Aysha and Ekaterina are standing on my doorstep, visible through the glass insert. No Sini though and I’m not sure whether to be grateful or concerned.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, surprised to see any students still on the school grounds, especially them.

“Can you let us in?” Aysha shouts from outside.

I try, but Mom’s magic makes it impossible for me to even grasp the handle. She knows spells slip off me like water from a duck’s wing, so of course she’s spelled the house—to keep me in. Perhaps there’s a loophole here.

“Um, my mom spelled the house. I can’t open the door.” Embarrassment heats my cheeks. I hope they can’t see how pink I’m turning. “But I think you might be able to open it from the outside.”

“With the key you’re going to conjure for us?” Ekaterina folds her arms.

“Check under the lavender pot.” I point through the glass at Dad’s idea of a garden lining the porch stairs.

“As if I know what lavender looks like.”

But Aysha strides straight over to a ceramic pot and fishes a grimy key out from under it.

“This is so gross.” Still muttering, she fits the key in the lock and jiggles the handle.

For a moment, I think Mom might’ve added extra locking layers to her spell, but then the door opens.

“Come on.” Aysha gestures for me to follow them.

I take a tentative step across the threshold. Just when I think escape is possible, my skin tingles from contact with an invisible barrier all sticky, staticky spiderweb and I stagger back as if someone shoved me.

“That’s annoying,” Aysha says with a flick of her long, dark hair.

“Do you want to come in?”

“And risk not being able to get out again?” Ekaterina raises an eyebrow at me, and I instantly regret the suggestion.

“Why are you still at school?” I ask. “Thought you’d be halfway around the world by now.”

“Some are. A bunch of parents came to fetch their kids on the weekend. Some want your mom to resign. Others want her kicked off the UCMW,” Aysha says.

“It got real ugly,” Ekaterina adds.

“The O’Connors got involved. So did the Khumalos. Natalie’s moms are a mess. I thought it would get magical, but Morgan’s mom managed to calm everyone down. Your mom is still going to be held responsible for putting us in danger though,” Aysha says.

I study my toes, not wanting to think about the consequences my actions might have for my family.