Page 12 of The Holy Academy of Witches

“Sorry I…”

I raised my hand to stop her, “I didn’t ask.” Closing the lid on my laptop, I looked up at her. She was still in her uniform. Though it looked slightly unkempt, she was still fairly presentable. Her hands came out and brushed away a couple of crumbs, which I had indeed noticed. Her cheeks flushed scarlet once more at my attention. “Evidently you weren’t expecting me to be your tutor.”

“Well… no, when the headmistress mentioned my progress would need to be established, I kinda expected… well…”

“You expected my mother.” I stated more than asked. No wonder she was put out by seeing me.

“Well, yes… and no,” she added, surprising me. I lifted my eyebrows and looked back at her. She bristled uncomfortably every time I gave her eye contact. I idly wondered if she was shy or just not used to people noticing her. With my silence she continued, “my brother’s been assigned a tutor too…” She explained, “his tutor is also a student.” Ah. I forgot there were two of them. I wondered who was lucky enough to be stuck with her male counterpart.

“Right… Let’s get to work.” I instructed, gesturing to the seat opposite me.

“Oh, I didn’t know if… Yes, of course.” She sat down clumsily, knocking into the table. I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples before levelling her with a look. She audibly gulped.

“Listen, my mother asked me to assess your capabilities and determine where you were academically across all our subjects. If you are lacking in any she is entrusting me to get you up to the standard expected of our academy. I take that responsibility seriously. She expects perfection, so if the headmistress asks me to do something, I will do it to the best of my ability… Regardless of whether you see fit to arrive promptly or not.”

“But she’s your mom, not just the headmistress?”

“Same difference,” I answered. Her eyebrows furrowed at this like it troubled her, “Do you have the piece of paper she gave you after your initiation test?”

“Yes!” She leaned over the edge of the table, rummaging in her bag until she produced the parchment.

“Now…” I looked down at the paper to remind me of her name. Sage? Who names their child after a herb? I wonder what her brother’s called… Basil? I was hilarious. “Sage?”

“Yes?” She asked, a slight frown still on her face.

“It says here that during the initiation you looked at the tarot deck seven times but chose the amethyst to interact with. Why?” Panic flashed in her eyes before she quickly schooled her expression. Interesting.

“I guess I was just looking around,” she replied, with a shrug.

I lifted my eyes from the paper to study her, “My mother doesn’t make mistakes.” Sage swallowed, nervously.

“I just didn’t know what she wanted me to do and I didn’t want to look stupid so I pretended to consider everything that was on the table.” She was lying, and seemingly with ease. I put the thought to one side for now and looked back down at my mother’s flowing script.

“You showed a significant release of power when you held the crystal, indicating a higher than average level of control of your magic.” I looked at her for a sign of recognition but her brows knitted together in confusion.

“What did I do?” She asked, uncertainly.

“You used extraordinary transfiguration,” on seeing her frown deepen further I added: “You altered the hue of the candle light to purple. Something not many witches who have grown up around magic are capable of doing at this stage. Did you show signs of being more than mortal as a child?”

She bristled uncomfortably and glanced at the nearby tables. “Don’t worry about them, I have a silencing charm around the table.” I explained.

“Myself and my brother grew up in the States… We didn’t know what we were until earlier this year when we were visited by a representative from your…Thecouncil?” She corrected, “after that, my parents sat us down and explained that we weren’t mundane and neither are they… My brother flipped out, he… Well, it has been a big adjustment. But yeah, we were both showing signs of magic, we just didn’t know what it was at the time.” She shuffled in her seat before meeting my gaze. Hiding her emerging magic must have taken immense strength, no wonder she had a good control of her power, even if it was unconsciously. I wondered what possible reason her parents had to raise their children mortal but decided it was none of my business. I had my own secrets to hide.

“I think given what my mother has indicated in her notes and the level of ability you possess, I will get you to perform some basic tasks so that I can gauge which subjects you will need the most help with. If you feel that you reach a point where it becomes too difficult, just stop.” I quickly wrote some instructions on the back of my mothers parchment and slid it towards her. I summoned a pen and pencil for her to use, along with a textbook and some staple supplies she may need. I indicated for her to begin as I stood.

She looked from the objects in front of her and back to me with uncertainty, “yes?” I sighed.

“Am I doing this now?” She asked, her blue eyes darting toward the windows.

“Is that a problem?”

“N… No, no! Just surprised that’s all! Wh… where are you going?”

“I’m getting a book… Why? Do you need a babysitter at all times?”

She bristled with annoyance, “of course not!” she snapped. Ah so she did have some bite in there. I smirked and continued my path into the lower level bookcases.

After browsing for a few minutes I returned to the table to see Clove chewing on the end of her pencil as she pondered what to do next. By the Goddess, she was stuck already? I sat down lightly and peered over at her paper to see she was already a third of the way through the tasks I had set. She resumed after another second of thought and pointedly ignored me. I opened my book and flicked to the chapter I had last read to in my own copy.

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