DISPEL

I rest my chin on my palm as I wait for Alchemy class to begin. Professor Finlay is unusually late, and not even his assistant professor Yanev, has made an appearance. 

Wonder what’s keeping them? 

I start to idly twirl my wand in my left hand as I flip through my logbook. 

Did Finlay say there’d be a faculty meeting or some such? No…that doesn’t seem to be the case… Maybe there was an incident of some sort…? 

Someone stops beside the worktable to my right—a boy. But it isn’t my dormmate. I’d know if it was. Keen’s magik has a rather distinct smell. Rich, inviting, like holiday spices… 

I shake myself as I realize where my thoughts were beginning to stray. Then I whirl toward whatever imbecile was unlucky enough to choose this moment to invade my personal space. 

“You need some—?” I growl, but then I recoil, my nose scrunching up. His magik smells vile like something long expired.

Ugh… I bristle in disgust. It’s Reginald Smoot.

“Why wouldn’t you just admit you cheated?” Reginald demands accusingly. 

I just stare at him in utter confusion. “Excuse me?” 

Is he talking about the duel?

He takes an aggressive step forward, further inflicting me with his nauseating magikal stench. 

“During the Chtypáo tryouts,” Smoot finally clarifies. “You used magikal enhancements. You broke the rules, and he caught you doing it.”

I just gape at him for a moment as his meaning finally dawns on me. “This is about the row I got into with your older brother?”

But of course it is. Their family has proven to be nothing if not prideful. And I’ve soundly bested both Smoot brothers mercilessly.

I scoff dismissively as I turn back toward the worktable. “I don’t see the point in admitting to something I didn’t do. And besides, I quit. So that brother of yours is more than welcome to my spot.”

That should have settled the matter. But if anything, my words seem to have enraged Smoot more. 

“You just had to do things the hard way, didn’t you, Astaroth?”

I roll my eyes with a sigh. “So I’ve been tol—”

Reginald seizes hold of my right arm just below the wrist bone as he slaps a metal band onto it. 

“What in the hells is this?!” I demand angrily as I wrench my arm from his grasp. 

I curl my fingers over the band, attempting to yank it off. But the moment my fingertips brush the strange metal bracelet, I receive a devastating zap.

“Ahh!” I yelp as blistering pain races up my arms. 

“I told you, idiot. We’d have to do this the hard way because you refused to admit the truth.”

“Wha—?” The rest of my words cut off in a sharp breath as the secret in my heart clicks to a sudden, terrifying halt. 

No! Why? Why now?!

My hand fumbles across the worktable as I frantically scramble for my wand. But I only succeed in knocking it to the floor. 

No!

I slap my hand to my chest, clawing my fingers into the fabric of my uniform. I can already feel my heart starting to slow. Feel the foreign magik beginning to seep through my veins like a poison.

As the growing terror surges through me like a storm, my gaze darts to Reginald Smoot. “What…did you do…?”

“It’s a Dispel bracelet, you dolt,” he snorts. “Which means none of your clever cheats or spells are gonna work. And it won’t be coming off until you admit the truth. That you’re a filthy liar who never deserved to be on the team from the start.”

But I…I didn’t do…

“Please…” I beg desperately.

It’s getting harder to breathe. And everything around me is starting to get…fuzzy. 

“Don’t…do this…” I plead as I reach out to him. But my fingers catch only air as I slip off the tall stool and fall into darkness.

I didn’t do anything wrong.

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Chapter 14 – Dispel: Part One, ExSpelled © 2025 by Kat Vancil

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