“I didn’t,” I gushed. “You gotta believe me. It showed up on its own. See, I owe it a favor for taking me through the ley lines after it was sent to kill me. It was the only way to get back to Ivy before I bled to death. And it thought that I was trying to call it to settle my debt, what with the circle and pentagrams that Nick was copying for—uh—me.”

Her eyes flicked to the water-spotted drawings. “Your boyfriend did these, did he?”

Again I nodded, unable to outright lie to her. “I was going to redo them myself later,” I said. “I didn’t have time to do two weeks of homework and catch a murderer both.”

Dr. Anders stiffened. “I did not kill my past students.”

My eyes dropped and I felt myself start to calm. “I know.”

She took a breath, holding it for a moment before letting it out. I felt some kind of ley line force pass between us, and sat wide-eyed, wondering what she was doing. “You don’t think I killed them,” she finally said, and the feeling that I was chewing tinfoil stopped. “So why are you in my class?”

“Captain Edden of the FIB sent me to find evidence that you’re the witch hunter,” I said. “He won’t pay me if I don’t follow up on his idea. You’re obnoxious, overbearing, and the meanest thing I’ve seen since my fourth-grade teacher, but you’re not a murderer.”

The older woman slumped as the tension drained from her. “Thank you,” she whispered. “You don’t know how good it is to hear someone say that.” She pulled her head up, shocking me with a weak smile. “The not-murdering part,” she added. “The adjectives I’ll ignore.”

Seeing a hint of humanity in her, I blurted, “I don’t like ley lines, Dr. Anders. Where’s the rest of my aura?”

She took a breath to say something, stopping as her gaze went over my shoulder to the door. I spun in my chair at the tentative knock on the frame. Nick peeked round the open door, and I felt my face light up. “I apologize, Dr. Anders,” he said, making a show of his university work ID clipped to his shirt. “Can I interrupt for a moment?”

“I’m with a student,” she said, the professional tone back in her voice. “I’ll be with you in a moment if you’d like to wait in the hall. Could you shut the door, please?”

Nick winced, looking awkward as he stood in his jeans and casual shirt in the doorway. “Ah, it’s Rachel I need to see. I’m really sorry for interrupting like this. I’m working in the next building over.” He turned to look down the hall and back. “I wanted to see that she was all right. And possibly find out how much longer it was going to be?”

“Who are you?” Dr. Anders asked, her face blank.

“That’s Nick,” I said sheepishly. “My boyfriend.”

Hunched in embarrassment, Nick fidgeted. “I don’t know why I’m even bothering you,” he said. “I’ll go wait in the lounge.”