A Familiar's Guide to Magic

proper preparations

The moment class ended Willow grabbed and dragged me away, ignoring the sneers of her classmates as we pushed our way through to the main corridor. A flurry of rustling uniforms and irritated mutters from students who attempted to get out of the way. 

"Where are you taking me? What about the duel?"

"You expect to show up there empty handed?"

"...I've got my fists," I muttered out the side of my mouth as we exited the left section of the castle-like academy of Espora and followed a path that cut through a small courtyard, past a forested area, and ended at a large stone stadium.

Willow arched a brow, letting go of my wrist as we passed through the large archway—stepping through into something akin to a gladiatorial coliseum. Maybe not as medieval but there was a large dirt arena at the center and stadium seating that was covered slightly by triangular, layered pieces of colored fabrics.

"Woah..."

"We don't have time for this." Willow yanked me to her side, pulling me from my revelry.

"What kind of sport do you play here?" I asked too curious to be annoyed by her habit of dragging me around like an errant pet. "Wait, you don't have live executions here or something, do you?!"

"What? Of course, not! We're not barbarians!"

"That's hard to believe considering you're helping me prepare for a duel."

"You—how—" She blew out a heavy breath. "That's something else entirely." 

She shushed me as the sound of voices besides our own echoed off the stone walls. With a quick shove, I was hidden behind a pillar and Willow behind another a few feet away. I peeked out, curious as to why we were hiding.

A group of boys dressed in some kind of sporting uniform passed by, about fifty feet from us. I spotted Tobias among them, a genuine smile on his face. His cheeks looked flushed and his hair was slicked back from his face with sweat. Still, there was something about him that had my stomach fluttering. I  suppressed the urge to sigh like those love sick teens in all the movies I'd seen. I watched until they disappeared out of sight.

Willow waved me to her side after she peeked to make sure the coast was clear. I moved to her with a roll of my eyes. I got the feeling that perhaps she was being a bit more dramatic about this sneaking around than was necessary.

"You've got a bit of drool, just there." 

She pointed toward my mouth and I slapped her hand away, a bit surprised by her teasing insult. 

"Why did you bring me here?" 

"For that."

She pointed to the door across the training arena.

There were a few students cleaning up. But most of the students were seated in the stadium seating, focused on the professor standing at the edge of the arena, explaining the proper way to build a shield.

"A door?" 

"Not the door. For what's beyond it." 

"And that is?"

"What we need. Come on."

Willow rushed across the open expanse, pausing behind each pillar for a beat before moving to next. I skittered after her, my heart beating a little faster as I began to realize that we were doing something that we shouldn't be. And her strange dramatics might be needed.

I didn't know what would happen if we got caught but I didn't think that detentions were something that they gave out in magical school and I didn't like the thought of possibly being turned into a toad or something.