As she left the Great Hall with Flynn, an idea came to Elvie.

‘What do you say about having our own duels, you know, to sharpen our magic.’ Flynn turned his frown upon her. ‘Seriously, think about it,’ she defended herself. ‘The way to get stronger is to practice your magic. We can’t get any stronger because we never get a chance… all we do is the same old spells time and time again, and that’s if our lessons even run. I can cause a seed to sprout with little effort, but what good is that? How would I use it in a duel?’

‘And if we hurt each other? Did you know they have magicians at the Duels who are specifically placed to raise a shield if they think a combatant is in danger? And it isn’t just one per duellist – no, it’s two. Two, Elvie. And that’s not even stopping to think about any personal charms or protections a magician may have imbued into an item! If they had certain contacts, enough money, or the right Great House, they could have multiple protective shields. We, on the other hand, have nothing…’

‘And if we don’t do anything?’ It wasn’t that Elvie had a desire to hurt anyone, but she was sick and tired of feeling like she was a helpless baby, sick and tired of not being able to do the magic she wanted! ‘At the least, we could practise our defensive magic.’

Flynn glared at her like she was insane. ‘Seriously, Flynn – no offensive spells then, but what’s the harm in trying to work on the defensive skills. With the strange things that have happened across the year, surely working on defence cannot be a bad thing?’

He grunted a reply to her, and she took that as his consent.

‘Why don’t you come to Elder House, and we’ll see what we can do? We have enough beds, and Alistar won’t mind you being there, if he even notices. And Elisabeth would likely be happy to have someone that listens to her better than I do.’

‘Fine, but I’m not promising anything.’ Elvie smiled at her victory. ‘You can make it up to me by explaining what’s wrong between you and Rilla?’ He changed the subject abruptly. ‘Don’t think I didn’t notice how she all but ran from you in the Great Hall – I’d suspected something already, but after that...’

Elvie’s smile vanished. She sometimes forgot Flynn and Rilla were also good friends. ‘It’s… girl problems,’ she said with a sigh.

One of Flynn’s eyebrows arched perfectly. ‘I don’t really want to know that… but do you need to talk about it?’

She shrugged. ‘I just…’

‘Very well. You need to sort it out. She’s happier when you’re around her.’

And that was the problem, wasn’t it? She was happier around Rilla – but what was she meant to do about the fact she was from the future and wanted to go back?

Her sadness must have shown through on her face. ‘I’ll find her and talk to her too,’ he promised.

She reached out and gave his hand a squeeze. ‘Thank you.’

‘We’ll see how it goes before you thank me. I’ll see what I can do before I meet you at Elder House tonight.’

He was walking away when a tug on the arm of her cloak drew her attention.

‘Elvie. Come with me.’

She blinked like an owl beneath Shrinth’s forceful gaze. Wasn’t she meant to be with the other duellists? Shrinth half pulled her by the sleeve, down the main hallway and into the teaching offices. She didn’t speak, just maneuvered Elvie by the arm into a small room that had Shrinths name written on the door. Her office?

The inside of the room was quite bare, with a desk situated in front of a haphazardly stacked bookshelf.

‘Sit there.’ She pointed at one of the seats, as she made her way behind the desk to the other.

Elvie did, a little scared at the other ladies’ forceful manner.

Shrinth stared at her for a moment, her dark hair framing her face to make it sinister looking. Elvie shuffled awkwardly beneath that gaze.

‘Let’s start with an easy question. Answer truthfully. What animals do you like?’

Elvie was taken aback by the direction of her question. ‘Dogs, cats, horses – everything, I guess. Not snakes or spiders – there are too many of those back home.’

‘All right. What about animals living in the ocean.’

Elvie mouth threatened a grin. ‘Orcas! They’re beautiful.’

Shrinth gave a small grunt of acknowledgement.

‘Why are you asking?’ Elvie tried.

Shrinth shrugged. ‘It’s not a certainty, but you do the maths on this and tell me what ou think. A couple of dozen students are given a lecture on summoning creatures – whales in particular. That’s pretty normal for Kavan to do. What isn’t normal, is immediately after, orcas start showing up in a place they haven’t frequented for quite some time.’

‘Orcas! Here?’ Elvie was genuinely excited – she’d never been close to one before, not in the wild or captivity.

‘They are. And I suspect it was you who brought them here.’

‘Oh,’ was all Elvie could think to say. How was that possible? She couldn’t sense an animal’s mind. ‘No, that wasn’t me. I reached out to the whale Kavan summoned, but I didn’t make any contact.’

‘Subconscious desire – strong desire – can manifest magic. Powerful young magicians are often discovered based on their subconscious magic.’

Elvie shrunk down in her seat.

‘Like your lesson with Mhyrre. That isn’t a beginner’s spell, you know. I didn’t demonstrate it to you so you could ignore the repercussions and cast it as you see fit – in fact, the more I think about it, the more certain I am that I demonstrated that spell so that you would not attempt risky spells as you understood the concept of fraying. Remember the blood, the pain, the not standing upright, and I hadn’t even hit the worst parts yet.’

‘I didn’t mean…’ Shrinth’s eyebrow rose and she trailed off. How could say she hadn’t meant to cast the spell when her actions had been deliberate? ‘Very well. I did mean to. I thought I could do it, so I did.’

‘And what made you think you could cast a Birch House spell?’

Elvie shrugged, not sure how to answer. ‘I guess, well, nothing has made me think I couldn’t cast it.’

The corner of Shrinth’s mouth cracked upwards. ‘Good. That’s an interesting logic you have there.’ She leant back in her chair to consider Elvie carefully, before her gaze locked onto Elvie’s eyes. ‘You’re quite unusual… I’m not sure what it is, but you trigger alarm bells whenever I look at you – especially when I saw into your mind. A part of me wants to use my Apple House magic to crack open your memories to see what’s inside there.’

Elvie shrank back in fear. Everything would be revealed!

‘The difference is I’m going to resist my impulse, unlike you.’ Shrinth was clearly making a point, and Elvie nodded like she understood, even as it took another few moments for her slight trembling to subside. Shrinth was already an imposing lady – she didn’t need to make threats to be any scarier.

‘Master Mhyrre told me what you did with your Ash and Birch combination spell. Finding time is challenging – lately at least – or I’d have cornered you sooner. You do realise, you shouldn’t be able to cast it, right?’

Elvie didn’t. ‘I thought you could cast from other houses, just not effectively.’

‘You’re spell didn’t work?’

‘No. I guess it did.’

Shrinth smiled to herself. ‘What you don’t realise is, to cast that spell while maintaining the focus for another… well, that should be beyond someone who has been learning magic for the short time you have. In fact, it’d be beyond many who have learnt magic for a lifetime. One spell at a time; that makes up the bulk of magical users in the world, unless, of course, they are something exceptional.’

‘Oh.’ Am I exceptional?

‘Magicians are different, everyone knows that. Few magicians, if any, can do what you did, even in the simplest forms of the spell. So my question to you is, how did you manage it?’

‘I… I…’ She wasn’t sure what explanation she could offer, but her frustration at the constant restrictions on her casting – the one thing that could get her home – that frustration reared its head. ‘I cast it because I wanted to cast it. I want to learn, and I can’t learn spells out of Elder, so I tried yours.’

It had no tact, but Shrinth wasn’t one for manners or niceties. Her lopsided crack of a smile returned.

‘Good. That’s what I wanted to hear.’ She sat back again. ‘You’re transferring out of Basic Manipulations as of now. I will see to it.’

‘Transferring to what?’

‘To me. You’re going to transfer and become my individual student. It isn’t unheard of. We’re going to unlock your mind to see what you can truly achieve.’

Elvie didn’t know whether to smile or cry. What sort of teacher would Shrinth be? ‘You’ll teach me Birch House spells?’

‘I will. Make no mistake, I’m going to push you to your limit. Following the Duels, you’ll begin your classes with me.’

‘Yes, Master Shrinth.’

‘I’m not a Master. Call me Shrinth. I will talk with Alistar about moving you to Birch House.’

‘For always?’

Shrinth shook her head. ‘For a time. But you are more than happy to split your accommodations if that will make you more comfortable.’

Elvie nodded.

‘Now go. I have preparations to make.’