Celine's POV
"Here's our first class," Kiera said, walking in ahead of me. I followed closely, the hair behind my neck standing.
"Oh look," Dahlia sneered, "if it isn't the special princesses. That's why you think you can come to class late."
"Dahlia," a short woman in the middle hissed. "You do not talk in my class, remember?" She asked her, walking closer towards us. "And the both of you, why are you late?"
She looked so tiny, her olive skin shining from the sun entering through the big windows and her copper hair in a bun.
"We were just—" Kiera started, but I interrupted her.
"I'm so sorry," I said, bowing slightly the way I bowed for the witches. "I woke up with a runny stomach so I begged her to stand guard over the toilets, so an intruder wouldn't come in. I am sorry."
"That's a shocker," Dahlia snickered. "No wonder you are all skin and bones, seeing you didn't eat dinner or breakfast either this morning. How do you still have so much shit to empty out?" She asked, cooing.
The entire class burst into laughter, muttering underneath their breaths calling me names but I ignored it all.
"Enough," the teacher hissed. "I am Lady Vienna," she said, turning back to me when the class was finally silent. "Luckily, I have already taken a special interest in you, Celine Fallows, so your punishment would not be…so severe," she grinned slightly.
"Everyone," Lady Vienna called, clapping her hands together. "Back to your seats."
Kiera and I moved towards the back but she found us quickly. "Not so fast. You two sit in front. I want my eyes on her," she said, glancing briefly at me.
"Now we have to be in front," Kiera whispered, walking behind me. My face was flaming and I squeezed her palm, a silent apology as we sat down next to each other in front of the class.
Lady Vienna smiled. "Welcome to witchcraft. I am assuming you are all educated on your elemental magics, yes?" She looked at me.
"Celine, could you please tell the class the principles of spell casting?"
My mouth went dry. "I-I—" I stammered.
"Cats got your tongue?" Dahlia mocked.
"One more word from you," Lady Vienna said, "and you would be scrubbing the training ground for a month."
"Ugh," Dahlia scoffed, sending a death glare my way. I cleared my throat and tried again, remembering what I had read.
"The basic principles of spell casting are Intent, knowing what you want to do with the spell," I paused.
"Yes?"
"Balance," I continued. "Which is knowing how to manage the energy reservoir all witches draw their powers from and finally, Anchor. You learn to use words, symbols and gestures to stabilize your spell, which helps in focus and emotion control."
Lady Vienna smirked. "Good. Everyone now, I am going to hand over something to you."
Little feathers went flying across the hall, each landing in our laps. "Thos is a very simple spell, and you will be drawing on Aeris. All you have to do, is make the feather float from your laps, without touching it okay?"
"Okay," the class chorused.
"Begin."
I closed my eyes and sucked in a deep breath, looking for that small ball of energy I had felt in my stomach that felt like it was made from me. My brows furrowed and sweat dropped, yet, the feather was firmly in my lap
"Wonderful," Lady Vienna said, causing my eyes to snap open. Dahila was standing with a smug look on her face, her flower floating perfectly next to her head. "Dahlia is first. Alright everyone, join her."
"I did it," another girl in Dahlia's clique Bonnie gasped, her feathers lifted from her gowns. One by one, all the witches let out gasps of joy as their feathers floated perfectly above them.
Kiera and I are the only one still down, and Lady Vienna walked towards us. "The energy girls," she coached, her voice low. "Reach for it."
Soon, Kiera let out a familiar cry. "I did it," my friend gasped, smiling. Lady Vienna gave her a small smile but it's replaced quickly with a face of disappointment, focused on me.
"Are you having difficulties, Celine?"
"No," I sobbed. "I am reaching, like you said."
"Okay then, try harder," she replied quietly. "You showed a lot of promise. I think you just lack experience."
"Or maybe she is just useless, Lady Vienna," Bonnie sneered. "Everyone knew that was a glitch at the hall. You are a horrible witch."
A horrible witch.
The feather lifted up, faster than everyone's. "That's enough Celine," Lady Vienna said.
How dare her call me horrible?
The windows started shaking, causing everyone to scream in shock as I stared at Bonnie, standing up slowly from the ground. Lady Vienna screamed something in my ears, but all I could see was red.
The earth moved underneath my feet, causing my classmates to topple over each other. Bonnie tried to hide behind Dahlia, but with a small wave of my finger, books started flying all over the room, hitting them repeatedly.
"That's enough," Lady Vienna screamed, causing everything to become still. The books dropped to the floor and the window panes gave out from the pressure, as I snapped from my rage.
"Oh Heavens," I screamed, covering my mouth with my hands. "I did not mean this, I swear."
"Liar," Bonnie shouted. "You wanted to kill all of us."
Lady Vienna rolled her eyes. "Gi report yourself to the Headmistress, Fallows," she ordered. "The rest of you , clean up."
Groans reached me along with curses, but I couldn't move, transfixed on the destruction I caused within seconds. Lady Vienna smirked at me, curiosity and respect in her green eyes, but fear laced the pits of my stomach.
I left the class in shame, walking towards the principal's office. Something rustled behind me, so I spun around, seeing silver hair sucking behind a building.
I shook my head and continued going to Triss' office. I was laying a whole lot of trouble dealing with petty spies. When I got to her office, I raised my hand to knock, only for the door to fling open and an angry Triss was standing there.
"I just knew it was you," she hisses, her nose flaring. "The earthquake?"
She felt it here?
"Yes," I answered meekly.
"Come inside," Triss scowled. "And shut the door behind you."
I did as she asked, wondering what my punishment would be this time.