Xoris

Chapter Eighteen

"Don't worry about it. Who knows, you could end up with even more powerful majik than me." Luke put a comforting hand on my shoulder, flashing me a quick smile. "Any of you could."

"That's doubtful," Alaina cut in, taking hold of her satchel for school and shaking Merkos, who was still fast asleep in bed. "It's in your blood. We'll be lucky if even one of us is born with any type of ability."

I fiddled with my hands, looking away from them all. "Well, maybe Luke is right. Or maybe all of us will be able to pass the test. That's not impossible." I hoped that was the case as I grabbed my own satchel from under my bed, shoving the countless books I had about tracking spells out of the way. I had read all about how majik could be used to locate lost objects or people. Now all I needed was the ability for it.

"It's pretty much impossible- Merkos come on! We have to go!" With that, Alaina was shoving the black-haired boy onto the floor, jolting him awake. He sat up, rubbing his head as he gave the girl a dazed look. "It's Testing Day."

It felt like forever, waiting for the other two to get ready while I paced back and forth by the door. I knew every child of ten Withers experienced the same nerves that day, but... I felt like I depended on that answer more than anyone else. I needed to be told I had majik, and what I could do. My fingers were tapping each other incessantly by this point, wishing that Alaina and Merkos could lace their sandals faster. As they finished, I was already throwing open the fort's door, stepping out when I felt a hand on my shoulder again. I turned, seeing Luke wincing a bit at me.

"Xoris... I-I saw the books under your bed. I know how much you want to find your mom but I want you to know that-"

I flinched. When has he gone through my things? I scrambled to try and explain myself. "Don't jinx me! What did you just say about me possibly having more majik than you? I can do this I-'' He cut me off with a shake of his head, and I hated the pained look in his eyes. Luke was never serious, and I glanced back at Alaina and Merkos, starting to make their way to school without me.

"It's not that I don't think you can have majik, I just..." He ran his hands over his face, his fingers scraping over the tips of his ears. "I had wanted to find them too. When I got my majik, the first thing I did was try to find my mom. But... she wasn't the loving person I had hoped she would be. When I went to the Fae forest, they turned me away. They... they told me my wings were too short. That I was too much of a Human to deserve them at all and..."

His hands trembled as he spoke, eyes wide as he shook under the hold of the memory, but he didn't need to say anything for me to understand. I could still remember running down the halls with him only a few Withers ago, my feet pattering on the stone as he drifted ever so slightly above the floor. The tally he went missing, the day he came home, wings in tatters and fearful tears streaming down his face. I already knew what they'd done to him, but he continued all the same.

"They said I was just the consequence of some Fae seeing what she could do with an illusion spell and a night on the town. And when I found my father... He was just some tired man who gave me to the fort because he couldn't think of how to take care of me. The only thing he ever did was bandage me up and apologise before giving me up a second time."

Tears were coming out his eyes now, fast and fresh at having to deal with the memories again. He wiped them away quickly, sniffing heavily. "I just don't want that for you. We all are here for you, Xoris. We're a family, not the people who turned their back on you. Please remember that."

"Thanks. It's... It's fine, really," I replied, pushing his hand off me. "I just... Lost something, something that was very important to me. It was a book, for sure."