Completely Bonkers

"What was that last part?" Teo asks, her eyes narrowed and sharp in focus.

"Uh," I say with a gulp. "That -" my excuse catches in my throat and I cough, unable to voice the words I wanted to say to her. It feels like a grip is tightening on my throat, so I look at Teo with my eyes wide in panic.

She winces and gives me a remorseful look. "Don't ! Don't bother lying, it will only hurt you more. Remember when I said to earn membership, you need to show that you're trustworthy? Right, well...I forgot to mention that part of the reason they know you're trustworthy is because here, you are only allowed to speak the truth. This place is spelled against lies."

I lift a shaky hand to my drink and take another sip. "You forgot?" I say with a hoarse voice and she winces again.

"I'm really sorry, everyone knows about it and sometimes I forget how new you are to all of this. They have planted altars in all four corners of the property and filled it with peppermint, ginger and lemongrass to activate the spell. A Sage then says their spell, and all of those with a membership adds their names to the altars and takes an oath that binds any guests we may bring to Harvest to the truth spell as well. It's part of the ritual that leaves us with our sigils."

"Right," I start, and rub my temples while I calm down and organize my thoughts. "That's actually kind of badass, although I would have wanted to have been warned beforehand," I say with a glare pointed at her.

"I really am s-"

"Sorry?" I supply, and she nods her head vigorously so I let out a sigh and decide to let it go. I believe her. I take a large inhale, appreciating the air that enters my lungs freely before I start again.

"Somehow, I seem to have ingested wolfsbane," I say slowly and calmly.

She slams her drink down on the nearest table and turns back to me with her arms crossed. "When?" Teo asks simply.

"Since I have been at the academy, I think."

"Wait,�� she pauses and rubs her hand down her face. "You have been consuming wolfsbane SINCE being at the academy? Meaning it's happened more than once?"

"I'd assume so, since I am becoming weaker each day, and that guy told me -"

"What guy?" she interjects.

"I don't know his name, it's some student that pops up every once in a while to bother me. Big, tall, tattoos, dark and irritatingly handsome?"

A smirk appears on her lips with my description. "Not sure I have seen him, although now I'm wishing I had."

"Trust me, he's as annoying as he is attractive," I say with a roll of my eyes.

"Sure," she supplies, and her smirk drops. "But to be honest, if there was a student like that - I would know. Whoever he is, I'm not sure you should trust him."

"Anyway - he told me that the wolfsbane won't kill me right away, so we are trying to figure out who might be targeting me."

"Who is he again?"

"I - I don't know, he hasn't told me his name."

"Layla, if he's not a student and if he hasn't even shared his name with you - I am not sure you should be trusting him. You need to be careful. What if it's him who is hurting you?"

"No, I don't think so," I say adamantly, shaking my head.

"Why?"

I pause, thinking about why I trust him.

"I don't really have a reason, it's more of a feeling," I say in defense.

"Hmm," she says, pondering for a minute. "You did say that your emotions are all over the place, too. So I'm not sure we should trust him without a reason to."

"We?" I ask with an eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"Yeah, I'm in on this now. Let me help," she says, her eyes pleading with me when I don't answer her right away. "Come on, you said you trust me. And rightfully so, since you are my saveznik."

"You're what now?" I ask confused, and she chuckles and shakes her head with a shy smile.

"Saveznik...Saveznik sa zvezda," Teo says in a language that pings with familiarity in the deep recesses of my mind, but her accent sounds primal and laced with an otherworldliness I can't put into words. "It means that you are an ally written in the stars, a predestined confidant, if you will. I have suspected it since we met, but since I was able to say it just now that means it is the truth," she says with a laugh.

"Oh no," I groan. "Not you too. You believe in destiny?"

"Haven't you noticed that our friendship has felt natural? That for some unexplained reason you trust me?" She asks me with credence. I give her an unconvinced look, so she licks her lips and continues. "Look, I know you haven't had time to learn much in your classes yet, but you do now that we have a relationship with the Moon, and through her, we are influenced by the same forces of nature that impact her. The cosmos. It's what you will be learning, anyway. Let me put it this way, since you grew up as a human - did you ever learn of the Chaos Theory?"

"Only in passing," I respond, searching my memories for one of the conversations I had with my parents and they mentioned it briefly.

"It is a theory that arose from looking at chaos, at what are seemingly random states of disorder, and finding that they are actually interconnected through a series of intricate outcomes stemming from a set of common denominators. Even humans have recognized and studied these patterns, referring to it as the 'butterfly effect'. Whether it's science or human religion, humans have been circling around the answers for so long. Though, with the separation of supernatural species and humans, we have kept the knowledge of the celestials to ourselves and the Savet makes sure that humans don't stumble onto the truth of what they are looking for."

"The truth being that there are beings in the universe that oversee our lives and plot our failures," I say after a beat of silence.

Teo rolls her eyes at me. "Not exactly, but somewhere in the never-ending universe there are forces that are greater than you and me. You'll see."

"Are you sure that 'Saveznik' doesn't translate to 'a friend that is completely bonkers?'" I ask with a playful smirk.

She barks a laugh, pushing my shoulders before wrapping her arm around my shoulders and pulling me close. "Hey, I never claimed I was sane. Bonkers or not, you're stuck with me now," she jokes.

Call me crazy too, but I don't mind being stuck with a friend like her at all.