almost. His forehead was all wrinkled up, like he was thinking hard. Maybe trying to understand why there was a strange adult in his classroom.

  My pulse was pounding in my throat, and I wondered if he could see the jump of it. Probably not. I didn’t think he was seeing much of anything.

  All I wanted to do was get Sophie and Finn and run. But if Lannister came after us, I wasn’t sure I could keep him from touching someone and I knew what would follow. And the idea of him touching Finn? I shuddered. It had been bad enough to put my hands on Mr. Stillwater and feel the cool, stiff metal where his skin should have been. I wouldn’t have been able to bear it if the same happened to my son.

  Just the thought of cold, unfeeling gold creeping over Finn’s body, stiffening his limbs, stealing his breath. The thought left my stomach icy with something very close to panic. There was no way in hell I would let that happen. Over my dead body. Or over Lannister’s.

  I tried to keep the thoughts off my face and out of my voice. If I was panicked, scared, it might just set him off again. Mr. Lannister had barely looked human when I’d seen him through the door. He was too-thin, too sunken eyed. But up close, well, he looked even worse.

  “You’re not well, Mr. Lannister,” I said, as calmly as I could. “You need help. And I’ve come here to help you.”

  He blinked, brow furrowed. “She…” He jabbed a finger towards Sophie, but didn’t turn his head away from me. Still, the little girl flinched at the movement. “She did something to me! She… she did something, to my hands. I can’t touch things. Everything I touch turns to gold. I can’t eat. I can’t drink. I… I…”

  “I know,” I started, but it was like he couldn’t even hear me.

  “It’s her fault.” His voice trembled, and I was sure that if he had any moisture left in his body, he would have cried. “It’s her fault. I know it is.”

  Trying to reason with someone who was that sick, and also cursed, probably wasn’t going to get me anywhere, but it would keep his attention on me, which was what I wanted. I tried to keep my voice calm, soothing. Like when Finn was a young child and woke up from a nightmare. “Sophie didn’t do anything to you, Mr. Lannister.”

  He glared at me then, eyes wide, his face twisted up in a feral looking snarl. “You’re lying. She did! It’s her fault. She… there was a pencil. And when I picked it up, it was gold, and I couldn’t figure out how. But then, once I put it down, anything else I picked up, it turned to gold too! It was her, I know it was!”

  My heart lurched with the sudden movement, chills running down my back and legs. The man wasn’t just sick, he was edging into something worse. How long could a person go without water? Without food? The man needed help, and he needed it yesterday. Otherwise, I was fairly sure this curse was going to kill him and soon.

  From what I’d picked out of his ranting, when Finn had spread his altered potion on the pencil, the super charged Gypsy Gold must have soaked into Mr. Lannister’s hands when he’d picked the pencil up. And since trying to do something simple, like take a drink or wash his hands or whatever had ended with an entire fountain turning into solid gold, getting the potion off his skin probably hadn’t worked out well for him.

  I just needed to stall him until Wanda and the others could arrive. She’d be able to remove the curse properly, and then a mundane hospital could do the rest.

  “I understand what’s happening to you, Mr. Lannister.” Keeping my breathing steady was a struggle, but I did my best. Hyperventilating wouldn’t exactly help keep me in control. “I can help you. I just need you to calm down, and take a seat.”

  “No.” He shook his head, over and over again, his hands held away from his body like he didn’t recognize them. “No, you can’t help me. She needs to take it back. She did this to me, it’s her fault!”

  Even with Sophie out of his line of sight, he was still fixated on her. That wasn’t good news. If he realized she was gone, that Finn had managed to sneak her out the door to relative safety, I wasn’t sure what he’d do. He couldn’t find out. I had to keep his attention on me and me alone.

  Sweat beaded at my temples, and I could see the glint of it on my reflection in the gold desk. I slipped a hand into my bag, trying to tell the potions by touch. I knew I’d thrown a bottle of Fiery Command Oil in there before I’d torn out of the house. It would only work for a few minutes, but I just needed enough time for help to arrive. And maybe that was the answer.

  And if Fiery Command Oil had managed to hold off a Wendigo, such as when I’d first moved to Haven Hollow, I was pretty sure it could handle one exhausted, malnourished teacher that looked half dead.

  Something moved at the edge of my vision, and my heart clenched so hard in my chest, it felt like it missed a beat.

  I should have known. He’d given up way, way too easily.

  Finn had gotten Sophie out of the room, just like I’d told him. But then he’d snuck back in, creeping around the edge of the desks, until he was at Mr. Lannister’s back. He was pale, and shaking a bit, but his chin was tipped up like he was bracing himself.

  And Mr. Lannister was standing between us. He was now between me and my son.

  “Sophie didn’t do anything to you.” Finn swallowed hard enough that I saw the jump of it across the room. “I did.”

  “No, Finn,” I started at the same time that Mr. Lannister froze. It was creepy how still he went, especially after all the frenetic moving he’d been doing. His head turned very, very slowly, until he was facing Finn.

  “What?”

  His voice was so quiet. A wheeze of air. The only reason I heard him at all was because the rest of the room had gone so painfully quiet, and all my senses were strictly attuned because that man was between me and my son.

  Finn swallowed again, but he didn’t look away or back up. “I did it. But I didn’t mean to do it. And I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just wanted you to stop being so awful to Sophie. I never meant for this to happen to you, Mr. Lannister. I’m sorry for what I did, but I know my mom can fix it.”

  A long, rattling breath came out of Mr. Lannister’s throat, and his hands flexed, fingers twisting in the air.

  “Finn, back up!” I screamed.

  “You…” Mr. Lannister started.

  I saw it when his muscles went rigid, when he tensed to lunge at Finn. My heart slammed against my ribs, breath withering away to nothing. My hand jammed to the bottom of my bag. I didn’t care what potion I grabbed, it didn’t matter, all that mattered was stopping him, getting him away from Finn.

  My fingers closed on smooth glass, and I tore the potion out of my bag. I only caught a glimpse of pale lavender glass before I hurled the entire thing at the back of Mr. Lannister’s head.

  A sleepy time potion that encouraged a good night’s sleep probably wasn’t the best thing I could have thrown at him, but all it needed to do was just distract him, just get him away from Finn long enough for me to get between them. I’d already bolted forward when the little glass bottle shattered against the back of Mr. Lannister’s head, filling the room with the gentle scent of lavender.

  It wasn’t heavy glass, and with my numb, noodle arms, I knew I hadn’t thrown it very hard. But then, hungry, thirsty, confused, who knew how long it had been since Mr. Lannister had managed to get any rest?

  Because the second the sleepy time potion touched him, the moment the oils dripped down his head and neck, the second they soaked into the ragged collar of his shirt, the man’s eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed to the ground, already snoring before he hit the floor.

  Finn lunged forward to shove a desk out of the way, to make sure Mr. Lannister didn’t hit his head on his way to the floor. With the teacher down, half curled on his side, his hands draped limply together as he breathed deep, we just stared at each other for a second while I tried to coax my heart back down to a rhythm that was more in line for a human than a hummingbird.