Reading the Future:
In the SS’ Boarding House, Lucky lay spread out on her bed. The girls resided in the East Wing with the boys in the West and teacher in the North and South Towers. A pile of notes rested on Lucky’s bedside table. All in different coloured ink and written down by Lucky’s precious – and magical – quill. The feather on the quill changed colour for each subject and the point always remained sharp and clean. Rising from her bed, Lucky sat down at her desk and looked over the night’s homework. “Echo I desperately need your help with this Scrying homework!” Lucky addressed her roommate. A petite girl with olive skin and deep, dark brown hair, Echo had pixie-like features and amber eyes. She bent over Lucky’s Scrying homework. “It says here you need to scry using anything but a liquid/mirror.”
“I know, Echo, but I only know how to use liquids and you’re top of this class.”
“Try something with a clear surface that’s connected to nature. Then just apply your usual Scrying technique.”
“Oh! That’s it?”
“It is a bit harder because liquids absorb you energy quickly. That notebook on your desk there would be good. Is it blank?”
Lucky glanced at where Echo’s finger pointed at. The Book. Lucky immediately became vague.
“Um… yeah it’s… it’s really new, though. I got it a week back down at the village and I’ve got something else to use...”
Echo raised her eyebrows. That book had been on Lucky’s desk every day since the term had started a month ago. Echo shrugged her shoulders as if she wasn’t interested.
“Anyway, thanks heaps Echo! You going out to common room soon?”
“Maybe.” Was Echo’s ambiguous answer. Lucky nodded but inwardly she sighed. She’d have to go somewhere else to look at the Book. She’d found out a few years before that it was actually blank and it you simply asked it a question it answered. The Book made scrying easier but Lucky wanted to improve in this subject and taking the easy way out wasn’t going to help. Pulling her dressing screen across her desk, Lucky decided to use the silver satiny surface of the SS formal dress.
For hours, Lucky focused all her energy, all the Magic – discovered to be within her when she was twelve – to form some sort of picture or answer to her question: who was her Father? Of course, no answer came. Even the Book didn’t answer her. She thought back to the moment she’d touched James. Lucky realised that he didn’t know his real parents. Despite her mother’s madness, Lucky loved Louise and didn’t know what she’d do without her. Rubbing her temples, Lucky heard the clock chime ten-thirty. She swore softly, realising she’d missed dinner. Echo had pulled the dorm’s sliding door across the room, meaning Lucky’s side-door would have to be used to get to the cafeteria that stayed open until midnight. Sighing, she stood and made her way towards it. An idea formed in her head and she grabbed the Book and lit a candle.
James sat on the edge of his bed. Using Basic Magic, every student had been allowed to customise their half of the dormitory. James stared at the wall… and a forest appeared. A stream trickled through it and bubbled into a pool. Reaching out his hand, he touched the clear, shimmering water. How James wished the scene was real. He could hear the other boy snoring now. Quietly, James took his pad and sketching set from his desk and darted out into the torch-lit corridor. In bare feet, James walked quietly and swiftly about the school.
For a moment, James looked at a tapestry against a wall. The twelve Council Members. The great Round Table with its sun, moon and stars, the twelve members all as different as chalk and cheese. And there, at the head of the table, Laedin Michaels. James’ father had been head of the Council. Laedin been as good as a King until he’d disappeared the night James was born. When he was younger, James used to believe it was he that had caused Laedin to leave. But those thoughts were long gone. James’ father had been afraid of something. The Council had fallen apart, for along with Laedin, Lilliana the Fairy had disappeared as well. Sighing, James brushed the tapestry away and sought out the tiny handle of the door behind. He breathed in the rooms smell – honey and wood – and gave himself a second to congratulate his intelligence. Finding this room on the first day of school had been easy. And then, James found himself glued to a wall.
