First Spell

by Lucia Ashta

  Before they could ask more questions about my uncle or what his beliefs were, I said, “Are there a lot of people who practice magic?”

  “More than you might imagine,” Marcelo said.

  “And yet still not enough,” Albacus added.

  “Not enough for what?”

  “Not enough good magicians to take on the bad.”

  “These sorcerers you speak of.”

  “Right.”

  “And, uh, how long have they existed?”

  Albacus stared right at me, drifting backward. “There’ve been magicians who’ve done evil things with their magic since the start. Magicians aren’t immune to human downfalls. People want power. Always have, always will. When people have magic, they’re that more dangerous when they reach for power. There will always be corrupt people, just as there will always be corrupt sorcerers.”

  “That doesn’t sound encouraging.”

  “It isn’t meant to. It’s just the truth.”

  “So you’ve been fighting these sorcerers... always?”

  “No.” Albacus features grew tight around his long beard and he turned back around.

  I looked to Marcelo. He didn’t take his eyes from the road. “The Sorcerers for Magical Supremacy didn’t band together until recently. Before them, there was a very dark sorcerer, who’d lived over five-hundred years—”

  “Wait. People can live five hundred years?” That was almost as shocking as discovering magic was real.

  “Not people, sorcerers willing to steal other people’s souls to prolong their lives.”

  “That’s not the only way,” Albacus said.

  “No, it’s not the only way, but living that long, even among magicians, is rare. Anyway, until recently this sorcerer, a Count Washur, controlled every magician he could, and he fought, well, us.” Marcelo looked to the ghost. When he’d verified that Albacus’ back was turned to us, he nudged his head toward him.

  So this Count Washur killed Albacus. I felt sad for a man I’d never known alive.

  Marcelo waited until he was sure I’d registered his meaning. “When we managed to finally kill Count Washur, all sorts of sorcerers who have no problem doing dark magic scrambled out of the shadows. Dark magic is extremely dangerous, and it’s forbidden even in the magical world.”

  “Which doesn’t stop anyone from doing it, I imagine.”

  “It stops some. It stops those of us unwilling to take on the risks involved in dark magic. See, it changes who you are. Once you go far enough down that road, it’s difficult to come back. For many, there is no coming back, and the only freedom they receive from their own torment is through death.”

  “Wow. That’s crazy.”

  He gave me a sad smile. “Crazier than you realize, but we don’t need to get into all the details. All you need to understand is that this Sorcerers for Magical Supremacy group is dangerous. They have no problem harming—”

  “Or killing,” Albacus interjected.

  “Or killing, to get their way.”

  “And what they want is for magic to be accepted so they can do magic in the open, is that right?”

  “That’s exactly right,” Marcelo said, “though things are a bit more complicated than that. They don’t want to have to hide who they are anymore or risk persecution.”

  “If they’re condemned to death, couldn’t they just use magic to escape?”

  “Yes and no. These things are long to get into, just know that we don’t escape because it would put the rest of us in greater danger. The only option for magicians nowadays is to conceal who we are and what we’re capable of.”

  Or people like my uncle would have them burned on a pyre or drowned in a frigid lake.

  “The SMS wants to reveal who we are, consequences be damned. They want to overpower those unaware of magic by any means necessary.”

  I gulped.

  “With great enough numbers, the damage they could do would be great. There would be no coming back from what they intend to do. We could never hide again after we’ve been exposed. Up until now, people have found the ways to explain away isolated incidences of magic through legend, superstition, or what have you.”

  “There’ll be no denying what the sorcerers have in mind,” Albacus said.

  “No, there won’t.”

  “But... isn’t it possible that the people might simply accept magic?” I asked.

  “And everyone just get along?” Albacus taunted.

  “Well, yes. Couldn’t that happen?”

  “No, that’s not what would happen. The sorcerers are angry and have no problem resorting to violence. People have killed our kind for ages. There’s no way that this would happen without massive bloodshed, there just isn’t.”

  “I see.” Though I suspected I only saw a small part of the picture. “So you and Mordecai and Clara oppose this Sorcerers for Magical Supremacy group.”

  “Us and others,” Marcelo said. “The Magical Council speaks out against the SMS and forbids any aggression toward non-believers. There aren’t many of us magicians willing to fight against the SMS. It’s risky. These aren’t fresh-eared children, but well-practiced sorcerers, for the most part.”

  “Who’ve somehow gotten their hands on spells of dark magic, even though it’s been forbidden for a long time,” Albacus added.

  “There aren’t many of us willing to fight, but there are enough of us. We have some excellent magicians among us. Dead and alive.”

  Albacus didn’t turn, but I could tell he appreciated Marcelo’s inclusion of him.

  “And that’s where you and your brother come in.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You and your brother are our new recruits.”

  “What?”

  “Did you not realize that’s what Mordecai and Albacus came to get you for?”

  I didn’t respond. I couldn’t respond.

  “We need more magicians to resist the darkness.”

  “But... we aren’t magicians. We only just discovered magic is real!”

  “That’s why you’re going to learn magic.”

  “Learn? Learn magic.”

  “Exactly.”

  “I’m supposed to do magic.”

  “I’m not so sure Mordecai was right about this girl,” Albacus said to Marcelo.

  “What do you expect? He dragged us out of our house and into a magical war we had no idea existed!” Immediately, I blushed. I’d never spoken to an elder like that before. It’s just that, what did they expect of me?

  Albacus studied me and I averted my eyes. I realized I should apologize, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it just yet.

  “Or maybe my brother was right about her. It seems she has some brains and spark to her after all.”

  “Remember what it was like for Clara,” Marcelo said, “and give her a break. You’re too used to everyone knowing about magic. You’ve forgotten what it’s like to be innocent and uninformed.”

  “Well that’s for damn sure.” He scowled at me until I realized it wasn’t really a scowl. He was deliberating about me. “Maybe she’ll do fine. As Mordecai says, the runes rarely fail him, and there’s no such thing as coincidence.”

  “None at all.”

  As if the matter were settled, the two men directed their attention straight ahead and Marcelo drew his horse a few paces ahead of mine. The clip-clop of our two horses, and the five which followed, rang loudly in the afternoon.

  I was tempted to be quiet as it seemed I’d been dismissed, but I wasn’t tempted enough. “How exactly will I learn magic? And by learn, do you mean I’ll just study it, or will I also be expected to practice, er, perform it, or whatever you’d say?”

  “My girl,” Albacus called back, “what would be the point of studying magic if not to actually do magic? You’ll study, become a magician, and join our cause.”

  “Assuming you agree to it, that is.” Marcelo swiveled on his horse to look at me. “We’re recruiting you because the runes suggested you were to
join us, but we still allow you the choice, of course. Once we get to Acquaine and you meet the rest of the team, you’ll get to choose. And if you decide to join our cause, it will be the most dangerous decision you’ve ever made, guaranteed.”

  But might it also be the most rewarding? I was just so tired of being ordinary. It didn’t sound like there was anything at all ordinary about magic.

  “There’s a team?” I asked.

  “Of sorts.” Marcelo chuckled and turned back around to face forward. “We’re not exactly organized—”

  “And we’re definitely far from your usual kind of school,” Albacus said.

  “School?”

  “Well, yes.” Marcelo turned again, surprise raising his eyebrows, as if I should have realized they were talking about schooling all along.

  “Acquaine is a school?”

  “We’re getting there. Acquaine is the estate of two of our own. We’re recruiting pupils to join our academy.”

  “A magic academy?” My voice grew high pitched despite my efforts to control my shock or enthusiasm or apprehension, I wasn’t sure which.

  “I suppose so. A secret magic academy.”

  So many thoughts were racing through my mind at once that I had no choice but to remain in silence for a while. A secret magic academy? I’m going to a secret magic academy?

  After all they’d said, I suspected I should be terrified. But I wasn’t, not at all.

  A secret magic academy! Life was guaranteed not to be ordinary there.

  Chapter 9

  We rode in silence for a long time, while the main things to distract me were the numbness of my butt and the aching of my inner thighs. I feared I might never walk normally again after so many hours on a horse without a saddle, in a dress that was meant for nothing other than sitting pretty.

  But I had plenty to keep my mind occupied while Marcelo rode up ahead, Albacus’ ghost at his side. Despite the risks, which were likely to be even greater than I realized, I already knew what my answer would be when asked. My choice was a mundane life with a hateful man like my uncle, where everything about my existence was dreary and unpleasant, or a life where I was a pupil of a secret magic academy. Danger or no danger, I’d choose magic.

  I didn’t have to linger or debate. I knew. It was the escape I would have dreamed of if I’d dared, and it was the only thing to guarantee that I wouldn’t live a life of boredom and regret. I’d always understood that there had to be more to life than what I experienced of it. And here was my chance, come knocking on my door. I didn’t even care anymore that Mordecai had come for Nando and not me.

  My only hesitation was my brother. His life wasn’t ordinary. Even forced to endure our uncle and his ways, my brother had shone. He’d discovered more of his uniqueness and strengths. He was like a rainbow that couldn’t be contained.

  It wouldn’t be fair to him to take away his chance at a safe life. I didn’t want Nando to always have to be looking over his back for a sect of sorcerers out to kill and harm, and I knew that’s exactly what he’d get if I chose to join the academy. Because there was no way he’d let me stay without him. It went beyond the duty of my protection that our parents had assigned to him; it was who and how he was. He’d never allow his little sister to remain in danger unless he was right alongside to help.

  If I chose the academy, he’d choose it too. Was putting my brother in such peril better than leading an ordinary existence? I wasn’t sure, and I still hadn’t made progress in deciding when Marcelo finally said the words I longed to hear.

  “We’re getting close,” he called over his shoulder. “It shouldn’t be much longer now.”

  “That’s great!” I yelled, too loudly I realized as soon as the words were out of my mouth. We’d been careful to remain as quiet as seven horses and their riders could... until now.

  Still, we were in what looked like the middle of nowhere, so I was certain we must be safe. The road was less worn here, clearly less traveled. There were no signs pointing the way, and I hadn’t spotted any homes or inns for quite a while.

  Surely the sorcerers hadn’t followed us here. We’d have been able to spot them in the otherwise placid surroundings.

  I still nearly whispered my next words as I tried to draw Trixie next to Marcelo’s horse. The road was narrower here, but I managed it. “We’re going to arrive faster than you thought. It’s not quite dusk yet.”

  “Yes, well, we’re not there yet,” he said. “It will be dusk when we finally arrive.”

  “Oh.” I sympathized with my body and what it’d have to continue to endure.

  Albacus stopped floating forward and Marcelo and I moved past him. I didn’t think much of it, but Marcelo whipped around on his horse. “What is it?” His voice was so quiet I wondered if the ghost would be able to hear him at all.

  Albacus didn’t answer at first, turning like a top in place, scanning our surroundings. Then he flew toward us and squeezed between our two horses, bits of him fading in and out of the horses’ sides. It was the oddest spectacle I’d ever seen... and yet, already I was becoming used to it. I didn’t startle as I would have just this morning; I barely stared.

  The ghost kept scanning the road ahead of us, Marcelo now mimicking his movements. “I don’t like how it feels.”

  I looked too. I saw nothing beyond lush trees and grasses lining the road. The scene seemed perfectly idyllic, like we should be looking for a place to stop for a picnic instead of being on high alert.

  “I don’t sense what you do,” Marcelo said, but his words were so faint that no one beyond us would hear them. “Wait. I feel it.” He turned wide eyes on Albacus. “They’ve found us.”

  “I fear so, my boy.”

  Marcelo looked through Albacus to me. “Ride like the wind. Straight ahead on this road. If you or your horse become invisible, don’t worry, it’s perfectly normal. If the rest of us become invisible, just trust Trixie to find the way. Animals can sense things we don’t see. Let her lead you if that happens.”

  I had a million concerns about what he’d just said—his idea of ‘perfectly normal’ and mine were vastly different—but there wasn’t time. Our absence of it was etched all across Marcelo’s face and tightly drawn lips.

  “How will I know when I’ve arrived in Acquaine?”

  “Trust me, you’ll know.”

  It seemed I had no choice but to believe the man and ghost.

  Albacus continued to study our surroundings in arcs of his head.

  When he went completely still, except for keeping pace with us, my heart stilled too. Maybe I was feeling what he was? I wasn’t sure.

  “There,” he said, pointing his arm in front of my body, the translucent drape of his gown flickering in and out of my torso. I shivered at the eerie feeling of it, but even I realized it was the least of my problems.

  Marcelo was already bent over his horse’s ear, muttering fast words. Whatever he was saying, it was causing a tangible effect I identified as a nebulous building of energy. Like the precursor of a lightning storm, I felt energy crackling in the air, enveloping me.

  His eyes were open, but unfocused, as if he were far, far away from where we actually were. I waited for what would inevitably come, dividing my attention between Marcelo, his horse, and the horizon where Albacus trained his eyes.

  Until I saw what Albacus had, and then I couldn’t look away from the mass of horses and their riders racing our way. There were too many of them to distinguish at the distance, but I was certain there were far too many, possibly three times as many as had attacked the carriage.

  An explosion came from my left. I snapped my head around so fast I strained my neck a little. Marcelo was sitting straight up on his horse, his eyes still distant, but his arms now outstretched to his sides. Albacus hurried to scoot out of the way.

  Energy so strong that I believed I could see it pulsed out from his hands in fading waves. It looked like heat waves rising from a fire, and they reached Trixie and me, encased Marcelo
and his horse, and spread behind us, to the riderless horses that followed.

  But nothing happened. Had his spell not worked? Had the magician’s great defense failed while the dark sorcerers galloped toward us down a perpendicular road that would intersect ours before we could escape them?

  I startled and squeaked. Nothing had failed at all. Trixie was becoming invisible. It was a slow and gradual process. As if the magic were a viscous honey, it dripped around her from top to bottom, coating every bit of her.

  I squeaked again, despite that I’d just promised myself I wouldn’t ever again in front of these magicians. But my arms were becoming invisible! Marcelo’s spell puttered down my arms, past my elbow, across my wrists, until wiggling my fingers was an act of imagination.

  “My boy, your magic won’t work on me,” I heard Albacus say. “I’ll make myself as faint as I can, but I won’t be completely invisible, or I might fade into the spirit world without a known way to return. You ride without me so they can’t locate you through me. I’ll try to lead them away from you. Maybe they’ll be stupid enough to follow me instead of you. But you’ll have to mute the sound of your horses.”

  “Already working on it.”

  “Good, now go, boy. Ride like the wind. Make it home to Clara.”

  “You be careful, Albacus.”

  The ghost’s mouth turned up at the irony of it. “What could possibly happen to me? I’m already dead. Now, go. Take care of the girl.”

  They didn’t bother to address me anymore. By the sound of it, Marcelo leapt into a run ahead of me. Trixie tore off right after his horse, and it was all I could do just to hold on.

  I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around her neck, thankful she’d been a gentle horse so far. My hips and pelvic bone bounced against her back, discomfort shooting through my body each time we landed.

  My only job was to hold on, and it was all I could manage. I gripped Trixie as if my life depended on it.

  I was pretty sure it did.

  Chapter 10