Chapter 11

CARINA'S POV

Of all the people, in all the rows, of all species in this very hall, this person could have spoken to literally anybody but Instead, she follows us from 3 rows down all the way to our seats, squaring her shoulders, cocking her hips to the side, staring down on us through the thin rims of her antique glasses, her lips curled up in a sneer

"My, My, My, Look who we have here," she says glaring daggers at Felicia who doesn't seem fazed in the slightest, she ignores the woman above her too focused on the red of her nails turning them side to side, to be fair Felicia's nails were immaculate

"Ahem!" the woman coughs loudly refusing to be ignored

"Oh I'm sorry, were you talking to me?" Felicia asks innocently turning to face the woman with a look of surprise as if just now realizing she was there making the woman pale with disbelief, I'm assuming, or maybe she just had severe Iron deficiency because her face was as stark white as the gloves she was wearing

"Yes I'm talking to you" she huffs

"Alright, can I help you?" Felicia replies in the same patronizing tone

"You have a lot of nerve showing your face here Leblanc, especially after what you did!" the woman declares staring down at us with increasing disgust as if the longer she stayed here the less she could stomach us

"I'm sorry, but do I know you?" Felicia asked and I swear she might as well have slapped the woman across the face, the way her glove-covered hand flew up to her chest, the way her body leaned back, the way her face morphed from disbelief to insulted to pure anger

"What?!" she yells her voice going up an octave

"Do I know you?" Felicia repeated staring the woman dead in the face

"We...."

"Greetings, Ladies, gentlemen, practitioners of the unseen arts..." a booming voice from the stage cut their conversation short, Felicia too eager to end their exchange she turned her face to the stage ignoring the woman once again, I watched the war that went behind the woman's glass-covered eyes shaking with so much fury her body physically trembled, as fluid as she appeared she turned around and walked back to her seat no doubt after placing a multitude of curse on Felicia, and only Felicia I hope

".... Welcome to the Margovich School of the unseen...." I give my attention to the speaker on the stage curious as to who such a powerful voice belonged to shocked to see the announcer was... an old man?!

An actual old man, my shock came from the fact that witches had a longer lifespan than your average man, I can swear I've seen pictures of Felicia in black and white Film and yet she didn't look a day over 30 but this man, this man on stage had slicked back white hair, the pale skin on his face was loose, his cheeks sagged, his eyes hollowed, his eyebrows were bushy, his lips a pink so pale it looked almost white, true signs of L

Given, that he still had a full head of hair, his shoulders were strong and rounded, and his back was straight his posture immaculate, still, he looked old and that baffled me, it left me to wonder how many millennia he had lived

".....As has been the mission of the Margovich School to produce the strongest witches the world has ever seen, it is also our mission to educate, empower, and nurture the bright minds that will lead the next generation,..." he places his hands fondly over his heart "...I believe the last time I welcomed new witches was 3 centuries ago on this very stage, How time flies..." he says with a smile, it must've been an inside joke because everyone in the room including Felicia erupted in a fit of laughter, he fought hard to hide his smile covering his mouth snickering into his hands, what was so funny?!

"...Now, now...." he waves his hand trying to calm the room, it silenced in seconds, "...if you all look at your palms you will find a designated number, that will be the room you will be taking your exams in..." at his word I ripped the gloves off my right hand staring at my palm to find it empty, the students beside me were all smiles showing their palms to the people beside them, all of them had numbers scribbled on their palms emitting a soft glow, the panic seeped through my bones as I stared at Felicia with distress who gave me a bored look

"Check your other hand" she whispered, tearing off my other glove I saw it, right in the center of my palm was the number 22, I sighed in relief sliding my hand back into the glove, from the corner of my eye I caught Felicia snickering behind her hand

I didn't want to hear a word from her, imagine after the hell sent studying I went through I would be unable to write the bloody exam, anyone would be mortified

".... Aspiring Margovich witches, rise..." he calls and one by one people rise from their seats

"That's you" Felicia nudges me with her foot violently shooting me out of my seat, I did not even get the chance to glare at her when the announcer began speaking again

".... I would like to introduce you to some of our teachers, you will see that they are wearing numbers as well..." he gestures to the foot of the stage where at least a hundred different people standing side by side with backs straight and their noses up, scribbled on the chest of their matching blazers were numbers ranging from one to 110 emitting the same glow as our hands ".... please locate the instructor with a number than matches yours and follow them to your designated hall, I wish you all the best of luck" on his last word the instructors broke formation and made their way towards the multiple doors on the side of the hall followed by a stream of students

Too busy staring at their faces one after the other I didn't get the chance to find my instructor, I turned to Felicia hopefully who rolled her eyes at me "The woman with the ice blue hair" She jotted her chin towards a petite woman who was halfway through the door

Dang!

I shimmy past Felicia racing after her "Good luck" I hear her voice ring in my head, another little thing I got from using her mana, it's like we were always connected

I fall in line behind the line of students marching after her like soldiers, their faces forward, shoulders squared, gazes steeled, terrifying, I sneak glances at their palms seeing the same 22 scribbled on just like mine reassuring myself that I was on the right line

Stepping through the door I catch a small flash of white light before the haze lifts and I am standing in a large open hall with hundreds of other students filling the room behind me

"Take your seats", the woman says as soon as we were all inside gesturing to the rows of tables and chairs placed oddly close together, too close together for an exam hall

I walked to the nearest table and sat watching everyone else take their seats till the last person was sat, the door we walked through slamming shut before disappearing behind us

"You may begin, now", the woman says picking up a small hourglass on a desk in front of the hall and turning it upside down

Start what?! She didn't give us our papers!

The moment she placed the hourglass back on the table a booklet appeared in front of me along with a pen and a neatly sharpened HB pencil, the shuffling of paper echoes through the hall as everyone turns their pages one by one, taking a deep breath I say a small prayer before even touching L

I turn the page to find a simple Name Column on the front page, flipping the booklet open I feel my eyes go wide, they can't be serious with these questions, I look around at the people in the hall who all looked equally horrified

I could swear a man sitting two rows from me was crying

The girl seated beside me recovered from her shock faster than the rest of us and was already scribbling away, she was so close that if I turned in the slightest I could see her booklet, I couldn't resist, shifting my gaze I peered into her booklet and fought back a L

No wonder we were seated so close

I look at the person in front of her, the person on the other side of my seat, the person in front of me

It was all blank

I couldn't see a thing

All their pages were blank, no matter how many times they wrote, how long they scribbled, how long I stared, their pages were blank questions and all, I looked down at mine and I could see it glaringly well, well L

Picking up my pen I placed a small kiss on the tip and got to work on the first question, then the one after that, the one after that, taking all the questions one at a time, skipping the ones I wasn't sure of, taking my time on each question, after getting over the initial shock I attempted each question well enough

"Time!" the woman calls snapping me out of focus

She can't be serious! how long has it been?! how many hours were we given?

She picks up the hourglass same as the first time and turns it upside down, the moment she drops it on the table our booklets disappear pens and all

"Please make your way back into the first hall, the results have already been posted" She gestured behind us where the door reappeared once more, I could barely register her words, all I couldn't think was 'How was it ALREADY OVER?!'

One by one we make our way out stepping back into the large hardwood hall, the steps were slower, more sullen than the first time, heads hung low, shoulders slack, the mix of desperation, hope, and fear so thick in the air you could taste it

True to her word, Right there on the stage was a large wooden chalkboard with only 100 names