Apprentices: Waxing Crescent

Barely Even Standing

It’s the middle of October. A week into my crazy detention schedule. I’m not sure how I’m even able to function, but I’m like a machine. I keep going, refusing to stop. I’ll get through this easily. It’s only a week more to go.

But even if I’m already half through my punishment, my grades are already suffering. I’m doing my best, trust me. I’ve always worked every day to keep up with all classes. Especially mathematics, which isn’t really my forte.

The last week was hectic. I woke up, got ready for classes, ate breakfast and attended lessons. Then lunch, another pack of lessons and straight to detention. If I was lucky, I got about an hour for myself before dinner, because after it, I was already headed to the Warrior Headquarters for my second detention.

I can’t wait until it’s all over. And I know I brought it upon myself, but I really wish the teachers would think about my schoolwork a little. Yeah, I don’t deserve the privilege of doing homework, do I? Actually, no sane person deserves that.

It’s not just that I’m tired because I often study past midnight. My personal relationships are suffering too. Not the ones with my friends. It’s my cat.

Beelzebub still doesn’t glance at me much. She’s still mad at me about last Friday, when I didn’t have time to feed her before dinner, then went to the party. The ungrateful little b***h. I know I made a mistake but come on. It’s not like she was left completely without food. I always leave her some cat kibble, just in case she gets hungry. She’s just being overly dramatic.

It's Thursday and I’m lying on bed, refusing to acknowledge the fact that I should be doing homework. I’m too tired. I can’t even bring myself to get up and sit by the desk, let alone grab my notebooks. I keep lighting flames in my hand and extinguishing them. I still didn’t specialize for an element, but I like fire. In my head, this is my dominant element. I’m just waiting for it to show.

Witches have a unique kind of magic. We connect with nature and everything in it. There are five existing elements, and all our spells are coming from their essence. There is fire, my favorite, water, air, earth, which is Katie’s element, and mind. And yes, they’re cooler as they sound.

In some way, we can connect and control all of the elements. It depends on the witch. Some only manage to perform the easiest spells of each element, while others are capable of even the more difficult ones. But the way you check which element is your dominant is quite simple. Each element has the most difficult spell. If you manage to perform it, it means that you specialized for that element.

The specialization is only official at the end of our high school, when we have to perform that spell in front of a board of examiners. No one truly knows their specialization until that moment. But most witches already show their dominant element way before. Especially when they’re bad at every spell, but manage to cast the ones that come from their element perfectly.

My problem is that I’m too good at every spell. Everything I try, I manage to perform. I’m equally good at every element, which is why I’m considered one of the best students at the school.

I can’t wait for the day of my specialization exam. I’m truly interested to find out which element will be my dominant. Warrior witches usually specialize in fire. Which is why I want that for myself so badly.

I don’t know if I’ve already explained that, but the heat of fire is the only thing that casts away soulthieves. At least temporarily. If I don’t specialize in fire, I’m useless for field work. And I would hate to become a warrior witch just to be sentenced to a desk job.

Suddenly, there’s a soft knock on my door. I extinguish the flame in my hand, bringing myself out of my thoughts. I look at Beelzebub, who curiously stares at the door, the tip of her tail once again wiggling like in slow motion.

I let out a sigh, yelling out: “Come in, it’s open.” I keep lying on bed, refusing to move. Whoever needs me can speak to me even if I’m here, being half-dead. I notice Beelzebub’s tail twitching angrily, making me roll my eyes at the cat. “You’re getting old with all that sulking,” I tell her before turning my head towards the door.

It opens, revealing a worried Katie. “Are you talking to yourself?” she wants to know, while I shake my head, not even in the mood to pull myself up into a half sitting position. I can’t. I physically can’t.

“Nope, just trying to make the cat talk to me again,” I explain, making her glance between me and Beelzebub in confusion. She closes the door and strides over to the cat first, carefully extending her hand towards her head.

“Hey Bubba,” she greets her in a gentle tone.

To my surprise, Beelzebub rubs her head against her fingers, purring in satisfaction. Katie smiles softly, while I scoff. “Traitors,” I grunt, watching the scene bitterly. I feed this bloody cat every day and she’s angry with me because I forgot about her once? I’ll stop feeding her for a week, then we’ll see if she’s still mad.

Katie turns towards me, chuckling, before her forehead suddenly creases with worry. “Are you feeling alright, Evelyn?” she asks, leaving Beelzebub to her sulking. I raise an eyebrow at her. What the hell is she talking about? I’m doing perfectly well.

“Yeah?” I say, but my answer sounds more like a question. Why wouldn’t I be alright? I’m just barely able to keep my eyes open, that’s all.

But my best friend is already sitting on the bed beside me, putting her hand on my forehead. She widens her eyes in surprise. “Jeez, your head is burning. You’re down with fever,” she reveals, making me sit up immediately.

“No, I’m not. I’m fine,” I say, refusing to understand what she’s telling me. I can’t be sick. I have one more week of detention left. I need to be in the Warrior Headquarters at seven. And then I have homework to do. It’s pretty simple, I just don’t have the time to be sick. Period.

Katie sighs, shaking her head at me in disbelief. “You need to go to the nurse. She’ll be able to help you with your fever. I don’t have the power to do that,” she tries to convince me, but I shake my head, realizing that it feel unusually heavy on my neck.

“I’m not going anywhere. I need to feed Beelzebub,” I protest, already forcing my body to get up. But as I put myself on my feet, my knees feel weak. What the f**k is going on? I was fine fifteen minutes ago!

“Evelyn,” Katie calls after me in the voice that foreshadows her mother mode. I’m about to get scolded for not taking care of myself properly, you’ll see. At the same time, Beelzebub meows loudly, as she realizes that I’m opening the drawer with her cat food.

I cast a dirty a glance at the cat. “Oh, so their majesty is speaking to me again?” I remark bitterly, forcing myself to stand straight as I open the can of cat food. Katie doesn’t say a word now, watching me as I struggle to bend down to Beelzebub’s dish.

I admit that I’m feeling cold. Also, I think I’m starting to shiver a little. It’s definitely not a pleasant feeling. And it’s starting to say something about my stubbornness. But I still refuse to admit that I’m sick. It’s just a side effect of my tiredness.

“Okay, that’s enough. I’m taking you to the nurse,” Katie suddenly says, standing up from the bed and walking towards me. I send her a wild look that probably makes it seem like I’m a stray animal.

“But Bubba …” I protest weakly, not wanting to separate myself from the cat now that she’s meowed at me after almost a week. If I leave now, she’ll get mad at me again. My best friend sighs, but pats my shoulder in a comforting way.

“You’ve fed her. She’s happy now. She won’t get mad if you take care of your health now,” she tells me, then leads me out of my room without mercy. But not before taking a quilt from my bed and wrapping it around my shoulders. “Don’t want you shivering the whole way,” she silently murmurs.

She leads me through the hallways with one arm wrapped around my shoulders and the other holding my hand. I feel like a baby. But this is how it’s always been. Katie’s always playing mom and taking care of everyone.

We get to the nurse’s office, which is luckily located away from the everyday crowd of students. If someone saw me in this state, I would never hear the end of it. Especially if it got back to my worst enemy. Ugh, not a great time to think about Sheila. I won’t just have a fever, I’ll feel the need to throw up.

As we get inside, the school nurses are just having their coffee break. One of them is ending their shift, while the other one is just beginning it. They both jump up at sight of me and have Katie bring me to the bed.

“What got her?” one of them asks. I’m not sure which one, I haven’t been to the nurse’s office very often. Maybe twice in my almost four years of high school. Katie explains that she found me lying in bed with a fever.

“I don’t have a fever,” I murmur in protest, but the truth is, I feel quite comfortable here. My quilt makes me warm, and I could fall asleep easily now.

“Keep her awake, we need to give her an antiheating potion. We can’t heal her with magic, because we don’t know the cause of the fever,” the nurse explains, and I hear the clinking of flasks. My eyes are closed. How strange.

“Evelyn, focus. You need to drink this, you’ll feel better,” Katie’s stern voice travels to my ears, making me sigh. Why doesn’t she let me sleep?

“Is she on her period?” the nurse asks, making a short silence follow.

“No, not that I know of. She usually tells me about it. She last bled two weeks ago, I think,” my best friend answers instead of me. That’s correct. See? They don’t even need me to stay awake. “Evelyn, by the moons, don’t sleep! You’ll sleep later,” she barks at me, making me flinch in surprise and open my eyes for a short moment. A very short moment.

Suddenly, I feel something touch my lips, forcing me to lift my eyelids again, just to check what’s happening. I see the friendly face of the nurse, who is giving me the antiheating potion. Great. If I recall correctly, this tastes like dung.

I scrunch my face in disgust as I get the liquid into my mouth. “Swallow,” the nurse tells me sternly and I force myself to get the liquid down my throat. Bleh. That was disgusting. “Get her back to her room now and make sure she rests. The potion might have an immediate effect, but she still needs to get enough sleep. She can’t attend classes tomorrow, I’ll make sure to message the school board. Name and surname?”

“Evelyn Pierce,” I shoot out, suddenly sitting up as I feel the potion working. The nurse raises her eyebrows, smiling to herself. She then turns back to Katie, like I didn’t even speak.

“Like I said, she needs at least two days of rest. You may go now,” she tells my best friend, then sends me an encouraging wink. Okay? I turn to Katie in confusion, trying to figure out why the nurse told her about my rest.

She doesn’t say anything about it until we’re back in my room. I sit behind my desk, meaning to do as much homework as I can before dinner, so I don’t have to work late into the night again. “I can’t believe you made me go out my room like this,” I scold my best friend, gesturing down myself. I’m dressed in and old top and sweatpants. I would never let myself be caught dead in that.

Katie sends me a stern look, shaking her head. “Okay. Next time you’re down with fever I’ll make sure to dress you up like you’re going clubbing,” she assures me, her voice full of sarcasm. I smirk at her.

“That would be perfect, thanks,” I say, grinning at her happily. Then, I start pulling notebooks out of my bag and turn on my desk lamp. Katie furrows her eyebrows, making my things fall back into my bag with the use of magic. “Hey!”

“You’re not doing homework. You’re coming straight to dinner with me and then you’re resting, just like the nurse said,” she commands, crossing her arms across her chest. My mouth hangs open. I’m not used to Katie being so bossy.

“Excuse moi?” I say, flustered by her reaction. Yeah, I know I’m not acting by the nurse’s instructions, but it’s my life. I need to do my schoolwork and I have a detention to get to after dinner. I brought this upon myself and I intend to go through with it. I can’t be down with fever. It’s like I’m such a loser that I can’t even handle two weeks of detention. That’s it folks, I’m getting old.

“Don’t French me, mademoiselle, you heard what I said,” she stands by her words, sending me another stern gaze. I roll my eyes, groaning loudly in frustration. “Come, make yourself presentable and let’s get to dinner. You’re sleeping in tomorrow and you’ll be relaxing the entire day, okay? I’ll get you notes for all classes, don’t worry,” she then adds a bit more gently.

“Fine,” I finally sigh, burying my head into my hands. This wasn’t in my plans for this school year. I suddenly feel two paws on my leg and I look down, meeting Beelzebub’s green eyes. I lean backwards, tapping on my lap twice. She jumps on me, starting to purr, and I smile. It’s good to know that she isn’t mad at me anymore. “Yep, it’s just you and me tomorrow, Bubba. Girls’ time.”