COVENS

Chapter One

The magic school is a collection of old, ragged huts deep in the woods over the north hills. There's a fast rushing river that flows down from the ice capped mountains in the springtime and freezes over in the winter. The old spellers who run the place have warts and long noses and if they get angry at a student they will lock them out in the cold. Or make them brush the slime off toads and collect them in vials for potions, for hours.

That's all I've heard about Ravenwood school, from the gossip of old spellers who said they attended it as kids.

And for some reason, I still want to go. Yeah, I don't know why either.

They came to our town a fortnight ago. The heralds. They weren't even people. They were ravens. They cawed in the main square, announcing the new school, calling for children with any inclination towards magic.

My mum was surprised when I told her I wanted to go. But Pa is the son of a speller, so he thought it was a grand idea for me to learn.

"My son is going to be a fine sage, aren't you boy?"

I had laughed when he slapped me on the shoulder.

"I don't know," I said. "All I've done is that trick with the birds and rats, remember?"

I often found I was able to get small creatures to dance just by whistling and bobbing my head along. It had become a trick of mine, and no one else seemed to be able to do it.

"The magic must skip a generation," Mum had joked, eyeing dad with a spark in her eye.

"Since when? My peach pie is definitely as good as a potion," he said, and planted a kiss on Mum's mouth.

I had looked away with embarrassment. "Pa!"

"Come on," he smiled. "We'd better get you packed."

My neck bristled with excitement.

"So where are we going?" I ask.

The forest is red and bristly with trees wilting as winter comes ever closer. We left the main path ages ago.

"A shortcut, obviously." My cousin turns the map over and turns left. She stomps into a patch of tall grass.

I shrug and follow her.

A blue cap sticks straight up on Clara's head, slowly slipping off her raggedy towhead hair. She yelps and suddenly she's toppling forward. Right down a steep riverbank. I lunge and grab her rucksack, keeping her from falling into the small river that's appeared.

"Icy river, check," I mutter, and pull her up the slope.

"So we should be going..." Clara turns the map again.

I stifle a soft sigh, running a hand down my face.

"That way." She turns upstream and continues on.

"Hold on, let me see." I take the map and check it's actually right before we continue. "Okay, lead on."

"So Fletch," Clara turns to me and smiles wryly. "Are you ready for this?"

I shrug and give her a faint smile.

She sighs. "I don't know what to think. It's so far away from everything. But hey, did you know that kids from all around the kingdom are going to be there?"

I shrug again.

"Huh. Yeah, they must have sent ravens around to the other villages and cities nearby too, huh?"

We climb up a little hill, following the river. I blink through the trees. Is that it? I can see something brown and round coming into view between the trunks. A house. "Look."