My hands suddenly began to shake...

Come on Julie... Come on. Just control yourself.

“I’m sorry if I can’t be like Miss Perfect over here.”

Vivienna squinted at me, her gaze disparaging.

I didn’t envy her living under the same roof as Gloria Westcode, but I did envy that she wasn’t currently any better with her magic than I was.

But I was far from perfect, especially now, with my broken crystal.

To be clear, Vivienna was miles ahead of me in combat, and even though I had used my powers for the first time when I was six, when I hadn’t been supposed to have any powers, they had only returned later and Vivienna had been miles ahead of me by then.

The only thing that got me Gloria’s attention was my ability to control myself and everything around me with my air powers. I always hit the exact speeds and made the maneuvers on the first try, which made me excellent at Tempesta. But none of the Quatura understood that this meant nothing. Vivienna would forever believe that I had it better than her, but she didn’t know the price I was paying for it.

Gloria ignored Vivienna’s last words.

“I don’t care if you have appointments, girl, as long as you’re here when I want you to be, and you have your magic under control.”

“I have...”

Gloria wheeled around to face her granddaughter with anger. “You don’t!”

Vivienna fell silent.

“We both know that your emotions control your powers, not the other way around. And emotions are poison for your elemental powers.”

Vivienna now also looked down.

Whenever I had lessons with her, I always felt sorry for her. It was her own grandmother who treated her like that. And if she was perhaps treated the same way at home, then that explained a lot.

“Maybe you can convince me otherwise.”

Gloria went back to the altar, where there was a pile of ashes.

As far as I knew, we didn’t have Fire Quatura in our Circle, as they were very rare. There was only one Fire Quatura in the world, and it was a man from the Salem line, but he lived in New York, from where all the Quatura Circles were managed. So, this pile had to be part of Gloria’s lesson.

If I had been little, I would have been curious. But I was no longer a child. I was down here with Vivienna, and we were both puppets on Gloria’s strings.

She pointed to the pile with both hands and took three steps to the side. I did the same because I knew what was coming.

Vivienna looked at the pile because she didn’t know what to do with it. She looked back at me, and I made a circular motion with my finger. Gloria gave me a punishing look, and I looked down. Then Vivienna took a step forward and began to move her hands in the air as if she were spinning a ball, which of course wasn’t there. Her irises began to glow grayish, and it didn’t take long for the ash to rise into the air and spin.

“Faster!” Gloria ordered; her eyes fixed on what was happening.

I noticed how Vivienna tensed up a little under the command. She was the one who didn’t like to be told what to do and had always found it difficult to please her family.

I knew her mother. Amanda did what was asked of her. At the same time, she allowed her daughter to do anything. And I didn’t even need to start with Gloria.

Vivienna seemed to have difficulty controlling the speed of the ash whirl. The gray and white pieces all flew in circles, but every now and then, a few pieces shot out, and the speed was just as inconsistent.

“Steady, Vivienna!” Gloria called out to her, but the more Vivienna tried to concentrate, the more pieces of ash shot back and forth.

“Stop!” Gloria shouted and the pile of ash fell back onto the altar. “This is disastrous!”

Vivienna stepped back with her head down, and I knew a storm was raging inside her.

“You need to work on your fine motor skills. Still!” Gloria put a hand to her forehead, barely able to look at Vivienna. “Why is hardly anyone here able to learn anything?!” She seemed to be controlling her anger. “If you had grown up in my time, your education would have been different. More structure, discipline, and the value of the temple as a key to greater things...” She turned in circles, upset. “You have no idea how important it is right now that you master your skills properly! Especially when you’re studying at this poacher-infested university!”

She looked at both of us and then stopped at me.

Knowing what was about to come my way, my heart began to beat faster.

“Don’t be a disappointment like Vivienna, and show her how it’s done properly.”

She pointed her bony finger at the altar.

I stepped closer.

Come on Julie, you can do it. Just try like you did last lesson.

I took a deep breath, then exhaled.

“Today, child!” Gloria hissed impatiently.

I put both my hands on the altar, hoping that something would happen. The dust remained motionless on the altar. My hands began to tremble with nervousness, but still nothing happened.

“Julie, I want you to...” Gloria began impatiently as the dust suddenly rose. “Finally.”

What might look like acceptable performance to her felt like a loss of control to me. I felt no connection to what was happening in front of me. It was my pure fear of Gloria that had sent the ash flying. It had started to form a small, compact ball that kept moving higher and higher. And with every movement, it developed a life of its own and began to spin at breakneck speed.

“What the hell are you doing?” Gloria didn’t sound thrilled that instead of a tornado, a small gray and white ball was flying upwards, toward the ceiling, which was decorated with a large painting of the legend of the goddess Celestia and her four children: Moenia, Haizea, Amphetrite and Tanazar.

“Do what I told you last lesson!”

Her icy voice rang out behind me. She was getting closer, I could feel it, and my body began to tremble again.

I could see small ice crystals forming on the tips of my dark blue fingers.

What the...

“No...” I said shakily and pulled my hands back into my robe so that no one else could see.

As soon as my hands were no longer in the air, the ash shot in all directions, and finally it slowly rained down on us, making the temple look more peaceful than the situation was.

Vivienna dodged behind a pillar.

I stared motionlessly at the altar. My whole body was shaking, and I couldn’t tell whether it was because of the cold around my heart or because of what was about to happen.