The next day, Ashyr was assigned a project in history class that she handed over to me. Reluctantly, I agreed to it, keeping in mind that there were only five more days left. As the week dragged on and Ceremony day came ever closer, any spare moment I had was filled with doing homework or chores. I couldn't imagine doing it for much longer, and the idea of not being chosen was even worse than it had been before with Ashyr holding my job over my head.
Finally, it was the day before the Ceremony. I was just leaving school with Tawny when I spotted Ashyr and her friends laughing by a willow tree near the school gate. I kept my head down as we walked towards them, hoping Ashyr wouldn't take this opportunity to ridicule me in front of her friends. All week, I'd managed to avoid her at school, but now... When it was so close to the ceremony, I couldn't afford for Ashyr to tell. My parents would make sure I couldn't sneak out tomorrow if they knew I'd betrayed their trust every time I left for work.
"Ella, you appear somewhat pale. Is something the matter?" Tawny asked. I shook my head, fingering my necklace as we came within ten feet of Ashyr's group. We were almost through the gate when I dared to relax a little. Maybe they hadn't noticed me, or-
"Ella!" I heard Ashyr exclaim. Reluctantly, I stopped and turned around. She ran up to me with four other wizard girls. They all had their wands behind their ears- a trend Ashyr and her friends hoped would catch on but hadn't.
"Yeah, Ashyr?" I asked, forcing myself to relax the death-hold I had on my necklace. Ashyr flipped a handful of raven locks over her shoulder.
"I was just thinking that you should give my friends a show. You know- the whole flying and diving thing, where you almost splat on the ground but don't?" She twirled a lock of hair around her finger, giving me the 'you better do it' look.
"Ella, you do not need to flaunt your powers in front of these adolescent wizards," Tawny murmured, trying to take my arm and lead me away. I brushed her off.
"I do," I said, letting go of my necklace. I took a glowing red orb out of my pocket. It was one of my Alabris, full to the brim with shapeshifting magic. I decided that a normal hawk could do what Ashyr wanted just fine and remembered what its magical name was.
"Hawer Briskeni Telmar," I muttered. My limbs started blurring almost immediately. I looked pretty hawk-like when one of the girls practically shouted for me to stop. She could've been Ashyr's twin, except with dirty-blond curls instead of black ones. I was pretty sure her name was Trilla.
"What is it?" I asked, reversing my transformation halfway.
"I want that," the girl insisted, pointing right at me with her wand. "That necklace," she elaborated, "make her give it to me." I reached my hand to my throat, touching the chain. Of course she wanted the one thing I couldn't possibly give her. Ashyr looked at my necklace. She had to know it was the only thing I'd been found with as a baby, that it was more important to me than anything else.
"Why would you want that?" she asked her friend. "It's just a piece of costume jewelry- probably only worth a couple of kays." It was worth way more than that, even to someone other than me. Hopefully, Trilla couldn't tell the difference between a real Amillian crystal and a fake one.
"That's Amillian," Trilla insisted, "and it would go perfectly with the new dress I bought yesterday. Make her give it to me." Ashyr didn't look like she wanted to, and I hoped she wouldn't.
"Hand it over," Ashyr commanded, pulling a false smile. She reached her hand out, palm up. I took a step back.
"No," I said, "I won't." Trilla raised an eyebrow at Ashyr. One of the other girls- a short red-head- asked, "are you gonna let a talme stop you?" Ashyr stepped towards me, hand still outstretched.
"You have my answer," I told her, "you know why I won't give it away." Her smile faltered, and she looked like she was about to step down, but Trilla wasn't having it.
"They're barely better than animals. Why should a dirty talme have something as pretty as that?" she asked. "She probably stole it anyway. If you won't take it, then I will, and we'll all know what you really are, Ashyr. Talme-lover..." the insult dripped off her tongue like acid, and Ashyr stiffened.
"Hand it over, right now. Or I'll take it myself," Ashyr ordered, brandishing her wand. Wizard or no, she was a head shorter than me, and I knew she was flunking the hand-to-hand combat part of phys ed. If we did fight, I saw half a dozen ways to disarm her and knock her down. The other four wizards might be a problem, though...
"Make me," I hissed, snatching her wand with my tail. I danced away from her with it. "One step, and I break it," I threatened, passing it to my hands. Wands weren't nearly as easy to replace as Alabris. They could take a whole year to forge and age, so breaking one was a pretty big deal.
"You wouldn't," Ashyr insisted. The other wizards looked horrified, like I had committed some heinous crime. I hadn't, at least, not yet.
"I would. Now, just let me leave, and forget about my necklace. Your wand will be safe with me for the moment." I quickly backed away from them and out the gate, Tawny following right beside me. Behind us, I heard Trilla shrieking at Ashyr- "Get away from us, beast-hugger!" As soon as we were on the main road, I started running. Knowing Ashyr, she would try her hardest to get home before me and tell our parents about her stolen wand. I had to put it in her room before she could.
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