Young Writers Society

Brooms

The window threw light into the room over my bed and glared into my eyes. I slipped out from under the covers, placing my feet gently on the floor so as not to wake the sleeping Fey, and walked across the room towards the door. Glancing back at the clock, I confirmed just how early in the morning it was, before quietly opening the door and leaving the room. I walked along the corridor, being careful not to make too much noise as I opened the door at the end and stepped into the small common room. It was deserted, which was to be expected at this time in the morning, and it was completely silent. Quietly, I walked over to one of the chairs and sat down, sighing. My dream seemed foggy now, but it was unnerving enough to still leave me with a bottomless pit in my stomach. I hummed gently to myself, though even that wasn’t soothing enough, a tune that I had hummed so many times but couldn’t for the life of me remember where I’d heard it.

My humming had broken the silence. It resonated through the room. It was the only sound that could be heard. So as not to wake the others, I made sure that I kept my humming quiet but it still echoed slightly. I found myself lost in the tune, letting it take me away to some distant land that you might hear sung about in a lullaby. And the more it soothed me, the further away I drifted, until I was completely oblivious to the room around me. Then I was brought back with a jolt.

Something latched onto my hair behind me and pulled my head back so that it hit the hard part of the chair back. The impact made my vision go completely black for a second and knocked my voice out of me. My head was now perched in the gap between my chair and the sofa behind it.

“What are you doing?” Phoenix Parker hissed at me.

I blinked, slightly disorientated – partially form the knock to my head, partially from the shock of what was happening and partially from the fact that he was upside down in my vision.

“I...” I stuttered.

He scowled at me. “You?”

“I didn’t think anyone else was out here,” I explained feebly. I was scared, and he could tell.

“Well there was someone else out here.” His scowl deepened.

“Sorry.” He didn’t relinquish his grip on my hair. “Why are you out here anyway?”

His scowl softened into a quizzical look, as if he was trying to figure out why I had asked that question.

“I couldn’t sleep,” he said, seeming to have decided that answering my question would cause him no harm.

“Oh,” I said anxiously, “so you came and sat out here?”

He let go of my hair and let it slip gently through his fingers as I sat up. “Yeah,” he said distantly, watching my hair leave his hand. “I guess I must have fallen asleep.”

“Oh, sorry,” I said quickly. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

He looked up at me, processing my words, and I thought I saw a slight look of surprise on his face for a moment. He slid his arms onto the back of the sofa and rested his chin on top of them; he seemed to be studying my movements, looking for clues into my character. I could tell exactly what he was doing because it was something I had done so many times before. Whenever I met someone I would scan them over, make a quick note of everything from their clothing to the way they stood in order to create the perfect profile for them and figure out just how trustworthy they could be. I hadn’t seen him watch anybody else as closely as he watched me and I couldn’t figure out why he paid such close attention to me.

“Why are you out here?” he asked.

I hesitated, pondering whether I should tell him about the dream or not. Then I scolded myself for thinking something so stupid and told him simply, “I couldn’t sleep.”

He smiled an arrogant smile, one that told me he knew I was keeping something from him. “How come?” he pried.

“Just couldn’t,” I said, giving nothing away. He couldn’t trust me and I couldn’t trust him.

I stood up and started putting some distance between us.

“Do you have a problem with me or something?” I asked.

“I just don’t trust you,” he said dismissively.

“So, you treat me like a criminal because you don’t trust me?” I turned to look at him and discovered that he was walking straight towards me.

“You’re a fake,” he said, backing me into the wall behind me. “You expect us all to believe that by some miracle, after all these years, the last daughter of the Night family reappears with no idea that she is a witch and no experience in magic.”

“What do you mean?” I didn’t have time to get an answer – Fey appeared in the doorway to the corridor of bedrooms.

“You’re up early, Phoenix,” she said.

Parker stepped back and let his arms drop to his sides. Then he walked towards Fey and they went back towards the bedrooms.

For a moment I just stood there, staring at the now closed door. Then I left the dorms and made my way out into the courtyard. I opened the door to the shed and sat in the middle of the room. Then I faded away concentrating on the distant glow that was still refusing to reveal itself to me.

A light tapping on the door to the shed woke me from my dream like state and I turned to see Rune smiling at me.

“You missed breakfast,” she explained. She sauntered into the room, brushing her fingers over the brooms that hung from the walls. She had that same natural grace that all the witches I’d met seemed to have and always walked with a slight sway to her hips. She had very long legs, which made her almost a head taller than me, and even the way she wore her uniform made her look more like she belonged on a catwalk than in a shed.

“How did you know I’d be here?” I asked, uncrossing my legs and rubbing my feet, which were now buzzing with pins and needles.

“That stone I gave you,” she said. My hand went instinctively to my pocket; I had been carrying that stone around with me since Rune had given it to me. “It’s a locater stone. It has two functions; if you think about somewhere you want to go it will guide you there and if someone who has owned that stone before you wants to find it then it will guide them to you.”

“Oh,” I breathed, flipping the stone over again and again in my hand. It now suddenly made sense – this stone was why I had been able to find my way around so easily.

“So, what are you doing here?” she asked, sitting down next to me.

“I’m trying to find a broom,” I told her. “But I’m not having much success.”

“Don’t worry. A broom will come find you. One of these will search you out.” She gestured to the room of brooms.

“The worst part is that I can sense it but I can’t find it.”

She smiled faintly at me and placed a hand on my shoulder. “You’ll find it eventually.” She stood up and offered me a hand to help me up. “Come on. You have magic practical class first.”

I sighed as I took her hand and she pulled me to my feet and walked me to my magic practical class. I entered the room and gave it a quick scan to locate Fey, only to discover that she wasn’t there. Standing against one of the walls, I looked hopelessly into the room for anyone who I could latch onto, when someone put a hand on my shoulder. I turned round to see the happy looking older man that had been in that weird dream I’d had last night.

“You must be Amethyst Night,” he said with a smile that made his dimples deepen.

“Yeah,” I said, still a little confused by the fact that the man who had been in a meeting with Miss Chariot in my dream was now stood next to me talking to me.

“I think I’ll put you with Phoenix,” he mumbled to himself, signalling for me to follow him to a desk at the back of the room in the left corner.

“Sorry?” I said.

“Magic practical classes are always done in pairs, my dear,” he explained, chuckling slightly at my ignorance. “I think you would catch up faster if you worked with our top student.”

Though he had a point, I would catch up faster if the best student helped me, I couldn’t help but worry that he might snap if he had to spend too much time around me.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” I told him desperately. “Parker doesn’t seem to have taken too well to me.”

He snorted. “I heard. A lot of people have heard that you said some things to him that he didn’t like too much.”

He signalled for me to take a seat behind the table.

“You’ll be fine,” he said. “Just work hard to catch up to everyone else and leave the rest to us teachers.” He gave me a reassuring smile before heading to the front of the class, which was slowly filling up with people. As they entered they paired off, some of them partnered up by the teacher, and took their places at each desk. Finally he entered the room.

“Phoenix,” the teacher called out before he had a chance to partner up with anyone else in the class. “I’d like you to go with Amethyst at the back.”

Parker looked at me out of the corner of his eye and icicles shot down my spine. I dropped my gaze to the desk.

“Why?” Parker asked, obviously angered by the thought of having to sit next to me in a lesson.

“Well, Amethyst is behind in all her magic studies and, as you’re the best student in the class, I think that she will catch up more quickly if she works with you,” the teacher explained.

There was a moment of silence. Everyone in the room was looking at either me or Parker. We all waited, anticipating his answer.

“You’re all right with that, aren’t you?” the teacher asked.

Parker sighed and made his way over to me. He sat down in the free seat as the last few stragglers entered the room and sat down around the classroom. The bell went.

“Right,” the teacher said. “It’s nice to see you all again. I will be taking you for magic practical this year as well as English. Seeing as it’s the first lesson back I think we’ll start with something relatively simple.”

Thank god!

The teacher explained that we would spend the lesson revising a simple block, something the others had apparently covered in primary school. Though he said that reviewing basic skills was an important part of learning new ones, the whole class new that this lesson was actually for my benefit. He asked the class to explain the technique. A couple of hands went up and he picked Leo.

“Hold up your hand, palm forwards. Concentrate your magical energy in the palm of your hand and then let it flow from your fingertips to create a barrier,” Leo said confidently.

“Perfect, Leo,” the teacher complimented. “How about you all have a go, just to refresh your memories? Turn to your partner and block a simple shock spell that they will cast.”

Everyone started to do as the teacher had told them. I turned to Parker. I wasn’t sure what exactly I should say.

“I’ll cast the spell, you block,” he said, as if he’d sensed that I had no idea how to cast a shock spell.

I nodded and lifted my hand up so that the palm faced towards him, concentrating on what I imagined magical energy must feel like.

“Ready?” he asked.

I couldn’t tell what ready would be like, so I just nodded and hoped for the best. Parker clicked his fingers and a spark of electricity sent a jolt through my arm. I pulled my hand back, cursing under my breath.

“I thought you said you were ready,” he snapped at me.

“Yeah, well I thought I was,” I snapped back.

For a moment we just scowled at each other. Then Parker sighed and said slightly more patiently, “Okay, let’s just try again.”

I nodded and lifted my hand back up again, concentrating all the magical energy, or at least what I hoped was magical energy, I could into my hand.

“Ready?” he asked again.

I hesitated this time, though I don’t know why considering I had no idea what it was I was trying to do to begin with, before nodding. He clicked his fingers and another spark sent a jolt down my spine. This time the spark was stronger, like the anger I could tell Parker felt towards me. I pulled my hand back and let out a little shriek. Suddenly the teacher was at my side.

“Are you all right, Amethyst?” he asked. I couldn’t think how to respond. “Phoenix, please try to keep the shock as small as possible.”

“I thought perhaps a stronger spark might make her take it more seriously,” Parker said with a slightly sarcastic tone to his voice.

“I was taking it seriously,” I objected, growing quieter as I realised that everyone was looking at me.

“That was taking it seriously?” he mocked.

“Yeah, you got a problem with that?”

“Not really, but I think someone should let you know that if that’s the best you can do, then you should give up now.” He stood up and pushed his chair under the desk. “Mind if I take a self study period until my partner can cast at least a basic spell?”

“Be my guest, Phoenix,” the teacher said cheerfully with an unreadable smile on his face.

Phoenix left the room and the other students in the class went back to casting spells.

“Amethyst,” the teacher said, making me turn to look at him. “For now, why don’t you look over basic magic control?” He waved his hand and book flew onto my desk. “Page 23.”

I picked up the book and opened it to the said page, waiting for the teacher to walk away before taking another look at the front cover of the book to confirm a suspicion that made my heart sink – the book in my hands was, in fact, for a primary school student. I sighed, leant back in my seat and started reading. If I was starting at primary school level I was going to have to work a lot harder to catch up.