I'm sorry I haven't updated in a long time. This chapter was just hard to write. Well, it's the longest chapter I've ever written for this. I hope you enjoy it.
[Third person, Omniscent]
"Emily and Genevieve," the girls heard in the morning. "It's time to get up. You wouldn't want to be late for the first day of classes." Hearing that, they thought they were back at home and it was all a dream. They decided to sleep in until their mom came back in.
"Girls, it is time to get up," said the voice. "Do not make me use the alarms."
"What alarms?" asked Emily groggily, for they weren't used to alarms back at home.
"These alarms," said the voice matter-a-factily. Then all of a sudden some fireworks went off above the girls' heads, causing them to sit up in a panic. Genevieve started to scream, and Emily, while not a screamer, nearly did the same thing with her yell. The girls then looked at the beds and clothes they were in and realized wizard city wasn't a dream after all.
"Okay," said Emily. "Those nearly gave me a heart attack," she said clutching her heart.
"Same here," said Genevieve doing the same. "Aren't fireworks in a building a bit of a safety hazard?"
"Don't worry," said the voice. The girls looked around the room to try to find the owner. "The fireworks are harmless. It's just to get you out of bed in the morning."
"Then why do I have soot in my hair?" questioned Genevieve, brushing soot out of her hair.
"Who's talking?" said Emily, asking the obvious question.
"I'm a spell cast on the dorms to remind students of their schedules and get them up in the morning," said the voice. "Students in the beginning levels have their classes in the morning and they last for three hours and fifteen minutes starting at nine-o-clock which is in one hour."
"Wait," said Emily. "You're saying we get the afternoon off?"
"There may be some schedule changes, but for now yes."
"Cool," said Genevieve.
"Yes, it is pretty cool, but may I remind you to get out of bed and get ready."
"Right," said Emily. "We should probably do that." They flung off their covers and then made their beds. Genevieve was still concerned about her hair.
"Em, I'm a little concerned that we'll have to go to class with soot in our hair. We didn't bring any brushes or stuff like that with us." Emily looked around the room.
"We don't need to worry about that Gen," said Emily, pointing out how the desks have been replaced with vanities with complementary brushes for hair and teeth, some bottles with toothpaste and hair oil, and a bowl to wash their faces in.
"Thank you," said Genevieve happily.
They made their way to the vanities. They brushed their hair the best they could and Emily applied her hair oil. It worked like magic, calming what she couldn't tame with her brush, flattening all her frizzy bedhead hair she couldn't take care of, and dissolving all the soot in it. When Genevieve saw that, she applied some to her hair.
"Magic hair stuff, I love you," said Emily.
"All girls seem to fuss over their hair," said the voice. "Of course I can understand first impressions being important." After that was done they brushed their teeth and washed their faces, and then they were done. The vanities then turned back into desks. Plates of bacon, over-easy eggs, and toast with a side glass of milk appeared on the desks. The girls ate their meals, enjoying every bite of it.
"This is good," said Genevieve.
"Thank the cooks at the eatery in the commons," said the voice. "They're the ones that volunteer to make the food for the students in their dorms.
"To think," said Emily. "They give us all this complementary stuff, but they don't give us pajamas."
"Everyone has their own interests," said the voice. "You can buy some you like in the shopping district."
"Then that's our goal for today," said Genevieve. "After classes, we'll go to the shopping district and get some pajamas."
"Right," said Emily. Once they were done, the dishes vanished. They still had about half an hour left.
"Why did you wake us so early?" said Genevieve.
"Most students consider changing," said the voice.
"Well, I'm not changing," said Emily. "I think this is a good look for the first day. It's a blank slate impression." Emily was never one for fashion statements.
"Well, I'm going to see what I can wear today," said Genevieve.
She took out her spell book from her bag and enlarged it. She opened up to the backpack tab and went through the clothes pages. For hats she had a purple and yellow Canvas Cover that curved and had a bell as well as a Rattlebones' Cowl which flopped down over her eyes. She thought the Canvas Cover made her look silly and Rattlebones' Cowl wasn't suitable for storm school.
For outfits she had a Raiment of Storms, which had a skirt and a long dangly rope belt with a crystal on it. The skirt had little stars that dangled on the bottom, and a sun symbol on the shirt. She decided to go with that. She pulled it out of her book and put it on.
"A little over the top, don't you think Gen," said Emily.
"I like it," she said.
"Suit yourself," said Emily.
For shoes, she had Canvas Wraps, Ruby Slippers, and Stormweave Shoes. The Stormweave Shoes matched the color of her outfit, so she pulled them out and put them on. For wands she could choose from her simple Baton of the Clouds or her Charged Wand.
"I think I don't need anything too powerful for the first day," she said. So she stuck with her Baton of the Clouds, but she still wore the flawed opal ring. She then noticed her hat clashed with her outfit, so she pulled out the Canvas Cover and put it on, even if it did make her look silly.
"Done," she said as she twirled around in awe.
"Wow Gen," said Emily deadpanned. "You really like to go all out for first impressions."
"I should try to look my best," said Genevieve proudly.
"So," said Emily, trying to change the topic. "What do you think we'll be covering on our first day?"
"Well," said Genevieve. "I think we'll just be covering introductions, the course outlines, some basic stuff, you know, the use."
"You have fifteen minutes before class," said the voice.
"Okay," said Emily.
"So," said Genevieve, not ready to leave yet, "the first day of our year in a new world."
"We'll still have holidays," said Emily.
"Those are a while away," said Genevieve, flopping onto her bed. "I think…I'll miss our family."
"You and me both," said Emily, plopping down on Genevieve's bed as well.
"Do you think they're missing us?" said Genevieve.
"I don't know," said Emily. "We only left yesterday. I guess Mom and Dad would be missing us a little. I'm afraid of how much they will miss us by this world's thanksgiving. Adam however, he might not be missing us yet."
"Yeah," said Genevieve, reminiscing. "I bet he's happy for the quiet."
"I don't know if he'll ever really miss us," said Emily glumly. "Or if he'll even notice we're gone."
"He'll notice," said Genevieve. "Eventually; I mean, he's still our brother, he'll miss us at least a little bit."
"Yeah," said Emily, said lying down on the bed and looking at the ceiling. "I guess."
"Don't get too comfortable," said the voice. "You now only have ten minutes until class, and punctuality is expected from students." They took a few deep breathes to ease their nerves.
"Maybe we can go pick out our seats and be there before everyone else is…like we always do," suggested Emily.
"Sure," said Genevieve, just going along with it.
They both knew the other wished they had more time before class. School wasn't a good experience for them, especially for Emily. Genevieve wanted to be there for her through the hard times and Emily just wanted to learn without being thought of as an oddball. Emily figured this was a new place where nobody knew her so she could have a fresh start; she also hoped their exploits on Unicorn way may help lighten people's view of her. Genevieve didn't know what to expect from fire students, or storm students for that matter. Genevieve hoped that since Emily was with a lot of people like her she could make some new friends, and they won't be too hard on her; she also hoped the storm students weren't too hard on her. Still, nothing could stop them from splitting apart; they would just have to be brave about it. If they could tackle beings of the undead, school should be no problem, right?
So they made their way to their classes, Genevieve parted from Emily when they made it to the storm school and Emily continued to walk to the fire school. Once Genevieve was inside the storm school she went to find her seat. The ambiance of thunder made her shudder. She really wasn't a huge fan of storms, but the book said she belonged there so there was no use arguing. She chose a seat in the middle row, left side, in the very middle of the room.
Emily was a different case. She wasn't a huge fan of heat, but she barely noticed it in the classroom. Madame Falmea noticed her and smiled; she appreciated Emily's punctuality. Emily chose a seat at the very front and center of the room on the left side, excited and nervous about what was going to happen that day.
When class had started for both of them it was just like Genevieve predicted. They had begun by having the entire class introduce themselves, giving a little summary of who they were, who their family was and where they were from. They had heard of people from Marleybone, Mooshu, Krokotopia, Polaris, Darkmoor, Avalon, Celestia, Grizzleheim, all these worlds they had barely heard of before that day. Then it was time to introduce themselves; they spoke their names but not their last, which made their classmates curious. They said they were from earth, which nobody recognized.
All eyes and ears were on them as they spoke of the earth and of how it wasn't part of the spiral. People grew ever more curious. They spoke of their family a little, mentioning how their twin sister was in another school of magic and when they mentioned what that school was, everyone realized who they were.
"Hey, it's one of the heroes of unicorn way."
"I had no idea they weren't even from the spiral."
"If their world doesn't believe in magic how are they so good at it?
"They must truly be something else if the headmaster invited them all the way here."
"I think there's another reason they're here."
"Didn't they say Malistere was in Golem tower?" The teachers then had to settle down the students to stop them from going into an uproar. Once introductions were done, the teachers went over the course outline for the year. After that, they decided to do some introductions of their own. They talked of the school's history and how it was founded in wizard city, they talked of how wizard city was one of the main worlds in the spiral, and they talked of how Merle Ambrose became the headmaster of Ravenwood. Once that was done, they went over the rules of the school, rules of the city, and the basic rules for magic. Emily and Genevieve already knew the rules of magic; the headmaster told them all about cards and mana.
After class was dismissed for the day, the girls met up with each other. They really didn't have anything to mention that was interesting that the other didn't already know. At least their status as heroes paid off, maybe a little too much in their opinion. They went and had lunch in their dorm, and then went to the shopping district to buy some pajamas. To go with the colour scheme they had going: Genevieve bought some pink pajamas while Emily bought some red flannels.
They then spent the rest of the day touring the commons, shopping district, the fairegrounds (played a few games), and while nervous about it, they did check out the courtyard to golem tower again. They had dinner in the shopping district and then spent their last few hours touring the library. The Library seemed amazing to them, so much arcane knowledge and banners of every school on the walls. Genevieve was a little miffed that the Librarian was a dog man, but they did find an interesting Book on the history of the spiral. It told of the dragons, the titans and the giants, who ruled the land, sea, and air, presiding over the magic of fire, storm, and ice. They felt pretty good to be a part of the major magic schools. They would've read more, but it was time to head in for the night. So they brushed their teeth in their dorms, put on their new pajamas, and went to bed.
The next day, when the voice woke them up, they didn't hesitate to get up. They got ready for the day, had their breakfast and got dressed. The voice told them that for that day they would have six hours in class. That was more like it; they were more used to those hours in comparison to their old school.
Genevieve decided that for that day she would be wearing her normal attire. Emily decided to wear something else that day. She wore her hair in a red hood trimmed with yellow known as a Soot-stained hat, for her hair was a mess. She also wore some red and yellow trimmed Soot-stained boots, which went with her Firestorm Vestment, which had a white blouse with a red and yellow torso, yellow trim, red and yellow trimmed cape, and a red and yellow trimmed drape hung down in front of her red pants. For her wand she decided to take her scepter of ignition, for she figured things still wouldn't be very major on the second day.
On that day, it started with them having a refresher quiz of everything they went over the day previous. That was easy. They then went into the history of the magic in their school, the history of magic in general, and the history of the spiral. They were given the last few periods of the day to work on their project, after deciding how they were going to do it, gather what they needed and did some more extensive research that is. Ravenwood didn't kid around.
Emily and Genevieve met up to decide what they were going to do for their classes. They noticed how their classes depicted different things with how the war happened. Both their schools said that neither were the ones to start the war, instead it was the two others. The Diviner's tome claimed that since the Tritons were merciful, they were put to sleep, and The Pyromancer's tome claimed that the dragons used their power to end the war. Then it went on to say how that school was the most powerful, how the magic has been formalized for wizards, the school colors, and that the gemstones were ruby and amethyst.
Emily had to do a paper for her project, while Genevieve had to make a diorama. Genevieve decided that she would make something that would show the Great War between the titans as well as the magic involved that made the spiral, by showing how the war tore apart the one world. In the background, she would show how the three main magics combined to make other magics. Emily decided, based on what Genevieve was doing, she was going to write about how the Great War may have been destructive, but caused a many great things to occur.
Emily and Genevieve worked on their projects for the rest of the day until they had to go to bed that night.
The next day, they woke up and got ready. They got dressed for the day, wearing simple clothes, Genevieve in her Canvas Wraps, and Emily in her Seared Shoes and Novice hat which looked just like her ordinary hat. They then practiced what they were going to say after breakfast.
When they went to class that day, they presented their work to the class. Everyone was surprised of how much of an understanding they had of this. The teachers praised their hard work and devotion to the task and gave them high marks, recommending others to follow their example.
After the presentations were over, they focused on simple attack spells. The spells that would never fizzle were the ones that didn't cost you any mana, so they focused on sparks and fireballs, which focused on finding that hidden magic within them or the magic that resided in their wands. They also learned how to use magic without their wands, for wands just help you channel mana, without a wand you just need more concentration, which was something both their schools had to focus on.
The next thing they learned about that day was natural elements, like mana and wisps, what they were in essence and how they helped. They learned how each sidewalk was different in each area and how they kept monsters away. They learned how the chests would show up for anyone deserving of a reward.
"Oh, so that's what those are," realized the girls. They also learned the history of the trees and some basic spells that you could use, like changing something into something else, or multiplying something.
At the end of the day, the girls decided to relax in the commons, before heading to their dorm for dinner.
The next day began with a pop quiz to review the previous day's lectures. After which, they focused on the core ideals of their power, and how they summon and control creatures from their realm of magic.
Emily in her class learned the core of being a Pyromancer comes from being passionate. Fire in its essence is passion, a bright burning flame of raw emotion that sweeps over everything, engulfing everything around it. Pyromancers are much like fire themselves: tempestuous, quick to anger, and consumed by whatever drives them in that moment. Emily found this fascinating, and could relate with what she heard. She had a reputation for being easily angered, but also being enthusiastic and driven with passion towards what she loves doing and being a part of. Her teacher warned the class that Pyromancers must always walk a fine line, because while having great passion and enthusiasm for one's loves in life is good, Passion can at the same time burn you up and consume you, leaving you nothing but a husk of your former self.
Emily took those words to heart. She realized that it was her love for herself and her love for things that made her defensive and angry, wanting to hurt others and lash out. There were times in the past where Emily thought she was a demon due to how often she wanted to lash out at those who would snuff her out. Of course, she wouldn't be human if she acted on those thoughts.
Madame Falmea gave the class this mantra to remember: "If the Mind is like a candle, the Heart is like the sun." The quote itself means that their main power comes from their emotions, and it must power their magic. At the same time, if one uses their mind they can control their fire so it doesn't get out of control.
Genevieve in her class was discussing a less dire topic, it helped that the teacher was so energetic himself. Being a Diviner was not about seeing the future as Genevieve had believed but instead it was about imagination and creativity. Unlike Myth, which focuses on the collective imagination, of minds working together to forge an idea or concept, Storm was about the individual imagination. Genevieve was not really a team player, except with Emily, and she was tons creative, so Genevieve began to see how this school was right for her despite it seeming more energetic than she ever cared to be. Her teacher when describing Divination used a lot of inventive metaphors, but Genevieve understood them well enough. Divination magic is formed from flashes of insight (probably why it referred to future vision in Harry Potter), or otherwise sparks of inspiration. Storm magic is made of "Eureka" moments, finding creative solutions to problems, but seeing as how Storm is the essence of power, Genevieve believes Storm magic is the power of the mind being brought into physical form. The teacher explained that Diviners are driven by the thrill of investigation and discovery, the joys of invention and ingenuity, the power of creating and building. Genevieve saw herself like that a lot, she was always seeking new knowledge, and asking tons of questions that people didn't like answering. She was always creating art, but never finalizing it, always changing it, playing around with details and descriptions. The frogman continued with a drawback, saying pursuits of such knowledge and creation gets many diviners lost in their maze of thoughts, being paralyzed when making decisions.
Genevieve wanted to doubt what her teacher described, at the same time she understood all too well. It's because of her thinking so much that she is such a mess; her thoughts tend to trail off into dark corridors. Her mind makes herself believe she isn't as smart as she is and decisions made might be wrong. Genevieve still believed she was better than Emily. Emily was terrible at decisions, she needed to do math to help her, and she hated leaving an impact sometimes.
Of course, Emily loved being a hero and that was making a great impact, and Genevieve called a lot of shots out on Unicorn Way. Genevieve figured, 'if Emily's mind is kaput I have to take charge and vice-versa.' As for their changes, maybe Wizard City is helping them more than harming them.
Professor Balestrom told the class this quote to remember, "That which can be imagined, can be achieved." The quote was meant to convince the Storm students not to doubt the power of their own minds, as well as give them confidence. This would help the students produce effective spells as well as anything they wished to create in life.
The last lesson of the class that day was about how to summon and manage the creatures they summon. Pyromancers, as Emily was aware, use Incantations, while Diviners, as Genevieve was aware, use Verses. The girls were aware of the poetic aspect of their spells, but at least now their rhymes had names. In class they were told why this was so. Pyromancers use Incantations to dominate and convince creatures of fire to do their bidding, while Diviners use Verses to charm, enthrall, or hypnotize creatures to help them.
Diviners seemed as if they were forcing creatures to help them against their will. Professor Balestrom explained that storm magic is a very individual power, and thus it is not a friendly power to harness. Storm magic is a very dangerous gift to master; it is taking hold of a power within another source and harnessing it for your own. Genevieve realized that this is probably why the verses sounded so bouncy now.
Pyromancers on the other hand seemed to have creatures follow them of their own wills. Madame Falmea explained that all magic produces an aura from the mana that controls it; Storm is calculating and ingeuitive, maybe energetic, Fire is of passion and feeling, driven entirely by emotion. Pyromancers could have frightening emotions, or genuine sympathetic emotions. A dominating or endearing presence; anyone can speak, but it is the emotion behind the words that make themselves understood. Since fire itself is passion, Fire creatures are usually empathetic beings.
That was all they had for that class. The girls felt like they would be lucky if they remembered all of it. They told each other what they could remember. It did not make Genevieve feel better.
"My school just sounds cruel," she said glumly as she plopped onto her bed.
"It also allows you to be creative," said Emily. "And it's very powerful."
"Easy for you to say, Miss Master of Emotions," said Genevieve.
"I'm not a…"
"Your school sounds much nicer than mine."
"Your school would praise you for being an artist."
"As would yours."
"How?"
"Art is all about emotion."
"Fire is about using our power while keeping it in check."
"Storm is the mind, Fire is the heart…you know how cold that makes me sound."
"Your teacher is a fun guy," said Emily. "Storm isn't about your personality; it's about the power you wield. You can be any type of person you want because…storms come in all shapes and sizes."
That was enough to satisfy Genevieve for the time being, however it did take a while before she fell asleep.
The next day, they had a pop quiz to review what they learned the previous day. That was still easy but a little harder. They then went over how to make things levitate based on the magic they had. It was mostly based on wind; the Pyromancers used hot wind while Diviners used regular wind. The Pyromancers then focused on changing the temperature of things through magic, while Diviners focused on changing the state of water, vapor, or ice. After that lesson, they worked on basic wand magic, like getting directions, changing the size of something, or basic cleaning up.
The final lessons of the week allowed Pyromancers and Diviners to develop a sixth sense, a sense into their magic. Pyromancers worked on sensing heat sources, while Diviners worked on sensing approaching storms. They then worked on more sensual stuff, like sensing heat or if there is water nearby, sensing the weather (the heat or movement in the atmosphere), and sensing life (The spark inside of someone), and the situation (sensing if things are heating up or cooling down, or sensing the type of storm that is brewing).
They were then released for the weekend. After school, Emily and Genevieve were so hyped from all that they learned that they couldn't wait to show each other the type of magic they could do. Frankly, it was pretty much the same, but they still liked to show it off.
On Saturday, they spent the whole day in the library reading; they also learned what treasure cards were. On Sunday though, they decided to check out the commons more.
On Sunday they weren't concerned about dress code or looking to please anyone's fashion taste except their own. Genevieve wore her raiment of storms, her canvas wraps, her Rattlebones Cowl, her flawed opal ring and she had her charged wand. Emily was even crazier, then again she was guided by math. She had laid out all of her clothes in the order she had received them and counted them based on the day of the year it was. After she had narrowed down her options to about three, she counted based on the time of the hour which the voice helped her with. Genevieve reprimanded the voice for getting involved, finding the whole ordeal ridiculous. This process did not take Emily long to do, as she did the math every day. Emily ended up wearing her green sturdy coat, her ruby slippers, her frost touched cap, and she had her branded wand with her.
"Well," said Genevieve. "You sure know how to go all out there."
First thing they did that day was look around for reagents. Around the ice tree, Kelvin, they had found some frost flowers and some Cattails. Emily gathered one of each while Genevieve gathered as much as she could, two of each. Next they checked the fairegrounds where Genevieve found some deep mushrooms, and then Genevieve found some Mistwood behind some buildings. She was in a gathering mood.
After lunch, they went to go find something else they could do, when Emily noticed that girl Genevieve noticed earlier in need of assistance. They went to go ask her what the problem was.
"Oh, Hello," she said. "My name's Penny. I just got to Wizard City and I have no idea what's going on. Nothing is like they said it would be!"
"I know," said Genevieve. "Weird things are happening."
"My parents told me all about how nice Professor Malistere was when they came here, and how I'd really enjoy his classes. I came here and he's gone! No one knows what happened to him, and even the whole death classroom is missing! There's just floating rubble!"
"That'd be Malistere's handiwork," said Emily.
"What?!" said Penny. "Anyway, that's not the worst part. My application somehow got lost and I don't know who to talk to next."
"You're not even enrolled!" exclaimed Genevieve. "School has already been in session for a week already."
"Almost a week," corrected Emily. "And the death school is doing their own thing right now, so I'm not sure if it even matters."
"Of course it matters," said Genevieve. "What if the death school comes back?"
"True," said Emily. "Okay Penny, if you don't know who to talk to, I guess we could go to Mister Lincoln. He's the registrar; he probably handles all the school's papers."
"That's great," said Penny. "Where do we find him?"
"You don't know how to ask your wand for directions?" puzzled Genevieve.
"I do," said Penny, "It's just, it's not working at the moment."
"I guess all death magic is acting wonky with everything that's going on," said Emily. "Here we'll use my wand." She waved her wand saying, "Where is Mister Lincoln?" They followed Emily's wand to the courtyard of Golem tower.
"Hey Mister Lincoln," said Genevieve. "What are you doing here?"
"Well," he said. "Golem tower is especially beautiful this time of day; so I like to do my work around here."
"Mister Lincoln," said Emily. "Do you know what might have happened to Penny's paperwork for her application?"
"That's Penny Dreadful," said Penny.
"You see," said Genevieve. "Penny doesn't seem to be enrolled, so we were wondering if the paperwork for her admittance may have gotten lost somewhere."
"Let me check," said Mister Lincoln, flipping through his book. "Hmm…no, I don't see any young student named Penny Dreadful in my books. Her registration must not have been processed. You should speak to Headmaster Ambrose to see what can be done."
"Okay," said Emily. "We will." Penny looked upset.
"I knew it had gotten lost," said Penny.
"Don't worry, Penny," said Genevieve. "We'll find it." Before they left the courtyard, something caught Emily's eye.
"Hey it's Regina Flametalon," said Emily. "She's one of the older Pyromancer students. I wonder what she's doing here."
"Em," said Genevieve. "We need to sort out Penny's problem."
"We will," said Emily. "I just want to talk to Regina first." So Emily went over to her.
"Hi, I'm Emily," she said. "I'm in the beginning Pyromancer class. I saw you in one of the old class photos; pleasure to meet you."
"Hi," said Regina. "Would you mind if I asked you of something? I normally wouldn't ask someone I just met, or a beginner, but I really need help. All my friends are busy with their projects, so I don't know who else to turn to."
"I can help you, what do you need help with?"
"You see, I'm trying to finish this science fair project for Professor Balestrom, but those Golems stole my materials."
"Science Fair? Golems?"
"There's a science fair this week for the advanced classes; especially if storm is your secondary school."
"Hey," said Emily. "That's my sister's school."
"Well I wish her luck. The assignments that Professor Balestrom can give you are not always easy. I was working on mine out in this courtyard, and then the Golems from that tower decided to go for a stroll and stole the matirals I need. They took them back into that tower." Emily looked at the tower.
"Why would they steal your materials?"
"The materials I had helped Golems function."
"I see," said Emily. "It probably wasn't a good idea to work on your project so close to the tower then."
"I thought I would be done before their gallivanting. I really need those materials back. I've got a few more preparations to make, and this is due tomorrow. If I have to fight the Golems too, I'm sure to be late!"
"Oh," said Emily, knowing the feeling of a bad grade. She barely got bad grades, but she didn't enjoy the possibility of failing. "That's bad." Regina continued to panic.
"If I'm late, I'll get a bad grade and…wait a minute. If you retrieve them for me, while I do the last preparations, I can finish my project and still be on time!" Emily looked at the tower again.
"I don't know, Regina," said Emily. "I'm just a beginner."
"I've heard stories of how you used your magic to save Unicorn way from dark forces; surely you could be able to get my materials."
"I had help for that," said Emily. She looked back to her sister and Penny. "And right now we're doing something else."
"Please," begged Regina. Emily couldn't help herself.
"Okay, I'll do it."
"Great," said Regina, "Could you first bring me some Enchanted Wood from one of the wooden Golem constructs in the tower?"
"Sure thing," said Emily, not sure what she signed up for.
"Thank you," said Regina. Emily made it back to Genevieve and Penny.
"Sorry guys," she said. "You'll have to go on without me. I'll be too busy fighting Golems to help."
"What!?" exclaimed Genevieve.
"What about my paperwork?" asked Penny.
"You can find it without me," said Emily. "I need to get materials for Regina's project that's due tomorrow."
"Alright," said Genevieve. "I'll try to get back to you later."
"See ya," said Emily. She then braced herself and headed inside Golem tower. Genevieve and Penny made their way towards Professor Ambrose's office. Once they got there, they saw he was all alone for a change. Must've been his R&R day; they approached him.
"Sorry to bother you sir," said Genevieve.
"No bother at all, Genevieve," said Ambrose. "I'm just reviewing some paperwork. What brings you and your friend here?"
"Speaking of paperwork, sir," said Genevieve. "We were wondering if you know what happened to Penny Dreadful's paperwork."
"Mister Lincoln says my application must not have been processed, for I'm not enrolled at the school."
"Young Penny Dreadful of the Marleybone Dreadfuls? Oh dear?" he seemed panicked. "You poor girl! Let me see if it got misplaced." He then went around his office shuffling through piles of paper. "Here it is!" he said relieved. "Her application got shuffled into a stack of other paperwork! I wonder if Gamma misplaced it…Oh, here it is! Wonderful!" He came back to his desk to address the girls.
"Miss Dreadful, as you can see we have your application and everything is in order. I offer my sincere apologies for this confusion."
"Okay, thank you Professor Ambrose," said Penny. She turned to leave. Genevieve was stopped before she made it to the door.
"Genevieve, if there's anything else you and your sister can do for her, I'd be most appreciative. Her parents were both students here, long ago, and we remember them fondly. It's just that Penny's arrival comes at an unfortunate time…"
"Don't worry Professor," said Genevieve. "Emily and I will look out for her."
"Oh good," said Ambrose. "Now run along." When Genevieve met Penny outside, Penny was ecstatic.
"I'm so happy they found my paperwork," said Penny. "Oh, thank you so much. Tell your sister thanks as well, I won't forget how helpful you two have been. I'll see you in class."
"Maybe," said Genevieve as she ran back to Golem court. She had to go back to help Emily. She noticed Emily running back into the tunnel to Golem Court. What was she doing out?
The girls met up back in the court.
"Thank goodness you're Gen," said Emily. "Beating a wooden golem was easy enough, but Regina needs something to make her project move, so now I have to fight some tougher clockwork golems. I could use your help for that."
"What were you doing in the commons?" asked Genevieve.
"I didn't want to use my potion so I went looking for wisps." She explained. "You need all your strength and energy when fighting these guys."
"Okay, good to know," said Genevieve. "Let's go in." Then they went inside the tower together.
When they got to the Clockwork Golems, Emily went into the sun circle while Genevieve went into the circle with the symbol of the eye. Genevieve managed to take out the golem in the key circle with a single Thundersnake; meanwhile it took Emily two turns to smash the clockwork golem in the dagger circle. She threw an Ice Beetle at it, and it retaliated with an Imp. Luckily, Emily was wearing her sturdy coat. She finished it off with a Firecat. Emily approached the disabled Golems and yanked a gear from one, mildly shocking herself.
"We got the gear," said Emily. "Let's take this back to Regina." Once outside, they drank their potions to refuel their health and mana.
"Tastes like grape soda," said Genevieve.
"Huh," said Emily. "I was going to say it tasted like grape ginger-ale."
"Too bad we're not a huge fan of either." They approached Regina.
"Hey Regina," said Emily. "We got that charged gear you needed."
"Oh thank you," she said taking it from them. "You've been a big help, Emily! With everything going on, there is no way I could have gotten one of those myself; and as I can see, you needed help as well."
"Well, it was easy really." Emily rubbed the back of her head. "All we needed to do was cast three spells."
"My project is almost complete," said Regina happily. Genevieve was starting to understand why Emily wanted to help her so much; helping someone felt good.
"Okay," said Regina, set in her sights. "I need one more piece for my science project. It's going to be tough, so you don't have to do it if you don't want to."
"Are you kidding," said Emily. "It's been easy for us so far."
'Easy for her to say,' thought Genevieve. Genevieve was only lucky because she had powerful spells. She forgot to use them half of the time.
"I thought you would say that," said Regina, smiling. "You have to go up to the top of Golem tower."
"Why?" questioned Genevieve. Regina and Emily then turned their attention to her as Regina explained.
"I need a steam capacitor to complete my project. The only one I know of would be the one on the Iron Golem, and he is REALLY tough!" Genevieve went white.
"I don't blame you if you don't want to do it. But, if you do, I'll give you treasure cards for defeating the Iron Golem and bringing me the steam capacitor. Deal?"
"Deal," said Emily, shaking her hand. "I know if we fight him together, he should be no problem. Of course, we should probably buy another potion each; just to be sure."
"Okay," said Genevieve nervously. So they went to the Fairegrounds to find Hilda Brewer, and asked her for some more potions.
"We'll be fine, Gen," Emily reassured her. Genevieve nodded. They attached their potions to their belts and headed off to fight the Iron Golem.
When they made their way up the tower again, Emily found herself doing most of the work for Genevieve was constantly getting overwhelmed. Just before they climbed the last flight of stairs, Emily found a Novice Athame dagger, which would increase her mana. That was good, because Emily was getting drained. They gulped down their potions so they would be all fueled up for the fight with the Iron Golem.
Genevieve was pretty shocked with how Emily wanted to play things out. Emily would be fighting an ordinary Clockwork Golem, while Genevieve would be fighting the Iron Golem. Before Genevieve could protest, that's how the dueling circle set it up. Emily took out her golem with a single Thundersnake. Meanwhile, Genevieve cast a Lightning Strike spell.
"You do what I do better than me," said Genevieve in disbelief. The Iron Golem cast an Ice beetle at Genevieve.
"I only know how to do this because I have the right wand for the job," said Emily, irritated. She tried to cast a Scarab, but it fizzled in her irritation. "Without the wand, I'm clueless of how the spell works." Genevieve cast a spell to heal herself. The Iron Golem cast a Thundersnake spell at Genevieve.
"Shocked with my own school's spell," said Genevieve glumly.
"That's because it's of the same school you are," said Emily, frustrated. Man, her sister needed to cheer up. Emily cast a Blood Bat spell at it. "Just pick a spell, focus on it and cast it on the Iron Golem!" Genevieve picked a simple Ice Beetle spell, and blasted the wand's magic at the card. Doing that caused the Iron Golem to fall apart.
"Great," Emily panted. "We did it! We're done!" She went over to the Iron Golem parts and picked up the steam capacitor. "I don't know what you're problem is, but we really don't need that attitude while we're fighting things," she said glaring at Genevieve.
"My problem is that nothing is going my way."
"That's not true," said Emily, trying to give her a good point.
"Is it?" said Genevieve. "Ever since I came to this stinkin magical realm nothing has been going right for me. First, my hair turns pink. Second, I don't get the school I want. Third, I find out my teacher's a frog. Lastly, I can't get this stupid magic thing right. My spells fizzle a lot, and I'm always fumbling around trying to pick the right spell to cast. Yet you always know what to do, everything seems to be going your way, which I honestly didn't see coming. I mean, out of the two of us, I have the magical name, and yet you're the magical one!"
"You'll be fine. You're doing okay in class," said Emily.
"That's because we've only covered the simple stuff," said Genevieve. "We focus on inventions more than magic."
"You can't stay off that stuff forever," said Emily, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We haven't covered the spell stuff yet. We've only had one week of class and we still know more than most people. You'll get better."
"You really think so," said Genevieve.
"I know so," said Emily. "Now let's get this steam capacitor back to Regina."
Once they made it back to Regina, she was surprised with how things turned out.
"We got you that steam capacitor," said Genevieve. "It wasn't as easy as before."
"You guys defeated the Iron Golem? Wow! You know how many students have tried and were defeated?"
"We should be lucky the Golems don't kill people then," said Emily.
"Yep," said Genevieve. "They just steal from them."
"You guys are amazing!" said Regina, "just like everybody says."
"Yeah, well Gen deserves most of the credit," said Emily. "She cast the finishing blow."
"Yeah, well, you still did most of the work, Em," said Genevieve.
"Amazing," said Regina. "And true to my word, here are the treasure cards I promised. Remember to put them in your deck. I know you'll need them in the future. I have to get back to work on those finishing touches; bye now!"
"Bye," said the girls as they left her. Before they left the court however, Genevieve noticed she had a message on her wand. When she answered it, she saw it was from the duelmaster.
"Come see me, I need to speak with you."
"What could that be about," asked Genevieve.
"You should go see," said Emily. "I need to go get some new clothes dyed anyway."
"I need to dye some clothes as well," said Genevieve.
"Alright, we'll get our clothes dyed first." Doing so cost them a hundred and four gold coins, since the Vrixx wraps had a very special material. Genevieve still had enough money for another potion, so she also got one of those. They then made their way over to Unicorn way to see Diego.
Once there, Diego noticed them approach.
"Aha, hello there my friend," he said to Emily. "And this must be the sister you told me about."
"Yeah, this is her," said Emily. "Why did you want to see her; surely not just to say hello?"
"Headmaster Ambrose has asked me to show you more of the art of dueling," he said, addressing Genevieve. Genevieve was astounded at this.
"Why?" she asked aghast.
"He has noticed you're having some problems with your magic."
"I haven't realized that until today," she said. "Has he been spying on me?"
"No," he said. "As he put it, 'he noticed something was troubling you, so he took a peek.'"
"That's reassuring," said Genevieve sarcastically.
"Genevieve," said Emily. "Use this; you need the lessons."
"All right," said Genevieve. "I'll take the lesson."
"Excellent! This will take but a few minutes. Enter the door to the arena to begin." The girls began to enter but Diego stopped Emily.
"Not you I'm afraid," he said politely.
"Why not?" questioned Emily.
"You'll be learning this later; Genevieve's only getting this earlier because she's struggling."
"Alright," said Emily. "I'll see you back at the dorm, Gen."
"See ya, Em," said Genevieve. She then made her way into the arena.
"Welcome, my friend, to the dueling arena!" Genevieve was in the grassy fighting area in front of a dueling circle and a clockwork puppet.
"Oh no," said Genevieve. "Not another Golem! I've had too much of those today!"
"You wish to learn more in the Art of dueling, no?"
"No, I want to learn," said Genevieve hastily.
"Outstanding! Approach the puppet, and we shall begin your lesson." Genevieve hesitantly made her way towards the puppet. They then moved to opposite sides of the circle, in the sun and dagger positions.
"Let us begin by explaining Power Points. You may call them Pips, for short!"
"Oh, I know about Pips," said Genevieve.
"You do?"
"Yeah, I kind of fought Malistere in Golem tower with my sister when we first came here. Headmaster Ambrose explained them there."
"You fought Malistere?!"
"Well, we fought his minions to be more precise."
"That's still impressive," said Diego. "Can you tell me what Pips are then?"
"Well, Pips represent your magical energy stored up over time. The more Pips there are in your circle, the more powerful spells you can cast. You get one new Pip every round. You can tell how much magical energy one has stored up, or how powerful a spell they might cast will be by looking at the number of pips at their feet."
"Very good," said Diego. "Now do you know about Pip cost?"
"Yes, every spell has an equivalent Pip cost, which can be found on the upper left of each spell card one has. You can only cast the spells that ascertain themselves to the amount of magical energy you have stored up."
"Great understanding of Pips," said Diego. "Now let us see if you can put that understanding to use in a duel. Let us start with a Pip cost of 2."
"But I only have 1 Pip," said Genevieve.
"So you cannot cast any 2 Pip spell. You'll have to pass." Genevieve did what he said.
"Pass," she said. "I rather not do that in real battles. It just gives my enemies an opportunity to strike."
"True," said Diego. "But you will find that passing can be strategic at times."
"Or instead I could use a spell that doesn't cost any mana at all."
"Yes, that is a more favorable option." The dueling circle went around once and Genevieve gained another Pip.
"Good, you have passed and gained another Pip! With two Pips, you can now cast the Troll spell." Genevieve looked through the deck Diego gave her for the lesson. There was indeed a Troll spell in there. "You will also find there is another spell in there: Tough. This is an enchantment card." Genevieve thought he said that like this was going to be difficult, but then it turned out that was actually the spell's name. "Enchantment cards can be used to improve the other cards in your hand. Let me show you. Pull out the Tough card…" Genevieve did. "…and now pull out the Troll." As Genevieve did that, the two cards connected to each other like magnets. There was a small glow, and then the two cards became one golden one. "Look what has happened! The card has been enchanted to do more damage. Now it is a Treasure Card. Now, since you have two Pips, you can cast the Troll at the Puppet." Genevieve took out her new treasure card and made a symbol of an illuminati eye, calling out, "Troll." A troll was summoned, and it threw its club at the puppet. "Now you are back to one Pip, yes?"
"Yes," said Genevieve. It was pretty obvious.
"Let us give you another hand. If you search through your deck you will find an array of 3 Pip spells. Draw them into your hand." Genevieve did as he said. "With only 1 Pip, you cannot cast any of these 3rd rank spells. You would need to pass for two rounds."
"I can't pass for two rounds!" said Genevieve. "Don't I have any 0 Pip spells!?"
"There is another way…Let me show you."
"What is it?" said Genevieve excitedly. Diego waved his sword and suddenly there was a golden Pip at Genevieve's feet.
"I have given you a POWER PIP, see?"
"Yes, I see," said Genevieve, who wasn't sure what a power pip was. It was like Diego could read her mind.
"At the beginning of each round, you have a chance to get a Power Pip instead of a normal Pip. Power Pips count double…but only for spells in your class!"
"So, I can cast extra powerful spells ahead of schedule?"
"Indeed," said Diego. "Let us focus on the lesson. Now you have 1 Pip and 1 Power Pip. That means you can cast any 2nd rank spell that you wish…or you can use a 3rd rank spell in your school of focus: 1 point for the Pip + 2 points for the Power Pip! See? The card for your school is available to cast." Genevieve saw as she did normally with her spell cards that the spell she had the energy for had a certain glow to it that the others didn't. "Cast the spell at the puppet now."
Genevieve picked out the card with a shark on it and threw it in front of her. She didn't know the rhyme for it yet, so she just threw it front of her, blasted it and made the symbol of a storm cloud. She called out, "Storm Shark." She felt the power surge from her wand. Water filled the circle, and then a sparking shark broke its fin through the water, finally jumping out and devouring the puppet in a swarm of sparks. The shark and water then disappeared, but the puppet had less health than before.
"Outstanding!" said Diego. "Now let us look at another type of spell card: Wards."
"What?" said Genevieve, who didn't quite hear him. "Warts? Wars?"
"WARDS!" he said stressing it out. "W-A-R-D-S! WARDS!"
"Oh," said Genevieve, nodding. "Wards; what are wards?"
"A ward can be used to protect you from future attacks."
"Oh, Ward, I get it now." Diego shook his head.
"There is a FIRE ward deck in your deck; it looks like a shield. When you cast a ward on someone, it will HANG in front of them, waiting to be activated. The next incoming FIRE spell will trigger it. Let me show you. Cast this Fire Ward upon yourself." Genevieve did so. A shield with a symbol of a flame appeared in front of her, hovering around the bottom of her circle.
"Very good! See how this Fire Ward hangs near your feet? Watch how it can protect you!"
The Puppet then cast a Firecat spell at her, but with the ward in place, the fire from the cat's mouth only slightly singed her.
"Do you see? The Fire Ward has activated and helps you resist most of the damage from this attack! Let's try one more hanging spell. There is a card in your deck called Ice Blade. Cast it on yourself and see what happens." Genevieve pulled out the blue spell called Ice Blade. She noticed how it looked similar to her Lightning strike spell. She threw it in front of her, drew the ice symbol around it and called out, "Ice blade." Once it was cast, it formed a floating disk hovering high around her circle, like her Lighting Strike spell.
"This is a Charm spell," he said. "Charms are the opposite of Wards! Wards affect spells other people cast on you. Charms affect spells you cast on other people. There is a Frost Beetle spell in your deck. Cast it at the Puppet. Let's see how the Charm works." Genevieve found the Frost Beetle; it was pretty easy for there were only two cards left. She threw it in front of her, drew the symbol for Ice and called out, "Ice Beetle." Snow and ice were summoned, as was an Ice Beetle. It attacked the Puppet, and as it did, her charm disk broke, sending extra magic into the circle.
"Do you see? Your Ice Beetle has triggered the Ice Charm. Now the Ice Beetle is more powerful."
"The Headmaster explained this as well when we were fighting the minions, except he did that with a basic Balance blade spell."
"Yeah, the balance school always has spells like that," said Diego.
"Too bad I don't," said Genevieve. "All I have is a spell that improves my aim."
"Storm students need that," said Diego. "They have terrible aim due to the fact they're so impulsive, that's why they fizzle a lot."
"Oh, that explains it," said Genevieve.
"Let us cover one more type of hanging affect," said Diego. "The Aura spells."
"Sounds cool," said Genevieve.
"They are," said Diego. "Aura spells affect the target over multiple rounds of combat. For example, the Fire Elf spell will cause 240 points of Fire damage, spread over three rounds."
"Professor Ambrose mentioned the fire school was well known for those types of attacks."
"Yes, because fire specializes in eating away at something over time."
"Okay," said Genevieve. She wasn't sure she liked the phrasing of that.
"Let's see how an Aura spell works," said Diego. "Cast a Fire Elf at the puppet." Genevieve threw in front of her the last spell she had. She drew the symbol of flame with her wand and called out, "Fire Elf." A tree and some bushes were summoned, and the thing bouncing between them was a small elf. He launched some flaming arrows at the puppet.
"Good," said Diego. "Now watch what happens next round." The dueling circle went around once and the puppet took some more damage from the flames. "And again…" The dueling circle went around again and the puppet took all it could from the flames, causing it to collapse.
"Excellent! You have defeated him, and completed your lesson. I hope you have found our lesson to be most helpful! Good luck, my friend, and see you soon!"
Genevieve left the arena and headed back to the dorm. When she got there, she saw her supper on the table and Emily drying her hair with her wand.
"What'd I miss?" said Genevieve, blankly, as she unpacked the bottle burners Regina gave them and put them on their desks.
"I took a shower," said Emily. "The dorm left a shower for us behind that screen because we're kind of grungy after a week. So, you learn anything good?"
"Maybe," said Genevieve as she helped herself to some supper. "I might have learned how to use my Pips more effectively, and learned a bit more on certain strategies and spells."
"Good for you," said Emily, as she finished drying her hair and moved on to moisturizing. "Apparently, your skin dries out after you wash," said Emily. "Did you know that?"
"I could've guessed," said Genevieve. "It's pretty irritating how dry it gets." Once Emily was done moisturizing, she moved on to brushing and then using her wand to straighten her hair.
"Don't judge me," said Emily. "This is the best way to keep it tame." Genevieve finished her supper and then went to have a shower.
"At least your hair isn't Pink," said Genevieve as she showered.
The next day, they went back to the color schemes. Emily wore a tan and red crown of seasons, her Firestorm vestment and some seared shoes, along with Novice Athame and branded wand. Genevieve wore her canvas cover, a purple and white novice robe (Like a simple dress with a cape), her canvas wraps and her Baton of the clouds. Before going to class that day, they went around the school yard so Emily could catch some wisps to fill up on some more mana that the Novice Athame allowed. They noticed that people were talking about how they defeated Iron Golem; another amazing feat to add on to the list.
In school that day, they started with a pop quiz to review what they learned the week before. With everything that happened in their weekend, it was harder to remember. Emily got about 79% while Genevieve got about 74%. After that pop quiz, they learned how to sense morality inside a person (The type of flame of storm that burned or brewed inside). Once that was over, they learned simple lighting spells (How to make floating fireballs, or make a glowing spark). After that lesson, they learned about security, safety and trap spells; how to identify them and how to make them.
Then it was on to the simple lessons. They learned about door magic, spiral doors, doors that led to many floors, and how they worked. Then they looked at the many fields of magic and how two of the main magics could combine to make a new one, like life, myth, and death.
Next they learned a handy skill: Teleportation. The girls decided they would mostly use this to go to the commons and their dorm. At the end of the day, the teachers brought up an important topic: Secondary schools. They explained that they had until the end of the week to decide what secondary school they wanted to attend, for after that week, the schedules of the students would be redesigned to accommodate both schools into lessons. It was a good idea to expand their horizons and know more than one type of magic.
After classes that day, the girls spent the rest of their time trying to decide what secondary school would be best for them.
"I'm already lousy at storm magic, do I need to be lousy at another," said Genevieve frustrated.
"Look at the bright side," said Emily. "Maybe you'll find a school you'll actually enjoy."
"Well, there's a plus," said Genevieve. "Of course, I don't know what school I'll actually like. Death seems too gloomy; Myth has a strict teacher; Life seems like a hippie school; Ice seems hard; the only schools I'm interested in are Balance and Fire."
"Why Balance?" questioned Emily.
"Because it uses elements of all magic," said Genevieve. She remembered her lesson with Diego.
"We'll have to look into this a bit more before we make a decision," said Emily. Meanwhile, she was having the opposite problem. Emily found things she was interested in every class, how was she going to pick one?
The next day they went back to their simple attire. That day started with a pop quiz as usual, where the girls got about 75%. They then went on to talk about scrier pools, how they could be used to see the future, and communicate with others. Then they talked about the magic that came from dreaming, since clouds and fires could make certain images, it is certain that some dreams and their meanings are quite significant for they knew the magic behind the images.
Next they had a geography lesson. They learned more about the home worlds of their magic, Dragonspyre and Celestia. Celestia was a world that was flooded and Dragonspyre was a world that was destroyed, sort of. Both from summonings of the Titans associated with the magic. They then learned more of the different creatures associated with their magic, including some in the city itself like fire elves and Krakens. They then looked more into what the Dragons and Tritons were. For the last lesson they looked more into the different realms of Fire and storm and the teachers handed out the sheets needed to choose a secondary school.
At the end of the day, the girls were still deciding what school to go to and also were practicing some of their new magic.
The next day, after the pop quiz, they learned about how each world in the spiral is special to the spiral and how it specialized its magic, and how it did so in streets and other areas, and how magic specializes itself in people. They looked more into the streets of Firecat alley and Triton Avenue, and where to find Fire and Storm magic in the spiral. They talked about how the magic in their school works inside each person. Fire draws their power from emotion and passion and saying the right incantation, using the mind to keep it in check. Storm gets their power from thinking on the fly, and having bright ideas of how something works, harnessing great creativity. They also rhyme their spells. This made Genevieve feel better about herself. They were then given projects, of finding their gift in magic and what made them special.
The girls dropped deciding on a secondary school that night and focused more on trying to find what made them magical.
The next day, the girls dressed up. Emily wore her Firestorm vestment with her branded wand, while Genevieve wore her novice robe, her canvas cover, and her storm weave shoes with her baton of the clouds.
They were given the whole day to work on it and would be presenting it at the end of class. The girls got together to try to find each-others special magic gift. They spent three hours researching different gifts, and three hours trying to find their own. That left them with two hours left in their eight hour day.
"I don't know my gift," said Genevieve. "I've been struggling with this ever since I got here."
"You took out fairies and ghosts by yourself," said Emily.
"That was different," said Genevieve. "I was fighting for my life."
"Plus you just got here and didn't see anyone else doing magic."
"Your point," asked Genevieve.
"My point is the only reason you're struggling with this is because you believe you can't do it. I know it's not fire magic, but your heart's not in it. You told me this is all based on thought and creativity, you just need to imagine what you want your spells to do, and say a fun rhyme on the side."
"I can never think of what to say or what to do," said Genevieve.
"You're stressed, I get it; it will go away," reassured Emily.
"What if it doesn't?"
"It will," said Emily.
"Easy for you to say, you're not stressed at all."
"This is still school. I'm a little stressed."
"Yeah, but you're not stressed like me."
"I feel like I belong here," said Emily. She came to a realization. "I was the one who made you stay here, and yet, I didn't know how hard it would be for you. If I knew, I would've let you go. I don't want you to struggle." Genevieve came to her own realization.
"You like helping people," said Genevieve. "I like helping you. I've always had to look out for you, so I shut my emotions off. You never did. You are passionate about what you believe in, and you are so brave. I never knew what to be. Yet I have so many ideas about how things can change. That's why we're not in the same school."
"You can be pretty bold sometimes," said Emily. "Remember Rattlebones?"
"Yeah, I can be pretty blunt, but I say what needs to be said sometimes."
"You are like a storm," said Emily. "You can be harsh and cold, but you give the situation what it needs, and some of what it doesn't need. You release tension. I think I get it, I know your gift! You're diligent!"
"What?" said Genevieve confused.
"Whenever you set out to do something, whenever you know what you need to do, your power is something to be reckoned with. You're powerful when you have a job to do; when you know what to do. At Golem tower, you didn't know much about what was going on, that was why you were struggling. You knew the situation for Unicorn way, so you had charge. Pun not intended."
"You're right, and I think I get you now," said Genevieve.
"What?" Emily asked excitedly.
"You know yourself," said Genevieve.
"Explain," said Emily still excited.
"You are deeply in tune with your emotions. You know what you're feeling and why for most of the time, so you can direct that feeling into something else: your magic. You feel so good here, so your magic is good. You know your magic and how to use it; you are in tuned with yourself and your magic."
"Great," said Emily. "We know our gifts! Now let's get these into presentations!"
Genevieve had decided to do a comparison presentation on what happened on unicorn way and in Golem tower. Emily had decided to do something that in detail described how she became who she was. Genevieve managed to finish hers on time; meanwhile Emily was still working on hers a little into presentations. Emily had finally finished by the time she needed to present.
Emily gave a speech of how through most of her life she had anxiety problems and that caused people to harass and bully her, but over time she found a way to fight back and defend herself. When that didn't work, she tried a different approach of her keeping her distance and being herself. She explained that before she went to Ravenwood, she was beginning to understand the thoughts of others and what they thought of her. She was also beginning to understand more of herself. Now that she was in Ravenwood that was coming to fruition, and now she can understand that she is deeply connected to herself and her emotions, for she had a lot of time to analyze herself. When she was passionate about something, she had strong magic. Madame Falmea commented she was true Pyromancer.
Genevieve pulled images up from the scrier pool showing the battles of Unicorn way and Golem tower, of how she fumbled in Golem tower and on Unicorn way she had charge of the situation. She explained it was because she knew all the details on Unicorn way so she knew how to execute the right spells and had no problems, while in Golem tower, Emily was the one mostly doing it. The class was interested to see the exploits they had pulled off, and the teacher praised Genevieve for using the teachings of a previous lesson in her presentation.
At the end of the day, Emily and Genevieve came to their dorm and breathed a huge sigh of relief. They collapsed onto their beds.
"Well," said Genevieve. "That was interesting."
"Yeah we know some things about ourselves now," said Emily, "and what makes us magical."
"Speaking of magic," said Genevieve. "Today is the last day to decide what our secondary school will be."
"Oh yeah," said Emily, with her eyes wide. She still had no idea what to pick.
"I think I'm just going to pick fire," said Genevieve, checking the box with fire. "That way you don't know something that I don't."
"Yeah," said Emily. She looked at her sheet. Maybe she should just pick storm, even it out. All of the other schools were so interesting and useful though. How could she just pick one?
For the last day of classes that week, Genevieve wore her Raiment of Storms, her Vrixx Foot wraps and had her charged wand with her. Emily had something more subtle. She wore her soot-stained hood, Novice Athame, and scepter of ignition with her. She went and picked a deep mushroom and gathered some wisps for luck before class.
After the Pop quiz where the girls got 72% percent on, the lessons focused more on Magic personality, what magic can do to it and what personalities work best with the magic. The teachers commented on the presentations from the day before. The teachers also talked about certain magic keys that could make the magic work, like the incantations, rhymes, feeling a certain way, thinking a certain thought, and having the mind and heart in order.
They talked more about how emotion affects fire magic and how creativity and impulsiveness are a big part of storm magic. Then the teachers taught their students how to control their fire and improve the aim of the storm students. Around the end of the day, they talked of different spell origins in their school. They ended the day by teaching the student of how intense spells can become if one is not to careful, and then asking for their sheets to be turned in.
Emily didn't know what to do. She thought she could decide on a secondary school by the end of class, but she still couldn't decide which one to do. She thought fast and quickly filled out her sheet.
The teachers thanked the students for their sheets, telling them their schedules would be completed by Monday and they would act on their new schedules at the beginning of October. 'Well,' thought Emily. 'This should be interesting. I hope I don't get in trouble for this."
OOO, what did Emily do? I will try to give an update as soon as I can. Of course I have university. So just tell me what you think in reviews.