Playing With Fire

A Daunting Test

The next morning I woke up early. I hadn't slept very well last night with my dreams haunted by blood and ash. I dressed and headed downstairs, mentally reviewing everything that I'd learned last night. I practice several hand motions for some more advanced spells that I attempted with Andrew's help last night. Carver sat at the bottom of the stairs looking completely relaxed.

"You ready for this?" I asked, chewing on my lip.

"Yeah," Carver smiled. "You don't have to look so nervous. It's just a silly assessment. Plus, you've literally known about magic for less than a week, so don't stress".

"I know you're right," I sighed, sitting down next to him. "I just keep thinking about what Weston said to me, and I just want to prove him wrong, you know? I want to show him that I'm not some helpless little girl."

"Don't listen to Wes," Carver ran a hand through his hair. "He's just worried about the coven."

"You mean this coven that doesn't even exist yet?" I grumbled.

"This isn't something you can get out of Cordelia. It's something all of us were born into whether we want it or not"

"That just doesn't make sense to me," I grumbled. "Surely their hundreds of people better suited to this than me."

"I promise you everything will be ok," he squeezed my shoulder gently. "Most of us feel the same way even though we were raised knowing that this is what we were all born to do."

Before I could respond, the Headmaster and Professor Thatcher heading toward us, speaking in hushed tones. They fell silent as soon as we were in earshot.

"Miss Pendragon, I'll be administering your exam. Mr. Pendragon, you'll be with Professor Thatcher," the headmaster said before motioning me to follow him downstairs.

We went into an empty classroom where he handed me a scroll of parchment, a pen and told me to write down everything I knew about the history of warlocks. I sat down at a desk and began to furiously write down what I'd read last night, starting with the formation of the high council by Uther Pendragon. As I wrote, I could picture the words in the textbook, and it was like they flowed from my brain to my hand as it flew across the paper. I had just started writing about the witch wars of 1778 when the bell rung, breaking my concentration. I stood up, handing my paper to the headmaster. He surveyed it with a smile.

"I see you've been studying with Andrew Fairfax," He chuckled, and I nodded. "He's a good student. If you stick with him and keep up this level of work, I'm sure you'll do great here". I blushed, pleased with the praise. I always prided myself on striving to be the best at whatever I did. That competitive drive helped me become one of the best dancers my age and get my GED when I was fifteen.

We headed upstairs and out into the back; we walked down to a massive stone arena located at the edge of the grounds. As we walked closer, I could see that there were cracks and scorch marks in the stone and large chunks completely gone in a couple parts. "This is the practice field several of our upper-level classes practice their combat skills." We walked through an archway and onto a large grass field. He waved a hand, and hedges emerged from the ground, creating what looked like an intricate maze.

"Here, we have an obstacle course. You'll use your affinity and any spells to try and make it through. It will start fairly simple, but the further you go,, the more challenging it will get. I'll be watching and will terminate the test when it gets to be too much for you to handle" he smiled encouragingly, giving me a little push towards the maze.

The branches of the hedge parted for me as I stepped through the opening and into the maze. I walked a couple of steps before turning back, but the hedge had already closed behind me, and the only way to go was forward. I touched the ruby pendant around my neck as I hesitantly moved forward. I'd worn it hoping that it might bring me luck, although it seemed silly now.