Chapter 7 continues...

Faham volunteered his phone for experimentation, but Raz didn’t want to risk it. However, she did use the opportunity to do some more magesight testing outside. Several small children spectated the, so Raz made sure to add extra flourish and wizardry flair to all her words and motions, earning herself a group of tiny cheerleaders.

Some of the tutorials she remembered watching had talked about distance and detail as something you could train. For her, everything magical in her magesight seemed to turn into fuzzy static at around five to ten meters. However, to actually read what was on the ghostly screens near Faham’s phone, she had to be basically close enough to read it. Maybe there was some way to work around it, but she called the test quits after accidentally spying on some cutesy flirty smileys her little brother had exchanged with someone called ‘OddOntologyKid’.

Later, when the patchwork sky started to darken with a hundred shades of old Earth’s sunsets, the trio went out for dinner at a nearby döner kebab place that Allie recommended. Proper döner. From actual Earth cows. With real fries and mayo and all the glorious flavors from Raz’s favorite childhood restaurants. She came very close to crying while eating it.

The conversation gained a little weight and shifted from having fun to the future.

“You know what this means, right?” asked Raz. “As soon as I get into an academy, you two can move in with me.”

Faham turned serious. “Yes.”

“This is all on me now. No more fake promises. All I need to do is enroll and you can finally move on.”

Faham smiled, eyeing his plate. “Yeah.”

Allie pursed her lips, her arms folded. 

Raz looked from one sib to another. She felt like they had just communicated something in secret.

“Have you looked at schools yet?”

“Not with my phone I haven’t.”

Faham pulled out his. It was an older Earth model forked into arcnet with a makeshift antenna. “What about aspects?”

“Not yet either. Too busy playing around.”

“Do you maybe want me to help? I’m… you probably know more about resonance, but I’ve read up on some stuff at this magic theory message board. It’s of course not as actual classes in Oor, but–”

Raz took Faham’s hand. “I would love it. Figuring magic out with my little bro sounds like the best thing ever.”

The evening and much of the night was spent in Faham’s room. Though Raz had agreed mostly to make him happy, Faham probably saved her a couple days of research. She liked to scroll her phone but mostly arctube. He apparently lived on the message boards, to the point he was a bit coy to admit his daily screen time.

“Around twelve hours,” said Allie.

“Traitor!” Faham stared at her, aghast. “Allie, how could you? Raz didn’t have to know!”

“She’d have found out.”

Faham grabbed Allie but couldn’t even shake the big plant sister. “Traitor. I will remember this! I’ll tell her about your knife fights.”

“Whatevs.”

“You’ve been in fights?!”

Allie lifted her shirt to show off scars. “Neat, right?” 

A cluster of reddish stab-marks decorated her pale-white skin. Raz stared at them, absolutely mortified.

“She almost killed the other guy.”

Raz turned to Faham, face blank with horror. “Bwhah?”

“Got him good,” said Allie smugly.

“Oh gosh, oh my god, I’m getting you two out of here. Are you okay? Are you safe? Why didn’t you say anything?”

Faham shrugged, averting his eyes.

“Basic New Europe Tuesday,” said Allie.

“So, about your options. I think, if Joram can support you a bit and/or you find a stipend, the–”

“And you’re fine?” Raz asked Allie. “Did you get a healer?”

“Nah.”

Raz covered her mouth.

“Healed on my own. No problem.”

Raz buried her face in her hands and told herself that Allie must’ve known this beforehand and had not been in any danger at any point.

“Neat huh? Never knew I could regen.”

Raz made the decision to guard her own mental health by ignoring Allie for the night. “Sorry Faham, what was that about the mid-class academies?”

“I think, depending on what aspect you settle on, you could consider Astra Logia, Magogrioum Publidva, or the Open Archives, too. They don’t have big fees. And phone wizards and other Earth aspects are all the hype currently. There’s many scholarship programs and private funds dedicated to Earth aspects. Even some private sponsors, though I hear their terms may be a bit sketchy sometimes.”

“Yeah, no private sponsors. That’s all Magogram shit. The clans, not the gov. Don’t wanna get involved.”

“Cut off a toe as a test. It regrew in a week.”

Raz threw Faham’s pillow at Allie’s face and cursed her into eternal suffering in Un. After wrestling and punching with the idiot. She rolled her in a blanket and stuffed her under the bed, then returned to Faham.

“Out of the free ones, Open Archive’s free floors, the HBW academy, WACA, and your friend’s place are probably the best. Capi’s ranks best on all official charts. WACA is dead last, but it has a rep in some circles.”

Allie cackled in the background.

“I know. Capi partied with WACA students. Apparently the place is known for being the place for anyone who wants to spend a couple years just having fun.”

Faham shook his head. “There’s more. Stuff that doesn’t get said in public.”

“Ooo. Mysterious.”

He nodded. 

“Okay, do tell.”

“The poster deleted this fast. A basic safety precaution on the ontology board.” 

Faham showed her a text file on his computer. It had the names of the biggest twenty wizard academies in Oor with numbers next to them. Most were in single digits or low double digits, while the top three were up to triple digits. Two of them also had an extra number in parenthesis. Tower Magogram was top at ‘242 (1)’, WACA was second at ‘226 (1)’, and private apprenticeships third at 109.

“The first number is how many last eleven year’s new archowiz tier wizards attended which academy. It might be a bit off, the person admitted they didn’t have all the data. But it’s the best guess we’ve got.”

“Interesting.” Raz leaned in, checking the list. “How is WACA so high? People go there to drink and party their early twenties, or thirties sometimes. So how? I’ve never heard this.”

“Very mysterious,” said Faham, smiling. “And the second number? That’s the number of confirmed Beyonders.”

A deep chill in Raz’s spine froze her.

“Yeah,” said Faham, nodding. “I know.”

Raz swallowed. She could still remember the voice on the last day. Everyone did. You could not forget it like you could not forget the sun. She let out a shuddering breath, licking her lips.

Faham stared at her, a gleam in his eyes. “There’s only two places in all of Oor that make such wizards.”

“Yeah.” Raz’s expression melted into a smile that she hoped wasn’t too awkward. “I haven’t decided where to go exactly, yet. Or what I really want. Gotta settle on my core aspect first.” 

“Right, yes of course! Core aspect. Let’s figure that out first!”

Though they should’ve headed to bed, she and Faham started compiling a list. 

The morning wake up was pain. But it was pain with sibs, which made it a-okay.