Mel stood behind Austin’s mansion in a secluded garden, looking up at the metal spires of the building. A shiver ran down her spine and she turned her back to it. The garden was mostly full of bushes and grass, but here and there a flower peeked through like a precious guest.

In front of her there was a dummy, built with cloth and hay. Mel didn’t know where they had gotten the hay from, since horses couldn’t get to Aldrion. But she guessed there must be cows or something roaming at the edges of the city. She just had never encountered any.

Austin stepped out from the mansion, his hands full of black cases. Mel knew by now that they held magical items. She licked her lips, suddenly excited about today. Austin placed them down on the grass a short distance from Mel and then paced the garden for a while. Eventually, he came to a stop and scratched the back of his head.

His gaze landed on Mel and a soft blush spread over his cheeks. “So, where is Gabriella? Didn’t you bring her?”

“No, she said she needed to do something back at Falden and would catch up with me here. But that was a while ago.”

Mel scraped her boot against the soft grass and looked down at the ground. She felt the air growing tense around them and a part of her wanted Gabs to arrive soon. While the other part of her wanted more alone time with Austin.

“Have you started yet?” Gabs asked.

She came out from the side of the house, clearly having snuck in and around the building. Behind her, Clara and Brandon walked close together and Mel’s eyes shot up to Austin’s. He met her gaze, and they shared a look of confusion.

“You’re not alone?” Mel asked. “I told you this wasn’t for all the nobles at Falden.”

Mel looked around the three of them anxiously, waiting for Flavio to pop out his nasty head around a hedge at any moment.

“I know what we said,” Gabs said. “But I also know this mission will be difficult as it is, and I thought we could use any help we could get. Clara and Brandon have agreed to come with us tomorrow, out into the wastes.”

“You told them about our plan?” Mel asked. “You know what can happen if they tell anyone about this?”

Brandon lifted his hands up in front of his chest. “Hey, hey, I won’t tell anyone. Clara won’t either.”

“What about Flavio then?” Mel asked.

Brandon and Clara shared a look. “We thought it was better if we didn’t let him in on this. Flavio can be really annoying sometimes. We don’t all agree with his petty behavior toward you, Melissa.”

Mel relaxed her hands back to her sides and puffed out air from her lungs. She felt fury rushing through her, but more than anything, she was afraid of the possibility of getting caught.

“Look,” Austin said, dragging a hand over his face. “It’s not okay that you do this without consulting the rest of the group, Gabriella. But what is done is done. If Clara and Brandon want to risk their lives out in the wastes with us and a bunch of shadows and beasts, sure, be my guests. But if this is just a way of gathering intel on us and reporting it to the governor, you already have enough information, so then I’ll ask you to just get it over with. Okay?”

Clara and Brandon shared another glance, this time one that looked similar to fear.

“Did Gabs not tell you we were going into the wastes?” Mel asked.

“No, no, she did,” Clara said. “She just didn’t mention anything about fighting shadows and beasts. I don’t know if I’m ready for that. I’ve never even used a magical weapon before.”

Gabs looked at the hedge to her side, seeming to not want to meet Mel’s eyes anymore.

“Okay,” Mel said. “Well, I’ll be honest. We could use your help, but I won’t force you to go out there with us. If you still want to join the mission, Austin will teach you today how to use a magical weapon. But it will be dangerous out there. There are no guarantees and the land is harsh in the wastes. If you decide to join us, I need you to promise to not give up halfway to the ruins of Bahlan.”

“I promise,” Clara said.

Brandon took a little more time, looking at the dummy next to Mel and watching Austin pacing the lawn. He finally took in a deep breath, his entire chest heaving, and then released it in a rush.

“I promise too, but you better teach me some magic in return.”

He gave Austin a wide smile and Mel could practically see Austin’s eyes rolling back into his head. She let out a low chuckle, feeling the tension releasing from her shoulders. Gabs caught Mel’s gaze for the first time since she’d arrived, and her eyes were hesitant. Mel gave her a small nod, but felt like she really needed to talk to Gabs about this after practice was done.

Austin bent down and opened a few of the black cases on the ground. He picked out a long staff and handed it to Gabs. “This one is a large fire weapon. It should be easy to use.”

He brought out a short sword and weighed it in his hands. Brandon was standing next to him, peering down at it, and his hand reached out to touch the sword. Austin pulled it away, meeting Brandon’s gaze.

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“Be careful with it,” he said. “This is also a fire imbue, but smaller than Gabriella’s.”

Austin handed Brandon the weapon and, to Mel’s surprise, Brandon seemed to listen to Austin’s advice. He watched Austin with full eyes, and Mel thought she could see a glimpse of respect in his expression.

“What are you going to use, Melissa?” Austin asked, half turning to her.

Mel reached down into the lining of her pants and brought up her dagger that was wrapped in cloth. She unwrapped it in her hands and unsheathed the weapon. The garden quieted and the only sound that could be heard were the birds up among the spires of Austin’s mansion.

“Are you sure?” Austin asked. “I can’t teach you how to use that thing.”

“I need to figure it out sometime,” Mel said. “If I can’t today, I will choose something else.”

He muttered something Mel couldn’t hear and turned back to another one of the black cases. Then he brought up another short sword, but this one was different from the one Brandon had gotten. Its note was different. Mel could hear that.

Austin handed it over to Clara. “You will have to use a water imbue. I don’t have any more fire ones. But I will also use a water imbue, so maybe you can just practice on dousing things that Brandon accidentally put on fire.”

Clara took the weapon and nodded to Austin.

“Hey,” Brandon said, looking slightly hurt by Austin’s comment.

Austin ignored it and brought up the last sword after that, a long sword that he took for himself. He stood up and turned to the group of pupils he had received today. Austin let out a long sigh and looked at his sword for a moment.

“Okay, so I expect all of you to know at least how to make your weapon glow, right?” Austin asked.

The group stood quietly, watching him intently.

“Make your weapon glow,” he said, this time a command, not a question.

The group did as he said and focused on their weapons. Mel got hers to glow right away. This was the easy part. She could hear the sound of the dagger and just matched it. The other students took a little more time, but eventually, all of their weapons glowed as well. Clara lifted her gaze and saw Mel’s dagger glowing orange. She nudged Brandon in the side and both their swords flickered out.

They watched Mel with mouths gaping open. “What is that?” Clara asked.

Mel swallowed hard and fought against her desire to lie to them. But if they were going to risk their lives out in the wastes with her, she needed to be honest with them about why they were going out there in the first place.

“This is a double imbue,” Mel said. “Fire and earth mixed into one item. It was handed down generations from one of my ancestors who came from the wastes. From the ruins of Bahlan, I think. That’s part of why we’re going out there tomorrow. To search for the truth and maybe find out how to make more double imbues.”

“But… that’s impossible,” Clara said.

“Yes,” Austin said. “It's impossible. But apparently it's true. At least we shall see today if it is and if Melissa can use it.”

Mel swallowed again, feeling like the pressure was coming down on her hard. She hadn't thought the seriousness would start until tomorrow. But now she felt like she needed to prove to all of them that this was, in fact, a double imbue.

“Okay, let’s move on to the next part,” Austin said, breaking the tense silence. “To cast magic with your weapon, you have to know what it can do. For me and Clara, one thing that both our weapons can do is create water. A beginning technique is to imagine splashing the dummy over there with a bit of water. I can show you first.”

Austin took a step toward the dummy, and Mel moved out of the way. He connected to his sword, and it glowed a soft blue in the daylight. Austin made a cutting motion in the air in front of him and his eyes focused on the dummy. Out from the sword, water leaped and splashed the dummy.

“Wow, that was really cool,” Clara said.

Austin brought his sword back to his side and stood up straight. He turned back to the small group that was watching him.

“It’s rather easy when you get a hang of things,” he said. “I usually add a cutting motion to the splash. It helps visualize the movement of the water. But really you don’t need it. It’s your imagination that is the limit and, of course, the quality of the imbue.”

“Is there water that’s trapped in the sword?” Gabs asked. “Or how does it work?”

She observed her own short sword and turned it in her hands.

Austin shook his head. “No, the water is actually taken from the air in this case. It can be taken from any source of water, really.” He scratched the back of his head. “I’m not sure, but I think in certain places, if the air is too dry and there is no water, perhaps the magic will be weaker. But I’m not sure. I haven’t used magic anywhere else than in Aldrion.”

Clara walked up to Austin, and he stepped to the side, letting her get a clear view of the dummy. “So, I just visualize the water splashing out from the sword and onto the dummy, right?”

“Yes, or mostly just splashing the dummy. You don’t have to focus so much on the sword. It actually works better if you forget about the sword entirely. Just focus on the water hitting the target.”

Clara’s forehead creased, and she watched the dummy with an angry expression. Mel wondered what she was imagining. Then she thrust the sword around her body and toward the dummy. A small splash of water landed by her feet, and it all looked rather silly.

Mel and the others laughed and Clara looked back over her shoulder at them, her face red as a tomato. “What did I do wrong?”

She stood on one foot and shook off the water from her shoes. They looked like they had been soaked through.

“You focused on the sword,” Austin said. “And so the water just lingered around the sword and fell down to your feet. You should focus on the target and forget about the sword. Maybe easier said than done.”

Austin scratched the back of his head, looking a little foolish. Maybe he wasn’t as good a teacher as Mel had expected him to be.

“If I try that,” Brandon said. “But I make the same mistake as Clara. Will I accidentally burn myself?”

“Yeah, probably,” Austin said. “I don’t have that much practice with fire imbues.”

Gabs and Brandon shared a worried look, but then Gabs stepped up with her staff of fire to the dummy, anyway. She took in a deep breath, her chest moving, and then let it out in a puff of air.

“The staff doesn’t exist,” Gabs said. “There is no staff.”

She swung it around her and kept her eyes focused on the target ahead. Fire leaped out and hit the dummy, putting a small part at the top on fire. But the rest of the dummy just seemed to become dryer from Austin’s earlier water dousing. Small embers flew off a couple of hay straws and then it dwindled out.

Gabs turned to the group with a wide smile on her lips. She looked powerful with the glowing red staff by her side and a straight posture.

“Hey, you did it,” Mel said.

The staff flickered out in Gabs’ hands and she thrust it into the air in an act of victory.