No Good Witches | ONC √

Drug Deal Adjacent

I ducked my head inside his pantry. "Not exactly."

"God, Cass, you do realize this is a highly illegal operation that I run here, right? You can't just bring in randoms and expect me to–don't touch that!"

"Jesus..." I heard Mallory mutter behind me.

After I found what I was looking for I straightened and hopped on top of the counter, Doritos in hand. "I wouldn't bring you any trouble. You know that."

"Not on purpose, maybe..." He scratched at the brown fuzz beginning to sprout once more on his head. He'd shaved it a month back. I'd told him not to and he did it anyways.

Rebecca and Mallory slowly entered the kitchen after us, both wearing matching looks of confusion.

I remembered myself and tried my best to speak around my mouth full of Doritos. "Mallory, Rebecca, this is my best friend Sofiane. Sofiane, these are the lovely ladies that I just escaped detention with."

Sofiane flashed me a look. "You gave them my real name too?"

I shrugged.

Mallory crossed her arms, looking far too amused with this situation. "Sofiane, huh? That French?"

"Yeah, but he's not."

He frowned at me. "I could be."

"He failed French one two years in a row." I smiled pleasantly and him and nudged him with my foot. "And now he's homeschooled."

He looked up at me quizzically. "Rebecca, huh? That name is oddly familiar. Cass, didn't you–"

"Anyways." I interrupted, properly kicking him this time. "We do need a spell from you."

He narrowed his eyes. "What kind of spell."

I sighed. That was the question, wasn't it? "Necromancy?"

His eyes widened, and he barked out laughter. "Oh, you had me there for a second, Cass."

I blinked. Rebecca blinked. Mallory frowned down at her nails.

Sofiane's face went slacked. "You...you aren't joking."

"I wish I was, Sof."

He swallowed. "Who'd you kill?"

"Our ethics teacher." Mallory answered for me. "Ironic, we know."

I sniffed. "I don't know if that's... necessarily irony..."

"Are you serious, right now?" Sofiane looked between the three of us, his eyes seemingly trying to decide whether or not to it was in their best interest to roll right out of their sockets. "You've just admitted to murder, and you're debating whether or not the situation could be considered ironic?"

"Well..." Rebecca offered, shifting uncomfortably. "People cope in different ways."

"Yeah." I said, inserting another Dorito into my mouth. "This is my process."

"How? Why?"

Mallory looked at him as if the answer was obvious. "Well how else were we supposed to get out of detention?"

"Its a little more complicated than that." I interjected, searching for the morally acceptable response a well adjusted human being would use. "But it's not like she's going to be dead long, right? You just give us a Necromancy spell and–"

"I don't have a Necromancy spell, Cass!"

That was enough to get me to stop eating. I paused mid bite, pulled the chip back and looked at it, then up at him. "What do you mean you don't have a Necromancy spell?"