Page 4 of Forbidden Magic
The main path divides into three prongs not far from the main office, and I follow the left-end side up a hill.
A blue colonial house with white shutters and a wrap-around porch stands in front of me.
Behind it, dark green trees gnarl into one another, their branches knitted together closely as though they are locked in a passionate embrace. Or holding on for dear life.
Allie is sitting in a swing on the porch of the three-story house, and I pick up the pace. She inherited our father’s light blond hair while I got my mother’s dark coloring, but aside from that, we could be twins. We have the same small nose, baby face, and dark blue eyes. Her skirt displays the family’s design, too, but with black knee-high socks and a matching V-neck tee. The loose hoodie hiding her frame is in stark contrast with the tight school’s red wool jacket I’m wearing.
I climb up the freshly-painted white stairs, and her eyes flick up from her book.
“Jules! You’re not supposed to be here yet,” she says, jumping to her feet.
“Allie!” I throw myself at my sister, wrap her up in a big hug, and squeeze. “I begged Dad to drive me up a day early.”
She cranes her neck around like she’s looking for something or someone.
I jerk a glance behind me, but there’s only us. I wonder where the other students are. I haven’t seen a soul on my walk over here.
“You cut your hair,” I say, noticing how short her blond curls are, falling right below her chin.
“Yeah.” Her shoulders are stiff, and she extricates herself from my grasp.
“It looks great!”
She tugs on the ends, a few strands licking her shoulders. “Does it?”
My eyes narrow, and I let my arms fall at my sides. Allie has always been obsessed with her long blond curls. It was one of the reasons we didn’t share a room back home—the smell of hair spray makes me nauseous. “Are you okay? You look a little pale.” The elation of being reunited fizzles out. She’s lost weight. At least ten pounds by the looks of it, and she was thin to begin with.
She cracks a grin. “It’s the exams is all. They’re kicking my ass.”
The knot of worry that had begun to spool in my chest eases.
Exams. On spells and dark creatures. I’ll probably be the first to complain about them, but I almost wish I was the one with the pasty skin and dark circles under my eyes. I’d be a seasoned student, not an outsider. At least, the termfreshmanisn’t used at the Academy. I’m finally here! The fabulous school my father can’t shut up about, where I belong, instead of flipping burgers at Wendy’s in a cloud of grease and constant teenage whining.
This is my destiny.
I hook my arm around my sister’s elbow and pull her along. “Spill. What are the classes like? The teachers? The students?”
“One thing at a time, please.” She waves for me to follow.
We weave up the round staircase to the third floor and follow a long empty corridor to the very back of the house.
“Classes are nice, teachers are either amazing or hateful, and as for the students…” Allie pulls down a folded staircase.
The wood creaks on our way up the tiny steps, and a puff of duff rises in the air. A black spider guards her web right at eye level, and I find myself staring at its hairy legs.
“You coming?” Allie asks from above.
I climb in after her. The room is triangular, Allie’s bed tucked on one side. Her covers are in knots at the foot of the bed. A desk takes up all of the other wall. Books, papers, parchments and ink pots clutter the working space, and I raise a brow. “Who are you and what have you done with my sister?”
Her nose wrinkles the way it does when she’s annoyed. “If you’d arrived when you said you were going to, I would have had time to tidy up.”
“You went from OCD queen to slob overnight?” I joke.
“I have no time to spare on stupid stuff now.”
Allie describing her neat streak asstupidthrows me for a loop. Her obsession for things to always be in the right place is another reason why we never shared a room.
The acrid smell of mold and jasmine clog my nose, and I grimace. A hint of freshly-cut lilacs also lurks behind the dusty smell.
