“Vi,” she finally sighs, pushing in the book she was about to retrieve. “They both knew the risk of leaving school grounds after curfew. Even nonmagi know not to venture into Gorhail Woods after sundown, and they’re not even the target of poachers.”
“Please, Ole.” I hold her gaze. The slight twitch in her bottom lip gives me hope, but then she breaks our stare and continues to peruse Nan’s bookshelves, crushing my sliver of optimism. Still, I have to keep trying.
“Why did you go?” The last time I asked was during her first Midsummer break from the academy. She hadn’t replied and had begun distancing herself from me, so I never asked again.
At first, I thought she would come home after the academy, but when she willingly enrolled at Gorhail Institute, I felt a betrayal so deep I didn’t reply to any of her letters for a month. Then I saw how happy she was, how she spoke of her friends with so much love. I realized I was selfish to want her to come home. But that was then. Mages weren’t turning up dead every other week.
Olivia clears her throat. She turns to me, her face solemn. “Do you think Gorhail would’ve believed that Rhea Corvi died without leaving a legacy? Father died before her, so it was only logical that her cuff was passed to one of us.” She gives me a weak smile, and guilt knots my throat. She knew I didn’t want to go; I spent years telling her how much I hated magic, how much I hated Gorhail. She went because ofme.
Deep down, I had known the reason, but I needed Olivia totellme.
“DOTS has relic trackers,” she continues. “Every time a relicsmith crafts a relic, they make a tracker that tells DOTS whether the relic is dead, dormant, or alive. They would’ve broken into our house to find the famed Corvi relic.” She breathes out, and her eyes twinkle with tears. All these years, she took my place so I wouldn’t be somewhere I hated, so Gorhail would think they have eyes on Nan’s cuff, so they would leave me alone. And I had the audacity to be angry when she chose to stay. Of course, she’d stay. Gorhail was all she’d known growing up, and I expectedher to leave that comfort and reassimilate into a world she was no longer a part of.
I pull my sister into a tight hug, and she wraps her arms around me, occasionally patting me on the back. It’s all I can muster to thank her for saving me years of a life I didn’t want. My beautiful sister was only nine then and so clever. But now, it’s my turn to save her.
Too soon, she begins to pull away. “I love you, too, Vi, but I have to hurry. You don’t want me to end up like those mages who missed curfew, do you?”
“Olivia,” I exclaim, stepping back. “Don’t joke about that.”
Olivia bites her laugh and goes back to looking for her book. Her fingers land on an old leatherbound tome. The spine is a stunning weave of red, blue, and silver. It’s one of the books I shelved last week. Olivia grabs it, wipes off the front, and smiles with satisfaction.
“I’ve been accepted to Osneau’s Postgraduate School of Botany,” I blurt out, and her eyebrows shoot up. Shehas toleave Gorhail with me. I will make sure of it.
“Vi,” Olivia exclaims. “That’s incredible. They only take fifty students a year.”
I nod, looking down. “Come with me to Osneau. I’ll wait until your promotional exam is over. I— I saved enough for a place.” I haven’t. In fact, I will have to use the tuition money I saved to afford a room for the two of us, but I would give up on my dreams if it meant that I could keep my sister safe.
“Viola—” It’s never a good thing when she uses my full name.
“Think about it,” I implore. “Plenty of mages stop at High Magus. You don’t need to sink four more years into Gorhail for Grand Magus. And it’ll become harder and harder to hide. The other classes of magic aren’t as theoretical as death magic.”
“I…” She hesitates. “I’ve built a life there, Vi. I have friends and people I care so much about. Leaving would be selfish.”
Don’t you care about me, I want to scream.Is it selfish to want to keep you safe?Maybe she’s blinded by the glamours of the magic world. “You’ve been gone over a decade, Ole. I want my sister back. Ineedyou back. Please.”
Her eyes soften, and she sucks in her lips. We fall back into our usual discomfort around this subject, and the growing silence between us dashesany hope for an answer. With a long sigh, she leads me to the door, and I follow her down the stairs.
We reach the kitchen, and Mother pushes herself out of her chair with a screech that makes me want to claw my ears out. “Don’t drink too fast.” She rubs Olivia’s back as she chugs the tea.
“Sorry, Mama, I have to run. Thanks for the tea.”
“Ole,” I stop her. “Letters from DOTS came in the mail this morning. They’re in my room. Should I get them?”
She shakes her head while carefully placing the book in her canvas bag. “I’ll grab them when I come back after my promotional exam.” She pauses, then looks at Mother. “Mama, my exam is on Friday. Then some friends and I are going on a trip to Wanora over the weekend.”
“Oh,” Mother utters, hiding her disappointment with a grimace of a smile. “Perhaps I could join you toward the end of the trip and we can spend some time at the beach?”
Olivia hugs Mother tight. “I would love that. See you next Monday at the Salt Rock Inn? Join us if you’re free, Vi.”
Mother’s nose is already flaring, her ears red as a tomato. “Sure,” I reply, “I’ll take the week off and we can travel up the coast to Osneau.”
As she’s about to walk out, she turns to me with a sigh. Then I hear them: the words that will haunt me forever. Olivia’s voice, small, tender, and full of promise. “Let’s talk on Monday.”
Aspier (n)—Poison magic relic. Snakelike.
Aspiers are the only living relics.
All magic comes at a cost except poison magic.