Part 29 (2/2)
”Oh, never hed and went back to sleep I was left wondering what I should do I pulled my diary out from underneath my pillow and decided to write in it some
But then, it happened
When I went to light a taper, so had never happened before; but here it was, and it was happening
When I held the ht it The candle ignited It was like a tiny light going on My tiny light
I had just doneto Lit a taper
Surprised, I dropped the matchbook, and then leaned closer The candle flame hissed quite happily and then I blew it out A curl of black sht which filtered into our dormitory
Nervous and excited, I dreard onceertip above the candle wick It popped on again I was suddenly overwhelhts! But that would mean
I took the candle with the fla the placethe alleged place, I had to re the fingertips, and then up ic spot, where the aether was said to flow, from the crook of my elbow But, if it flowed out of me, perhaps the aether was the dark aether?
There, at the crook in ical veins, which ical blood drive ever ever again
My delta
My ic
It was really there
I blew out my candle and fell back on erous-looking, shi+ned from out of the darkness But I had fire now An elan that was super-Wiccan and all ic, now
It was only later that I woke up and iined that it had all been a drea
We were approaching the hteen years old in one week's tiht now Lux was pushi+ng us harder than ever before
”You have to ic,” he said
But the other Initiates and I got that constipated look on our faces again We couldn't do what he wanted us to
”It hurts I can't do it ow,” complained Shaharizan She looked at Lux et you ready,” he said
”But why?” we all co up?”
Bad choice of words I had been straining so hard I almost vomited (”Soon it will appear almost effortlessly,” he said) I didn't want it to I drew back fro to the nized it, when I saw it, the good and bad aether I looked surreptitiously at ertips The index had a faint silvery swirlintricate and fascinating Like ave myself a little pep talk Now you must hone your craft, Halsey, I told myself Lux cleared his throat
”This is recruit week,” he said ”You all know that Which means that you should all have received your brochures by now Toain ”Tomorrow is the first day of the Wiccan Draft It is the opportunity the Houses have all been waiting for Right now, they're going back and forth between each other over ill get to select you first; which is really what they've all been up to since the beginning I knohat you're thinking That you were all supposed to have had a choice, so has seenfor lack of a better wordinto each and every one of you Now it's only the Houses that are left jockeying for ill draw first”
”Youto be chosen?” interrupted so place,” said Lux ”Just as it does theood Who better to decide that than the Houses They will knohich of you will fit in with each House?”
”But what if no one picks us?” Lizette said
”What if we get stuck in the Hopper?” said Astra
Lux addressed the Initiates' queries ”That is why each of you will be required to present yourselves, one last time,” he assured us, ”for evaluation purposes only You needn't worry”
There were boos; they drowned hiain,” said one
”It isn't fair,” said another
”They already saw Why do they have to look again?” said Lia
”The decision process,” said Lux, ”is difficult this year, owing to the fact that there are so ley ”How many Houses are there, anyway?”
”It's not that si like he wasn't telling us everything? ”Soher spots While others, others are looking at auctioning their ive up the o with the to a House that really wants you,” he said
I looked at hi around, all very blase She neither exclairipped his arh! You will all have a chance to exhibit, which, after all, is the point Without you being educated by an esteemed and certified Wiccan Householdwell, you don't want that traumatization, believe me”
”That's why you showed us Asher,” I said
”Excuse me?”
”Asher,” I said ”He's an eclectic supernatural Self-educated,” I said as derogatorily as I couldto the rest of them, ”what he was treated like nobody trusted hi to use hiet what they wanted?”
”There are benefits to being educated classically, through one of the schools,” said Lux ”Aree fro with hie your chances of being recruited by a House, simply because you were too stubborn to exist in a world which is i on the them what they stood to lose
”You said that ere important,” I said ”You said that weas I spoke ”You said that if it weren't for us, none of them would be here”
”Halsey, think about what you're saying,” he said
”I a that you can't take back,” said Lux ”That isn't a threat I am your friend”
Vittoria sot me