Page 30 of Magic in the Woods
I only had Matilda and Grandmother as references. Through her visits over the years, my mother, Matilda, had begun to look different—her nose growing wider and her skin breaking out in different bumps. Grandmother hadn’t ever looked that way. Her skin, although wrinkled, had stayed clear of blemishes. I tried to suppress a shiver, my hands coming upto my face, my fingers feeling the smooth skin of my cheeks and nose.
Brooke sighed, sitting on the bed, testing its bounce. “I’m a quiet sleeper. I don’t move much.”
“Me either,” I said. My eyes glanced up to Ringlets, who was still sitting on the top bunk, staring at us. “What’s your name?” I asked.
She looked around the room like I was asking someone else before she answered. “Petunia.”
A muffled bell rang outside of our room. “Dinner?” Brooke asked.
Must be.I opened the door to our dorm, peeking my head out. A line of witches on the bottom floor of the dome had already formed a line at the counter with the accordion door.
“We’d better get in line,” I said.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Dafni
“You were recruited just in time!”the instructor, who’d proudly introduced herself as Arcana, exclaimed, clapping her hands as she stood in front of the eleven of us “recruited” witches. She sat on a metal rusted desk in the front of the classroom. With bricked walls, dirt floors, and no windows, this was unlike any classroom I’d ever imagined being in.
We all sat on benches without desks in front of us. There were no books, no pencils or papers, but there were posters on the wall. Some depicted proper body form to have when using your magic. Others had warnings not to practice magic on others.An Untrained Witch is a Dangerous Witchwas printed with red ink on the bottom of one.
This morning, the other witches at the Academy seemed to group up with the witches of their own magic, heading towardseparate classrooms along the long hallway outside the dome where we ate meals and slept in our dorms. The eleven of us new witches were rounded up, regardless of our magic, brought into an empty classroom, and given Arcana to teach us. She was the only one who seemed excited to be here.
“We don’t have much time—only weeks before the first evaluations. My lovely earth witches will be competing first for the chance to be chosen by young Gideon!” Arcana clapped again, looking at our faces.
Brooke, an earth witch, trembled next to me, her eyes on her lap. “I’m going to throw up,” she whispered.
I took her hand and squeezed it just as she had squeezed mine in the truck.
“We’ve got a few weeks to figure everything out,” I whispered back.
“I’m sure you’ve seen him around…” Arcana wiggled her eyebrows at the group. “He’s so young andhandsome.”
She looked like every other witch down here. Her nose had grown, its tip now a bulb, and her skin was mottled by growths and bumps.
“I have only a few weeks to get you ladies into fighting shape! We will work hard. We will harness your powers. Who knows, maybe one of you newcomers could win Gideon!” Her eyes twinkled at the prospect. “Let’s start with all of you showing me what you know.”
Arcana grabbed hold of the witch nearest her and pulled her up in front of the class.
The girl shook standing in front of everyone.
“What kind of magic are you?” she asked.
I strained to hear her response.
The witch spoke so quietly I couldn’t hear anything before Arcana shouted, “Me too!” clapping her hands. “Oh, I have just the thing.” She walked around the desk, opening and closingdrawers until she found what she was looking for. Bringing the small clay pot around the desk, she held it up to show the witch its contents before setting the pot down on the desk. “Let’s see some earth magic!”
Brooke squeezed my hand tightly. I knew as an earth magic, she was watching this closely. Now that everyone in the room knew earth witches would be the first to compete, the tension between us witches was palpable. It felt real. We weren’t just the new group of human-born witches, we were being pitted against each other—forced to work against each other to win the affection of some supposedlyhandsomemale witch.
The witch at the front of the room peered down into the pot, extending her index and middle fingers toward what was inside. I held my breath as the pot wobbled back and forth for a moment before the witch lowered both her hands to her thighs, bending over to catch her breath.
Arcana leaned over the top of the desk looking into the pot. The smile that had been plastered on her face since we’d arrived dropped.
“Oh, dear. I thought you’d at least sprout something small, maybe something with leaves.” Arcana picked up the pot, shaking the contents. “You’ve separated the pebbles from the soil. I guess that’s something…”
The witch who’d just performed looked as if she were about to burst into tears.
“Sit, sit!” Arcana ordered.
