“I am Lucas, your humble servant,” he said in a hoarse whisper so creepy it made me rub my arms. “You must be the new girl.”
“Yes,” I admitted as reluctantly as I’d let Tolliver and the others from Autumnstead go. Where was Elijah?
“I have been instructed to help you find your bearings.” He sounded like he’d had a winter cold for the last hundred years. Mentally I dubbed him “Creeper.”
As we walked through the tower foyer together — well, Creeper trotted on account of his short legs - I almost forgot him. His voice didn’t lend itself to much commentary, so I observed on my own the abstract sculptures, study rooms, libraries, common rooms, and several classrooms. The furnishings far surpassed any in Castle Autumnstead, consisting of expensive, sometimes unidentifiable materials, shaped in elaborate ways. For all their luxury, they loomed and imposed, rather than invited.
“This is where you shall sleep,” Creeper said when we reached a chamber that must’ve been bigger than my parents’ old house.
Despite the ornately-carved wood and rich colors and fabrics, it was still a dorm room. If I’d been able to turn around right then and go back to Castle Autumnstead, I would have. I’d gotten a job so I didn’t have to go to college. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, and it was bad enough being forced to see my peers every day in class. I didn’t want to live with them in a dorm, too!
Since I was a little girl, Dad had harped on the importance of college. He’d been livid that I’d chosen to work. Sometimes I wondered if that was why Mom supported my playing princess for ten dollars an hour.
While I did end up moving in with coworkers, sharing a two-bedroom apartment with three roommates, at least we had different shifts. It was like I had my own place sometimes.
After all that, including ending up in an entirely different world, it just figured that I’d find myself trapped in a live-in school, with three roommates, probably on the same schedule. Geez.
“Would you like me to show you where you shall bathe?” Creeper wheezed.
I declined and shut the door quickly behind the little man after he’d shuffled through.
Trying to make the best of things, I inched through unpacking, regretting every dress I tucked onto the shelves in the enormously heavy wardrobe. For some reason, there were two or three dresses left on the shelves. These were made of a coarse calico material worn thin with many washings. Something the prior tenant had left behind, I supposed. I wondered what had become of her. Recalling the way the Tower loomed, how its dark mirror surface threw my own face and expressions back at me, I shivered and hoped the owner of the dresses, whoever she was, was okay.
A few hours passed, but no one had returned to the chamber. The hallway outside stayed as quiet as an empty church. With nothing to do and no one to talk to, I checked out the other girls’ bedside tables and tried to determine what kind of people they’d be.
The garb in my wardrobe had been that of a peasant or servant, of that I was certain. Peasant was more likely because a servant in the Tower would probably have a uniform and her own quarters. However, the other girls’ tables were covered with little luxuries: golden buttons, lacy handkerchiefs, elaborate brush and comb sets, perfume vials in jewel colors, silk scarves, even a necklace of vibrant gems that I was certain were real. All were in order, as though a servant had come by to straighten up for the day. One wardrobe door hung ajar. A quick peek revealed a vibrantly-dyed silk dress finer than any a Portalis Princess had worn.
Remembering Portalis Park sent a jolt through me. I wasn’t enchanted in this place. I’d need a backstory! I had never worked too well under pressure. Luckily, the “assignment” was an easy one: come up with something halfway believable to fool some people who had no idea who I was. I decided on the character of “Leah” in five minutes: I was the daughter of a minor Ivenbury noble who had been sent to the Tower to develop my emergent talent for magic.
Evening shadows darkened the room when I finally heard girls’ voices in the hall. I steeled myself and took some deep breaths. Character mode, I coached myself. Just like Portalis.
They burst through the door in a rustle of skirts, giggles, and candlelight that made me squint.
“Oh, here she is! The new girl!” one bubbled. Jewels glistened in her ears, around her neck, around her wrists, even on her fingers. In the candlelight, her curls shone like gold. With all that glitz, she could have commanded her own float in the Portalis Parade of Lights. Mentally, I nicknamed her “Princess Flash.”
“You see, Callie,” another said in an unmistakably condescending way. “It doesn’t take long to replace people at the Tower. Especially people who should’ve stayed tilling the fields.” This girl was tall for this time and place, and stood with a slight stoop. Her sleeves didn’t quite cover her bony wrists.
“It’s nice to meet you,” I said, inclining my head slightly. “Who have I replaced?”
“Her name was Jen,” the one called Callie said in a thin, almost trembling voice. She appeared younger than me, with her brown hair in messy braids that she had smoothed three times during our brief encounter. “She slept here with me.”
We were going to share the bed? Not that Callie seemed so bad, but that was way closer than I was comfortable being to someone I had just met. But that uncomfortable fact would have to wait. I needed to know what had happened to Jen.
“We traveled together to the Tower, Jen and I,” Callie said. “She was from the village down the road.”
“They’re both from the other side of the Dusty Mountains.” The tall girl curled her lip. “And we three had to share a room with them.”
“At least it wasn’t a bed. They kept their dirt to themselves,” the last girl, a dark-haired beauty, said with a sneer.
“We are not dirty, Rosalyn!” Callie desperately tried to say across snorts and singsong insults the tall and dark-haired duo.
“Girls, our manners!” Princess Flash finally intervened. “I am Princess Paxta Gildean of Aurlien,” she said, inclining her head gracefully. “And may I present also Lady Rosalyn Ela Zephir, Lillian Clark, and Callie.”
I curtsied, first to Paxta, then the others. “I am Leah of the house of Ivenbury.”
The girls nodded in a reassuring way that revealed no suspicion. Callie looked as dazzled as though a celebrity had introduced herself.
“For what purpose did you come here?” Lily asked, drawing herself up in a fashion that would have been intimidating if not for the congested sound of her voice.
“How do you mean?”
“People generally come to the tower for four reasons. One: nobility, and sometimes royalty, attend Valeriya to complete their education. Graduation from a Valeriya is prestigious the world over. Paxta and Rosalyn are two such students.” Whenever she was emphasizing something, which was often, Lily widened her large green eyes, as if to stab her point into me.
“Two: accomplished and promising scholars,” here Lily paused to stand a little straighter and puffed out her chest, “such as I come to Valeriya to challenge themselves intellectually and advance the field of magic. Three: talented individuals are found throughout the realms and brought to the tower to learn to control their powers. These people can be rich or poor, young or old. And four: like Callie, they are born to a poor station and seek to better themselves and their homes.”
“I fall into the third category,” I said. “My talent has been known for many years, but only recently did my uncle agree to send me.”
“It is good that you are here,” Lily said. “Uncontrolled power can be dangerous.”
I had a fleeting instant to worry about the difficulty of magic study; then the flurry of evening activities swept me away. There was dinner to be eaten in the Grand Hall, which required donning Fiona’s second-best dress and attempting to remember a few of the countless names Paxta rattled off. I'd never seen such fine clothes or fancy foods. Autumnstead seemed like a crude hunting lodge by comparison. The only remotely similar event I'd been p
art of was a Portalis New Years Eve party, held in the VIP. restaurant Club 77. (I’d been there to pose as Cinderella for pictures.)
The Valeriya dinner, introductions, and polite conversation felt like it went on all night. After, there was washing up (I went in a big group with my roommates) and bed.
Bed was a self-imposed ordeal. Callie and I had ample opportunities to speak during our evening together, but we were both too timid to so much as brave eye contact.
I spent the night in a ball on the far side of the unfamiliar bed, not wanting to take up her personal space. Part of me knew it was ridiculous, but I just couldn’t bring myself to claim my substantial half. That and the fact that the bed felt as tall as a skyscraper made for a restless night. I was grateful to hear the bells announcing the morning.
Classes began at sunrise, which required us to be up over an hour before. In the Grand Hall, I forced myself to eat a slice of bread and piece of fruit, still trying to keep up with Paxta’s latest onslaught of introductions. Valeriya, I was beginning to see, was an international center for magic studies. I supposed it made sense, as it was the only such school in the world.
Halfway through breakfast, a teacher announced that all new students were to gather at the south end of the Grand Hall. From there, we would attend an orientation.
Reluctant to leave my roommates, I slowly made my way to the meeting place and the growing crowd of strangers. Once there, I was surprised to see a lady barely as tall as my shoulder, her sallow face dotted with age spots. Maybe magic had given her voice its volume and strength during the announcement. Robes that reminded me of the outfits worn at school graduations swallowed her slender frame right up: black floor-length robes with wide sleeves, only in velvet trimmed with silver. Beneath her flat hat with its silver tassel, her gray hair was pinned in a tight bun.
“Welcome, children of Valeriya,” she greeted us. “I am Professor Chrone. If you will please follow me, I will conduct your first-day orientation.
She led us to an auditorium radiant with gentle morning light. As we found places at the long, honey-hued tables, Professor Chrone sketched a diagram in the air. It was an instant attention-grabber, seeing this silvery light emerge from her gnarled fingers and remain in the air. By the time the last student had sat down, the entire room had gone quiet, with every eye trained on her.
“Good morning.” The professor greeted us in a dramatic whispery tone that nonetheless reached the far corner of the room where I’d ended up sitting. Her voice wasn’t unpleasant but did make me think of overly-dramatic psychics on TV. “Welcome, again, to Valeriya, the School of Magic. I am Mina Chrone, Professor Emerita. I have retired from teaching Theory of Magic, my decades-long calling, but ultimately I could not bring myself to leave the Tower. Upon my return, I became the Director of Orientation. If you are a new student at Valeriya, then you have come to the right place this morning.”
For the next hour, Professor Crone explained high points on the Valeriya map; went through an example day at the school; and described how common curricula were structured. The last struck me as especially intimidating. I wished I could get on the phone with Queen Arencaster. (I never thought I’d say I wanted to call someone!) We needed to decide if I had to do the whole Valeriya curriculum or if I were just here to take a few classes, figure out the mirror thing, and hurry back to Autumnstead.
Worrying about this and wondering how fast a letter could get from Valeriya to Autumnstead and back again caused me to lose most of Professor Chrone’s lecture. By the time I tuned back in, she was explaining basics of magic.
“All things and beings in our world can be broken down into five elements,” she declared, tracing a five-pointed star in the air. “They are earth, fire, water, wind, and metal.”
Professor Chrone then spoke in detail about each element’s properties. Though I listened closely, none of them individually sounded like the mirror magic I had been caught up in. Based on my experience, the mirror seemed like a combination of water and light. I thought about it, actually considered asking the question in front of the whole class, something I had avoided at all costs in high school. My heart jumped to my mouth as I considered how I might phrase it. Slowly I raised my hand.
Professor Chrone had ascended into Magic Theory nirvana, however, and didn’t notice. My face reddened as it occurred to me that maybe hand raising wasn’t recognized in the Other World. From outside, bells sang out the hour. The tiny woman gave a little jump. “Oh! Is it that time already? Let me make a few concluding remarks before I send you on your way.”
In the modern world, the class would have been packing up their books by now. These students, however, stayed seated and still. I tried not to writhe with impatience as Professor Chrone’s “few” remarks turned out pretty long-winded. I lowered my hand after it went numb.
“Are there any questions?” Professor Chrone completely surprised me by saying.
My hand shot up. “What about mirror magic?”
Professor Chrone took her time considering the question, so much that I wondered if I ought to have worded it more carefully, possibly with an explanation of my interest.
“Mirror magic, eh?” she said slowly, with considerable dramatic gravity. “It is not yet understood how it fits in to the five elements. Mirror magic is explored in only a few, valuable texts kept here at Valeriya. Its use is exceptionally rare.”
But that couldn’t be. Fiona and I both had the magic. I would have to ask someone else, I realized. The crashing relief I’d felt at being done with speaking in front of the class and having everyone look at me subsided, gave way to more anxiety.
Professor Chrone, meanwhile, signaled the end of class by making the star disappear. I joined the other students in crowding through the door.
It wasn’t an easy day, between the lack of sleep and trying to find my classes. Most were held inside the tower, but others were at outdoor locations on the expansive grounds. Although I asked about mirror magic in every class, the answers I got were the same Professor Chrone had given. Professor Tala, teacher of Practical Application Of Magic looked horrified when I asked if there would be any mirror magic use in the lab. So that was that. What had Queen Arencaster thought I would get out of coming here? I wondered as I wandered the upstairs corridors looking for my room.
Before leaving that morning, I thought I could find my way back by mentally establishing landmarks in our room. Unfortunately (and unsurprisingly), most people shut their doors during the day. So I followed the twists and turns of the hall, stopping at the few open doors to gaze hopefully inside. I soon reached the end, which terminated in the floor’s study area. It consisted of a mini library with tables, a fireplace, and a few short shelves of books.
“Leah,” I heard someone call. A short, slender girl with brown braids and a face older than her height and figure left her table to approach me.
“Callie,” I greeted her. “How are you?”
My roommate blushed and toyed with her braid. “Well,” she said, softly I could barely hear. “And you?”
Mentally I grappled with the awkwardness, reminding myself that this was progress. Only the night before, we were too shy to exchange words. “I’m lost,” I admitted. “I can’t remember where our room is.”
“You were close,” Callie said, letting go of her braid. “It’s two doors down.”
“Thank you.” I smiled. Callie actually smiled back. As I was about to leave, I glimpsed the pile of Callie’s books, her quill and parchment on the table. I had homework, too; the professors hadn’t cut the new students any slack, even on their first day. “If you don’t mind, I’ll stay here with you and get some work done,” I said. It would be nice to have company, someone who was becoming less of a stranger.
“That will be very nice. I’m happy for you to join me.”
I set my stack of books on the table. The first day had been quite a workout, between walking and carrying all my books and supplies. I thought with longing of the laptops and t
ablets I had used at schools in California.
Callie read in a whisper, slowly, often with painful effort. Sometimes she repeated passages to herself with halting hesitation.
Once I had organized what I needed to do, I opened the first of my books. The text was crudely printed, rather than handwritten, which would help. The old-fashioned language made the going slow but not impossible.
“Are you just going to stare at the book?” Callie said curiously.
“I’m reading in my head,” I said.
“Oh! I should have thought you would use magic.”
Vaguely I remembered hearing that silent reading hadn’t come about until the late Middle Ages. As for what age the Other World was in, I didn’t know.
“Do you read well, Leah?” Callie asked.
“I guess so.”
“Would you mind reading this passage to me? I don’t understand what it means.”
“Sure.” When I had finished the two paragraphs, I discovered Callie gazing at me in open-mouthed awe.
“You read as well as a professor,” she whispered.
“Well, I don’t know about all that,” I mumbled.
“After hearing you, I feel like I actually understand it. Thank you so much!” Her eyes danced in the candlelight. “If there’s ever something I can do for you…”
“Actually…” I hoped I wasn’t being rude, asking for help in return so soon. “What does this mean? ‘Students who have not completed tier two classes are not permitted to use the lab without their mentors.’” I paraphrased from Professor Tala’s remarks to new students in Practical Application Of Magic.
Callie looked downfallen. “It means until we graduate from tier two — each tier usually takes a year — we have to get our mentors to unlock the lab and oversee our practice. If we get caught in the lab by ourselves, we will get into trouble.”
“Who is your mentor?” I asked.
“Lily.” Callie made a face as though she’d bitten into something bitter. “She hates me because I’m poor and slow. I’ll never be a brilliant scholar like her. She only lets me into the lab in exchange for favors. I’ve failed a few tests already because of her.”
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