Forest of Illusions (The Broken Prism) (34 page)

The Prism Master rolled his eyes and said, “You’re a natural prism-user. What in the world am I going to test you on? You think I bothere
d writing an exam for only one student to take this year?” He waved a dismissive hand without pausing for Hayden to answer. “Let’s go outside and enjoy the last bit of nice weather we’re going to see before we leave Mizzenwald.”

Surprised but relieved at
the prospect of skipping a two-hour test, Hayden followed Master Asher and Cinder out of the newly-repaired back exit. They ended up at the edges of the large black stone floor where Hayden used to have Conjury lessons, and Asher pulled up a down-stuffed cushion and flopped onto it. Hayden secured a cushion of his own, while the Master told Cinder and Bonk to go play.

The two
dragonlings took flight and hovered above the center of the black flooring, eyeing each other for a moment before launching into a friendly game of attacking the snot out of each other. Hayden had no idea how the dragons found this restful and entertaining, but they seemed to get some joy out of biting, clawing, and spitting poison at each other, occasionally blowing small jets of fire to heal themselves.

“I’ve never understood why this counts as ‘fun’ for them,” Hayden said to the Prism Master to break the silence.

Asher smiled and answered without looking away from the dragons. “It’s good to keep their skills sharp—gives them practice in case they ever fight other magical creatures.”

Cinder had Bonk pinned to the ground with his jaws around the other dragon’s neck, shaking him vigorously until Bonk screeched in defeat. They both got back to their feet and spit fire at each other before taking flight for round two.
Hayden was trying to get up the courage to ask his mentor when he was going to get a new familiar, since Horace was gone and Cinder would never really belong to anyone except the Dark Prism, who was now dead.

“So, where are you headed for the winter? Back to Zane’s house, or are you going to brave a visit to Tess?”
Asher changed the subject before Hayden could ask his question.

Hayden grimaced at the thought of showing up at Tess’s house over the winter holiday. Her father may like him slightly more than Lorn Trout for the moment, but he didn’t think it was a good time to push his luck
with the man.

“Probably Zane’s, though if Oliver’s mom manages to come through on getting my estate back for me then I might stop by there for a bit.”

Asher brightened.

“Ah, excellent.
Perhaps I’ll visit you there and help you check some old hiding places of your father’s I know about—make sure they’re empty and not booby-trapped in any way.”

Hayden raised an eyebrow and said, “You know about my father’s
old hiding places and you didn’t tell the Council of Mages?”

Asher rolled his eyes and said, “They didn’t ask. Besides, I offered to help them with their search of the house, but many of them still don’t trust that I wasn’t in league with him and they weren’t eager to let me back near the place.”

“They’re idiots,” Hayden said flatly.

“In general,
I agree, though they get really touchy if you say that to their faces for some reason.” Asher smirked.

Hayden frowned and changed the subject.

“Are the Schisms I accidentally created by moving the Forest of Illusions all closing on their own?”

Asher turned away from the sight of Bonk biting Cinder’s tail and using it to whip the purple dragon around in circles like he was about to be launched into the air. Now he faced Hayden directly.

“It’s too soon to say. Some of them are closing, but others are opening. It seems the world is still in flux, trying to balance out such a large magical shock. Hopefully everything rights itself soon enough, before too many Schism-creatures find their way through to our side.”

Hayden sighed. “Guess I know what I’ll be doing next year—fighting Schism-
wargs and such.”

“
I hadn’t really planned on nominating you for that task if it should prove necessary,” Asher frowned at him.

Now it was Hayden’s turn to roll his eyes. “Come on, sir, what are the odds that scary, unnatural creatures would find their way into this world and I
wouldn’t
run into them at some point?” He paused momentarily. “Everything deadly seems to find its way to me eventually.”

Master Asher snorted and said, “Fair point; your track-record of avoiding danger is pretty terrible so far. Even Bonk can only eat so many of your enemies at a time
before he gets indigestion.”

At that moment, Hayden’s familiar gave a cry of delight and streaked off after a squirrel on the lawns,
completely sidetracked from his fight, only to be attacked from behind and flattened by Cinder.

“Some dragon,” Hayden grumbled to himself.

His last two finals were in Wands and Healing, and when he put down his pencil for the last time it was with a sense of relief at having survived another year at Mizzenwald. He was fairly sure he at least passed all of his classes, and there was nothing to do but spend time with his friends while they waited for the
ir grades to come out.

Hayden spent his last morning at Mizzenwald sitting
with Tess in the main courtyard, beneath the branches of a cherry-blossom tree. He liked watching petals fall down into Tess’s hair while she batted them away, opening the envelope containing her final scores and scanning the paper within briefly.

She exhaled in relief.

“I passed everything well enough to move on to the next level. I wasn’t sure about Herbalism, but I managed a Good.”

“Nice, I knew you’d do fine.” Hayden smiled, before turning to his own grades.

He tore the envelope and withdrew the paper from within, less worried this year than he had been in any previous one but still anxious.

Final Exam Results – Frost, Hayden

E- Excellent, G- Good, M-Mediocre, U- Unsatisfactory, D-Disgraceful

Next term qualifications in ( )

Elixirs: G (L-4)

Abnormal Magic: E (L-2 Comment: You’re as abnormal as they come! --
Laurren)

Charms: G (L-3)

Prisms: E (L-M Comment: Great job on the final. --Asher)

Wands: E (L-5)

Healing: G (L-5)

Hayden stared at the paper for a long moment with his mouth hanging open in disbelief. Eventually he turned to Tess and said, “Does level ‘M’ mean mastery?”

She lifted her eyebrows and leaned over to look at his paper.

“I think so. I’m not sure what else it would mean, unless Master Asher is just messing around with you. But since you’re a Prism major it makes sense that he’s bumping you up…”

“But I haven’t done the fifth or sixth year classes yet—if he even teaches those.” Hayden said in awe.

“You’ve already used mastery-level prisms before without your brain exploding though, so maybe he thinks there’s no point in slowing things down for you if you’re ready for it.”

“Yeah, well…cool,” Hayden concluded lamely, smiling to
himself when Tess leaned her head against his shoulder and stared out at the grounds.

“Maybe it’s because you did so well on your final,” she added, reading his comment.

Hayden snorted in amusement and said, “He was being sarcastic. There was no final.”

Tess giggled in surprise and tossed a cherry-blossom to Mittens, who batted at it enthusiastically for a few moments before losing interest and streaking off after a vole.

“We’ll have to catch our translocation circles soon or we’ll be stuck walking home through the snow,” she pointed out softly.

“Yeah, I know. Let’s just sit out here for a few more minutes and enjoy the weather though.”

She didn’t protest, and so she and Hayden sat in companionable silence, staring out across the grounds and watching groups of students beginning to form in front of the area where the mastery students would draw their translocation circles to send them home.

He knew that there were still plenty of things to worry about: Schisms opening and closing all around the continent, whether or not the northern mages had been truly defeated, if the
Magistra was still alive in the Forest of Illusions, plotting revenge on him at this very moment…

Despite all of that, he found himself relaxed and happy, enjoying the last bit of warm weather before next term, his good grades, and Tess’s head rested on his shoulder. Even the sound of Bonk choking violently on a cherry blossom, only to clear his airways and attempt to eat another one, couldn’t dampen his spirits.

Well, Mizzenwald, let’s see what new and exciting ways you’ll try to get me killed next year. Keep it coming, I’m ready.