Surviving Magic (The Legacy of Androva Book 6) Read online

  “There are three Combat Spells,” he went on. “You!” He pointed in my direction, and I jumped. Then I realised he was looking at Evander next to me.

  “Name them.”

  “C-containment, Scattering and Im-mobility,” stammered Evander.

  “Which one scares you the most?”

  “Ummm… Containment?” he said after a long pause.

  “Are you asking me, or telling me?”

  The professor’s voice was deceptively soft.

  “I…”

  “Don’t worry, I can help you to make up your mind,” the soft voice continued. “Would that be easier?”

  Evander nodded. Then, without warning, a Containment Spell appeared from the professor’s hands. The bright silver band of magic disappeared immediately inside Evander’s head. He gasped, went white, and staggered sideways, holding onto my arm.

  I only knew the basics from the textbook. It was supposed to squash your force field like a magical vice, and the more you resisted, the more painful it would be.

  Once we’d learned how to suppress our force fields, we would have a chance of escaping containment bands. Until then, we were completely at their mercy.

  I’d expected Professor Cassius to stop after he’d made his point. But he didn’t. Evander’s breathing was speeding up, and his grip on my arm was tightening.

  “The Containment Spell is where I expect you to concentrate your efforts,” the professor said, his voice completely calm. “The Scattering Spell is temporary at best, and the Immobility Spell will be beyond most of your abilities.”

  Evander now had tears in his eyes, and I was getting angry.

  “Anyone wishing to become a custodian needs to be proficient in Combat. But anyone wishing to be respected as a magician should also consider its significance.”

  He gestured dismissively at Evander, and I lost my temper.

  “Respect needs to be earned. It cannot be taken by force,” I blurted out.

  He raised his eyebrows, and I noticed his eyes were grey, just like his hair. He lifted the spell, and Evander sagged with relief.

  “Are you suggesting I have not earned the right to stand before you as the senior professor for Combat?” he said calmly.

  The containment band was still visible in front of his hands. He turned it around in a slow spin, almost casually. I couldn’t take my eyes off it.

  “No,” I said uncertainly. “I didn’t mean it like that…”

  “Being protective of one’s friends is not necessarily a bad thing. However, one should be prepared to attract the attention of their opponent.”

  He gave a small smile. “Are you?”

  “Am I what?” I said stupidly.

  “Prepared,” he replied. Then my head was full of ice and pain. I couldn’t think, I couldn’t breathe, and I could hardly see or hear anything.

  I panicked. I pushed my force field against it with everything I had, and it was like the pain developed teeth. I wanted to scream. What was happening to me?

  The professor’s face swam back into focus, and I was grateful for the reminder. Containment band. I needed to suppress my force field. It hurt. It hurt so much. I couldn’t.

  No. I had to try. I knew there were layers to my force field. Ever since it had been joined to the seven-pointed star, it had been easier to control.

  I didn’t know very many spells, but I did know my magic. And it was mine. It did not belong to the professor. I drew it back. I blocked out everything but what was happening inside my head.

  The pain lifted, bit by bit, until my magic was gathered so closely to the original spark that I couldn’t feel the containment band at all.

  Unfortunately, I didn’t know how to send my own band in retaliation. I had to content myself with words instead.

  “Yes,” I said clearly, lifting my head. “Yes, I believe I am prepared. Professor.”

  He gave me a thoughtful look.

  “Indeed, Galen. I am inclined to agree with you.”

  Then he turned away and started the lesson properly. We all got the chance to project some very basic versions of the three Combat Spells before lunchtime. Everyone was giving me curious looks, but we couldn’t talk properly until the professor dismissed us.

  While we were eating, my friends were all desperate to know what had happened. With most of it going on inside my head, they could only guess what I’d done.

  “My older brother told me he always starts that way with the first years. He says underage magicians motivated by fear are easier to teach.”

  This from Talia, who’d been at the same Sygnus adoption ceremony as me and Evander. She had dark hair and brown eyes, against which the silver glow of her force field was very visible.

  “That’s so wrong,” I protested.

  “He only teaches as a favour to the Council,” said Jared. “He wants to be on the Council himself, but they persuaded him to stay on at the Seminary because his results are so good.”

  Jared’s light brown hair was all over the place. I remembered him clutching at it when he first felt the containment band inside his head.

  “I don’t care about his results. It’s still wrong,” I said.

  I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up in surprise. One of the older boys had stopped by our table. I recognised him. He’d been at the centre of a group making a lot of noise when we’d walked in.

  “Are you talking about Professor Cassius by any chance?” he asked.

  “Yes,” said Jared. “He just made sure the whole class was terrified by their first Combat lesson.”

  “Yeah, he does that,” agreed the boy. “No other discipline gets taught by the senior professor for the first year. But he’s obsessed with being respected,” he added with a laugh.

  “I wasn’t terrified,” I said to Jared, annoyed.

  Talia widened her eyes and shook her head at me behind the boy’s back. The boy gave me a disbelieving look.

  “He wasn’t, to be fair,” said Evander. “Not after he’d escaped the band.”

  “You escaped one of his containment bands? In your first lesson?” asked the boy.

  I nodded.

  “Interesting. And do you respect him now?”

  “No, I don’t,” I said forcefully.

  Talia was making increasingly frantic gestures to indicate I should shut up.

  The boy was being called by his friends, and he turned to leave. Then, hesitating, he turned back.

  “I’m Nico,” he added, to me. “I’m in year three.”

  “I’m Galen,” I offered.

  “Nice to meet you, Galen. I’ll see you around. Professor Cassius is my father, by the way.”

  As he walked away, I exchanged horrified glances with Evander and Jared.

  “I tried to tell you,” said Talia.

  She explained that Nico was very popular, and a bit of a rebel. Her older brother often talked about him, and said everyone wanted to be his friend.

  Half of me wanted to run after Nico and say sorry, and the other half wanted to find a corner to hide in. I really hoped I hadn’t just made an enemy. Nico’s expression had been very hard to read.

  That evening, after dinner, I went for a walk with my sister. It was strange spending so little time with her now I’d started at the Seminary. We were only a year and a half apart in age and accustomed to doing everything together.

  Serena wasn’t bad, for a younger sister. She never told tales and she was tough and clever. We looked after each other. I was glad to be the older one, though, knowing I might very well need the head start when it came to learning magic.

  Both of us looked more like our father than our mother. Black hair, blue eyes. Hers was longer than mine, but not by much. She pushed it all back with a hairband that curved from ear to ear, hating the feel of it on her face. Very different from me.

  My clothes were now black from head to toe, to ensure my Sygnus was as visible as possible against them. Serena could still wear brighter colours. It was a s
ign she had no force field yet.

  We walked as far as Lake Semper. It was a very warm evening, so we took our boots off and paddled in the shallow waves at its edge. I shaded my eyes against the glare of the low sun coming off the water.

  The lake was vast, stretching all the way to Mount Landor, the mountain named after our capital city.

  “You must have been a bit scared,” she said. “And even though you escaped once, there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to do it again.”

  I kicked at the water. I didn’t want to admit it, but she was right. In fact, I was almost more scared now, because I had inadvertently given myself something amazing to live up to.

  In the heat of the moment, it had been easy to stand up to him. But there was no way to know what Professor Cassius might do next. I might not be so lucky next time.

  “It’s just me, Gale. You don’t have to pretend in front of your sister.”

  I sighed.

  “I am scared.” It was actually a relief to say it out loud. “But if you repeat that to anyone, I’ll never talk to you again.”

  She put her hand on my arm.

  “I won’t tell anyone. You know I won’t.”

  “One day,” I promised her. “One day I’ll be tougher than you, and you won’t be able to get me to admit to anything then.”

  “We’ll see,” she replied, looking unconvinced.

  We walked back home slowly, our shadows lengthening on the ground with the lowering sun. Just before we went inside, Serena nudged me on the arm.

  “What?”

  “You are tougher than me. You just don’t believe it yet.”

  “Huh,” I replied doubtfully. “I’m not sure you believe it either!”

  A mischievous grin, and then she was serious again. “Just don’t let anyone push you around. Even if they are a professor.”

  I remembered her words as I was signing in at the Seminary the following morning. I added an imprint of my Sygnus to the large black registration book, and saw Nico’s name only a few spaces above mine.

  Nearly everything at the Seminary was black. The whole building was made of black stone, including the floors and the ceilings. Magical energy in any form showed up like a star in the clear night sky.

  The floor plan followed the shape of a large H. I entered at the centre, through an imposing archway. The long arms of the H extended to either side.

  It was enormous, but at least it had straight edges. When I got lost, eventually I’d reach a dead end. Then I could turn around and try again, until I found where I was supposed to be going. Hopefully. Being a first year was pretty intimidating.

  As I walked off to the left, in search of the largest training room, someone called my name. Nico. I felt my shoulders stiffen. I didn’t know what to expect.

  “It seems you were telling the truth yesterday,” he said.

  I frowned. Of course I had been telling the truth.

  “Don’t get mad.” He grinned. “You can’t blame me for wanting to check. It was pretty unlikely. Remember, I do know him quite well.”

  A shadow passed over his face, so quickly I thought I’d imagined it. His grin widened. Although I was still slightly suspicious, I couldn’t help smiling back. His grey eyes were very friendly. Nothing like his father’s.

  “I’d like to be your Research Spell partner. I know you won’t join the programme until later in the year, when you’ve learned the basics, but I want your agreement now.”

  I hesitated. I didn’t want to offend him, but it was a bit early to commit to a partner. I knew nothing about his ability. We might be completely unsuited. Not to mention the fact he was closely related to my least favourite professor.

  However, Nico was supposed to be really popular. I certainly couldn’t afford to have him dislike me.

  Then he offered something that made up my mind.

  “I’ll teach you how to beat him. My father, I mean.”

  “Alright. You’re on.”

  Chapter 3 - Six Disciplines

  Suddenly, everyone wanted to be my friend. I stopped being an anonymous underage magician by the end of the first day. I could tell most people were disappointed when they met me.

  Him? I could see them thinking. What’s so special about him to make Nico want to be his partner? I wasn’t entirely sure myself. I guessed it had something to do with my standing up to his father. But surely I wasn’t the first underage magician to do that? The man invited defiance.

  Taking Nico’s advice, I didn’t draw attention to myself again in his father’s class. I kept my head down and learned the basics of Combat as fast as possible.

  Professor Cassius ensured everyone was on the receiving end of more than one brutal Containment Spell in their first weeks. He made no allowances for our young age or lack of skill.

  A few underage magicians were almost physically sick before his classes, including my best friend. Scared of attracting his attention, scared of the pain, scared of failing.

  I wished there was a way I could protect Evander. He was a good magician, but his fear of Professor Cassius was in danger of spilling over into the rest of his life. I was determined to find a way to help him. Perhaps my partnership with Nico would show me how.

  I would have to pass the entry test in all six disciplines before I could join the research programme. There was Combat, obviously. The others were Living Magic, History, Physical, Remedies, and Manipulation.

  Year three magicians chose a junior partner from year one. When they came of age at the end of year five, their partners would be in year three and could choose a new partner for themselves.

  We all knew year one didn’t always mean a whole year. It depended on when our force fields were strong enough to join the Seminary. I’d been part of the last intake that summer.

  Like most magicians, I was better at some disciplines than others. Living Magic, for example, was very frustrating. There were so many rules and restrictions about its use, it seemed easier not to bother.

  Professor Hyden did his best, trying to explain how the entire cultivation system depended on the proper management of living magic.

  “You’d soon be interested if you had nothing to eat,” he said with a wry grin. I liked him. He had red hair and a friendly face covered in freckles. But, unfortunately, his subject had little appeal, no matter how engaging a professor he was.

  History didn’t make me want to run to the training room either. Too much reading for my liking. History was very important to Androva, though. We prided ourselves on blending tradition with progress, weaving them together to create a better world.

  Learning some of the old-fashioned spells was amusing, but the novelty wore off fast.

  Take the Cleaning Spell, a gently spinning cloud of silver that washed me from head to toe whenever I felt the need. Teeth, hair, skin, clothes. I did it without a second thought, every day.

  A few thousand years ago it had been a little less sophisticated. Apparently our ancestors didn’t feel the need to wash anywhere near as gently or as thoroughly.

  Professor Anya had us use the ancient version for three whole days. It was so humiliating. I couldn’t decide which was worse, having dirty teeth or greasy hair. I seriously considered cutting my hair short.

  Everyone else in the Seminary seemed to know what we had to do, and they found it highly amusing. My mother told me it was a first year rite of passage.

  It was hated when you were the one doing it, but much looked forward to when you were in one of the older years. I definitely couldn’t wait until it was Serena’s turn.

  Physical, as a discipline, was amazing and terrifying. Everything was based on the Solo Transference Spell and the expansion of the force field to the limit of its power. By the time we came of age we were expected to be able to manage flying short distances, acrobatics, and complicated obstacle courses.

  It was considered quite vulgar to actually use flying as a means of transport, but there was no better spell to strengthen your magical abili
ty and reflexes.

  The first time I rose to the top of the tallest training room, my heart was pounding so loudly I couldn’t hear anything else. Not Evander next to me, or Professor Corin directing the lesson from the floor below.

  What if I fell? I knew I had to look down. It was part of the lesson. To prove my spell was strong enough to overcome my doubts. My magic seemed to be sliding away from me, and I expected to drop like a stone any minute.

  Finally the professor’s voice broke through the roaring in my ears.

  “Galen! Evander! Close your eyes. Concentrate on your force fields. Make sure that you’re projecting all the way to your fingers and toes.”

  My mouth was dry. If I couldn’t see, how would I know if I were falling?

  I closed my eyes. Suddenly my force field came into sharp focus. Obediently, it expanded. I felt my mouth curving into a relieved smile, and I wondered how I could ever have doubted it.

  When I opened my eyes again, I felt as secure as if I were standing on the ground. I looked down at my boots balancing on nothing, and then leaned backwards, further and further until I was lying down in the air.

  Evander looked at me in disbelief. Then, with a horrified intake of breath, he fell. Talia, the nearest apart from me, exclaimed in warning. I dove after him, grabbing onto his arm and pushing my force field into his body.

  We came to a stop a few feet from the stone floor. Professor Corin lowered his hands, and the magical energy he had been projecting drew back.

  I allowed us to descend the rest of the way and realised the whole class was watching us silently.

  Evander was still white with shock, and I could feel his arm trembling slightly as I let go of him.

  “You learn fast,” the professor said to me. “Ridiculously fast. A minute earlier you were in danger of falling yourself. All the signs were there.”

  He tilted his head, and his brown eyes narrowed.

  “Were you pretending? Or showing off? I mark this class based on final performance, not degree of improvement, Galen.”

  “No!” I said quickly, a bit indignant.