It was seven in the morning, Grenwich Mean Time, and I was sitting on my bed, pen poised over a blank piece of paper.

The bed was new. It was a lot like my old bed, but the décor in the main school area was more uniform, and the furniture nicer. The desk behind my bed was bigger, the chair comfier, and the room sported a coffee machine, despite only having three beds in it. Dorm Australia had decided not to break up.

My fresh tattoo still ached under its dressing. I’d been told it could take two or three weeks to heal; it had been one night, and I was already annoyed. I consoled myself with the thought that it was worse for most students, who’d had their spell type and elemental designation done at once; nobody knew what my spell did, so I’d only had to get the latter. Three equilateral triangles on their sides, lined up and touching each other point-to-base, like a fast forward symbol with an extra triangle on then end. Sound.

I know, right? Sound?! What kind of an element was sound?

Kylie’s had been air, like Talbot. A sensible element. Max’s arrowhead shape apparently meant steel, which was a little weird, but it was better than sound. Sound wasn’t even a thing, it was an… an energy. But then, so was fire, and nobody blinked at that being called an element.

Wait, what was I doing?

Oh, right.

Dear Mum & Dad,

Hope the house sale and move thing is going okay. When you do move, don’t forget to tell me your new address, so I know where to send these.

Things are fine here. I’ve moved into a new dorm which is nicer than my old one, and I’m about to go have breakfast at a new cafeteria. I assume the food will be the same, but maybe it’ll be awesome. Maybe they save all the really good food for if you stick around.

Classes start next week, and I still haven’t picked mine. Well, knowing how slow snail mail moves, I probably will have by the time you get this. But you know what I mean. I’m looking forward to this year. It feels like I’ve spent the last six month trudging up a slope with a toboggan and now I get to climb in and enjoy the ride, you know?

Other than that, nothing major has happened. Can’t wait to hear how you guys are doing. I bet things are boring when I’m not there to liven things up, right?

Lots of love,

Kayden

“Are you taking Japanese this year?” Kylie called from behind her bedcurtains.

“What? No. Why?”

“Well I know you didn’t take it last semester because you weren’t sure if it would match up with the Japanese curriculum at your old school. But that doesn’t matter any more, so are you taking it now? I was thinking of taking it but I won’t if neither of you are.”

“Wasn’t planning on it. Maybe Max will?”

“Nihongo o hanashimasu,” Max called from behind his desk.

“Nerd.”

“C’mon, take it with me. You need a language lesson, right?”

“Yeah, but only one. I’m taking Ido. Since it’s the school language and all I figured I should, you know, actually learn it.”

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“Oh, that’s right. I forgot you still don’t know any Ido. Wow, this semester’s going to suck for you.”

“I’m a quick study.”

“That’s a blatant lie.”

“It’s literally the easiest language in the world to learn. I think I’ll be fine.”

“Max, ka vu pensar il volas Ido rapide?”

“Me pensar lu gradizar nesavanta.”

“Don’t make me pull out my translation software on you two.”

“You mean the software you’re going to have to use in your classes? Because they’ll be in Ido?”

I didn’t dignify that with an answer, turning instead to a blank page.

Hey Liss.

How’re things at home? The youtube channel still going strong even without the media chaos? Or are you too distracted with that Pern fanfic these days? (You should convince Chelsea to read it. She needs a hobby that keeps her out of trouble.)

Things are fine here. I’m learning a new language, Ido, this year, which should be fun. Well, tedious and annoying. But that’s just school, right? Tedious and annoying. I’m still not sure what else to study, but hey, just because I’m going to a fancy expensive boarding school doesn’t mean I should expect to actually learn anything, right?

I’m just glad that whole curse and trial thing is over. I still can’t get my head around it, really. It was such a big thing and then it just turned out… well, you were there. And now the whole world’s forgotten it, and nobody here is even aware it happened, so far as I can tell. Well, except Cooper and Malas, of course. Everything’s so removed.

Well, nowhere to go but forward, I guess. How are your classes this year? I mean, the week or two of them you would’ve had by the time this letter reaches you. You’ve always said that this was the year you needed to ‘get serious’, so you can get into university. I think you’re worrying a few years too early. But I’m not trying to become a doctor, so what do I know?

Best of luck, anyway.

Missing you,

Kayden

“What about magic classes?” Kylie asked. “Hey, why isn’t Magical History a magic class?”

“Because it’s a history class,” Max said. “It’s in the name.”

“Magic’s in the name, too.”

“Yeah, because it’s the history of magic. Not a magic itself.”

“Fair enough. I think I might take it anyway. You know, for context.”

“I’m not,” I said. “If I can avoid taking any history subjects, I’m going to.”

“If you could avoid taking any subjects at all, you would,” Max said.

“Hey! That’s only mostly fair. Although I’m not sure what to do for magical subjects. I don’t know what this is or how to cast it, so basically any subject about specific spell types, or spellcasting, is out.”

“With those restrictions,” Max said, “your best bets are potioncrafting and runecrafting. Both of which you can do with a dormant spell. Oh, you’re not squeamish about blood or needles, are you?”

“No, but I’m worried about that very suspicious comment.”

“Some people don’t like ichor extraction for those reasons. But if you’re not at-will casting, you’re basically going to have to extract ichor to do any magic.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll live. Runes or potions, huh? What’s the difference?”

“It’s kind of in the name. Do you like writing, or cooking?”

“Well, which one are you doing? Stupid question. You’re doing both, aren’t you?”

“… Possibly.”

I rolled my eyes and turned to a fresh piece of paper.

Chelsea,

How’s life? Not much happening here, but that’s what I get for living at a school, I guess.

Listen, I got some good leads on where this place is last time, and now I’m really going to start making headway. Prepare for SCIENCE. But fun science. Not nerd science.

I mean, maybe some nerd science, if my roommate helps. I checked all my stuff THOROUGHLY before leaving this time, so I know you didn’t smuggle the tracker in again. Which I guess means our game is over. Or at least my part of it is over. You should convince Melissa to play. She needs a reason to get out of the house more.

And you’ll keep the youtube channel going, won’t you? When I come back to the real world during the holidays, I expect a massive backlog of videos to catch up on. How hard are your classes this year? I’m picking mine as I write this and I already hate them.

Write back soon, okay?

Your turn,

Kayden

“Whelp,” I said, stuffing the letters into envelopes, “I’ve done enough writing for today. I’m off to breakfast.”

“Dressed like that?” Max leapt over his bed, shaking his head. “Oh, no, no. We all need to go shopping immediately.”

“We… do?”

“You’re wearing initiate robes! What are people going to think? You have to show up in red, at the very least!”

“Max, I’m too hungry to care about – ”

“You underwent the Initiation, you agreed to the rules. Come on, both of you.”

Kylie groaned. “But I’m still asleep.”

“Both of you. If we’re going to be mages, we’re going to dress like it.” He marched out of the room and Kylie and I, seeing no point in arguing, followed.

New robes, new year, a new future, and no obvious troubles on the horizon. I still wasn’t entirely sure what being a mage entailed, beyond having a spell.

But I was excited to find out.