“Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys,” I muttered under my breath.
“Professor?” Felicity said, her voice saccharine sweet. “I don’t mind challenging someone else if Lyssa is too scared.”
“Of you?” I snarled. “Hardly.”
I stalked up to the desk, squaring my shoulders and eyeing Felicity over the top of the flame.
“You’re the one who should be worried,” I told her, forcing a smile onto my face. I wasn’t bluffing – I had nothing to lose, everyone already knew I was awful. If she got beaten by me, the outsider, the druid raised by mundanes, she’d be the laughing stock of the entire academy. After everything she’d put me and my friends through, I liked the sound of that.
“Ready… Begin.”
Felicity’s hand started to move on ‘ready’, but the professor didn’t seem to notice. I flung my hand up a split second later, and already the flame was flickering. Fury flushed through me that she’d dared to cheat so blatantly, with everyone watching, but I channelled the anger and pumped it out of my hand, pouring every bit of heat I could muster through my palm and into the flame, strengthening it against Felicity’s attack. I could feel the gust coming out of her palm, blowing cold air around me, but the flame held its own.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Felicity’s mouth pressed together in a tight line of anger – she’d thought she would catch me off guard with her early draw, and she certainly didn’t expect I would last more than a few seconds against her. I could hear the cheers and shouts of the rest of the class, shouting encouragement to both of us, but I tuned them out and shrank my whole focus to the small, stubborn flame in front of me.
It wasn’t until I heard the gasps that I realised something was wrong, and I lifted my eyes a fraction to see a furious Felicity raising both her hands. The class weren’t the only ones in uproar: every fibre of my being wanted to punish that dirty, cheating, little airhead. I bared my teeth and glared at the flame. The entire candle fell over, and rolled onto the floor, blown aside by the dual gusts of air from Felicity’s hands. The flame didn’t go out, protected by my rage.
“That is enough!” Professor Swann shouted, and I immediately dropped my hand. Across the desk, Felicity lowered both of hers, too, but the damage was already done. The candle had blown right into my feet, and the unnaturally hot flame licked at my robe and set it alight. Oh, shit. I couldn’t be burned by my own fire, but my clothes certainly could.
A flush of panic turned my veins to ice and I gasped as the professor called for everyone to stay calm – but I was far beyond calm. I looked at the jug of water on the desk, thinking I could grab it and throw it over my clothes before they were completely destroyed, and the next thing I knew, the water was lunging at me, leaving the jug behind, and soaking me right to the skin. The fire died immediately, leaving me standing them in the remains of my smouldering clothing.
“Class dismissed,” Professor Swann said, a quiver in her voice. “Study your textbooks in your common rooms. Now! Out. Felicity, see me at the end of the day. Lyssa, I’d like a word.”
I paused mid-step. Kelsey and Sam hovered, giving me worried looks as the rest of the students poured out around them. The professor looked at them.
“Off you go, you two. Lyssa will be along shortly.”
“What’s the matter, Professor?” I asked, as the door swung shut behind them. “Did I do something wrong? I didn’t mean for the fire to spread, I haven’t learned–”
“No! No, you’re not in any trouble,” she said, regaining some of her composure. “No-one would have expected a first year to stop the spread of fire. Please, sit.”
I sank into the chair she gestured to, trying to read her face but she was giving nothing away. I was forced to wait while she pulled out a chair and sat down. Immediately, she stood up again and started to pace. I wondered if I should say something, but she stopped abruptly and turned to look at me.
“In all my years, I have never seen anything quite like that.”
I opened my mouth to ask what she meant, but she raised a hand and I clamped my jaw shut again.
“For how long have you possessed a second elemental power?
“I’m sorry, a what?”
“Don’t play games with me, girl!” She slapped a hand down on the desk in front of me and I jumped.
“Professor, I’m not, I–”
“You expect me to believe that you didn’t know you were pulling the water from that jug?”
“But, Professor, you did that.”
She shook her head, then drew in a slow breath.
“No, Lyssa, you did that. I’ve never seen such a thing. I did not even believe it was possible. And to have that level of control without even being aware of it… You must be very powerful indeed.”
“What are you saying, Professor?” I said, an uneasy feeling cramping in my stomach.
“That you possess control over opposing elements,” she said, holding my eye. “And you are the first in our history to do so.”
Chapter Sixteen
I was glad when, just over a week later, the semester finished for Christmas break, and most of the students went home for the festive period. It was a relief to be able to walk the long corridors without whispers following me everywhere I went, and to eat in the hall without dozens of eyes staring at me, wondering what made me so different. I wondered that a lot myself, but even after several meetings with Professor Talendale, we were no closer to getting to the bottom of it. It seemed like the only ones who didn’t think I was either the second coming of Merlin, or a total freak, were Kelsey, Sam and Stormclaw. Even Logan had looked at me funny for a while – until I tossed an Itealta ball right in his face, then he kept his eyes where they should be.
Kelsey went home to her family, but not before we’d made time for a little splurging at Fantail Market, where I’d picked out presents for her and Sam, and got myself a few essential supplies - including some brand new robes, which didn’t have frayed edges or questionable odours or random burn patches, and text books that weren’t full of other people’s notes – although I have to admit that some of the notes had been more than a little useful when it came to getting my assignments done. On the other hand, the copious coffee and potion stains had not, and I’d been making do without pages eighty-four through ninety-seven in my Botany textbook since the start of the year. When we got back to the academy, we hugged and parted company, and I tried my best to hide my small pang of jealousy that she was getting to see her family while mine were off on holiday without me, and me and Sam passed a Christmas that was better than I’d expected here at Dragondale.
It was deserted in the library, which was no surprise since it was the day after Christmas: half the students were still celebrating, and the other half were in a food coma. I, myself, would have been happy to be in either camp, but here we were, in the library.
“Remind me why we’re in the library on Boxing Day?” I griped.
“Because it’s Boxing Day,” Sam said, as though that explained everything.
“Right. Of course. I mean, where else would we be on boxing day, except, like, anywhere?”
“Look around,” he said, gesturing about the room with an amused look on his face. “What do you see?”
“Books. Lots and lots of books. In the holiday break. You do know what a holiday is, right?”
He rolled his eyes and coughed, tossing an exaggerated nod at the book check-out desk.
“Oh! No staff.”
He cupped a hand and tilted his head.
“Is that the sound of the penny dropping?”
I elbowed him in the ribs.
“Ow! Alright, alright. They run an honour system over Christmas and Boxing Day, you have to check the books out yourself.”
“And this helps us how?”
He rolled his eyes again and I lifted my elbow. He threw up his hands in mock surrender.
“Don’t get aggressive with me just because you’re a little slow on the upta
ke today.”
He ducked out of the way of the swat I aimed at his head, and set off through the rows of books.
“There are certain areas of the library that are off limits to us lowly first years. But if there’s no-one else here, then there’s no-one to stop us looking. If we get caught after the fact–” he paused and plucked a book from the nearest bookcase, pretended to examine in, then put it back again “–we just claim ignorance – something you should be particularly good at.”
My hand landed on the back of his head with a satisfying thud, but he carried on, apparently undeterred.
“As far as anyone knows, we’re just doing some research for Godwin’s assignment. And if we should happen to drift in this direction…”
He trailed off and took a few more steps towards the back of the library. I pulled out a book and flipped it open.
“And what are we going to accidentally find?”
He pulled the book from my hands and shoved it back on the shelf, silencing my protests with a look. I waited. He glanced around the deserted library, and lowered his voice.
“You know, don’t you? About Kelsey, I mean.”
I froze, watching him closely.
“Know what?” I said, my voice careful.
“Know… where she goes,” he said, his voice a match for mine.
“Do you?” I deflected, arching an eyebrow.
“I might have overheard one of her private lessons with Underwood. And I might have accidentally followed her one… full moon.”
I breathed out in a long whoosh and leaned back against the bookcase behind me. He knew.
“You were lucky not to be expelled.”
“Well, I hear they’re offering trespassers in the grove spots on the house Itealta team so I thought I’d give it a go.”
“It’s the only way you’d get a spot,” I taunted him, but my mind was whirring. If he knew she went to the grove, then he knew what she was.
“Thanks. So, we both know, then?”
“You say it,” I said, my voice barely a whisper. It wasn’t my secret to betray.
“Werewolf.”
I swallowed with relief and nodded.
“Werewolf,” I whispered back.
We stared at each other in silence for a long moment.
“That still doesn’t explain what we’re doing here.”
“Shapeshifters aren’t the only ones who change into animals.”
“They’re not?”
Sam shook his head, and started walking again, edging towards an alcove at the very back of the room, dark and crammed with dusty books. I glanced at it, then back to Sam.
“Okay, how much attention have you been paying in History of Magic? And Druidic Law?”
I shrugged.
“Some. There was something about goblins.”
He sighed in what I assumed was exasperation.
“For someone who was raised outside the magical community, you really could try harder to integrate.”
“For someone who got a D on his last Druidic Law assignment, you’re awful preachy.”
“Ouch. Okay, look, there are three types of magic user, right?”
I nodded. This much I knew.
“Druids, Shifters, and Unclassifieds.”
“Right. Shifters being the least magical, able to change forms and not much else. But, they’re not the only ones who can do that. There’s a highly specialised skill called skin-walking.”
“So….” I frowned as I tried to work out where he was going with this. “We could change shape?”
He nodded.
“If we learned the spell, then Kelsey wouldn’t have to be alone every month. But,” he paused for emphasis. “First and second years are forbidden from even attempting it. We could get in a lot of trouble.”
“More trouble than going into the Unhallowed Grove in the middle of the night? Which book do we need?”
Once we got into the restricted section, it only took about ten minutes to find the book. It would have taken less time if we hadn’t had to stop every few seconds to make sure no-one was coming into the library.
“Got it?” I hissed, as he pulled yet another tome from the shelf.
“Yeah,” he said, dumping it on a small table, and sending a cloud of dust into the air. “Now I’ve just gotta find the spell.”
“Well, do it quickly. This place is creepy.”
I trailed a finger along the dusty shelf, looking at some of the titles. ‘Soulscraping: Harvesting Dark Power’ was emblazoned on one in bright green ink, and another said ‘Dream Binding for Mundane Manipulation’. My stomach churned in revulsion. What on earth did anyone need with these books – surely no student of Dragondale was messing with this stuff? Mundanes were protected by law. And somehow, I couldn’t picture the diminutive Professor Walmsley discussing the finer points of mind control. On the plus side, it looked like it hadn’t been read for a while – a few decades, at least, if the amount of grime on the cover was anything to go by – unlike… I tilted my head sideways to get a good look at the faded grey text. ‘The Shadow Grimoire of Necromancy’. Like, zombies and stuff? I shuddered, and moved my finger away, as though death magic might be catching. I so had not needed to know that zombies were really a thing. I had enough trouble sleeping as it was. And what next? I mean, I’d been pretty opened-minded about this place, after the initial shock, but how many supernatural surprises was one girl supposed to embrace? I decided right then that if Tinkerbell showed up, I was off, magic be damned.
“Got it!” Sam said, and I almost jumped out of my skin at the sound of his voice, so caught up in my thoughts was I. I chastised myself for being such a coward and went to look over his shoulder. Fair enough, there it was – a page entitled ‘Skin Walking’ and underneath, details of an incantation and an elemental energy pulse pattern like I’d never seen before.
“Do you really think we can do this?”
“It’s pretty advanced,” he agreed, squinting at the spell. “Pass me that pen and paper, we’d better make a copy. We can’t risk someone finding this book in either of our dorms.”
He was right – just holding this book was enough to get us into serious trouble. I chucked him the writing equipment and went back to keeping an eye out. Kinda hard to explain it away as taking a wrong turn when you’re in the middle of copying out a forbidden spell.
It took him a few nerve-jangling minutes but he wouldn’t be rushed, insisting that if he copied it down wrong we’d be in bigger trouble than anything Professor Dawson would throw at us for being in her restricted section.
“Double check I haven’t missed anything,” he said, finally setting the pen down. I leaned over his shoulder, checking his notes matched up with the book, and we both pretended not to see that attached warnings. After a long while, during which I tried to blot words like ‘immutable-fusation’ and ‘fragmented-transformation’ from my mind, I nodded.
“Looks good to me.” Good might have been a bit of a stretch, but it was correctly copied, at least. “Where can we try it?”
Five minutes later, we were safely outside the library, and an hour after that, we had barricaded ourselves in the old storage closet we’d been using for my extra-curricular practice sessions, complete with a few supplies we’d grabbed and tossed in my backpack. We’d debated heading out onto the grounds, but we’d never been caught here before, and as far as I could tell, no-one ever visited this place between our sessions.
I dragged a stack of boxes into the middle of the room to serve as a makeshift table, and Sam unrolled the spell onto it. I dumped my bag on the floor and fished out a printed photo, a hand mirror, a bottle of water, and a candle.
“Okay, the mirror goes here,” he said, setting the mirror in the middle of the ‘table’, “and the candle goes here. Then the water opposite it, and the photo, yeah, right there.”
By the time we’d fussed around, our hastily constructed altar had a mirror in its centre, and the candle sat furthest away from us, bet
ween the mirror and the door. The water was on the other side, nearest to us. The photo went on the left of the mirror, and there was an empty space to its right.
“Okay, who’s going to try it first?” Sam said, sounding suddenly uncertain. I took a breath and tried to sound more confident than I felt.
“I’ll do it.”
“Yeah, great idea. It’s only six days until our Itealta game against Air. The team will be thrilled if you’re still stuck on all fours.”
“Well, all the more motivation for you to fix me, then. Anyway, no-one’s getting stuck. Put the spell here.”
We put the spell just on the edge of the altar, so it wouldn’t interfere with anything. Hopefully. I was starting to think maybe we should have taken a moment to read those warnings. Oh well, no time to panic now. I reached behind my head and plucked out a few hairs.
“Do you think that’s enough?” I said, setting them on the altar, opposite the photo of the dog we’d found in the Fire common room. Sam shrugged.
“Gee, thanks for the reassurance,” I said, rolling my eyes at him.
“Stalling, much?”
“I am not stalling,” I lied. I took a breath and summoned a flame onto the candle wick, pleased that I managed to get it first time. My smile quickly faded – that was the easy part, and it would be the last part that was. I stretched out trembling hands above the hair and the photo and glanced down at the incantation. It was in Gaelic, but luckily I’d been paying enough attention in that class that I didn’t stumble over too many of the words, even if I couldn’t have translated half of them. I didn’t need to know what they meant, so long as they worked.
I reached the end, then gave two short pulses of heat, taking care not to set the hair or the photo alight. I gave another, longer pulse, then moved my hands to the opposite side of the altar, so the one that had covered the hair covered the photo, and vice versa, and my arms formed a cross directly above the mirror. A quick glance at the spell sheet told me I needed another six pulses of various lengths, then I uncrossed my hands, gave four more pulses, and crossed them again.
Druid Magic (Druid Academy Book 1) Page 12
