I turned somewhat frantically back to Jaden.

"Don't worry," he said. "I'm not gonna tell him . . ." I let out a breath ". . . if you can prove that you can take care of yourself."

My eyes narrowed darkly, or maybe I just imagined they did.

I'm not outspoken about myself around many people. But if someone challenges me, about holding my own no less, I become something slightly beyond competitive.

I stood up and crossed my arms. This time I was sure I had.

"What did you have in mind?" I asked, sounding each syllable.

See, I can act confident!

But then Jaden stood up . . . he was taller than me, and definitely not acting. Almost instantly my position turned melty and my eyes started to wander.

He smiled knowingly, went to the edge of the forest, and came back with two long sticks.

"Lose the robe," he said.

I obeyed. I didn't like taking orders, but . . . hmm . . . considering that I'd done it without question, maybe I did like taking orders.

To the right of the plateau there was a tall flat rock. I saw Ikovos move to sit on it, before Jaden threw one of the makeshift staves. I caught it in front of me with both hands and gave it a little spin, suddenly thankful for my one-month obsession with bojutsu.

Jaden stared hard. "If you leave the ledge, you're out. If I hit you in the head, chest, or stomach, you're out. If I hit you anywhere else, it'll just hurt. The same goes for me . . . except for maybe the last part."

Nice.

He moved closer and started to circle. "Ready?"

I gave Ikovos a glance and got a palms-up response, then turned back to Jaden and nodded once.

Since meeting Cornelius and Thoran in the Meoden dimension yesterday, this was the first time I felt like I was on my own. Maybe even unwanted. . . . This used to be enough to send me running.

I started to circle.

Not this time.

Immediately I sprinted to Jaden, then hit right, left with the staff. He blocked both of these, before I spun myself around for a roundhouse kick. He ducked, and I was left open. I knew the risk, but the surprise on his face made the sharp jab to my leg worth it.

Darn, he wasn't lying. That hurt.

He lunged at me again, but I dropped down and side-stepped his staff then took a swing at his chest. The wood only whipped through the air as Jaden back-flipped out of the way.

Oh, give me a break!

I moved back to catch my breath while he leveled out.

After the acrobatics it crossed my mind that he could be holding back. I studied him. He was at least panting. This fact made me momentarily proud of myself . . . of course it was dwarfed by the knowledge of my inevitable defeat, but. . . .

He moved closer and I spared a glance behind me. Just a few yards to the edge over the water. When I turned back he was right on top of me, barreling in with his staff, right, left, right, left. His strength was too much. I quickly lost ground as I parried.

The last blow sent my staff flying, and me backwards, hands hitting the hard ground. I could feel the edge of the rock. As he lifted his staff in the air, I tried to steady my mind.

I don't think he planned on hitting me fully. But he obviously hadn't anticipated me dropping back over the edge like I did, and his mock strike was swift and hard enough to send him falling into the pool below as I hung from my hands off the ledge.

Ikovos was rolling on top of the high rock, laughing.

I smiled, feeling pretty good about my impromptu ingenious.

Just when I began to lift myself up onto the ledge, I felt a hand wrap around my foot. I realized too late what was happening and seconds plunged into the water.

When I came up for breath, Jaden was treading the water next to me, staring straight-faced. I waited warily for him to speak.

"Well?"

"Well, what?" he asked.

I continued to paddle. "Did I pass?"

A surprised smirk crossed his face. "Are you kidding me? I didn't even think you knew how to fight, I was never serious."

My jaw dropped and I stared at him incredulously.

"You guys okay?" yelled a half-cracking voice from above.

"We're fine," said Jaden, staring boldly at me.

You're intolerable, I fumed. Then gave him a face that let him know my feelings, before turning around and swimming back towards the shore.

Chapter 3.

Unexpected THIRTY MINUTES LATER it was pitch dark and we were all sitting around an orange fire on the ledge. Of course it wasn't a real fire so I had a hard time not staring at it, trying instead to focus on the conversation. A while ago Ikovos had started telling Jaden about the circumstances resulting in my lack of departure. As far as I could tell Jaden didn't seem to care.

"So then we came here to practice," said Ikovos, seemingly finished with his story. "I was showing her a spell when you arrived."

Jaden made no response, but continued instead to gaze at the fire.

I looked behind me. As it had gotten darker the pool had grown an even brighter shade of purple, glimmers of pink reflecting at the edges. I stared at it a while, then turned to Ikovos.

"Should we be back at a certain time?"

Jaden responded first. "Did you do any spells?"

I cocked my head to him. "Me?"

"Yeah."

"Umm . . . not yet." My eyes dropped. Great Evelyn, very impressive. I looked back at him. He always looked so serious.

"Do something for me." It wasn't a question, but I nodded anyways. "Blow. Right there." He pointed at the fire.

I cleared my throat. "Blow?"

I got an almost imperceptible nod.

"You know, Jaden," started Ikovos, "if you keep doing stuff like this, she's gonna think you're a serious weirdo."

Jaden gave him a face and turned back to me, obviously awaiting my obedience.

Feeling enormously self-conscious. I leaned forward, pursed my lips, and blew softly into the fire.

Nothing seemed unusual about the flames, just a soft flutter before returning to normal.

I glanced up. Jaden was staring stern-faced into the fire.

"What is it?" asked Ikovos. No reply. "Jaden?"

Finally the boy looked up, meeting my eyes. "Be in the study, tomorrow, one o'clock."

I shook my head a little dumbfounded, then nodded with shrugged shoulders. "Okay. . . ."

He jumped up and headed for the woods.

I turned to Ikovos for an explanation, but he appeared just as confused.

"Oh and Ikovos?" Jaden turned to look at him. "Don't waste time trying to teach her any spells."

Ikovos stared hard for a second, then nodded before Jaden disappeared into the trees.

I tried to hide the disappointment from my face as I turned.

"I can't learn magic can I?"

His head was still facing the forest. He looked to me. "Honestly, I don't know the answer to that." Which means no. "I do know Jaden though. He's got something going on."

I flexed my eyebrows.

Yeah, some way to get rid of me . . . maybe. I guess I have no reason to doubt Ikovos. Anyways, Jaden isn't so bad. . . .

I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Come on," said Ikovos. "This fire won't last long now that Jaden's gone." He stood up. "Besides, Cornelius is going to kill me for keeping you out so late."

My eyebrows furrowed. "I asked you about that."

He smiled and jumped down after the horses.

"Hey, don't just walk away. I could get in trouble for this." I jumped up, racing after him.

'The illumination spell is a base level conjuration used by defense artisans. It has long been considered the simplest of spells for either class, often used as a test to see if one is adept in magic.'

I closed the book and leaned back into the study couch.

When Ikovos had dropped me off earlier, I began reading one of the glowing tomes. So far I'd concluded that this illumination spell was the same one Ikovos had cast on his hand . . . the one I'd been attempting.

The easiest spell and I can't do it at all.

Ikovos and Jaden's earlier reactions all fit into place. I wasn't a magic user. I felt a tinge of sadness for a moment, but soon pushed it aside.

There are other things I can do. I'll just have to be better at them.

My head fell to the pillow.

Maybe tomorrow I'll start in combat training.

I fell asleep wondering if I'd wake up back in my bed at home, like the past two days had just been a dream . . . if I'd ever be able to go back to the way things were if it was.

I woke up and this time there was no one knocking at the door. As far as I could tell the room had been undisturbed through the night, so I tried to close my eyes and fall back asleep.

No luck.

I got up, got dressed, and tied my hair into a tight braid thingy. Destined to fall out due to a lack of hair-ties.

I went back into the main room and stood strumming my fingers together. What to do, what to do. . . .

Breakfast came to mind. Probably because I hadn't eaten since yesterday afternoon. The only problem was breakfast was far away, most likely somewhere I wasn't supposed to go alone.

I strummed my fingers again and a picture of a steaming mug of coffee beside a hot muffin popped into my head.

Seconds later I was at the door, peering down the hall to make sure it was clear.

It was, so I tip-toed to my right towards what I remembered was the first doorway leading to the kitchen.

Everything was dead quiet. Outside it was bright, some time past dawn. I was choosing between two possible paths when suddenly I heard a door close ahead of me.

"I heard Demian got rid of another challenger," said a voice down the hall.