Ominous (Private 13)

“Levitas,” Ivy said.

The spoon jerked. Amberly screeched and covered her eyes. Someone else gasped. Tiffany shoved herself away from the wall, angling her chin up as if to see over Vienna’s and Noelle’s shoulders.

“What happened?” she asked.

“It moved,” Amberly whimpered through her fingers. “The spoon moved.”

“I thought it was supposed to float,” Kiki said.

We all looked at Ivy. The spoon lay still, flat at the center of the doily. Her cheeks turned pink and she looked at the spoon again.

“Levitas,” she said, more firmly this time.

Again, the spoon jerked. It was now at an angle and clearly off center. Tiffany strolled over and peered down at it.

“Please. One of you is shaking the table,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“I didn’t,” I said, raising my hands. I was standing a clear six inches away.

“Me neither,” Kiki said.

Everyone turned to London, who was still grasping the tabletop. “What?”

Then she looked down at her fingers, clucked her tongue, and backed away, stuffing her hands under her arms. “It wasn’t me, I swear.”

“Try it again,” Noelle ordered. Her hands were frozen, her fingers tangled near the ends of her hair.

Ivy sucked in an audible breath, clearly annoyed, and took a step back from the table. No one was touching it now. “Levitas.”

Nothing happened. My heart sank so low I thought I might never be able to hoist it back up.

Tiffany laughed. “See?”

I realized for the first time that I had truly expected the spell to work, and my face stung as if I’d just come in from a jog in the summer sun.

“Why isn’t it floating?” Ivy asked through her teeth.

“I don’t know,” I replied, touching my fingertips to my locket.

The group around the table started to break up and I could practically feel the skepticism radiating off of them. Not to mention their annoyance at me for wasting their time, and their irritation at themselves for having been sucked in. Honestly, I didn’t blame them. I felt the same way. Except my feelings were directed at Eliza Williams and Mrs. Lange.

“Wait,” Kiki said, grabbing the book of spells off one of the chairs where we’d left it. “Come on, you guys. Let’s just try something else.”

“I think we’re done here,” Portia said, lifting her black leather bag onto her shoulder.

“Guys, please don’t go,” I said. “I know you’re upset, but let’s try it again. Maybe we did something wrong. Maybe someone else should try it. It could be fun.”

Amberly, who had more color in her face now that the experiment had failed, flipped her blond hair over her shoulder and tilted her head. “Since when is watching a spoon not move considered fun?”

A few of the girls laughed, hiding their smiles behind their hands. Suddenly everyone was walking toward the door. I could hardly believe they wanted to give up that quickly—but then I suddenly realized what it meant. It meant that they didn’t actually want to believe. Not like Ivy, Kiki, and I did.

Maybe Kiki was right. Maybe that was why it wasn’t working. What if all eleven members of the coven had to believe? If I took that theory and combined it with London’s idea, it meant that Tiffany, Amberly, and Portia hadn’t even believed enough to become witches during the incantation. And if the three of them weren’t witches, that would weaken the coven, too.

“What are you thinking?” Ivy asked quietly.

I blinked, really listened to my thoughts for the first time, and felt ill. I was going off the deep end.

“Guys, just wait,” I said loudly.