“So what happened to your tablet, exactly?” Instruktato Cooper asked.

“I, uh, dropped it in the water,” I said. “And now I can’t find it.”

“Water? There aren’t too many bodies of water in the general access corridors.” He tapped at his own tablet. “It’s not showing up on the network. You’re certain you weren’t out of bounds?”

“No! No, I was, uh… I was outside. You can’t get the network outside. I was at uh, that island? The one with the broken hut on it?”

“I’m not familiar.”

“You know; there’s a beach and some trees and – Agreabla Insulo! That’s what it’s called. And I dropped it in the ocean.”

“Hmm. Okay, then. Please try not to take valuable school equipment into the ocean from now on.” He reached into his desk and pulled out a new tablet. “Hand in the hand outline so I can register it to you, please.”

I’d been without a tablet for less than a day, but there were already messages waiting for me. Some marks from assignments I’d done months ago, hurriedly released by teachers clearly just remembering they were supposed to grade things; a message from Casey, who wanted to go over our defense before the trial (still over a month away) and cement our travel plans; and a message from Instruktanto Miratova, sent barely ten minutes ago. She must be awake!

Kayden,

This is just a note to inform you that even though I am completely fine, the kuracar has forbidden me from leaving the ward or practicing magic of any kind, so our curse lessons will have to be further postponed. Given the limited time we have left before the Initiation, would you prefer me to arrange lessons with the Fiore? Otherwise I fear making much progress within the month, and I don’t want you to feel obligated to stay beyond your six months.

Regards,

Alania Miratova

I responded immediately,

Intruktanto Miratova,

Don’t worry about it. I’ve already decided to go through the Initiation so there’s no rush. I really hope you recover quickly. Can I come see you later?

Less than a minute later:

Kayden,

You can try, but my gaoler probably won’t let you. I have to go; if I use my tablet too much he gets suspicious that I might be working and lectures me about the importance of rest. It’d be more merciful if people just left me to die in my own damn office when something like this happened.

Regards,

Alania Miratova

Well, that sounded fun. I arranged a meeting with Casey and rushed back to my room; Max would be getting up soon, and we had yoga.

Yoga had turned out to be marginally less boring than meditation. Still somewhat boring; I felt like we could blitz through the positions a lot faster than the video guide would let us, but apparently the ability to hold positions and be aware of the whole body through them was important. Body awareness was what I was there for, so I didn’t complain. But it didn’t help that Max was, as he’d predicted, absolutely terrible at yoga, which meant that it wasn’t even fun to be competitive. I get it, he’s not a physical guy, but his arms shook during downward dog.

And the whole time, of course, I couldn’t stop sneaking glances over Max’s bed. If I could just…

No, I wouldn’t know what to look for. We already had a plan. A plan that didn’t involve me poking through stuff and screwing it up.

The next day, I managed to coordinate breakfast with Magistus and sneak valentines hearts into his cereal. The important part was being able to sneak away before he ever found the hearts, so he couldn’t confront me about them. I was feeling pretty cocky, until I got to English class and found candy hearts in my pocket that definitely weren’t mine.

Oh, okay then. It was on now. Let’s see… I had to talk some cupcakes out of Magista for Clara, so if there was a way I could combine that with something to get Magistus at the same time…

“Kayden.”

I looked up. Instruktanto Ahuja was looking at me.

“Uh. Sorry, what was the question?”

“Germanic and Romance rooted words in the English language. Let me take a list of German-rooted words – let’s say, ‘house’, ‘begin’, or ‘pig’. Now, let me compare them to a list of Romance-rooted words – ‘domicile’, ‘commence’, ‘pork’. Do you have a different gut-feeling sense to these two groups of words?”

“I don’t… really know?”

“You don’t know?”

I glanced around the room. Why did he ask me? There were plenty of people to ask who’d know what he wanted. “Well, I don’t… use the second list of words much, so I don’t know what to think. I mean, ‘pork’, fine; but who says ‘domicile’ or ‘commence’? Except lawyers.”

Stolen story; please report.

“Exactly. Romance words are more popular in academic fields, and tend to be ‘upper class’ words, whereas Germanic words tend to be ‘baseline’ or ‘lower class’ ones. This is far less true now than it was in the past, but at its core, English is a very Germanic language, and the use of Latin and similar languages a sign of high class or education due to the nature of their introduction into the language. Now, these days, there are plenty of common-use ‘low class’ Romance words and plenty of Germanic words rarely used by non-academics, but the rule still does hold for the majority of cases. Why am I bringing this up now? Because, my young initiates, I want you to pay attention to the use of language in magic. A large number of spells include vocal commands. Pay attention to the feeling, the nature, and importantly the origin of the words you use to control your spell, because they teach you a lot about your spell. Its history, certainly; somebody taught it the commands that you are using. Its use and versatility; how specific are the commands? If they are long and specific, it means that your spell probably has a history of versatility and unreliability. It may be difficult to handle. Are they short and very easy to pronounce? You may have a powerful and fast-acting spell, reliable in its function, but keep an eye on how much power you’re pulling through your own body when you use it. English is the best language for a vocal spellcaster, because being such a mixture of languages already, a native speaker or avid learner will have a strong natural instinct for the implications of different types of vocal commands. However, be careful of the assumptions you make. A spell that was trained in India or Africa will contain sounds that you, if you rely on your experience with English, will entirely misread; make sure you interpret any command in its appropriate cultural context. A spell trained in China or France may contain sounds that you are not only incapable of pronouncing, but possibly incapable of distinguishing.

“I know I don’t talk about magic much in this class, because you will get a thorough enough grounding in that in your other classes later on. But as we have only a few lessons left before you will need to make the most important decision of your lives so far, I want to dedicate the rest of this semester to studying English as a tool in magic, and language in general as a tool in magic. And before you go today, I leave you with one final question, which forms the basis for your final assignment in this class.

“There have been many magical languages in many different cultures throughout the world. Each have their own advantages and disadvantages; each shape the spells they are applied to in different ways. Now, united in the Refujeyo, the official language of the Refujeyo and the modern ‘magical language’ is Ido. Look at this language, and explain to me – what kind of spells do you think Ido is suited to commanding? How do you think this language will continue to influence the shape of the magic we use?”

Casey met with me in our usual room. “Okay,” they said. “This is just a final go-over of our plan. Our stance is that you didn’t intentionally attack Matt Parker with your spell; that this is a case of accidental activation, from which you are protected under the law, and that you took all reasonable precautions with your curse, as you’ve always done. I’ve spoken to the school’s lawyers about the issue of your confidential information being leaked to Mr Parker in the first place, and they know that you have a strong case against them should anything negative result from this situation, so we have some conditional support from the school body itself. Mr Parker’s lawyers know of our intent to countersue them for any damages they claim against you; that is, that whatever they say is your fault, we can easily blame on Mr Parker, for chasing you and deliberately antagonising you, knowing the danger; Mr Parker is still fully intent on pushing this as far as possible, but he is holding a double edged sword, and we have some wiggle room to turn things against him if we have to. In light of this, our goal here is to paint you as responsible, nonaggressive, and a generally peaceable and good person. As such, we have several character witnesses to attest to your good nature.”

“We do?”

“Yes. We’ll have a couple of your teachers from your old school speak on your behalf, and also perhaps three or four peers. We should avoid using students from Refujeyo – best not to draw too much attention to where you are now – but your serveyanto and your kuracisto have both agreed to speak on your behalf as well. Malas cannot, of course, leave the school grounds or he will die,” Casey added in passing, as if this was common knowledge unworthy of further explanation, “but I believe that Mr Cooper has a servicable workaround.”

“And they’re… prepared to tell a court that they think I’m a responsible person? Are they allowed to lie like that?”

“They’re willing to say so, yes. I have no information on whether it would be a lie. There is one more important task you will need to complete in the next week or so, and that is to choose your peer character witnesses. Thirty nine of your old classmates have volunteered to speak for you; we only need three or four, so I’ve sent you a list of names to choose from. I’d recommend choosing people from different social groups, if possible.”

“Thirty nine people want to help me?”

“Apparently.”

“Thirty-nine?!”

“Is that surprising?”

“Yes! I was cursed! I put them in danger every day just be existing! I nearly killed one of their classmates; he still might – ”

“My information on your school’s social dynamics is incomplete, but the general gist of the statements they’ve sent me is that you, while obnoxious and disruptive, were a mostly good-hearted student who tried to keep out of everyone’s way and only started trouble to defend others. In general, they seem much more resentful of Mr Parker, describing him with phrases such as…” Casey checked their tablet “… ‘that bully who brought this upon himself,’ ‘the stupid fucker who got what he deserved’, ‘I hope he does end up dying’, and ‘that evil, cocksucking piece of – ’ oh dear. This one goes on for a while. If you chose… miss Carolyn Pace for the stand, I may have to brief her on appropriate language for the courtroom. And general respect for people’s mothers. I’ll send you the statements I’ve received to help you choose your witnesses, but I’m sure you know your classmates already.”

Did I know my old classmates? I mean, I’d been at school with them for years. But I’d only ever really hung out with Chelsea and Melissa. I could say I’d just kept to myself to try to protect people, but if that were true, I wouldn’t have hung out with the people I cared about the most. I certainly hadn’t expected many, if any, of my classmates to support me; I was a witch. They should’ve turned on me right away. Right?

That was how it worked, wasn’t it?

“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll look through them.”

“Please let me know your decisions within the week so that I can meet with the witnesses. Now, as for the rest of the trial…”

Twenty minutes later, my head full of complicated legal strategy that basically boiled down to ‘say it was an accident and don’t tick off the judge’, I returned to my room. Kylie looked up from her tablet and fluttered her fingers in a little wave.

“Kayden! Which belt?” Max held up two sashes that, to me, looked the exact same shade of grey. “I don’t want to look too distant, or too presumptuous.”

“This is for Magista’s party?”

“Yeah.”

“And you’re asking me? One of those sashes could declare ‘I’m about to stage a violent coup’ for all I’d be able to tell.” I glanced behind him, to the desk. No. Don’t look at it, don’t think about it, don’t interfere with it. I turned away and saw, instead, the giant face of Magistus’ teddy bear smooshed against the force field, like it wanted to break out and consume me while I slept.

“Looking forward to the party?” I asked, stepping back so the bear couldn’t see me any more.

“I’m sure it’ll be the highlight of the semester,” Max said drily. “Looking forward to your trial?”

“Oh, yeah. Fantastic fun.”

“If you guys want to get through those, just look to the light on the horizon,” Kylie said. “You still have the Initiation to look forward to.”

The party. The trial. The initiation.

Very soon, everything would be coming to a head.