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The next afternoon, I had a Basics of Spellcraft lesson with Ms Maltere and was a little relieved that neither Natalie nor Willow were in the class.
Not that I didn’t want to see Willow, but I worried about things being awkward with Natalie. Or that Willow might have decided that everything I felt for her really was an effect of her Elven beauty.
Natalie had been fine with me, but we also hadn’t really spoken alone. Just at breakfast, break and lunch, when Charlotte and Lena were there to act as buffers.
And they had been doing such a good job of it, I did wonder if they knew just how much it was required.
I sat at the front of the class by myself, deciding to focus on my work, rather than this complicated mess I had found myself in.
Thankfully, Ms Maltere didn’t waste any time getting into the lesson once we’d all arrived.
“Good afternoon, everyone. Today, we’re going to be going over another of the basic, stock spells that every Witch should know. The glamour spell. Now, pay attention and I shall show you how it’s done.”
She turned to her desk and made a zig-zag pattern with her wand over the lamp as she said, “Ciathlo.”
The once red lamp turned blue before our eyes.
She turned to the rest of us. “The spell is always the same, but how you change the object depends on what you’re picturing. And the picturing is the difficult part. You need to hold the image clearly in your mind’s eye, and you need to maintain your concentration. Otherwise...”
The lamp turned back to red.
“Now, if you all take an object from your bag, I want you to try the spell. Just do a simple change like the one I demonstrated.”
I took a black gel pen from my bag and placed it on the table in front of me before imagining a red biro as I cast the spell.
A moment later, a red biro was sitting in front of me.
“Now, Amelia, I did say a simple change.”
The pen turned back as I jerked my head up to see Ms Maltere approaching with a smile.
“That wasn’t simple?”
“Changing it to a red gel pen would have been simple. This was a little more complex. But don’t worry, I’m not going to tell you off for doing better than I asked. Not as long as you managed it, at least. Perhaps I should give you a more complicated task...”
She frowned as she looked over my wand. “I take it that’s a hand-me-down?”
I nodded.
“Yes, as much as I think you could handle casting something more complex, I am worried about you trying with a wand that you didn’t build yourself. You need a deeper connection to it to access your powers to their fullest extent.”
“So, how do I build one?”
“Well, normally your Coven Head would help you. Or a family member, if you didn’t join a coven. Here, there’s a class to help you, but it would be with the younger children.”
My knuckles turned white as I gripped my wand tighter.
“Yes,” Ms Maltere said, obviously picking up on my distaste for the idea, “I doubt I would enjoy it, in your shoes. But how about we make building you a new wand the focus of our lesson tonight?”
I frowned. “But what about going through the curses in the book?”
“Well, even if I teach you how to lift powerful curses, you’re not going to be able to do it without a wand of your own. And once you have one, I’ll be able to show you how to tap into your powers as an Angelborn to their fullest extent. Which, yes, involves lifting curses.”
I smiled, glad that I wasn’t sitting near anyone else, so it was safe for us to talk about such things. “Then yes, I would be glad to.”
“Though as much as you like the idea of curses, I think we should also look at illusion magic. You might have a knack for it. For now, try casting the glamour on yourself to change your appearance. With that wand, you’ll probably only manage minor changes, but in time, you’ll be able to use the spell to turn yourself invisible. Even to other magical beings.
“And keep an eye out for other glamours. I doubt that you’ll find many at the school, but you never know, and making an effort to seek them out – and even to see through them if you can – will help you to gain a better understanding of them.
“Now, let’s see if you can change your hair colour.”