Tooth and Claw

Chapter 7

"Welcome to the first test of the year." Mrs. Casey said, clasping her fingers over her lap. "This is a simple test to see what element you belong in. Fire, air, water, earth, wood, metal, moon, or sun. A lot of people get a mix of both, but three is rare, and 4 and 5 is very rare. And 8 is still unknown."

She grabbed a stack of papers. "Good luck. This is a magic test, so the second you are done, it will tell you."

The paper slid in front of me. I took my quill quickly, and filled it out. It was only a couple questions, so I was done soon.

When I was done, tiny words started appearing on the bottom of the page, scrawled in tiny print.

See me after class.

What's that supposed to mean? I started sweating.

In stories, this meant that the main character has like, all of the magic choices. But that also means there has to be a main problem, so an evil villain that wants to kill the main character.

This is going all wrong. I can't be special. Ma needs me to stay quiet and out of trouble. If anybody heard I'm the only person who needed to stay after class.

Maybe it's the for another reason. Maybe you coming here was a mistake, and you don't even have magic.

Not having magic is incredibly rare. Only about 5 people so far in all of history were damned to cursed with no magic.

And all of them died of starvation, suffocation, or dehydration. Basically, they were rejected by society, and left alone to suffer and die painfully. It's the hard truth no one wants to face, which is why I need to know what's going on.

The bell rang, shaking me out of my thoughts. Mrs. Casey intertwined her fingers tightly, the skin gripped white. My stomach flipped, my vision starting to shake.

I let out a shaky breath, the butterflies in my stomach doubling.

"Yes?" I walked up to Mrs. Casey, the class slowly filing out of the room. "Y-you wanted to see me?"

"Ah!" Mrs. Casey's head snapped towards me, her eyes swarming with panic. "Yes, Yes."

She stood up, her stance less tense than usual. "Your...." She hesitated, looking for the right words. "case, let's say, is one for the ages. It's...." Mrs. Casey swallowed. "rare."

She gulped again and held up a finger. She rushed to the tablet perched on the wall, next to her desk. After tapping a couple times, the tablet vibrated, and Mrs. Casey whispered into the microphone stuck out of it.

The microphone folded back into the tablet, and Mrs. Casey rushed back to her desk.

"Well," She gave me a nervous smile. "I called for some backup, from Leon- or rather, Mr. Zera. As I was saying, your case is particularly complicated. It's different from what-"

"Just say it!" I blurted out loudly. "Just say what the problem is!"

Mr. Zera swerved into the room with tons of energy, a wide smile spread across his face. I looked back at Mrs. Casey, but she was gone.

Leon zoomed to me, each step more enthusiastic than the last. He grabbed my hands, his grin widening.

"I've never seen someone as talented as me!" He laughed, letting go off my hands and spinning around in a circle, raising his hands in the air.

A fire column shot up, licking the air and the ceiling. I jumped backwards.

"Are you crazy?" I exclaimed, using my hands to cover my face from the intense heat.