Triora's Trial

I

Tobia Capponi woke up in the middle of night. He was sweating, grinding his teeth and gasping for air. He almost felt paralyzed, and the only part of his body that he was able to fully control were his eyes, which were carefully inspecting his room in search of a proof, a shadow, a figure lurking in the dark, the same figure he kept seeing in his dreams, right above his head. Tobia has been having the same nightmare over and over again: a human-shaped body (although, Tobia could sense, it wasn't human at all) observing him in his sleep from his skylight window. The dream has been recurring for almost a week now, and that morning Tobia decided to talk to his mum about it.

«It feels as if someone is watching me from the skylight, I can't explain exactly how all this is happening, but when I wake up from the dream I really feel like I've just been spied on. In the dream there is this... shadow, of a human body, stretched out on my skylight, as a spider waiting for their prey to jump into their web. The dream only lasts for a few seconds, but that short time is enough to have me wake up wet from head to toe. I'd feel dizzy and I'd get the chills, and the fun part is that it has been repeating everynight at 4 a.m. exactly, not one minute less, I saw it from the clock on my bedside. It's so weird, mum! What can it be?!»

«Tobia, you know dreams don't work for wizards and witches in the same way they do for the ordinary people. They are always connected to a collective thread, and they always...»

«They always tell a story we must not be impatient to discover, I know all of it, but this feels different from all other dreams I've had, I'm serious! Do you think we can question the Occult Sorcerer?»

«Tobia, trust me. There is no need to bother the Occult Sorcerer, he must be busy dealing with much more important stuff than a dream that you've been having for only a couple of days!»

«It's been five or six days, mum, not just a couple!»

«I know, honey! I understand it might be frightening, and you're just growing up, so you're not used to it, but do you have any idea how many times I had the same dream recurring for two or three weeks incessantly? It happens, it is actually a good sign, it means you are indeed growing up and other witches and wizards' dreams are starting to intertwine with your own. Do you understand how deep this is? It means you are someone to trust, it means that the community trusts you and they are not scared to open up with you, even in their dreams...»

«I don't know mum... maybe you're right...»

«Oh, it's ok sweetheart! It is difficult, I know, but all this uncertainty is just part of the transition to becoming an adult wizard, as I said: you are growing up. You're not a child anymore, and you have to accept that uncertainty, and confusion, are going to be part of your transition for still quite some time, but you're not alone in this, always remember that. Now, get yourself ready for school, the bus is coming in no time! Where's your sister?!»

Tobia was not fully content with his mum's remarks on his dreams, he wasn't content at all actually. He knew that transitioning wasn't going to be a walk in the park, but that dream... there was something odd about it that he could not fully comprehend yet. He felt like it wasn't only that figure lying on his skylight in the night, looking at him... there was something else happening in his dream, but he could not remember what it was. Tobia felt like he was missing on a detail, on the detail, the one that could explain the reason why he would feel the chills everytime he thought about that dream.

«Tobia! Call your sister! She's going to miss the bus! Again!»

«Olivia! Wake the hell up!» Tobia shouted from the staircase. But Olivia would not reply.

«That girl... she's going to drive me crazy! Olivia! The bus is coming! Tobia, please, go to her room and wake her up. Would you mind, honey?»

«Sure, mum!»

As per usual, Olivia is still wrapped up in her fluffy blankets. Tobia does the only thing he knows to be effective to wake her up from dreaming: he snaps his fingers twice and harmoniously moves his right hand up and down three times on her sister's face. In the blink of an eye a small stream of water comes pouring down the palm of his hand, and the more he moves his hand, the more powerful the stream becomes. Olivia starts scrunching up her nose as the water falls on her face, she still has her pink glittery sleep mask on, and it is only when the water reaches her neck that she wakes up screaming. Tobia covers his ears with his hands, as the glass window in Olivia's bedroom shatters in a thousand pieces on the floor.

«That's my baby girl» whispers mum to herself, with a proud smile forming on her face.

Olivia takes off her sleep mask and looks at her twin brother with haunted eyes. She stands up quickly and proceeds to remove her night gown, which she casually throws on her unmade bed. She remains half-naked with only a bra and a brief covering her slender body (which isn't absolutely a clever idea, being that the window is broken and the cold November air is filling up the room all around).

«Why is it always so cold in this house?! Have witches and wizards become so miserable that they can't even afford the heating?!» Olivia exclaims loudly, putting her head out in the corridor to make sure her mum can hear her fierce accusations. Then, she turns back toward the window and twists her forefinger in a circle, pointing at the shiny glass shards on the floor, which suddenly start flowing up in the air and return to the window frame where they belong.

«Just don't hang around the house naked, Olly! It's not that hard, honey!» shouts mum from downstairs.

«Olivia, the bus is here! Hurry up!» yells Tobia to her sister as he steps out of the house.

«Coming! Ask Enrico how he's doing!» responds Olivia to her brother while nervously brushing her teeth in the bathroom upstairs.

Olivia knows that Enrico, the bus driver, is going to tell Tobia way more about his life than anybody would ever be interested in, which means she is going to make it to the bus before Enrico starts off.

«Good morning, Enrico! How are you today?» asks Tobia to the driver as soon as he steps on the bus, with a big fake smile that he is sure anybody, but Enrico, would be able to decipher. Tobia has never been a good liar, but sometimes lying is fundamental, Tobia knows that well. When you are a teenage wizard living among ordinary people, lying is a skill you'd better learn how to master.

Enrico tells Tobia all about yesterday's football match, and how his wife did not let him watch the match in the living room, since she was watching a soap opera already. Apparently, Enrico did not like watching the match in the kitchen, not at all: «the TV there is too small, and I don't like watching the football on a small screen, I can barely recognize the players! But my wife is a big head! - it is not nice to have a big screen in the kitchen, the kitchen is made for eating and talking, Enrico! – that's what she told me! And we don't even talk during meals! My guy, take my advice, don't trust women, especially the cute ones! And God forbid they put their hands in your wallet!»

«Thank you for the advice, Enrico! I think you might need a holiday though, don't you?! You look, ehm... kinda tired, I guess!»

«I do, my boy! I do... but someone's got to pay the bills! You're young, so you can't understand now, but when you're my age, you'll see!»

Tobia remains silent for a moment... - it is so painful to talk to this man – thinks Tobia while mentally cursing his sister for always being so late.

«Good morning, Enrico! I hope my brother's not bothering you! Don't mind him!» here she is...

«Good morning, young lady! How are you doing?» Enrico hardly finished greeting Olivia that she had already dragged her brother to the back of the bus.

«Look, if you put me in this situation again, I swear I'm not going to save you, Olivia! You have to be more responsible and get ready on time! That man is such an idiot!»

«I know he's not that great... but that's what we get, Tobia! And I will get better, I swear! Just give me time to adapt to our new life!»

«Olivia, we've been here for three months now... are you being for real?!»