Rose Benoit and the School of Magic

The Magic Test

       Rose was back at Westmist School before sunrise the next day. The rest of the testers straggled in behind her. Mrs. Magistra was onstage and about to tell them who had passed Stage Three.

       "It seems only one of you didn't listen in your classes. Tully McDaniel, you did not get a passing grade on the Test. Please go home now."

       A short, dreary-eyed boy got up and left muttering about "What's the point of having me come?" as he walked by.

       "Alright students, come with me for Stage Four. This will test all of your knowledge of magic without actually performing it. Mr. Giunta will be your proctor again." The students followed Mrs. Magistra through the hidden door onstage again and back down into the Calix Acceptus room. She proceeded to remove the goblet and push the button that moved the marble slab and they all descended into the oversized classroom. Mr. Giunta was there waiting for them.

       He laughed a deep hearty laugh and said, "I am pleased to see that none of you are bumbling buffoons. Let's begin!" Mrs. Magistra left the room as he clapped his hands and another test appeared on the student's desks.

        Rose looked at the first question and frowned. What spell is used to change the color of hair? That's and odd question she thought. There's no practical use for changing hair color so they hadn't learned this spell in class. Then Rose remembered she had read it somewhere... probably when she was reading through her textbook. She chewed on her eraser absentmindedly while trying to remember what the textbook said. There was a lady who refused a loan at the bank so she went home, changed her hair color to royal blue, threw on some glasses and tried again. Wouldn't it be cool if she could have blue hair! But what was that spell? Then she remembered. Commutavi Coloris.

       "Miss Benoit, the instructions stated that you aren't supposed to use the magic yet." Mr. Giunta's rough voice said. Rose looked up from her test in surprise. Everyone was staring at her, some with mouths open.

       "What did I..." Her voice broke off. Someone from behind was holding a strand of her hair right in front of her face. It was blue, royal blue, all of it. Not a brown streak in sight. "Sir, I-I didn't. I just wrote it down. I didn't-I didn't say anything." Rose was looking at her hair in shock. How on earth did she do that?

       "Do you know the reversal spell, Miss Benoit?" Mr. Giunta asked calmly.

       "No sir."

       "Reditus. It's a common spell for reverting back to the original. But it's not a very powerful spell so don't try using it to restore your frying pan that's been transformed into a pig." He laughed to himself. "Try it." He urged.

       "Oh, ok. Reditus!" Rose's hair returned to dark brown.

       The students around her adopted a momentary look of awe. Mr. Giunta himself seemed impressed. Rose was bewildered. She just did magic! Twice! Without practice!

       "Students please refocus on your tests. Time is ticking." Mr. Giunta began to hum a tune unfamiliar to Rose.

       Trying to concentrate, Rose looked at the next question. She knew the answer right away this time, it was a common house-spell. Rugosa Vestis, it clears wrinkles out of clothing, much easier than ironing them yourself. But the test seemed to get harder as it went along, delving into complicated things only a graduate of Mitoam would know. Rose glanced around to see the other students struggling just as much as she was.

       What plant root can you mix with moon dust to restore a depleted aura? Umm... beet roots? Who knows? Rose thought as she wracked her brain for anything that might possibly be a valid answer. Then an image popped into her mind of a purple stemmed plant with tiny blue leaves. She had never seen it before in her life! Not knowing the name, she wrote down it's description in the answer.