Page 36 of Fractured Fates

She actually claps.

“Well done, Summer. Superb. That is some tricky magic indeed. It’s much easier to change the tone of someone’s voice, class, but to change it entirely like that is extremely skilled. And the snout? What a marvelous touch! Top marks, Summer. Bravo!”

Snout?! I pat desperately at my nose, horrified to discover it’s no longer there, replaced by a flat snout with two large nostrils. Several pupils pull out their phones and snap pictures of me before I have a chance to hide my face.

Summer gives an exaggerated little curtsy, before taking her seat.

“Pig girl,” she mouths at me as the teacher turns my way and automatically I raise my hands, ready to blast that little bitch right out of the classroom.

However, before I get a chance, Dr. Johnson’s hand slaps mine away.

“Miss Blackwaters, might I remind you that using magic against another pupil is strictly forbidden in this school. Now you’re new, and still unfamiliar with our rules, so I won’t report this attempted attack to Professor York but you will be required to join me in detention after lessons tomorrow evening.”

I stare at her in absolute disbelief, unable to argue back because my voice has been turned into a fucking pig’s. Summer smiles smugly at me from behind the teacher. And oh, I’m so tempted to blast both Dr. Johnsonandthe head cheerleader into the next classroom.

Instead, I concentrate on breathing, my eyes alighting on Winnie whose obvious concern calms my raging temper.

“Miss Blackwaters, thank you for your help. You may take your seat.”

I don’t move, waiting for her to reverse the spell, or to ask Miss Sunshine to do it. When it doesn’t happen, Winnie finally speaks up on my behalf.

“Aren’t you going to change Rhianna’s voice and, erm, face back, Dr. Johnson?”

“Not yet, Miss Wence. All voices will be reversed at the end of the lesson. Who’s next?”

I slump away into my seat. The changes everyone else makes to their guinea pigs are much tamer. Everyone finds it hilarious when their friends speak with a light accent or with a slight slur. No one else ends up snorting like a pig. No one else’s face gets mutilated. And because I can’t speak, I can’t even practice the spell myself. I’m resigned to sulking in my seat watching everyone else have fun around me, occasionally peering my way, giggling and whispering, ‘pig girl’.

I have a really bad feeling that name is going to stick.

13

Rhi

Luckily,Dr. Johnson returns my face and my voice to normal at the end of the lesson. But only after Winnie reminds her, otherwise I think she’d probably have conveniently forgotten to have done it.

Once I can speak again, Winnie hooks her arm through mine and hurries us out of the labs and towards the gymnasium. I groan when I realize where we’re going. My ego’s already taken a battering this morning, I’m not sure I can cope with my body doing so too.

“It’s not sports,” Winnie says as she drags me along. “It’s combat training. It’s actually pretty fun. Better than cross-country in the rain, or having Summer take aerobics, anyway.”

As we draw closer, I grab my first glance of the sport’s field, the pitch green and lush and high stands flanking the two sides.

Out on the field several students race around, hurtling magic at one another, laughing and shouting as they do.

“I thought we weren’t allowed to use magic on other students,” I say flatly, pointing out to the field with one hand, as I rub my nose with the other.

“That is dueling. They’re practicing.”

I watch as one student strikes another with a magic bolt sending them tumbling backwards, and another student tackles a smaller kid with the force of his shoulder to the ground.

“It looks dangerous,” I mutter, “and chaotic.”

“Oh, in the olden days, before the official rules, it was. Now there are rules about what spells you can use and what type of force.”

I watch some more, unclear what is going on. “But what’s the purpose of it?”

“Simple really. Two teams. Objective is to take the other team out. It’s popular here, because, you know, one day we might actually be fighting out there like this.”

My feet slow, watching some more, but Winnie tugs on my elbow, dragging me into the changing room.