As Cary emerged from the admin building, she spotted several of the students heading past the square, deeper into the campus. At first, she figured this was people heading to Saturday services. Or perhaps students heading for some extra lessons in the classroom building. But then she remembered that tryouts were that day. With David and Reggie talking about it all week, it was hard for her to not have heard about it, no matter how distracted she was. And she was quite distracted.

Cary's first thought was to just head back to her room. To take advantage of the otherwise vacant room to get more reading in on the bible. But she knew that, if David made the team and she missed it, she would never hear the end of it. Then again, if he didn't make the team, he would never want to talk about it at all.

Reluctantly, Cary fell in with the rest of the students, heading back towards the Cadavraball field in the distance. Many of them seemed almost eager to see the sport, or to join one of the teams. Several people there were wearing uniforms, which Cary assumed meant they were already on one of them. As Cary walked along with the group, she tried to guess which of the players were on which team. But with the wide range of players, from the lanky underclassman to the overtly strong seniors, it was clear that the uniforms were all the same. They were all red and white, the colors of the school, matching the mushroom forest that it was nestled in.

As the crowd started filtering onto the field, most of the students that weren't in uniforms made for the stands. Cary followed this group, trying to hide out over there and not draw attention to herself. There were still some students who weren't wearing uniforms that headed onto the field. When Cary spotted David mixed in with this group, she figured those were the students trying out for the teams. All the students in uniforms were heading for the field, or the dugout.

"Hey, Cary," came a call from the stands.

When Cary looked towards the source, and the waving hand that went along with it, she spotted Siobhan up near the top of the stands. With a shrug, Cary headed up to join her. Halfway up the stands, she spotted Nelgomi sitting next to her. However, there was no sign of Sam anywhere.

"Hey, guys," Cary said, as she slipped into the seat between the two of them.

"Hey, Girlie," Nelgomi muttered. He was staring down at the field, his head in his hands. His eyes didn't turn towards Cary even as she sat next to him.

"What's with him?" Cary asked, nodding over to Nelgomi as she turned to Siobhan.

"He doesn't think he'd make the team, so he's not trying," Siobhan said.

"I'm too short," he said. "Those bats are too long. I'm not fast enough to make the bases. By the time I'm good enough for the underclassman team, I'll be too old for it. This game isn't designed for dwarves."

"There's always hoverball next summer," Siobhan said. "Or thugball in the spring. Not to mention the sports played by the houses. You'll have plenty of opportunities to show the prowess of a good dwarf."

"Bah," Nelgomi scoffed. "I come from a long line of battle mages. All they play is Thugball, which is just as bad for dwarves. And Hoverball? Seriously? Underclassman hoverball is just plain stupid. No one even follows it."

"Wait, houses?" Cary asked. "What are those?"

"The houses?" Siobhan asked. "They're the houses."

"Oh, that settles everything, then," Cary said, smiling over at her.

Despite everything, despite her continued fear that she was surrounded by witches, Cary did like hanging out with Siobhan and Nelgomi. The two of them had quickly become her friends, in what little time she spent without her nose in the good book. They seemed aware of her struggles, but were taking more of a hands off approach. Allowing Cary to explore the issue without pressing the matter. Without forcing her to choose between her faith and them.

"You know the four tables they have in the mess hall?" Nelgomi asked. "Those are the houses. Battle, Sight, Transformation, and Herbal and Healing." He ticked them off on his hands as he listed them off. When he said that last one, Cary thought it would have been two houses, but he only raised one finger for it. "They're the upperclassman specialties. Everyone gets put in one of those in eighth grade. With how you're taking to illusion magic, I'll bet you end up in sight."

"What?" Cary asked. Her face went pale when he mentioned her use of magic. The only one in their group that was in her art class was David, but she didn't remember him saying anything about it while she was there.

"It came up while you were in with your guidance counselor," Siobhan said. "Along with the fact that it's your birthday. So, happy birthday and all that good stuff."

"Uh, thanks," Cary muttered. She eyed the crowd around her, worried that more people would have noticed the comment. But there were enough people there, enough students that went to the school, that there were probably three or four other students that had the same birthday as she did. No one seemed to make a big fuss over it. At least, not on campus.

"Yeah," Nelgomi said, as if reading her thoughts. "We've all been there. At least my dad could come on campus to celebrate with me. Must suck to have parents out of the loop of the whole thing."

Cary just nodded at that comment. But instead of thinking of her grandparents, who she wished more than anything that she could see, she was thinking of her parents. The ones that had died soon after she was born. The ones that she had never known. She wondered, if they had survived, would they have been in on the whole thing? Or would they have been as oblivious as the rest of her family?

The crowd quieted down around them as the tryouts started down below. Cary barely paid attention as the students down there were split into groups. Some of those trying out were already in uniform, and Cary figured these were the players trying to get into the next team up. The underclassmen trying out for JV, and JV trying out for Varsity. But Cary didn't really care much about sports, so she pulled out her bible again, meaning to only pay attention when David was up.

"Still on with that, I see," Siobhan said, tapping her bible. "You know there are other books out there."

"I know," Cary said, nodding. "I might even turn to one of them when I'm done with this one. But, they won't help me figure out if I'm surrounded by witches."

"Oh, you are," someone said from the row in front of Cary. The girl sitting there turned around in her seat, keeping her legs turned towards the game as she stretched her torso back towards Cary. Her eyes were heavily made up, with jet black eyeshadow and mascara. Cary's grandmother would have referred to the look as "goth", but Cary wasn't sure if that was what this girl was going for. "The whole coven is sitting right in front of you. Were you looking to join?" She let out a little laugh as her head continued to turn around on her neck, spinning back towards the field. It looked like half of her was turned to face Cary, while the rest was focused on the tryouts in front of them. If Cary hadn't been seeing similar works of magic all week, seeing that would have completely freaked her out. Instead, she just glared at the girl, trying to see through the illusion that she was using.

"Don't listen to her, Cary," Siobhan said. "She's just trying to scare you. There are no witches at this school."

"Says you," another one of the girls in front of them said. She, too, turned around in her seat, but didn't follow through with the unsettling illusion. Instead, she just held onto the back of her seat, pulling her legs up next to her. Her make-up was more subtle than her friends, though with a similar palate. "I'm proud to be a witch. Didn't they teach you yet? We've all got a little witch in us. Some of us more than others. I'll bet this one had loads of witch in him." She reached out, tapping Cary on her knee. Cary skirted away from the girl, wanting to escape the whole coven in front of her.

"Sidney, Sharon, behave," Ms. Scott said. Cary turned around at her voice, surprised that her guidance counselor was sitting right behind her. She was glaring past Cary at the two girls in front of her. "If I have to call Headmaster Sparks over, you won't like the decision he makes about your future."

"Oh, like we care," another one of the girls said. This one, however, didn't bother turning around in her seat. She stayed facing the field in front of them as if she were ignoring the guidance counselor, while talking directly to her. Her voice sounded like she was facing them, though. "Kick us out of TPS, and we'll just find a different school. A better school. One that is more suited to our tastes."

"Are there other schools?" Cary asked. "Other magic schools?" In the week that she had been there, that was the first she was hearing of it.

"Of course," Siobhan said, as if it were obvious. "Who did you think the teams played against? Each other? That's hardly fair. We have a game against Merlin Prep in a couple weeks."

"Oh, we weren't talking about sorcerer schools," the first girl said. "Those are all just so... backwards." All three girls, as well as a fourth, laughed at her comment. Given how they were all sitting, Cary thought it was a little funny herself. But she didn't laugh at the joke.

"The rumors of schools for witches is just that," Ms. Scott said. "Only rumors. You'll find no quarter for your practices out in the world. And if you cross that line, you won't be out in the world, either."

"We'll see," the first girl said. "We'll see. Come along girls. It's clear that we're not wanted here."

The four girls all got up as one. The first girl stayed twisted around, holding the illusion as they made their way down the row. But once they started pushing their way past the other spectators, her illusion fell and her body was back to normal. Soon after that, Cary recognized the fourth girl, the one that hadn't spoken, as Rachel, the girl from her math class. Siobhan's roommate. Cary watched as the four of them headed off, not wanting to let them out of her sight until they were leaving the field.

"What was that about?" Cary asked. She wasn't sure who she was asking that question of, and her eyes stayed locked on where the girls, the coven, had disappeared to.

"That's something you'll be learning this week," Ms. Scott said. "The differences between witches and sorcerers. Mr. Holder does a far better job of explaining it than I ever could. But, as I told you on your first day here, there are some students on campus that claim to be witches. That worship the devil. That would be that group of girls there. But I can assure you, despite their claims, they are still very much sorceresses. It takes more to make a witch than simply wishing it."

"Oh," Cary said. Despite her words, Cary didn't feel any more comfortable about the whole situation. Nor with the fact that Ms. Scott basically told her that she would learn the difference later, without explaining anything. It felt very much like she was telling her that she'd know when she was older. When she was ten years and one week, rather than ten years old.

"Oh, look, it's David," Siobhan said, changing the subject. Cary smiled over at her, silently thanking her for pointing him out. She would have missed her friend’s tryout without the comment.

It was clear right away that David's practicing the game had paid off. He hit the first four out of five pitches, only missing the fifth because it was low, practically hitting the dirt in front of him. But as David complained about it, they informed him that there was no such thing as a ball in Cadavraball. You either hit the ball, or the ball hit you. Still, when it came to picking players for the underclassman team, he was the first chosen.