Snorting, David wrapped his arms around his knees. “No, you’re the only person I torture in that particular way.”

Why do you? I suddenly wanted to ask, but I bit back the question. David and my tangled personal history wasn’t the issue here.

“Have you had any more . . . you know?” I lifted one hand off the steering wheel and wiggled it. “Visiony things?”

“Prophecies? No. Nothing since that night.”

I made the turn into Merlington, driving down an oak-lined street. “Well, that’s part of it, right? Being a boy means not having great visions.” Overhead, the trees cast shadows on the car, covering David’s face in dappled sunlight.

David shrugged. “Unless I do some kind of crazy spell on myself that makes me Mega Oracle.”

I turned to look at him, nearly running a stop sign. “You wouldn’t do that though, right?”

David dropped his feet from the dash, pulling at the hem of his T-shirt. “Seeing as how I wouldn’t even know where to start on something like that, let’s go with no.”

He wasn’t looking at me, but something in his voice wedged under my skin like a splinter. “But even if you did know how,” I said, “you . . . you wouldn’t, right? I mean, you heard what Saylor said. That spell gave Alaric awesome visions and power, but it also fried up his brain and ended with lots of dead people.”

David sighed, scrubbing a hand up and down the back of his neck. “Yeah, I got that part. Still, it sucks having visions that are so half-assed, you know? And no matter what Aunt—” He stopped, dropping his hand back to his lap. “I’m never going to stop doing that, am I?”

“You can still call her your aunt, David,” I said, surprised at the gentleness in my voice. “I mean, she did raise you.”

He made a noncommittal sound in reply before settling back in his seat. “All I’m saying is, being able to see the future but not really see the future is frustrating as hell. I get why someone would try a spell like that.”

We drove past the big brick sign reading “The University of West Alabama,” and I turned down the narrow street leading to campus. The library was at the end of the road, rising out of the bright green lawn like some kind of medieval church. I could already make out the stained-glass windows. “Well, the next time you start thinking like that, try to remember that Alaric ended up dead thanks to that spell.”

David turned to me as I pulled into a parking space. In his glasses, I had to admit, I did look a little Carmen Sandiego-ish, so I tugged off the hat. “Okay, before we go in, anything else I should know?”

Unbuckling his seat belt, David dropped his gaze. “No.”