The Last of the Firedrakes by Oomerbhoy Farah

Author:Oomerbhoy, Farah [Oomerbhoy, Farah]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: JUV037000
ISBN: 9781940014722
Publisher: Wise Ink Creative Publishing
Published: 2015-08-15T04:00:00+00:00

* * *

Illusions class was more fun. Our professor was a young man, probably in his thirties or so, and quite an entertainer. For our first class, he made six illusions of himself and walked them around the classroom. We had to try and recognize which ones were illusions and which one was really him.

They all looked the same. Short, curly blond hair, eyes the color of a shallow lagoon, and a wide toothy smile. Each one was dressed exactly alike, in black robes lined with silver. One girl touched the arm of one of the illusions, and it dissipated in a puff of smoke.

“Very good, Marietta,” said Professor Swindern, from the other side of the room. “That, as you just saw, is one way to tell if it is an illusion or not. Illusions are not real. Transformation, however, is a different thing altogether, and much harder to do. Although it is taught as one class, transformation and illusion are not the same thing.”

I raised my hand for the first time since I had come to school. I had a question.

“Yes?” said the professor, squinting against the light to see me at the back.

I stood up. A few people turned to look at me, probably noticing me for the first time.

“Is it possible for a mage to change the appearance of a person?” I asked. “Like, say, hair color or the color of your eyes?”

The professor nodded as the four remaining illusions dissipated into tendrils of smoke.

“Absolutely,” he said. “It can be done. Many of the ladies of the nobility pay handsomely for these services. Some want their hair color changed, and some want different colored eyes; some even want their lips permanently reddened. In fact, many mages who leave the university get jobs doing precisely this.”

I nodded, sitting back down on my bench. I was confused. If mages could do all that, then why did Rafe take me to see the old fae lady Magdalene and get her to use fae glamour on me?

I decided to ask Penelope after class.

“Mages use illusions to change things into what they want them to be. Some illusions can be temporary, and some can last for years. It all depends on the will of the mage who performs the transformation or creates the illusion,” Professor Swindern was saying to the whole class. “Now, can everyone please turn to pages six and seven in your books, and we can begin.”

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