There was no green and black smoke, no scorched footprints on the grass, but I jumped violently the first time it happened, my heart in my throat. I calmed down when no one else seemed bothered. I watched the next one vanish.
Then the next.
Then the next.
When it was my turn, the old man blinked briefly into my face. He looked at me as if he knew who I was. Or, more realistically, like he recognized me from the papers. The purple-robed mage then solemnly raised his hand. He said the same thing to me that he’d said to every other student who’d stood in line before me.
“I formally invite you, Leda Rose Shadow-La Fey, to the city of Bonescastle and to Malcroix Bones Academy,” he intoned solemnly.
Really, he boomed the words, like he might be hard of hearing.
“Welcome, good tidings to you, and best of luck in all your endeavors. May you do your ancestors proud by contributing all you’re able to the civilization of Magique!”
There was a flash the instant he finished speaking.
A world exploded into being around me.
I steadied myself on a cobblestone walk.
A view of colorful storefronts lined a street to my left. More buildings and awnings lined a street at a slightly lower elevation to my right. I stood in a sloped garden square that took up several blocks, filled with graceful statues, fountains, and vast flower beds with unusual and colorful blooms. The garden itself was more of a rectangle than a square, stretching maybe six blocks on its longest sides, and three or four on the ends.
The steepest slopes lived at the narrowest parts, however.
We were obviously standing on the side of a hill.
The purple-robed mage and I stood by an enormous fountain filled with monoceri carved from massive slabs of black marble. The stone horses leapt and reared under a deluge of deafening water, surrounded by water sprites and dragons. The pounding of the water and the laughter and talking of nearby Magicals explained why the man had spoken so loudly. The fountain was enormous, larger than the carriage.
I glanced down the hill.
Oddly, I could still see our carriage with its own snorting and stamping monoceri, but now they appeared to be stopped at a stone curb right by the city park.
I couldn’t see any of the individual Magicals who’d been standing in line behind me, including Draken or Miranda.
The purple-robed man raised his hand, his eyes distant.
Realizing that the next person in line likely stood directly in front of him, I hastily stepped to my left to give them room, and nearly stumbled into the huge fountain. I watched as the purple-robed mage said the words again, only with a different name.
Miranda popped into existence in front of him.
She took one look at me, and immediately laughed.
We both stepped back a few paces and waited for Draken to appear next, which he did roughly a minute later. The three of us then walked away from the fountain, far enough that the sound of crashing water grew less deafening.
“Where should we go first?” Miranda asked, still speaking loudly over the bustling square. “I’m dying for a cup of coffee. Any objections?”
“No,” I said, although my eyes never stopped looking around at the city streets.
I glimpsed an oddly-shaped steeple over the nearer rooftops, and a silver dome to some larger structure a little further back. Five, significantly larger streets led away from the park like spokes, along with three smaller ones to the north and south, and numerous alleys.
Looking down the widest of those avenues, the same one where the monoceri and their caravan remained parked, I glimpsed a row of shopfronts, umbrellas with outdoor seating, hanging signs, glowing marquees, trees and flowers in planter boxes, what looked like elevated ponds, and even a few cars and smaller carriages.
Much closer to where we stood, just on the other side of a bed of purple and pink blossoms, hand-painted signs advertised coffee, used magical texts, ritual accessories, magical botanicals, secondhand wings, cakes, antique furniture, crystals, oracle stones, clothing, enchanted carpets, potted plants, and magical pets.
I watched as two kids set off fireworks over their heads, causing a small, dragon-like animal with wings to swoop in and out of the colored lights. A group of older, post-university-aged Magicals stood just outside the used bookstore, one holding what looked like a set of wings under their arm while chatting with a witch who nodded seriously, her arms loaded with leather-bound textbooks.
Gazing around at all of it, probably with an idiotic grin on my face, I thought…this.This was why I desperately wanted Archie with me here, rather than the reverse. For the first time since I’d left my parents’ small beach house in California, I stood in a place that felt like home. I’d wanted to go to university for as long as I could remember, but this was so much more than that. This felt like mine.
Like I belonged here… whatever the other Magicals might say.
