by L. S. Emory
The girl who was a warrior
L.S. Emory
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Author Notes
This book is dedicated to M.
Always.
The Girl Who Was A Warrior Copyright © 2019 by William Manuel. All Rights Reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Printed in the United States of America
Chapter 1
“Annabeth Johnson, you put that wand away immediately!”
I wasn't about to move. Not this time. I was standing my ground.
“I will not, Professor Markle,” I said, gritting my teeth and shaking my head. “I’m tired of them calling me names and talking about me behind my back.”
“Annabeth, this is my classroom, and I will not tolerate these shenanigans. Put that wand up, now!”
Even as angry as I was, I knew how far I could push Professor Markle before I got into real trouble, and I thought that I might have just crossed that line. “Fine,” I muttered, reluctantly putting the spotted bamboo wand back into the shiny brown leather holster on my belt.
“You should call the police,” a girl a few feet behind me shouted. “I’ve been violated!”
She was almost in tears. But I didn’t care.
Professor Markle turned toward the girl, gazing at the huge, bushy red tail that was now coming out of the back of the girl’s pants, like a fox on steroids. “Molly, you have not been violated. And you’re not innocent in this either.” She turned around, facing me. “Reverse the spell. Now.”
I didn't want to do it. I wasn’t trying to be difficult. Sometimes my spells went wonky, doing things that I didn’t intend them to do. This happened especially when I got mad, kind of like autocorrect for magic. So I wasn't actually sure that I could reverse it. But I knew for my own sake that I needed to try. It seemed like I had a way of attracting trouble, and I was afraid that this time might be the one that did me in. “I’ll have to take my wand out to do it,” I said to Professor Markle.
“Yes, yes, you may use your wand to reverse it. But that’s it.”
I took out my wand slowly, trying to think of what I did to make the spell work. Or even where the spell came from. I wasn’t sure about either. My heart was still racing. I tried to breathe slowly to calm it down. I muttered a few words and pointed the wand at Molly. Slowly the tail began to shrink, and then disappeared. I still wasn’t sure what I did, but was happy enough that whatever I did, worked.
“She has to be punished! And I didn’t do anything!”
“Molly Castor, sit down and keep your mouth closed,” Mrs. Markle barked at the girl. “Annabeth, we’re going to the Headmaster’s office.”
“Fine, whatever,” I replied as I turned and starting walking towards the door. I knew then that I wasn’t going to get out of this one.
“That’s what you get, dirty little orphan girl,” I heard coming from behind me.
My heart began to race again. I felt the blood rush to me face as I clenched my fists. She just wouldn’t stop. Not unless I stopped her. I spun around to face her again. “That’s it,” I whispered under my breath. I could feel the magical energy building up in my body. Or the adrenaline. I wasn’t sure which it was. I had a hard time telling the difference. Then, I felt a hand grab my arm. I jerked my head around to see who had dared to grab me.
“Do not even think about it, young lady,” Professor Markle said, her bony hand wrapped around my arm. “And you, Molly, I will say again, be quiet. I will deal with you when I get back. The rest of you, read chapter four from Wand Techniques: A History. There will be an oral quiz when I return.” She pulled me out the door by the arm. “Follow me.”
Professor Markle led me out the door and down the hall. I knew she was pretty mad. I wasn’t one of her prize students, and I knew it. Not like the others.
As we walked, I looked through the windows on the classroom doors as we passed by them. Sometimes I wished that I was in one of those classes. Maybe then I would be left alone. But I knew that wasn’t true. They are probably all the same. What was true was that I didn’t fit in. Not in my class, not in the school, not anywhere.
Mrs. Markle stopped in front of the Headmaster’s office. “Annabeth, this gives me no pleasure to be here with you. Before we go in and see Headmaster Kard, I want you to tell me what happened.”
I leaned up against the wall and crossed my arms. I didn’t want to talk about it, but it didn’t look like I had a choice. “They called me ‘dirty little orphan girl,’ I mumbled while I stared at the green and white crisscross design of the tiles on the floor. “I’m tired of it.”
Professor Markle let out a sigh. “I know those girls can be cruel. And I know how hard of a time you must have had since your parents passed away...a very tragic thing that happened to them.”
A very tragic thing. That’s putting it mildly. My parents had worked at the Supernatural Science Agency. They were in the research division, always doing some kind of study on the how the different supernatural races got sick or working on some kind of medicine that would help. In the human world, they would have been research doctors working in a hospital. But in the magic world, they worked in one of the government's agencies. Every so often, one of them had to go out of town to collect data or samples. But the other one always stayed behind to take care of me, so I was never alone. I didn’t mind. They were helping others. I loved my parents. And they loved me.
Then there was an accident.
It had happened in the lab. No one ever told me exactly what happened, but there had been an explosion. Maybe the werewolf blood poison medicine, or a solution for Vampire Anxiety Disorder. It didn’t really matter. They died in the fire in their lab. It had been a closed casket funeral, so I didn’t even get to see them one last time.
People say that time heals wounds. I don't think those people ever went through what I went through with their deaths. It didn’t make sense to me. Now, not much of anything made sense,
I looked up at Professor Markle. Six months ago, I would have had tears in my eyes when someone mentioned my parents. But not now. I had cried too many tears already. I didn’t have any left. Just a rotten feeling in my stomach. I was tired of hearing people say what a tragedy my parents’ deaths were. And I was tired of the other girls calling me names. I was tired of living with my aunt, who I had to go live with after my parents died. I had just had enough of all of it.
“I don’t know what to say to you, Annabeth. You’ve always had problems in my class, even for a first-year student. Wa
nd work is difficult for some. Not everyone becomes good with a wand. But it is fundamental to being a wizard. You have to have control over your emotions. That is the key to it. You can’t let your emotions get out of control like you did, lashing out at the other girls like that. You shouldn’t have even been able to cast that spell! Where did you learn it? Was it from one of the spell books from the special collection in the library? Was it from a scroll at your aunt’s house?”
I shifted from one side to the other. “I don’t know. I just figured it out,” I replied. That was the truth. Sometimes I knew spells without really knowing them. Sometimes the magic just came out. “And they deserved it.”
Professor Markle put her hands on her hips. “That may be true, but still, you cannot be doing things like that. You know what the school policy is. You know I have to report this to Headmaster Kard. He won’t be as understanding as I am. I’m afraid that there will be consequences because of what you did. You need to prepare yourself for that,” she said as she opened the door. She put her hand on my back and firmly nudged me through the door. “Now sit over there while I go in and explain the situation to Headmaster Kard,” she said, gesturing to a wooden bench up against the wall.
I slowly made my way over to the bench and slumped down on it. I looked up and saw that Professor Markle had a look of disappointment mixed with hesitance as she first spoke to the secretary before going in to see the Headmaster, all while looking back at me.
Then I heard the bench creak. It was a thin girl with short, flame red hair who had sat down on the other end of the bench. She was dressed like me, meaning she wasn't wearing the most expensive, cool clothes like the other girls. I glanced at her, to see who it was. I didn't know her. She hadn’t been in any of my classes. But I had seen her around the school. The Agnes Arcania School of Wizardry Mastery wasn’t that big.
“So, what did you do?” the girl asked me after a few moments.
I looked up. “I cast a spell on some girls that were making fun of me.”
“What kind of spell?” she asked.
“I made a tail grow out of the back of one of their pants.” It sounded funny now that I said it out loud.
“What spell was that? I don’t know that one.”
“I’m not sure. It just kind of came out,” I said.
I didn’t know how to explain it, and she didn’t ask. That was ok with me, though. I really didn’t want to talk about it.
“My name is Kyra, by the way,” the girl said.
“I’m Annabeth.” It was kind of awkward. But that was how most of my social interactions were nowadays. I wasn’t sure what to say, so I asked, “So, what did you do?”
“I set the teacher's desk on fire,” she said with a crooked frown.
“Accident?” I asked.
“Nope,” Kyra replied. “She said I was using the wrong pronunciation of a spell.”
“Oh,” I said. I wanted to laugh, but I wasn’t sure if she would think it was funny.
“It sounds worse than it actually was. And besides, she was always criticizing me. My accent, my second-hand wand, my used books, and everything else. I don't come from one of the wealthier magic families like most of the kids here. I'm here on a scholarship.” She brushed her hair out of her face. “Nothing I did was ever right, or good enough for her.”
“Yeah, me too,” I said.
I knew exactly what Kyra was talking about. The Agnes Arcania School of Wizardry Mastery was the most exclusive school of magic training for girls in the southeastern United States. Having such high standards for admission meant that it was made up primarily of students from wealthier families. Politicians, lawyers, doctors and others. Some that worked in the human world, along with some prominent families from the magic world. It didn’t matter what the parents did for a living. They all wanted their children to go to the AASWM.
Graduation from the school not only meant the ability to take the test to become an officially licensed magic user, but also an almost guaranteed job in a prominent position in either the magic world or human world. The network of AASWM alumni was that vast and influential. Not getting in meant that all of that opportunity would not exist. It meant that someone from a magic family would have to make it in the world on their own, just like in the human world. That’s why admission to the school was so competitive, and also why the students at the school came from the wealthiest and most powerful families.
“Annabeth, Headmaster Kard will see you now,” Professor Markle said to me as she stepped out of the Headmaster’s office. It felt like I had been sitting there awaiting my punishment for hours. I was ready to get it over with.
“Good luck,” Kyra said as I got up.
“Thanks. You too,” I replied.
I got up from the bench and walked toward the door that Professor Markle was holding open. I stopped for a second and looked at her. “Are you coming in?”
“No. I have explained the situation to Headmaster Kard. He will inform you of the consequences of your actions,” Professor Markle replied.
“Ok,” I said.
I stepped through the door, having no idea what was going to happen. I had a feeling I was going to be suspended, since this wasn’t my first time being in the Headmaster’s office. Maybe a few days, but more than likely a week, which I knew would make my aunt mad. Aunt Linda was my closest living relative, and the one who took me in when my parents died. She was on the Board of Trustees of the school and had pulled some strings to get me a scholarship. Not because she was so fond of me, but because she would not entertain the idea of me living with her and not attending the AASWM. Family honor and reputation, and all. That kind of humiliation was not something Aunt Linda would live with.
“Annabeth, have a seat,” Headmaster Kard said, waving me toward a chair on the other side of his desk.
I sat down in the leather chair, which was not nearly as comfortable as it looked.
“Professor Markle has told me about what you did. This is a very serious offense,” he said, sitting up straight in his chair while running his hand across his receding hairline.
“I know. But they were making fun of me…”
“I understand, Annabeth,” Headmaster Kard said, cutting me off mid-sentence. “But this isn’t the first time. In fact, this is the third time. I don’t think you understand how serious this is. Attending the Agnes Arcadia School of Wizardry Mastery is a privilege, not a right. You cannot become a licensed wizard without the requisite two years of classes. Without that license, you are severely limited in the magic that you are allowed to use. We take very seriously the training that we provide here. We produce more successful graduates than any other magic school in the world, and have the highest retention rates, as well as the highest level of prerequisites to be admitted. If your aunt had did not have so many friends, you might not even be here. Do you realize this?”
“Yes, and I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“I know it won't happen again. You are being expelled. We have a strictly enforced ‘three strikes’ rule. There can be no exceptions. After twelve months, you can re-apply, if you stay out of trouble and have no further incidents.”
I could feel my heart start to race and the panic began to set in when he said that. This was bad. Far worse than I expected. “But, but...it wasn’t my fault! They were…”
Headmaster Kard stood up. “I’m sorry Annabeth, but my hands are tied on this. Magic education is a serious endeavor. Not everyone is cut out for it. There is no shame in not having the temperament for study. Preparing for wizard licensure isn't just about knowing how to write the proper incantations, using the right wand, or memorizing the right potion formula. You have to develop the proper respect and character for the responsibility of using magic. That respect and character are things you have shown a lack of. As I said, you can re-apply in a year. Maybe that will give you enough time to think about what you have done, and to work on controlling your impulses. Your aunt has been contacted and is on h
er way to pick you up. I have to step out for a little while. You can stay here in my office until she arrives. There’s no need for you to sit outside and be humiliated any further.” Then he quietly walked past me, closing the door behind him.
Tears started welling up in my eyes, Aunt Linda would be so angry. Not because of what Annabeth had been through, but because of the shame of having a niece that was expelled from the school, probably the first in my family. Things had already been tense at home. I knew that she had taken me in because of pity, and not because of love. This would just make things even more tense.
What was I supposed to do now? That was my first thought. I needed a game plan, and quick. I didn’t have time to feel horrible about this or think about how unfair this was. I had to do some damage control before Aunt Linda showed up.
I would have to get a job, probably in the human world, where no one knew me. Maybe I could go to a human college, like any other non-magical eighteen-year-old girl. That might keep Aunt Linda from going ballistic. Maybe that was for the best.
Maybe I wasn’t really cut out to be a wizard. That thought scared me. But that would be a first. My parents had graduated from AASWM and worked in the office of the Supernatural Science Agency. And my aunt was, in addition to being on the Board of Trustees, a well-known wizard in her own right. And here I was, failing even to live up to being a student.
I heard the knock on the door before it opened. “Annabeth, your Aunt Linda is here.”
And I just froze.
Chapter 2
We walked in silence to Aunt Linda’s car. I silently slid into my seat and closed the door. I tried my best to be as silent as I could, wanting to think, and somehow hoping, that if I didn’t make any noise, then my aunt would not notice that I had just been thrown out of school. That hope, however, did not last long.
“Annabeth, what exactly did you think you were doing?”
“I was defending myself.” I had to make a strong case. Aunt Linda didn’t like weakness. I had to prove that I wasn’t to blame for what happened. Even though I knew I was. Molly was cruel and deserved what she got, but I had let her get to me.