Gifted

15

The following weeks passed quickly for Erin. After the incident with Igor, the other recruits left her well alone: her show of savagery had scared them into accepting her. The only person who wasn't afraid of her was Toby. He had seen her beat Igor bloody just like the rest of them, but the violence hadn't scared him off and Erin respected him for it. They grew close over the days they spent together, the hardships of their training strengthening their friendship.

Erin also found herself becoming the de facto leader of the two dozen recruits. Their fear of her gave her an authority which lasted far longer than she had expected. Erin was careful to fair but ruthless when they looked to her for decisions and as a result, the recruits came to respect as well as fear her. She was sure that they felt a deal of guilt towards her. After all, they had done nothing to stop Igor from strangling her, with the exception of Toby, If it weren't for her own magic, she would have been dead, a fact she reminded them of when her authority was questioned.

Though the other recruits had the advantage of having prepared for their training, Erin soon became one of Kazi's top students. They shared a mutual resentment for each other, but with that resentment came respect as well. After some more specialized tutoring from Uma, Erin learnt how to carefully regulate her magic in a way that would allow her to stay focused. She was able to keep her magic boiling just below the surface of her mind, allowing it to leak out slowly when she needed it. During fight training, this made her nearly unbeatable. She was too fast to pin down, and too swift to avoid. She had beaten all the recruits in sparring on multiple occasions, and that was something she was very proud of. The only worry had come when she had fought Toby. He had used his magic to levitate her a few inches off the ground, thoroughly beating her as she thrashed helplessly around in the air. It was pure luck that one of her swings caught him just hard enough to break his concentration, loosening his magical hold on her just enough so that she could disarm him.

After talking to him in the Infirmary, Erin saw very little of Isaiah. He occasionally appeared in the balcony overlooking the training hall, but he never acknowledged her or attempted to communicate, which worried her. Members of the House periodically dropped in to talk with a recruit and catch up on their progress, and Erin learnt that it was these members who were likely to claim them as apprentices if they successfully finished Initiation.

"Usually you get claimed by the member who brought you into the House in the first place," Toby had explained. "After the Crucible tomorrow, there's a big ceremony in front of the whole House and the recruits who have passed Initiation get chosen."

It was the day before the recruits were going to face the Crucible, the final test of their Initiation. It was what they had been training for, and Erin thinking about it made Erin fidgety.

I don't know if I'll get chosen," Erin said glumly. "I haven't spoken to Isaiah since I beat Igor. I don't think he wants me."

"Don't be stupid. He wouldn't have brought you in if he didn't want you as an apprentice. Besides, you're the best recruit there is. Everyone knows it. He'd be lucky to have you."

I don't know," Erin blushed. "You said it yourself, he's only ever had two apprentices. And it's easy for you to say, you've had loads of visits from Kelly," she teased.

It was true, Toby had been visited every week by Madam Kelly, a young Inquisitor who had brought Toby into the House.

"Yeah but Isaiah's different. Nobody knows what goes on in his head, and nobody is brave enough to ask him."

Kazi dismissed them early that night. Erin lay awake long after the recruits had crawled into bed, too full of nervous energy to sleep. It was fear of the unknown that troubled her. As Kazi had said when she first arrived in the House, the Crucible was never the same for two different people, so Erin had no idea what to expect. She'd heard stories from the other recruits about monsters and mirages and mazes, but there were no consistencies that she could rely on.

She punched her pillow into a new shape and tried to put thoughts of the Crucible out of her mind. She could hear Toby snoring gently in the bed opposite hers and focused in on its rhythm. She drifted slowly into a light sleep, faintly aware of the fact that tomorrow's outcome would shape the rest of her life.