Over the next few days, Will got somewhat used to wearing girl’s clothes. Not that he had any choice though. Will was careful to avoid gowns in his wardrobe that had plunging necklines like the ones Anna wore. Will couldn’t really shake the feeling that he was walking around completely naked at the bottom part. Without the breeches, his bottom felt strangely breezy and free. Will avoided going into the pool as the memory of what he’d done last time lingered. Instead he washed himself in the smaller cavern with the small stream.

Anna spent most of the time over the next few days poring over dozens of books as she said she was still trying to figure out what happened to Will. Will noticed that Anna’s attitude towards him had shifted noticeably. Initially, Will had feared that Anna would be very upset with him as one of her prized ancient artifacts was ruined because of him. But Anna seemed to not mind this one bit. If anything, she seemed to have become a lot happier since Will’s transformation. That distance that Anna always kept with Will prior to his change was not there now.

One morning, Anna said she was going out for a while and would be back by evening. Will spent the entire day lounging around with Caitlin and then doing chores around the house out of sheer boredom. Anna returned in the evening carrying a bag and looking very pleased. Anna asked him to come up to her study after dinner.

Will climbed up the stairs as he headed towards Anna’s study. Will couldn’t repress a shudder as he passed the five paintings in the corridor, the raven’s painting was now empty. Will tried to think about other things as the memory of the raven burrowing into his mouth and suffocating him started to make him feel nauseous.

Will knocked on Anna’s door and noticed that the set up was slightly different than last time. Instead of the pedestal in the center of the room, there was now a high table with 5 orbs placed on top of the table. Anna was standing near the table and motioned for Will to join her.

Will took the position near the table facing Anna.

“As you know, Will I’ve spent the last few days trying to figure out what happened to you and why it happened”.

Will nodded waiting for Anna to continue.

“Do you remember what I told you about the artifacts Will?”.

Will did. In Fact he’d been thinking of pretty much nothing else for the last few days wondering why this had happened to him. Will related everything he remembered about the paintings and how they were used to activate magelings hiding out among humans.

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“I still don’t have all the facts, but this is what I know so far. The raven painting belonged to an old mage family called the Percivels. As far as I know, there are no surviving descendants of the family. The last record I could find of anyone from that family is over a thousand years old. For some reason, the Percivel family artifact seems to have reacted to you much the same way as it would to a young mage from the family who was hidden”.

“How can that be. I’m not a mage. I never even believed in mages until I met you.” said Will.

“Are you sure that no one from your immediate family was a mage Will?”.

Will opened his mouth to reply that there were no mages in his family, but then he remembered that he didn’t even know who his father was and didn’t know much about his mother’s life before she came to the village of Lamia. Will had asked his mother about his father and his mother’s family. His mother had told them they were all dead and that it was too painful for her to talk about them.

Will told Anna all that he knew about his family, which was not a lot. Anna enquired whether he knew exactly where his mother came from. Will knew that it was somewhere in the south and Anya had met Lord Damien Faustad during the second kronian uprising. Anna looked like she was filing all the information away in her memory for further research.

“Now Will, we’re going to use these to try and get some answers” said Anna, indicating the five spheres on the table. Will took a close look at them. The first one seemed to be filled with a clear liquid, the second one looked to be filled with dirt, the third one seemed to contain storm clouds, the fourth had little orbs of lights floating in it while the fifth one seemed perfectly empty.

“What are we going to do with them?” Will asked.

Anna was rather cryptic as she replied “I’m trying to confirm something I think I already know. I’ll tell you once we’re done. For now, I want you to place your hand on top of these spheres one at a time”.

Will slowly raised his right hand and gripped the top of the first sphere filled with clear liquid. He waited for a minute while nothing happened.

“Okay, the next one Will”. Anna said after a minute.

Will moved his hands over to the one filled with dirt with the same result. Will repeated this 2 more times with the storm and the orb of lights sphere and nothing happened. Will was starting to feel slightly annoyed at Anna. At least she could tell him why they were doing this.

Will moved his hand over to the last empty sphere. Still nothing. Just as he was about to pull his hands away, he could feel a tingling sensation on his fingertips. And then, dark shadows began spreading into the clear sphere, starting from where his hand made contact with the sphere. Soon, the shadows began condensing, forming into different shapes that reminded him of animals. Then the blurred shadowy forms condensed together and took a clear form.

From inside the sphere, there was a raven staring back at him. Will yelped and pulled his hand back from the sphere. The shadows dissipated as soon as Will removed his hand and the sphere

Will looked up at Anna and saw that her face was shining with wild happiness and excitement.

“What was that Anna?”.

Anna was nearly trembling from excitement as she replied “It means that you’re a mage Will. And that your primary element is shadow magic”.