Rose Bloom

Chapter 8: Discoveries and Manipulation

It was a lovely day! The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and it seemed as if nothing could go wrong. But Marissa didn’t have the same opinion. As she was packing, the headache that had been bothering her for a week begun. Besides that, she felt like throwing up. It was because of the problem she had put herself in.

Joan had convinced (or rather forced) her to become her student. But Marissa had school, so she couldn’t attend her magic lessons. Today was the first day of Easter holiday, and they had arranged a ‘camp’ for Marissa. The camp was merely excuse for having a session of magic lessons at Joan’s. Even if she was scared, she couldn’t help feel a bit excited.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you there?” Claudia asked her daughter.

“No, Mom, I’m taking the bus! Don’t worry, I’ll be all right!” Marissa said before leaving.

When she arrived at Joan’s front gate, she was more scared then ever. But she had no choice. Gulping, she knocked at the door.

“Hello, hello, come in, we have a lot of work to do today! Please wipe your feet and follow me in the main room!” Joan said in a hurry.

“And my luggage? Where will I sleep?”

“You won’t need any luggage or sleep! Now come on, we don’t have time to lose!”

Joan half-lead and half-dragged her grand-niece in the main room. There she seated her and gave her a huge book.

“Hold this while I go to get something. Try starting on it, and ask me whatever you haven’t understood. Please finish it under an hour.” Joan said, and then turned to leave.

“Wait, are you kidding me? I mean, this thing has a thousand pages!” Marissa said horrified.

“Who said learning magic was easy? I’ll be back in an hour, and you’d better finish the book till then!”

Marissa gave a small sigh, then made herself comfortable and studied the book; it was called Magic for beginners. The last time she had been forced to read something that long was when she was looking for the spell. But now, it felt much more…boring. She thought she’d better begin. She had no choice.

Magic contains everything that has supernatural or impossible in it. Magic can’t be created; it already exists even if you’re not a witch or another being who can deal with magic. Magic isn’t just about potions and spells; it’s about finding who you really are on the inside and discovering your true self. Anyone can do magic; you aren’t born with it. Except Roses; no one can become a Rose.

 

Witches:

Witches are believed to deal with black magic. That is not entirely true; there are (very few, but there are) good witches. Once a girl performs a five-ranked spell, she is considered a first-ranked witch. There are five ranks of spells, and five ranks of witches. The higher the rank, the more powerful the spell or witch is. Witches are the most common magic-bearers. They can perform all spells and do any potion (depending, of course on the rank)

Warlocks (or wizards):

They are the masculine version of the witches, and therefore are much more powerful. They can do more or less the same spells as witches. There are just a few warlocks. A boy can become a warlock if he falls in love with a witch..

Sparklers:

Almost as common than the witches, Sparklers are not very powerful, and their magic is in their talent. A Sparkler is a normal human being with an exaggerated talent, mostly in art. Other talents can be music, drama or writing. The only problem is that nobody knows how to make the difference between a talented person and a Sparkler. Not even the Sparklers.