The Sapphire Mages (discontinued)

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 4

I was in my room, reading. I put the book down and stared blankly at the ceiling. The fan was spinning so quickly it was nothing more than a blur, but I was still sweating from the heat.

I went down the stairs to see my parents. My mother was in the kitchen. Her curly golden hair was pulled back in a high ponytail and her warm brown eyes were fixed on the letter in her hand.

"Mum?" I asked, "Is everything alright?"

She turned to me, "You passed."

I didn't even need to ask what she was talking about. I already knew; I had been accepted to go to school at Sapphire Island. I remembered the months I had spent in my room, practising my magic and studying for so long that my head would spin and I couldn't stand up without feeling sick. The night before the exam I had stayed up past midnight when my mother found me asleep at my desk. She woke me and gave me a mug of hot chocolate, whispering encouraging words in my ear as I drank.

I couldn't stop myself from smiling and my mother did the same. "They'll be coming to pick you up next week!" she exclaimed excitedly, pulling me into a hug. "I'm so proud of you."

"Mum!" I protested but she only squeezed me harder.

She let me go and looked out the window, "We'll have to take you to the lake then..."

I knew why; I'd spent so much time learning about the school so it was no surprise that we would have to go to a large body of water for the mermaids' portals. "Does dad know?" I asked.

She nodded, "I just called him, he wanted to be here so badly when you found out but decided it was better for you to know as soon as possible." She squeezed my shoulders gently, "You know what it means to go to that school right? You'll be there for the next five months until you can finally come back for the June holidays."

"And then I'll go back and come back in December, I know," I said.

"You can always come back if you need to, the teachers will understand—"

"Mum, I'll be fine."

She nodded and turned to place the acceptance letter on the fridge. Next to it was a horribly confusing masterpiece I did when I was younger. I felt awful for my dad, who had been forced to decipher it by yours truly.

"I suppose you should get ready, the books will be in your dormitory so we don't need to worry about those..." she shook her head, "We still have a week anyway so it doesn't matter too much at the moment."

"Right..." I said slowly. She had a habit of doing that, she would start planning something then would decide she still had time then when the day came she would go crazy because she was "unprepared."

A week later, my parents took me to the lake. We waited for the last unassuming Ungifted to leave when suddenly the water bubbled as it started swirling. The whirlpool grew larger and larger until the shimmering form of a girl with flowing lavender hair could be seen.

"Oh! It works!" she said. "Hi! My name is Lily."

I said goodbye to my parents and went through the portal. When I came out, I almost fell into the huge sea in front of me. Lily giggled, "You'll get used to that after a while." She began making another portal as more students began entering.

I turned to go to the school. It was huge with gargoyles walking around and bunnies crept out of the large forest next to it. Students were making their way inside and a short woman with short, frizzy auburn hair and silver glasses was speaking to some of them.