~Chapter Eight~
Before classes started the next morning, I headed down the stairs, not to the mess hall, but to try and find Jetts’s office. It was only when I reached the flagstones at the foot of the stairs that I realised I had no idea where I was going.
I wandered for a little bit, having a look at the tapestries that lined the walls. I was just examining one that seemed to be depicting a great battle when I was stopped by a snappy voice I knew too well.
“Good morning, Sky,” I turned to face Professor Watt. “Heading to the mess hall?”
“Actually, I was trying to find Jett’s office.”
One of her eyebrows shot into her steel hair. The other eye narrowed at me behind her pince-nez.
“You mean Professor Jettais.”
“Oh, yeah. Him.”
She eyed me off for a moment as though deciding if she was going to tell me or not. Eventually she sighed and folded her arms, her long cloak fluttering about her person.
“Down the hall, first left and then the door on your right.”
“Thank you!”
I trotted off down the hall, not stopping even when she called after me again.
“I need that paper on Surac’s economics, Sky! It was due last week!”
“Ok!”
I continued around the corner, noticing just how familiar that sounded. Before I could place it, I’d found a door with a little gold plate on it, which read ‘Professor Jettais’. I knocked and then waited.
“Come in,” the muffled call came from the other side.
I pushed open the door to find Jett sitting at his desk.
“Getting today’s lesson organized,” he explained, hastily scribbling what looked like a signature on the top paper of a pile. “How can I help, Sky?”
I closed the door behind me, and leant against it.
“It’s about Larni... my, uh, servant,” I started, deciding that now wouldn’t be the best time to bring up my qualms about her social status again. Instead, I focussed on the issue at hand. “She says her parents had her tested for magic when she was four, and she didn’t have a drop.”
Jett laced his fingers together and rested his chin on them, not taking his eyes off of me. I took this as permission to continue.
“But, the other day, after my, uh,” I coughed. “Altercation, with Eleanora-“
“The one that ended with you almost blinded by a fire whip?”
“... Yes. That one. Anyway, I headed back to my room to try to clean it. But Larni was there and she... well. She healed it.”
I fell silent. Jett continued watching me closely. The clock on the wall ticked off the seconds passing between us.
“I think it would be best if you didn’t take this any higher, Sky,” he said finally.
“What?” I couldn’t believe what I’d heard. “But, Jett, this means that Larni is a mage! She needs to be educated; she can have a better life now.”
“I repeat what I said,” he replied, standing up and gathering his stuff together. “Please don’t take this to Iain or Netalia, Sky, for your own good.”
He swept past me, out of the room. I stood, frozen to the spot, staring at where he had been. For my own good? What the hell did he mean by that?
After a few more seconds of mulling over what he’d said, I left the room. I made it to the mess hall and was eating breakfast with everyone else when Jett appeared in the doorway. Everyone fell quiet as they noticed him.
“If you’d all come with me,” he said loudly. “I think you’re going to enjoy this morning’s lesson.”
We finished our breakfast quickly and followed him willingly. Out of all of our professors, Jett was the youngest and therefore everyone’s favourite teacher.
He took us to a section of the Academy no one had seen before. When he pushed open the door and let us into the room beyond, I wasn’t the only one who gasped.
On the walls of the hall hung swords and shields and every weapon imaginable.
“Oh that’s a good idea, Jett,” I heard Petre mutter. “Give Sky access to something sharp.”
I assumed he was talking the incident with the blunt practice arrow and scowled at him, but he didn’t notice.
“Line up.” Jett called.
One by one, we were handed practice swords and began to learn drills. The sword I’d been given was heavy, and I broke into a sweat during the slow practice. The lesson lasted longer than normal, and the sun was high in the sky when Jett ordered us to stop.
“Now for the fun bit. Everyone gets to choose which weapon they’d like to specialise in. Don’t worry; you can always change your mind later.”
Everyone began to mill about the hall, choosing their weapons. I saw Eleanora pick up a beautiful bow, examining it reverently.
“Jett,” I called. “What are those?”
I pointed to a pair of twin thin swords. They looked lighter than the practice sword I’d been given.
Jett lifted them down and handed both to me. They were both in their scabbards.
“They’re worn on the back like this,” he said, hoisting them onto his back. “And then they’re drawn like this.”
In a lightning fast movement, he grasped the hilts of both of the swords and drew them, crossing them in front of him.
“Wow,” I said. “Can I try?”
He hesitated just long enough for me to wonder if he was going to hand them over, but then removed them from his back and gave them to me.
As soon as I settled them onto my back, I knew these were going to be my choice weapons. It took me three goes to get the swords clear of their scabbards when I drew them, but I eventually managed to draw them, albeit not with the same clean movement that Jett had; it would take me a while to get used to them. I whipped one experimentally through the air, marvelling at the speed and weight.
“So, you just chose those yourself?” Jett asked.
“Of course,” I said, squinting along one of the blades. “Did you see anyone else choose them for me?”
“I mean, have you read about them? Seen them before?”
I didn’t answer until I’d managed to get the swords back into their scabbards without stabbing myself in the back.
“No. I saw them on the wall and thought they looked cool,” I fixed him with a stare, raising my eyebrow. “Is something wrong?”
“Of course not,” he said too quickly. “It’s free choice after all.”
I looked around and saw Dena with a broadsword going through some of the drills we’d just been taught. Dustin had picked up an enormous scythe that was taller than him, and was showing Petre and Ispin how sharp it was by slicing bits of his tunic. He looked up as though sensing my gaze and winked. I blushed furiously as Jett grinned at me.
“Don’t say anything,” I said warningly.
“I’ll say nothing,” he reassured me.
We spent the rest of the lesson practicing with our weapons. I was slowly getting used to the twin swords, their balanced weight and the feel of the hilts in my hands. My left hand let me down a little though; as I was right handed, I tended to not use the left as much and it was hindering me quite a bit. In fact, the only time someone could break my blocks was by targeting the sword held in my left hand.
“Ouch!” I cried before I could stop myself, dropping my left sword.
“Sky? Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry,” Dena dropped her broadsword with a clatter, rushing to my side.
“It’s alright,” I said, clutching my wrist. “It’s just my stupid hand is too weak to take any hits.”
The lesson was almost over when the doors to the hall opened and Netalia strode through them. She talked quickly and quietly to Jett, whose brow furrowed with worry. She was just leaving as her eyes flicked to me, and her steps slowed as her eyes widened.
“Jett,” she said, and th
ey began speaking quickly again, although I sensed it was about a different topic.
“Where did you get those?” she asked me furiously a short time later.
Assuming she was talking about my swords, I said,
“Off of the wall where everyone else got their weapons from.”
“You’ll pick another weapon immediately,” she said, breathing heavily, her eyes wide.
“But I like these!” I protested.
“No matter! Those are not to be used!”
Silence fell across the room as Netalia and I stood and faced each other.
“Alright,” I said finally. “Fine by me.”
I ended up with a standard sword like the ones we’d been practicing with. I couldn’t hide my disappointment as Jett hung the twin swords back up.
Everyone left, talking quietly about the lesson. I was almost out of the doors when Jett called to me.
“Sky?”
I turned back.
“I can teach you, if you want,” he said. “With the twin swords. It has to be our little secret though.”
“Ok,” I said immediately, and something like defeat flickered in his eyes. “But why did Netalia get so uptight about me using them?”
He just shook his head as he went to lift them down.
“Jett, tell me-“
“Don’t ask that of me!” he snapped and I stepped back in surprise; Jett never got angry with us, not even when Ispin accidentally set one of the desks on fire. “Please, Sky, I just can’t...”
“Alright,” I said, taken aback by his reaction. “Our secret.”
As he began to teach me drills and starting positions with the swords, I couldn’t help but feel like everyone in this castle knew something about me that I didn’t.
That week flew by, with Larni hardly speaking to me. I hadn’t mentioned that I’d been to see Jett about her abilities, but somehow she’d found out. It seemed impossible to keep secrets in this place.
As luck would have it, the next weekend was one where we were allowed to visit the village, if we so wished. Larni was also excited, because she was allowed to go and visit her family. I saw my opportunity immediately.
Jett had said not to go any higher, to Iain or Netalia. But if I could convince Larni’s parents to get her tested again, they could appeal to the Masters of the Academy to let her in.
“And my brother, Niko, he gets into so much trouble,” Larni giggled as she made my bed, me watching from atop my table. “He’s three now, but he’s very high maintenance.”
“Aren’t all three year olds?” I asked. Personally, being an only child, I’d never had much experience with them.
“I suppose you’re right,” she said, humming to herself as she smoothed down the duvet.
“So where in the village do you live?” I asked her nonchalantly, examining my fingernails.
“Just beside the clock tower,” she said absently. “Father would have re-thatched the roof, so it’ll look the nicest out of all of the surrounding houses.” She smiled proudly.
So, on that Sunday, Larni set off early in the morning for the village. I watched her from my window, high up in the dormitory tower. She carried a basket on her arm, her brown hair pulled up into the neat bun that all of the servants tied their hair into. When she disappeared from sight, I hauled myself out of bed and got dressed in a loose green shirt, with long sleeves, that I tucked into breeches, pulling on my boots. I left my hair down for once, enjoying the lack of tugging on my scalp. I met the others in the mess hall, but none of them were heading to the village, which was very convenient. I waved goodbye to them as they headed to the water hole for the day.
I saddled Echo and set off on the road to Keyes, the warm wind pushing my hair away from my face. I let Echo walk the whole way, in no rush to get to the village at all. The sun burnt overhead, but it wasn’t hot enough to make me regret riding slowly. I was glad that I’d worn long sleeves though; I tended to burn if I so much looked at the sun.
Keyes slowly came into view, and I hitched Echo at the same post as last time. I checked my money pouch to make sure it was still attached to my belt, and then set off, searching for the house near the clock tower with the freshly thatched roof.
The village was busy under the high sun. The market stalls were set out again, and villagers bustled around me, haggling to get the best prices for merchandise. I spotted Chef from the kitchens amongst the crowd, buying the food for the Academy.
At least, I thought, the Academy supports the local village.
That of course reminded me of the paper I was yet to hand up to Watt, but I deemed Larni’s future and wellbeing a lot more important than economics in another country.
The clock tower was easy enough to find, even as it chimed off the hour. I stood at the base of it, looking up at the enormous clock face above me.
“’S’cuse me!”
I jumped out of the way as a small boy tore past me, in pursuit of a very fat chicken. I watched as he caught the hen up in his arms, though the fowl was almost as big as he was. He fixed me with large brown eyes that seemed very familiar as the chicken glared at me, clearly blaming me for its capture.
“Niko, right?” I asked, taking a chance.
It paid off when he nodded, beginning to carry the chicken back to a house behind the clock tower.
“I’m Sky,” I said, following him. “I’m a friend of your sister’s.”
“I know,” he told me promptly. “She’s here.”
We rounded the corner to find a small cottage with a beautiful golden roof of straw. We climbed the worn wooden steps to the front patio, and then Niko led me straight through the front door, still carrying the chicken. I followed him awkwardly.
“Mum!” Niko said loudly, and a woman emerged from one of the other rooms.
“Oh good, you caught it,” she said to him, wringing her hands on cloth. “And who might you be?” she asked me.
“I’m Sky, Larni’s-“
“Larni’s mistress, yes, I know,” she told me, her eyes crinkling with happiness. “She’s quite happy with you, you know. She was always worried that she was going to get one of the local mages, and the way they treat some of their servants is hardly fair.”
“Is Larni here?” I asked, glancing around.
“No, she just left to go to the market in the town square. You should be able to catch her, actually.”
“Uh, I actually wanted to talk to you about her,” I said, shuffling from foot to foot. Larni’s mother gestured to a chair at the table, and I sat, twisting my fingers in my lap. She sat opposite me, the mirth in her eyes gone.
“Is everything alright?” she asked me, concerned.
“Definitely,” I told her. “Larni’s great, but...”
“But?”
I sighed heavily.
“You had her tested for magic when she was four, didn’t you?” I asked, wanting to confirm what Larni had told me, just in case she was lying. Larni’s mother nodded.
“We did yes. Niko is going to be tested next year. The Tester said he didn’t find an ounce of magic in her.”
“He was wrong,” I blurted, unable to hold it in anymore. “Larni is a mage.”
We looked at each other across the table, the silence weighing heavily between us. It was promptly broken as Niko dropped the chicken, which made a bid for freedom by rushing the door.
“Niko, would you get that bird out of here?!” his mother shouted, and the small boy leapt after the fowl. She turned back to me, disbelief in her eyes.
“Larni’s a mage?” she repeated slowly.
I nodded and told her the story of the day I’d come back to my dorm room almost blinded. When I mentioned Larni healing me, her eyes widened, and her fingers gripped the table tightly.
“Should I not have told you?” I asked quietly, when I finished my story.
Her mother shook her head and I relaxed.
“What happens now?”
“We get her tested again,” she
began slowly. “And then, I suppose, we appeal to get her into the Academy.”
“They have to take her,” I told her. “They have to. They can’t just leave a mage uneducated.”
“You’d be surprised about what they can and can’t do up at that Academy,” she said, standing up. “Thank you for coming here, Sky. We’ll keep you informed.”
“I just want what’s best for her,” I admitted. “I think she’s pretty great.”
The older woman smiled at me, and her face seemed to grow younger by several years. I turned around to leave just as Larni stepped through the front door carrying several baskets.
“Sky!” she said in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought I’d just stop by, but you weren’t home.” I told her quickly, stepping past her. “I’ll see you tonight back up at the Academy.”
“Of course,” she said slowly, and I could see she was beginning to guess about my real purpose in her house.
I closed the door behind me and trotted down the front steps, hands in my pockets. I’d almost rounded the clock tower when someone spoke.
“Will I be a mage?”
I looked down to see Niko looking up at me, the chicken still tight in his grasp. It clucked angrily upon seeing me.
“I don’t know,” I told him truthfully. “Do you want to be?”
“Yes,” he said immediately. “Then I can go to school in the big castle on the hill. Is it fun there?”
“I suppose,” I said, thinking of the waterhole and my friends. “Yeah it is.”
“Can you cast a spell on me?”
“What?”
“Can you cast a spell on me?” he repeated. “So I’ll be a mage when I get tested?”
“Uh, I can try,” I said uncertainly, and then waved my hands about. “Niko, I declare you to be a mage!”
He’d shut his eyes, so I was the only one that saw the green spark leap from my fingertips to his shoulder. I snatched my hands back in surprise as he opened his eyes.
“Did it work?”
“I don’t know,” I said, tucking my shaking fingers into my pockets. “I guess you’ll find out.”
“Thanks, Sky!”
I watched him run back to the house, the chicken bouncing in his arms with every step. I decided it would be best to not mention this incident to anyone.
I rode back to the Academy’s stables, where I groomed Echo and let her into the paddock with the other horses. She nipped my hair gently before cantering out into the wilderness.
I was almost back to the Academy when I remembered the others were at the waterhole. I changed my path, heading there instead. The forest enveloped me, the cool trees shading me from the hot sun. I trod the path slowly, in no rush to get anywhere. The brush swept along my legs, and cicadas leapt from the branches as I disturbed them, singing loudly. I kept an eye out for snakes; I didn’t know if this realm had them, but I wasn’t going to find out the hard way.
I reached the waterhole, the sounds of screaming and splashing meeting my ears before I rounded the corner. I emerged from the cool forest onto the hot rocks, envying those in the water. My group was there, as well as some of our classmates who’d heard about the swimming hole.
“Sky!” Dena had spotted me, and heaved herself out of the pool. “Why aren’t you in your swimmers?”
“Just got back from Keyes,” I told her, making my way over to the edge of the pool. I pulled my boots off and rolled my breeches up, dunking my legs in the water. I sighed as the cool water lapped around my knees. “I’m an idiot, I know.”
She laughed, and splashed me a little. I didn’t mind; where the water hit me, it cooled my hot skin. I kicked my legs a little, not caring that my breeches were getting wet.
“Hello,” someone beside me said. Dustin had come up behind me to sit next to me. He kissed me on the cheek and I blushed. Dena smirked and then leapt back into the pool, deliberately splashing me. “Where’ve you been?”
“Keyes,” I told him. “Had some stuff to do in town.”
“Why didn’t you ask me to go with you?” he asked.
“Oh,” honestly, it hadn’t crossed my mind. “I don’t know.”
“Ask me next time,” he said, smiling. “We can go for tea or something.”
“Will do,” I grinned up at him. “Hang on.”
I stood up, moving my boots to where everyone else’s stuff was. Then I stood on the edge of the pool, lifted my arms and gracefully dived into the water.
The water was icy, but it made a wonderful contrast to the hot sun. We swam and paddled around, and by the time evening was falling I knew I’d gotten sunburnt again. We climbed out of the pool, and I waved Dena’s offer away of borrowing her towel or a drying technique she’d learnt. It was still humid and muggy, and I had a hunch that by the time we reached the Academy I’d basically be dry.
We set off, chatting and laughing. I slowly dripped dry along the path, and by the time we staggered up the hill, only the waistband of my breeches and my underwear were still damp. I excused myself to have a quick shower before dinner, trotting up the stairs to get a towel and a change of clothes.
We ate quickly and then Rain brought up the economics paper.
“I haven’t handed it up yet,” I said, and everyone rolled their eyes.
“Typical,” Petre said in a high and mighty tone. “I handed it up a few days after she set it.”
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Well, aren’t you fantastic?” I toyed with my fork. “Hey, where is the library? Can someone please take me there after tea?”
“I can,” Dena said, and Theresa nodded in agreement. “I have a paper to work on anyway.”
We finished eating and grabbed our school bags from our rooms. Dena and Theresa led me down a corridor I hadn’t been down before, and then up some stairs. Dena pushed open a large pair of double doors, admitting the three of us into the most breathtaking library I’d ever seen in my life.
It took up two stories, and every wall was plastered with shelves which weighed heavily with books. To get to the second level, spiral stair cases twisted towards the ceiling, which had been painted with a fresco. I recognised Queen Fleur, her sad eyes observing all who studied below her. Large windows arched across the walls, and where light would spill through them during the day, a few librarians were drawing heavy, red velvet curtains across them. The library was instead lit with torches in their brackets, and lamps on tables.
Dena and Theresa made their way to a corner, where a low table was surrounded with comfy, plush chairs. I sat my bag next to one and looked around, unable to peel my gaze from the beautiful room.
“It’s something, huh?” Dena said, taking out her notebook and beginning to set up on the table. “I didn’t have a library like this back at home.”
“Neither,” I said, watching one of the librarians hurry up the staircase to the second level. “Our town library was kind of dingy.”
Whilst Dena and Theresa began to quietly discuss their next essay, I headed to the section on international economics, which happened to be on the second level. I climbed the stairs, watching my feet; the steps were very close together and I’d had bad experiences with staircases before. I found the section easily, thanks to the brass plate above a shelf telling me what those books were about. I pulled a few promising titles from the shelf and then headed back down the perilous stairs to Dena and Theresa.
I read quietly for the next half an hour, now much more interested in this homework than I would be back in my own realm. Surac specialised in fruit export. In fact, much of what we ate in the castle would be shipped from there, if the food wasn’t in season here. I jotted down a few notes, reading with interest about Surac’s difficulties with the island above them, Sudafrae. I shuddered as I read that they were quite traditional, and some of the rituals they performed there were very squeamish. I’d just gotten to the part about the human sacrifices, the Grey Sea (which was so named for the ash in the water)
and the Suracan’s policy of not swimming when the water was dark for fear of bathing in human remains, when one of the librarians approached us to tell us that the library would be closing.
We quickly packed up our books, and I checked out a small pile of them so I could continue my homework in my room. By the clock on the wall, it was about seven o’clock; plenty of time for home working.
We headed back to the dormitories, discussing the grizzly Sudafraens and the paper I was yet to write about Surac.
“Gotta tell you, I miss my computer,” Dena admitted. “Writing by hand is not all it’s cracked up to be.”
“I bet,” I groaned, thinking about having to manually write and then count every word. “At least there will be fewer distractions.”
I sat at my table and cracked open the book I’d been reading in the library. I began to turn my notes into the opening paragraphs of the essay, and as I wrote I realised I’d missed it. I knew I had a gift for writing, the words flowing onto the paper with hardly any conscious effort. My quill scratched continuously, and when my fingers went stiff and my hand refused to uncurl from the pen, I knew I’d done enough for the night.
The next morning I was woken by Larni instead of my bell. I opened my eyes as she glared down at me.
“Good morning,” I said pleasantly, and she scowled.
“What did you tell my mother?”
“You already know,” I said, and yawned widely.
“Why did you tell her?” she stepped back as I swung my legs out of bed.
“Because I want you to have a chance at living the life you’re supposed to,” I told her. “Because you’re a mage and now you can study and live as one.”
She chewed her lip anxiously.
“You don’t know that they’ll take me though,” she said.
“No, I don’t, but I can hope. You’ve got a better hope of getting in now that your mother will appeal after you’ve been tested again.”
I expected her to argue, but she just continued to watch me with her large brown eyes.
Finally she said something, but it was so quiet that I missed it.
“What?”
“Alright!” she repeated loudly.
I cracked a grin at her. I knew she wasn’t used to people taking care of her, only the other way around.
“Good. Now, I’m going to head back to the village this weekend to see your mother, see how she’s going organising the tester to make sure nothing gets in the way of you becoming a student here,” I stood up, stretched, and then begun my morning push ups and sit ups.
Larni laid my uniform out on the bed and then turned to me like she was going to say something. I raised my eyebrow at her, upside down as I lay on the floor. She opened her mouth and then closed it, leaving instead.
The week passed quickly, and I succeeded in finishing my essay and handing it up to Watt, who almost refused to take it because it was so late.
“I promise that’s the only one that will be,” I told her, bouncing on the balls of my feet. “I couldn’t find the library.”
She took it without a word, and I knew that I would get marked down but at least I’d done it.
We’d begun a new lesson, Magical Practical. We all giggled as we said it over and over again. Sometimes I thought we were really just six year olds in disguise. Jett, who also taught this subject, scowled as someone said it one too many times.
“Alright, so we’re not so good with the names of classes,” he snapped. “But what matters is what you learn in the class, not what it’s called.”
We all clammed up, but someone would occasionally whisper it and set the rest of the class off.
I felt for Jett sometimes. I really did.
Despite the ridiculous name, Magic Prac turned out to be one of the most interesting classes yet. That first lesson we learnt the basic theory of healing, and whilst my attention trailed off like it did in Theory, Dena’s eyes sparked with interest, and she hung off of Jett’s every word.
“We can’t test any of this just yet, but with this group I take it that it won’t be long until one of you injures yourself,” Jett said, and though we scowled, many of us agreed with him.
That accident happened the very next day in weapons training. And of course, it happened to me.
“Ow ow ow!” I clutched my thumb desperately as blood spilled out of the large gash I’d managed to open.
“What is it, what have you done?” Professor Yu demanded.
What I’d done was try my hand at throwing knives. No one had told me they were sharp, so I thought they were practice blades and had gone right ahead and wrapped my hand around one.
I cradled my thumb close to my chest, trying to hold back tears as the class gathered around for a look.
“Can I try healing it?” Dena asked, hope in her blue eyes.
I could hardly resist her anything when she looked at me like that, so in spite of the pain, I held my thumb out to her, dripping blood on the practice mat.
She took my hand in hers, probing the wound gently. I almost tore my hand away as it stung suddenly.
“Sorry,” she said, unapologetically. “Hold still.”
She held my injured thumb on her palm, and then held her thumb and little finger above it, making an arch. I recognized this position from the text book Jett had made everyone borrow.
Dena closed her eyes – an act which made me very uneasy – and then, faster than anyone could see, snapped her fingers together. A small blue spark, the colour of her magic, threaded the gash close, leaving me with only a faint scar as though I’d had it for years.
“Wow,” I said softly, holding my thumb up. I knew if I’d tried it, I probably would’ve done either nothing to the wound, or made it worse.
From then on, if anyone had an ailment or wounded themselves, they went to Dena, and she fast topped us all in that particular area.
The next lesson, Jett decided to give us a break from healing.
“We’re going to try creating objects,” he told us, and we all broke out into excited mutters. I wriggled my fingers anxiously; finally, hopefully, something I would be good at!
I wasn’t. The bowl I was supposed to be making from the energy around me just wouldn’t materialise, and when something finally did happen, instead of a bowl I had a small, demented egg cup.
“Good effort,” Jett said, passing me. I scowled at the cup, not oblivious to the fact that Eleanora had just succeeded in making a perfectly round bowl of purple glass.
“Her family is renowned for their crafts,” Dustin said, trying to mollify me as I carried my out of shape egg cup away from class.
“For your information,” I snapped. “I quite happen to like my egg cup. It’s just what I need for breakfasts.”
Dustin let this slide, despite the fact that the cup was so out of shape that an egg couldn’t fit in it.
In a bad mood, I stomped up to my room and went to face-plant on my bed, but something stopped me. A beautiful orange feather, the size of a peacock feather, lay gently on my bed, like a ray of sunlight that had materialised. I picked it up reverently, pulling it through my fingers.
Who had put this here? And how had they gotten into my room?
I noticed my open window and the ball of nervous energy in me unravelled. It would’ve been easy for someone to float something through the open window.
I brushed the feather against my cheek, noticing small sparks coming off of it like fire.
Suddenly I realised what it was, and dropped it onto the bed. It was supposed to be a phoenix feather.
“Phoenix, huh? A legendary bird of flame is a pretty awesome namesake.”
Now I wasn’t sure if the feather was a beautiful gift or a cruel taunt. I wasn’t sure if everything we created had to be of our colour, but I only knew of one mage who had that colour magic.
I picked the feather up again, unsure of whether to talk to him or not.
No, I decided. I’d let him come and own up to
this mysterious present, if he ever did. The only times he’d ever approached me was when I was injured. Except for the thumb injury; maybe he didn’t deem it life threatening enough to pretend he cared about me.
I wound the feather around the base of the statue on my dresser. It curled easily, like a sleeping dragon. I lay on my bed, propping my chin up on one hand, examining it.
Despite its most likely creator, it was one of the most beautiful things I owned.
When I woke the next morning, I was crushed to see that all that remained of my feather was orange dust on the plinth of the statue. Hurt and confused, I swept the dust into my palm and then brushed it out of the window. Why give someone something that wouldn’t last, like leprechaun gold? Maybe he simply lacked the skill it took to make it last.
In any case, I wouldn’t approach him to mention it at all.
When the weekend rolled around, I managed to obtain permission from Jett to head into Keyes, despite it being a weekend when we weren’t supposed to leave the Academy. He signed the permission form in silence, deliberately not asking why I needed to go into the village.
I rode alone again, enjoying the ride as Echo ambled along. I hitched her at the same place as last time, and then headed through the town square to the clock tower. Niko wasn’t outside chasing chickens this time, but I thought nothing of it as I bounded up the steps to knock on the door.
It took a few minutes, but then Larni’s mother opened it. Her brow furrowed when she saw me.
“Yes?”
“Uh, it’s me, Sky,” I said awkwardly, wondering if she didn’t remember me. “I was wondering how you were going with the tester?”
“What tester?” she asked, confusion plain in her eyes.
“The magic tester, for Larni,” I told her slowly.
She bit her lip.
“Do I know you?” she asked finally.
“I came to see you last week,” I said desperately. “I’m Sky, Larni’s friend.”
She shook her head.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know you.”
My mouth fell open, and I didn’t know what to say. Either she was playing a cruel joke on me or...
“Your memory has been modified,” I told her, anger beginning to shake through me. “You need to get Larni tested for magic again.”
Her eyes went blank for a second, and then she looked at me in renewed confusion.
“I’m sorry, who are you?”
That was it then. Her memory had been modified so that every time I mentioned Larni’s magic or the tester, it reverted back to her not recognising me at all.
Who would’ve done this? I racked my brains trying to think of anyone who knew about Larni’s abilities. But then I remembered that Larni had found out I’d been to Jett, and how difficult it was to keep secrets in the Academy. And if they’d gotten to her parents, the next person in the firing line was-
“Larni,” I said, almost to myself, and turned, leaping off the porch, leaving her mother behind. I sprinted through the town square as the clock tower struck the hour, but I hardly noticed.
I unhitched Echo and vaulted into the saddle. I urged her on, and she broke into a canter, and we headed back to the Academy faster than I’d ridden there before, my hair streaming back from my face in the wind.
Her hooves clattered across the cobbles of the stone bridge as we shot over it. We hit the dirt path on the other side, her hooves throwing up dirt clods behind us. When we reached the castle, I leapt from her back.
“Stay here,” I told her sternly, stroking her velvet nose. She snorted, her sides heaving.
I dashed inside the heavy double doors, sprinting up the stairs to the dorms. I passed Dustin on the way, and he began to run with me.
“Sky, what’s going on?”
“People are modifying memories,” I panted, taking the last few steps two at a time. “I think Larni, my servant... I think she’s next.”
Soul Fire Page 24