Magelore Book 1: Smoke and Fire

Chapter 6

Raven

"One of the few substances known to stop Dark magic," the teacher droned, "is dragon fire. The only other known substance is a potion called Hydor, which simply translates to 'water' in Ancient Elven. It has the appearance of normal water. But it is actually created by mixing unicorn horn, water, dragon blood..."
"This is boooooooring," the boy next to Raven groaned. "I want to learn some actual spells. But he's just going on about the dangers of Dark magic."
"So he's hardly likely to teach us any spells, right?" Raven pointed out.
"Shhh!" hissed another girl. "Some of us are trying to learn."
"Miss Trix," the teacher scolded. "And Miss Almex. Class is in session."
Raven rolled her eyes.
"We're going to be trying a simple spell now," he said. "Without help from your partners or familiars."
Finally, something I can learn without Akira, Raven thought.
"We're just going to practice doing something simple and making our skin glow. Concentrate on whatever kind of light you want. Firelight, candlelight, starlight, whatever. Fill your mind with it and imagine the source of that light under your skin."
"He's getting under my skin," Raven heard someone mumble. She stifled a laugh and thought about candlelight. Candlelight. Candlelight.
She opened her eyes and, lo and behold, her hands were glowing with a soft, warm light.
"Very good, Miss Almex! Not bad at all, Mr. Solace. A little work on that one, please, Miss Crowwell. Oh, dear, Miss Trix..."
Raven looked up. The girl who'd shushed them earlier had absolutely no glow coming from her skin at all.
"I'm trying!" she growled.
"What kind of light are you thinking about?"
Raven looked away.
When class ended, she saw the girl again. She had her nose buried in a book.
"So, what's up?" someone said behind her.
Raven turned to her brother with a grin. "Hey, Oliver. Sorry about my partner."
Oliver shrugged. "It's fine. Hey, did you hear about the girl who can't do magic?"
"You mean Kijo Trix? Yeah, I had a class with her this morning. But I didn't think that she couldn't do magic, I just figured she had a hard time with it."
Oliver shook his head. "Apparently she actually can't."
"Oh. That's kind of sad. Why is she here, then?"
Oliver shrugged. "No clue. Did you get your familiar yet?"
"Yes!" Raven grinned. "And his name is Fiyero. He's a fox-dragon. And he's so cute!"
"Aww! I got a bear thing. He talks."
"What?"
"Yeah, his name's Brian."
"Cute."
"If you like talking bears," Oliver laughed. "So, what's up with your partner?"
"I don't know," Raven sighed. "She hates us. For no reason."
"Is that the same kid who's dad cut your face?"
"Yyyyep."
"Ah."
"Yeah."
They walked in silence for a few more minutes.
"I have to go," Oliver said. "Have fun trying to pacify your insane partner!"
"Oh, great. So much fun."