Chapter 1

  How NOT to coven

  (Day 1 Forsday)

  This is so dumb, LaTao thinks as she sees her advice go unheeded. The giggling coven that surrounds her watches as their second shortest member struggles. If I end up late to class because of this, I’m SO leaving these girls behind from now on. Her ears burn from the whispered digs and judgmental roasts from her catty classmates as they watch their flustered friend float before them, stuttering her way through an incantation. Their utter lack of empathy brings LaTao to sigh. Poor Deska. I warned her. She can barely float a medicine ball, let alone an object she’s actually RIDING!

  Deska’s freckled face is scrunched. Her head bonks branch after branch. Her bouncy orange curls catch and snag every twig they can. Any hope she had of a graceful flight is beyond shattered. Such graceless floundering is not what one envisions when imagining ‘a witch riding a broomstick.’

  Through a bit of luck, the hapless Apprentice steadies herself… but rather than float in place to attain some level of control, she zips about like a drunken bee. Her bright green eyes hide behind tightly closed lids… not exactly the wisest way to fly. At this point, it’s hard to say whether she’s more afraid or embarrassed. The waves of laughter from below are doing nothing to boost her confidence. Of the six voices, only two bear tones of worry.

  “PULL UP!” Meeka demands. The teenage blonde rolls her eyes and crosses her arms in a huff. “Pull UP, you maniac!”

  “You need to slow down!” LaTao yells. Her chin-length, red-tipped black hair waves from the breeze of Deska swooping by. She combs her fingers through her hair, fixing her ‘V’ line bob. “Concentrate!”

  With a pathetic whimper, Deska pulls back on the broom she’s straddling. It seems to obey her command… for the most part. Her dangling feet nip several branches, letting her know just how close she is to crashing. Feeling the sun against her face, she finally opens her eyes. The bright blue sky is clear and inviting, but the calm is short-lived. Reality hits when she looks down to find her friends, like ants, far below. She squeaks, keeping her trembling arms locked. The incantation of her enchanted red cowl is the only reason she still maintains even a hint of control.

  April rests her elbow upon Meeka’s shoulder, careful not to tussle Meeka’s big shiny curls. The terra-cotta tone of April’s skin makes Meeka seem pale by comparison. “Damn, Meeka. Did you tell her to touch the sky?” the ringleader asks. Suddenly, an elbow rests on April’s shoulder. She turns her head to see the subtle smile of Ninifer, the tallest of her coven. The two look up and share a chuckle at their mate’s misfortune.

  Ninifer laughs far harder than necessary, but April smiles back, thinking the laughter is natural. “That Deska’s so dumb,” the towering blonde says, cosigning April’s sentiment. “But at least she’s entertaining.”

  April shakes her head. “That she is.”

  From their left comes the corny shout, “BRING ME DOWN A CLOUD!” The giggling teens look left to find the coven’s silliest member, Ethur. The jokester nods and smiles, asking, “Am I right?” with a forced chuckle. Her goofiness and exaggerated smile cause the trio of divas to join her in laughter. Happy with her giggling audience, Ethur adds, “What…? She’s already up there! She might as well!”

  The trio shrugs off the silliness and returns their gaze to their frightened friend. Ethur notices that although Ninifer and April are still smiling, Meeka’s grin is gone. She and LaTao are the only ones visibly worried about their airborne friend. Seeing the duo’s frowns pokes at her empathy, downgrading her toothy grin to an awkward smirk. “I’m sure she’ll be–” she begins, but stutters when she notices the serious expression on LaTao’s face. “... fine.”

  While others chuckle or worry, Ethur steps closer to LaTao. She watches the calm little apprentice mutter an incantation under her breath. Ethur leans in to hear the last of LaTao’s incantation. Like a novice speaker of a new language, she can only catch a few terms here and there, just enough to have an idea about what’s about to happen. She watches LaTao’s grey gloved hands begin to glow, but her attention is diverted when she hears a scream.

  Finally, Deska loses the last of what little control she once had. She spirals wildly, swiftly descending from several stories above. The sound of her clothes flapping in the wind is quickly followed by the sound of branches breaking. Every adjustment she makes leads her to pain until she accidentally points her broomstick straight down. She covers her grimacing face with her hands and lets out a blood-curdling scream as she plummets.

  Eventually, the broom levels. Her descent slows. Suddenly, Deska feels her knees gently touch the ground. Before she can catch her breath, she looks around with reddened cheeks. LaTao’s amber eyes are the first she sees. She then catches the glow fading from LaTao’s charcoal gray gloves. Though most of the coven shares looks of amusement, April is not one of them. After noticing a brief glare, she watches her leader’s eyes roll as if cheated out of a good show.

  “Come on, ladies,” April says. “We need to get to class.”

  Meeka reaches down and helps Deska to her feet. Ethur helps, gently pruning twigs and leaves from curly ginger locks. “You really oughta’ thank LaTao for saving you,” Ethur whispers.

  Forcing a smile, Deska looks to her savior and says, “Thanks, LaTao… I was obviously about to stop myself. Thanks anyway, though.”

  Suuuure you were, LaTao thinks behind a fake smile. She dare not speak her mind. As the newest member of the group, the last thing she wants to do is alienate anyone. I wish I could just go to Mage School with my friend, but being in this coven is important to her. I’m sure it took a lot to become close to the richest and most popular girls around, so I gotta make sure I don’t mess things up for my bestie. She joins Meeka and pats her back. “She’s safe. Stop looking so serious!”

  When Meeka realizes how sour her expression must be, the two burst into laughter. She pulls LaTao close and whispers, “Trust me, Tao. They aren’t always like this.” Meeka reaches into a pouch on her hip. She retrieves an embroidered scroll with silk borders. It unrolls, bearing words written in an ancient tongue. She looks to her battered buddy and says, “Don’t worry, I’ll cast a healing spell for your face.”

  “Yeah,” Ethur chimes in. “'Cause you look like you got hit in the face with a bag full of angry squirrels!”

  The coven laughs… well, all but Deska and LaTao.

  “Mmmm hm!” Kami’ka hums in agreement. Amongst the chuckling girls, she’s usually the one cackling the loudest. She finally chimes in, saying, “You was lookin’ goofy as Heck up there!”

  “Right!” Ethur replies, nodding enthusiastically. “It was almost like you were aiming for every tree branch.”

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “HA!” Kami’ka blurts, pointing at her injured friend’s freckled face.

  LaTao picks up the broom. “There’s a reason most people don’t ride on regular brooms. They’d have no idea where the center of gravity is. They usually target the center of the broomstick, forgetting that they’re on it,” she begins, hoping to help anyone who happens to be listening. “Adjusting the spell as you fly is more difficult if your initial spell was poorly cast. The few Mages known to actually ride brooms used special ones.” She points near the brush-end and says, “They have a dip about here and intentionally add weight, making the center of gravity easier to visualize in flight.” She then points to the top. “They also make a bend or fancy warp there to keep it from being a straight line. It also serves as a great target for a secondary spell. This way, the rider can–”

  “UGH!” Deska groans to drown out LaTao’s explanation. “If you’re so smart, let’s see YOU do it!”

  Kami’ka pushes the others aside to better instigate. “Ooooooh! Des-ka just said YOU can’t even DO what she did!” Her remarks garner the ‘oooo’s and giggles from the others, as well as LaTao’s amber-eyed glare. “I mean, since you know so much about everything, it shouldn’t be a problem… right?”

  Meeka steps forward and opens her mouth to speak, but LaTao’s hand quickly rises to Meeka’s chest. “This won’t take long,” LaTao says. With no more prodding, she takes the broom a few steps away from the others and looks up for a gap in the trees. If all I have to do is go up, give them a wink, then come down. This shouldn’t be a problem. I can do this.

  A gentle wind surrounds the coven of seventeen-year-olds with the sounds of trees dancing. They enjoy the breeze as they watch their shortest and newest member search for the perfect place to begin her flight. Despite the lush greenery and the calming aesthetics, spite and judgment lie behind the watching eyes locked on LaTao. They cross their arms, hoping for something funny or embarrassing to happen.

  Meeka, on the other hand, has high expectations for her best friend. Her hands are clasped at her belly. Her freshly plucked eyebrows arc upward. She whispers, “You’ve got this.”

  LaTao mutters words in the ancient tongue, slowly and carefully enunciating her rehearsed incantation. The wind blows the bottom of our pint-sized apprentice’s black cover-all skirt. The left shoulder strap hangs by her side, showing the world its bright, blood-red interior. Her short-sleeve shirt is a soft, powdery pink and holds tight to her pale skin. The brightness of her top makes it all the more noticeable that she’s the only one of the seven who isn’t wearing a blood red, enchanted cowl.

  She raises the broom with the gesture of her right hand and balances it horizontally with a little direction from two fingers of her left hand. Okay, now stay… just… like… that. LaTao lowers her hand, and to her satisfaction, the broom stays in place, as if held by invisible hands. She gestures for the broom to descend and it obediently lowers, pausing just above knee level.

  “Good broom,” LaTao says and pats the broom before sending a smile to her audience. She lightly whips her head to one side to fling a lock of black hair from her face. Her black bangs are the only strands of hair that are missing her signature red tips

  The girls expect her to straddle the broom, but instead, LaTao turns her back to it. I’m riding this thing ‘side-saddle!’ The broom gently rises. Her feet leave the ground. With her left hand, she reaches back and grasps the sturdy brush. The other hand grasps hold of the body of the broom. Okay. So far, so good. Look at their faces! I bet it looked like I didn’t even have to concentrate that hard! The young apprentice tries her hardest to hold back her prideful smile. Okay, she tells herself. No need to ‘wow’ them. Just do just enough to show that I know my stuff.

  Calmly, LaTao floats toward the rest of her coven. All I wanted to do was go to school with my best friend, Meeka, she thinks behind her confident smile. She smoothly circles the six teens. …Yet here I am, having to impress all her friends and memorize all these names. Not that that would be a problem for me… but it’s still annoying.

  Even before she knew my name, Ninifer always looked down at me, and not just because she's so tall. She’s hated my guts for years and I still have no idea why. Kami’ka, I’ve never met. Her hair is awesome, though. I swear her hair is a different color every time I see her and I love how the side of her head is shaved! Ethur’s funny every now and then, but she tries too hard… but nobody tries as hard as Deska. If April said she needed a footstool, that girl’d be the first on her knees.

  The young lady at the center of the others raises her perfectly manicured hand with glitter-dusted nails. She motions for LaTao to circle higher.

  … and then there’s April. The leader of the pack. I almost hate that she’s so freakin’ pretty. I literally can’t find a flaw in her face. LaTao ascends several feet, continuing to circle as she rises above them. When I first met her, she smiled at me, once, forever ago. I damn near ran into a wall. For a while there, I actually wanted to be her friend… but other than that initial smile, she never gave me the time of day. She hears an ‘ooo’ and an ‘aah.’ It isn’t much, but more than enough to get her ego going.

  But that doesn’t matter. Meeka’s family and her family are both bigwigs. For some sort of political reason, it’s a big deal that she becomes friends with April… and Meeka’s my bestie, so I have no choice but to find SOME way to make her like me.

  Feeling confident, LaTao decides to give her audience a few tips. “Once you’re in the air, remember that you’re still casting the spell. The moment you feel as though you’re at the broom’s mercy, you’re in for some trouble.”

  Okay, she thinks, feeling that her audience has seen enough. Now just go back where you were. At a higher speed than before, LaTao swoops her way back towards where she started. She swerves, coming to a slow hover a few feet above where her short flight began. When she finally stops, she looks ahead to see Meeka’s proud smile. At this point, neither of the two can hold back their grins.

  Yes! I did it! Most importantly, I didn’t look like a total goof after all that talk.

  Ethur and April share a glance, nod, then begin lightly clapping their hands. Kami’ka huffs and rolls her eyes before reluctantly joining in meek applause. Deska crosses her arms and sighs, not wanting to admit she’s been bested. With an audible sigh, she joins the other two, but only mimes a few fake claps.

  Meeka raises her right hand and points to LaTao. “That’s my girl!”

  LaTao raises her right and points right back at her, adding a little wink… then feels a bit… off. I should NOT have raised my hand, she realizes a smidge too late. The shift in her weight and momentary lack of concentration is all it takes for her balance to be thrown off. “Ope!” Despite her flailing arm, LaTao leans more and more. Her cheeks flush, pre-embarrassed by the inevitable. In a sudden swoop, the broom rotates, leaving LaTao swinging upside down.

  The burst of laughter pops LaTao’s recently inflated ego. Deska laughs the loudest, glad that she’s no longer the target of her cackling coven. As the blood rushes to LaTao’s frustrated face, even Meeka finds herself laughing along with her friends.

  “Just trying to lighten the mood,” LaTao claims, fooling no one. Okay… I’m still about three feet high and rising. I need to be really careful.

  She utters in the ancient tongue, commanding the broom to right itself. Mid-sentence, she realizes that her commands needed to have been inverted. To make matters worse, some of the words make less sense, being that she’s upside down. The muddled Apprentice wanders and whirls about slowly, still dangling from the broom. Struggling to keep her grip, devoid of grace, and to the soundtrack of constant bellowing laughter… LaTao watches a nearby bush grow closer and closer. A moment before the slow-motion impact, she whispers, “This is bunk.”

  ***