by Rosie Scott
I took a deep breath and repeated, “Corpa te risa.”
As if I watched the air itself turn into energy, black misty swirls materialized over my palm again, but this time I didn't break my focus. The energy developed in a circular shape as if tracing the edges of an invisible ball I held, but as more collected, it filled out until a swirling black fog hovered over my hand. I moved my fingers slowly, and the energy near the bottom edge of the magical barrier moved away from the motion, though it didn't break the spell.
Staring at the rat corpse, I recalled the directions for the spell from the book. The singular raise corpse spell was summoned differently from that to raise multiple corpses. For this spell, I didn't have to touch the dead body, but I had to direct the energy to it.
With my gaze unflinching, I pushed my arm forward and willed the energy to the rat. It hissed softly like the release of a breath as it funneled outward into the corpse, and my heart pounded so hard that its noise screamed in my ears as the blackness absorbed into flesh and fur.
I pulled my hand away and leaned back as if that would keep me safe from the spell's effects. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the rat blinked, its cold eyelids gliding over cloudy ruined eyes. It rolled onto its stomach, and its tiny nails scratched softly against the wooden floor as it picked itself up to a stand.
I stared at the corpse, and it stared right back with an expression of expectation. Formerly bared teeth were hidden once more in a closed mouth, and the undead rat curled its tail to sit by its side. It lifted its snout and sniffed like it still had senses, and its tiny torso expanded and fell like it breathed.
I can control it. I racked my mind for the instructions of the book like I worried the rat had a limited waiting period before it would get bored and leave. Will it. I remembered those words specifically because they used the same phrase to describe how to summon a spell to begin with.
Will it to what? I glanced over at the other end of the long closet and wished for the rat to relocate itself. Immediately, the rodent shuffled away and out of sight behind the double door of the storage area. I wished it to come back and it did.
This was the most fascinating thing I'd ever witnessed. I felt a surge of pride, for not only had I taught myself how to pronounce and summon a spell correctly with no professor looking over my shoulder, but after three years of living amongst a pretentious and cruel populace of peers, I finally had control over something. It didn't matter that none of the others would know. I didn't care that this had to remain a secret.
It was a secret worth having.
I laid my hand on the ground, palm up, and the undead rat waddled over and climbed into my hand like a loyal pet. It turned around to once again meet my eyes in expectation. It looked like a pet, yet I was its consciousness. That knowledge was tremendously empowering. Fascination and awe overtook my mind for so long that when I finally realized just how filthy it was to hold a corpse, I abruptly jerked my hand away until the rat fell off. It scrambled around on the floor for a moment before righting itself and standing back up. Though I'd been rough with it, it only stared at me with expectation like before.
“I'm sorry,” I murmured. The rat's expression didn't change.
The dull murmur of a waking city filtered through the open window, reminding me that I needed to go to class. It would be the first time I'd see Kai since taking her home, and I wanted to make sure she was okay. Kai was not only the one friendly peer I'd met, she also gave me a sense of hope. I often compared how attracted to her I felt to the relationship between my parents, and ever since her kind drunken words to me I hoped I could have such a bond with someone. For now, I stayed in denial about the flaws with such an idea. I didn't think about how Kai was royalty, or how her royal father loathed the same illegal magic I'd just delved into. I didn't think about how I'd have to keep this from her forever and how hard it would be to keep secrets from someone I wanted to spill my soul to.
I waved my hand past the rat corpse's face, putting my focus into dispelling it. The fuzzy body slumped to the floor, once more going stiff as the death magic ceased its helpful control of cold bones and ligaments. Before I left my room for class, I rinsed my hands in the bucket of wash water near the door and cleaned them with the university provided soap.
The bucket of water sat just outside my dorm a moment later, and no one was the wiser about what I'd used it for. I fought to keep back a smile of pride and accomplishment as I navigated the university's sprawling hallways to class.
Many students went quiet as I walked through the door. A few snickered. Some ignored me. Others threw insults. I ignored them all, searching for fiery hair. When I didn't find Kai, I swallowed my disappointment and picked a seat at an empty table farthest back in the room, hoping to avoid the others entirely. My worry for Kai was so prevalent that I didn't even think about how it was likely I would learn no elements today. Dual casters were extraordinarily rare, after all, and I'd already learned death.
Hushed voices sounded outside the doorway, and I paid little attention until a flash of red drew my gaze to Kai. The other students quieted again as she walked through the classroom, though they regarded her with a distance. While they hated me, they seemed to fear her.
I glanced away, feigning interest in the next table over even though Kai headed my way. I didn't want to expect she'd come over to me, but it felt like my life depended on her doing so.
“Cerin,” Kai greeted, her voice bright and robust again. One cream-colored hand adorned with silver rings of various designs held onto the back of the chair opposite me. I finally allowed myself to look at her, and she instantly smiled. “Is this seat taken?”
“Literally no one wants it,” I replied, my response drier than I wished it to be.
“I do,” Kai retorted lightly, setting two books on the desk before tugging out the chair and plopping into it. She promptly went about pulling the books apart and putting an inkwell and quill on the table that she must've kept in her pocket. Kai had such a confident way of doing things and carrying herself that I absolutely adored. I wasn't sure how she managed it after the hell her father put her through.
“How...” I trailed off, my face heating when my voice broke with hesitation. When Kai glanced up, I tapped on the table and watched the movement of my fingers as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. “How are you?” I blurted, the words sounding forced and rushed.
Kai chuckled and unscrewed her inkwell. “I'm well, thanks. How are you?”
Her bright tone confused me. It was as if she had no recollection of the last week's events. “Never been better.”
She smiled with amusement at my sarcasm and said, “Good.”
“I really meant...” I trailed off and huffed, frustrated with my inability to speak frankly. As sad as it was to see Kai succumb to alcohol, her drunken vulnerability had made it easier to speak to her. “Do you remember last week?”
“When we saw each other in the hallway?” she asked, tilting her head. “Of course I remember.”
“I saw you in the library that night,” I said hesitantly.
Her expression faded, but only a little. “Oh? Forgive me. I didn't see you. You should have said something.”
I sensed nothing but honesty from her tone, so I replied, “I didn't want to bother you. You were sleeping.”
Kai chuckled and looked away. “Father says study, so I study. But sometimes it's a bit much. You didn't come near me, did you?”
To say no would have been a lie, so I said nothing. I didn't like the idea of lying to her.
Kai's eyes suddenly widened. “That sounded crass. I apologize! I meant it in a self-deprecating way.” She hesitated. “I snore sometimes.”
It was a white lie. She wanted to make sure I hadn't noticed her drunkenness. Wishing to save her from embarrassment, I replied, “I didn't hear you snore.”
“Thank the gods,” Kai jested, and I smiled.
“Your father seems nice,” I commented dryly.
> Kai snorted so loud with sudden laughter that other kids in the room glanced back with annoyance. Despite her show of amusement, turmoil flashed through her mesmerizing eyes. “Then that wasn't you last week in the hallway because you surely haven't met him.”
“I get my penchant for sarcasm from my father,” I told her. “Forgive me. Having a father as useless as yours is no laughing matter. I'm sorry for the way he treats you.”
Kai sobered, and we shared a gaze that I broke away from first. “He treats most like that,” she finally replied. “I am no exception.” There was a long pause. “Once I learn my element, I'll train hard and rise to be the best battlemage in the Seran Army. Then he'll have no choice but to love me.” When I glanced back at her, she smiled as if it were a joke, but the humor weakened with a semblance of truth.
I wagged a finger back toward the rest of the classroom. “Why do they fear you?”
Kai smirked and raised an eyebrow. “Because I'm terrifying.” After I chuckled, she added, “The same reason none of them befriend me, I suppose. I'm royalty. They either think I'll go running off to tattle to my father or I'll get preferential treatment.”
“Then they clearly haven't met your father.”
Kai shrugged and turned her attention to her pile of supplies. “The luckiest among us haven't.”
Scrambling footsteps preceded the entrance of our late and frazzled professor. Beatrice Ply hurried to the front counter and plopped down a stack of books until they collapsed in a messy pile. A bird's nest of copper-red hair piled on top of her head, and she'd attempted and failed at taming it with a few terribly placed hair pins.
“Good morning, everyone,” Kai whispered across the table from me. “Sorry I'm late.”
Ms. Ply glanced up at the class until her apologetic eyes found Kai. “Good morning, everyone. Sorry I'm late.”
I smirked as Kai grinned at me with her victory. She'd clearly had this professor before. It seemed the students weren't the only ones who watched themselves around her due to her relation to Sirius.
“We'll waste no time this morning,” Ms. Ply began, not flinching when one of her many books fell off the counter and to the floor with a loud bang. “It's about time you learned your elements. Now, your earlier classes should have gone over with you about how many mages resemble the elements they wield in one way or another. Using what we know of these similarities, I will separate you all into groups based on which elements you are most likely to learn. We will test each of you multiple times to ensure we discover any dual casters. Some of you will learn elements right away. If you don't, please don't fret. You may learn a different element or one of the lesser schools of magic. If any of you have forms opting out of elements or schools of magic, please pass them forward now.”
Rustling echoed through the room as a few students passed up the forms. Ms. Ply looked through the forms and compared their requests to their appearances. When she finally separated us into groups, those were the students she started with.
Sometime later, five groups of students stood in clumps in the classroom. Fire. Earth. Water. Air. Life. Ms. Ply placed Kai in the fire group due to her hair, but she stood alone. No other student had such fiery hair, and while the professor said those with red irises often could learn fire magic, such eyes were rare in humans, and most students in our class were humans. On the far side of the classroom, I stood in the life group. As I'd expected, Ms. Ply selected me for my paleness.
Ms. Ply walked up to Kai first. Though the professor guided her on how to summon a spell, Kai's natural confidence made it seem like she was already an expert.
Kai practiced saying the simple fire spell given to her multiple times before Ms. Ply instructed her on how to summon it. After repeating it one final time, Kai's full lips curved in a relieved grin behind the hovering flames over her palm.
“Gods, it's hot,” the student nearest to her in the earth group said, flinching back.
“It's fire,” Ms. Ply replied matter-of-factly. “Don't forget: though you are summoning magic today, the elements are very real. If they weren't, we couldn't use them in warfare.” She turned her attention back to Kai. “Do me a favor, Kai. Stand with the potential air summoners. If you're a dual caster, I think your fair complexion makes the most sense with air.”
After Kai dispelled the magic and did as asked, Ms. Ply continued testing students one group at a time. Kai's victory was the great start to a lackluster day, for only half of the hopeful earth summoners were successful. Much to my dismay, one of the successful earth mages was Kenady, and the boastful grin plastered on his face pleaded for the rude interruption of a fist. Ms. Ply ordered Kenady over to the life group next due to his cool gray eyes to test him for a second element, and I stepped to the side as he walked over to be as far from him as possible. Ms. Ply shuffled most who failed to learn an element to other groups to check for other predispositions. Others were left behind, disappointment and utter heartbreak lining their features as they were left with only the potential to learn the lesser magics.
When Ms. Ply tested the air students, Kai was successful once again. Ms. Ply clapped with happiness and announced, “A dual caster, everyone!” The others weren't as amused, and jealousy darkened already distant faces. I glimpsed Kenady mocking Kai silently as another student withheld laughter. I suddenly wished my eyes were blades, for the glare I gave Kenady then could have committed murder.
“Life is the most coveted element,” Ms. Ply reminded everyone, coming to stand before me for my test. “Many go on to make riches in healthcare or become the most sought after soldiers, but it is the rarest element of all.”
“Isn't it a little ironic to try teaching life magic to a corpse?” Kenady quipped nearby. A few students snickered.
Ms. Ply glanced at him and scolded, “Kenady, please. Cerin was quiet when you learned your element.”
“Because he can't speak with a rotted trachea,” Kenady retorted, “and he'd be hard-pressed coming up with the gold to buy a new one off the black market.”
Ms. Ply only stared at him with distaste. Kenady smirked in response. All the professors Kenady and I shared let him speak over them due to his wealthy lineage. He knew this and tested their limits all the time. Thankfully, there was one other student in the classroom who knew she could get away with the same.
“Larynx,” Kai announced.
Kenady frowned with irritation and retorted, “What?”
“You don't speak with a trachea,” Kai explained, and by the tone of her voice I could tell she mentally added the word idiot to her correction. “If you're wanting to learn life magic, you might want to pick up an interest in anatomy.”
Kenady stiffened and spat back, “If you want to be taken seriously as an heir, maybe lay off the bottle.”
Kai's eyes dulled with humiliation as the other students snickered, and she went quiet. The red tinges of anger in my vision overcame me. I caught Kenady's attention and said, “Give your parents that advice so they don't make the same mistake twice.”
“Oh, look,” Kenady blurted, his voice elevated with anger. “A filthy fucking peasant with a hard-on for royalty. Where have we heard that story before?”
“Students!” Ms. Ply exclaimed, exasperated. “Do I need to get the headmaster in here to oversee this? This should be a joyous day for many of you. If you can't get along, at least be quiet.”
I rolled my neck to the side, and the resulting crack of my vertebrae cut through the classroom's silence. Ms. Ply finally sighed and refocused on me. “All right, Cerin. You're up first. I want you to put a hand around my wrist and recite the spell givara le life.”
I wrapped my fingers around her arm as she asked, feeling Kenady's glare. It seemed he wanted me to fail just as badly as I wanted to cast the plague and see him gurgle on his own pus. “Givara le life.”
I internally pleaded for it to work. It was extremely unlikely; dual casters were so rare. But if I didn't learn another element or school of magic, I'd have to leave Ser
a. And I wanted to stay despite its faults to see where this budding friendship with Kai led and to make my parents proud. I couldn't make a living as a necromancer, after all.
With my hand on the professor's arm, I couldn't see or feel any energy. As if suddenly near a campfire, her skin warmed beneath mine, however. Ms. Ply grinned and nodded with happiness.
“Congratulations, Cerin,” she said. A wave of relief washed over me until I audibly exhaled like I'd held my breath for years. Ms. Ply glanced back toward the rest of the class and announced, “We have ourselves a healer!”
Only one student shared in her happiness. Kai smiled warmly at me from the air group and gave a thumbs up in silent support.
Ms. Ply moved on to the others in the life group. When one student failed at casting the spell, the professor sent him to another group and focused on Kenady. When she announced he cast the spell perfectly, I couldn't help but feel an overwhelming surge of annoyance.
“What a class the gods blessed me with!” Ms. Ply exclaimed. “We have two dual casters and a healer.”
Ms. Ply walked away to test the others for the lesser schools of magic. In my peripheral vision, Kenady turned to leer at me.
“Being a healer might teach your poor ass what gold looks like,” he hissed, “but you'll forever be in the lowest ranks of the army. When I'm on the field claiming victories as a dual caster, you'll be stuck all alone in the medical tents with the corpses of soldiers you failed to save. That'll be fitting for you, but wouldn't it be a shame?”
“If you ever come back from battle mortally wounded,” I began in a rough murmur, “I might conveniently find I have as little knowledge of anatomy as you do. My face could be the last thing you see before Arrayis is mercifully relieved of your filth.” I turned my head ever so slightly and gave him an intimidating stare. “Wouldn't that be a shame?”
Kenady glared back at me, but there was a smidgen of confusion behind his gray eyes like he hadn't expected me to defend myself. “You'd do well to remember who you're talking to,” he growled under his breath.
