“I saw you checking me out before, do you like me?”
His face turned trance-like as if he took a sip of potion. “Of course, do you want to go out with me?”
The class laughed, and Amy giggled with a flip of her pink hair. “Of course, pick me up at seven.” She turned and walked back to the front of the class, and the boy snapped out of it.
“What just happened? Do I have a date?” His face was a mix of bewildered and happy, and he seemed genuinely worried that the date wasn’t going to happen. Students laughed, but a few applauded and congratulated him.
“How did it feel, Kevin?” Mrs. Turner asked, looking at him curiously.
“Vague…like I wasn’t fully there, but just to be clear, I was planning to ask you out after class anyways, Amy.” He gave a wink, his confidence restored, and the normally brazen Amy blushed for the first time, pulling her hair back and shimmying her shoulders in a tiny dance of victory.
“Flirt outside of class,” said Elizabeth, raising an eyebrow and pointing at them. “And how did you feel, Amy?”
“It was a strange feeling. Like I was powerful. Like I could take whatever I wanted… I love it!” She smiled up at Naya. Naya’s heart swelled to see her friend so happy, and she gave a quick clap of applause. She shocked herself by letting out a little hoot at seeing her friend so empowered, then clapped her hand against her mouth, embarrassed.
“Calm down, students. This potion is very powerful. It grants the taker the power to convince anyone, leaving a person completely at their mercy. Do not attempt it out of class. It is forbidden to use it against anyone, in case that wasn’t clear.”
The class ended on a serious note. Amy walked back to her seat, and Naya narrowed her eyes, wondering if there was any of the potion’s magic left.
“You will do my homework for me,” said Amy with a laugh, and Naya shook her head.
“Wore off, sorry,” she laughed, feeling at ease with her new best friend.
Amy winked. “I still got a date out of it,” she said, and though the class wasn’t successful in terms of potion making, at least her friend got a date. If anyone told Naya she’d have a friend as outrageous as Amy, she wouldn’t have believed it. She always stayed as far away as possible from people who craved attention, not only because it risked putting her in the spotlight, but because those kinds of people felt so fake. With Amy it was all real. Her confidence and self-assuredness was so powerful that it was rubbing off on her, and she felt calmer already. They stepped out of class, both feeling good, when Kevin ran up behind him.
“Hey, I know I was in a trance, but I wasn’t joking,” he said, grabbing his hair in a nervous attempt to look cool. “I really do want to take you out tonight.”
Amy gave him puppy dog eyes, smiling. “I would love that. For real.”
“Perfect! I’ll see you in Middle Rose at seven then.” He smiled, looking for a second like he was in a trance again, and caught up with his friends, who clapped him on the back and congratulated him, as guys like to do in an over-the-top display of masculinity.
“Look at you! Landing a date on the first day of class.”
Amy paused, then raised an eyebrow. “You could have got one before me if you weren’t so stuck in the past,” she teased, and Naya groaned.
“Let’s not start with that again, okay? I don’t want to even think about that awful person.” She rolled her eyes. “We’re late for Spells 1,” she finished before Amy could say one more word about Ryan.
They walked to the next classroom and spoke about Amy’s date. Middle Rose was a well-known street off campus that had beautiful restaurants, bars, and pubs that flourished around the academy. Students hung out there at night to release stress. Neither of them had gone there yet, but they had both heard stories from other students. If a date was going to happen? Middle Rose was the place. It was the perfect place to start something good.
They went into the next classroom and sat at the front. “So what are your rules for a first date?” Amy spoke a little too loudly, and Naya hoped no one else in the class heard.
Rules?
There are rules on a date?
She bit her lip, wondering how to answer without getting caught that she’d never once been on a date—in fact, she’d never considered it. What kind of rules could there possibly be?
“Mmm, rules? I just…I guess I just go with it,” she said, trying to sound casual and looking to the left, away from Amy.
“Just go with it? Wow…that’s so not you, you’re always so…wait a second.” Amy gave her a sly look. “You haven’t been on a date before! Right?”
“Shhhh. You want to write it on the blackboard too?” Naya hissed out the words, putting her hand in front of Amy’s mouth to stop her from talking loudly about her experience as the students a row behind gave them a funny look.
“Hey!” Amy pulled Naya’s hand from her mouth. “I might just have to!” She whispered, but she still sounded loud to Naya’s ears. “It’s going to be my goal for the semester.”
Before Naya could tell her she better focus on her grades and not on Naya’s personal love life, the doors of the classroom opened like they were blown by a heavy gust of wind—and in waltzed the guy who did her hair.
“Welcome, students, to the wonders of my class!” Naya’s face lit up. It was him! “My name is Lukas Bouche, but please, call me Lukas.” He gave a wink to the class, his cape swirling in the air as he practically danced into the class. “All this ‘mister’ talk makes me feel old, and oh please, I am not spending so much money on creams to feel old.”
There was a round of giggles from the class. Lukas was a doll and made everyone feel welcome, especially Naya. She was so grateful his makeover was her first experience in Arumrose. The first two teachers were the best people they could have been! One was her only friend from high school, and the other completely reimagined her look to be a more confident person and push her to be her true self.
“I know what you’re all thinking. How can the awesome, cool, young hair stylist also be the teacher of Spells 1?” He moved his cape aside to sit on the teacher’s desk. “Well, my fierce students, the look you were given when you arrived…” He paused, making eye contact with Naya and giving her a private smile. “Those looks are a reflection of your power. And of course, we know what suits you best!” He jumped up from the desk, animated as he pranced around the room. “Here you will learn your true essence as a witch or wizard, and your real self will blossom by the end of my class!”
Students looked at each other, sharing confused glances as they wondered what was wrong with their professor. Lukas always had a flair for the dramatic, but even for him, this was too much—especially since it was Spells 1!
Everyone looked over their shoulders, craning their necks as Lukas stood at the back of the class. “Allow me to demonstrate! Turn your attention to the book at my desk…”
Everybody turned back, some rubbing their necks as they looked at his desk. “Levit!”
Lukas stared at the book with focus, his hands placed as though he had it on strings, and the book floated up in the air. Lights flickered around it, like sparkling dust, and it was a magenta color Naya had never seen before, as if it was a color that had never existed until Lukas spoke it into existence.
Lukas jumped up and down. “What do you see, students? Tell me! Speak it out loud!”
“The book is floating!” said one of the students, stating the obvious dryly as the rest of the class laughed.
“Genius little fellow. As you have such a keen eye, Martin, describe what else you see.” Martin stopped joking around, his eyes narrowing as he stared down the book.
“Mmm…I see…sparks?”
“Magenta sparks!” yelled a girl from the back.
Suddenly, all the students stopped thinking about how dramatic Lukas was and participated, talking about the sparks and how they seemed too bright, too deep, as if they were experiencing a new color. Lukas fed off the excitement from the
room, and the desk jumped up from the ground, flying into the air. The class oohed and aahed, unable to tear their eyes from the spectacle as the magic intensified. Sparks flew, magenta and so bright they burned the eyes when suddenly they disappeared and the desk thudded down hard on the floor, making the class gasp with shock. The book thumped down on top, dust flying from it.
“My children, it is all about the essence.” He was practically booming out, speaking loudly as he walked around the room. “Magic is not only what you have, it’s what you are. It’s an expression of your true self, and each one of you will be skilled in different types of magic.” He stood next to the bookcase in the corner of the room, pulling one out seemingly at random. “You’ll learn a lot about spells, but none of that will matter until you learn your essence.”
Naya was fascinated as he continued to talk about the connection between one’s true self and magic, and she felt that it would be important in the near future. When he was finished, it was time for the students to practice on their own. After the failures of the potions class, Naya wondered if people would get thrown against the ceiling by accident.
They all had the same task: to lift their books into the air, just as their instructor had done. This would show them the colors of their magic. Only a few were able to make the book lift in the air, including Amy, and the book sparkled with light pink dust, exactly the same color as her hair. Naya was happy for her even though every time she tried to wave her hands at the book, it stayed flat against the desk as if it was judging her.
“It’s fine, Nay,” said Amy, using the new nickname for her. Naya had never had a positive nickname before and she smiled at the shortened name, happy to have a friend who wanted to call her something nice and not bring her down. “The prof said himself, it’s not easy, and you don’t need to get it right away.”
“I know, I know, I just…I just would have liked to make the book fly and see what colors appeared. Never mind that. I’m so glad you succeeded! Maybe you can help me?”
When the class was over, Naya couldn’t keep the sadness from reflecting in her eyes, but she wouldn’t let it bring down her friend’s success. She tried to make jokes about it, but this was the second class in a row that she wasn’t able to succeed and her old insecurities were pulsing up.
The day went on—but she couldn’t make anything lift. The next class was with Mrs. Carmela Rodriguez, a powerful and well-known witch in the paranormal world. The class was Self-Defense Arts, which Naya thought might be karate or judo, but was actually using strong magic to protect them from evil. She watched in awe as Carmela seemed to easily create translucent shields to trick the opponent’s eye, as well as counter spells that could be used to reverse an opponent’s magic, which could be useful for the final exam, a duel between students. Naya’s eyes went wide as she imagined facing off against another student. That would be too much.
Every spell that Carmela demonstrated made Naya more nervous. The thought of having to learn and practice more lessons, packing them into her already limited free time, was daunting. She couldn’t make a single friend in the class, and she was overwhelmed by the previous two failures.
The time went by in a blur, and suddenly she was off to Seering—the ancient art of looking into the future. It seemed this class was one of the most interesting for the government. Naya had to remember that the government was training witches and wizards to be used to protect society, and that this wasn’t just a summer camp. The professor explained that the grades of the first year would be weighted towards Seering, as it was the most in-demand profession required by the government.
What did the government want to see?
Mr. Verbin Kears, former Head Future Seer quickly put to rest any misconceptions about the art.
He was a tall, thin man, imposing yet with hair that was out of place, wispy and messy against his skeletal skull.
“It’s not about watching a crystal ball and expecting images to appear,” he lectured in a dry, hoarse whisper that all the students craned forward to listen to. “It is deeper than this, and take awareness of your surroundings. Of getting in touch with your inner magic and meditating while performing spells. You must be able to let your mind go completely while retaining your inner self fully. This is difficult for most, and few of you will succeed,” he said, emphasizing the last word. He seemed to feel that Seering was the highest art in the magical world, and Naya wondered how he’d used it for the government. Had he stopped terrorist attacks with his gift? Or had he used it to help the army take over different places? A shudder went down her spine as Verbin fixed his icy blue eyes on her for a little too long.
His hands rose up slowly, and a white glow appeared around his head, his thin white hair electrified and standing on end. Now Naya understood why his hair was always messy. His eyes rolled back in his head, and the students gasped when he refocused…
Staring straight at Naya.
The intensity of his gaze trapped her. She felt paralyzed in his gaze.
“It seems we have quite a celebrity among us…” Kids looked left and right, trying to find out who he was talking about. “Two-kind,” he said, but this time it was so soft that somehow she knew only she could hear his words. He snapped out of the trance, his hair falling back to his skull. “Don’t bother looking, children. The person is not well-known…yet.”
A cold breeze seemed to come over her as Mr. Kears never stopped staring at her. “We do not want to look for a recorded video of the future, as though we are there and watching it as clear as I stand in front of you.”
Finally, that gaze flicked off her, and she felt like she was being let free. His eyes crawled over the room, and when they set on any student, they shuddered like it was a chilling breeze. “You must look for feelings, shades, colors and sounds. Your mind will give you a feeling of what you cannot see but can describe in feeling.”
He jolted his head to the left, and his neck cracked like a pencil breaking. Naya jumped in her seat at the disturbing sound. “Do not mix what you desire with what you feel. If you put your own desires into Seering, you will not see reality as it exists but as you want it to exist. That is why a good Seer must detach. If your emotions come into play, you could cost lives. This is no parlor trick like making a book levitate. This is serious business that determines the fate of our nation.”
Thoughts swirled in her mind and she was unable to push them out. The first lesson was to close your eyes, breathing in and out, and become aware of your surroundings. Simple, right? It seemed like everyone was gasping when something “clicked” and they felt some basic awareness, but for her? It was just like closing your eyes and waiting for something to happen that never did.
Mr. Kears hid a squirrel in the locker outside and told the class to focus on which locker it was in. It sounded so simple. Each student wrote down on a piece of paper where they thought the squirrel was—and every single student in the class got it right.
Except her.
She scribbled a random locker down, hoping to guess right, but she could barely sense the tip of her own nose, let alone a squirrel in the hallways.
The first three classes were a failure. Despondent, while other students finished up their days, laughing and joking and talking about exploring the grounds or going to Middle Rose, she had to trudge to her next class—vampirism.
This was supposed to be a fresh start.
It wasn’t.
The class was held in the woods, in sight of the main facilities, and there were no laughs and smiles like in the potions and spells classes. As she approached, she had the awful feeling that if the classes were closer to the school, blood might be spilled.
The first lecture was Abilities 1 with Professor Walter Vickers. He had angular Russian features and a bitter demeanor that matched his sour, drawn back lips. Imagining him laughing or smiling was absurd. He coldly told the class about the abilities that they would be working on: speed, ultrasonic hearing, heat vision, and on and on, listing them out
like items on a grocery list. The dispassionate professor grabbed the class’s attention in an iron grip.
He pointed to a bowl filled with pills at the side of the class. “By taking this pill, you will no longer be inhibited. The full range of carnal sensations, and yes, vampiric needs will be in their natural form.”
The way he said “natural” made her blood run cold. It was as if Walter Vickers viewed the inhibition of vampiric lusts for human blood as a yoke.
Naya felt that she could make no friends here. The only vampire she had ever known was her father, and she would have never guessed it. She tried to say hi or introduce herself, but she got blank stares and glares. These were hyper-competitive students, and she’d heard the rumors:
Vampires think they are better than everyone else.
Vampires stay to their own kind.
Vampires want to drink your blood.
Maybe it wasn’t their fault that they were so cold and distant—they faced stigma in the school.
“Vampirism is the purest form of magic. It is a magic that cannot be taught. It’s in your very blood,” said Vickers with a haughty drawl. It didn’t help that teachers like Mr. Vickers were feeding the vampire students the idea that they were above everyone else, setting them even further apart from the rest of them.
The class turned to Naya, and she felt like she wanted to disappear.
“She’s a two-kind,” said Leah Brotenlin, who had jet black hair and a ring filled with diamonds. She came from a powerful New York real estate family that Naya suspected were all vampiric, and already she had the title of mean girl just fifteen minutes into class. “Professor Vickers, should Naya be here? Her blood isn’t pure.”
Professor Vickers stayed silent, and her skin crawled.
Naya hated that Leah was right. What was she doing here? She was slow, had no idea what it felt like to even feel a vampiric ability, and worst of all, she’d failed every witch and wizard class so far. Maybe she had some power, at least to blow up a stupid mocking picture of herself, but she had no idea how to unlock her vampiric powers. She never craved blood.
The Mage-Blood Test: A YA Paranormal Romance (Arumrose Academy Book 1) Page 10
