"Zephyra Grey, please join me."

I blinked surprised. I looked back at Mrs. Kingsley, who had her arms crossed. I nodded and got up. I nodded at the girls and boy that had cheered me up, who flashed me thumbs up as I went out. As I pushed past the tarp that Mrs. Kingsley held aloft for me, I saw a smaller space the tent encapsulated. On the ground a circle was drawn. The east and west circle had the sigils of the gods in it and the top had a sigil in it I didn't recognize while the bottom one was empty. What was different than normal were the four candles that stood next to each circle and the words scribbled along the outer circle. It was an old language I couldn't understand. The language was taught at the Guild, but only if necessary for certain spells. Like this one.

"Please sit in the circle," Mrs. Kingsley said as she closed the tarp.

I did as she asked me. She sat on her knees just outside the circle and looked at me. A shiver ran down my spine. Suddenly I felt incredibly nervous. My brother, mother, father and grandmother had ensured me this part of the day was nothing to worry about. And still I was restless. What would happen? What would I have?

"Zephyra, before we begin. I want to ask you something."

I looked at Mrs. Kingsley, whose grey eyes now seemed much softer than they'd been in the previous tent. I swallowed. Why did everyone want to ask me something?

"How are you feeling?"

I blinked. I hadn't expected that. I stared at her, but she remained silent. I swallowed and scratched the back of my neck.

"I...well. Uhm, I'm fine, maybe a bit nervous. Thank you for asking?"

A sigh came from her and she cocked her head a bit. She wasn't really buying it.

"I imagine that, whatever Ms. Fox said, wasn't something so trivial that you'd be unbothered by it. If so, you wouldn't have knocked Mr. Farrow to the ground."

"Ah," I croaked, now fiddling with my fingers. There was a bit of loose skin I started to pull on as I thought. "It's nothing. Really. She was just....She was insinuating I'd be a.... A Soulless."

The moment the word left my mouth, I felt tears coming up. I looked down and balled my fists, pressing my nails once again deep into my flesh. Now that it was out, I realized how afraid I was of it. At home we never spoke of it, but we knew. Bugs were lowly familiars. Only thing worse was not being able to Summon anything at all. To be Soulless. At home there was always that unspoken fear whenever the Summoning of a child came close. That the current generation was the generation that would no longer be able to Summon. And I was the last to Summon. I had to Summon something. Or else I....

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I took a few more moments before looking up. I had to be certain I wouldn't be crying. I shouldn't. Mrs. Kingsley looked at me with sympathy. I swallowed again.

"Everyone is a little nervous today," she said. "But I can understand your feelings about it. However, you shouldn't worry. Your brother Summoned a fish. Clearly your generation was meant to break through the insect curse of your family."

I gave her a weak smile. I wasn't going to argue. She wouldn't understand anyway. She had a raven after all. She'd never considered the option that you wouldn't be able to Summon anything because your brother had taken all the potential to do so by Summoning a fish. She'd never seen being a Soulless as an option. Not that it was an option for me either. Because if it turned out I was. Well, I wouldn't have concerns for long.

"Are you ready to begin?"

I nodded, glad this conversation was over. It had been pointless anyway. Judith wouldn't be punished and Mrs. Kingsley's soothing words were hollow. No need to waste time or energy. Mrs. Kingsley got up and lit the candles one by one. Then she retook her position in front of me and spread her arms. A shiver ran down my neck as she chanted.

"Toon de elementen in het hart van de uitverkorene. Welk pad heeft Mana voor ogen!"

The language she chanted in had a harsh tone to it, but sounded weirdly melodious. The moment her chant ended, she placed her hands in front of me and the circle and a ripple of air washed over me. The candles went out, the circle lit up. With bated breath did I watch as slowly symbols started to form in the air. Two large ones, two smaller ones. My stomach turned when I recognized them. Of course. Why not? Why was I even surprised?

"Lightning and air as your cores. Earth and fire as your potentials. This gives you quite a lot of options of guilds to pick. Air is extremely versatile and even though fire and earth are your potentials, you could still use them to get into a guild who favours those. You just need to work a little harder."

I nodded grimly, acutely aware that she didn't mention my lightning core. She'd probably told Judith what she could do with it. She wouldn't tell me. If only to protect me from the disappointment that would follow after I proved that I too would blow up when using it.

I got up from the circle, muttered my appreciation to my teacher and already made my way to the other tent. As I left the room, she called after me.

"Don't give up Zephyra. You'll be fine."

I rolled my eyes and walked on. Before returning to the tent I squared my shoulders and put on a confident grin. I wasn't going to give Judith and her troupe another thing to pick on me with. Not until I had no choice but to reveal it.

I spend the rest of the testing talking to Richard, Emilie, Nora and Kim. They helped with blocking out Judith and the others who'd taken an unhealthy interest in my cores. I didn't share them with the three I'd been talking to either. Though I told Emilie that I'd perhaps could join her at Moondew. That was enough information to make them back-off. The conversations also helped me calm my nerves a little. In fact, I'd forgotten why I was here until Mrs. Kingsley returned with the message that the town's square was ready to receive us. That was when my heart went into overtime and my legs lost their strength. I wobbled to an upward position and numbly followed the rest. The excited chatter from before faded away. I took a few glimpses to see I wasn't the only one who was worried. Few people had paled and as filed out, I definitely saw more who looked like I felt. Sick and terrified.