They, however, did not get their wish, the week seemed slow and boring, and they were doing a lot of things out of books right now for most classes. The only bright spot was potions, they now created their own potions, or at least started to duplicate the ones in the textbook, and they learned how to make some of the more interesting ones.
Deen and Katy also enjoyed languages they were being taught French, German, Latin, and Portuguese this term. It was rare nowadays to see them speaking anything but a different language, though they did switch to English for classes, mostly because it was required.
Finally, the weekend arrived, and they went out to the Eleball field with their brooms. Katy and Deen had got up at 3:30 each morning to practice more with their flying, and thought they were rather good. When they got to the field, they found the other boys from their year already there.
“Katy! Deen! Over here!” Randall yelled, and waved them over.
They walked over and started to talk about how cool this was, though they knew they wouldn’t make the team, mostly because the fact there were few spots open, but they had to try each year so they could improve to make it on the team in their fifth year maybe. The team was to try out everybody for every spot, each having to earn their spot back this year, but for the captain who was a ninth year.
“Welcome, my name is Garret Byrd. If chosen for the team, I will be your captain. I will start with having you break up into groups, by year is fine.”
Garret started with the tenth and ninth years, there were only three that got a maybe and would move on to the second trials. It seemed forever before he got to the first years, and by then he had fifteen people that he had chosen to go to the second round, most last year’s team.
“Alright first years,” he said with a knowing grin. “Your turn, well up on you go, please fly around a few times then I will bring the ball out.”
Katy and Deen kicked up and flew faster than any of the others. Katy always felt free in the air, like nothing could touch her, like this is where she was meant to be. She never mentioned that to anybody, just wrote it in the secrets of her diary, she had started keeping one when Sandra bought her one when they went shopping before first term. She did not mention it, because she knew her father was an Air, her brother was an Air, and a whole side of her family was Air Elementals.
She and Deen flew circles around each other, speed toward the ground, then at the last second pulled up. It had little to do with their brooms, and a lot to do with the fact they practiced since the first time they got on a broom. Katy was always a bit ahead of Deen but, they were almost equal, the only difference being their brooms. Soon Garret threw the Eleball up and sent the tenth and ninth years up to block the first years.
Katy and Deen who had practiced on their own, with extra spells only got the ball taken from them once, and they each score about five times against the older students. They put into play a couple of plays they made up when they played each other in the mornings, they worked but only barely. They knew that even though they may not make the team this year they flew better than some of the older students. Deen’s brother, Jerome, did not even make it to second rounds, which made Deen incredibly happy, he was better than his brother in something. Though Deen knew, Jerome’s heart was not in Eleball. It was in medicine and alchemy.
“Alright back down you guys.” Garret called, and they all landed around him. “Better than I thought for first years, well, Katy and Deen, I am moving you to the second round. Back up in the air both of you. To the rest of you better luck next year.”
Katy and Deen stared at each other then flew back up. The tryouts lasted until around seven that night, and in the end, Katy and Deen were placed on back up for the team. This was good when one considered the team could only have three back up players plus the eleven main players on the team, Katy and Deen could not be happier and were the talk of the first years.
“Wow! I can’t believe it you guys made the team!” Rory said as they had a late supper.
“Well, they were really good, way better than us, way better than a lot of the older students. Must be in their blood. Your parents play?” Randall cut in.
“My dad did, my mom didn’t, and my brother doesn’t. He didn’t even make it past the first round!” Deen was so happy he was doing something his brother didn’t do and was better at something then his older perfect brother. Katy always had to listen to his complaints about him.
“I don’t know. I don’t know anything about my parents.” Katy said and grabbed some strawberries. “But just think if we made back up this year, with all the practice we might be on the main team next year.” Katy wanted the conversation back on the sport and way from her parents. The others did not seem to know who Katy’s father was and she was hoped to keep it that way, for as long as possible.
Before anybody could speak Antonio walked up. “Congratulations, Katy and Deen. Garret just told me the news. You guys are the youngest in a while to be chosen for the team, now practice is every weekend if you expect to improve your game, I wouldn’t miss them.” He gave them a smile and walked away.
Katy leaned over to Deen and whispered, “you don’t think he knows we are planning to test out the invisibility spell do you?”
“Nah, how could he? You didn’t tell him?”
“Nope, but he has been stopping by the table with a knowing look all week.”
“Maybe we should wait a little bit to test it out though we don’t want to mess up and miss any practices. I mean we are first years on the Eleball team! That hasn’t happened in a couple decades! It happens that way because our laws state no underage flying, meaning nobody under eleven, until after their first year.”
“Yeah, you are right. We might want to learn some more defensive spells though I will check out the library after dinner.”
“Good idea, I will come with you, and then I am going to send a letter to my parents and let them know we made the team. That is so cool!”
They finished their meal in silence and then they went up to the library and spent most of the night in there, until they were kicked out at 11:30PM.
“Brilliant, we have practice tomorrow at ten in the morning, and we have so much homework to start! We are going to be so busy now with practices from ten to four every Saturday and then four to seven in the morning on Sunday. Fridays, we don’t have to practice because other houses have to practice as well, so Friday will be full of homework and practice for classes. Brilliant, that sucks.”
“Deen, we just have to work a little harder, it is not so bad, and look we are going to get to practice the invisibility spell soon.” Katy said with a smile as she headed for her own dorm to get some sleep.
The weeks that followed passed quickly, with a lot of practice, and a lot of homework. During the first week of May Katy participated in her first Beltane celebration, there was a great bonfire and a lot of dancing. Katy had the best time. But after that classes started to get harder, so it was a while before either Deen or Katy remembered the invisibility spell they were going to try. They had learned a lot in the last few weeks more than any first year. It was the last week before term was to end, as they sat in their morning history class that Deen remember.
“Hey Katy!” Deen said as he waved a hand and cast the Celo spell.
“Deen, pay attention it is almost time for our end of term exam, we are reviewing today, and the test is going to be on Thursday.” Katy said with a hiss and turned back to the professor.
“Katy, you know all this. Katy, we never got to do the invisibility spell and we are going to Egypt soon, we should try it out before we leave for our first expedition!”
“Fine, we will try it after classes today. Now please try to pay attention, tomorrow going to be a long day of finals.” Katy said as she scribbled down some more of the review notes the professor had been talking about.
The other classes were terribly similar, they reviewed for the finals, participated in last minute cram sessions during breaks, and then when classes ended, all the first years, but Katy and Deen went to the library.
“Katy, I can’t believe we are going to try this!” Deen said; he was insanely excited.
“We should be studying and our first Eleball game is Friday, then on Saturday we are leaving for Egypt.” Katy sighed; she knew she would lose this fight.
“Yeah, yeah, let’s try it out!”
“Just a second, just want to double check one more thing.” Katy said as she reached for her book; she read the paragraph she had looked for:
Remember that invisibility spells are extremely difficult and should only be tried after being properly taught…
Katy ignored that and continued down the paragraph.
When trying the spell on a human make sure the person is completely still, the slightest movement can have horrible consequences.
“See this Deen? Hold still!” Katy said then waved her wand. “Absconditus!” She said and Deen disappeared, Katy looked back in the book.
When performing on self; hold wand above head and hold still, do the spell just as you would any nonverbally preformed spell.
Katy held her wand above her head and thought with all her might the spell. It worked she disappeared; she knew because Deen yelled.
“Katy! You did it, you really did it!”
“Shh… Now, I have a potion that will allow us to see each other, I have tested it on myself, I figured out a potion to see what is invisible. I couldn’t find one in library, so I ordered some potion books from the bookstore. I found the answer to make one in a book on pranks. It is simple, but only lasts an hour; I don’t think we will need more than that. Hold out your hand.” Katy grabbed two small bottles she had hidden in her desk drawer and drank one. At once she saw Deen, so she handed him the vial. “Here drink it.”
“Did you drink one?” He asked as he downed it and handed her back the bottle.
“Yep. Now be quiet, I have figured out what we should do. We are going to sneak into the Air dorm.”
“Katy, you read the note! You heard what the others said it is not safe to seek out Riley!”
“I am not, I just want to see him, hear him, I want to see if I can find proof he is or is not behind this, there have been no incidents now but what happens if something happens on our last day like last time. I want answers and I know you do too!” Katy said as she headed toward the door.
“How would we even get into the Air dorm? Would it even be possible? It is not like either one of us have a hawthorn wand to try.”
“The other Airs should be coming back now; we can sneak in with them. Celo!”
“Katy, that is only a limited spell.”
“No, it isn’t, if you do it on a room then nobody who enters the room can hear us. We will just have to whisper it when we get into the Air dorms.”
“Katy, please, not now, maybe next term, right now all they will be talking about is studying anyways!”
Katy stood and looked at Deen for a moment and read all the fear he had of getting caught before his first Eleball game, of them getting hurt if Riley was behind everything. So, Katy gave in. “Fine, let’s just walk around the main building.” Katy said as she pulled open the door, a little disappointed, but mostly because Katy knew Deen was right.
They walked around the main building and went and stayed in the library, until about one in the morning then headed off back towards bed, as they had finals tomorrow.
The next couple days passed without any issues, they took their tests, and waited for the results, which Deen and Katy agreed they would not open until after the Eleball game on Friday, which was against Air. They celebrated as a school an early Litha with a great feast, dancing, singing, and listening to stories from the past.
And soon it was the Friday, and end of the term, Deen and Katy got dressed in their new Eleball uniforms they had ordered after they made the team, one berry they cost, but it was worth it. They each were assigned a number Deen’s was fifty-five and Katy’s was fifty-eight. They walked down to the main part of the dorm and met the rest of the team, the other back up player was Jack Drachma, he was tall and muscular, he was a fifth year, he had shoulder length curly black hair that was slicked back into a pony tail.
Katy walked over and said hello as she pulled her own long hair into a tight secure bun and placed a holding spell on it. “Hello, I am Katy, and this is Deen.” Katy said as she pointed to Deen, she took her broom from Deen at the same time.
“Hello. I saw you two fly you are pretty good; chances are one of you will end up captain when you are older, that is kind of cool. I haven’t seen many people able to fly like that. Are you two thinking about being Pro Eleballers?
“Nah, I want to be a Guardian, Katy too.” Deen said, as he shook Jack’s hand.
“Cool, me too, the only subject I have troubles in is Symbols, but I am dropping that after this year. I really don’t see the big deal, but my mom says I might find them useful later in life. She is a symbologist. Kind of hard not to take Symbols, my dad is wand maker, just like his mom Jo. Jo’s is my grandmother’s place,” Jack said proudly.
“That is cool!” Katy said, and wondered how someone had made the wand she cherished so much; she made a note to buy or check out a book on wand making, since she did not take the class.
“Yeah, my older sister is all about wands, she is going to follow Grandma Jo’s and our dad’s footsteps, me? I always thought Guardians were cool, my Grandpa Aodhfin was a Guardian. He died during one of our wars; it was about five hundred years ago. My dad waited to start his family; my mom is only forty!”
Katy was fascinated by all this, but Deen seemed to find it all quite boring. Katy wanted the conversation to continue but Garret called them to attention.
“Okay team, we are going to go out and try to win this game! We have six quarters, twenty minutes each, and I want us to score as much as possible while not allowing the Airs to score once! Now, I know we are a new team, but we can beat them. The Airs only have one rookie, and that is Riley Solomon. I want you all to avoid him! He may have some dark spells up his sleeve, which is probably how he got on the team. Now, we have Katy with a Hawk, I might play her a bit, as she has a broom that can outrun the Apuses on the other team. We will see how it goes. Now go team!” With that they left the dorm and went to the field.
“Wow, you might get to play that is so cool!” Deen said.
“Might not either, but that is okay we are on the team.” Katy said, she was worried that she might have to play, she is good and all during practice, well more than good, but she does not know some of the spells the older kids know. Deen and Katy knew a lot, but they are still a few spells behind. And the others seem to have minor controls over other elements. Katy and Deen haven’t done anything big in Elements, made a little water, made some dirt hum, make a couple flashes of light, but nothing big, not like Garret, he had almost as much control over Water as he did Fire.
“Don’t worry Katy, you will be okay! We will watch for the most part, you heard Garret he would play you to outrun the others.” Deen said as they sat on their bench on the field and watched their eleven teammates take position.
They watched as the Airs took the field as well, they were all on Apuses and all seemed so much bigger than some of their Fire teammates.
The match started off great Fire took the lead 25-17; they were in the last minutes of the fifth quarter when everything went wrong. Garret had the ball and was going toward the goal, when a yellow flash of light hit him dead in the chest. At the same time two more flashes of light hit Isabella, who was his lieutenant, she was hit in the face with a flash of yellow, and so was their third in command, Scorpio. Derrick Howe, a seventh year, called a time out, as he was the next senior player, as Nurse Rice checked on their three leaders, he started to give orders.
“Look, we are totally up you know which creek without a paddle. Katy, Deen, and Jake you are all going to go in. The goal is just get the ball and dodge the spells. Katy, if you can use that broom as an advantage and push it.”
Katy, Deen, and Jake all flew up in the air. Nurse Rice let everyone know that the students would be okay, but unable to continue to play in the game. Professor Dominick Edwards called the game back to order.
Katy, Deen, and Jake held their own against the Airs; Deen even scored a shot and they went into the last quarter still ahead 29-23. Things were going well; they had prevented the Airs from scoring again. Katy had the ball, with seconds left on the clock, when the attack came.
Riley flew in front of her and started to use his Air power to create a vortex around Katy. She held on to the ball, but she could not breathe, she stopped in midair held into the vortex. Then it happened, it was not a conscious act, but a powerful response none the less.
Katy does not know how she did it, and if anybody asked her to repeat it she did not know if she could, but all of a sudden the Earth began to rumble, a mountain shot into the air and blocked Riley’s view of her, the mountain opened into a volcano and let out a cloud of ash. The ash did not go to Riley’s vortex, but into one that Katy had created around Riley. Katy took a moment to catch her breath, and then rushed forward; she dropped her vortex as she went, so Riley would not be seriously hurt. She scored and the time ran out. Fire had won 32-23. Katy dropped down to the ground, and the volcano she had created retreated into the earth with each foot she dropped, connected to her adrenaline rush, and as her body started to crash, t retreated.
“Brilliant Katy how did you do that?” Deen asked as he rushed over to her.
“I don’t know, all I know was I couldn’t breathe, and then I thought of my mother, and tried to think of a Fire spell I knew to stop the vortex, but couldn’t think of one. The next thing I know I am forcing my own vortex around Riley, and took a moment then shot forward.” By this time, the rest of the team had come over to make sure she was fine and to congratulate her, they heard most of the explanation.
“Who cares how she did it, as long as she did it!” Derrick said, “It would be nice if you figured it out though, we could use that power. And Riley deserved it, he knew Air had lost, and still attacked her. And with a vortex! A VORTEX! With some bad intentions.”
“Yep, Katy showed him though, with her own vortex.” Deen said as they started back up to the main building, they planned to go get some dinner. By the time they reached the main doors the rest of the Fire house was with them they all talked about the game, especially Katy’s last-minute defensive move. Katy had just sat down when Antonio came over.
“Katy, can I speak with you for a moment please?”
Katy got up and walked with him to an empty classroom. “Have I done something wrong professor?”
“No, no, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. That was an exceedingly strong vortex that Riley had you trapped in. How long have you been able to control the other elements?”
“I am fine, that is the first real bit of power I have shown of the other Elements, in class, I show a promise, but never have I done more then make some dirt hum or make a few ounces of water. I don’t know how I did that Professor. I promise you, I haven’t been trying to do it either; I have been working on spells and things like that, but not the other Elements.” Katy said as she sat down in an empty chair, she was emotionally, mentally, and mostly physically exhausted.
“I always figured you would have some hidden Earth and Air powers, after all, your mother was Earth, and your father Air. But to see that, a lot of Fires can’t tap into a power like that. Heck, a lot of Earth people can’t make a volcano pop up that large that fast, and then retreat as yours did. Katy, I think maybe we should talk to your Elements professor and see about getting you some extra lessons to control that. It seems that you have the power, but it is only going to pop up when you are scared or in danger. And that is just as dangerous as someone who abuses their powers.”
“But sir, we are learning about the Elements in class. If they are only popping up when I am in trouble, how will I learn to control them?”
“I really think we should talk to your Elements professor, and get you some extra training, maybe on Sundays. Look, Katy Lily, this is not a punishment. You come from two extremely powerful lines. And we were wondering how it would manifest with you being a primary Fire. Extra is good.”
“Scorpio has just as much power over Earth that he does Fire, maybe he can help me during our Eleball practices instead?” Katy said she really did not want to give up her Sundays for more classes.
“We can try that, but you also did an Air vortex.”
“We are learning Air next term; maybe we can wait and see how I do in class first?”
“Why don’t you want to take the extra classes? You go ahead on your own all the time; I thought you would jump at this.”
“I don’t know, I just don’t want to give up time on Sundays.” Katy said, she knew she only told a half-truth. She did not really know why she did not want to take the extra classes but she did not, all she knew Sundays were the days she tried out some new spells with Deen.
“Hmm…” Antonio started. “Fine, we will see what happens next term but if at your next Eleball game you do something advanced like that again, we are setting up extra classes starting at eight in the morning for at least an hour every Sunday, if you don’t learn to control it.” Antonio stated, then said, “okay let’s get you back to dinner.”
Katy got up and followed him back to the dining hall and then sat back down next to Deen.
“What was that about?” Deen asked as he went and grabbed another helping of mashed potatoes.
Katy cast the Celos spell and told Deen what the conversation had been about, and how she felt about taking extra lessons.
“Well maybe you should, I mean I have never seen a lot of people do what you did only maybe tenth years and a couple of eighth and ninth years do stuff like that!” Deen said.
“I don’t know, something is telling me not to, I don’t know how I did that, and I don’t think I can do it again, but I am going to try harder in Elements.”
“You try harder? Katy, you work more than the rest of us now. How are you going to try harder? Hey, we got our grades; I opened them no P’s this semester for me, all G’s almost and an S in history and symbols and an E in Languages.” Deen said as he handed Katy her open envelope. “You got all E’s of course.”
Katy did not say anything, she really didn’t care at the moment part of her wished instead of going on their expedition to Egypt she could go back to the MacCathmhaoil’s. All people seemed to be able to talk about is their win against Air, and Katy’s volcano. She kind of did not want that on this trip.
“Soon we will be in Egypt, the plane leaves tomorrow. Just me and you from the first years, there are a couple second years, and of course a couple of professors and my dad. Brilliant, we are going to have to be on our best behavior. I mean my dad is strict, ridiculously so at times. I don’t think he will like us using the invisibility spell and sneaking around.” Deen said his face dropped at that thought.
“Well, we will just have to be careful, there is no way I am going to miss anything.” Katy said determined to enjoy herself. She was not going to let the Eleball game or the fact that Antonio thought she was dangerous bother her. She was powerful; she would control that power, without extra help. She would do what she wanted and when she wanted. And right now, she was going make sure she had the best time in Egypt and she was determined to find a lot of interesting artifacts.
Kris Charles - Author 