~
The next morning I was woken up by a small bell. When I opened my eyes, I realised that it was hovering right above my head. It chimed once, as though gauging my reaction.
“You’re beautiful,” I whispered, not wanting to scare it away.
It was tiny, about the size of my palm. Its gold plating shone in the morning sunlight. I’d never seen anything more exquisite in my life.
That was, until it began to clang loudly.
“Shush! I’m up, I’m up, look!”
I scrambled out of bed, but the bell continued its deafening assault. Hands over my ears, I seized a tea cup from my morning breakfast platter that someone – Larni, I assumed – had set on the table. I hooked the tea cup over the bell, and fought it to the floor. The tea cup hopped about madly as the bell fought for release, but it wasn’t strong enough to lift it. Though the chiming was muffled, it was still loud enough to be irritating.
Just as I was considering stepping on it, there was a soft knock on the door, and Larni slid through without waiting for a reply. She took in the scene; me standing in my pyjamas, the tea cup chiming loudly and moving sporadically over the floor, and covered a smile with her hand.
“How do I turn it off?” I asked forlornly.
She clapped and the tea cup ceased to move about, the bell silent.
“Sorry, miss. Looks like you got an energetic one. They usually stop once their patron gets out of bed.”
She carried over a pile of linen to my bed, which she straightened deftly.
“Here we are, miss. I’ve got your uniform for the day, and you’ll find boots in your dresser.” I thanked her as I held up the shirt, noting that it was exactly like the ones the other students had been wearing yesterday. “Eat your breakfast before it goes cold and listen for the bell,” Larni was watching me intensely with her large brown eyes. “When you hear it, head down the stairs and you should find the rest of the students.”
“Thank you.” She left, and I dressed in silence.
On the platter I discovered eggs and toast, which I devoured; I was nervous as all heck, which meant I was starving. I found the boots Larni had told me about in my dresser, and I pulled them on. Someone knew my exact clothing size – something I wasn’t too happy with – and everything fitted like a glove.
The bell chimed just as I was twisting my hair into a braid. I tied it off, my hands shaking, and glanced up into the mirror. I looked tidy, uniform and respectable; three words which had never been applied to me in my life.
Ignoring the butterflies which were threatening to burst right through the wall of my stomach, I headed down the stairs with the other girls. When we got to the bottom, Jett was waiting for us.
“Morning, students,” he was bouncing on the balls of his feet and I groaned; somehow I had just known he was a morning person. “This way, if you will. Just some examinations before class.”
As if I needed any more reason to feel nervous. Examinations? Were they physical? Mental? Either one didn’t appeal to me.
He led us down another hallway, and I deliberately hung back. Everyone else seemed to have made friends overnight, but I had already accepted the fact that I would be a loner again.
But that was alright. I had a whole new world to explore and a power beneath my skin that I was itching to learn more about.
We were led into a hall about the size of the gymnasium back in my old high school, except this hall was made from stone, with torches burning in their brackets in between the enormous windows. Iain and Netalia were waiting for us at the other end beside an enormous leather case.
“Good morning, students,” Iain started. “Today we start three years of your magical education. To begin with, we need to test your magic.”
Netalia was arranging us into two rows, with plenty of space in between. At the mention of a test of magic, my heart had leapt into my throat. I thought back to the dismal spark that was the only magic I’d manage to consciously conjure. I wiped my suddenly sweaty palms on my pants.
“You first, dear,” Netalia was saying to a girl at the front.
The girl stepped forward, looking as terrified as I was feeling. She had a mass of dark curls which she’d struggled to tie back, and behind her glasses, her blue eyes shone with concern.
“What do I do?” I heard her whisper.
“Which is your dominant hand?” Netalia asked.
The girl held out her right hand in response.
“Very good. Now, can you feel a tingling in the air?”
I could indeed, as though someone had turned on a television that I couldn’t see, only sense. Apparently the girl could feel it too, because she nodded.
“Ok, now just try and gather that feeling all together, just over your palm here.”
The girl flexed her fingers, and we all craned our necks to watch.
Suddenly, blue flames erupted from her palm in a neat little fireball. The girl jumped back in surprise, dropping the fire, which went out immediately.
“Very good,” Netalia said, with the first hint of excitement I’d seen her show since meeting her. Iain was nodding, though he wasn’t smiling - I don’t think he ever did. “What’s your name?”
“Sa- Dena,” she stammered, and I realised that she’d forgotten her mage name for a second. I couldn’t help smiling; it was reassuring to know someone else was in the same boat.
“Come over here, Dena. Let’s get your tunic sorted out.”
Dena was led to the leather case, from which Netalia picked out a tunic in the exact shade of blue that she’d conjured. Dena pulled it on over her head, and then fastened a leather belt around her waist. She had a shy little smile on her face, but I could tell she was proud of herself. I didn’t blame her; she’d done well to perform under pressure in my opinion.
Slowly, Netalia made her way through the group. As I watched, I realised that no two mages had the same colour magic as everyone else. The dark haired boy I’d noticed from yesterday had magic the exact same colour as fire; when he first created the fireball in his hand, I managed to confuse it with real fire. When he came back to the group after collecting his tunic, I saw that his eyes were the exact same shade as his magic; they were on fire.
Finally, I was called forward. I was the last mage to receive their tunic, and, truth be told, I was feeling a little naked.
As I stepped up towards Netalia with the rest of my classmates watching me, I noticed Iain taking interest. This was surprising, as he had looked bored throughout the process so far.
I held out my right hand before Netalia could ask.
“Collect the tingling, and act as a conductor for it,” she instructed.
I closed my eyes, calling the feeling in the air towards me. It prickled along my skin like pins and needles.
“Sometimes visualising a spark can help,” she told me, and I did just that.
As the match in my mind struck the matchbox and ignited, I heard gasps from my classmates. Worried, I opened my eyes and looked around.
Rather than igniting over my outstretched palm, the magic had decided to turn me into a human torch. Flames curled up and around my body, but I just felt a tickling sensation. I looked up at Netalia, expecting to be told off. Sure enough, I wasn’t disappointed.
“Very impressive, Sky,” she said, her mouth twisting in one corner. “Decide to make a spectacle of yourself, did you?”
“Leave her alone,” Jett piped up from next to Iain. “She’s inexperienced; you know that.”
I dared not look at Jett; instead, I locked eyes with Netalia.
“Come and get your tunic then,” she muttered, already stalking away from me.
I followed her reluctantly. She pulled out a tunic of the exact shade of green as my magic and my eyes. I pulled it on and accepted the belt she was offering me, fastening it around my waist.
“Now then,” Iain said, stepping back up to the front and clasping his hands together. “To classes.”
Classes at the Academy were nothing like my classes back at Ar Cena High. My first class was Magical Theory, taught by a tiny, frail old woman named:
“Watt,” she announced, standing in front of the blackboard.
All of the students glanced at one another.
“No one... said anything,” the blonde girl in the front said.
“What?”
“What what?” a young man with red hair asked, a smile growing on his face.
She eyed him off with her beady little eyes. The red headed boy was looking around and smirking at the student next to him. Before any of us could move, Watt clicked her fingers, and a bolt of lightning snapped through the air, striking Red Hair on the hand. His hair stood on end, but his expression was funnier. I snorted with laughter, and I wasn’t alone.
“Welcome to Magical Theory,” she said loudly, strutting along to the blackboard and picking up a bit of chalk. “In this class you will learn how to control the magic that you’ve been newly introduced to. For some of you, this will be old news, but please pay attention anyway.”
The blonde girl who had spoken up before smiled secretly to herself as she inspected her nails. I’d already recognised her from the group of giggling teenagers, the ones Larni had informed me were from this world and had grown up in this realm. I narrowed my eyes at the back of her head.
An hour later, we were let out into the corridor. I was leaning against a wall, struggling to stuff bits of paper into the satchel Jett had handed me when I was leaving the hall, when someone bumped into me, causing the papers to flutter to the flagstones.
“Sorry!” Dena dropped to the ground to pick up the papers. “I was doing the same thing as you – I suppose I didn’t see you.”
“That’s alright,” I said, accepting the papers she handed me. “Bit overwhelming, huh?”
She nodded, pushing her glasses back up her nose.
“I’m from the human realm,” she said. “Nothing could be more... different.”
“Me too,” I replied, relieved she wasn’t one of the village mages. “No phone reception or anything.”
Her eyebrows jumped into her hair.
“You brought your phone?”
“Yeah,” I pulled it out of my pocket, where I’d been keeping it for some kind of familiarity. “It got wet when I fell in the river, but then it dried out and started up.”
Dena looked at me, confused.
“What river?”
“The river portal. How did you get here?”
“I came through a mirror,” she replied. “One morning, a couple of days ago, I looked in my mirror and instead of seeing my reflection, saw this place. When I reached for it, I got sucked into my dorm room, here.”
I shoved my phone back into my pocket indignantly.
Thanks Jett, I thought savagely.
“What’ve we got next?” Dena was asking.
“Uh,” I scrutinized the time table we’d all been given. “Fitness. Uh oh. Does this mean exercise?”
It sure did. We headed outside; following the rest of the students to an area which looked like it had been set up by a drill sergeant. Jett was waiting for us next to a wall that went straight up. I shuddered; exercise had never much appealed to me at all.
“So now that you’re all sorted and organised,” he started eagerly. “I thought I’d start getting your health up to standard. Any meals you are supplied with at the Academy are specifically designed to provide maximum protein and energy.”
He started handing out shirts for us to wear for this subject. As I took mine, last as usual, I decided to ask him about something I’d been wondering.
“Jett, who pays our tuition?”
He packed the last few shirts away and then turned around.
“The Academy does, for now. When you leave after the three years, you head out into the mage world and get jobs. Mages are highly sought as healers and the like. Once you’ve got a high enough paying job, the Academy starts taking back the money for the tuition, but only in small amounts.”
“Oh, ok,” I looked at the plain black shirt I was still holding. “Where can I get changed?”
I followed the rest of the girls to the small changing rooms on the edge of the training ground. When we emerged, the boys were already being lined up at the beginning of the course. Jett was letting them go in pairs at intervals, and I watched as a surprising amount of them got stuck at the climbing walls. Eventually we got to the girls.
“Sky and, sorry what was your name?”
I turned around and felt my heart sink. The young blonde woman, the local mage, was making her way to the front to stand next to me.
“Eleanora,” she replied.
“Eleanora, ok. You two ready? Remember, it’s not a race. Just try to finish.”
But the second after he’d blown the whistle and we set off, it was very clear to us running the course - and those watching - that it was most certainly was a race.
I reached the low wire nets a split second before she did. I dropped to my stomach, army crawling through the mud below them. Behind me, I heard Eleanora gasp in pain, and I wasted a split second wondering why. Then my elbow clipped the wire, and a sharp jolt of what felt like electricity but I knew was magic snapped through my body. I dropped flatter, my nose almost in the mud. But I kept going.
We reached the end of the nets at the same time, stretching with relief. We were coming up to the rope swing, which would launch us out and over the muddy stretch of water. I groaned as I neared it; it was obvious that it wasn’t going to swing us far enough – we were going to have to swim.
Eleanora was now ahead of me, grabbing a rope and launching off the embankment. I did the same, making sure to push off as hard as I could. Eleanora dropped from her rope, and I felt a split second of elation – she’d dropped too early!
My lungs burning, already exhausted, I waited for the rope to reach its apex and then flung myself from it, landing in the muddy water a good four feet from the other mage. I gasped as the water rushed over me, icy and churning, but the cold invigorated me and I stretched out, beginning the short swim to the other side. I was a good, strong swimmer; Mum had made sure of that.
I heaved myself onto the bank, wet, cold and exhausted. I scrambled to my feet just as Eleanora pulled herself out of the water. I dragged myself to the last obstacle, the vertical wall. I picked up one of the ropes hanging down it and tried to start climbing.
Nothing happened. Any upper body strength I’d had at the beginning of the course had gone. My chest heaved, water dripping from my braid and I knew I was done.
Eleanora reached the wall, and without glancing in my direction, picked up her rope and started climbing. I slumped against it, absolutely defeated.
“It’s alright, Sky, you got an excellent time on everything else,” Jett stuck out his hand to help me up. I ignored it, dragging myself to my feet, my legs shaking. “The wall is the hardest thing in the course.”
I walked back to the group, utterly defeated, just as Dena and a red headed girl started the course.
I’d given up on a lot of things, but for some reason this stung the worst.
Soul Fire Page 9