Madame Corinne's Club of Winged, Wand-Wielding, and Waterproof Teenagers

Chapter 8- Natalie

Jenna took me to see the rest of the classrooms in the battle department, and then the classrooms in the botany department, where they grew poisonous and sometimes living plants, all of them dangerous. She took me to some history classes, where they taught lessons on Minthe the Slayer of Many and Robin Chrysanthemum, founder of the first magical club in America, instead of Queen Victoria and Abraham Lincoln. There was flight-training and giant pools for all of the aquatic students. Classes where they taught anti-gravity spells instead of E = mc2 . We went out the back door, to the scene I had seen from the Headmaster's window. Jenna pointed out some houses I hadn't noticed before, the homes of some magical families. (Apparently most people got jobs and homes out in the real world after their service, but a few decided to stick around and live on school grounds.)

As amazing and mind blowing as the tour was, I couldn't stop thinking of what Jenna had told me about the Monsters. I wondered how all of these people could go around like nothing was wrong, messing around in their lessons when they knew that one day their lives would be on the line. I guess most of them must have grown up knowing, like Jenna apparently had.

According to Jenna, most kids start coming to Madame Corinne's when they're five, or six. They're expected to be homeschooled until third grade, and then having full time schooling is required until the end of grade ten, and they take classes here only after the school day.

"We're in tenth grade," I said when I learned this, "Do kids really quite school when they're only half a year older than us to be here all day?"

"Totally," Jenna said, nodding earnestly, "If you're full time, there a lot more cool classes that you can take."

"Hmmm."

I wasn't certain I liked the sound of that. Especially how eager Jenna was about the whole "leaving school permanently to learn how to become better at not dying in war" thing.

"So," I said, changing the subject, "What is the Test like? What should I be prepared for?"

"Well," Jenna said, "I guess it's different for each person. That's why it's the Test and not just a test. I'm sure you've noticed that this building kind of shifts around, makes itself whatever you need it to be, like how a staircase appeared when I needed to get you and bring you up to the Headmaster's. The Testing room can kind of, um, well, not read your mind, exactly. That sound voodoo-ie."

"Voodoo is a type of religious practice, not a synonym for creepy," I said, "And 'voodoo-ie' is definitely not a word."

"Yeah, okay," Jenna continued, "But anyway, the Testing room will know what it needs to throw at you to see if you're magical. Magical abilities, if they don't develop on their own, will develop under the right kind of stress. And the Testing room figures out what kind of stress you would need to be under for that to happen."

"Oh wow," I said, "The fact that you keep throwing around the word stress is making me really excited for this."

Jenna laughed.

"Don't worry, you'll survive," she said.

"Gee, thanks."

We were strolling around the perimeter of some sort of sports field. There was lots of yelling, and most of the sports involved weaponry.

It seemed that the students here were just way too cool for regular sports like, you know, soccer. Or basketball. Or really anything nonviolent.

Gandhi would have been ashamed of this school.

"So..." I started, rocking back on my heels, "Which ones of these weirdos are your friends?"

Jenna laughed.

"Well," she said, pointing people out, "The one with purple hair of one side and green on the other is Milo, she's pretty cool. And over there? The one with the paintball gun? He's named Smith. That girl with half her head shaved is Martha, we've been friends since, like, fifth grade."

"Ah," I said, "Nice. Who's that friend of your with the silver hair who was in your sword fighting class?"

"Oh, that's Bane," she said, "He's kind of rude to people. But besides that he's a very lovely friend."

Jenna laughed.

"That makes him out to be worse than he is," she continued, "But although he does come off a little cold, he's a pretty great person."

"Cool," I said, nodding, "That's great. Anyway, I was wondering-"

"Oh, hey, Monsterslayer!" Jenna said, waving at someone. She jogged over to talk to whomever that was.

I waited for her to turn around and introduce me.

She didn't.

"Ah, lovely," I said, "I have a feeling hanging around here is going to be just so awesome."