Mage Academy

Good Morning, Magician

"Wake up!"

Silence.

"WAKE UP!"

Quiet.

"This room is full of bats!"

I jump up and look around, my eyes still hazy. There are no bats. I groan and sit back on my bed.

A woman in a dark green cloak is standing by the door. She has a friendly face, round and smiling, but she also has a no-nonsense look about her-- I can see it in her eyes. She looks about fifty, has auburn hair tied up in a bun and thin, bowed lips.

"I didn't get to meet all of you yesterday," she says in her firm voice, and everyone, now awake, listens groggily "I am one of your Teachers, and I specialise in Earth magic. My name is Ms Highbury. I look forward to getting to know each and every one of you. Now, hurry up and get ready, we have breakfast in half an hour."

"How am I supposed to get ready in half an hour?!" Lauren huffs as soon as Ms Highbury has left, grabbing her wash bag and stomping off to the bathrooms. I stretch, almost knocking Gibby off the bed. He hisses and curls back up into a ball.

I face my wardrobe and decide to wear my favourite grey jeans, navy blue converse and a purple and white tie-dye shirt that Georgina says suits my olive skin tone. I take my wash bag and go down to the bathrooms, where I wash my face and brush my teeth, put on some mascara and tinted lip balm and brush my hair. I stand back and look at myself in the mirror. I want to feel my best today, so I smooth out my wavy dark hair and do a small braid at the side. Then I put on some deodorant, a spray of mango body mist and head back up to the dorm.

Lydia is already ready, waiting for me. I smile at my new friend. "You look great." I say truthfully-- she has on a pair of jeans and a blue top which matches her eyes perfectly, and her light brown hair is in two thick braids.

"You look great too-- you smell amazing," Lydia says. "I love it when people have their own unique smells. You smell like mango and I wear--"

"Lavender?"

Lydia grins. I find Gibby under the duvet and try to pick him up, but he slaps my hands away and irritably clambers onto my shoulder. We follow everyone down to the dining hall, and sit at a table already covered in scrumptious-looking breakfast. I could get used to this. Oliver flops down next to us, along with a guy with short blonde hair. "This is Guy."

"Guy?" Lydia raises her eyebrows.

"Yes, Guy."

"Hi Guy." I smile. Guy smiles back at me.

"Guy's an Air major." Oliver says, leaning forward to pick up a plate of pancakes.

"Cool!" I say. Air is my second best element. Guy has a sinewy physique, and has on a loose white shirt. He brings off the impression of being calm and collected-- but not like Lydia, more breezy; the type of person who stays out of gossip, which Lydia is drawn to. The great thing about Lydia though is the fact that while she may like gossip, she doesn't spread it or add to it herself. She's just drawn to the excitement of it-- which we all are, really.

"You're a Fire major, right?" He asks.

"Yeah, so?" I ask, a little more aggressively than I wanted.

"I think that's awesome," Guy grins, his light blue eyes dazzling, not picking up on my defensive note. "Hardly anyone is a Fire major at this age."

"I wonder how many Students are Fire majors?" Lydia says, taking a bite out of toast.

"Two."

Max sits down at the table, looking cool as ever. My heart quickens and I wonder if he has told anyone about what happened yesterday. He then gives me a knowing smile, the kind of smile which trades a secret, almost as if he has read my thoughts. I don't know how, but that look tells me all that I need to know: my secret is staying a secret.

"There are two Fire majors in Mage Academy," Max continues, spreading some toast. "Malory and I."

I love how he says it, like it's something to be proud of. Not a dirty little secret, like Lauren would want me to think. Like Lauren made me think.

"That's awesome." Guy repeats, shaking his head. "Two out of four hundred Students."

Gibby winks at me, eating a pancake at an empty spot of the table with Blue. I'm filled with happiness at how great the day is going so far-- I'm at a table with my new friends, Gibby has found another ghost and Max is keeping my secret! Nothing else matters anymore. I can get through this!

"Good morning magicians! I am Mr Croft, and I'll be taking Group 5 for our morning activity," a white haired man, who looks too young to have white hair, says from the Teachers table at the front of the hall. He's wearing a light blue cloak which I've learnt means that he is an Air Teacher. I sit up and listen, because I'm in Group 5. We were told to pick out of 8 groups last night after dinner, and Lydia, Oliver and I picked group 5, because it had the most free spaces and we wanted to be in the same group. "our very first activity at Mage Academy will be... Tree Dodging!"

The room fills with people cheering. Guy looks ecstatic, Lydia looks excited, Max looks, well, cool, and Oliver looks slightly terrified.

I've heard of Tree Dodging, my grandfather has told me about it-- it's a sport where you get an Air Stick (literally a long wooden stick which you sit on that's hollowed out, which uses Air magic to fly through the air, and you have to control how fast you go and what turns you take by lifting it up to go slower, down to go faster, right and left to take turns, and they keep you at the same level in the air) and fly through a forest, dodging trees and anything else in your way, competing to be the first person to reach the clearing of forest that serves as the finish line.

It's known to be dangerous, and chances are you're going to get hurt doing it, especially if it's one of your first times. You also need to be pretty good at Air magic to control the Air Stick, so a lot of magicians struggle. Earth and Water majors are more likely to find it difficult, because those elements aren't as compatible with Air. Luckily Fire and Air go well together.

Group 5 are instructed to leave the dining hall, and I'm happy to see that both Max and Guy are with us. I'm so excited; I've never played a magical sport before! We wait for Mr Croft outside the dining hall, then he breezes to the front of the crowd and energetically leads the way down the wide corridor and through the grand hall, which again is alive with moving paintings. I spot a painted magician flying through some painted trees, waving a painted hand at us. I wave back.

"Have you ever Tree Dodged?" I ask Max, who's walking next to me.

He places his brown eyes on mine, instantly drawing me in. "Many times. Have you?"

"This is my first time."

"There's a first time for everything." He hits me with an intense look, a look that, even yesterday, would have knocked me off balance. But today, walking across the beautiful grounds of Mage Academy, I seem to have left those feelings behind.

I smile at Max, and his features soften. "Thanks, by the way."

"For what?" I give him a look, and he chuckles. "Anytime, Floyd."

"You know my surname? I don't know yours."

"You wouldn't want to know."

"Why, what is it?"

Max looks away, the playfulness leaving his eyes.

"Dalgaard."