• There was nothing like someone smiling at you like they wanted to kill you to get your adrenaline pumping.
    “Gwin!” my half-sister, Dalia, yelled through gritted teeth. “Say hello to the angels for me when I murder you!” She waved her cloak in the air. The one I had just burned a hole in with a potion.
    “To be fair, you did knock the vial ov-”
    “Oh, shut up! When Mother hears about this-”
    “She won’t care! It’s just cloth!”
    “Silk! It’s silk! When she finds out you ruined one of my cloaks-”
    “You have plenty of silk cloaks!”
    “But this one was my favorite!”
    “Oh really?”
    “Okay, fine. Fourth favorite. But when I find a way to conjure magic of my own-”
    I scoffed. “Which you’ve been trying to do for years-”
    “-I’ll be able to get back at you.”
    “Give up, Dalia. The Purnett said I was the only one in this family with magical abilities. For all we know, I got them from my mum-”
    “But what if you didn’t? What if you just got them?”
    “The Purnett said-”
    “‘The Purnett said’ he could only sense that you had magic!”
    “Dalia, you get signs of magical abilities at age seven. Not thirteen-”
    “Says who?”
    Rolling my eyes, I picked up the shattered remains of the vial. “Everyone does. That’s why the Dvedjour do the Emerald Test on those seven and older.”
    The Emerald Test was Queen Valencia’s idea of a “fair trial.” What they do is not pretty at all, especially when you’re forced to watch it occur next to the Queen herself.
    Does she know I’m an Archidi? Yes, she does. Why doesn’t she kill me on the spot? Killing her husband’s son seems like a genius idea, no?
    “I know… I know…“ Dalia sighs. Suddenly, her mood shifts from disappointed to excited. “Did you hear? There’s going to be a new Head Dvedjour of Azmodea!”
    That news didn’t surprise me. Ever since what happened to the last HDoA, the Queen and my father had been searching every Dvedjour Academy in Cjoya for a new head of not only the Dvedjour in the capital city, Azmodea, but for the Dvedjour in every corner of the world. From what I picked up by eavesdropping, the new HDoA was about my age. My age. That’s the youngest a Head Dvedjour anywhere has ever been.
    “What’s his name?” I asked, pulling on a cord so the curtains would move from blocking the window.
    “Ugh, not all Head Dvedjours are-” she stopped mid sentence and stared out the window of the Astronomy Tower, mouth dropping in awe.
    Even after several Lights, the view the tower gave of the enormous city was still breathtaking. Lights glowed from multi-colored lanterns and the market-square was bustling with shoppers buying merchants’ wares. The Citadel of Amodea surrounded the city, stretching for miles upon miles. In front of the Fountain of Youth, men and women danced, getting the citizens ready for the upcoming Confirmation of the Dvedjour.
    “You did not finish your thought, Dalia. Who is the next HDoA?”
    She shook her head, grabbed her cloak, and began to walk out. “You’ll see tomorrow!”
    “Hey! That’s not fair! Why don’t I get to know?”
    Too late. Dalia had already left the tower, leaving me alone.
    I sighed and looked out the window again. The light from our two moons shone, leaving their reflections on the ocean below. A streak of white caught my eye. Startled, I took a step back.
    The dancers screamed, alerting the patrolling Dvedjour, who took out their swords of emerald.
    “Magic…” I whispered before teleporting myself to the entrance of the Astronomy Tower. The man guarding it jumped, startled, before realizing it was me.
    “Prince Gwin, I apologize for that.”
    “It’s not a problem. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have matters I must attend to.”
    The guard bowed his head, the traditional Cjoyan salute. “Of course, sir.”
    All of this because the Queen found my father attractive… I thought. I shuddered to myself before making my way to the Fountain of Youth, where plenty of Dvedjour were poised to strike anything that moved.
    I walked up to them, fearing nothing, knowing that they would be hanged if my death was on their hands.
    “State your business, gentlemen.” I stopped when I reach them, hands clasped behind my back.
    “There are traces of an Archadiel in this very square,” a gruff man, possibly the leader of the group, spoke up.
    “Yes, I saw that light. Did you see her appearance?”
    The Dvedjour man next to him stepped forward. “Blue eyes, long, curly blonde hair. She appeared to have just reached thirteen Lights.
    The description of the girl sparked a memory. Even though I knew it only flashed in my mind for a millisecond, I felt as though I was watching it unravel in its entirety.
    The eight-Light-old girl’s spark of life had died from her eyes long ago. Her skin showed off the effect of being underground for so long. I looked over my father’s shoulder at the scroll about to be read. The Evans family, sentenced to the Emerald Test. Two of the family, the mother and the second youngest, were spared because they exhibited no magical abilities. But they weren’t spared of living without knowledge of their family’s death.
    I looked over where they sat in the stands. The girl looked to be about twelve, far younger than the eldest son, who was eighteen. What struck me as odd was the fact that she shared no resemblance with any of the family except for her mother. Even then, the similarities were small.
    That can’t be right… was my last thought before the Test began.
    “The Evans family, save for Gray and Elizabeth Evans, has been sentenced to the Emerald Test due to a claim of practicing the dark arts.”
    The girl clutched her mother’s hand. Tears threatened to spill from her gray eyes. That must be Gray, it has to be.
    Intelligent eyes stared at me, glistening with unshed tears. Blue. Not gray or green, but blue.
    Green eyes were possessed by Archidis and Archadiels who have been able to harness their powers. What was a girl who possessed magical abilities doing with blue eyes?
    She didn’t get her powers yet.
    “Let the Test begin.” Queen Valencia’s voice rang out, she had no need to yell or to heighten the volume of her voice. The arena was dead silent, hanging onto every word.
    I quickly snuck a glance at the scroll, skimming through the words until I found the list of names. My eyes darted to the youngest.
    Octavia Evans: eight Lights old.
    Of course. You become aware of your abilities at age seven, but you don’t harness them until age nine.
    The Dvedjour stepped forward with emerald weapons and Octavia’s eyes widened. She grabbed her father’s hand and closed her eyes.
    Then they disappeared in a puff of green smoke.
    Queen Valencia, my father, eight-Light-old Dalia, and everyone else in the Arena gasped.
    All but me. I had expected it.
    Octavia reappeared and grabbed the arms of two of her sisters before disappearing again. Before she could appear again, the Dvedjour grabbed the two remaining Evans, Darian and Sanaa. Twins, from what I could tell with the scroll.
    She reappeared. As a Dvedjour made a grab for her, she enveloped herself in green smoke and appeared in front of the twins. She grabbed their arms and disappeared. No Evans remained in the arena except for Gray and Elizabeth.
    I blinked, clearing the memory from my mind.
    “It’s a possibility that it was Octavia Evans. Fan out, find her.” A female voice reverberated around us. I looked behind me to see someone wearing a helmet.
    The group of Dvedjour lowered their heads to the figure.
    “Prince Gwin, I apologize for my curtness.” This was the female voice I heard. She inclined her head to me.
    No Dvedjour salutes to another unless they're a Head.
    “Who might you be?” I asked her.
    She removed the helmet and smiled at me, a sincere smile. Braids of auburn hair cascaded down her back. It was one of her features that caught me off guard, the one that struck the now fading memory of the Emerald Test five years ago.
    It was the girl’s eyes. They shone as they would have if the events of the world were in her favor. They reminded me of the clouds hanging low, about to bring on a storm. Had she had magical abilities, I would have thought her to be the fabled Storm Rider, controlling the wind, seas, and sky.
    Of course, I knew she didn’t.
    Her eyes showed no recognition of the name Octavia Evans. Even if she was her older sister.