The Awakening

by H. D. Gordon

  There was a heavy smell to the place, but not a single scent that could be plucked from the symphony of the many. Lamps hung above each table, a chain dangling from them, but other than that, the only light was provided by the green-flamed torches affixed to the stone walls, casting strange shadows around the room.

  The only seat left, of course, was right up front, at a table with Candy. Her curly hair stood out like a cloud atop her head, her eyes as round as disks, like a doe caught in headlights.

  “Hey,” I said as I took a seat and dropped my books on the table.

  “How was history?” Candy asked.

  I remembered that during Genie’s introduction of Candy this morning at breakfast, Genie had said that Candy knew the histories of the magical realms like the back of her hand. “It was good,” I said. “Surprisingly interesting, actually.”

  Candy’s eyes lit up, almost sparkling. “Oh, yes, the histories are endlessly interesting. What were you discussing?”

  “The Battle of Broodus Bramie and Calvin the Crusader.”

  Candy’s curls bounced as she nodded. “That’s one of my favorites. It was a turning point, one of the final events that led to the first Great War.”

  I nodded, impressed. “That’s what Professor Hinkle said.”

  We stopped talking as the Professor entered the room, sweeping in with the flowing skirts that I was beginning to associate with the older witches. Professor Lu was a small woman of Asian descent, with straight black hair cut short around her chin. Her skirts and hooded cloak nearly swallowed her up, making her almost seem like she was floating as she took a spot before the black table at the front of the room.

  “Good morning, students,” she said in a voice so soft I had to strain to hear her, even in the front row. “Oh, we have a new addition this morning. Welcome to the Academy, Miss Aldainaire.”

  I didn’t correct her and say that my last name was actually Twitch, after my father.

  “Don’t you mean ‘your highness?’” grumbled a voice from the back.

  I turned in my seat and saw that it was the same broad-shouldered girl who’d shoved me on the way into class a few moments ago.

  There were a few snickers at this comment, but Professor Lu ignored them along with the rude girl’s outburst. “If you need help with anything, be sure to let me know,” Prof. Lu told me.

  I nodded, willing my cheeks not to heat, so as not to give whatever-her-name-was the satisfaction. Beside me, Candy sunk a little lower in her seat, cheeks aflame.

  Despite her reticence, Candy turned out to be a pretty good brewer. She knew all the ingredients and how to add them, showing me with patience that stupid-head Erasmus Edair could use a good dose of. The brew we were to make was a relatively simple one, she explained, though to me, it seemed like learning how to cook all over again.

  “Finally, we add just a pinch of Wolfsbane…” Candy said. She handed me the purple and green plant. “Why don’t you put it in? Then we’ll stir it over the flame for a bit, and we should be good to go.”

  Pinching the plant between my fingers, my hand hovered over the caldron as I stared into the swirling brew.

  “Conivus lacinto infuso,” Candy said as I dropped the Wolfsbane in, heads close together as we leaned over the caldron to assess our work.

  And were nearly thrown across the room as the brew all but exploded.

  The simmering liquid splashed outward in a geyser of purple-green brew, hot enough to scald. I threw my hands up, a cool tingling rushing through my forearms as my feet lifted off the floor, squeezing my eyes shut as I waited a split second to make impact upon landing.

  My back struck the table behind me, right at my tailbone, sending a shock of pain all the way up my spine. My head spun for a moment before I was able to process what had happened, my hands still held up and out in front of me, as if my fingers could keep the hot liquid from splashing all over me.

  As I fell in a heap on the floor, I realized belatedly that the burning brew had not reached me.

  In fact, as I blinked in disbelief, I saw that the brew was hanging in the air, as if it had splashed against an invisible wall. Steam rose off the invisible wall, confirming the heat of the brew.

  Around me, the class was utterly silent.

  I dropped my hands—and the invisible wall dropped along with them, the suspended brew splattering over the floor. Realizing I was just lying there like a weirdo, I climbed to my feet, ignoring the aching of my back, and helped Candy climb to hers as well.

  Professor Lu floated over, her mouth pinched tight. “What did you put in there?” she asked.

  “We followed the instructions exactly,” Candy said.

  “If you’d followed the instructions exactly it would not have exploded.”

  Candy’s lip quivered, her face going red as an apple.

  “Then someone must’ve added something to it when we weren’t looking,” I said.

  Professor Lu’s eyes locked on me. Though she was not a large woman, there was something quietly intimidating about her. “That’s quite an accusation, Miss Aldainaire. That brew could’ve burned you very badly. It would have, if not for that defensive shield you threw up.”

  Defensive shield? I hadn’t done anything but put up my hands—Had I? The cool tingling I’d felt… Could that have been magic rushing through me?

  Goddess, I knew nothing about any of this. I was in way over my head.

  For a moment, the Professor said nothing, only ran her gaze over the class, then surveyed the mess on the floor of her classroom. She flicked her wrist, and the door at the back of the room swung open, revealing a storage closet. She nodded her head toward it.

  “There’s a mop and bucket inside, ladies,” Professor Lu said. “Better clean that up before someone gets hurt.”

  There were a few snickers in the back of the class, and I didn’t have to look to know that the large girl who’d shoved me earlier was among the chortlers. I retrieved the mop while Candy grabbed the bucket.

  As I sopped up the mess, I went over it again in my head, confirming that Candy and I had indeed followed the instructions and ingredient list exactly. Which could only mean that someone had indeed slipped something into the brew when we hadn’t been paying attention.

  But why would someone want to hurt us? From what I’d seen from Candy, the girl would sooner sprout wings and fly off into the sunset than do something that could garner such backlash, and I’d just gotten here. Was it possible that I’d pissed someone off already?

  If so, who?

  I glanced up from my work to see the chick who’d pushed me looking back at me with a smug smirk on her lips.

  Well, I knew who my main suspect was.

  11

  Lunch followed the brewing fiasco, and I was starving by the time I made it to the dining hall.

  The place was even busier than before, buzzing with conversation and activity. Grabbing a tray, I chose a cheeseburger, fries, and a large slice of pizza before making my way to the same table I’d sat at this morning during breakfast. Roo was already there, and I felt better just seeing her. A familiar face in the midst of this totally foreign experience was heartening.

  “Hey,” Roo said as I slid into place beside her. She glanced down at my tray. “Hungry much?”

  I eyed the salad and wheat bread sandwich on her tray and rolled my eyes. “If Raz the Spaz insists on making me train like a beast, I’m gonna need to eat like one.” I shoved the pizza into my mouth along with a handful of fries.

  “Raz the Spaz?” Genie said, tilting her head in confusion before her eyes lit up with understanding. “You got Erasmus Edair as your Physical Defense trainer?”

  I snorted around a mouthful. “Lucky me, right?”

  “Um, yeah,” Genie said. “I’m pretty sure Raz is the finest man ever invented.”

  “More like the rudest. Carrying that stupid bow around like he’s on a perpetual hunting trip or something.”

  This earned a giggle from Genie, Hilda
, and Indi, but Candy shook her head. “That bow is legendary,” she said. “It’s not just a normal weapon. It was made from the trees of the Fae Forest, given to Erasmus’s family centuries ago, when an alliance was formed between the magic users and the fae to be wielded in the first Great War.”

  Genie rolled her eyes. “True, but Rey has a point that Raz doesn’t have to act like he has one of those arrows stuck up his butt.”

  I smiled at Genie, deciding that I might like the girl after all.

  “Why do we need a Physical Defense course, anyway?” Roo asked. “I mean, I’m not complaining because I really like exercise, but don’t we have magic to help defend us?”

  Genie nodded. “Yes, we do, though most of us don’t have as much as you two,” she said, nodding at Roo and me. “But the Academy likes to teach us both how to wield the magic and how to live without it. Too many witches in the past made the mistake of relying too heavily on their magic. If something happens, not knowing how to survive without it can be detrimental, even deadly.”

  “Something like what?” I asked.

  “Like a draining,” Indi said, the dark-haired beauty speaking for the first time since I’d met her. Her voice had a slight accent to it that was unlike any I’d ever heard before.

  “It’s when a witch is drained of her magic,” Candy supplied.

  “That sounds…not fun,” I said.

  The group fell silent for a few minutes as we ate, the subject obviously taboo.

  “Speaking of powerful magic,” Candy said, “you guys should’ve seen the defensive shield Rey cast today in Brews! It was pretty awesome.”

  All eyes swung to me. I shrugged. “It just happened, really.”

  “The brew we were making exploded,” Candy said. “Would’ve burned the crap out of us, but she blocked it.”

  “Exploded?” Roo said.

  “You’re pretty good at brews,” Genie said. “How’d that happen?”

  Candy’s voice lowered as she leaned forward over the table. “Someone must’ve slipped something into it when we weren’t looking. My guess is it was a little Triproot, which is one of the few ingredients that would cause that reaction when mixed with Wolfsbane.”

  “Who would do that?” Roo asked.

  I glanced around the dining hall, spotting the big girl who’d shoved me and laughed when the brew had exploded. The rest of the group followed my gaze.

  “Agnes Buttsworth?” Genie asked.

  Laughter bubbled up my throat. “Her name is Agnes Buttsworth?”

  Small smiles lit up the others’ faces.

  “I mean, I wouldn’t laugh about it within her earshot,” Candy said. “She’s not known for her kind heart. She’s kind of a bully.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I gathered that much when she shoved me and made me drop all my books.”

  Roo’s head whipped around. “She did what?”

  Uh oh. I’d seen that look before. I waved a hand and tried to play it cool. “It’s no big deal, really.”

  But it was too late. Roo was already standing, already striding over to where Agnes sat with three other girls who looked about as friendly as junkyard dogs. I cursed under my breath and followed after her. Agnes probably weighed more than the both of us put together, but I couldn’t just let Roo get her ass kicked alone, and on my account, no less.

  My pulse picked up as I jogged after Roo, trying to catch her before she was able to say something. But Roo was fast, and she reached Agnes’s table before I could do so.

  “Agnes?” Roo said, drawing the girl’s attention along with her three cronies.

  Agnes turned her face toward Roo, a sneer already forming on her lips. “What?” Agnes snapped.

  Roo gestured a thumb over her shoulder without looking, as if she knew exactly where I was standing behind her. “That’s my sister,” Roo said, her voice calm and low. “She said you shoved her this morning.”

  Around us, others were starting to tune into the conversation. It was an effort not to shift on my feet, to keep my chin raised and my face relaxed. I loved Roo more than the moon and stars, and appreciated that she always stood up for me, but getting beat up in the dining hall on our first day at the Academy had not been on my agenda.

  Agnes let out a half snort, half scoff, as if she couldn’t believe the nerve of Roo. She wasn’t alone in the feeling. Now the people around us were definitely watching, a silence falling in this part of the dining hall.

  “She was in my way,” Agnes said, flexing her large hands into fists, making her bulging biceps and enormous shoulders tense. “And now it looks like you’re in my way.”

  My heart jumped as Agnes moved to stand, but before she could fully find her feet, Roo leaned down toward her, putting her mouth right next to her ear. Roo whispered, saying something to Agnes that was too low for me to hear.

  Agnes paused in her movement, her face slowly draining of color as Roo whispered, until it was as white as a sheet. She lowered back down into her seat, her hands still clenched into fists atop the table, her square jaw set.

  Roo straightened, her expression out of my view as I still stood behind her. I sidestepped to get a better look, and saw that her face was utterly blank. Not smug or scared or even mildly enthused. Just blank.

  Roo raised her eyebrows a fraction, her hazel gaze still locked on Agnes’s.

  Agnes’s fists clenched so tight now that her knuckles were as white as her face. Her eyes flicked to me. “I’m sorry about this morning,” she all but growled, voice almost too low to hear.

  I blinked. “Uh…it’s okay.”

  Roo’s brows raised a tick higher. Now the muscle in Agnes’s jaw was pulsing.

  “And it won’t happen again,” Agnes added.

  “Cool,” I said. “Thanks.”

  With that, Roo turned on her heels and walked away, leaving me to follow.

  As we crossed back to our table, the conversation in the hall picked back up, but if we had been receiving side-eye glances before, we were really receiving them now.

  “What did you say to her?” I asked, catching Roo by the arm before she could head off to her next class.

  Roo shrugged. “I told her not to mess with you again.”

  I snorted. “Why did her face go white like that?” I pressed, keeping my voice low as other students streamed out of the dining hall around us.

  Roo sighed, lowering her voice as well. “I told her Cara says hello,” she said.

  “Who’s Cara?”

  “Someone Agnes used to know. Someone who has… moved on.”

  It took a second, but understanding hit me. “Dang, Roo,” I said.

  “What? You can go casting magical shields in brewing class and I can’t use my magic for something useful, too?”

  “Of course you can. I just mean, do you think it’s smart to go flaunting that ability? To use it against people like that?”

  Roo’s eyes narrowed. “I think what you mean is, thanks, Roo, for sticking up for me.”

  “I appreciate—,” I began.

  Roo stomped off toward her next class before I could finish. Adjusting my backpack on my shoulders, I sighed and headed toward mine.

  Seemed I was everyone’s favorite person today.

  The rest of the day’s classes passed without a hitch.

  Spellcasting was easily my favorite, and though we had only practiced simple telekinesis spells, I seemed to have a knack for it. While other students struggled to lift their pens from the desks in front of them with their magic, mine rose into the air with hardly a thought. That same cool, tingling sensation that had rushed through my arms earlier when I’d casted the defensive shield flooded through my veins, and with it, a sort of heady exhilaration.

  The last class of the day was currency/reading, and save for the grueling training with Raz the Spaz this morning, this was decidedly my least favorite of the bunch. It reminded me of the classes at my normal high school, the subject matter boring enough to put a squirrel to sleep.

&nb
sp; I shared this last class with Candy, Indy, and Agnes, and though the latter didn’t make any attempts at retaliation for Roo’s stunt in the cafeteria, she certainly gave meaning to the phrase ‘if looks could kill.’

  At dinner, we gathered again at what was quickly becoming our regular table. As the others chatted, and I finally had a few moments to contemplate the day, a melancholy fell over me. I felt as though I’d fallen asleep and found myself in some crazy dream that I couldn’t wake up from. Roo arrived late, and I tried to catch her eyes a few times, but she was pointedly staring at her food, so I decided to wait until later.

  Roo and I finally got some time alone after dinner, as we retired to our dorm room. Genie had a study session with Candy and Indi, and invited us, but we were both tired, so we passed. As my little sister sat down on her bed across from mine, I let out a breath I felt I’d been holding all day.

  “Thank you,” I said, “for standing up to Agnes for me.”

  Roo nodded. “You know I’m always here for you.”

  “And I’m sorry for what I said about keeping your abilities under wraps. That wasn’t cool. You’ve been keeping it a secret your whole life, and if there’s one place you should be able to really be yourself, I guess it’s here.”

  Roo’s shoulders sank a fraction, the first visible sign that any of this was actually affecting her. She let out a heavy breath. “No, actually, you might have been right about that.”

  “What do you mean? Did something happen?”

  “Not really,” Roo said. “In history today we covered some of the more famous witches who went dark over the years.”

  “Went dark?”

  “Started using dark magic.”

  I nodded.

  Roo continued, “Apparently, there are certain affinities that make going dark much more probable. Necromancy is one of the rarest affinities, and one of the most dangerous. In fact, every witch on record who was also a necromancer went dark.”