Page 71 of The Holy Academy of Witches

Adeline slowly looked between me and my outstretched hand. As if the instructions for a handshake would reveal itself.

“You wanna shake on it?” I said flapping the hand up and down as if it would become more appealing.

“Is this an American custom? Or just you?” She shook my hand slowly, suspiciously.

“It’s a Williams thing,” I unclasped our hands, “it means we’re serious. Very serious.”

“Okay. Well… good to know I suppose. Let’s head back.”

The walk was amiable, and thankfully this time I found the silence comfortable.

Thirty-Nine

Sage

Pacing around the statue of pregnant Elizabeth, I worried and waited. Adeline had insisted we come separately to give her a chance to lose any tail as well as spot any of mine. Her increased caution caught me off guard. Had we been careless? I hadn’t spoken a word, barely allowed a thought to cross my mind. And since I hadn’t coordinated with her beforehand I wasn’t sure if making a boundary would draw any unwanted attention, so I paced. I paced and gnawed on my nails hoping the blue healing potion I’d submitted would earn at least a passing grade. I’d passed by the classrooms used by the fifth years this week and overheard some of them discussing the freedom of choosing a mastery subject, and the types of enchantments they were working with their mentors on in preparation for entering those fields come graduation. Some mentors were even allowing research into the elusive light and dark magic that seemed to be silently dividing the students who’d grown up in this world.

Twigs snapped and I had a vine cast ready to disarm or disable whoever it was. Adeline was on the worn path, a look of amusement on her face.

“How long were you watching me?” I demanded.

“Long enough to know you’d make a shit spy.” She said with a small smile. Well her mood certainly had improved.

“I thoughtyouwere playing spy tonight?” I asked, my muscles loosening at her obvious ease.

“Yes, it was enlightening.” She walked up to the statue, offering no more insight on the matter.

Walking up next to her I opened my bag to fish out the book. She pulled out the same pouch she’d used for the Race.

“I thought you would be bringing your entire kit?” I said, motioning to the necklace.

“This is my kit, it links to my cupboard in the music room so long as I’m not too far away.” She spoke matter of factly, as if that kind of spell wasn’t far past senior level, closer to mastery enchantment than our own age.

“What level of spells are you currently learning?” I tried in vain to keep the jealousy out of my voice. Was she already training with a mentor?

“I’m happily enrolled in fourth year, same as you.” The words were rote, memorised.

“Nice deflection. Feel free to slip in some of those kinds of spells in our next tutoring session, yeah? I’m getting tired of memorising the uses of crystals.”

“If you used the wrong crystal in this spell you’d most likely go blind. So for now, I think boredom is best.”

Well then… Not much I could say to that. Perhaps my parents would continue our crash course over the winter and summer breaks so I could jump into the fun stuff sooner.

“The moon is almost at its peak, keep the pages open.”

We stood there in silence, unsure what would be required besides being near the statue under a full moon. Shifting my feet, I felt a cramp start in my lower back.

“Do you see that?” Adeline asked, squinting at the statue.

“The pregnant lady statue? Yeah, I do.” I squinted at her instead. “You hit your head or something?”

“No, there’s an inscription glowing at her feet,” she pointed.

Bending down, I brought the book closer to the inscription. Thinking perhaps we needed to rub a crayon over the page like all those National Treasure movies did. Instead when the page met the statue, the glowing words transferred to the book.

It read:“All Magic has a Price, what will you pay?”

Adeline and I shared a look before holding our hands over the page.

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