by Kayla Bashe
You’re about to transform when one of the monster-men grabs your hands. In an instant, you surround your body with a shield of white light. Even though your hands are still pinned behind your back, it’ll prevent the monster men from hurting you—for now, at least. In order to fight back, though, you’ll need to transform.
“Abby, transform and distract them.”
Abby nods—but she looks even paler than usual, and her hands are trembling. “I am… the Wild Hunt…” Nothing happens.
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(1/3) Appeal to her sense of self-confidence
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(2/3) Simply encourage her
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(3/3) Tell her to not give up
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Magical Girl Academy: Awakening Magic, by Kayla Bashe
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“Magda, transform and distract them!”
She nods, rubbing her forehead as if to stave off a headache. “Magda Pandora, I open the gift…” It’s her invocation, but the magic doesn’t work. She seems distracted and worried, especially with all the monster-men shouting at her. Maybe if you said something nice to her, she’d feel more confident.
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(1/3) Tell her that you believe in her
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(2/3) Remind her that she's a good person
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(3/3) Remind her that she's her own person
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Magical Girl Academy: Awakening Magic, by Kayla Bashe
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“Abby, you’re objectively incredible. Anyone who tells you different is wrong. Why listen to them? Listen to people who care about you—like me, for instance—and be happy.”
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Magical Girl Academy: Awakening Magic, by Kayla Bashe
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“Abby, you can do this,” you say, your gaze intense as it meets hers.
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(1/1) >>
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Magical Girl Academy: Awakening Magic, by Kayla Bashe
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“Abby, we can’t give up now! As long as we keep trying, we still have a chance. I know you believe in me, and I believe in you.”
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(1/1) >>
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Magical Girl Academy: Awakening Magic, by Kayla Bashe
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“Magda, I believe in you. You’re clever and talented and funny, and if anyone can pull this off, you can. I know you can do this, Magda. Come on and prove me right!”
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Magical Girl Academy: Awakening Magic, by Kayla Bashe
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“Magda. You’re a good person. If someone says something bad about you, you shouldn’t believe them! You deserve to be happy, and you deserve to think good thoughts about yourself, and I know you can do this.”
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Magical Girl Academy: Awakening Magic, by Kayla Bashe
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“Magda, listen to me. You’re your own person, right? What other people say shouldn’t stop you from doing whatever you want! I know that you can rise above anything anyone says to you—so take a deep breath, think of how amazing and magical you are, and do this.”
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Magical Girl Academy: Awakening Magic, by Kayla Bashe
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Abigail thinks this over for a second, then nods, slightly calmer. “I am the Wild Hunt.”
Strange shadows swirl around her, reflecting the shapes of branches and antlers. Her shoes change into sturdy hunting boots, and her clothes become both more finely tailored and more practical. When she stabs the monsters who’re holding you, you say your invocation—“I rename myself! Love Angel Transformation!” and twirl into your own glittery transformation sequence.
Abigail fights by your side with a sharp butcher’s knife in one hand and a two-tined carving fork in the other.
She is incredibly fierce and impossibly graceful. Together, you fall into a perfect rhythm: you disable monsters with blazing light, and she cuts their hearts out. Or she slices her knife across their limbs, making them bleed thick gooey blood—and before they can flail around and slap her with their too-long arms, you take them out. Soon, you’ve defeated all of your enemies.
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Magical Girl Academy: Awakening Magic, by Kayla Bashe
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She’s quiet for a moment, thinking it over. Then she plants her feet, squares her shoulders and says decisively: “Magda Pandora, I open the gift!”
Magic swirls around her in the form of typewritten pages; the monsters holding you are so distracted with gawking at her that they don’t even resist when you wrench yourself free and start your own transformation.
You fight together, fly over your enemies together. If battles were books, you’d be reading off the same page. Between Magda’s razor-sharp pages and the glowing weapons you conjure, you make an unstoppable team.
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Magical Girl Academy: Awakening Magic, by Kayla Bashe
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“That was incredible,” Abby says casually, licking monster-ichor off the palm of her hand. And then: “Oh, I’ve got blood on my skirt—better detransform and let it restore itself.” With the sound of rustling leaves, she detransforms; you follow suit, your regular clothes reforming in a burst of light. “Let’s head back to school. I can’t wait to tell everyone how great we are at fighting together.”
The unfortunate men who were possessed by the monsters are lying on the sidewalk, moaning. They’ll return to full consciousness in a couple hours, with no side effects other than an odd confused feeling and a minor headache. Working together, you move them to the sidewalk; before walking away, you take a chocolate bar from your bag (dark chocolate infused with bergamot; Abby, who’s lived in the area for longer than you have, recommended the store highly
) and slip it inside the tallest man’s backpack.
After all, Maona would say that a true magical girl can always find it in her heart to forgive the unwitting pawns of her enemies.
“Okay,” you say, smiling. “Let’s go!”
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(1/1) back at school
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Magical Girl Academy: Awakening Magic, by Kayla Bashe
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You finally realize that you have run out of monsters to fight. Together, you detransform.
“None of what they said was true, anyway,” Magda says, her demeanor becoming more casual. “We should pay no mind to any silly such things, Lucy Angel.”
You totally agree with her.
The unfortunate men who were posessed by the monsters are lying on the sidewalk, moaning. They’ll return to full conciousness in a couple hours, with no side effects other than an odd confused feeling and a minor headache. Working together, you move them to the sidewalk; before walking away, you take a chocolate bar from your bag (dark chocolate infused with essence of orange, ) and slip it inside the tallest man’s backpack.
After all, Maona would say that a true magical girl can always find it in her heart to forgive the unwitting pawns of her enemies.
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(1/1) >>
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Please turn back a page
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Please turn forward a page
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Magical Girl Academy: Awakening Magic, by Kayla Bashe
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The next day, a heat wave hits campus—and doesn’t leave.
To the girls from places with warm climates, the heat feels like home. They shed their sweaters, shake out their curls, and sunbathe.
After a bad sunburn that requires a healing potion and three oatmeal baths to recover from, Chant goes from sun-worshipper to sun-wary.
Magda spends hours each evening reading on the shaded, screened-in porch of the Academe. On the way there, she wears a broad-brimmed hat; on the way back, she carries the hat, but slathers herself in citronella.
Abby goes to extreme lengths to protect her vampire-pale skin. Hat, sunglasses, long-sleeved sweaters; after passing out from heat exhaustion, she takes a nurse’s advice and switches to a thin, white cotton sweater, although she still stays inside whenever possible.
You’re sensible about sun protection and keeping properly hydrated, and your friends admire you for it.
And you’ve managed to make a new friend!
You and Zela—a witty girl with dark braids—have ward duty together. Basically, you walk your assigned patch of the ward twice weekly and strengthen any weak spots with positive memories.
The vibrant city in which she grew up; her ascerbic, witty grandmother, a Magical Woman herself; her large, loving family, which reminds you of yours. Sailing waxed-paper boats down the river, la ria.
Brightly painted sugar candy. The sunset-orange flowers that bloomed on the riverbank each summer.
Over time, you start choosing memories that you think she’ll be especially fond of: dinner with your entire family, catching fireflies in the woods with Pommy.
After sharing so much about yourselves with each other, you’ve become friends.
On an especially hot day, after finishing your ward work, you and Zera—and the rest of your squad, who stopped by to help—sit under the shade of a tree while she explains the name of her hometown.
“It’s La ria na ciuda—the city on the river. In Central, we’re just plain old River City. Central—a thousand synonyms for everything and they’re terrible at naming things.” She scoffs, then continues, smiling. “La ria. That’s what the locals call it. And as my friends, you are honorary locals, at least for tonight. Don’t go claiming you’re from around there when you’re not with me, though! But tonight is going to be special.”
“What’s tonight?” asks Abby.
“I’m throwing a party! The best thing to do on days like this is wait till the sun goes down, then dance until your feet say ‘No more,’ you know? And I’m even getting one of my favorite hometown bands to come play for everyone.” As the result of a whip-round on her dorm hallway and a super-sweet letter written to the River City cultural committee, a musical group that’s a huge hit in half the galaxy is making its Magi Town debut tonight.
Of course, there’s a very important question on your mind: what to wear?
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(1/4) A long dress
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(2/4) A short, poofy dress
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(3/4) A short, tight dress
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(4/4) A dress? Nah. You're going to wear pants!
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Please turn back a page
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* * *
Please turn forward a page
* * *
Magical Girl Academy: Awakening Magic, by Kayla Bashe
* * *
The next day, a heat wave hits campus—and doesn’t leave.
To the girls from places with warm climates, the heat feels like home. They shed their sweaters, shake out their curls, and sunbathe.
After a bad sunburn that requires a healing potion and three oatmeal baths to recover from, Chant goes from sun-worshipper to sun-wary.
Magda spends hours each evening reading on the shaded, screened-in porch of the Academe. On the way there, she wears a broad-brimmed hat; on the way back, she carries the hat, but slathers herself in citronella.
Abby goes to extreme lengths to protect her vampire-pale skin. Hat, sunglasses, long-sleeved sweaters; after passing out from heat exhaustion, she takes a nurse’s advice and switches to a thin, white cotton sweater, although she still stays inside whenever possible.
You’re sensible about sun protection and keeping properly hydrated, and your friends admire you for it.
And you’ve managed to make a new friend!
You and Zela—a witty girl with dark braids—have ward duty together. Basically, you walk your assigned patch of the ward twice weekly and strengthen any weak spots with positive memories.
The vibrant city in which she grew up; her ascerbic, witty grandmother, a Magical Woman herself; her large, loving family, which reminds you of yours. Sailing waxed-paper boats down the river, la ria.
Brightly painted sugar candy. The sunset-orange flowers that bloomed on the riverbank each summer.
Over time, you start choosing memories that you think she’ll be especially fond of: dinner with your entire family, catching fireflies in the woods with Pommy.