The World of Magic (PoW #2)

1

Today's weather perfectly described how I felt about the last day of school: it rained this morning, was almost ninety degrees at lunch, and now dropped back down into the fifties with clouds covering the sun I had soaked in during our thirty-minute lunch. Today was full of ups and downs. Not because it was the last day of my junior year of school, but because today was the day I was going to leave Gardenside and spend my summer with the Order, trying my best to prove that I am a good, capable witch and I deserve my powers.

Since the Order discovered my existence, they have kept me on house arrest. Besides school, I never left Gardenside. I wasn't allowed to. Elsa, even though she felt sorry for me, was under strict orders to not let me out of her sight. Even at school, the Order had placed one of their apparently less-esteemed members in an administrative position—Elder Cohn made sure I knew that she was watching me every day that I was at school.

I closed my locker, still engulfed in my own thoughts. I was anxious, and my face let the world know that fact. My cheeks burned with anxiety, a condition given to me by my parents I never knew. As I thought to myself of my current predicament, I headed outside to make my way to the bus that would take me back to my home.

I was seventeen, and I'd been raised in the foster system my whole life. Shuffled throughout family after family who realized they didn't want me, I finally ended up at Gardenside County Home for Troubled Youth nine months ago, and that was where I discovered the real story behind my being an orphan: I was the daughter of a witch, Wanda Rosdahl, who was meant to be the leader of witchkind but the blood sacrifice went wrong. Instead of the power of the High Priestess being instilled in my mother, it went to the child inside of her: me. A war broke out, Wanda went missing and birthed me, then was caught. No one knew what happened to her after that. I was hidden from the witches and put into the foster system.

When I turned eight, as with all witches, my powers manifested. But I didn't know that. I caused violent things to happen—storms, fires, other children getting hurt. I couldn't control it, but I knew something was wrong.

Nine months ago at Gardenside, my roommate Lily Caine and her friend, Cyrus Blackman, connected the dots that nobody had connected before: I was most certainly a witch, and probably the missing Rosdahl baby.

The bus was empty. Lily and Cyrus sat in the back, in their own world. I chose my own seat, alone, still quiet.

That was another thing: I lost my two best friends. A few months after coming to Gardenside, the mayor was going to shut the facility down. I had been terrified. I just found my best friends, and they were teaching me magic. Then they were going to be taken away from me, just like that.

So I did what only I had the power to do: mind control. Lily was against it, but I did it anyway and I succeeded. Afterward, we had a fight, and...

I don't know why I did what I did. I felt terrible. I continued to feel terrible. But I hurt Lily, and almost killed her. Since then, neither of them has spoken to me.

A month later, the Order came for me. Elsa convinced them to let me stay to finish the school year. But now, on the last day, I was due to be taken to Malentur, which is where witches live when they don't want to live with mortals.

The bus ride seemed to last only a few seconds. I watched Gardenside come out of the trees and I could already tell that the air was different. The Order was here, ready to take me with them.

I waited until everybody else exited the bus. I feared what awaited me inside. The bus driver was nice enough to let me sit in silence for a few minutes. Finally, I stood and exited the bus, heading inside Gardenside house for what might be the last time.

"Hey Noa!" came a familiar greeting from one of the younger fosters, Josie. She and her twin Harry greeted me each time they saw me. Also witches, and baby witches at that as they just got their magic a few months ago.

"Hey Josie," I responded, ruffling the redhead's curly hair. Elsa stood in the foyer and with a solemn face beckoned me to follow her. She had been waiting for me.

"Are you ready, Noa?" she whispered to me when I was close enough. I nodded slowly and followed her back to her office. Inside was Elder Aerin Cohn, my personal bodyguard who made sure I followed the rules of my "house arrest", and Elder Sofie Aagard, the woman who caught me.

Last September, Sofie had come to visit Gardenside to help settle the problem of possible closure. I didn't meet her, but she heard stories from Elsa of my possible witch abilities. She left, or so we thought. In reality, she'd been watching me all along. She caught definitive proof of me being a witch and the theory of being the Rosdahl baby.

In October, Sofie brought Aerin and the High Priestess to Gardenside to finally expose me. I had walked into Elsa's office the same way I did just now and saw immediately the scene before me: two members of the Order, High Priestess Vagle, and my two best friends in the world, Cyrus and Lily.

"We understand you have witch abilities and no formal training," Vagle had said to me after her introduction. "We apologize for not approaching you sooner. It seems you would've benefitted from formality."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," I responded.

"Of course you do, Miss Rosdahl," Sofie sneered at me. "Don't lie to the High Priestess, child. It's treason."

Lily bit her lip and fiddled with her fingers. "High Priestess, please understand our miscommunication. We wanted to teach her as much as we could—"

"Shut up!" Sofie snapped at Lily, who jumped back into her chair.

"No, let her speak," Vagle held up her hand. "Continue, Miss Caine."

"We wanted to teach her ourselves. We thought it would benefit our own training."

"But you knew that she was the bloodborn," Vagle responded. "And you knew that your own mother had died over the life of this girl. You think this girl is more important than your life?"

"It was my fault," Cyrus spoke up. "I convinced Lily to not turn her into the Order."

"No, it was mine," I said finally. "I didn't believe in any of this nonsense. I never wanted to be a witch. I just wanted to stop my powers from manifesting uncontrollably. I'll disappear. I won't be the bloodborn."

"Impossible." Vagle stepped around the desk and came up to me, looking down on me in discontent. "You are the bloodborn. You cannot stop that. We cannot let you go. One uprising is enough."

"I don't want to die," I whispered.

Vagle shrugged. "That's not my choice, child. It's yours. We'll take you to Malentur, and you can prove to us you are capable of your abilities."

Elsa had intervened then. "She cannot go to Malentur, not during the school year."

"And why is that?" Aerin said finally.

"Because she is in the mortal system. They will notice her absence and come to Gardenside asking questions." Elsa looked around, her gaze settling on her calendar. "We can let her go in the summertime."

Vagle took a deep breath. "I can accept that compromise. Under these restrictions." She looked expectantly at Elsa, and then Aerin.

"She is not to practice magic, nor is she to leave the house besides school. At school, I will place Elder Cohn in a position to watch over Noa. Here, she will be watched over by Elsa. In May, I will have my Elders take her to Malentur for her trial."

Today was that day. I stood in front of Sofie and Aerin, defeated. I was going to be punished for a birthright I didn't even ask for.

"Are you ready?" Sofie asked, contempt dripping in her tone.

"Yes, Elder Aagard," I said quietly.

Sofie reached for my hands and I held them out to her. She wrapped a piece of rope around my wrists, essentially tying my hands together. A brownish-green substance was laced throughout the twine of the rope. I looked at it questioningly.

"Burdock root," Sofie snapped as if she was annoyed by my ignorance. "It binds your magic. You will not be able to use it."

She put the final knot into my hands and then turned, using her free hands to create a portal.