The Legend Of The Six

Chapter 7

"You must be Raven," she says.

"Yes," I say slowly. A quick glance at the others tells me they're rooted to their spots, frozen in shock. I'm the only one that's actually moving.

"Are the rest of the six...." I trail off, unsure how to phrase the question.

"Yes, they're dead," she says quietly. Sadly.

"Sorry is an empty word. It doesn't help, it just makes you feel worse."

Tears clear a trail down her cheek like a river. Sorrow is etched into her face, making her seem older than she really is.

"You are very wise for your age Raven," she says, a strange twinkle in her eyes as she wipes away her river of tears.

"What made you so wise?" she asks me, a certain sad tone to her question.

"A lot of things," I say vaguely, not wanting to give anything away about myself.

"So closed off, so guarded," she murmurs, looking at me like she's analyzing me from head to toe. I shift uncomfortably.

"What're you doing here?" I ask.

"I'm here to teach you, to prepare you for your quest. You see, Bria is awakening again. And you're the only people that can stop her. We were wrong about the prophecy. We thought we were going to be the ones to defeat her, but we only started the fight. You six are going to finish it."

"No way," I say, shaking my head.

"Why not?" she asks innocently. "Is it because of the risk of death thing?"

"No, just because."

Just because: I don't want my secrets exposed. Just because: I don't trust anybody. Just because: I'm bound to not only get physically hurt, but I'm also bound to get my heart and soul shredded like paper on this little "quest" she wants us to take. And I don't want that to happen. Not again.

"Raven, both worlds will die if you don't do this," she says.

"Really, your gonna make me feel guilty till I give in?"

"I'm willing to go that low," she says, nodding.

"Fine then, since I don't have a choice."

"Oh Raven, you always have a choice. It's just not always easy."

"Wow, thanks Oprah. But I'm pretty sure you're wrong. Life doesn't work that way," I say. "It's always a hard choice, if there's even any choice at all."

"If that's what you believe, then who am I to stop you from thinking that way," she says, holding her hands up in mock surrender. I narrow my eyes at her, then decide I'm going to like her.

"Let's get started with regular class. The last half of the day, we'll get into the actual magic stuff. You do still have to do regular subjects the first half. But you'll sty in here and learn all day instead of changing classrooms every time," she says.

"Do we call you Amelia or Mrs. Thorne?" Penelope asks.

"Amelia please. Mrs. Thorne makes me feel old."

"And exactly how old are you?" Claire asks her.

"You don't want to know," Amelia says, scrunching her nose up. "Besides, it's impolite to ask a lady's age."

"What led you to believe I was polite?"

She has a point.

The next half of the day goes smoothly. At exactly 12:30, Amelia tells us to close our books.

"It's time for your magic lessons," she says excitedly. "When did you all develop your powers?"

"Yesterday," everyone besides me answers.

"Oh. Why?"

Rowan tells her how we met, how we found the passageway, how they discovered their powers, etc.

"So you activated them?" Amelia asks me. I nod.

"When did you develop your powers?"

"I've always had them," I say hesitantly. "Since I was a little girl."

"Oh, so you basically know how to use your powers already," she says, looking disappointed.

"I suppose I still have a few things to learn," I say, trying to cheer her up. It works. Her face lights up again.

"You can help me!" she exclaims. "Oh wait, you don't know anything about their powers."

"Actually, I do. The book we found in the passage way, I've seen it before. Well, I've had it since I was a little girl. So I've read all of it like five times. And I mean all of it."

"The book found you?" she asks with wonder in her eyes. "Yay! You can be my assistant. Sort of."

"Well this isn't gonna end well," I mutter.

"Okay, the first lesson is how to try and control your powers," Amelia says. "Raven, will you demonstrate?"

"Ummm......I guess. I've just never really used my powers in front of people or, you know, told people I have powers."

"Well, why don't you take off your baseball cap," she suggests. I wince. Then an obvious solution comes to mind. I do a quick healing spell that you can't even tell I'm doing, then take off the cap. Rolling up my sleeves, I make sure my hair is covering up most of my face, including my eyes.

I center myself by pushing all thoughts out of my mind. All I visualize is a huge white space, which is my mind right now. Clear of anything and everything. Then I use my magic.

A small purple tornado appears in my hand and build up until it's about the same height as a basketball.

"Whoa," the rest of the class gasps. I block them out while closing my eyes.

"Why don't you send it around the room," I hear Amelia say to me. She sounds far away, though.

I push my magical mini-tornado  around to the other students. It's an extension of me. I let myself feel and sense where it's going without opening my eyes. Rowan reaches out to touch it, but I pull back quickly and it disappears. My eyelids flutter open. It's an extension of me after all, and I do not like physical contact of any kind.

"Wow, Raven, I haven't seen that much control in a long time," Amelia tells me.

"You definitely have to teach us how to do that," Claire says.

"I'll try my best," says Amelia. "Now let's get started!"