by Ariel Hunter
Zilla sprang down from the bookshelf, landing on the nightstand beside my bed. His tongue flicked out as he swiveled his head from side to side to look at us. My mom laughed and then squeezed my arm.
“Have fun getting to know your familiar. I will let you know if the Council moves forward with any other decision, but at this time, just prepare as hard as you can for a test at Beltane.”
“Just what I look forward to on a festive night of revelry: exams.”
“You’ll be fine. You’re strong.”
“Love you, mom,” I said. She squeezed me one more time, then snapped out in a teleport.
I looked over at Zilla where he had curled into a tiny ball on my pillow.
“You and me, little guy. If I’m going to get this power under control, I’m going to need your help.”
Chapter 10
There were five black stone bowls, about eight inches wide, at the front of the classroom on Monday. One had a mound of dirt, one had a lit candle, one contained water, another held a sprig of a little flower, and the other held a few seagull feathers. They represented the five elements that witching magic pulled from to empower our will and the incantations we could weave: earth, fire, water, herb, and air. Today was the day we found out which element our particular magic had an affinity for.
Everyone had been waiting expectantly for this day, so even though the students all sat as far away from me as they could, they were mainly more excited about finding out which element was theirs than they were distracted by their fear of me.
Mystic Tamsin and Julia were not present. I didn’t know if they were just not going to come back to class at all, or if Julia was still recovering. Callan had gone to Dimlight over the weekend and repaired the damage my vines had made on the ancient dueling hall, but I didn’t know how the damage I had done to my image with the students and Mystics could ever be undone.
Callan stood at the front of the class in a trim charcoal gray robe that hung just to mid-thigh, with slacks underneath. He was always so fashion-forward. It was quite attractive. At least he hadn’t given up on me.
“Every witch and warlock has an element that their magic is more attracted to, a force that makes their magic stronger when they are able to pull directly from it. It helps them replenish their exhaustion more quickly in battle and to heal more quickly when needed. Today, we will find out what each of you desires most to know: which element are you most drawn to.”
He moved around in front of the bowls. “Many of you may already have an idea, but the reaction spell will reveal the truth. When you come up here, one at a time, you will speak the spell, and one of the elements will respond. Mystic Kopper, would you demonstrate?”
A Mystic I had held bound in my vines went forward. His orange magic swelled at his fingertips and he spoke the enchantment clearly: “Element mine of five, respond to me. Three seconds in the air, spin swiftly.”
A light cloud of the dirt rose into the air, spinning in a tight tornado, for three seconds, about two feet tall, then dropped back down into the bowl.
“Thank you, Kopper. Now, will your student come on up and try it, please?”
A warlock named Jonas strode forward and spoke the same command, his red magic wispy in the air for a moment, as if unsure. All the students leaned forward in their seats. Jonas spoke the command again, more confidently, and the magic wrapped around the bowl of feathers. The feathers lifted up into the air and spun in a circle, floating like on the wings of the breeze. It was the best way to divine that his element was air.
Jonas was beaming as he returned to his seat. I wondered if it was what he had thought, or at least what he had wanted. Air was a pretty cool element. A lot of those witches and warlocks were able to harness the element in such a way that they actually flew. Most powerful magicians could float, in a sense, but those with an attachment to the air element could sustain it for longer.
A witch named Tally went next. Her purple magic revealed pretty quickly that she had an affinity for herb, as the little sprig grew another blossom. She looked happy too. Those with that gift were often drawn to the healing arts, being able to work them more powerfully than others.
Two more warlocks went. Another air and a fire affinity. I was getting very nervous. Everyone seemed to divine their element so quickly; what if mine took a while? I had fucked everything else up, why would this be anything different?
“Marnie.”
I looked up as Callan called my name and then walked slowly to the front. I took a deep breath, seeking the harmony inside myself as I willed my magic to the surface. I stared at the bowls as my pink magic started to sparkle at my fingertips. Which one would react? I looked from bowl to bowl as my magic started to swell. They were all quivering in response. My heart was beating quickly. Did I want to have a healing ability? Have the urge to race into flames and quench them with my fists? Those drawn to fire often had the most volatile temperaments, but could gain the highest abilities . . . Or did I want to fly? Or—
“Speak the spell, Marnie,” Callan commanded under his breath. I looked at him sharply.
Oh, yeah. Fuck. Just because I maybe didn’t need to actually say the words like everyone else didn’t mean I wasn’t supposed to.
“Element mine of five, respond to me. Three seconds in the air, spin swiftly.”
The bowls shook again, but almost immediately, a little water fountain spouted out of the third bowl. A single pillar spouted three feet into the air, with cascading little arcs off its side. Droplets hit my face, and I smiled.
Water. My element was water.
Well, is that really surprising? I asked myself. As soon as it was revealed, I knew it was what was natural and fitting. I was drawn to the ocean. It calmed me, centered me.
Of course my element was water.
Callan smiled at me and nodded that I could return to my desk.
As I slumped back into my chair, wiping the water droplets off my face, I tucked my hand into my backpack. I felt around, patting. There. There he was. His chain mail-like scales were slick, his smooth underside warm. He was sleeping soundly as I had bidden him to be.
I couldn’t leave Zilla at home, of course, but I didn’t yet know if it was okay for him to be out on my shoulder at class. Callan had suggested I ask Cassandra, but we hadn’t had a chance to teleport to her. My Mystic was really reluctant for the general public to know that I had a familiar. An agama lizard was not exactly a normal animal to keep, so it would be strange to be seen with him all the time in the witching world and assume people wouldn’t automatically associate it with Seeing abilities.
Callan seemed to think it might be best if the Collector didn’t know right away that I had that ability. It might move ahead his timeline to act against me. So, until I had more of a handle on my pink magic and on my Seeing, I needed to keep Zilla a secret.
At least the little lizard and I had come to a kind of quiet soul connection. I had been able to impress upon him the need for him to remain in my bag, quiet, and asleep. It was like pressing an important message in image form to someone who couldn’t understand my language, but could intuit emotions from a beautiful piece of art. There were some things that were universal, even across species. More than that, Zilla had been built out of my magic. We shared an even more intimate connection.
As we spent more time together, that connection would strengthen.
The other students quickly gained knowledge of their elements. The next step was for Mystics and students to pair up, each pair getting a bowl to work specific elemental spells off of.
Callan oversaw the pairing up and bowl distribution, then walked up to me with a bowl of water. He set the stone vessel on my desk and looked at me.
“Are you surprised?” he asked.
“Not at all.” I smiled. “Did you already know?”
“I figured you would be water. There’s just something about your connection with the ocean that I knew would come out more in your magic. I’m glad you will have some
thing so strong to bolster your magic source.” Callan tapped the bowl.
“What’s your element?” I asked. Callan looked up at me, then sharply away as a loud clatter sounded. Another student had spilled their dirt all over the ground.
“Excuse me, just a sec. Don’t try anything without me, okay?”
I was a little miffed that he didn’t trust me to begin without him as he rushed to help clean up the spill and refill the element. It had seemed a little too convenient of an interruption. Maybe Callan didn’t want to share what his element was with me? Was that too private of a thing for me to ask? He knew what mine was. But it wasn’t necessarily something that was general knowledge about a witch or warlock because it could be used against them.
I shrugged it away. The bowl crashing to the ground had just been coincidence.
I looked at the little pool of water in front of me and then cast a glance around at my classmates. They were all murmuring spells to manipulate the water, air, earth, herb, or fire.
I didn’t want to have to create spells. I just wanted to will it . . .
One of the benefits of having water was that it existed in three phases: liquid, vapor, and solid. I could draw power from any of those and manipulate whatever water source was nearby in an easier way than others might be able to.
I swelled some pink magic and frosted it over the still surface, cooling the water so low that it began to crackle. Three little cubes began to gather into solid form, one by one. Pink tendrils laced from my fingertips into the frosted pool and the perfect little squares of frozen water, tinted pink, bobbed in the water, gleaming up at me and I beamed down at them.
“Okay, let’s get started with—” Callan stopped speaking as he saw the three frozen cubes sitting in the pool of water. “Marnie,” he growled, then stuck his finger into the water. “It’s freezing.”
“Of course. I had to get it cool enough to make the ice cubes.”
“So, you willed a temperature change and then formed the cubes? Without a spell?”
I nodded, not bothering to hide my look of triumph.
He sighed and waved a golden haze over the pool. “Warm and calm, no more ice. Bowl of water, still and nice.”
My pink ice evaporated, and it was just a pool of water, as it had been before he left. I frowned.
“Well that’s no fun.”
“We’re focusing today on using spells to manipulate your elemental magic. Let’s work on that type of fun. I don’t want something to get out of control.”
I glared at him. “You don’t trust me.”
He rubbed his face. “It’s not that I don’t trust you. I don’t trust the white magic inside of you. We need to keep your emotions calm and practice some basic spells that you can use under any type of duress to challenge any obstacle in front of you. We are building a base here.”
I glared at him a moment more, but I relented. He was right. I needed a solid foundation. “Where do I start?”
“Try to raise the water up again.”
I thought for a moment. “Water tower rise, stand three feet. Fall back down, five second repeat.”
Pink magic ribboned out from my fingers and acted as a guide, pulling all the water from the bowl in a line that stood three feet tall, then fell back down on itself. Five seconds later, it repeated. Then again. Then again. Then again. Water splish-splashed out of the bowl with each dive back down into it. It was getting the stone floor around our feet wet.
“Great,” Callan laughed. “Now, stop it.”
“Magic waterfall, end it all. Level flow, rest in the bowl.”
The rapid repetition of the waterfall tower calmed, gathering back in the bowl, missing quite a bit of the water that had splashed out onto the floor around us, but did as I had asked. Ripples quivered and then it lay still.
“Well done. Now try to do a phase change. Like what you attempted when you just willed it.”
“Succeeded.” I smirked.
“Succeeded?” Callan’s brow furrowed.
“Yes. I didn’t just attempt a phase change. I succeeded at it when I willed it.”
Callan stared at me with a frown, then chuckled. “Fair enough. You succeeded at a phase change. First, can you tell me when that might be a useful skill to have?”
“If I need to melt some ice, or perhaps make an ice wall out of water.”
“Or create hot steam.”
I nodded, thinking about the far-out thought that I might ever actually be battling someone with my magic. Defending myself, defending people I loved . . . all this training, this arduous training . . . when would I ever actually use it? “Is water the best element to weaponize?”
“That’s kind of a tough question, isn’t it?” Callan said. “You see, fire is a really interesting element. Out of the nine students here, only one of you is drawn to fire. Fire is, in itself, a type of destruction. So, by allowing its usage, you are choosing to let something be destroyed. Now, hopefully, you are able to pull from a campfire or a torch or a fireplace. Something that is okay to burn. But that’s not always the case. Fire has too many restrictions on the ability of it to actually give benefits to the magician who is drawn to it. By refueling yourself with fire, you are destroying something else . . .” Callan’s voice had taken on a faraway quality to it, as if he were lost in some memory. He coughed and looked back at me. “What was your question?”
“Weaponizing water? Is it the best one?”
“The fact that you can use the phase changes makes it very useful, yes. But earth also comes in many different types.” Callan looked around at the rest of the class. The Mystics seemed broadly pleased at the progress of the students. “Now, for a phase change. With a spell.”
I groaned. “All right. Water pool, boil steam. Heat your surface, become unseen.” The pink haze of my magic settled over it, then the water hissed. In a flash, the magic had vaporized, turning to a white mist, then disappearing entirely. I grimaced, looking from the empty bowl to Callan.
He laughed. “Well, that was effective, true.” He swiped at some sweat on his brow. “And, it definitely worked. The vapor you produced raised the humidity right around this little desk to a sauna level just in those few seconds. But you used up all your source material.”
“Luckily, we always have water inside of us, right?”
“That is true, but you can only really use your own magic as a power source to a point when you’ve exhausted your magic abilities from expending them. You will have to pull from outside of you to truly be able to be powerful again.”
I nodded. Noted.
“Listen,” Callan dropped his voice and leaned into me. “I think we should work on as many water spells as we can before Beltane. They are clearly resonating with you. If you can use one of those to pass the Council’s test, whatever it might be, that will be the best chance we have.”
“That makes sense. Will we work on them more in training tomorrow?”
“Yes.” Callan picked up the empty bowl. “Let me wrap up class now. Good job.”
I placed my hand on his as he started to walk away. A little current of electricity rushed through me as he, almost too naturally, curled his hand around mine. He caught himself and released it, as if reminding himself that he was in professor-mode at the moment. “Callan, what is your element?”
He looked at me, somewhat ruefully. “Fire. I’m drawn to destruction.”
Chapter 11
“I think this is a really bad idea,” I hissed to Anya.
“Oh, but I think this is a really great idea,” she whispered back as we both watched Callan weave his way through the crowd to the bar to get our drink orders. The bar was already crowded for ten o’clock. It was one of the popular places for a Thursday night. I glanced at Anya to see if she was watching Callan’s ass as much as I was. Damn, he made jeans and a plain black tee look good. It seemed like her attention was more fittingly grabbed by a surfer with long dreads and gyrating hips.
I grabbed her arm to bring her
attention back to me from the swaying surfer “What if other people show up?”
“So what?”
“How am I supposed to explain Callan?”
“He’s a big boy. He can—”
“Marnie, oh, my gawd, girl,” Dulce’s adorable, yet fairly high-pitched squeal greeted us as Anya’s eyes laughed. Right behind Dulce was Jason, Jericho, and a few others of our regular Thursday night crowd. I groaned. It was my crowd, but it was one I hadn’t seen in weeks.
I shook my head at Anya. It had been Callan’s idea to take me out to celebrate a fairly successful week of training with water spells and he said he knew how much I missed going to familiar haunts with Anya. The Whirlpool was our old Thursday night place. He had to have known more of my friends would come here. He had to have engineered it. For what purpose, I didn’t know. Was he really just being nice and letting me see my friends after essentially holding me hostage to witch training and constant monitoring?
Jason, my favorite bouncer, swept me into a hug and lifted me up. “We’ve all missed you, Marnie.”
Dulce kissed me on the cheek and Jericho punched me playfully in the shoulder.
“You still owe me a beachside horseshoes rematch.”
“I know, I know. I hear Anya has been sweeping you clean.”
“No way, no way,” Jericho protested, throwing up his hands.
“Oh, it’s true, don’t lie,” Anya shouted back, grinning.
Callan appeared with our drinks, handing me the whiskey coke while Anya took her Manhattan. Everyone stared at the tall, dark, and handsome stranger who appeared in our midst. My regular boys puffed up their chests and stared him down as he brushed his chest against my shoulder.
“Hi,” he said. “I’m Callan, Marnie’s boyfriend.”
“Marnie . . .” Dulce’s eyes were wide.
“No, wait—” I looked from Callan to Anya. My best friend was grinning into her drink.
