Accidentally Evil by Lara Chapman Page A

“You’re wrong about this.”
    â€œWhy can’t you at least ask him about it?”
    I picture Cody and his hair hanging over his eyebrows. And his smile, which would surely turn to hysterical laughing if I asked him such a thing.
    â€œI’m not going to leave you alone until you ask him,” Ivy says.
    â€œGood luck.”
    The blue mist is still there, and I’m beginning to think it’s not because I’m tired. But I’m way too scared to say anything about it. This is a question for Lady Rose or Miss A, whomever I see first. I look at the clock. Five forty-five. Maybe I can get one of them alone at dinner. The hard part will be talking without the headmistress butting in or—worse—hearing my thoughts.
    There’s no way I can focus on math anymore, spell or no spell. The blue mist is all I can see.
    I go to the bathroom, wash my hands, and splash cold water on my face. I use a towel to dry off, then pausebefore raising my head to look in the mirror. Do I really want to know if that same mist is behind me too?
    Stop being so afraid. You have the most powerful gift in the building. Stand up on three.
    One.
    Two.
    Three.
    I stand straight up, keep my eyes closed. One deep breath and then I’ll open them.
    In.
    Out.
    No mist.
    Relief runs through me. It had to be the lighting. The candle, the sunset. It had to be that. I’m going to walk back into our bedroom, and the mist will be long gone.
    When I walk out of the bathroom, my hope vanishes. Ivy’s sitting on her bed, pulling her hair back into a ponytail. And shining out around her entire body is the same light blue I saw before.
    â€œWhat?” Ivy asks. “Don’t knock my hair. I’m doing it without a mirror.”
    I have to get out of this room. Maybe seeing Ivy somewhere else will fix it. “Ready to go?”
    My heart is beating so fast, I can feel it through my entire body.
    Ivy looks at the clock. “We still have ten minutes. Want to keep studying till then?”
    I almost laugh out loud. Concentrate on math when my best friend is swimming in a sea of colored mist and doesn’t even know it? I don’t think so.
    â€œNah, I think I’m done for now. Can I blow out the candle?”
    Ivy shrugs. “Sure. I’m pretty hungry.”
    I put the spell ingredients onto my desk. I’m sure these are things we will use a lot. And maybe next time I’ll be sane.
    â€œThink it worked?” Ivy asks.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œThe spell, dummy. Think you were more focused?”
    I was totally focused until you turned the air blue. “Umm, yeah, I guess so. You?”
    â€œI definitely noticed a difference.”
    I follow Ivy out the door and into the empty hallway. The blue mist still hangs around Ivy. What is it?
    By the time we reach the hall outside the dining room, I’m at least able to breathe normally, even if my hands are still shaking. We walk into the dining room, and whatever sense of peace I had two seconds ago abandons me.
    I look at the head table, where the headmistress sits with the dorm mothers. The instructors have their own table, and I look there, too.
    My eyes dart from table to table.
    No, no, no, no, no.
    I shut my eyes as hard as I possibly can, then slowly open them again. Slowly, slowly, slowly . . . My eyes are half open when I see it again.
    The same mist thing that I saw on Ivy surrounds every single person in the room. But there are all kinds of different colors. Every possible shade of every possible color. It’s like a rainbow threw up in the dining room.
    I can hear Ivy saying something, but she sounds a thousand miles away.
    Then someone wraps an arm around my shoulder and walks me out of the room.

Fourteen
    I stumble beside Lady Rose, her voice soft and calming. “Ssh. It’s okay. Hang on. Almost there.”
    She takes me into her classroom, closes the door, and sits me in her chair.
    â€œBreathe with me. In