I don’t know whether to be flattered or insulted by this bit of paranoia. I settle for a confusing mix of both, topped off with a healthy dose of horror. Meanwhile, my mind is still scrambling to process everything that was just thrown at me. I think she’s saying that two days ago was the only time they’ve shared magic? If that’s true, and I don’t know how much I trust Brittany to be telling the truth, that means the control he had over her before this point wasn’t even magical. That’s scarier to me than if they had been sharing magic all along. Even if he has magical influence over Brittany now, who knows if she’ll ever be free of him?

“But yeah,” Brittany says, fidgeting with a section of her hair. “That’s what I wanted to say, mostly. Don’t fuck him over because of something that’s my fault.”

“It’s not your fault.” Frustration makes its way into my voice, despite my best efforts. “You know, he threatened me with the scholarship to do the show,” I say finally. “He made it really clear that doing what he wanted would help me become the Brockton Scholar. I wanted the scholarship, so I dealt with it.”

Brittany looks stricken. She shrinks in on herself, her breathing getting faster and shallower. She tries to interject, but I keep going.

“He pulled me out of rehearsal to work alone with him and said stuff that made me really uncomfortable. And when he found out I was a lesbian, he started calling me out in front of everyone and being mean to me. You saw how he acted. You were there.”

“I wasn’t—I—” She’s looking everywhere but at me.

“After that, he made it clear that I had to accept his weird special attention to get the scholarship.” I shake my head. “That’s fucked up. He shouldn’t be able to get away with the stuff he does. We’re not the first people he’s done this to either. He’ll do it again. So please, at least consider saying something about what he did to you.”

“He wouldn’t do stuff like that,” she says, looking hunted.

“He did.”

My phone buzzes in my pocket, but I ignore it. I watch Brittany draw herself up, reapply the mean-girl facade that I’ve always seen on her. “If you say anything, I’ll tell everyone about your potions addiction.”

“Potions addiction?” Literally what is she talking about?

“I heard Ed talking to Mikey about how you totally OD’d on one of his potions once.”