I woke up the next morning, dwelling on what Sylvis had said the day before. Part of me was curious about what my uncle would be like.

  I slipped on a simple yellow dress and some white flats and made my way to the door. I twisted the knob and…

  “Ready to start training?” Maverick asked, not looking pissed off for once.

  “W-what are you doing here?!” I asked, trying not to yelp like my first instinct was. Seriously! Who waits outside someone’s door like that?

  Oh, I guess I do…

  “Sylvis said something about it being imperative that I train you today. She didn’t say much beyond that. I don’t try to understand her. Sometimes her crazy ideas work out, other times I’m convinced she sets me up for her own amusement. Either way, I’m not crazy about facing the consequences of ignoring her orders.” Maverick shrugged dramatically for effect.

  Did Rosalie have a vision? Probably not.

  “Sure. It’s not like my magic has started working.” I stepped through the door and heard him snort. Hmph!

  One nauseating sensation later, we were at the outdoor training area. If I had known it would be this cool out, I would’ve worn something warmer. It didn’t help that it looked like it would rain soon. Maybe we should’ve practiced indoors.

  Or maybe it didn’t matter.

  “I thought you said you were going to train me?” I crossed my arms. Since arriving, all Maverick had done was sit under a tree and materialize a book for himself to read.

  “Did I say that?” He glanced up from his book before immediately looking back down. “Oops. I meant you’re going to train today. Sylvis made it sound like something would happen if you started training.”

  “Little hard when I don’t know what to do.” I rolled my eyes.

  He glanced up from his book again, his eyes caught on something over my shoulder. I turned to see what it was, seeing a group of people gather in front of the manor.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “Looks like they’re setting up for a game of Magitag.” He closed the book, and it disappeared into a bunch of sparkles. Man, I wish I could make things disappear in sparkles.

  “What’s Magitag?” I raised an eyebrow, cocking my head to the side.

  “It’s a combination of the words magic and tag. It’s basically what it sounds like — a game of tag with magic.”

  “Sounds scary enough.”

  “Relax; magic like fire and lightning are off limits. Nothing that can kill or seriously injure anyone.”

  “Seriously injure someone? You can still injure people?” I asked, wanting to join the game less and less.

  “You’re not going to get injured.” He rolled his eyes. “Maybe this is what Sylvis was referring to.” He harshly grabbed my wrist.

  “Wait! I don’t know if I want to—” It was too late. We were already in front of the manor amidst a group of twenty or so other people.

  “E-Ella! There you are!” Aidan waved at me, Marge standing next to him. They were both standing in line, though they appeared to be in different lines.

  “Pick a line.” Maverick harshly pushed me towards the two lines, and I barely managed to keep my balance. I was pushed into the line with Aidan, so I decided to just stand behind him.

  “H-Have you played this before?” he asked me.

  I crossed my arms. “No. I just found out what it was thirty seconds ago.”

  “Surprised you wanted to play.” Marge raised an eyebrow, giving a lopsided grin in the process.

  “Didn’t have much of a choice. I don’t even know what the rules are.” I sighed.

  “Oh, it’s easy. You’re paired up randomly, and there’s an orb in the center of the field that you and your partner have to grab and protect.”

  “Field?” I asked, looking around. This wasn’t much of a field, more of a large yard that bordered the town. You know, the place that can’t know we have magic. …Then again, magic prevents them from knowing we have magic. Magic is redundant.

  “This is just where we line up. The game’s played behind the manor in the field.”

  Before I could ask anything else, we were sectioned into teams, though not as randomly as Marge made it sound. Your partner was just the person in front of you… Meaning Aidan and Marge were paired up together.

  “Looks like we’ll be together.” I turned to see Aqua standing next to Marge, and therefore in front of me.

  “I’m sorry,” I felt the need to apologize. “I still can’t use magic, so I’ll be more of a liability than anything…” Why couldn’t I get someone like Finn or Aidan? Then again, that would really suck for Aidan since his magic isn’t good, to begin with…

  “Don’t worry about it.” She smiled at me genuinely. “With my speed, it won’t matter what you can or can’t do.” She winked at me playfully and I felt slightly relieved.

  I turned behind me to see Maverick watching from where he was standing before. “Is he not going to join?” I asked.

  “He can’t. He and Rosalie are banned. Too overpowered.” She shrugged.

  “I take it Sylvis is banned, too.” I was starting to feel bad about not inviting Sylvis to the picnic. She never gets to participate in anything. Sometimes I forget she’s human too. Or at least I think she is.

  Before Aqua could reply, the line started moving. She motioned for me to follow her, leading me to believe there was more to it than just following the line.

  Eventually, we ended up at the field. In the middle was the orb floating above a small mound of dirt. Each pair had positioned themselves in a circle the same exact distance away from the orb. Once the game officially starts, I imagined it would be a mad dash to the center.

  “Grab my hand.” Aqua extended her hand to me.

  “Why?” I asked, grabbing on nevertheless.

  She smirked at me as a whistle sounded. For a brief moment, I thought she would dislocate my arm. My legs and feet hovered in the air for a couple of seconds before landing on solid ground. My head spun and throbbed at the same time, but before I could process anything, the sensation repeated.

  I continued to helplessly “fly” around until Aqua suddenly stopped, causing my body to fall exactly as it was, me landing flat on my face. I looked up to see Aqua trapped inside a bubble, struggling to break free. Someone pried the orb from her hands, turned invisible, and presumably ran off. No fair!

  A girl with long black hair summoned a gust of wind, knocking several leaves off a nearby tree. The leaves swarmed around before finding their target: the invisible man. The wind seemed to use up all of her ether, though, causing her to collapse.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “Ella!” A familiar voice called out. Aidan pulled me off the ground, and I dusted myself off. I wonder if magic can get the grass stains off this dress. Probably.

  “Are you okay? I kinda forgot you can’t use magic.” Marge grimaced at me.

  I wasn’t okay. I was scared out of my mind. Maverick promised nobody could use magic that would cause bodily harm, but it didn’t change the fact that everyone around me was using magic when I couldn’t.

  Aqua had already taken off, much to my relief, leaving a trail of dust that slapped me in the face. Everywhere I looked, there was magic: water, wind, teleportation, speed, invisibility… someone even had an ability that allowed them to run up trees!

  None of this should have been possible. I had gone my whole life being told magic was fictitious — the work of overactive imaginations. Yet, here I was surrounded by it, being trampled by it in the process, completely defenseless against it.

  “Your hands are icing over.” Marge pointed to my hands.

  “A-Are you okay? Y-You should probably get out of here.” Aidan frowned, placing a hand on my shoulder. He immediately retracted it, his hand entirely covered in ice.

  “How did…?” Marge blinked, looking between my arm and Aidan’s hand. “Her arm isn’t even iced over!”

  “I should go,” I mumbled, stomping off. Why had I even bothered? Was it because Maverick had pushed me into the line? Or was it because I didn’t fully understand what I was getting myself into?

  I shook my head and continued walking. I hope this won’t disqualify Aqua.

  All I have to do is make it to that tree and—

  Of course, the orb would just casually fall right in front of me. Why wouldn’t it?

  I picked it up and noticed how cool it felt to touch despite the fact that it had likely been handled by half a dozen people by now. Shaking it caused the light blue liquid inside to swirl around. It was kind of pretty.

  “Whoa! You got it!” Finn ran in front of me, and I protectively pulled the orb closer to me.

  “Aw, come on, I’m not gonna take it from you. Truce?” He offered a lopsided grin, his hands placed in the air defensively.

  “I still don’t trust you.” I rapidly shook my head.

  “Well, you should if you want any chance of winning.” He motioned at something behind me, and I turned to see a swarm of angry magic users running at me.

  “I didn’t even want to play anymore anyway.” I sighed, handing it over to Finn, remembering that I had already given up. To my surprise, he completely froze with the orb in his hands. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Something isn’t right,” he mumbled just loud enough for me to hear. His eyes were wide and full of fear as he watched the crowd coming. Okay, you need to move now. Why aren’t you moving?

  This isn’t good. They’re going to go straight for him and he’ll be flattened to the ground. Sighing, I grabbed the orb from him and ran. At least they’ll chase me instead. But I didn’t want them chasing me! Better just throw the orb instead. I should at least throw the orb to Aqua. If only I could make myself invisible in the meantime. That would be really useful right now.

  Wait, why have they stopped following me?

  I looked around but couldn’t find anything unusual. No, everyone was staring around in confusion. It almost looked like they were going to give up…?

  I ran over to Aqua and handed the orb to her. To my surprise, she looked straight through me.

  “Um, Aqua?” I asked.

  She screamed and jumped back, falling over in the process. “W-Who’s there?!”

  “E-Elaina,” I answered, scared by her sudden outburst.

  “Why can’t I see you?” She frantically looked everywhere except at me.

  Wait… Did I actually turn invisible?! Okay, think about being visible!

  Aqua’s breathing returned to normal as she stared directly into my eyes. I pulled her up with one hand and handed her the orb with the other.

  “I-I thought you said you couldn’t use magic?” she asked, obviously still in shock.

  “I didn’t think I could either!” I sputtered. “I thought about being invisible a-and then it happened!”

  “It was that simple?” Aqua furrowed her brow as if she had expected it to be harder.

  Maybe Sylvis knew that my magic would awaken during the game. Maybe that’s why she had Maverick bring me out here to begin with. I should go show her I can use magic so I can go home.

  “Wait! Where are you going?” Aqua used her speed to catch up to me.

  “Home,” I answered.

  “At least help me win the game first!” She grabbed me by the wrist, pulling my hands into hers. This game was really serious to her… I guess it wouldn’t be fair to abandon her. I could go home anytime now, anyway.

  I nodded, and she took off. I suppose I would serve as a distraction.

  How did you win anyway?

  “Two ways,” Finn clamped his hand on my shoulder, causing me to jump and accidentally shock him… Oops… I guess I still have that element thing. “It’s fine.” He winced, offering me a thumbs-up. “There’s a timer set for ten minutes. Whoever has the orb after that wins. Alternatively, if everyone runs out of ether except for the person with the orb, the game ends then.”

  So, I just needed to stall.

  “It’ll be a good way to practice your magic. Let’s see what you can do.” Finn summoned his lance, which startled me. How was I supposed to fight against that with the magic I just got? “Figure it out.” He swung his lance at me, and I literally jumped twelve feet in the air to avoid it. Cool! I could do that?! What else could I do?

  I landed on my feet, my legs bent apart as I balanced myself with my left palm. I ran towards Finn, my arms apart, feeling the wind around me. I was never athletic, but now I didn’t feel the sting in my legs or my chest as I ran. He swung his lance at me as I ducked and slid under, kicking the lance out of his grip in the process.

  He looked at me, his smile a combination of pride and amusement. I bet he hadn’t seen that coming, even by reading my mind!

  “I didn’t expect you to pull it off so effortlessly.” He shrugged as he grabbed his lance. "I know now not to underestimate you." He smirked.

  He swung his lance again and I narrowly dodged just for it to come swinging back again. I dodged once again before he stabbed it into the ground, using it to hoist himself into the air and throw a kick at me. I caught his foot with my hands and sent him back. He hadn't let go of the lance and managed to swing back around so his feet would land on solid ground.

  I dashed towards him, and he pulled his lance out, blocking me from pursuing him. I went to raise my leg to kick it, but he had already moved it out of place. I went to punch him, but he grabbed my fist and spun me around.

  "How can you predict all of my moves— Oh right..." He's a mind reader. I'm stupid.

  But I'm an Ethereal with magic now. I should be able to block him out.

  "Wait, no, don't do that—" he pleaded.

  "Bye, Finn." I smirked.

  Now to use magic. What magic would benefit me the most in this scenario? Fire is weak to water, so...

  I swung my arms back and dragged them forward, creating a stream of water with my magic. The water doused the flame on Finn's lance as well as him. I'd never seen him look so devastated before.

  "Just create another one." I chuckled tauntingly.

  He pouted his lower lip at me as the lance disappeared, being replaced by another one with fire.

  Doused that one again.

  "Ella! I can't keep making infinite lances!" he said, exasperated.

  "Then it looks like I win." I crossed my arms, smiling.

  He pursed his lips. Was he actually upset? Not like he could answer that now.

  A feeble gust of wind brushed past me. "Is... Is that it?" I couldn't help but laugh. It was so pathetic.

  "Yes, that's it." He sighed. "That's what I get for not practicing magic outside of my lance and healing. And a little bit of teleportation."

  "I win." I smirked.

  And that's when a whistle sounded. Oh crap... I was supposed to be causing a distraction, not getting distracted... Some unfamiliar person ended up winning. Sorry, Aqua...

  “Ella! W-We saw you fighting F-Finn! H-How did you do that?!” Aidan asked in surprise. His huffing from being out of breath caused him to stutter even more than usual.

  “I can use magic! I don’t know how, but I can!” I couldn’t contain my giddiness. Who knew magic felt this freeing? Marge smiled at me knowingly, and I couldn’t help but get the feeling that she knew more than she let on. Had she had the prediction?

  “Looks like Sylvis was right after all.” Maverick appeared next to us, arms crossed. “She could have at least been bothered to tell me it was related to Magitag.”

  “Wait, Ella, your eyes!” Marge pointed at them.

  “Oh no… Are they affected by the elements too now?!” I started to panic. To my surprise, my hands didn’t ice over for once.

  Maverick shook his hand and summoned a small hand mirror, and held it up for me. My once brown eyes had turned pink.

  “Whoa! I was so invested in our fight, I didn’t even notice.” Finn stared at the mirror from where he was standing next to me.

  “It’s not unusual for an Ethereal’s eyes to change color. Mine did, Rosalie’s did,” Maverick explained. So his heterochromia was special after all.

  “What about Sylvis?” I asked, recalling that her eyes were blue. There’s certainly nothing special about that if Aidan and Finn both have blue eyes as well.

  “What about her?” Maverick asked, seemingly completely oblivious to my question.

  “She’s an Ethereal, right?”

  “Is she? You’d have to ask her,” Maverick answered cryptically.

  Was she not an Ethereal?