Awakening Magic

by Kayla Bashe

  You look over your shoulder—and, if you were standing near a couch, you would collapse in relief. It’s three squads of fourth-semester students, tall and grown-up-looking and as beautiful as angels.

  A handful of students hold an emergency war council on the deck, huddling into a corner as a girl wearing a splendid purple-and-silver top hat forms spinning disks of glass-translucent magic to shield you.

  It’s easy for you to find the thoughtplace in your mind that corresponds to “telepathic broadcasting” and flip an imaginary switch. Now you can keep everyone updated on what’s happening.

  “We need to get the portal closed!”

  “Can we pull off a group seal?”

  “Who’ll fix the workings, though? To get it started, someone needs to actually get close to the portal?”

  “My squad will do it,” an especially tall girl says. She has a lazy, confident way of speaking, and her smile makes you remember how inherently okay the world is. “We’ll use the air.”

  She calls her squad to her. As one, they breathe, crouch—and jump.

  Compared with your enemies, the girls of Sparrow Squad are tiny and fragile and unarmored—and beautiful in their fearlessness.

  Flying like gymnasts, stepping on or flipping off of or climbing sheer air that shimmers solid under their hands and feet when they need it, they reach the portal.

  The girl who was at the meeting casts her seal—sparrow wings and crossed knives on a sky-blue background.

  It wavers like an ink drawing tossed into a river. “Now,” she whispers, and because of her teammates’ air-magic, everyone hears it.

  As one, the students of the Magical Academy and the Academe Magia cast their seals.

  Spheres of light float, twirl, or streak through the air before plastering themselves onto the portal and assuming their full form.

  Each seal is unique, and each seal is beautiful. (Come to think of it, in that way, they’re kind of like people. )

  They meld together perfectly. —and the more there are, the brighter they shine.

  You recognize the symbol of your own seal—heart, sun, and angel wings—amongst the glittering facets.

  Each seal finds a space until, together, they cover the entire portal.

  And then something clicks. You can feel the shimmer of magic on your skin, like the aura of an enchanted crystal.

  Up until now, the monsters have been tormenting you, taunting you, lashing out with fury or smirking at you as if you’re nothing. They react to their deaths with absolute surprise. Now, though, you see unfamiliar expressions on their faces, or at least on the faces of those that have faces.

  Expressions of fear.

  Slowly, an invisible force begins to pull all of them towards the portal. Although they claw at the ground and hang onto trees, they’re dragged backwards as if by a powerful magnet—and, when they get close enough to the sealed portal, they dissolve into dark smoke and get sucked back through the edges. Some of them try to get in a few parting swipes—luckily, you’re prepared for anything.

  And then, all of a sudden, you realize that there are no more monsters at the Academe.

  You’ve done it. You’ve won the battle.

  * * *

  (1/1) >>

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  Please turn back a page

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  Please turn forward a page

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  Magical Girl Academy: Awakening Magic, by Kayla Bashe

  * * *

  Slowly but steadily, you’re losing ground, moving closer to the house. If you retreated to the upper story, called up the emergency wards thrumming with old magic, how long could you hold out before your friends started dying?

  And how long would it be before the endless stream of monsters, deprived of their playthings, headed to the Academy to wreak havoc on another group of unsuspecting students? How long would it be before they made their way to the city? To the nearby towns?

  How long would it be before the planet was marked uninhabitable?

  Running away won’t help. You have a sense that the tide of the battle’s going to change. Something’s going to happen, something good, and then you’ll win.

  Until it happens, though, you’ll channel all your hope and your happiness and keep smiling. You’ll keep going. You won’t give up!

  “Hey! Heard you needed some help.”

  You look over your shoulder—and, if you were standing near a couch, you would collapse in relief. It’s three squads of fourth-semester students, tall and grown-up-looking and as beautiful as angels.

  A handful of students hold an emergency war council on the deck, huddling into a corner as a girl wearing a splendid purple-and-silver top hat forms spinning disks of glass-translucent magic to shield you.

  It’s easy for you to find the thoughtplace in your mind that corresponds to “telepathic broadcasting” and flip an imaginary switch. Now you can keep everyone updated on what’s happening.

  “We need to get the portal closed!”

  “Can we pull off a group seal?”

  “Who’ll fix the workings, though? To get it started, someone needs to actually get close to the portal?”

  “My squad will do it,” an especially tall girl says. She has a lazy, confident way of speaking, and her smile makes you remember how inherently okay the world is. “We’ll use the air.”

  She calls her squad to her. As one, they breathe, crouch—and jump.

  Compared with your enemies, the girls of Sparrow Squad are tiny and fragile and unarmored—and beautiful in their fearlessness.

  Flying like gymnasts, stepping on or flipping off of or climbing sheer air that shimmers solid under their hands and feet when they need it, they reach the portal.

  The girl who was at the meeting casts her seal—sparrow wings and crossed knives on a sky-blue background.

  It wavers like an ink drawing tossed into a river. “Now,” she whispers, and because of her teammates’ air-magic, everyone hears it.

  As one, the students of the Magical Academy and the Academe Magia cast their seals.

  Spheres of light float, twirl, or streak through the air before plastering themselves onto the portal and assuming their full form.

  Each seal is unique, and each seal is beautiful. (Come to think of it, in that way, they’re kind of like people. )

  They meld together perfectly. —and the more there are, the brighter they shine.

  You recognize the symbol of your own seal—heart, sun, and angel wings—amongst the glittering facets.

  Each seal finds a space until, together, they cover the entire portal.

  And then something clicks. You can feel the shimmer of magic on your skin, like the aura of an enchanted crystal.

  Up until now, the monsters have been tormenting you, taunting you, lashing out with fury or smirking at you as if you’re nothing. They react to their deaths with absolute surprise. Now, though, you see unfamiliar expressions on their faces, or at least on the faces of those that have faces.

  Expressions of fear.

  Slowly, an invisible force begins to pull all of them towards the portal. Although they claw at the ground and hang onto trees, they’re dragged backwards as if by a powerful magnet—and, when they get close enough to the sealed portal, they dissolve into dark smoke and get sucked back through the edges. Some of them try to get in a few parting swipes—luckily, you’re prepared for anything.

  And then, all of a sudden, you realize that there are no more monsters at the Academe.

  You’ve done it. You’ve won the battle.

  * * *

  (1/1) >>

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  Please turn back a page

  * * *

  * * *

  Please turn forward a page

  * * *

  Magical Girl Academy: Awakening Magic, by Kayla Bashe

  * * *

  It
takes a few moments for the collective realization to spread over everyone—but once it does, everyone’s reacting, everyone’s happy or relieved or esctatic, hugging each other shouting jumping up and down laughing “Oh my gosh,” “We did it, WE DID IT,” screaming cheering collapsing with relief, brushing sweaty hair back from their foreheads and hugging their friends. The celebration sweeps over you, and you join with it.

  Although the general atmosphere is still bubbling with happiness, everyone’s attention quickly shifts to more pressing matters. There are injured students who require more than just stop-the-bleeding-and-stabilize-the-patient field medicine—and, of course, the faculty need to know what’s happened. If there’s truly a permanent breach in the wards, the monsters will probably attack again as soon as they gather their forces.

  Two squads stay behind in case the monsters try anything—one to hold them off at the narrowest point of the Academy/Academe path, the other to fly as fast as they can to the Academy and ring the chapel bell to alert everyone to what’s happening.

  The rest of you begin to trail back towards the Academy. You and your squad hug, squeal over how amazing you all were, compliment each other on particularly cool moves. But then—

  “Abby, are you all right?” Magda asks.

  Abby looks even paler than usual. She sways as if the ground is spinning under her. “My hand…” Holding up her left hand, she reveals a nasty bite mark. And then, with a breathless little laugh, “I think I’ve been poisoned.”

  You’re just in time to catch her before she topples to the ground.

  “Ohmigosh,” someone else whispers.

  You hurry to reassure everyone. “I’m sure she’s fine! There are tons of poisons that just knock people out. That’s got to be what happened. I can’t imagine anything serious happening to one of us…”

  The rest of your squad seems to believe you.

  An older girl gestures and levitates your unconcious friend into a wheelbarrow.

  “Help us with this one, kid. If you don’t mind,” she says.

  There are a whole bunch of injuries, but out of all the injured students, only three of them —plus your squadmate—are injured so badly that they can’t walk. There are also a few students who just fainted or were knocked unconcious, and they’ll be fine after a few hours in the infirmary. Considering how incredibly outnumbered you were, it’s a pretty spectacular outcome.

  * * *

  (1/1) >>

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  Please turn back a page

  * * *

  * * *

  Please turn forward a page

  * * *

  Magical Girl Academy: Awakening Magic, by Kayla Bashe

  * * *

  It takes a few moments for the collective realization to spread over everyone—but once it does, everyone’s reacting, everyone’s happy or relieved or esctatic, hugging each other shouting jumping up and down laughing “Oh my gosh,” “We did it, WE DID IT,” screaming cheering collapsing with relief, brushing sweaty hair back from their foreheads and hugging their friends. The celebration sweeps over you, and you join with it.

  Although the general atmosphere is still bubbling with happiness, everyone’s attention quickly shifts to more pressing matters. There are injured students who require more than just stop-the-bleeding-and-stabilize-the-patient field medicine—and, of course, the faculty need to know what’s happened. If there’s truly a permanent breach in the wards, the monsters will probably attack again as soon as they gather their forces.

  Two squads stay behind in case the monsters try anything—one to hold them off at the narrowest point of the Academy/Academe path, the other to fly as fast as they can to the Academy and ring the chapel bell to alert everyone to what’s happening.

  The rest of you begin to trail back towards the Academy. You and your squad hug, squeal over how amazing you all were, compliment each other on particularly cool moves. But then—

  Magda stops walking abruptly, rubs her eyes.

  “You okay?” Abby asks.

  “No,” she replies. “I haven’t felt this not-okay in years, actually.” And she sits down on the grass, heedless of her skirt.

  You hurry over to her. “Magda, what is it?”

  “Well, actually, I think I’ve been poisoned.” And she holds up her hand, revealing an ugly, discolored bite mark. Just as you notice it, her eyes close. She makes a soft, pained noise—and then slumps to the ground.

  “Ohmigosh,” someone else whispers.

  You hurry to reassure everyone. “I’m sure she’s fine! There are tons of poisons that just knock people out. That’s got to be what happened. I can’t imagine anything serious happening to one of us…”

  The rest of your squad seems to believe you.

  An older girl gestures and levitates your unconcious friend into a wheelbarrow.

  “Help us with this one, kid. If you don’t mind,” she says.

  There are a whole bunch of injuries, but out of all the injured students, only three of them —plus your squadmate—are injured so badly that they can’t walk. There are also a few students who just fainted or were knocked unconcious, and they’ll be fine after a few hours in the infirmary. Considering how incredibly outnumbered you were, it’s a pretty spectacular outcome.

  * * *

  (1/1) >>

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  Please turn back a page

  * * *

  * * *

  Please turn forward a page

  * * *

  Magical Girl Academy: Awakening Magic, by Kayla Bashe

  * * *

  You and your squad help transport injured students to the infirmary.

  An older girl puts her hands on her hips. “Okay, what’s the deal with this one?”

  * * *

  (1/1) You're not sure.

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  Please turn back a page

  * * *

  * * *

  Please turn forward a page

  * * *

  Magical Girl Academy: Awakening Magic, by Kayla Bashe

  * * *

  You and your squad help transport injured students to the infirmary.

  An older girl puts her hands on her hips. “Okay, what’s the deal with this one?”

  * * *

  (1/1) You're not sure.

  * * *

  * * *

  * * *

  Please turn back a page

  * * *

  * * *

  Please turn forward a page

  * * *

  Magical Girl Academy: Awakening Magic, by Kayla Bashe

  ——Press UP to make a choice

  * * *

  You choose your necklace; Miranda loops it about your neck, fastens the clasp, and wishes you luck. After receiving your room assignment, you head to your dorm hall.

  You hear the person walking behind you before you see her—she’s humming, snapping her fingers, and that makes you turn around.

  A pretty redheaded girl in a green blouse with a Peter Pan collar and a brown skirt, headphones in her ears, swaying to the beat of her music, then spreading her arms and twirling. She nearly bumps into you, and that’s when you notice her pendant—it matches yours exactly.

  “Your pendant,” you say, a little louder than normal so that she’ll be able to hear you over the music.

  “What?” she practically yells.

  “Your pendant—and you still have your headphones in!” Laughing, you touch your ears. “Your headphones!”

  She touches her ears, and her fingers find her headphones. Within seconds, a look of recognition dawns upon her face, and she bursts out laughing. After removing the earbuds, she introduces herself. “Hello, I’m Chant. Just Chant, mostly. What’s your name?”

  “Lucy Angel, among others. Sometimes I even call myself different things when I need a mood boost.”

  “I kn
ow what you mean—and it’s amazing to meet you. Oh, hey, is it just me, or do our pendants match?”

  This time, it’s your turn to giggle. “I was trying to tell you, but you didn’t hear me.”

  “I tend to do that when I’m listening to music. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.” She lets her hair fall in front of her face, hides behind it. And then, after a few deep breaths, she straightens up. “Sorry, I’m used to apologizing for things, even when I don’t technically need to. But—everything’s all good, right?”

  “Right.”

  “I’m glad. Where are you rooming?”

  You consult the little slip of paper you were given with your room and squad assignment. “Shine Squad, Marigold Hall, Triumph Suite. And you?”

  “By the skies, same! Let’s walk together. Want to listen to music?”