My eyes widened, and I stared at the desk in front of me. “No, ma’am.” Heat radiated up my neck. Everything in me wished I had worn my hair down to hide the blush.
“Good.” Professor Magnolis directed Aspen to the only open seat. He flitted his gaze to me, and his lips formed a flat line.
My stomach twisted while Aspen placed his book bag on the ground and slid into the desk next to mine.
“Now I have an announcement that I absolutely despise making,” Professor Magnolis said. “But I am required to do so. I’m sure each of you has already studied the Academy handbook—”
Handbook?
She continued. “But you will only have one semester to pass Introduction to Spellcasting. If this does not happen, then you will not be allowed to remain at the Academy.”
Murmurs came from a few other students, and Holly raised her hand.
“Yes, Miss Leighton?” Professor Magnolis crossed her arms over her chest and tipped her head slightly.
“What is a passing grade considered to be?” Holly’s winged eyeliner was even thicker than it had been at 4 a.m., and her lip gloss now had a bluish sheen. Her blonde curls spiraled perfectly. Did she use magic to style her hair too, just like she used it to change her gloss?
Professor Magnolis sighed. “This academic year we require an 80% or higher for this class.”
Holly scowled and looked to Emiko for a second before returning her attention to the professor. “But that’s fifteen percent higher than past years.”
Worry pooled in Professor Magnolis’s eyes. “The threats to The Side of Magic have risen, and the Academy needs to produce proficient students. Otherwise, our staff and resources are stretched too thin.”
The room went completely silent, and I was pretty sure everyone knew exactly what sort of threats she was talking about. My understanding was still pretty murky. Merrygold had told me a little about the Morelli threat, but I still didn’t have a complete handle on the problem other than some guy named Zayne Gabrick was their leader and he was power-hungry.
Professor Magnolis’s lips stretched into a thin smile, trying to disguise the worry in her eyes, and she gestured to Aspen. “This is why we have a T.A. this semester. I intend that each of you will pass with flying colors.”
I wrung my hands together on my lap. How was I supposed to perform magic at an 80% success rate when I’d never done one magical thing in my life? I opened my sweating palms and studied them. Come on magic! But nothing happened—no flame like Rosalee had made in the dining hall, no flying books. Nothing.
Professor Magnolis clapped her hands together, producing a loud smack, and most students, including me, sprang up in their seats. “Pop quiz.”
I clenched my teeth at her words. What?
“I must have a sense of where each of your spellcasting strengths lie,” she said. “You’ve already seen one of my abilities, so Aspen will begin, then we will take a volunteer from the class.”
Aspen rose. He immediately made his way to the front of the classroom and stood there for a few seconds, not performing any sort of magic. Just watching him—broad shoulders, defined jawline—my heart began fluttering again, and this time, my stomach joined in the awkward dance. Instead of continuing to gaze at him, I stared at my lap for a moment and took in a settling breath.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Professor Magnolis said to Aspen.
Curiosity got the best of me and I looked back up. Aspen closed his eyes and mumbled a few words under his breath. As soon as he finished, his entire body radiated with a barely-there blue illumination.
I sucked in a breath and held it. The blue intensified, and Aspen’s body glitched and sparked. Glitching was the only way I could have described the changes I saw. Parts of his body were there, then gone, and then back again. Without warning his illumination brightened, and I held my hand to my eyes to block the glare. When I lowered it, Aspen was gone, and in his place was a black wolf with the same piercing blue eyes Aspen had.
I gasped and gripped the edge of my desk. But the wolf showed no signs of aggression and simply sat on the floor and panted.
Everyone else, including the professor, broke into applause.
“Well done, Aspen,” she said. “Shapeshifting spells are well beyond your second-year requirements.”
The wolf stood and emitted the blue glow once more. Within seconds, and with much less glitching this round, Aspen was back, standing at the head of the class.
“I’ve been practicing on my own,” he admitted. “Coming out of the shift is much easier than going in, but I’m getting better.”
Seeing him back again, I relaxed until I remembered that I was going to be standing in front of the class in only a few minutes.
The professor twisted back to us. “There is no pressure for any of you today. Let’s use this opportunity to get to know each other better. Please design your spell to relate to a hobby you enjoy.”
No pressure? Right.
One by one, each student went to the front and showed off their skills. One chubby guy, whose name I hadn’t caught, took an object from a jar that looked suspiciously like a leg of something. He ground up the dried appendage and mixed it with a murky liquid for a shifting spell. But the result wasn’t nearly as successful as Aspen’s. He only ended up with one lizard-skin arm, and it still had not returned to normal.
Holly’s strong suit was apparently art, so she tried to make the room appear like an oil painting, but the scene smeared away before she finished. Emiko told us she enjoyed baking, and for her spell a gorgeously decorated cupcake appeared before each person. But when we took a bite, it tasted like dirt instead of the chocolate it was supposed to be.
“At least you’re improving on the visuals,” Professor Magnolis encouraged, but she tossed her cupcake into the trash next to the desk.
Emiko smiled shyly and shrugged.
Part of me was encouraged that none of these other students were proficient at spellcasting, but at least they had something to share. I had nothing.
“Miss Barrows?” the professor said when everyone else had completed the assignment.
My hands went numb.
I should have just blurted out the admission that I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t even know where to start. Instead, I rose from my seat and walked to the front of the class. My shoes felt as if they weighed a hundred pounds each. Luckily, no one laughed at me since they were probably too wrapped up in thinking about how their spells had gone horribly wrong.
“I’m Josy Barrows, and my favorite thing to do is read—”
“Then you should try Spell #27, Enchanting a Book.” Before I could protest, Professor Magnolis shoved the open Introduction to Spellcasting textbook into my hand, open to the correct page.
I scanned over the spell, and my mouth went as dry as Emiko’s dirtcake.
“Come on, Josy,” Holly piped up. “We all made fools out of ourselves. You can too.”
Professor Magnolis’s eyes twinkled. “When the magic doesn’t work, it often means you are not letting go.”
I gritted my teeth and squared myself. I had nothing to lose by trying. No one wanted me here, anyway. It’s not as if they’d like me any less if I failed.
I skimmed over the words, and the spell seemed simple enough. Words only and no newt legs—or whatever—from the shelves. I think the actual words were in Latin. Not that I knew anything about the dead language.
You will need: One book
I guessed that my textbook was as good as any.
1. Open to your chosen page. Done.
2. Clutch the book you intend to enchant on both sides. I gripped the pages of the textbook as hard as I could.
3. Envision the words you wish to appear on the page and speak the following words:
Verbis Tripudium.
The whole thing sounded easy enough, so I thought of the words I wanted to see appear on the page. They were dumb, but I couldn’t think of anything better—I did it.
&nb
sp; Despite my roiling stomach, I stared at the page and forced my mouth to form the first word. “V—er. . . bis Tri. . . pudium.” As I finished the second word, my head went light. Maybe it was working!
But instead, my knees buckled, and I found myself in a heap on the ground staring up at ten sets of eyes. Holly groaned and slapped her hand to her forehead.
Tears threatened to burst forth, but somehow, I held them back.
“Oh, dear.” Professor Magnolis bent down to me and offered her hand. I took it, and she helped me stand. She guided me to my seat, where I placed my now-pounding head onto the table.
The professor stepped back and crossed her arms over her chest in thought. No one said a word.
“Slight change of plans,” Magnolis finally said. “I am making a last-minute correction to the course syllabus.” She paused for a moment. “20% of your grade will be determined by your willingness to work as a team. You will do everything in your power to ensure that everyone in this class successfully performs magic.”
Lizard Arm raised his hand. “So, you mean that none of us can pass if everyone doesn’t pass.”
Professor Magnolis straightened her back and raised her chin. “That is precisely what I mean.”
Chapter 9
“I’m never going to get any of this right, and everyone in the class is going to fail because of it!” I slammed the Spellcasting book shut and threw my palm onto the library table. A stinging sensation zipped through my wrist. I had no idea what I was doing in any of my classes and felt like a complete fish out of water here.
“Shhhh!” the gangly librarian, wearing a striped shirt and too-thick glasses, hissed from his desk. And I’d have sworn I’d seen him mouth that he was going to turn me into a rat.
Aspen scowled at me, an expression I must have seen at least twenty times in the last couple weeks since I started school. A low, exasperated growl came from his throat. As per usual, he did not utter a single word of encouragement. Although he hadn’t said it, Aspen thought I was going to fail. I don’t think he took pleasure in it—my failure was simply a fact to him.
I threw myself against the wooden back of my chair and slumped down low, wishing I could make myself disappear. “Are you afraid of me too?” The question came out of nowhere. Since the start of our tutoring sessions, I’d brought up nothing personal to Aspen. There was no use of me acting friendly toward him when he obviously didn’t want to be my friend. He was only here because Professor Magnolis was forcing him to be.
Aspen eyed me for a moment. “I’m not afraid of anything.”
I scoffed at his stupid answer. “Everyone is afraid of something. When a person says they’re not afraid of anything, they’re usually hiding something. And anyway, the Morelli seem like they are worthy of fear. And that’s what you all think I am.”
Aspen adjusted the backward baseball cap he forever wore outside of school hours. “The Morelli are worthy of more than fear.” He waved his hand in the air, emitting a blue glow. My book gently opened to the same page we had been studying before.
I let out a low growl at his arrogant display of magic.
Merrygold and Nine had finally filled me in with more information on the Morelli, and yes, they were to be feared.
Long ago, the Morelli were a small group of people born on The Side of Magic. They developed a genetic abnormality which made their hair white. Something about this frightened the rest of magic society. So, the Morelli were shunned and forced into hiding in The Middle.
The only beings who are supposed to live in The Middle are The Four Points—Mrs. North, Mrs. East, Mrs. South, and Mrs. West, whom I’d already met. The Four Points are the immortal gatekeepers between the realms. They maintain records of everyone who comes in and out.
But the Morelli found an alternate route into The Middle, and for hundreds of years they remained in hiding, growing in numbers and strength. In their seclusion, they grew angry and resented those who were not like them. The leaders wanted war.
Not all the Morelli agreed, though, and many broke away from their group, determined to join magic society peacefully again. Some of them were accepted, thrived, and built new lives. In between naps, Nine finally told me my mother’s family was among them. But too many people still feared the Morelli and the rumors of their strength. Those Morelli who had left The Middle were forced into hiding once again . . . but this time they had nowhere to go but to The Other Side.
Years passed, and an even stronger Morelli leader ascended with a new goal—to take over not only The Side of Magic, but The Other Side, as well.
Their goal was to break down the barrier between the two. Apparently, it was impossible to perform strong magic on The Other Side, which made those with magical abilities no more powerful than an average human, or Common, when they visited The Other Side. If the Morelli found a way to cross The Middle and keep magic intact, Commons would be easy pickings, slaves to the Morelli’s will, and there was no way of knowing whether they could be stopped.
I tugged at my long braid hanging over my shoulder. “Why did the school bring me here, anyway?” I muttered. Aspen snapped his attention my way. “And I don’t get why Professor Magnolis made this ridiculous requirement that if I don’t pass, no one does.”
“Technically, she only requires that all the students help each other, not that each of you passes.” Aspen folded his hands onto his lap.
Several other students in the class, including Lizard Arm, who I now knew as Rowan Hedge, had begrudgingly offered to help me with several spells. The problem was that all of the other students had their own issues with spellcasting, so they were not the best tutors. I also think they were afraid that if I learned actual magic, I might turn on them. Keeping me in the dark was safer, and they only had to pretend to help.
Holly and Emiko had even invited me over to their room for some late-night studying, but I’d since found out the only magic Holly had mastered was related to her beauty routine. My gut told me that Emiko was only shy about her abilities and if she could let go of that, she’d do much better.
So, I guess most of them were doing their part in working as a team for their grade. They were at least trying—I guess.
I sighed, feeling defeated. We were several weeks into the semester, but I wasn’t any more magical than when I started. Maybe magic wasn’t always passed on from parent to child. Or maybe being born and living your entire life on The Other Side made a person devoid of the ability.
“What about you?” I wanted to change the subject, and Aspen had told me nothing about himself the entire time we've been working together. “Are your parents powerful wizards or something?”
A vein poked out on Aspen’s left temple, and his lips went flat.
At the sight of his expression, a lump formed in my throat. I already knew Aspen was a private person. Despite his handsome face and muscled arms that should have made girls go nuts, I never saw anyone talking to him. He spent every meal with his nose buried in a book and walked by himself to classes.
“I just figure if we have to spend all this time together, we might as well get to know each other.” I leaned my elbows on the table, feeling a bit better that some negative attention was taken off me. What’s the worst that could happen by my questioning him? He could refuse to tutor me? I was about ninety-eight percent sure as a potential Common I wasn’t going to be allowed to stay at the Academy anyway.
“No,” he finally admitted in a low tone. “My parents were not powerful wizards. Closer to Commons than that.” Aspen released a long sigh as if he’d been bottling the admission up for too long. “In fact, I’m the first Rivers to attend the Academy in over a hundred years. Chancellor Sterling even provided me with a full-ride scholarship—all four years.”
I tipped my head in confusion. Why did he make it sound like a negative thing? “Sounds like a huge accomplishment.”
“Except for the fact that the type of magic valued at the Academy, at least by the student body, runs through long fami
ly trees. You look at mine, and the roots are shallow. Other students here find that unacceptable.”
“People here are stuck up.”
Aspen chuckled and flashed me his winning smile for a brief second. An electric tingle shot up my spine. I’d been trying to suppress those feelings, since distraction was the enemy of focus and it wasn’t as if he reciprocated. Every once in a while, though, when he wasn’t scowling, he caught my emotions off guard.
I cleared my throat.
“Most of the students and faculty are less than warm and welcoming,” Aspen admitted. “I figure that I’ll keep my head low and learn everything and anything available to me.”
“Professor Magnolis isn’t like that, though?”
“Magnolis doesn’t come from a background of high breeding, either.” He leaned in and whispered. “She was truthful when she said she took Introduction to Spellcasting. Magnolis barely made the cut for the Academy. Last student to be accepted her year.”
Like I was the last student this year? Maybe that’s why she held a soft spot for me. Or maybe she was like Holly in that she wanted to keep her enemies close. I shook my head. I didn’t want to think of Magnolis that way. She’d been nothing but kind to me, nearly to a fault. I didn’t want to be the reason any Introduction to Spellcasting students didn’t pass, even if they didn’t help me. I could understand their fear of the Morelli. If I were in their shoes, I might not want to help me very much either.
I glanced at the large clock on the wall above the librarian’s desk. 6:07 p.m. As if on cue, my stomach rumbled so loud I thought the librarian might literally turn me into a rat this time. Learning was no good on an empty stomach. I pursed my lips and slid my closed book into the crook of my arm. “How about dinner?” The words came out before I could stop them.
Aspen grabbed his book bag from the ground and placed all his books inside. “Sure, it’s not as if the two of us have any other friends.”
Chapter 10
Spellcaster Academy: Episodes 1-4 (Spellcaster Academy Omnibus) Page 5