Chapter 9 A Show of Skill
The morning of our mid-term demonstration, I rose with a sick feeling in my stomach. I sat at the breakfast table and stared at my plate of food. I was feeling sweaty and uncomfortable, as if I was coming down with a fever.
Ursula passed our table with the trolley, gathering empty dishes, when she noticed my pale face and my full plate.
"What's wrong, dear?"
Beside me, Amber shook her head. "I think she's just very nervous. We're supposed to be giving our first demonstration today for our midterms. I tried to get her to eat something, but I don't think she's been able to swallow more than a few bites."
"Please don't speak to me as if I'm not in the room," I said through gritted teeth. I knew they were just worried about me, but I felt like if I tried to eat just then, I would be sick. "I just don't feel like eating, that's all."
"It's more common than you think," Ursula said kindly. "Lots of students come down with an upset stomach the morning of their first practical demonstration.
She stuck her hand into her apron pocket and pulled out a candy bar from her secret stash, which she always handed out as treats to the students. "Here, take this and put it away. Chances are, in a few hours you'll be feeling much better, and then you'll realize you're as hungry as a wolf."
I took it gratefully and tucked it away in the pocket of my jacket, because I knew that Ursula was probably right.
She noticed Amber's big, silently pleading eyes and laughed. "Fine, Miss Cole. Here you go." From her other pocket, she took out another candy bar and handed it to Amber. "I swear, the two of you will drain a person dry if they let you."
The bell rang, and we made our way to the Grand Colosseum.
It was even larger than the one we had been practicing in before.
Seeing Amber and the rest of the students mirroring my awe, I realized I wasn't the only one intimidated by the setting, let alone the task before us.
Thinking of demonstrating the spell, my stomach gave a sickening lurch, and I instantly regretted the few bites of breakfast I had consumed just a short while ago.
It would be just the cherry on the cake if I threw up in front of everyone instead of demonstrating a simple bit of fire magic.
I swallowed back the bile wanting to rise in my throat and willed my stomach to settle. Taking deep, shallow breaths through my nose, my feet moved mechanically as I followed the group to one end of the arena where targets had been set up.
Principal Lucius and the instructors were looking at us expectantly, waiting for us to settle down.
Next to Caleb stood Trina Swift. As I watched her, I remembered what Oliver had told us and wondered if there was any truth to the rumor that they had been lovers once, before discovering they were both Manaborn.
In the past month, I had caught glimpses of her around the school and in the library with the students she was mentoring.
Each time she took note of me, it was with that same hostile expression on her face.
She had no reason to dislike me so much. She didn't even know me.
Trina's mate, the Rashasa, made her an exceptional Manaborn, a rarity among our kind, even here in the Academy.
That was, until the current batch of students had arrived.
In a typical year, the Academy saw maybe one or two gold-ranking students across all groups.
The current group of first-years was exceptional.
It was only because in the year we had been born, there had been an Equinox Supremis, a special alignment of stars that had caused the world to experience a massive mana dump.
Is that why Trina had regarded me with so much hostility before? As part of the Mind Mages and a member of the school's staff, she would know all about my status as the Trinity.
I wasn't the only Manaborn with a powerful mate, though. In this group alone, there were seven Golds, three Platinums, one Diamond, and me, the Trinity. Perhaps she felt we had dethroned her from her place of importance, and she resented being forced to be one of this group's instructors.
My eyes flitted to the other instructors.
The rest of them had all been students at the Academy at one point or another.
Part of one's responsibilities was teaching for three years at the Academy after graduation.
After fighting in the Void Wars, some of the instructors must have felt that here, at the Academy, was where their true calling in life lay.
I tried to think of my own future, of returning here years from now to become an instructor again, and I couldn't do it.
It was too far into a future that, at the moment, felt far too uncertain.
Crystalline and Principal Lucius stepped forward, and then he spoke, drawing all attention to him.
"You will each step forward as I call your names.
I will draw a number. This will indicate the order in which you will perform your demonstration, not just for today, but for the rest of the year.
The person who picks the first slot will stay here so that we may begin.
The rest of you will find a seat in the stadium.
When your demonstration is complete, you may choose to leave.
If you choose to remain, you will take a seat on the opposite end of the stadium.
I advise you to watch and learn from each other.
There will be no shouting, catcalling, or cheering.
This is not a competition; it is merely your very first demonstration to measure in practical terms how far you have come in your learning. "
Everyone held a respectful silence as the Principal's eyes flicked over us.
He nodded his approval and started calling names one by one.
Amber drew slot number two. Oliver drew slot number seven.
Cleopatra drew the second-to-last slot. One by one, they departed for the stands until there was only Vivian Salvina and me.
We drew close to each other, and she hooked her hand through my arm.
When I looked at her, she grinned. "Just you and me left, huh? "
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak, but patted her hand. Then we turned back to the Principal to wait while he drew the last two numbers.
The Principal finally called out my name.
Vivian let go of my arm, and I walked up to our Principal on legs that felt like stilts.
I looked into his face for some sort of reassurance.
There was none. He watched me expectantly, impassively.
I swallowed and watched with bated breath as he stuck his hand into the bag.
He pulled out a piece of paper and glanced down at it.
I knew there were just two numbers left, the first slot, and number 12, the last. Up until that moment, I hadn't really known what to hope for.
Was it better to go first, to get the humiliation out of the way quickly?
Or was it better to go last, when everyone else had already demonstrated what they could do?
Please, don't let me have to go first, I thought, and the desperation I felt surprised me. Perhaps I had known all along that I didn't want to be the first to demonstrate how much I had learned in the first week.
"Slot number twelve," the Principal declared. Behind him, Crystalline broke composure and huffed loudly, "Oh boo! I wanted to see what she'll do next!"
I felt my face instantly go the shade of cherries and wished she wouldn't single me out so much.
What made it worse was seeing all the instructors and their mates trying to hold their composure, only to fail.
Most of them hid amused smiles behind their hands as the Principal glanced back at his mate, giving her a stern frown.
I half expected her to stick out her tongue at him, but that would have been taking it a tad far.
Instead, she made a zipping motion across her lips and finished it with a key-locking gesture.
The Principal gave a long-suffering sigh as he nodded toward me, but damn it if he wasn't struggling not to smile, too. Crystalline was very hard to resist. I felt a giggle threatening to bubble up from inside me and just managed to stifle it as I stepped up and took the piece of paper from him.
"Miss Salvina," The Principal addressed the last girl, who had suddenly gone the color of curdled milk. "That leaves you in the first slot, so you'll kick off the demonstration."
Feeling more in control of myself, I turned to take my place in the stadium among the other students.
Lady Tisterra stepped forward to whisper a few encouraging words to the student she'd been mentoring.
From where I was sitting between Oliver and Amber, I couldn't hear the instructor's exact words, but it seemed to settle Vivian's nerves.
She set her shoulders back and nodded, determined to give a good demonstration of her power.
It was so quiet in the stadium that one could hear a pin drop.
All eyes were turned to Vivian to watch what she would do.
She closed her eyes and brought her hands together, folded in front of her chest as if she was in deep prayer.
She seemed to be thinking hard, imagining her mate, recalling everything about him that she had seen at every summoning, how he had sounded, the way he had looked at her.
I could see the frown between her eyes and her lips moving soundlessly.
There seemed to come a deep rumble from the bowels of the earth. There was no altar this time, just Vivian's will calling forth her mate. The earth seemed to split open in a section next to the young woman, and a light spilled forth, so bright it was almost blinding.
Then a shadow appeared in the middle of the light. It was a doorway, and something was coming, something large and hairy. It leaped from the hole, entering our world.