Page 18 of Two Who Live On

“I got this.” Melanie flicked her zippo.

“You’re also required to prioritize your roots today.”

Melanie stuffed the lighter back into her pocket.

“That doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to use your branches, but branch magic doesn’t remove demonic energy,” I explained. “Remember, only your sensory root can track it, and only your banishment root can expel it entirely. I’d like to see each of you locate at least one fiend and banish it today. How you four choose to go about that is entirely up to you.”

The first team took their places, eyeing the timer and nervous they’d fail the objective. I escorted the rest of my students to the proctoring room. My phone buzzed, but I ignored it. Whatever app I’d missed this morning, notifying me what a terrible match I was for the great Enchanter Evergreen, would have to wait. I had to prioritize my students’ lesson.

In the corner of my eye, Caleb used enchanted weighted blocks to practice his root magics. Four sides of the cube were covered in sigils meant to absorb root magic casting while the final two sides radiated false demonic energy.

These etchings allowed Caleb to pinpoint the blocks with sensory while hitting it with subtle blasts of banishment. He kept them afloat using telekinesis, juggling them overhead. In this small way, he continuously practiced three of his four roots in tandem. Sweat drenched his forehead, and his legs quaked. Impressive. Upon a closer look, his feet remained flat but a full inch above the floor. He maintained constant levitation, too. This was a reminder of a conversation we’d need to have about the ranking system for the Spring Showcase—one he’d struggle to take part in given he lacked a branch.

But Caleb continued training his roots, not allowing his lack of a branch deter him, so I’d make sure to help him open as many doors as possible. Even those that remained firmly sealed in favor of flashy branches like this Spring Showcase. For now, I sat on that uncomfortable conversation and focused on the four students facing fiends for the first time.

Carter and Jennifer stayed close together while Jamius led the group, surrounded by a dozen copies. That’d end badly. I’d come to realize his roots struggled enough as is, but the more duplicates he created, the more his fundamentals waned.

I opened the upper vents, releasing wisps around the forest terrain, which would force their team to move quickly. Four small fiends scurried between the thicket of trees, clawing at each other. They fought over the small amount of glowing white orbs. A fiend lunged high, snapping its jaws around a wisp. The energy popped between its yellow fangs, and the fiend’s tarlike back shuddered as it slicked its thirst for magic. It wasn’t satiated long, sniffing out more wisps to feed its hunger.

With the team more hesitant than anticipated, I opened another vent with the push of a button and dropped wisps around the four of them. Jamius whisked them away with telekinesis, aware this would lead the fiends I’d unleashed upon them. I’d gone with four fiends,only intending to release another if someone in their group managed to eliminate two. At this group’s rate, I wouldn’t have to worry about that.

Carter sucked in a tense breath and banished three wisps circling one of Jamius’ copies.

“Hey,” the copy said. “I had that.”

“No.” A second copy nudged the first. “I did.”

“Teamwork, guys,” Jamius said.

It was easy to tell the difference between the original and his copies. Sure, they were completely identical, from their deep brown complexion to their short tight twists with the same three slightly longer strands that hung down as bangs along the left side of their faces. Each of them used all the same gestures while wearing their oversized academy jacket with the sleeves rolled up. Their goofy expressions of shock or confusion were on point too, but the copies smirked, whereas when Jamius smiled, it was genuine and framed his face. And he rarely smiled when others were looking.

If that weren’t enough of an indication, I’d learned something from when Caleb used a spell version of Jamius’ branch magic—copies lacked depth in thought. Sure, they had surface thoughts, and some of Jamius’ copies had a wide range of interests well beyond what popped up in his thoughts. But that was all they possessed. There were no deep inner workings to their minds I could delve into if I wanted. Jamius had a well of insecurities surrounding the core of his thoughts, one he worked to fill with thoughts collected by copies he retained and wished to explore someday.

The first fiend darted out of the forest terrain, lapping up the trail of glowing wisps with its elongated tongue. Each tiny wisp it devoured increased the fiends speed and heightened its senses. It didn’t take long to sniff out the four trembling witch appetizers.

“I’ve got this.” Melanie flicked her zippo, creating a small flame and allowing it to swell between her palms. Once it’d grown largeenough to shield her body, she propelled it forward. Melanie’s control was outstanding; the massive blaze weaved between all the Jamius’ and struck the fiend.

Tar splattered and burned, but the fiery assault simmered. The fiend gnawed on the flames, and its broken off burnt flesh, quickly regenerating itself and growing larger. Melanie’s branch was effectively useless in this situation since she had to funnel her magic into the fire to control it. The flames themselves were deadly to the fiend, but the magic inside fed it. Unlike a primal witch who conjured flames, the magic to control them was much easier for the fiend to digest.

Melanie quelled her control, petrified and unable to decide her next move. Watching the fiend devour her magic rattled her. She’d grown paranoid that if her banishment was off by even a fraction, the fiend would devour that magic too. But it was one of the few lessons she’d paid full attention to in class—she knew better, yet everything she’d learned about root fundamentals went out the window.

My phone buzzed again. Frustrated, I silenced it without looking.

The reason root magics were effective against demonic energy was because demons couldn’t feed off it. She knew this. I could see it bubbling beneath her terror as she looked to her teammates for assistance. As expected, the group hadn’t gone in with a strategy and now scrambled to eliminate the fiend by waiting for someone else to handle it.

Jamius sent his copies headfirst, buying the group time.

“Charge!” the copy leader shouted.

The fiend lunged, and the copy’s head burst into watery nothingness.Ugh.This was painful to watch. Jennifer fixated on Carter’s trepidation, swirling in self-doubt cast by him. Instead of using his powerful banishment root, Carter channeled his vitality so Jamius and Melanie could cast again. This was a major problem.

The other three fiends were working their way closer to my students, and I’d hoped this exercise would remind Carter what he had to rely on—his strongest root.

Jennifer had encouraged him so much when my life was on the line, yet now she’d lost that composure.

This was my fault, coddling these two in particular once we’d returned from winter break. I let them lie in their feelings just a bit longer, believing it was best. They didn’t need a cheerleader telling them they’d do better next time—at least not one like myself who lacked the rah-rah enthusiasm. They needed a stern prick who’d push them on the right path.

Linking my mind to theirs, I called out. “You’re both being too reliant on your branches.”

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