And then-final y-the glass started to move.
"That's it,"Dad murmured, his eyes bright in his haggard face. "Almost there."
I'd expected the glass to open, or for maybe one side of it to fal off or something. Instead, it just vanished, like a bubble popping. It was so abrupt that both mine and Dad's hands fel to the wooden shelf with a loud slap.
Dad reached out and grabbed the book, which looked like any other old, dusty book now that it was out of its magical case. The black leather cover was dul ed with age, and it smel ed like ancient paper and mold.
As Dad flipped through the book, my knees gave out. I slipped to the floor and leaned against the nearest bookcase. I felt like I was watching Dad from a distance, or like I was in a dream. I glanced down at my hand and wondered if the rest of me was as chalky white as it was.
"Oh my God,"Dad breathed. I felt like I should probably be alarmed by how freaked out he looked, but even that was too much effort.
"What is it?"I muttered drowsily.
He raised panicked eyes to me, but it was like he didn't even see me at first. "It's the ritual, it's-Sophie!"
As I lurched sideways and gave in to unconsciousness, the last thing I saw was the book fal ing to the floor, its cover opening to reveal a jagged edge of paper.
A page had been ripped out.
When I came to, I was lying on one of the library couches near the big windows with a blanket on me, and Cal was holding my hand.
"Dejavu,"I said as I watched silver sparks of magic race over my skin. He gave a tiny smile, but his eyes were trained on the rapidly closing cut on my palm. I looked past him and saw Dad standing at the end of the couch, his face etched with worry. Suddenly, everything came rushing back to me. The case, the book.
The missing page.
Dad gave a barely perceptible shake of his head, but I knew better than to say anything in front of Cal. Stil , now that I didn't feel like I was dying from blood loss, I felt every bit as disturbed about that missing page as Dad had looked.
Like he could read my mind-and for al I knew, he could-Dad said, "I want you to rest here for a little while, Sophie. Once you're feeling better, we can discuss the ramifications of that spel in my office."
"Must have been some hard-core spel ,"Cal remarked as he gently laid my hand down on the couch.
"Yeah,"I said, my mouth feeling like it was ful of sawdust. "Dad's been working with me on control ing my powers. Guess I overdid it."
Dad walked around the couch and, to my surprise, leaned down to kiss my forehead. "I'm sorry,"he said softly. "But I am also very proud of you."
It was hard to talk around the sudden lump in my throat, so I just nodded.
"I'l be in my office. Come see me when you're feeling up to it."
Once Dad was gone, I flexed my hand, studying the place where the gash had been. There was no sign of it, and I could swear that even my demonglass scar looked a little better. "Okay, so the ability to heal people has to be the coolest magical power ever,"I told Cal.
His lips quirked. "Yeah, wel , I didn't always think so."
"What do you mean?"
"It's what got me sent to Hecate."
I perked up. I'd always wondered how someone as straight-and-narrow as Cal had gotten sentenced to Hex Hal . "They sent you there for healing someone?"
"Making someone's leg magical y unbreak itself kind of draws attention to you,"he said.
"Yikes. I bet. So when you did it, was there a lot of screaming and pointing? That's what happened to me."
He laughed. "Yeah, she was nowhere near as happy to be healed as I'd thought she'd be."
We were sitting so close that our hips touched. He smel ed nice, like freshly cut grass and sunshine. I wondered if he'd been outside already this morning, or if that's just the way Cal always smel ed.
I was about to ask him more about this mysterious "she"with the broken leg, but he changed the subject. "So you're learning to control your powers,"he said, studying me with those clear hazel eyes. "How's it working out?"
"Great,"I answered, before I remembered that Cal thought I'd just been grievously injured during one of those lessons. "I mean, it's real y hard,"I amended, "but I think I'm getting the hang of it. Sure beats the idea of going through the Removal."
"Does that mean the Removal is out?"
I ran my finger around the paisley pattern on the couch. "I think so, yeah,"I replied, leaning back against the cushions. The cut on my palm may have healed up, but I stil felt pretty wiped out.
"I'm glad,"he said quietly. The space between us suddenly seemed smal er, and when he covered my hand with his, it was al I could do not to jump.
It took me a minute to realize that he was just using more magic on me. I could feel the weariness running out of me as silver sparks ran along my arm.
"Better?"The sparks faded, but Cal didn't take his hand off mine.
"Much."Of course, al that tiredness had now been replaced by a weird jitteriness that had me shoving the blanket off my legs and standing up.
"What does it feel like, doing healing magic?"I asked, moving away to stand near one of the big windows. The early morning sunlight sparkled on the dew-covered grass.
"What do you mean?"
Rubbing my hands up and down my arms like I was cold, I shrugged. "It seems like it would be super draining, closing wounds and bringing people back from near death."
"It's actual y kind of the opposite,"he said, getting up off the couch. "It's like...touching electricity, I guess. You're handling someone's life energy, so it's intense, yeah, but there's like this charge from it."
"I'm not sure how I feel about you 'handling my life energy,'Cal."
He grinned, and I was taken aback by how different it made him look. Cal spent so much time being stoic and solemn that it was easy to forget he even had teeth. "I'l buy you dinner first next time, I promise."
Okay, the grin was one thing, but that had definitely been flirting. Then, like I wasn't thrown enough, Cal leaned down and picked up a potted African violet on the low table next to the sofa and brought it over to me. For a second, I wondered if this was his social y awkward way of trying to give me flowers, but he said, "Any Prodigium can do it, real y. Not on the same level I can, but stil . You just have to be patient."He pushed the plant toward me, and I noticed a few brown spots on its velvety petals. "Wanna try?"