The First Element by Autumn Kalquist

Author:Autumn Kalquist [Kalquist, Autumn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nature Magick Press
Published: 2019-08-21T16:00:00+00:00

23

“What happens if I fail?” I repeat, because Chloe’s not answering.

She’s averting her eyes, suddenly real interested in putting away the leftover food. She’s being weird, which isn’t saying much, since she’s been weird since I met her, but this is next level sketch.

“Chloe?”

“Mm-hmm?” She shoves a glass dish into the fridge and disappears behind the open door. “You don’t need to worry about anything.” Her voice is muffled, and things are clanging around in there.

I’m gonna stay calm. No more Walter Mittying horrible outcomes. Not until she gives me more details at least.

She finally emerges from behind the door, making a beeline for another dish.

“Do you want some help with that?”

“No thanks,” she says in a rush, grabbing two more dishes. “You should head to bed.”

I jump to my feet, blocking her route back to the fridge. “I will go to bed… as soon as you tell me what happens if I fail.”

She narrows her blue eyes at me. “You’ll do just fine. But you need your rest.”

“I just wanna know.” And I ain’t movin’ until she tells me. Otherwise I’ll have nightmares all night.

A strong feeling of foreboding is taking over in my gut, making all that vegetarian food feel like a freakin’ anchor.

She blows out a breath, lowers the dishes onto the sparkly countertop, and tries to dazzle me with a smile. Not working this time. She’s nervous about this too, and I need to know why.

“Look,” she says. “We tracked you using magick at least four times in the past twenty-four hours. You used all four elements, Lyric! You’ll do just fine during the Trials. You’ve got this.”

“What if I don’t? Because I didn’t use magick on purpose any of those times, so how am I supposed to just… perform?” My voice is rising with every word.

Chloe puts both hands on my shoulders and looks straight in my eyes. I hate all this touching and direct eye contact, but it would be rude to pull away, and I want a damn answer.

“Remember what I told you? All Legacies are magickally bound at birth. Every freshman will be unbound for the very first time tomorrow. No one else in your class has ever actually used magick before, even if they could sense it or see it. You will all be given four days of introductory training before you begin the Trials. Since you’ve already used magick, you’re actually one step ahead of everyone else! Everything will be fine.” She lets me go, thankfully, and picks up her purse, apparently no longer interested in putting away leftovers. “Let’s head to bed, alright?”

I’m biting my lip so hard, it starts to bleed again. It doesn’t matter if I accidentally used magick a few times. Or even if I do figure out how to use it on purpose. Because I’m bad at tests. Like, really, really bad. I freeze up, my brain gets all jumbled, and no matter how hard I’ve studied, I can’t remember the information I tried to cram into my brain.

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