I read it out:
REQUIREMENTS TO PASS THE NOVICE QUEST
All those with magic must go on a quest.
To show themselves worthy of passing this test.
ONE: Help your town, do good all around.
TWO: Live there for one moon, don’t leave too soon.
THREE: Fly by broomstick, the easiest trick.
The rules are simple for the valiant, clever, and strong.
But if you cannot continue, you do not belong.
I shivered as I read the last line. But the law was absolute. The Council lived by these rules. Without them, our realm would be weakened by those using rogue magic, meaning some sort of magic that wasn’t overseen by the Council. A spell gone wrong by an unchecked witch or wizard. A mistake that turned deadly.
There’d been incidents years back, as magic waned and some witches and wizards cast magic unchecked. A rogue witch had, with one wayward spell, decimated an entire town. Now, apprenticeships and the quests ensured that witches and wizards were trained and licensed and swore by the mission of the Council: Do good.
“It says that any Apprentice gets to go on their journey. As long as they have magic.” I stared down Grand Master Grottel. “Let the judge be the leader of the town that I end up in. I swear I’ll uphold the Council’s rules and do good.”
Those who hadn’t sided with Grottel nodded in support.
Grottel scanned the hall, a vein throbbing in his forehead. Then his eyes narrowed at me. I fought my nervous urge to try to charm myself into the ground. He couldn’t possibly disregard the rules of the quest—it would be like disregarding the rules of the Council.
Kaya and a handful of Mother’s closest friends shifted closer toward us. The air brewed thick with a heaviness, like clouds forming before a thunderstorm.
“The rules are much too lenient,” Grottel snapped. He flicked his hand at Norya, who scribbled something onto a paper and tapped her wand, casting a quick spell. She bowed low, the paper held high as she raised her hands above her head.
He jabbed his wand at the paper. It glowed gold and lifted up into the air. The crowd hushed in surprise.
Grottel growled, “Evalithimus Evergreen, although you have yet to show any noteworthy enchantments, we hope to see that your pinch of magic is not a fluke.”
He flicked his wrist and incanted a spell. “Fly to the girl.” Grottel, like my mother, was powerful enough to be able to use the barest of commands for simple spells. The golden ticket shot into the air and fluttered down to my fingertips.
I clutched the ticket, my hands shaking with excitement, and read it out:
ONE BOAT TICKET TO A TOWN IN NEED
FOR YOUR NOVICE QUEST
My heart soared. “Thank you, Grand Master Grottel. I promise I’ll do good by the Council.”
“Good luck with your attempt. Your boat leaves in an hour,” he sniped. He turned on his heel and stalked away.
Norya hurried up to me, a kind smile warming her eyes, and handed over a black tube. “Your Novice quest rules and application—keep it safe, and make sure to get the application properly signed. Best of luck to you, Apprentice Evergreen. I hope to call you Novice Evergreen when we meet next.”
As Norya hurried off to follow Grottel, Mother wrapped her arm around my shoulder with a cheeky grin. “You’ve made Hayato listen for once. You’ll be a witch like me in no time.”
I smiled as if I was as certain as she was.
But sweat trickled down my back as I stumbled out of the Council Hall, in Mother’s footsteps and to Father’s awaiting arms. How in the realm was I going to pull this off?
CHAPTER 4
DO GOOD
The wind fluttered the brim of my witch’s hat and it lifted up, as if it was planning to fly off on its own adventure, but I tugged it firmly down. I clutched my knapsack and broom, staring in awe at the tall boat bobbing in the water. We had rushed from the Council Hall to the docks, so I could catch the midday boat from Okayama, and made it just as they’d started boarding.
“All packed? Got the croissants?” Father patted my knapsack and then blinked quickly, staring at the foaming peaks of the river as if it was to blame. “Darn that water, spraying in my eyes.”
“All packed,” I echoed.
“I saw you got a copy of Potions of Possibilities.” Mother frowned, prodding her cherrywood wand at the buckles of my knapsack, checking that they were latched and secured for the thirtieth time. “I know potions are out of fashion, but you may find that tome useful.”
“Along with the smoked mackerel, the huge bag of rice, the Do Good needlepoint, and the thirteen jars of odds and ends you’ve already snuck in?” I said. “My knapsack will probably sink the boat.” Father hid his laugh.
“I just want to send you off right.” She raised an eyebrow and pointed her wand at me. “Don’t make me charm you into staying.”
I knew she’d never do that. With every wish I’d made hoping to become a witch, she’d also believed that I’d become a witch like her, too. I whispered, quieter than the rush of the river, “I’m going to miss you both so much.”
Mother pulled me in for a hug, resting her head on top of mine. The smooth silk of her dress brushed my skin, and I breathed in her spicy cinnamon scent, slowing down my racing heartbeat.
“One last thing that I made for you,” she said, and pulled something from around her neck. A tiny hourglass smaller than my thumbnail, made of two glass stars meeting together, dangled on a bronze chain. Bronze, like the color of the Novice rank. My heart swelled; Mother must have picked the color wholeheartedly believing in me. “It’s charmed to your quest window, so sand trickles down as time passes, and the top star will empty out when your time is up.”
I slipped the chain over my neck. “Thank you, Mother.” Now I had a bit of her to take with me, wherever I got sent.
“One moon will pass in no time.” She brushed at the droplets of mist forming on my hat, smiling gently. “Don’t forget to meet with your town leader as soon as you get off. And have the best time with your guardian, too. But more than anything, never forget the mission of all witches and wizards, Eva.”
The first day of the Novice quest would be simple enough: meet with my new town leader, secure a guardian as the liaison between me and the town… and, always, do good. “I won’t forget.” I didn’t need a needlepoint to remember that. Even with just my pinch of magic, even if I was a fluke, I wanted to do good just like my mother.
“The Culling will hit the realm before the end of the year, though.” Father rubbed the stubble on his chin thoughtfully. “Come back before then.”
“It’s still early summer, Father. I’ll be home in one moon, well before it starts.” I waved the star-shaped hourglass at him, yet prickles ran down my neck.
Seven years ago, the Culling, a strange, cursed force of nature, struck the realm. Every year since, it pelted the land each autumn with anything from a sudden blizzard on a once-sunny day to an earthquake that deepened the abyss between Rivelle Realm and Constancia, the realm to the south.