02 - Bright Is Her Sight

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The School Of Necessary Magic

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The School of Necessary Magic is back in session. Alison, the young Drow princess has returned to Charlottesville for her second semester, along with the other elves, witches, and wizards and more. And her powers are growing. But dark forces have planted a bad seed in the student body. They want to use their hidden asset to close the doors before the year is over. They didn’t count on Alison and her unique gifts. Botany class, school dances, underground cities and the occasional werewolf howling at night. Just your average freshman year in a government run high school to create a special force. Just wait till school’s out for summer…

Chapter 01

Brewery Tavern, Charlottesville, Virginia. Just after Christmas. Four dark wizards, Balthasar (the eldest), Philoneus, Tyrian, and Lingus are in a meeting reviewing their purpose for being in the town – to find the unknown boy at the School who was imbued with a seed of dark magic when he was very young. The boy is still oblivious, and so are the ones around him. Even Mara Berens. They are also after the secret whereabouts of Izzie and her parents, who disappeared from the alley. Izzie has untapped potential they need to find, as does the young boy they are searching for. Some of the town’s residents have sensed their darkness (five at this point), and came to tell them to leave town, that they are not wanted there. Balthasar told them they had no choice, and threw dark streams of magic towards them. The battle was on. Back and forth the magical beings sent streaks of light, creating a wave of color reminiscent of the Northern Lights. The light magic was so quick and intense the wizards could only block, not return any magic blows, so when a particularly powerful ball came at them, Balthasar opened a portal, and they escaped. The light witches looked at each other worriedly, not knowing why the dark magicals had been there. They had run them off this time, but not one of them believed it was permanent. Whatever was going on, they would be back—and probably not alone.

Chapter 02

New Semester and The Egg All of the kids were back, showing off their new gifts and talking about what they had done on vacation. All the decorations had been taken down, but the thrill of the holidays was still in the air. No one minded coming back for classes. They longed to learn as many spells as they could. The five in Alison’s room unpacked exchanging events/ideas as they did so. Kathleen had been to a group of islands. Emma tried to be her own person (don’t laugh if it isn’t funny!). Aya had gotten some new dolls, and a couple of new dresses, Alison had done nothing exciting, and Izzie was looking forward to new classes, and new beauty and sleep potions. Didn’t want to go down into the kemana again! Ice Cream socials on Fridays sounded wonderful. They all looked at the egg Alison had put out on the bed, as she ran her hand over it, feeling the roughness of the shell. “It really hasn’t changed at all, at least not that I can tell. It feels the same. The same energy is coming from it, and I don’t feel any cracks. Do you see any changes?” Hope it isn’t dead! Alison closed her eyes (She saw energies and colors, not objects). Slowly she reached out and held her hands over the egg. She could see the energy of whatever was inside dancing in an array of colors. That definitely meant it wasn’t dead or petrified, but the energy was so wild she really couldn’t tell what was going on. “It’s alive,” Alison told them, lowering her hands. “Not petrified, but that’s all I can tell. There is something in there, and that something still is producing pretty wild energy, but it’s almost like it’s hiding.” Kathleen wanted to put it back where they had found it. “We can’t put it back now. If it hatches all alone, it could die. We took it, so now we have to be responsible for it. I’ll go to the library in a couple of days and look up information on it. Maybe that will help.” Alison and Izzie told how much they had missed each other, and hoped for one of their late-night walks, and Emma was a little jealous of Kathleen, but all was normal. Alison, a Drow Princess, hardly slept at all, drawing energy through spending time in trances instead, so as the others settled down, she set her mind free. Her conscious rolled through the school, searching the energies and listening to secret conversations in the hallways. As she passed through the upstairs her mind paused to circle another soul, this one deep greens and blues, calming and comforting. As her light did when it touched any soul, she reached for any darkness it might find in whoever it had come across. There was something about the strange energy her mind had found that wasn’t right. There was something about this energy that left her slightly uneasy. This darkness wasn’t natural, and she had no idea how that could be. The dark swirl of magic simmered in her chest.

Chapter 03

Neither Izzie nor Alison could sleep, so they went on one of their usual late-night walks. No one was around. It wasn’t surprising, though. It was their first night back, and everyone was exhausted from their vacations. They discuss whether or not Alison should tell about her blindness. “Some days I think I should but other times I don’t want to so everyone treats me the same.” They talked of their vacation (Alison with Shay and Brownstone, Izzie with Mara Berens, and talked of Alison’s childhood, when she had had both parents. They both got quiet for a moment, the lingering sadness of their separation from the norm hitting them. (They were both, in effect, orphans). As they walked further, they saw Horace was waiting for them, coffee in hand. He was doing well (calming energies). Had spent the vacation with his Aunt Estelle (Leora Chronicles – owned the Bar). The heard howls in the night – shifters talking. “I think we have a full two-week course on shifters this semester,” Alison commented. “Personally, I’m excited about the gardening and plants section. That is something I’ve never known a lot about and would really like to learn.” Valentine’s Day Dance coming up, Horace and Mrs. Fowler (Gardens and Greenhouses)) will be decorating it. Izzie hopes that Henry will ask her, and Alison hopes the same thing, as they both had such sordid pasts filled with dark and sad things, but here they were finally getting a chance to be real teenagers. They soon left to go back to their room, having enjoyed their time with Horace. As Alison settles down for the rest of the night, Alison couldn’t help but feel the vision she had seen in her trance was some kind of warning.

Chapter 04

Peter and Ethan talk about their vacations. Peter, the scientist had mixed magic with science and had spent his whole vacation cleaning the smoke out of the house. Ethan had spent the time with his Aunt (obsession with pink) and Uncle, as well as cats, so he had spent it all in a pink bedroom with a long-haired white cat sleeping with him. As he didn’t know glamours, he was stuck with it. Luke(shifter) came in, having done the full-moon run with his family, and it was pretty awesome. We must have run a hundred miles. My dad made a portal back for me, and I crept upstairs and passed out as soon as I got here.” Ethan, particularly, had missed them and the girls while they were all away. Ethan had carved a wonderful dragon while he had been gone. As they were talking, they heard loud chirping followed by skittering across the floors echoed from the common area. Voices rang out in squeals of both fear and excitement. There was a squirrel loose there, and everyone was having fun chasing it, and joking at everyone else’s expense. It eventually was let out by Mosely, one of the boy’s dorm managers.

Chapter 05

The Cafeteria, the next morning. Every student was required to wear the official school uniform, but as red-blooded teenagers they pushed the boundaries, modifying as best they could to suit their own style. (Styles are discussed for several pages). Kathleen and Ethan show off spells they had learned top move things (which the magic of the room cleaned up after them), and a group of sophomores at another table chug-a-lug and chant, as they swill maples syrup and orange juice. Alison was enjoying it all, seeing it through the energies express. That was one thing cool about energies—they never lied about emotions. You could hide it on your face, in your voice, and even trick yourself into thinking you didn’t feel that way, but energy always told the truth. Alison loved watching souls and energy. She could see so much joy and contentment. When you had the opportunity to be in an atmosphere like the School, you could open up and let go, taking pleasure in the small things—like an idiot gulping down maple syrup. Izzie didn’t have memories – so she just watched others Peter coughed- TEACHER ! Elias Hodges walks through, warns them not to be late for class. The kids talk about first classes of the day – Botanicals. Kathleen complains about all of the bugs and insects that attack her, and that all remind her she should quit wearing that Oriceran perfume, and then she would be fine.

Chapter 06

Mrs. Fowler, with her Botanical class. Lucy Fowler stood at the tree line wrapped in a patchwork coat, a bright purple scarf, and a thick knitted hat to match. Her long, wiry, frizzy red hair ballooned below the hat, flapping wildly around her in the wind. She swirled her scarf as she spoke about the importance of botanicals. “Everything in this world started out as an organic organism. From the food we eat to the medicine we take, and even the sheets we lie on, almost everything includes some sort of plant that grew in Earth’s soil. On Oriceran it is no different. In fact, we know that Oriceran lacks technology and all those fancy lab-grown textiles, everything there comes from magic or a botanical.” She had Horace bring out a mehola plant and some mission grass. The class went into the woods, looking for the bulbs. They were found, and each student had some degree of success with the experiment (opening the bulbs out of season). Izzie had the most dramatic effect, opening the entire field of bulbs with her energies. Definitely different, definitely the first time, and definitely something to be aware of and learn to use. Kathleen got beaten up by her plant, because she was using perfume made from it’s families remains.

Chapter 07

As Alison and Izzie walked to the cafeteria, she became aware of all of the energies. There were brightly colored energies moving and melding all through her mind. Some were excited, others bored, and some just seemed to be making it through. On the other side of the hall two sources stopped, swirling close but not touching. She focused on one on the right. There were all kinds of colors, most of them signifying calmness, but inside that swirling light energy she saw a drip of darkness, just like in her trance state the other day. the dark energy swam around, being pulled back and forth by the light almost as if it was trying to tear the dark energy apart. When she looked again, they were gone. In the cafeteria, everyone is talking about Peter and his foray with the squirrel in the Boy’s common-room, and Kathleen being beaten by her flower. Time, and Izzie and Alison went to the library for their next period, a study hour. In the Library, she stood behind the chair and opened her backpack, running her hands over the books and laptop inside. She zipped her bag back up before lowering it to the floor, then looked at the energies near her. Sitting at the table next to them was the dark energy. The light tugged at the dark, an internal struggle that she wondered if the person even knew about. It was three times now that she had faced the energy, and she was curious about what would cause the darkness to react like that. She had seen dark energies before, but none of them had been fighting with the light—if they had any light in them at all. They were resolute in their darkness, and usually if the interest was present it grew at a rapid pace. This was stagnant. Almost stuck inside the body, unsure where to go. Held prisoner by the light around it. Alison grabbed her laptop and walked over to the empty chair in front of the energy. She walked over to the energy, and asked to sit next to the person, a young man named Tanner, new to the School, transferred in as a junior. He could see she was blind, and asked her how she saw people? She said by their spirit, and he asked her how she saw him. She paused, knowing he did not know about the dark strip inside him, and said, kindness, caring, and some mischief. It felt good to talk to someone who at least partially understood what they felt. What they experienced every day. Alison was curious about Tanner. She felt like she had been shown him for a reason. The reason could have been small, like to build her friendships or expand her family, or it could be much more than that. time would tell. The dark didn’t scare her, not with him. She was sure there was a reason for it. Little did she know that reason would show eventually, but she was already invested.

Chapter 08

Izzie watches Alison meet up with, talk to Tanner (See Characters, Tanner). When the class was over, Izzie introduced herself, but felt something about him was off in her estimation. They have a few extra moments, so sit and talk about memories. Alison tells her about how she remembers her Mom, and Izzie tells Alison about three strong memories she has, and doesn’t understand them. (See characters, Alison, Izzie). Mara Berens had overheard the girls talking, and was worried, as the mind-erasing spell she had put into Izzie wasn’t working the way it should, she might be in a position to figure out what had happened right before that—to know who was chasing her and why she couldn’t control her magic like the others. What was happening could easily turn into a huge deal. It could jeopardize Izzie, her parents, and the entire School. She took down the box in which the memory orbs were stored, and checked them. There were small black spots swirling in through them. Were they contaminated? She could lose the whole memory if they were. She had never seen that before. She didn’t know how to fix the problem. She recast the protective spell, and put the box away, reviewing that night in her memory. The Jasper Elf in Izzie was searching for answers, and it wouldn’t stop until the truth had been revealed.

Chapter 09

Miles Cooper, on a Field Trip with the class, teaching them about cloaking (after he got rid of Kathleen’s stray bee!) “Cloaking is achieved by bending light around a person or an object. The point is to shield them from view. Now, most magical beings are capable of keeping someone or something cloaked for a short amount of time, but there are those out there who can keep their cloaking up for hours. There are no special words for this. No enchantments. You just have to focus your energy and picture what you want. Those of you with wands will use those instead of your hands. Pull energy up into your body. Remember to keep your intention. Feel the energy building. You will be using a considerable amount of it for this spell, so be patient and let it collect. Focus on your chest, and push that magic into your hands or wands. When you have reached the point of expulsion, push the energy out.” It is one of the most difficult spells you will learn in your first year. Be patient and practice, and by the end of the semester, I promise you will have it down pat. I am going to do the spell first, then I will call you up one at a time to attempt the spell on—” He whipped his hand around and magic flowed out, revealing a tall statue of the Dark Forest Gardener, real flowers blooming from the marble statue’s hair. “The Oriceran Gardener, one of my favorites. Please try to keep him in one piece.” He stood in front of the statue, pulling the energy, and suddenly bright stream of light exploded from the tips of his fingers, sending a wind toward the students. They watched in amazement as that light circled wildly around the statue, not touching it just yet. Mr. Cooper moved both arms to the right side, and the energy moved with it. “Now you want to paint your magic around the statue like you are creating a work of art.” He swirled the magic around the statue like a blanket, flicking his wrists up and down, focusing on the bottom and top. A flap of energy moved over the statue, covering every inch of the stone. “Now you want to envision the object gone. Not just invisible, but gone. The magic has to make you believe the object isn’t there.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, slowly lowering his hands. The magic still whipped around the statue, but from the ground up, the entire thing slowly began to fade away. Ethan went up to where the statue had been and touched it. It was still there. This is a good lesson: you may be cloaked, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be found. You are cloaking to be invisible, and to remain that way you want to get out of the main thoroughfare. Magic requires patience, concentration, and no wild bursts of energy. You have to control it, and stay calm and focused. The magic is inside of you, and all throughout these woods. Become one with it, bend it, mold it to your will. Ethan had a bit of a mishap. Izzie covered the statue beautifully, and her magic had been stronger than Mr. Cooper’s, so he had to ask her to release it, as he couldn’t.

Chapter 10

Henry, impressed by Izzie’s powers, also thinks she’s at least part Jasper, and asks her out to the Valentine’s Day Dance. She accepts, joyfully. The group talks about their dates for the dance. That night, Alison and Izzie talk about the cloaking thing. Alison is worried, as powerful magic takes a lot out of a person. “I’m fine, really. It was just interesting, that’s all. I didn’t know I had that kind of magic in me.” They walk over to Horace, in the barn brushing a horse. Horace watched Izzie around the horse, calming, controlled, like her powers were growing.

Chapter 11

The cafeteria was all decked out for the Dance, as were the people. Red was the color, and fresh flowers, roses, were the scent of the evening. Alison came with Izzie and Henry, then sat against a wall, watching the energies swirl by, a little sorry she hadn’t asked Tanner to come with her. But Tanner was looking for her, saw her, and came over to talk, finding they were wearing matching shoes and were twin souls as far as dancing was concerned. Tanner asked her to dance, both apologizing in advance for stepping on the other’s feet. Claire and Scarlet are at the dance, with no dates, as they want to pick up someone, perhaps in the kemana, and go to the stream. As the watch Alison and Tanner, they decide that now was the time to do that.

Chapter 12

After the dance (no curfew), Henry walks Izzie down to the stables, to pet the pregnant horse. Tanner and Alison walk with Kathleen, Ethan and Peter to the boy’s dorm. On the way, Tanner finally realizes who Alison’s guardian really is, and is quiet. He feels intimidated, much to Alison’s disappointment. Spring was coming – longer days, blossoms on the trees, students eating outdoors to take in the sun’s warmth, and Izzie and Horace were the only ones she would let near her. Spring cleaning took a hold of the School, dorms and classrooms alike. April Fool’s Day was just around the corner, and Ethan didn’t understand why it wasn’t as popular as others. He was still looking for the perfect joke to play on the girls, with two weeks to go to practice.

Chapter 13

Izzie and Alison go to see Marigold, and find out that Mr. Tabby, the barn cat, is really Mrs. Tabby, and was also pregnant. Suddenly, Alison drops into a trance, and sees a student from the School in the kemana, struggling, but she could not determine the source of his problem, except to see the huge Kilomea from the General Store with him. She asks Izzie to cloak her, and take her down into the kemana to find the student and to help. They get closer to the kemana, and Izzie cloaks them both, as she will be going down with Alison.

They get into the kemana, and as they are on the way to the General Store, Alison looks at the energies surrounding her down there. There were so many dark souls; so much black mixed with little light. Not all of them were bad, but enough were to send a chill down Alison’s spine. She hadn’t realized the first time they came that there were so many bad people in the kemana. She had thought that it was a mixture, but at least on this day, she felt like she was surrounded by darkness. They find a hidden door behind a tapestry, open it, and go down a dark stairway, find a boy who had stolen from the Kilomea owner. He had been captured, and chained, so the girls loosened him, and they all escaped back to the School. He wouldn’t do THAT again!

The dark wizards were back in town, three of them, with Philoneus staying behind to prepare for the next step. They had no more time – things must begin, so they had come to an old abandoned magically protected park to start. They are here to cast a spell, and after the spell is done two will remain here, to keep the dark magic running true, being spelled awake to make sure it was watched. Balthasar extracted the energy from the four benches in the park, sent it skyward to coalesce, the out to trigger the code. When the magic stopped, the sky crackled and dark clouds moved in.

A boy at the School tossed as the dark magic took control of him, moving him out of the building and into a seldom-used garden, where he pointed his wand to the sky and released a spell, “EXO-HALFACTUS!” A stream of dark magic shot from the tip of his wand and flew into the sky, twisting and swirling around the lightning. As the last of the dark magic left his wand, the power of it split the wand straight all the way to his fingers. He dropped the wand in the grass and shook his hand, his eyes no longer covered in darkness. He looked around him as rain washed over his body. He frowned and picked up the smoking wand. It had been destroyed and there was no fixing it, but he had no idea how he had even gotten there. Then the alarm bells at the School began sounding, and he dropped the ruined wand and ran back to his room. He didn’t know what had happened, but he had a dark sour feeling in his stomach—something he had never felt before.

Chapter 14

As the boy was convulsing in the hall, he was taken to the Infirmary, and Mara and Horace called. They determined it was a black spell put on him, that they did not know of it and therefore could not reverse it. All classes were cancelled, and sensors were put on the doors of the buildings to detect any dark magic going in or out. It had to be someone in the School who had done it, and all were on edge. The boy who had cast the spell the night before somehow felt it had been his fault, and he was scared. He couldn’t even begin to think he had somehow been involved. He assumed it had been a freak event, something to do with what he’d eaten last night. Meanwhile, another boy laid helpless in the infirmary, tossing back and forth, having yet another fit. In his mind, the boy was trapped in a violent storm of lightning and thunder. He screamed, but no one could hear him. He was trapped deep in his own mind with dark magic all around him, no clue who did it or why he was there. The nurse listened to him mumbling, still unable to make out what he was saying. She ran her hands over him, quieting the fits and allowing his body to rest, not knowing it had no effect on his mind. The spell was digging deeper and deeper into the child’s soul, and with every movement, every scream, he lost more control. The clouds overhead continued to swarm, pouring rain over the grounds. Izzie and Alison were in the barn, comforting the animals as the storm raged. She could feel the dark magic pulling at her, a lump in her chest pulsating like a heartbeat. She couldn’t track it, however. Not yet. She was so weak, so tired, but she hadn’t been able to meditate without hearing the scream. And Izzie, too was feeling almost suffocated by it. It tugged at her, trying to get to the light while the light pushed back, creating a storm inside of her. She couldn’t sleep or think straight, and whenever she tried to close her eyes she saw was a dark fog creeping toward her to swallow her whole. Horace came out to the barn to get them (Nara knew they would be there). There is someone somewhere on these grounds who put a spell on a kid, and the last thing you need is to be out here alone.” Izzie held Alison’s hand as they waited for Horace to shut the barn doors. Thunder boomed overhead, shaking Alison from head to toes. Izzie gripped her hand tighter and the two girls walked closely together, Horace leading them back to the house. Lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating the ground for just a moment before going dark again. She couldn’t remember ever being that frightened of the place she called home.

Chapter 15

Students packed the dining hall, all nervous, knowing someone had put a spell on another, here at the School. . They kept their nerves on hold, just waiting for everything to go back to normal. Max Regency put the Aurora Borealis on the ceiling, to help make everyone feel better, and reviewed the news of the boy with Annabelle Grant, who had visited him earlier. “I visited him earlier. He is still moving between fits and calm, and he is still unconscious. They’ve hooked him up to an IV to get fluids into him, but it hasn’t helped his color. He’s almost gray. It’s very eerie. I have been going through some of my books looking for anything like this, but to be honest, there isn’t a thing that matches. This is a very old spell, and we would be lucky to even find it in the dark families’ library.” For now, we are in charge of keeping the students’ morale up. Alison and her group were seated in the room, Alison surveying the energies around her. She saw Tanner, he saw her, and immediately rose from the table, slung his bag over his shoulder, and left the room. Alison feels it was because Brownstone was her guardian, and Tanner didn’t want to buck that. Alison and Aya were up in their room later, and Aya wanted to see/feel the egg in Alison’s drawer. (See Miscellaneous, Egg). They discuss what might emerge, have no idea, and decide that now would not be a good time for it to hatch. Alison ran her hand over rough shell, wondering when the right time would be.

Chapter 16

Mara goes into town to buy ingredients for a peach cobbler (Yumfuck would LOVE it), and hears gossip that the dark wizards have been entering and exiting the town, with no one knowing where they are going, staying, or doing. Mara goes back to the School, to engage Xander (Dark Magic Professor) and Elias Hodges (shifter), to go with her to the Brewery Tavern, to start to track them down, to find get a clue finding them and see exactly what they are up to. That might also give us a clue as to who is behind this student’s spell.” You think they are connected?” “Of course, they are. One minute everything is fine and the next, dark wizards are showing up, and one of our students goes down hard. There is no such thing as coincidence when it comes to dark magic.” They do so, Mara finds concealed magical tracks, and they follow them to a blank wall in an alley. Mara disintegrates the spell, and they find two dark wizards sitting in the park, Tyrian and Lingus. They battle, Mara kills Lingus, and tries to get Tyrian to talk, identify leader, plan et al. He refuses, so Mara sends him through a portal with a warning message, “This is our town, and I will do everything I can and risk anything I have, even my life, to defend it and the people in it. If your disgusting group of maggots does anything else to harm a single student in my school, I won’t wait for you dark wizards to show up. I’ll come hunting for you myself.”

The three go back to the School, and Xander feels energy coming from the Fixer’s Garden. When he finds a ruined wand, split down the middle, with energy still flowing from it, he knows who had brought the dark magic in. The three of them go to Jack’s room, to confront him, and find out he is a Toombie (See Creatures, Toombie) He will be quarantined along with all other orphans, as suspects in helping the dark wizards.

Chapter 17

April Fool’s Day had arrived, and the whole school took to the fun. Spells were bouncing all over the place, from whirling balls that hit the victim and created a twenty-four-hour glimmer on their faces—those were intended for the boys—to magical cream pies to the face. Almost everyone enjoyed it, even the ones on the wrong side of the jokes. The teachers, on the other hand, always wished that classes were suspended that day. Barely anything got done in class, and half of them made the whole period about jokes, knowing that if they tried to teach, they would fail. Horace, being non-magical, was the butt of many pranks. He was the non-magical groundskeeper, and they loved messing with him. Every year Horace started the day thinking he had fully prepared himself to not get caught in the mess. He even went so far as to have Mara spell him one year for protection, but none of it ever worked. This April Fool’s he had intended to lock himself in his room and wait the day out, but he couldn’t. He had horses to tend to, grass to cut, and a barrage of things inside the house to take care of. Mara and Fowler were watching him, talking. Mara said, “I told him that if he just started pulling pranks back, they would leave him be. Magic jokes are all well and good, but give these kids the ol’ Saran Wrap on the toilet seat just once and they’ll think twice about doing something to him.” And then she found that Horace and Fowler had played a trick on her (water and confetti), and she knew it was going to be an interesting afternoon. Ethan and Tanner had put a truth spell on everyone in the cafeteria, causing hard feelings and a few fights. Tanner came over and told Alison he had wanted to kiss her, but feared Brownstone. She felt better about everything. Ethan became the King of April Fool Jokes, spent a week in detention, and everyone got over it.

Chapter 18

Late April. Spring Break was over with, Spring was in full swing, and baby birds and bunnies abounded. . Alison and all of the crew except Kathleen stayed behind. Mrs. Tabby had had seven kittens, allowing only Alison to touch them. Alison and Izzie decide to go out for a night-walk, and find Horace in Marigold’s stall, almost ready to expel the foal. When it was time, Marigold stood up, and Izzie went with her. She stomped her hooves, and Izzie could see the baby moving around in her tummy. Alison made her way to the stall, sensing the energies of everyone involved. The amazement they all felt as the foal was born brought Izzie to tears, something Izzie was counting as easily one of the tops in her new life. Horace offered them some of the hot chocolate he had brought, and the sat and talked.

Alison talked to Izzie about her Drow background. From everything I’ve read, throughout history, and I’m sure even now, Drow are feared by most. I’ve been terrified that you guys, my closest friends, would eventually fear me.” “Unless you make some drastic change to your personality, I don’t think that’s possible,” Izzie told her comfortingly. “Once you get to know someone, you kind of understand what they are mentally capable of. Your magic may be capable of a lot of things, but we know your mind will keep you from harming others.” Alison has turned clairvoyant, and was sharing it with Izzie. There is another part of her magic changing, which she tries out with Izzie. That of control. She can make people do things against their will. Izzie tells Alison of some of her new powers- controlling light energy. What should they do? “We keep learning about ourselves, we keep tabs on what we know, and we try to manage it the best way we can. Along the way, we will try to find someone who can help us. Right now, though, with everything that’s happened, I think we should keep it between us.” Horace was outside his house, and had watched the girls in the barn as they showed each other their capabilities. He had never seen anyone so powerful as those two. “And that’s not good. Those are two very powerful teenagers.” Horace went back to the barn, and the girls left for classes, neither one saying anything. Horace cleaned up the broken glass Izzie had caused.

Chapter 19

Eleanor Hudson, the History teacher, begins the class with the opening of the Oriceran gates thousands of years ago, and discusses many of the implications and rebounding events dur to that, giving the class homework to do. Alison goes to her room, to trance and re-energize herself. In the trance, she sees Mara, the nurse, And the boy talking, and she knows what’s wrong with the boy, and that she can fix it. She leaves the room, goes downstairs, finds Horace, and he takes her to the infirmary , and to Mara. Alison is able to give Mara and the nurse enough information that they can at least reduce the effects of the spell so that the boy will live until they can find the comp0lete cure. Alison tells Mara about her clairvoyance, but not about her control of others. Horace lets her know that he knows about it, and he will keep an eye on her, even if he has no magic. He may have been human, but he wasn’t going to let the magical community down.

Chapter 20

The semester is over, commencement done, and the five girls had survived their freshman year at the School. The were in the room packing, and talking about what they would be doing for the summer. Aya is going to Vermont, on Lake Willoughby, so she’ll get to swim and water ski all summer. Oh, and they are letting me bring my boyfriend since we don’t get to see much of each other anymore. H e’s an elf. A Light Elf, and his great-grandfather came here from Oriceran. He gets to take trips back there sometimes, but my parents have yet to let me go with him. Vermont it is.” What about you, Emma?” “My parents signed me up for some magical summer camp, which is not much different than human summer camp. Fires, camp stories, silly games—that kind of thing. I went last year too, and I know some of the kids coming back, so it won’t be too bad.” “What about you, Izzie?” “Oh, uh, I’m going to be with Ms. Berens, and she said we might go to Austin if she can get away. She has some things to deal with here in town. Something to do with a light magic council, but she seems pretty interested in taking me out of Charlottesville. She said I might be able to visit with Alison if her guardians aren’t too busy.” Alison? Might get to have Izzie visit with her, if -“James Brownstone not busy? He probably kicks dark magic ass in his sleep.” Alison laughed. “I wish I could say that was a crazy-ridiculous over-exaggeration, but you are probably right.” “Are you going to be getting in on the fun while you’re gone?” “No. He is a bit overprotective of me, so I’ll probably end up sitting around whatever house we are at and reading the whole time.” “Boring.” Alison shrugged. “I don’t mind. I like the quiet, and I can listen to my music.” Kathleen was going to France, to Paris and Versailles, and gave them all her phone number, so if they could come her Dad could portal them in. Alison could sense comfort and kindness in Kathleen’s energy. She was softening, which was a good thing. Alison had known from the first time she’d met Kathleen that she was a good person, and now she was starting to show that to her friends. Alison still has to say good-bye to Tanner. He’ll be downstairs. Emma is worried about the egg. “We should look at the egg before we go,” Emma remarked carrying her suitcase over and setting it down by the door. “You know, give it a sendoff, or us a sendoff. Either way, we should let it know that we will be back.” Alison pulled the egg out, setting it on the bed. The girls gathered around, staring at the golden flecks shimmering on the shell. Emma ran her hand over it, the others doing the same until everyone was touching it except Alison. Izzie put Alison’s hand on the egg and she gasped at the surge of energy, and though she felt it in her chest, she didn’t realize that it had actually gone out of her hand and through the egg. She watched the energy shimmer and spark, something she hadn’t seen before. The girls took turns wishing the dragon’s egg a good summer and asking it to stay put until they got back. The energy flashed every time one of them talked, which made Alison think whoever was inside could hear them. It was a strange reaction and one she hadn’t expected, but then again, she didn’t know what to expect from the thing. When they were done, everyone except Alison removed their hands. She didn’t know why, but there was a feeling deep in her gut that something was stirring. When the energy settled back into its normal rhythm Alison took her hand away, figuring it would be fine until they got back. They decided that they needed a good place to hide it, as they might not have that same room next year, and Izzie volunteered to do so, taking it to Marigold’s barn, and securing it in boxed up in the loft above her stall. Marigold nodded. She would watch over it. As Izzie left, Marigold started to whinny, as something was scratching at the inside of the egg.

Everyone is packed, everyone says their goodbyes, and leaves for the summer. Alison gives Izzie a big hug. “Stay safe, watch your back, and remember—you are whatever you want to be.” Izzie chuckled. “But you do the same. The dark is out there, we know that, but we both have the ability to be the light.”