The Masters of Magic

by Destiny Hawkins

  “He’s telling the truth,” Triana said from behind me. “I can tell.”

  I sighed, realizing that I couldn’t fight them now. Triana had a way of telling when people were lying and telling the truth. It was simply one of the abilities she had developed since arriving here. Something about a magical intuition practice that she studied with our uncle.

  After a few minutes of healing, Beatrice blinked, followed by a deep inhalation of air. When she turned to Cristania, she snatched her wrist away and jumped to her feet, nearly stumbling into Bradly.

  I slowly stood tall. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

  Beatrice was panting with sweat beads now rolling down the sides of her face. “What did you do to me?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t…know. I didn’t mean to.”

  When she took a step towards me, Bradly grabbed her arm and held her back. “No, they just saved you.”

  “They just tried to kill me.”

  Bradly sniffled. “Think about Cas.”

  A realization caused Beatrice’s eyes to widen as she turned to Cristania. “I have a friend who’s injured. Can you heal him? Ms. Jones is watching over him while we look for help.”

  “Ms. Jones?” Traina blurted in near excitement.

  Cristania stood tall. “Sure. The more to interrogate, the better.”

  Beatrice’s eyelids lowered into a squint, but she didn’t respond. Instead, she started jogging in the opposite direction. “Come on, this way!”

  Triana, Cristania, and I all looked at each other before going into a steady jog after her.

  The Masters of Magic

  The hunters’ treatment after healing Cas and bringing them to the camp was necessary and yet, unfair. I had completely forgotten of how I treated them as I watched high Witches and Wizards bound their arms behind their backs and lead them away.

  Triana tried explaining that they weren’t our enemies, but no one besides our Uncle Sam would listen. They had bound the wounded hunter in his sleep before hauling him off to medical, then dragged the other hunters away from us.

  I couldn’t help but stare at Ms. Jones as she was yanked away with an exhausted look on her face. She also didn’t seem as I remembered with her rough attire and hair, but her eyes still held the defiant strength that I remembered, only before it was a little less defiant. She had no reason to be that way back then.

  As they were pulled away, in a distance I noticed Beatrice glance back at me. Her eyes told me that she was boiling with anger, but I also saw something else in them. It was as if she were checking to see if a monster was following her.

  And that monster was me.

  Chapter Three: What Is to Come

  I blinked, coming back to reality as I stared at Beatrice standing across from me.

  “Hey,” I started.

  Beatrice deeply inhaled as she straightened her shoulders and didn’t utter a word.

  “I…just wanted to let you know that we’re starting a new training schedule tomorrow,” I said.

  Beatrice only stared.

  “Since you’re part witch, you’re supposed to be training with us.”

  “Samuel already informed me,” she said, brushing by without another word.

  I clenched my teeth and took in a deep, aggravated breath. Didn’t she notice that I was trying to be friendly? She was just as rude as when we were back at the orphanage, only then, she hated witches and wizards. Now, she just hated me.

  “Screw her,” I whispered under my breath as I walked away.

  I went to the far side of the camp where breakfast was being served in the outside seating area. Colorful benches filled the area under a large white Gazebo, and at the end of it was where there was a line for the buffet.

  Once in line, my mind was temporarily distracted by the smell of bagels, oatmeal, eggs, syrup, fruit, and more. This was practically my favorite part of the day just because I loved breakfast food. There was just something rewarding about going on a run only to wind down with a hot morning meal.

  When I finally had my plate, I held it out for the servers to fill with sweet colorful foods. It was my Uncle Sam that filled half of it with fruit and by the end of the day I was expecting him to fill half my plate with vegetables.

  “Good morning, Raven.” He smiled.

  I smiled back. “Good morning, Uncle Sam.”

  “How was your run? Getting any faster?”

  “My time was cut down by thirty seconds. I plan on beating it by another thirty tomorrow morning.”

  Uncle Sam nodded in approval. “You’re getting stronger. That’s good.”

  When my uncle finished filling my plate, I stood by the side of the serving table. “I’d like to think so, but I can still barely use my powers. I can barely even teleport unless I’m in immediate danger.”

  Uncle Sam chuckled. “Don’t worry. It took me years to even use my magic decently. You’ll get it down, Raven.”

  “In time? There is a war coming, right?”

  Uncle Sam’s smile slightly faded. “Like I said, don’t worry. Your new training will help speed up the process.”

  I nodded, then tucked a few strands of my cyan blue hair behind my ear. “Thank you for breakfast.”

  “Any time, Niece,” he said before turning back to the next person.

  I turned with a sigh and walked from under the gazebo and into the morning light where I spotted Felix, Triana, and Cristania sitting at the top of a hill. It first started out as a place for Triana and I to eat breakfast, but then the rest of our group joined us every day.

  I was happy that around dinner time, Felix and I got to sit there alone together. It seemed to be the only time that it could just be me and him, and with rising feelings, I enjoyed our alone time.

  Ever since we arrived at the camp, Felix and I had grown closer. I did my best not to be too obvious with my feelings, but every now and then with a simple touch or smile, I was a dead giveaway. Felix never complained though, which was fine by me. I really didn’t need the embarrassment of being rejected.

  Triana looked back at me with a bagel in her mouth and widening excited eyes.

  My chest warmed at the sight of her, as it does every morning. She was so innocent and adorable that it was hard not to soften around her. It had been me and my sister from the beginning, and it’ll be she and I until the end ― with new companions of course.

  I climbed to the hill and sat down next to Felix who had just bitten into a bright red apple. After chewing, he smiled. “Good morning.”

  “Hey Fee,” I said, using the nickname that I made for him.

  Triana leaned forward to look across him and at me. “I saw you running this morning. Looks like you beat your time today.”

  I rolled my eyes with a chuckle. “How do you know? Intuition?”

  Cristania snorted beside me. “No. We spotted you smiling and nodding after checking your watch.”

  I took in spoonful of oatmeal, then a hungry bite of my bagel.

  Cristania raised a brow. “Now, if only you could get better with using your magic.”

  I took a deep breath, not letting someone like Cristania upset me. She was my rival after all, only somewhat more skillful than me when it came to using magic.

  “She will,” Felix said before taking another bite of his apple. “I was told that we’re starting a different kind of training tomorrow.”

  Triana nodded. “Yeah, they’re even cancelling todays training just to prepare.”

  I drew my eyebrows together in thought before looking up into Triana’s glistening silver eyes. In the sunlight, her eyes sparkled with so much life that they almost looked unreal. It didn’t help that her hair was a bright emerald green or that she had the angelic glow of a young goddess. Sometimes, it seemed as if more magic coursed through her than any of us here.

  Cristania spoke. “I think it’s because of Beatrice and the others arriving here. They’re going to be trained with us, so the training wizards are probably just being precaut
ious and preparing. I don’t think it’ll be too different than what we already do.”

  “I think it’s going to be a lot different,” Triana said, leaning back on her hands. “Uncle Sam was acting kind of weird when he told me about it. I think he’s hiding something.”

  Cristania finished her plate and stood to her feet. “Most likely, yes. Especially if training is cancelled today. Guess I’ll get plenty of rest before then.”

  Triana jumped to her feet as well. “I think that I should still practice some of my magic today.”

  “Don’t destroy the camp,” Cristania said as she turned away, only she wasn’t joking.

  Triana was powerful for her age, but like the rest of us, she barely had any control over her abilities. She could do simple tricks like flying on a broom or moving small objects, but she couldn’t use her telekinesis as well as she’d like to, and the darker power within her only came out when she was in danger.

  As a witch or wizard, we each had one main ability with one extra that was always harder to use. It was like having a super-secret move that could only be triggered by fear and anger until practiced and controlled. The use of other magic was something that had to be learned, and fairly easy to master, but the abilities that we are born with was another story.

  My main ability was teleportation, which only kicked in when I felt the need to flee. My other ability was something that I didn’t understand. It was powerful and overwhelming. To be honest, my first time really using it was against Beatrice, and that wasn’t even on purpose. The moment I touched her, I instantly felt magic being vacuumed into me. It wasn’t necessarily a good feeling, but it wasn’t bad either. It felt similar to overeating and being full, and yet satisfied. Both comfortable and uncomfortable.

  Felix’s main ability was being able to control electricity. Later, we had found that he could control the weather and use the elements of storms. Like for say, lightning, strong winds, heavy rains, and etcetera. Once he mastered that ability, he’d be able to manipulate it into being the most dangerous ability anyone could ever have.

  Triana was a bit difficult to say. I knew that she could use telekinesis, but her other ability wasn’t something I understood. Especially since it was already so powerful inside of her. For someone so innocent, it was confusing to see her eyes shift to black and her expression to almost darken. Like something monstrous was living inside of her.

  When I explained this to my uncle, he was surprisingly worried and mentioned for me to keep a close eye on her. When I tried to get him to explain why, he changed the subject and walked off with the excuse of needing to go do a thing.

  This concerned me deeply, but the more I watched Triana, the less concerned I became. She was an intelligent girl, making me confident that whatever was inside of her was something that she’d learn to control. She was also the same sweet girl as usual, making me question if there was anything dangerous inside of her at all.

  As for Cristania. I knew that she was a healer, but I wasn’t sure what her other ability was. She and I weren’t too big on talking, but we were nearing some sort of a friendship. How couldn’t we? After we arrived, she practically clung to our small group.

  I remembered wanting to tell her to go away when I realized that many from our coven hadn’t made it to the camp. We were the only real familiar faces to Cristania, so I couldn’t bring myself to turn her away. Her family and ours were both gone, only she was left with no one.

  Chapter Four: The Four Masters

  Felix and I silently sat and ate while watching the mountains out ahead of us. When we first started doing this, it was awkward, but now the silence, the soft breeze, and the warm food sliding into my belly was relaxing. He and I had shared enough words together that when we didn’t talk, it wasn’t weird or uncomfortable. Instead, it was like sharing a beautiful moment together in peace.

  Once we were to get up from our spots and head back into the loud busy camp, our peace would be gone.

  Felix sighed and leaned back on his hands, then turned to look at me. When I noticed and turned to face him, he looked away. Furrowing my brows, I turned back to the mountain view out ahead only to notice a pair of eyes on me again, but just like before, when I turned to look, Felix had turned away. This happened about two more times before the two of us started laughing.

  “What is it?” I giggled.

  Felix chuckled. “Nothing, just messing with you.”

  The two of us sighed as the morning breeze brushed over our skin, then as the sun moved higher into the sky, I began to notice the tension grow in our silence. Not the awkward kind, but the kind where two people knew their peace wouldn’t be lasting long.

  “You think we’ll be ready?” Felix asked.

  Knowing what he was referring to, I swallowed. “I’m not sure. I hope so.”

  Memories of the raid on my coven dimension made my heart begin to pound. I barely knew what was going on as I searched for my sister through the running crowd of frightened kids and teenagers, witches and wizards fighting back with balls of energy shooting from left to right, and hunters attacking from every angle. I wasn’t ready then, and since that night my powers had only slightly strengthened. It didn’t help that Triana and I stayed hidden at Uncle Sam’s for a year without using our powers, so I really hoped that we’d all be prepared for the war to come.

  “Our new training tomorrow should help,” Felix said positively.

  I nodded. “Yeah, and I mean, I’m getting better at using a broom.”

  Felix chuckled. “To what? Sweep?”

  I laughed. “Hush, I am getting better.”

  “Yeah, you sure know how to clean.”

  The both of us burst out laughing until we slowly grew silent again.

  “We’ll get stronger,” Felix said, his brown eyes now directed to the view ahead.

  “We have to.”

  The Masters of Magic

  I stood in between Felix and Triana with my mouth hanging open and didn’t have to look at the others to see that they were doing the same. Only Beatrice and Bradly on the far right of us were the only two that weren’t amazed by what they saw.

  I’ve seen them before, sure, but its been a long time since the masters have shown their faces. After Coven Silver was attacked by hunters a little over a year ago, the masters have been in invisibility mode, helping other witches and wizards undetected. They were the ones who set the doors in our minds to lead us here to this camp, where all covens resided. We hadn’t seen them when we arrived because they were still out in the field protecting and saving as many of us as they could, and many of them had died during raids from simply being outnumbered.

  Facing them now, I was in awe. Masters had a way of captivating all who set eyes upon them, because they were what every witch and wizard hoped to be like at some point in their lives.

  Four masters stood across from us dressed in clothing that could only be suitable for their titles. The master from Coven Red was a dark-haired woman in her early thirties. She was the youngest of the group, dressed in black skinny legged jeans, red knee-high leather boots, a black corset top, and a long red jacket that hung down just above the back of her knees. The metal-like star symbol in the center of a circle glowed red over her forehead, and she held a long red staff.

  Next to her was a bald middle-aged man from Coven Green. He had dark brown skin with an emerald green goatee and wore a black and green hooded cloak. He didn’t wear shoes, revealing his tribal-like tattoos traveling up his feet and ankles, and I couldn’t help but notice that they were on his hands as well.

  Beside him was another man, only he looked over one hundred years old and was of Indian descent. He was from Coven Orange, dressed in a bright orange cloak with a glowing orange staff, and had long yellow hair.

  Last but not least was a woman probably in her forties but looked as if she were in her twenties. She was from Coven White, which was one of the strongest covens to ever exist. She had peppery grey hair styled in a pixie cut with
a long white dress that emphasized her curves. Her black boots and bracelets went perfectly with her look.

  These were only four out of many masters. I had no idea what to expect, nor did I know why only a group of us were chosen to be trained by them. There were many our age that needed more work, but Uncle Sam stated that the masters only wanted us.

  Triana, Felix, Cristania, Bradly, Beatrice, and me stood in silence in a secluded area by the woods as we waited for them to speak.

  The woman from Coven Red looked over at the other masters with furrowed brows. “Are we just going to stare at them? I think they want to know what’s going on.”

  The man from Coven Green grinned before clearing his throat and stepping forward. “Good morning.”

  The group of us just stared and waited, dumbfounded.

  The woman from Coven White sighed and stepped forward. “Hello, young ones.” Her voice was softer than I thought it would be. “We wanted you to meet us here to discuss something…important.”

  “Aren’t we here for training?” Beatrice asked in a dull tone.

  The woman smiled at Beatrice, but her icy eyes were anything but happy. “Something like that.”

  The man from Coven Green continued. “Today we will be watching you duel each other in battle. We want to see what you’re capable of. Afterwards, we will decide if the group of you should be sent to The Magical Realm.”

  My eyes widened. I had only heard of The Magical Realm during bedtime stories when I was a kid. It was told to be a myth, but I knew of a few witches and wizards who believed the place to be real.

  The Magical Realm was apparently the dimension that we pulled magic from. We were always taught that our magic came from the earth, but if this place was real, then that was where magic really came from.

  “B ― but why would you send us there?” Triana asked.

  “Because,” the master from Coven Orange finally spoke. “There is a pond deep in the forest called The Pond of Sorcery. Drink from that pond, and the powers you wish to have will be claimed. There, you will be labeled as a Master of Magic.”