by Hannah Wick
I stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind me. The thunder cracked again, louder this time. Lightning flashed, striking a tree, leaving a smouldering husk in its wake. Good. I hoped the storm destroyed his whole beautiful world, the way he’d just destroyed mine.
I palmed the tears from my stinging eyes before they had a chance to roll down my face and took a long, deep breath. They did not deserve my tears. As the shaking and my pounding heart began to return to normal, I closed my eyes and looked up at the sky. Dark clouds hovered above my head. I needed to be alone. I had university tomorrow, and she would be there. My anger boiled again. Above me, the thunder let out another rumble. I looked up. I wanted to scream, cry, throw a fit. Curl up in a ball and pretend it had never happened. That me and Suzie were still best friends, that Greg was still the love of my life.
But they weren’t. They’d betrayed me in the worst way possible and then had the gall to blame it on me. I curled my hands into fists as my feet ate up the distance between his home and mine. And just for that moment, I wished his whole perfect world would burn down around him.
Of course, that would make me the bad guy. I would never hear the end of it. Not that it could even happen; I had no magic.
The sky finally cleared as I reached my street. I glanced around, and the back of my neck prickled with the strangest feeling that someone was watching me. I rolled my eyes. Obviously, the cheating rat had got into my head. It wasn’t the first time, but I would make sure as hell that it was the last.
Chapter Three
When I finally made it through my front door, I found Vicky and Hildegard waiting for me. I clicked the door shut behind me warily.
“We have been expecting you,” Hildegard said.
“Why?”
“Tell us about what happened this evening.”
“I went to see Greg,” I said, not in the mood for an interrogation.
“Is that all?” Hildegard asked, with a hint of an accusation in her tone.
“Obviously not, or I would still be there, wouldn’t I?”
“So, what happened?” she asked, again. My shoulders tensed. Did I really have to explain myself?
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Tell me.”
I closed my eyes. Fine. If they wanted to hear about my day so badly, I’d tell them. Maybe then they would stop their incessant questioning. “I walked in on Greg and Suzie. Together.” I ground my teeth. “They blamed me!”
“You got angry?” Hildegard guessed. “Or perhaps, furious?”
“You think?” Not that it was any of her business. “Why are you here? I’ve done your stupid tests. Just leave me alone.”
She gave me a sympathetic look that set my teeth on edge.
“I wish I was here for that. But you caused a ripple. And we had to do some damage control.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. And I’d really like to be alone right now.”
“Look,” Vicky said. She steered me into the living room, and Hildegard grabbed the remote, turning the TV to the news channel. It was live, and they were outside Greg’s house. As if I wanted to see his cheating face right now. I turned away.
“Great. He cheats on me, and he makes it onto national television. I bet he’s enjoying this.”
“Probably not so much,” Vicky replied, gesturing towards the TV. I turned back to the screen, curiosity getting the best of me. Was that smoke rising from his windows? Greg was still talking, with his back to it.
“I don’t know what happened. There was a flash, and then one of the plugs must have had an energy surge, because the lava lamp blew up and set fire to the house. We were upstairs in the bedroom when the alarms went off.”
Fire? I cocked my head to one side and turned my curiosity to Vicky.
“Wait, you don’t think… You can’t think I did that?” Not in a split-second of rage. It wasn’t possible. I didn’t have any magic. But I wish I had done it. “You know what? I don’t care. Greg’s already blaming me because he couldn’t keep it in his pants. Why shouldn’t you blame me for a freak storm setting fire to his stupid house? And hey, if we have an earthquake tomorrow, maybe you can blame that on me, too! You know, with the magic I don’t have - or are you conveniently forgetting that?”
“Let’s do the test again. If it was you, we will have better results on the tests this time round. And if nothing changes, then we know it was a freak lightning storm and nothing to do with magic.”
“Which test?” I asked. If taking one more test was what it took to get her off my back, then fine. I was exhausted and holding my shit together was wearing me down.
“The aura one. I want you to find my aura.”
I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. Of course, find her aura – the one thing I was certain I had no idea how to do. But I closed my eyes and focused my mind, reminding myself of what I was looking for and what I’d done last time. When it hadn’t worked.
I opened my eyes and stared ahead at Vicky, looking past the edge of her petite form. I relaxed myself and let my focus soften. A faint white outline started to glow around her, like the light was hitting her in a weird way. I blinked, but the outline didn’t fade. Instead, it grew stronger. I gasped.
“Oh. My. God.” I sucked in a deep, shaky breath. “I can see it. I can see a white outline!”
A lot had changed since yesterday. I’d wanted to fail this time, because it would prove I had no magic, that I couldn’t be responsible. Vicky was beaming, and Hildegard looked relieved. I wasn’t. I didn’t want to have magic. I’d already thought about my life as a mortal. I could get a job, change universities – make something of myself. Maybe even become a doctor. I reached out again, looking at the edges of my hand – perhaps it was a trick of the light. Or even a fluke. Perhaps I only saw what I wanted to see. No, I wasn’t magic. It simply wasn’t possible. But the longer I looked and stared at my hands, the more prominent the line became. And the chance to be a normal mortal drifted further away.
“Yes. You finally have your powers. They’re weak, but they’re there.”
“Well, that’s just peachy.”
Vicky pulled the social worker to the side and spoke in hushed tones. “Now what?”
“Now,” Hildegard said, “She cancels her enrolment at the university and gets transferred over to Aurora Academy. The semester is just about to start. I’ll make some calls and hopefully, she can start with this intake. Late admissions are unusual, but I am sure that once I explain things, it won’t be a problem.”
“What, that’s it?” I looked from one to the other, not even bothering to get annoyed that they were, once again, talking about me like I wasn’t in the room. My daily quota of pissed off was all used up. “I’m not in trouble for starting the fire, or losing my temper… or risking exposing magic to mortals?”
It occurred to me that I should shut up before any of that stuff happened, and I quickly clamped my mouth shut.
“Your circumstances are… unique. So, no. I am not going to scream and shout. But now that you have your powers, weak or not, you must not lose control again. You need to find something else; another way to vent. If you get annoyed, focus and don’t lose your temper. We don’t know what’ll happen now that it has activated your powers. You could become dangerous, and the council will not stand for that.”
“But what if I don’t want to drop out of uni? My friend is…” I stopped myself. Friend. She wasn’t that anymore. I lost my will to argue. I had nothing else.
“Look,” Hildegarde said, in a soft tone. “You have a choice, if you really want to hear it?”
“I do,” I replied. Maybe the choice was between home-schooling or the magic school. I knew what I would choose. I would quite happily never leave the house again.
“You can either go to the Aurora Academy as planned, or you can have your powers stripped.”
“Stripped? You mean lose them, after all this fuss about getting them in the first place?”
<
br /> “That’s right. But I’m afraid you’ll have to decide right now. We’re already pushing it with your admission at Aurora.”
I sighed. Some choice. I slumped back into a chair and gazed out of the window at the end of the room. What choice did I have?
“Fine,” I said. “Make your calls. I’ll go to the academy.”
“I’ll go and do it now. It’s for the best, you’ll see,” she said, leaving the room with her phone in hand.
I turned towards Vicky, who was still beaming. She gave my shoulder a squeeze, and I quashed the urge to shrug her off. “I’m so pleased,” she said.
“Pleased?” I spluttered. There was definitely nothing to be pleased about. “How could you be pleased? Don’t you care what I have been through?” I glared at her, waiting for some sort of sympathy. “I have just lost my boyfriend, and my best friend. I walked in on them screwing, right there in his bed. But all you seem to be interested in is the fact that I finally have my powers. How is having powers more important than my whole life? How is being betrayed something to be happy about?”
Vicky let out a long sigh, wrapping her arm around my shoulders. “I’m sorry. It’s just that we’ve waited for so long for this to happen… I guess we just got caught up in it.” She paused, dropping her arm back to her side. “How are you holding up?”
I sniffed back a tear. “I’m not. My world has crashed down around me. I’ve lost everything.”
“Not everything. You’re stronger than you know, Kiera, and no man can take that from you. Not ever.”
Chapter Four
It was the biggest building I’d ever seen. I gazed up at the white stone walls set with red-painted window frames that stood several stories high, and let out a low whistle. Aurora Academy was a palace.
I gaped at the stunning flower garden set on either side of the gravel trail as I made my way to the front entrance. Inside the building, the polished wooden floors shone beneath my feet, and pictures hung along the entire length of the hallway of lecturers and past students. I continued down the long hall until I had reached the dean’s office. Hildegard had told me I’d need to report straight to see her when I arrived here, on account of being a late admission.
I knocked loudly and waited, swallowing hard. Hopefully she wouldn’t dismiss me as a lost cause. I had nothing else to lose. Except, of course, the one thing I had left. My magic.
“Come in,” a voice instructed.
I opened the door and stepped inside. The room was big, bordering ostentatious, with an ornate desk that would have dominated any other office I’d been in. But in here, it sat nearly at the back, leaving plenty of empty space between me and the neat, middle-aged woman sitting behind it. On the desk was her laptop, a small lamp, and a picture I couldn’t make out from here.
“Uh, hi,” I said. “I’m Kiera Thorne. You wanted me to report to you when I got here?”
“Yes, Kiera.” She peered at me through a pair of black-rimmed glasses and I fought the urge to squirm on the spot. Seriously, it was like being summoned into the head teacher’s office at school all over again.
“Thank you for accepting my application at such short notice,” I said, because a little flattery never hurt anyone. “I will try my best not to let you down.”
“Just make sure you do your best and I’m sure you will be fine. The lecturers will be updating me regularly on your progress. So if there’s any trouble, or instances of uncontrolled magic, I will know about it.”
She fixed me with her stare again, and I nodded, not sure what else to say.
“Good.” She nodded to the bags I was still carrying. “You’ll find your dorm assignment and schedule at the front office. That will be all.”
I nodded and left the room, wondering if I’d be sharing a room or if I’d have my own. I guessed I’d find out soon enough. If, of course, I could find the front office.
As luck would have it, there was a map hanging on the wall two corridors over, before I’d had a chance to get myself too thoroughly lost. I jotted down the directions to the front office, and it wasn’t long before I found it, and got everything I needed.
Good news: there was another map in the front office, so I wasn’t going to get hopelessly lost trying to find my room. Bad news: it was on the top floor, which meant hauling my bags halfway across the academy and up several flights of stairs. And, since my grasp on my magic was tentative at best, and given the dean’s non-to-subtle warning, I was going to be doing it manually.
“Hey, you look like you could use some help.”
I twisted round and found myself face to face with a guy my height with dark, spiky hair – and a bulging pair of biceps.
“That’d be great, thanks.” I held my hand out. “Kiera.”
“I’m Danny,” he said, clasping my hand, then reaching for the larger of my bags. “Good to meet you.”
I met his eye with a smile, and tried not to stare at the dark stain around one of them, not at all hidden by the pair of wire-rimmed glasses he was wearing. Maybe Danny was a brawler in his spare time. Whatever. I didn’t much care if he liked to play fight club at the weekend, so long as he was happy to help me haul my bags.
When we reached the right corridor almost ten minutes later, I stopped and gasped for breath. Sweat dripped down my face. Meanwhile, Danny looked fresh as a daisy. I really needed to work on my fitness. My cheeks flushed red as I stood at the floor entrance. I checked room numbers as I made my way along the corridor until I found the one that was mine. I thanked Danny and headed in.
There were three beds in the dorm room. One bed, already taken, had someone’s luggage sitting beside it. It was closer to the door and a picture frame sat on the bedside cabinet. I headed towards the end of the room near the windows. It overlooked the communal garden and the pond, and everything was in full bloom. It was a beautiful view. I placed my bag beside my chosen bed and then headed back out of the room. Lectures would be starting soon, and I didn’t want to miss my first. I sighed. I had hoped I would meet my roommate before class. Oh well. I was sure that I would meet them soon enough. Now, though, I had more pressing things to worry about.
My first lesson was called Theory of Magic. At least it sounded interesting. All the stuff I probably should have been learning before I got here. I frowned. I hoped I wouldn’t be too far behind.
When I reached the lecture room, the door was closed, and the room inside looked empty. I knocked on the door and waited. The lecturer appeared from the back of the room and opened the door.
“Are you lost?” she asked.
“Uh, no,” I replied, unsure. “At least, I don’t think so. Am I late?”
“Year one, Theory of Magic?”
I nodded.
“Then, no, you’re just the first one here. Come inside,” the lecturer said, offering me a welcoming smile.
I went inside and sat at the desk at the front – the better to take decent notes – and waited. I tugged at the black dress that was creeping up to the top of my legs. Tomorrow, I was going to have to wear something more practical.
The room was starting to fill up and as the students filed into the class and took to their seats, one by one, they turned around to stare at me. I frowned, looking around at their gawking faces. Did I have something on me? I rubbed my cheeks with my sleeves, feeling self-conscious.
Most looked away when I met their eyes, but one of them, a pinch-faced woman who glared at me through a sheen of long hair that covered half her face, strode right up to me.
“My name is Sally,” she said.
“I’m Kiera. I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me why everyone is staring at me?”
“Of course.” She gave me a self-satisfied smile and I got the sense I wasn’t going to like her answer. “It would be wrong not to. We all know who you are.”
That was a bold statement. How could she possibly know who I was? I barely knew these days. I opened my mouth to ask what on earth she was talking about, but she glanced back over
her shoulder to a trio of women standing in her shadow, and then back to me with a haughty sneer.
“And we don’t want your kind around here.”
“My kind? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“You’re Kiera Thorne.” She stood smirking at her friends.
“So? You know my name. That doesn’t mean you know anything about me.”
“Oh, you’ve got quite the reputation. We know all about you… and your past.”
My past? Did she mean the lightning storm? This seemed like an overreaction to a little mishap. I figured it was best to go on the offensive until I had a clue what she was talking about.
“And what about you? Are you a witch or a bitch? Right now, I’m finding it hard to tell.”
“You arrogant little –”
I cut her off. “Go on, say it. I know you want to.”
She tossed her hair and pasted an arrogant smile on her face, which set my teeth on edge.
“You’re not worth it. You’re just another wannabe, and you’re not going to last the first semester, never mind three years. And I intend to make sure of it, personally.”
I opened my mouth to retort – not that I was quite sure what to say to that, but the lecturer stood at the front of the room, both of her hands pressing against her desk, and called for quiet. I sunk back in my seat while Sally swaggered back to her friends.
“Good morning, everyone,” the lecturer said, when everyone was seated again. “My name is Jo, and in this lesson, we are going to be talking about what we can and cannot do with magic. For example, manifesting something that isn’t there. You cannot, for example, make yourself a glass of wine from a glass of water. But, if you have a bowl of grapes nearby, you can.”
I scribbled a note in my pad as she carried on.
“There are, of course, different types of spells and magic, and you’ll be learning about those within these walls. But there’s one important rule you need to remember. If you use magic because you want to skip the hard work, it becomes a matter of personal gain. And with that, comes consequences.”