Come the end of January, we were without a professor to teach the freshmen Clerical or Warding class. As such, Naomi, Rhett, Nix, and I were grouped up in an empty classroom with Blake. By some miracle, Naomi had convinced Blake to help me figure out what I was doing wrong with the healing spells. I had no idea why Nix and Rhett decided they should be there, too. The situation was especially confusing because Blake was back to normal, acting like she did before the dance.
"Nix, don't wave the knife around like that," Blake said, fixing him with a scowl. "You could really hurt someone."
Nix sank in his seat and lowered his knife to his desk. "Sorry."
"It would give us something to heal, at least," Naomi said with a snicker.
"Not if it's too severe." Blake crossed her arms. "Even I have my limits, you know."
"When do you think they'll replace Rhodes?" Rhett asked as Naomi flipped through a textbook. "I hope it doesn't take as long as it took to replace the other guy."
"Briggs," Naomi said like it was obvious.
"Yeah, him."
"Oh!" Naomi perked up and shoved her book toward Blake. "Can you teach us Mend, too?"
Blake hummed. "Maybe later. Bones are trickier. It's a second-year spell for a reason."
"All right," Naomi mumbled, continuing to flip through the book.
"So, a demonstration. We'll go for the big one. Restore. It's similar to Seal with a minor difference. Place your fingers down, like so," Blake said, pausing to cut into her hand. She didn't even flinch as the blade tore her flesh. She placed two fingers down on the unharmed skin and lowered her palm to the other side of the wound. Her hand lit with a green glow and when she swiped the blood away, the skin had sealed. "When you lower the palm, there's no fancy movement. Keep it still to heal everything evenly."
"Okay." I fiddled with my knife. There was something about healing that got in my head. It would be wonderful to learn, if I could, but I was beginning to have doubts. I read once that some people went their whole lives unable to learn certain schools of magic. To be fair, most witches picked an area to focus on anyway, but I didn't like to lose.
"You three practice too, since you're all here," Blake said, gesturing to me. "Vee, can I talk to you a minute?"
My chair scraped against the tiles as I stood and set my knife atop my book. "Sure."
We moved into the hall, and once the door was shut Blake scratched her neck and faced me. Her cheeks were as red as a cherry and she couldn't meet my gaze. "I'm sorry. I had to take a little while to get over . . . everything. After a few days I was so embarrassed I didn't know how to apologize. Knowing you, and how you are, I can't imagine how hard it was for you. Can you forgive me?"
A mixture of relief and uncertainty swam through me. In truth, I wasn't sure there was anything to forgive. By distancing herself, she was taking care of herself, wasn't she? She needed her own time. I was intimately familiar with that need for space. But with us being so alike, and so different, part of me worried friendship could only further the divide.
Pushing my worries aside, I nodded. "No harm done."
Blake grinned. "Great! Let's head back so I can give you some pointers."
"Please do."
Once we returned, I took up my knife and glanced at the others. They were sitting there, grins affixed to their smug faces. I was sure they had some hand in what transpired. They really were a bunch of schemers and gossips.
"You all done?" Blake asked, scooting closer to me.
"Yep," Naomi said, beaming. "We all got it."
Ugh. I sagged into my seat. Already?
"Then do it again. Vee, let's see you give it a go."
Right. I planted my hand on the table and pushed my sleeve up. My hand was too bony for cutting into. Tearing the knife through the skin on my arm, I gave a pathetic whine. It was funny how a tiny cut could hurt so much. Doing as instructed, I set my fingers down at an angle and lowered my palm. I tried to force the magic into the wound but it didn't do anything but flicker out.
"I see the problem," Blake said, gesturing to my casting hand. "When you try to heal, don't think of sending your magic into the wound. It's not like that. It's like conjuring a flame to burn, right? You hold the magic and it burns passively."
I gave that some thought, nodding. Her comparison surprised me, but it made sense.
"Healing is the same. You hold the magic and it heals passively."
"Oh." My ears grew hot. I called the magic to my hand and watched, fascinated, as the glow stayed strong. When the wound stopped hurting, I released the magic and swept the blood aside. "I did it."
"Glad to see you've reached our level." Rhett winked as I looked his way. He was just trying to rile me up. It was working.
"Don't take it to heart, Vee," Nix said facetiously while clapping . "It only took . . . a couple months?"
"Whatever."
Naomi giggled. "Don't tease her! She'll leave."
"That's a good idea." I yawned as I rose to my feet, hands held away from my clothes to avoid getting blood on anything. "I'm starving. Gonna go wash my hands and eat."
Blake stood, too. "No point in hanging around if you all have the spell figured out."
Nix grinned. "Cafeteria?"
Naomi grabbed her book. "Yes!"
"You coming with us?" Rhett asked, looking to Blake.
Shaking her head, she collected the knives before sanitizing the desks with a spell. Nifty. I wanted to learn it, too. "I'll catch you all later. I've got to bring these back and go meet some of my friends." She threw her hand in a wave and started to leave. "Later, Kiddos."
Because it was February, the atmosphere at the Sages was sickening. Was there a witch custom for Valentine's Day? No. It was purely a Mundane thing, but for some reason, witches loved the holiday. As someone dedicated to avoiding romance, the whole day made me feel awkward and annoyed.
The dorm halls were pink and red with flyers shaped like hearts that hung on every surface. Flyers for the fundraiser, that is. The idea was to sell candy and stationery services that sent letters to your friends and valentines. Again, not my thing.
Dutifully, I made my way to Tedric Halsey's office to find him scribbling a ward on a window of his atrium. Illusions, I'd bet. I couldn't help but notice the tiles were pink. A smaller detail I almost missed was the atrium's wrought-iron vines. The leaves were hearts. I shouldn't have been surprised to find he was a fan of Valentine's Day.
"Ah, tell me what you think!" Tedric shouted over his shoulder, gesturing to the tiles. "A good shade? Too light?"
"It's pink." Crossing the room, I sat without invitation and dropped my hands in my lap. "What can I do for you, sir?"
Tedric chuckled, turned from the glass, and waved the door shut. "It's more about what I can do for you."
Somehow, I doubted that.
"I mean it. Valentine's Day is a battlefield." His smile fell and he strummed his fingers on his armrests once seated. "The student council's fundraiser, according to last-year's records, is a tremendous success here at the Sages. Do you know what that means?"
"More money?"
"Well, yes, but actually no. That's not the point I'm looking for." Tedric's eyes twinkled with mischief. "More mail."
This was about mail delivery? My shoulders slackened with relief but my mouth twisted into a grimace. "I'll be delivering the orders, then?"
"I like your enthusiasm, but I have no intention of allowing the student council to overwork you. I told them that delivery was their job. Sadly, the mail room is your domain."
By, my domain, I assumed this meant I was going to be inconvenienced somehow. Even if I wasn't delivering the valentines myself. "What do you need me to do?"
A chuckle brought him to smile. "This is why I like you, Vera. Straight-forward. On Saturday you'll discover the mail room is a mess. All the orders will mix into the mail. A tedious task, but I'll need you to sort through everything and prepare it for delivery on Valentine's Day."
A mess? Goddess, what a nightmare. I rubbed my forehead and bit back a groan. "How big of a mess? How many orders should we expect?"
"I don't have the numbers handy. If you need to know, I refer you to the student council president, Miss Garcia. I suggest you show up earlier than usual."
"Fine. Is that all?"
"Since you're offering, I'll need you there again on the big day to oversee the student council's delivery team. That's it. You don't have to deliver a thing, you only have to watch the room."
Without an idea of what the room was going to look like, I was anxious beyond belief. I also had questions. Lots of them. For instance, how early should I show up? Would it interfere with my delivery duties? The list went on.
Resigned to my fate, I nodded. "I understand, sir."
"Fantastic." Tedric clapped his hands together. "I love this time of year. Do you have any big plans, afterwards?"
"Sleeping."
"Maybe you ought to do something with Lucien. A trip into town, perhaps?"
"No. Don't meddle, sir."
"Ah. Forgive an old man, hm?" Tedric raised his hands in defeat.
"I'm gonna go."
Standing, he gave a cheeky salute and the doors slid open. "Farewell."
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