Nasia

Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

THE WEEKS pass her by as Nasia locks herself in her room. The results of the test lingers in her mind like a poisonous vine coiling around her. Its thorny bushes poking deep in the flesh of her brain. Well, she'd rather have a physical thorny vine in her brain than this intangible memory that pains her every single day. Her mother knocks at her door again, urging her to eat, but she gives no response. Only a faraway look remains in her face as she replays the events of that exam day in her mind.

She was confident. But that confidence cost her. It cost her the chance to enter the school of her dreams. Now, Yeliara remains in the distance once again. Why was she confident in the first place, she chided herself. She knew she didn't have any magic. What on earth has she eaten that day to be so arrogant and reckless to enter a test that requires using magic?

She was humiliated. The girls laughed at her. Except Xena. And that girl. That girl who smiled at her, so genuine and warm, unlike all the others who smirked and raised their eyebrows at her. But then, she changed. In the blink of an eye, she became cold, distant, just like the others.

An explosion brings her out of her memories and she rushes down the stairs to find her mother sprawled on the floor and her pot boiling over. "What happened here? Are you okay, mother?" she asks. She holds her mother up and dusts her dress off of dust.

"An explosion," her mother says and remedies the pot of boiling, slushy green liquid.

"I heard, but why?" Her mother sighs and covers the pot. She sits on the chair behind her desk and hands Nasia an envelope.

"This came earlier this morning. And I was trying to see something, but I failed."

Nasia takes the letter. Her eyes widen and her mouth agape. She gasps for air and stares at her mother. "Is this real? You're not tricking me or anything?" she asks.

Her mother clasps their hands together and smiles at her. "Nasia, I will never trick my own daughter. That is horrible. So, yes, that is real. It really came from Yeliara. I don't know why because when you came back from that exam you were crying and upset. What happened, darling?"

She looks down, ashamed of that day. Ashamed of the Nasia she was that day. "I was frustrated. Why am I different? Am I going to receive my magic? I--- I'm sorry for yelling at you that day, mother." Her mother hugs her and she cries in her arms like a baby.

"My darling, Nasia, you are different because that is you. Everyone is different. And you are uniquely different from everyone else. It is up to you to make that difference your strength or your weakness. For now, go open that envelope and see what's inside." Nasia dries her tears and smiles at her mother. She skips back to her room to open the envelope.

***

The large maroon wax seal steals her eyes away from the glossy paper with specks of gold dust. The letter Y is engraved in the seal. She opens the envelope with careful hands, the wax seal is intact and not a rip on the paper. Letters appear one after the other on the paper and she reads the content out loud.

"Warm greetings to you, young witch. We invite you to our beloved school, Yealiara School of Witchcraft. We are awaiting your arrival at the Shroud by the next full moon.

Truly yours,

Headmistress Mildred"

She can't believe she is admitted to Yeliara. She did not pass the test, so why did she receive this letter? She runs back downstairs to her mother's library. Her hurried footsteps padded through the hardwood floors. "Child, take your time or you might trip on your feet!' Irini says.