It was seven a.m. when Julia woke up to revise her spells for the first practical exam. She and Cole had been revising practical spells since the last three days. She took a quick shower, and got ready. She carried her guidebook and revised as she bumped into Arthur.

“Please look where you’re going, Miss Witch,” said Arthur.

“Oh… I’m sorry Arthur.”

He said nothing and walked away.

“Wait, Arthur. I’m also sorry for everything else, for dragging you where I shouldn’t have,” said Julia.

Arthur turned to face her.

“I’ve been waiting for this for a long time now. Well, good luck for your exams,” said Arthur.

At that moment, Julia wondered if he forgave her or not. Her bracelet made a ting sound, and a silver dove charm appeared on it. She assumed it meant peace.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, she saw a huge shadow on the ground. She looked up as she felt a soft and cool breeze. It was Cole on his broom, dashing across with his eyes glued to his guidebook.

“Watch out!” said Julia.

He was about to crash into the building, when the turned the broom with a smooth curve, and had a soundless landing, all while his eyes were fixed upon the book.

“Good morning Julia,” said Cole.

He was still reading as he hugged Julia.

“How do you do that?” asked Julia.

“Do what?” asked Cole.

He flipped a page.

“Never mind. Good luck for your exam.”

“You too, Julia,” said Cole.

Julia impulsively checked her satchel for the wand. It was there. She walked inside and searched for her seat, and sat on the assigned seat with her ID, name and random number.

There, she checked for her wand once again. She breathed a sigh of relief.

The exam would start in five minutes. Lindsey came running, and panted as she sat down. She sat in the only remaining seat. Julia’s right hand was shaking. She was number 35, and Cole was too far away for her to discern his number. Lindsey was number 1.

“Okay, Witches and Warlocks, we will commence the solo test first, and then the relay test. Please only bring your wand with you. Number 1, please go the next room,” said the examiner.

Lindsey went with her plain golden wand.

After about five minutes of talking, Lindsey came back. Everyone bombarded her with questions. But all she said was, “It was good.”

Julia waited for quite some time.

“Number 24, please come forward.”

Cole left his guidebook behind, and took his wand.

He came back, sighed and settled onto his seat.

“What a horrible exam. The question was so weird. They asked me to build a freaking bridge!” said Cole.

Julia heard this, and didn’t know what he meant. She trembled.

“Calm down, Julia,” said a classmate.

At last the time came.

“Number 35.”

“Oh, that’s me,” said Julia.

She removed her bracelet in case it was charmed. She took her wand with her and entered the room where she found Mr. Penn.

“Now Julia, make a set of stairs. Make a set of stairs. It can be as grand or as bland as you wish,” said Mr. Penn.

Julia nodded. She fiddled with her wand, which was trailing behind sparkles at the moment.

“Let me dance my way on a stairway to my heart,” said Julia.

“Spell modification,” mumbled Mr. Penn.

His mumbles made her wonder if she was doing it right or wrong. Well, there was no turning back now.

A reflective floor replaced the floor of the exam room. She thought that she should’ve created a staircase, not a floor. She had no control over her magic…

A marble set of stairs rose step by step. Alongside that, there was an iron railing. As she ascended, the steps were covered with a red strawberry printed carpet. Vines with strawberries wrapped and grew along the railings. She continued climbing, often skipping steps. At the top, she didn’t see a heart. What she was a cluster of dead plants, and even a transparent person. The two girls stared at each other.

“Come back before the spell is done,” said Mr. Penn.

So, she descended as fast as she could.

“A light-type witch with a dark-type heart… Thank you, you may leave.”

Julia drooped her head down as she re-entered the room. She kept the wand inside the satchel, and wore the charm bracelet once again.

“Julia, how was it?” said Cole, from a distance.

“I don’t know.”

“Same,” said Cole.

The rest of the solo exams took place. Meanwhile, Julia placed her head on her desk, and fell asleep. She dreamed of coming near the scoreboard, and finding her name at the bottom of the list. She didn’t know what to do.

“Excuse me, wake up… Someone please wake her up.”

“Julia! Wake up, you’re dreaming,” said Cole.

“Huh?” said Julia.

She woke up, and her eyes met Cole’s. He burst out laughing, along with everyone else except for the examiner. The examiner faked a cough, and told Cole to return to his spot.

Mr. Penn came and began writing topics on the whiteboard.

Group 1: Series of animated objects.

Group 2: Series of still images.

He then wrote that 1-20 were in group 1, and 20-40 were in group 2.

They split themselves according to the numbers, and went to the next room. Julia read the door label as “Imagination Zone”.

Mr. Penn explained the rules.

After that, Group 1 came forward. Half of them were supposed to transform inanimate objects, and the other half were supposed to animate them. The first person would turn the object into something new, and the next person would animate it. Then another person would catch it, and turn it into something new once again. The idea was that the object would turn back to its original form once it got to the last person. Lindsey came forward and grabbed a sphere out of the box.

Julia watched with patience.

Lindsey turned the sphere into a lollipop, and then the next person turned it into a birthday card. It continued like this until the last person said that he didn’t remember what the object was supposed to be. The spell chain broke.

“You get 6/10.”

Lindsey dropped her wand and yelled out.

It was Julia’s turn. Cole was first. He made a simple stick figure on a piece of paper. The next girl turned it into a cartoon figure of a girl. Julia added walls. It continued like this until the last person turned it into a stick figure again with an amateur-looking background.

“9.5/10.”