Corrie

Monday, November 11

Corrie spent her history class thinking about her magic class—she’d been doing that a lot lately, and this time it worked out, since Professor Drehmer (she still wasn’t sure how she felt about him) didn’t call on her. She didn’t think she’d be able to answer any questions unless they were about floods.

As soon as Professor Lal said they could start, Corrie brought her hands together, palms up, and stared into them. It seemed like an odd way to create water, but at least they didn’t have to stand up the whole time, as they had during the fire classes. She reached for her magic, and her eyes widened in surprise; it was indeed different. She could find it easily—all the practice she’d done, lighting candles, on Wednesday and Thursday must have helped—but the feel of it had changed. It took her a moment to pinpoint the difference, and then she realized it was the temperature.

Friday, November 7

Professor Lal had, once again, told them not to bring anything to class that day. No one knew what the plan was for that class, so there was a lot of whispering as they waited for her to arrive. Corrie was whispering with Dawn and Roe, as well. “Do you think we’ll still be working on fire?” she wondered.

“I don’t think there’s much more about fire to learn, is there?” Roe asked. “We can light candles and set fires… I guess it would help to learn a magical way to put fires out.”

It took Corrie the whole rest of the class, but she finally figured it out. Her magic didn’t move or change; she didn’t have to grab hold of it the way she had been. Of course, it took her three tries after she decided to touch it more gently to actually do so—her mental “hands” weren’t as easy to control as her real ones. But she finally managed to light the wick and get the candle burning like a normal one, just before class ended.

Corrie opened the bag, took one tea light out, and placed it in the middle of her desk. Then she put the bag on her chair—she had no plans to sit down—so it wouldn’t be in her line of sight to distract her, and because she thought there was a small possibility that if she could see all the candles, she would end up lighting them all at once, and that would be bad for several reasons.

Wednesday, November 5

Corrie got up that morning feeling both excited and nervous. She was excited because she knew she could do the magic they’d be practicing in class. She’d already done it on Monday. On the other hand, she was nervous because she had no idea if she’d be able to control it. She didn’t really know what she’d done on Monday that had made the candle flame up like that, so she didn’t know how she’d do it differently.

Monday, November 3

“Here they are,” said Corrie. “My poster, Annie’s poster, and Edie’s bag. We decided not to worry about the voodoo dolls, but you can have them, too, if you want.” She, Dawn, and Roe were all standing in front of Professor Lal’s desk after class had ended. Energy was still racing through her from the magic practice they had done, and her veins felt like they were tingling.

“But then why did you go?” Corrie protested, still finding it difficult to believe that Professor Lal was being entirely above-board and honest.

“For the food—which is not harmful to me, or any other faerie—and the company other than the hosts. It’s simply a social event, and there is no need for me to list the specific faeries I wished to see at the ball. Have you never attended a party with people you disliked, in order to see the people you did like?” Professor Lal raised her eyebrows at Corrie.

Corrie nodded reluctantly. “I guess I have.”

“Any other questions?” Professor Lal asked, taking a nibble of her apple. “Since I don’t have anywhere to be right now, I may as well take as much time as I can. Of course, I might refuse to answer some of your questions. You girls don’t need to know absolutely everything.” She smirked. “But I do want to keep you safe.”