A Claim to Magic

The Shop

  CHAPTER THREE

Corrie and Elizabeth talked for the next few hours, about what they thought the school would be like, about how happy they were to be leaving their boarding schools, about books they'd both read, about life, really.

"I wouldn't be going if my parents hadn't told me they went," this was Elizabeth, "But when they told me that it was legitimate I decided that I couldn't pass up the opportunity."

"My parents didn't really want me to go." This was the truth, Corrie's parents had wanted her to learn magic, before she had gotten the free scholarship, five years of the best learning for free, Corrie's parents had dropped all thoughts of magic and told her she had to go to the new school, Corrie had refused and her parents had not talked to her since.

"Corrie, Corrie," Elizabeth's words jerked Corrie back to the present, "have you got your uniform yet?"

"What?" for a second Corrie did not know what Elizabeth was talking about, "Oh, no, have you?"

"No," Elizabeth replied, "you want to walk together?"

"Well," Corrie glanced over at Betsy, "can we go with my sister?"

"You have a sister?" Elizabeth asked, "I mean yes, but, you have a sister?"

"Yeah, a twin, her name's Betsy." Corrie had purposefully avoided telling Elizabeth this, not wanting Elizabeth, the one friend she had, to like Betsy more, just like everyone else.

"Oh, where is she?" Corrie pointed to her sister, now chatting animatedly with a group that seemed, most definitely, popular.

"Popular, is she?" Elizabeth's words startled Corrie.

"Yes," she said, confused, normally when people saw her sister they would ask Corrie to introduce them to Betsy, yet Elizabeth seemed to take very little notice of her at all, saying, " Well We're almost to Paris-"

"Paris?" we're going to Paris? Betsy will be excited."

"I think we're going to Paris, it's one of the only cities to cooperate with the Anwansi, so... yeah, I think we're going to Paris."

Twenty minutes later, Elizabeth was proved to be correct, the plane was descending and Corrie got a glimpse of Paris, it looked something like what it looked in the pictures, much less colorful, but still very beautiful.

When the plane had landed and almost everybody was off, Corrie found Betsy, "Are you going to walk with me?" She asked, "I'm walking with a friend, she said that she knows Paris, it would be great if you would come."

"Of course I'll walk with you!" Betsy followed Corrie to where Elizabeth was, dodging the many people streaming out of the plane, and declining the invitations to go with others.

They were outside, Elizabeth, Betsy, and Corrie, Elizabeth was showing Corrie and Betsy a map of Paris that showed all the Anwansi supporting shops.

"Um, hate to interrupt," this was Corrie, "but what are Anwansi?"

"Oh, right, sorry, people normally don't learn that until they get to the school, we are the Anwansi, I mean people who do magic are called Anwansi."

"Oh," Corrie was confused. "so, we're called Anwansi?"

"Exactly." Elizabeth confirmed.

They headed for their first stop, to go buy uniforms. The shop was crowded, so crowded, that they couldn't get into it.

"Come on guys, I know another store that sells them," Elizabeth pointed to a shop on the map that was marked with red.

"Um, aren't the red ones off-limits?" Betsy asked.

"There is no reason that this shop should be off-limits." Elizabeth replied. "It just sells some things that give you a little head start, you know like a boost, we really can't get anything other than clothes, you can't buy much unless you're eighteen."

Corrie glanced at Betsy, she didn't look too happy with the proposition, but she nodded.

"Alright, this way!" Elizabeth led them to a small shop, the inside was dimly lit, and cluttered. Corrie looked around, there was a small, fragile looking desk in the middle of the room, on top of the desk there was an assortment of books, a bottle of green liquid, and a little silver bell. Elizabeth walked up to the desk, rang the bell, and sat down in the fold-up chair that stood by it. Within a minute, the door in the corner opened, a little old lady walked into the room, clutching in her hand a battered book, the cover of the book showed a dragon with a gold sword protruding from it's chest.

"Ah, Anwansi eme, i na-acho ngwa ahia akwukwo?" Corrie did not understand the language in which the lady was speaking.

"We are, in fact, we are looking for uniforms for our first year," Elizabeth replied, when the old woman stared at her blankly Elizabeth nodded and said "Ee." Corrie watched them, confused, how did Elizabeth know what this old woman was saying? What language were they speaking? She looked up to see that the woman was now staring at her and muttering under her breath, "Kedo ihe ha na-eme n'abe a?"

"Edo," Elizabeth replied coolly, "Dabara anyi."

The old woman replied, "Gini ka inwere n'ebe m no?" she looked defiant, "A choro m ikwo ugwo."

Now Elizabeth began to look angry, "Anaghi m akwu gi ugwo." She turned to Corrie and Betsy "come on guys, she's unwilling to fit us." And with that she pulled them out the door and into the broad sunlight of the outdoors.

Corrie gave her eyes a few moments to adjust before asking, "What language were you speaking, what was she saying, what were you saying, what happened in there?"

"Well," Elizabeth began, "we were speaking Igbo, the language of Nigeria, and the language associated with magic, as for what we were saying, I asked her for outfits, and she refused."

' "Why was she staring at me?" Corrie asked.

"She was wondering why you were there."

"How and why did you learn Igbo," it was the first time Betsy spoke since they had entered the store, "I heard it was a language only the Ojoo spoke." She turned to Corrie, "The Ojoo are evil or dark Anwansi, I heard some of them I was sitting with talking about it."

"My mother made me learn it so that I would know what they were saying if the Ojoo started speaking it in my presence." Elizabeth stated. "Though, I must say, I thought you trusted me." She looked at Corrie, "I suppose you now think that I am some evil lunatic, after all, your twin told you I was."

"That's not what I said-"

"I'm not talking to you." Elizabeth cut Betsy off, she turned on her heel and walked away.

Corrie turned to Betsy, who looked on the verge of tears, "it's not what I said!" she shouted, and ran in the opposite direction, leaving Corrie standing alone in the middle of the road, confused.

Corrie did not know what to do. She was standing on a road in Paris, she didn't know where she was, or where to go, her two companions had just ran in opposite directions, her sister, and her only friend.