Way of The Wand

Lila Orion, like most of Jira’s students, lived close to the school. Her house sat at the entrance to Witches’ Cove, a mere fifteen-minute walk from Jira’s house.

However, whenever classes ended, Lila preferred to go with Tomi and Timi to the Witches’ Market instead, even though it was more than an hour away.

Lila’s parents often worked late into the night, so going straight home would mean spending hours alone until her parents arrived from work.

As an only child, Lila grew up lonely, but starting at Jira’s School of Witchcraft had turned things around for her. Now she got to spend time with fourteen other kids, two of whom had become like siblings to her.

She called out to Tomi the moment Jira dismissed them.

“Let me guess,” Timi said, “your parents are working late again today?”

Lila nodded, her hair swaying left and right as she rushed to join her friends.

She paused to wave goodbye to the other students, many of whom simply crossed the street and disappeared into the surrounding houses.

As the last of them vanished off the street, leaving Lila, Tomi and Jira alone, Lila gave her attention back to the Afolabi siblings.

“The factory is trying to meet the deadline for the release of a new model of crystal wands.”

“Didn’t they just release some new ones two months ago?” Tomi asked.

“You know the Tartian motto—never stop innovating.” Lila mimicked the way her father usually said it.

She never understood why he and her mother had to work so hard for a company that wasn’t even theirs, especially when there were rumours that Arron Tartian who owned the Tartian empire, rarely ever showed up to work.

Tomi slipped a hand into her pocket and brushed the side of her wooden wand. Even though wooden wands were less effective than crystal wands, she loved it all the same. Besides, her parents couldn’t afford the extra hundred gamnis’ the cheapest crystal wands cost.

Tomi slipped out her hand from her pocket. “This makes it the third straight week your parents have been held back at the factory.”

Lila shrugged. At this point, she was used to it.

They continued walking, with Lila setting the pace for them. “They’ve been talking about quitting but I know they are not going to do it. We need the money.”

Carriages and carts drove past them, and a few witches on broomsticks flew above them as they journeyed by the side of the road.

They made sure to stick close to the treeline, where the dust raised by passing vehicles was less likely to reach them.

The trio played this little game where they guessed which vehicles were headed to the Witches’ Market and used that to pass the time.

By the time they arrived to market, the conversation had moved on to a more serious topic—the tournament.

“Do you really think we stand a chance?” Lila asked, sliding over the curved bridge through the market’s entrance and almost colliding into a mobile stall.

“Watch it child!” The trader scolded her.

Lila apologised with a bow and waited for Tomi and Timi to catch up.

“Airad’s the best wizarding school in the land,” Lila added as the siblings met up with her.

“Is it?” Timi questioned, leading their small group down a small path between market stalls of textiles, shoes and cauldrons. “I personally think it’s overrated. Just a place for spoiled rich brats to gather. I mean, didn’t Jira tell us as much?”

“Well, that’s not how she put it,” Tomi corrected, not liking Timi’s oversimplification even a little bit. “She said she just wasn’t into how they approached magic and left.”

They zigzagged through the crowd, avoiding sellers and buyers locked in bargain.

“I don’t know whether we’ll win or not,” Tomi continued, “but not trying at all would be wrong.”

“I believe we’ll beat them,” Timi said, turning a corner down another tiny path crowded with even bigger shops. “What can wizards do that we can’t? They can fly, and so can we with our brooms. They can control the elements, and so can we with our wands. They can manifest objects with their hands, and so can we with our wands.”

When he looked up, his parents’ broomstick shop came into view.

They met only Mrs Afolabi at the shop, which meant Mr Afolabi was out making deliveries again.

Even though he was just sixteen, Timi was already a head taller than his mother.

He bent low as he drew her in for an embrace.

“Hi Aunt Wura,” Lila greeted.

Mrs Wura Afolabi cupped Lila’s face in her soft hands, her long black fingers reaching as far back as Lila’s neck. “Your parents are still having those extra shifts?”

Lila nodded. “It’s okay though,” she said. “I get to hang out with you.”

Mrs Afolabi laughed, tipping her brown gele to one side as she did. “Sit down all of you.”

She cleared a pack of broomsticks blocking the woven raffia chairs towards the far end of the store. “Let me fetch you some akara to eat.”

Lila received her plate of akara with thanks, her nose bulging as the scent of spice and oil creeped in. She stuffed one ball into her mouth and leaned closer to Tomi beside her.

“You think we should tell your mother about the tournament?”

Tomi shushed Lila. “Not yet. If my Mum learns of this now, she’ll freak out. She might just overreact and pull me out of school. Do you want that to happen?”

Lila straightened up on her chair and continued eating her akara in silence.

When the time came, they would have to find a way to break this news to their parents in a way that wouldn’t scare them.