Cast Into Darkness by Janet Tait

usually took on missions, their owners nowhere in sight. Kate leaned against the Sanctum’s outer wall, head resting on its wooden trim, warm from the sun.
    No point in thinking too much about the last time she had been inside the Sanctum, how she’d stood in its center, six years ago. How her father, mother, and her uncle Grayson, his hair still solid black, had watched from outside the ring of glowing circle stones, the light of their protection shimmering toward the ceiling. They’d watched as she failed all three magic tests, the stones winking out, leaving her in darkness. She remembered how her father had turned away from her, back stiff, her mother’s attention on her father’s bent head, not on Kate and her tears.
    “What’s that smell? A pig?” Kate started at Missy Hashimoto’s shrill voice. Missy was one of Brian’s classmates—a caster. She floated in the air above Kate, her high-pitched giggle wafting down from tight, smirking lips. Her fingers stroked a shining silver talisman perched on her red leather jacket, activating the spell that kept her hovering.
    “No, silly—pig shit. Can’t you tell?” Her brother Gordon floated next to her, arms crossed, a sneer across his handsome face.
    “Wait, we were both wrong,” Missy giggled. “It’s a Null. But who could tell the difference?”
    “Missy, stop it.” Kate’s cousin, Hayley. Blond ponytail bobbing as she hovered in the air, fingers busy casting. “Leave Kate alone.”
    Missy shot Hayley an oh-so-sincere look of contrition. “Oh, that’s right. Shouldn’t be mean to the boss’s daughter. Might get in trouble.”
    Kate’s face burned. “I was just… I’m looking for Brian.”
    Missy jerked her head from one side to the other, her eyes wide and an ultra-fake smile painted on her face. “I don’t see him? Do you?” She gaped at Gordon.
    “Maybe he’s in the Sanctum.” Gordon’s handsome face twisted in a cruel smile. “Why don’t you go inside and find out?”
    “I can’t. You know that.”
    “Then what the hell are you doing out here in caster country?” He sneered.
    “I—”
    Missy laughed. “You come here, snooping around, looking to learn our secrets? Checking up on us for your dad? Maybe we should teach you a lesson.” She raised her hand, and her body got all tense, her eyes narrow and sharp.
    Oh shit. She’s going to cast.
    Gordon muttered a quick chant and slashed his hand in a figure eight.
    Chunks of concrete blew from the pavement at Kate’s feet, carving a hole in the ground. Kate screamed and jumped back, her whole body shaking.
    “You can’t cast at Kate! She’s off-limits! What the hell are you doing?” Hayley yelled.
    “Open the door. Now.” Gordon’s voice sent ice shooting down her back.
    Over the crackle of the fire spell that had sprung to Missy’s hand and Hayley’s protests, Kate wondered if anyone would hear her if she screamed for help. And what would really happen if she opened the door. Would she look like a stupid, Null idiot who didn’t know her place to the people inside, or would she get sucked into some kind of other-dimensional hellhole? She didn’t want to find out.
    “No.” She faced the three casters hovering above her. “Go to hell.”
    Gordon’s face went dark. His fingers slashed and jabbed through the air too fast for her to follow. Even a Null like her could feel the spell forming around his hands—something black and writhing and filled with screams.
    She froze, mouth gone bone dry . Shit, he’s really going to—
    “Look out!”
    Brian’s yell shocked Kate more than the impact of his body as he threw himself on top of her. A roar like a freight train sounded as Gordon’s spell rushed past her head, so close her ears rang with the near miss. They hit the ground, the impact knocking the wind out of Kate and jarring her still-sore head. Gordon’s spell slammed into the Sanctum door and evaporated with a swoosh.
    Brian rolled to his feet, chanting. Everything