Okay, okay, I know, I didn’t do a cliffhanger. Sorry. Still here?

Anyways, Moxie got her dagger and Max got his lunch. The end of the last chapter. Whoot. Soooo exciting. Now for this chapter’s mysteries and adventures…

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Man, it’s been weird, huh?

From the books I’ve read before, fictional characters who end up in the supernatural usually have an insanely hard time getting used to it.

I had none of that. I repeat, none.

Well, I was pretty awe-struck by this brand new world. It wasn’t like I had no reaction in being shipped to a magic school, but my feelings about it were hard to explain.

I felt like I belonged here. I certainly don’t belong in terms of being a “powerful” witch, but this place felt more like a home. At least more than Teresa’s shack.

Oh, I almost forgot.

It’s been a month. A month since my first victory at Glowing Dragon Academy.

Actually, no.

Correction: my first and only victory. Beginner’s luck.

After that team-fight on the training island, we only had two more over the past month, which I both lost, miserably.

Usually, when the battle starts, one person on each team would deal a huge crowd-control attack. Since any damage counts as elimination, the expansive attack wipes out everyone, unless your team had a skilled magic user who could block it.

My team, composed of me, Amber, Max, Moxie, and some stragglers, did not have any form of advanced defense.

On top of that, my magic was absolute garbage. In the second fight, we almost formed a shield together, except my magic sputtered and vanished.

Yes, the entire team was eliminated again.

However, Olive was still our #1 fan. She would always cheer us up after every fight, even if we couldn’t even make it into the actual field before being eliminated.

Sour from the loss and not wanting to disappoint my teammates further, I’ve been practicing like mad.

I felt like I was practicing forty hours per day. I went through a few weeks with the same daily routine. Sleep, eat, train, repeat. Miraculously, I never got bored of it.

Hard work pays off.

I wasn’t the best, but endless training sessions made up for my average height and IQ. And my desperate lack of magical talent.

In one of the more recent duels, I defeated the instructor.

“Wow. You’ve been… improving extremely fast. How are you doing this?” The girl asked, wiping sweat from her brow.

“...I don’t... know.” I was on the ground, gasping for air without a single ounce of strength left in my arms and legs.

“What sports have you played?” Her eyes narrowed in interest.

“I played... softball in... third grade… I’ve gotten hit in the face with a bat, a ball, a glove, a water bottle, and… Oh! A chair, once…”

The other girl blinked twice. She shook her head and raised her sword. “Let’s go again.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three other witches stood before us right now: Brianna, Gwen and a girl named Haru.

A classic team-duel. Physical combat only.

Max focused on Brianna, I went for Haru, and Amber was paired with Gwen.

A green light flashed, signaling the start of the match.

Haru growled at me, her back arching like a cat’s. The crystals that lined her eyebrows shifted with the folds of her skin as she narrowed her eyes, frowning in concentration. Dark eyeliner scrunched up in a threat.

As soon as Haru lurched forward, I dug my heel into the ground and spun away from her forward thrust.

Haru caught herself inches before she hit the ground, and whirled around, swiping her blade from the ground.

I jumped to my right, just high enough and far enough to land on the flat side of her sword.

I twisted, my left arm out, and Moonshine tapped her back with deadly precision.

The combat stage glowed red beneath our feet, signifying the end of the fight. The other witch vanished from the field in a burst of sparkles only to reappear outside. She was out.

I had just eliminated my target in mere seconds. Clap for me, please.

I turned to the rest of the fight, ignoring her angry screeches through the Eliminated lobby. Amber’s sword was already out of her hand and laying on the ground.

In a panic, she bounced away from Gwen, trying to get to Max. Gwen slashed at her open back, but Max jumped in the way to block it.

Brianna turned to me, and I prepared myself again.

I noticed a strange detail of her sword as she slid into stance. It had a marquise-shaped opening in the middle of it. It was rather slim, but wide enough that my blade would fit through. I assumed it was designed for swinging it quickly by letting air pass through the middle. I knew I had to be careful about my next move.

I struck, clashing my silvery blade to hers. I struck again. Her blade went upwards as I predicted.

There was my opportunity. I shoved my sword diagonally, through the opening. Brianna grinned slightly, pulling her sword back. Before I could lose control of my weapon, I quickly swung upwards with enough force that the other weapon flew out of her hand behind me. I leapt forward, poking her chestplate with my sword.

The ground once again glowed red.

Gwen exploded into a hurricane of curses.

I only saw the twisted fury in her eyebrows as she lurched at me.

Max leaped forward from his position guarding Amber and tapped Gwen on the lower back with his sword.

Gwen’s face was the equivalent of an erupting volcano, but she whirled around and stormed off the stage without a word.

The instructors congratulated our team, but scolded Amber for dropping her sword.

“I’m just not that good at combat,” she replied sheepishly.

“No worries, folks! A win is a win!” Max cheered.

I joined them in laughter. Could you believe it? I’m actually good at something.

But the mysteries involving my “power” have remained untouched. I asked our counselors, to little avail… they were physical fighters, not magical ones. We would be getting magical-fighter counselors in our future magic classes. And our scheduled magic combat curriculum was getting closer by the minute.

It’s agonizing to have a part of yourself hidden from you, no way to access it.

I can’t bear the thought of our first magic lesson.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the last Monday of the month, Amber woke up to an extremely nervous and impatient version of me, dragging her to our very first magic lesson.

Someone save me.

Our teacher’s name was Mr. Willus. He had warm brown eyes that seemed to laugh, brown skin and black hair that emphasized his marble-white teeth. He was really young too. Apparently, he was only twenty one.

The two of us walked into the class together.

I glanced around at the room, and the first things that caught my eye were numerous bookshelves. It was a glorious sight: books stacked upon books, an absolute paradise for the bookworms. When my parents were alive, they had mountains of books that I had spent countless warm afternoons curled up in a corner with. Books in Theresa’s house, however, were virtually nonexistent, so I had countless warm afternoons of boredom instead. Writing was also fun for me. I wanted to take up drawing at first, but when I learned that I couldn’t draw very well, I started to write about everything I saw instead.

This classroom was literally amazing! It had a wooden floor covered in patterned cushions of every kind. Some patterns looked ugly to me but some were quite fascinating and intricate. A few tables laid in the middle of the room, chairs surrounding them. The walls - no, the bookshelves - covered every inch of space where the walls should have been. The front of the room was occupied by a black screen.

I was almost struck speechless by how the windows looked. Different shades of colored glass filtered brilliant hues of light onto the tables. The palette of luminously colored sunlight spilled onto the ground in a whirlwind of colors. The tables were made of dark, sturdy wood that gave off a cozy sense of winter mornings next to a fire.

Mr. Willus gave me a fat smile and a nudge of power urging me to go on. Loose strings of brightly pigmented magic hung around him, as if drawn to an infinite void surrounding his soul.

I walked, with both great excitement and great reluctance, to a bean bag near Gwen’s territory. The way she sprawled over two of the cushiony seats was overwhelmingly irritating. She also had one of the few desks in the room in front of her. But my friends were at that table behind her, and so to that table I went.

“Hey Mackie!” Brianna’s beaming smile and an excited Max welcomed me.

At that, Gwen let out a little “Hmph.” Her long eyebrows arched noticeably in irritation as I pulled Amber into a seat next to me.

“Class,” Mr Willus said, with a wave of his hand that disturbed the threads of color cloaking him. “Quick announcement. There is an important assembly that will be held after this lesson, and every single student needs to be there. It is vital for your future at the academy!”

He waited for a response that contained a few eyerolls and yawns. Mr. Willus chuckled a good-natured laugh, and threw up his hands in mock defeat. “Alright everyone! Now that the boring news is out of the way, let’s get this magic thing going!” He cheered, and the yarns of enchants around him erupted with color.

The class erupted with excitement. My electrified shout rang out with a spark along with the rest of them.

“Alright, let’s start with the basics! I know, I know. No bolts of white fire just yet. Now, this little spell is called ‘Kithrandous.’ It is a simple spell to create a ball of energy. I’m assuming that some of you already know basic spells since you come from magical families. Any volunteers?”

Nobody raised their hand.

“Well, I’ll choose then.”

The entire class tensed.

“Come on kids, it’s not hard to learn… How about you, Mackenzie Jade.”

I looked up to see the heads of everyone tilted toward me. I was doodling on the back of my notebook, trying to appear normal, like I did in all of my classes I had ever taken.

I know, no matter how hard you try, the teacher always picks on you. I was used to being called on randomly, but I could always answer calmly, or admit that I didn’t know the answer…

What froze me was the fact that I had never introduced myself even though he had just addressed me by my full name.

Mr. Willus saw my confusion. “Oh! I’m sorry. I… can read minds. My power should only be used in emergencies. I apologize. Mackenzie Jade is a pretty long name though. Do you have a nickname or…”

“Umm,” I stammered, now too scared to think. “ I usually go by Mackie Jade?” I stood up and leaned awkwardly on my desk, glancing around nervously.

The rest of the classroom sat, stunned and shocked.

“Okay… that was really awkward. Please, have a seat.” He turned to the class. “I sincerely apologize. None of us have introduced ourselves yet. Sorry, guys! I frequently forget that no one else can read minds. Let’s do a quick icebreaker! Everyone loves icebreakers, right?”

He smiled at the class warmly, and received a chorus of groans. “Yes, I am a mind reader. See all these multicolored strings? Each cord is like an emotion I am able to read and feel, that’s why there’s so many colors! Now, since I revealed my power to the class, you all have to share your unique powers!”

I felt anxiety creeping up my spine. A tingling sensation raced up and down my arms. Just great. It just so conveniently happened to be the one thing that I didn’t know. Classic.

And what in tarnation was his way of teaching? Hello, kids! We have a mandatory assembly after class. Now, let’s do spells. Wait, my mistake! I can read minds. Alright, let’s do an icebreaker now!

“Let’s start with you, Annie.” At the look of blatant surprise on the girl’s face, Mr. Willus smacked himself with an open palm. “Oops! Did it again. Sorry, Annie.” He gestured to a table in front of us.

“Shield,” Annie said, hesitantly, but with pride peeking from her voice.

“Hydrokinesis, or water-control,” said the boy next to her in a casual manner .

Mr. Willus skips half of the classroom and points to Gwen’s table. What was he doing?

“Color manipulation,” said one of Gwen’s pretty-looking friends dressed in a gradient lavender dress laced with purple crystals. I didn’t even know that someone could put that much eyeshadow on.

No wonder she was Gwen’s friend. Changing the color of their outfits and makeup is pretty important, eh? My mind quipped.

“Summoning and controlling animals,” Gwen said, with an undisguised snigger at me.

“Super speed,” Brianna said.

I knew it!

“Hypnokinesis, manipulation of the unconscious state,” said the kid sitting next to her.

Ah, sorry, he isn’t sitting. More like laying down. As soon as the professor moved on to the next student, he flipped over and burrowed into his beanbag. Within seconds, he had begun to snore. Sleep-control, he clearly lives up to it.

Amber smiled. “Flying!” She declared proudly, happiness lighting her face. “I learned it just last week!” I gave her a congratulatory smile.

Max looked at me with a smirk before he answered. “Shapeshifting,” He said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Really? Even he knows his power? I gave him a quick upset glance. He gave me one in return, as to say what’s wrong?

All eyes turned to me. “Well… I don’t know yet.” I said, as quietly as I dared. Heat rushed to my face as I scratched the back of my neck anxiously.

Bang!

The desk shuddered under Gwen’s suddenly raging fist. Her face twisted with unspent anger as her mouth opened in triumph.

“I knew it! I knew there was something off about you!”

My heart pounded in my chest nervously. “Oh, uh...excuse me?”

“Wowie, you’re so shy now. Do you even have magic? Could you even do a simple spell? Maybe you’re just a stupid normal human who somehow got put here!”

“Ms. Lars, I think you should calm down a little-” Mr. Willus tried to cut in, but she turned to him.

“Shut up!” She snapped, her eyes an unnatural shade of rage.

I waited for Mr. Willus to do something, maybe give her a detention slip or tell her to leave the room, but he did nothing. His eyes widened and he sat in silence. My heart sunk as her attention turned back to me.

“I’ve figured you out, Mackenzie.”