· Kali's POV
I yawned and riffled through my closet before pulling out my favorite outfit. I wore it to the dance last night, but a quick cleaning charm made it fine to wear, and I wanted to wear it for luck today. I pulled the light wash denim on then slipped the red shirt over my head. I looked around to see if my roommates were up while I shrugged on my black corset tank top. I pulled on the strings leaving a gap in the front wear people could see my shirt, and then I tied the string and tucked them in the back. I walked over to Ashley's bed to wake her up and she woke up looking groggy, but I soon had her up. She woke up Rebecca complaining about how early it was while I grabbed socks and pulled on my black leather boots. I threw on mascara and lipstick and soon I was ready and raring to go while the other two struggled to decide on what to wear. They could never decide on anything without orders.
They eventually decided on their outfits, a teal top for Ashley with black skinny jeans, a mauve plaid skirt for Rebecca with a black tank, and we headed down to breakfast. We walked into the dining room and headed down the spiral walkways along the walls to our table about halfway up. We sat down to eat while the other witches around us talked. One of the other freshmen, Marianne, walked by making Rebecca snort with derision.
"Oh look, there's Mari again probably going to eat breakfast with her book again. She's such a nerd! I mean, honestly." Rebecca said loudly, not caring if anyone heard. Obviously, Marianne had judging from the way she drew into herself and hurried past. The other freshmen twittered. I shifted, uncomfortable, before I squashed that thought. After all, if I had a problem with something I shouldn't be uncomfortable I should fix it or get over it. Ashley opened her mouth to start in on the poor girl, but I interrupted.
"Cut it girls." I commanded and they stopped surprised.
"Kali?" Rebecca asked, clueless and tactless, while Ashley said nothing and returned to her food. Ashley always was the smarter of the two. I shook my head to Rebecca and she got the message, changing the conversation smoothly. Soon we were all laughing over her stories.
Rebecca, or Becca as we called her, was the cheerful one. Glassy green eyes and Golden blonde hair contrasting with my paler color. She was always happy and excited about everything, but I wouldn't confuse her cheerfulness with kindness. She may not be bright, but she had a cruel streak a mile wide. Her biting comments had already reduced Marianne to tears on more than one occasion. She was a flirt with boys, quick with the joke, and seemed to have an endless supply of funny stories about her life back home, but she wasn't a good person by any means. Her dueling skills were subpar though. She was far more skilled at the little verbal altercations that were always popping up. She handled those and in return, Ashley and I took care of any actual fights we got into.
Ashley, or Ash, was very different from Rebecca. Ashley was a skilled witch with a huge repertoire of hexes and jinxes that she was always happy to use. She struck at her enemies with a distant, ruthless vengeance, her grey eyes shining and her dark brown hair carefully tucked into place. She was more serious than Rebecca was, but not as social. If you want a night out talk to Rebecca, if you need someone to study with or to back you up in a fight ask Ashley. One point in Ashley's favor though, she wasn't anywhere near as cruel as Rebecca. If Ashley picked a fight you would be picking her opponent up off the ground, but she's never enjoyed throwing the same painful barbs that Rebecca specializes in. Ashley was however, ruthless. After all if one girl pisses her off why fight her then when she expects it? Ashley would much rather go after later and take her by surprise. She wasn't verbally cruel, but she would do whatever it took to harm those that dared to anger her.
We finished our breakfasts and sat around chatting until Headmistress Griffin dismissed us. My schedule was simple. It consisted of the required courses Hexes 101, Intro to Mayhem, Beginner Darkness, Magical Culture, and Potions I as well as two electives. I decided on Dueling I and Charms 101, and Rebecca and Ashley were in other electives so I would have those two classes alone at least.
The first class of the day was potions so Rebecca and I, minus Ashley as she had Mayhem first, headed down to the lab with some of the other freshmen. I had, of course, heard lots of things about the professor, Bittersmoke, but they all seemed to be contradictory stories so I wasn't sure what to expect, not that I would admit that. We filed in and the two of us grabbed a table in the middle of the room. Bittersmoke, an old cranky looking man walked out of his office and into the classroom.
"Don't get comfortable. I have a seating chart already prepared." He boomed his voice rough. Rebecca rolled her eyes and sighed loudly, earning a glare from our teacher, but I stayed silent. No reason picking a fight until I know what I'm up against. He assigned us our seats with Rebecca ending up next to some blonde who spent the whole class on her phone and I ended up, much to Rebecca's derision, sitting next to Marianne. I thought little of it really. She seemed fine. Besides, on the bright side it will make this class much easier. After all, it was a well-known fact that Marianne was the smartest witch in our class. I nodded respectfully as I approached her, and she waved rather awkwardly. I introduced myself confidently, but anyone could tell that she wasn't sure what to do with herself. There was a girl who could definitely use an ego boost.
She buried her head in her book, Cloudtower: A Memoir, to avoid me so I chose to inspect the classroom. It was fair sized, big enough to hold a dozen long black tables sitting two students apiece with one cauldron between them. The room currently held 20 of the 24 students it could hold so the back row was empty other than one table. The room itself was chilly and smelled like a strange mixture of aconite and toadstools. It was made of stone and dimly lit which made it look rather stereotypical. Honestly, they could try for a little originality on occasion. It wouldn't hurt anybody.
I yawned again as Professor Bittersmoke gave us our assignment. To brew a Forgetfulness Potion before the end of class. It wasn't a difficult potion. A dash of Lethe water, a little heat, a sprig or two of valerian, stir, add mistletoe berries, stir, and you're done. Simple enough, and Marianne and I had it finished in no time much to the Prof's pleasure. Rebecca, never the brightest, and the blonde who didn't seem to even know which class she was in, however had a few issues. Fun fact. When you add too much mistletoe to anything, your potion will turn into a poison. The blonde tested it at the end of class and spent the rest of the day in the nurse's office puking. Rebecca was just pleased that she was smart enough not to drink it herself.
The second class was Darkness with Headmistress Griffin, and the third was Mayhem with Zarathustra. Both classes went well with minimum chaos involved, other than Mayhem, but that was of course the point. The next class was Magical Culture. Which was essentially part Magical History and part etiquette. The class was mostly modern history except it included more about high class living than anyone here cared to know. Our teacher, Professor Lucrezia, was pretty with long blue hair. She was decidedly younger than the other professors and her teaching style reflected that even if her subject matter didn't.
She was sitting on her desk in the front of the classroom while I sat with Ashley and Rebecca in the back. "Who knows what the Winx Alliance is?" she asked her voice light. Marianne, right on cue, raised her hand. "Yes Mari?" Lucrezia called out.
"It's the political alliance between Andros, Solaria, Eraklyon, and Sparks, right?" Marianne answered unconfidently.
Lucrezia smiled at her sweetly, "That's just it. It also involves some weaker bonds with Melody and Magix." Then she asked her next question, "Now who knows who created this alliance?" Marianne once again raised her hand, but Lucrezia didn't call on her instead consulting her seating chart for a moment and calling out, "Kali?"
I answered easily; it was, after all, a very famous alliance made by very powerful people after all. I had utter faith that everyone in the room could answer the question they just wouldn't if they had a choice. "Their royal highnesses, Sky and Bloom of Eraklyon and Sparks, Brandon and Stella of Solaria, and Nabu and Aisha of Andros." I said.
Lucrezia smiled and then corrected kindly, "The correct form of address would be 'their majesties', but you have the answer correct. Very good. Alright class one more question, who are the heirs to those royal houses?"
I stopped to think for a moment. Solaria and Eraklyon were obvious, to me at least, but I wasn't sure on the others. I knew that only the keeper of the DragonFire could inherit the throne of Sparks, but Eric is an only child as far as I'm aware and he didn't have it. Andros on the other hand I had no clue on.
Lucrezia tried to pull the answer from a few students, but ultimately ended up giving it to us. "Eraklyon is Prince Eric, a sophomore at Red Fountain, Solaria is Prince Sam, another sophomore, Andros is Prince Malik, who's already graduated, and Sparks is the lost Princess Eve."
Rebecca blinked confused, she usually is, but I suppose in fairness I wasn't sure what she was talking about either. Unfortunately, Lucrezia didn't seem eager to talk about it either as we moved on to talk about other major peace treaties and declarations of war and the like. I put the so-called 'lost princess' out of my mind. She was probably Eric's cousin or aunt or something anyway, since he doesn't have siblings. Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that the name was familiar. Princess Eve of Sparks.
The class passed quickly as did the next. Hexes 101 under Professor Ediltrude. It was an interesting class, but she spent the whole class lecturing so we didn't actually have the chance to do anything. Then it was dueling and I left Ashley and Rebecca heading towards the 'History of Fashion' elective while I headed towards the courtyard. It was a small area, nothing like Alfea's quad. It was nestled between the tall towers that make up CT. I walked forwards to join the small group of girls in the class. There was only eight of us total. Obviously not a popular class. The teacher was, again, Griffin who seemed happier to be teaching this class then Beginner Darkness.
"Good morning witches, and welcome to Dueling I. I hope all of you girls are prepared to work because this is not an easy class. It was set up for girls serious about using their magic both offensively and defensively. Now, to kick off the class we will be having a quick dueling tournament. So pair up girls, quickly now." Headmistress Griffin told us.
I caught the eyes of a tall red-head from the group of girls and we turned to face each other. I inspected my nails while I waited for Griffin to tell us to start. Not because I actually cared about my nails, but because you could see my nonchalance making the red-head antsy.
"Begin!" came the call from Griffin and the girl launched a raging witch ball at me that I batted aside without looking up from my nails. I did, however look up in time to see the red-head's jaw drop amusingly, and I chuckled before actually starting the fight. She was a capable opponent with more raw power than you normally see. It was her skill that could use work. She stayed in place too much when fighting and her blows were all raw power lacking in finesse. It took a little work to break her shields, but once I had she went down fairly easily and I moved onto the next opponent.
My next opponent was fast. Faster than me, even. Soon we were really fighting. Magic pulsing through the air as we through attack after attack. Her moves were repetitive though, leaning towards robotic. It didn't take me long to figure the pattern out. Then it was nothing to beat her. A quick fireball thrown where she was going to be rather than where she was made a direct hit when she didn't expect it and she went down. On to the final match. Nothing serious. I wasn't really concerned.
On the matter, It's awful and weird and I know that, but that doesn't change the fact that I enjoyed battle. The rush, the heat, the adrenaline. Glorifying in my own power, my own grace. My movements smooth as I flew or cast. Fire flying from my fingertips without the slightest struggle. Raw power, and a fiercely competitive spirit, meeting well trained skill. There wasn't a witch at this school who could beat me in a fight. I'd bet money on that, and there certainly weren't any freshmen who could which made this next battle's end obvious. I suppose I'm arrogant, but is it arrogance when it's true? I have been doing this for years longer than anyone else, so is it arrogance to say I'm better?
The next girl was one I recognized from Magical Culture. She had been sitting in the far back as close to the door as she could get looking bored out of her mind. Her manner was utterly different now though. Her eyes bright as she regarded me utterly eager for the coming fight. I stood and smiled back at her, knowing that my usual tricks for psyching people out wouldn't work on this one. She was confident, notably so. I resisted the urge to smirk or laugh. She thought the fight was over. She thought she was going to win. It may be hypocritical of course, but that doesn't make ego bashing any less entertaining.
"And Begin!" Griffin again announced while the rest of the class looked on, subtly placing bets, their eyes excited to see what would happen. The other girl and I stared at each other for a long moment, trying to see who would jump headfirst into battle first. The answer? Her. She leapt up and shot a storm of wooden stakes down around me. I didn't bother to move or dodge. Instead I raised my hand and through a protective barrier of fire up. My shield sent hot winds suddenly swirling around the courtyard making my hair fly, but it did what I wanted it to. I smiled at the girl as her wooden stakes turned to ash and blew away. Her eyes widened.
Then it was really a fight. I didn't hold back, didn't slow myself down. I saw no reason too. She defended herself and I broke through until the fight turned into her desperately evading while I showed her why fire was considered the most aggressive of the four elements. Shields, fireballs, explosions, and whips shot flying from my hands and hers while we dueled. She managed to shoot a blast of pure magic at me after barely slipping by one of my attacks, but I had little problem deflecting her attack and returning to my own. Blow after blow I herded her closer to the ground until she was on the ground and I managed to avoid her attack and fly straight up. The courtyard surrounded my towers on all sides was like one long deep cylinder and it was a rather advantageous position to shoot down from. As with the sun up above me, she couldn't see me. It was the easiest thing in the world to wind up and throw a fireball at her from there. She never saw it coming, literally.
I smiled as I landed and the other girls picked my opponent up off the ground. Laughing at her failure. The girl herself was upset and surprised. She stared at me like I had just grown horns on my forehead. I smiled at her cheerfully while she stomped off, the class over. I grabbed my bag to go, but Griffin stopped me.
"Kali?" she called.
I turned towards her my bag over my left shoulder, "Yes, Headmistress?"
She gave a slight smile, "That was well done. I'm curious though, who taught you to fight like that? The style seems familiar somehow."
I shrugged and answered, "My mother taught me, but I don't know why you'd recognize it." I laughed slightly before continuing, "I didn't even know we had a style."
She chuckled softly and then walked away her expression thoughtful as she (presumably) tried to remember where she recognized my fighting style from.
The last class of the day, Charms, was another easy one and soon I was back in my dorm room sprawled out on my bed. Exhausted, but happy. Suddenly my phone started buzzing and I flipped it open to see that I had a new text message from a number I didn't recognize.
-Hey, It's Sam. How'd your first day go?
I smiled and responded.
-Good, but long. I…