Going outside the next morning became a test of will because the temperature had dropped to the point of pain after a few seconds. I couldn’t stay inside any longer and while I wouldn’t admit it, I feared what Lorelei may have planned. We didn’t have classes on Sunday and being outside would give me access to a lot of escape routes if need be. I didn’t consider just how crafty she could be.

Even with the cold and a breeze that blew threw you, there were a lot of students out on the square in front of the school. They were gathered around a triangle of grass that sat just before the phoenix statue that took up a large part of the area. My curiosity got the best of me and I made my way to the group to see what had drawn everyone’s attention.

The crowd left open an area of grass and in the middle stood four people, two mages and two witches. They were discussing something, but I lost what they said in the distance. I looked around for some way to get closer and found one in Brandi as she stood near the inner edge of the circle and most were keeping their distance from her. She looked up as I pushed my way to her. For a moment it looked like she would make a run for it, but she just shuffled her feet and kept her eyes on the four in the middle.

“Hey,” I said and got the response I expected which was just a grunt. “What’s this all about?”

“The two idiots got in a fight and now they’re dragging their mages into it,” Brandi said and her eyes darted to me as she pushed a strand of pink streaked hair behind her ear. “Where have you been the last couple of days? Outside of class, I haven’t seen you. You finally get a witch to take up all your time?”

“You’re probably the only one to notice. No witch, which is partly why I’ve been staying in the common room as much as I can.”

“Ah, the other three found witches and you haven’t got anyone. Not surprising, to be honest. You have the lowest power out of all of them.”

“Really cheering me up here, Brandi.”

“You want cheering up then go see your mother. Now shush, the duel master finally got here.” She pointed to where the crowd parted around an older woman. It wasn’t hard to miss her, her fire red hair matched the leaves on the trees around the courtyard. She stood taller than most of the girls and the heels of her boots clicked on the cobble of the path. She stopped and looked around at the crowd. Her face was covered in freckles and her sharp green eyes were fiercely bright as she scanned the students.

“Already? It’s not even a week in.” She jutted her hip out and place a hand to it with a sigh. “Very well, let’s get on with it. Mages, how much are you putting up?”

“Putting up?” I asked no one in particular, but Brandi gave me an annoyed glance.

“You got your MBD, right? See the numbers in the top, right? The top number should be about twenty-five hundred. That's your reputation as a mage, which you can use to upgrade your skills within the MBD once you’ve bonded. We witches have a bit of the same thing.” She tapped the small blue diamond at her temple.

I looked to the corner of my vision and found the two numbers, one above the other. The top one was the twenty-five hundred she had mentioned. The one below was just a zero with a plus symbol next to it.

“All right,” the red headed teacher said. I missed what the mages had bet. “How many skill points are you girls putting up?”

“Six,” said the girl nearest to us and her mage visibly paled. Her long pony-tail was held up by a strip of green cloth. A mummer traveled around the crowd and I looked at Brandi who had become very good with her exasperated sighs.

“I heard you were smart. Like I said, we witches have something like those points. Skill points are the currency we use to purchase new spells that don’t rely on being seeded. There are only a few ways to get them, but the main one is dueling.”

“Yeah, well, I haven’t had much hands on experience with all of this.”

“They explained it all in our Bonded class, but I guess you were too busy feeling sorry for yourself to pay attention.” She took a step forward and I followed in the space the group created around her. She had been right about how others would treat her. No one looked at her, but they all moved as far away as possible. Some even pulled in the bottoms of their jackets to make sure they didn’t touch her. She didn’t seem concerned about it and took advantage of it to get closer to the duel.

“The terms are set and the bets have been placed,” the red headed teacher stated and rose her hand. She made a strange motion with her fingers and a flare appeared in the cloudless sky where it shimmered for a moment before a curtain of sparks fell from it in the shape of a dome. The edge touched down just in front of the crowd. “Dampener dome is set. Remember, no targeting mages and no destruction mage. You may begin when ready.”

The mages took their places close to the barrier that shimmered every few seconds in a wave of purple and light blue. The witches walked toward the center and stopped a few feet from each other. Neither had their eyes on their opponents, instead they seemed to be listening to something the rest of us couldn’t hear.

The girl closest to us was the first to move. The green ribbon in her hair became a blur as she dashed away from the other girl while chanting unheard words. When she finished, a blue symbol appeared in the grass before exploding in a roaring geyser of white water. It knocked the other girl back a few feet and most of the water pelted off a shield she conjured just in time.

I’d never seen a witch duel or even seen a witch fight before. I knew, like most others, that witches could control the elements and even light and shadow, but the power these girls were bringing to bear was something from a nightmare.

The girl with the green ribbon skidded to a stop near her mage and with what I could only call a strange dance, she summoned black clouds into the dome. From these clouds fell bloody rain. The sight made my stomach turn and others in the crowd didn’t fair much better. A few of the girls turned away, hands over their mouths. The rain created a thin layer of blood that dammed at the edges of the dome.

The blood drenched the other girl, coating her and her clothes. She doubled over in a coughing fit, blood spewing from her mouth. It lasted only a few seconds as she quickly recovered and drew up into her own pose. A whirl of flame appeared before her and spun like an out-of-control top. It turned the blood to steam, the red tinged cloud looming in the dome before it pulled into the flames.

The flame tornado continued to spin and was sent straight for the green ribboned girl. She stayed in place and when the flame tornado was feet from swallowing her, she drew up a sizeable chunk of the earth from the ground which the tornado crashed into and melted to slag. The flames fizzled out far before it could break through.

It was a hell of a light show so far, but the green ribbon girl wasn’t finished. She made a similar motion with her hand that the duel master did, but instead of a shimmering flare it was as if she had summoned a star into the middle of the dome. The light blinded everyone for a few seconds. I blinked back my vision to see the green ribbon girl on top of the other girl with a shard of melted stone against the girl’s throat.

“Duel is over,” the red headed teacher said and clapped her hands twice. The dome crawled back into the sky and disappeared in a pinprick of light. She looked at the crowd. “Now, before I disperse this crowd, are they any other challengers that want to have a go today? Speak up because I won’t be sanctioning any other matches until Monday."

“I want a duel,” a voice called, and a hole appeared in the crowd on the other side of the clearing. Someone appeared that filled me with dread. Lorelei stood behind Shawn as he made his way onto the blood splattered grass, a severe looking girl beside him.

“Have you discussed this duel with your opponent?” the red headed teacher asked and Shawn shook his head. “Very well, who is it you want to duel?”

“Aidan Cooper.”