20

After everything that happened yesterday, you’d think I’d dread going back to Kaz’s class. And you’d be absolutely right.

However, unlike yesterday, I know what to expect now. Plus, I have progress on my side, and Gilbert on the other. Literally.

He sticks close to me as we enter the room and, instead of sitting next to Dinah like he did yesterday, he follows me to my seat next to Elsa. Dinah was fuming, her glare sending shivers down my spine. But Gilbert hardly seems to care as he claims the seat next to mine and leans back lazily, truly at home in Kaz’s classroom.

For a second, I wish I had his confidence and carefree nature. I bet he’d brush Kaz’s lectures right off if they were ever directed at him.

And speaking of danger in a suit and tie, it soon enters the room and marches past the desks with unbridled confidence, a trail of spiced honey following him.

My body betrays my growing distaste for this man when I deeply inhale his scent, dragging it through my lungs and into my soul. I hate myself for finding his scent deliciously alluring – I’ve always had a weakness for anything remotely related to honey.

Kaz stops at his desk at the far end of the class. With a flick of his hand and a muttered incantation, several objects appear on each desk out of thin air. I study the object before me – a ball of fire.

“What you see before you,” Kaz speaks up and I take extra care to pay attention, “is the result of what I want you to conjure. You will be incorporating everything you learned yesterday. Those who were paying attention, won’t have any problem completing the task.” He fixes me a pointed look before adding, “You may begin.”

I tear my eyes off him to stare at the ball of fire. It’s such an easy spell to cast, one I can naturally do with a flick of my wrist. But here, I am expected to follow the recipe, to complete the spell step by step for the best results. Or at least the results Kaz wants.

Raking my brain, I try to remember what he said yesterday, only to strike a blank. Well, he’s right about one thing. I should’ve paid attention.

Okay, what do I need to make fire? Wood and light, of course. What was the incantation for timber? Ligemant? Ligos?

My thoughts begin spiralling, merging with the increasing sound of my blood rushing in my ears. I know this feeling all too well, and I’ve gone out of my way to avoid it since my parents disappeared. But it’s too late. I’m ten seconds away from having a panic attack in front of all these people.

“Hey.”

My rising panic pauses when I feel a nudge coming from my right. Gilbert looks at me sincerely, his eyes sending a silent message that I should calm down. Focusing on him, I take a deep breath and exhale slowly.

“There you go,” he whispers, then nods at the ball of fire. “You need wood and light for the spell. *Lignum* and *lucis*. Try it.”

Nodding quietly, I turn both my palms upwards and focus my magic on the left one. Feeling the energy tickling my skin, I mutter the incantation and, to my surprised relief, see a mass of twigs and dried timber appear out of thin air. Feeling slightly more confident, I do the same with my right palm, and breath a laugh when a blinding orb of light appear above it.

“That’s it,” Gilbert says cheerfully, keeping his tone low. “Now combine them. Careful, don’t burn yourself. And don’t let the fire get out of control. It’s only as stable as your focus.”

Following his instructions, I slowly combine my hands to form a little cage. When I open them, I’m overjoyed to find that my ingredients were successfully combined, and a perfectly round ball of fire floats above my hands.

My first instinct is to call Kaz to look, to show him that I’m not a total lost cause as he believes. Luckily, I come to my senses before I can act. So, instead, I sit back to admire the fire in my hands. Such a simple spell for so many complicated steps.

“Big deal.”

The remark as so soft, I would’ve never heard it if it wasn’t for the deafening silence in the room. Peering over my shoulder, I glimpse Dinah sitting with her arms crossed over her bust while gossiping to her group of girls, her spell already completed and floating midair without her needing to control it.

Ignore her, I think to myself. She’ll back off if I don’t give her the attention she wants. However, that becomes easier said than done when she continues with the hushed remarks.

“She couldn’t have done it without Gilbert’s help. Look at her, she’s pathetic. Doesn’t even know a basic fire spell. You wanna know how old I was when I cast my first fire spell? I was five. Well, I suppose it’s better than being an Anomaly, you know. At least she doesn’t wield wild magic like her mother used to do.”

That comment was what ultimately set me off.

In the split second that I lost focus, the fire in my hands ignited as though someone doused it with gasoline. It licked up my arms and singed the desk, incinerating everything it touched.

Panicking, I flail my arms about to extinguish it, but no amount of moving and floundering seemed to work. And that’s when it happened. Upon swinging my arm backwards with a particularly hard thrust, I accidentally send a comet of fire flying through the air…aiming straight for Dinah.

She shrieks and dives to the left, missing it by a fracture of an inch and singing the little hairs at her temple.

I freeze and stare at her in horror, and then at the pitch-black scorch mark the fire left on the wall behind her.

The next moment, a voice roars behind me, “What the hell is going on here?!”

My heart drops to my stomach and I feel the blood draining from my face. Turning slowly, I am met by Kaz’s rage-filled expression, his gaze shifting between me and Dinah with burning fury.

“It was her, Professor,” Dinah immediately accuses me, altering her voice to sound like the victim. “She outright attacked me. I was nearly burned to death.”

“*What*?” I blurt out, suddenly over the shock of nearly setting her on fire. “No, no, don’t pin this on me. You made those comments on purpose. You were *planning* this.”

“Enough!” Kaz’s voice echoes off the walls of the room, rendering me silent and afraid. “Class dismissed. You two,” he points at me and Dinah, “stay right where you are.”

Gilbert jumps to his feet in a blink of an eye. “Sir, it really wasn’t Syl’s fault. She –”

“*I said*,” Kaz repeats himself, his tone dropping to a sinister tone, “class *dismissed*.”

I watch Gilbert scooting out of his seat with dread filling my heart. He flashes me an apologetic glance, mouthing ‘I’m sorry’ before grabbing his bag and following the other Acolytes out. Elsa passes me with a ‘good luck’, and at last, only four of us remains in the room.

Me, Dinah, Kaz, and his suffocating wrath.