Way of The Wand

Chapter 5

Mrs Afolabi pored over the contents of the letter in her hands like it was scripture from ancient religious text.

It was as though she believed if she stared hard enough, the words in the letter would change.

Her daughter, Tomi, was to compete in a tournament against a wizard, in something called a “task of smarts.”

What was the meaning of this?

She dropped the letter and reached across the small table for the letter in her husband’s hands, almost knocking over the vase of impala lilies.

“It’s the same thing!” Yomi Afolabi complained as Wura yanked the letter out of his hands.

Mrs Afolabi perused the contents of the second later, and it was exactly like the first, except the name of the selected champion in this one was, “Timi Afolabi,” for something called “task of strength.”

She let the letter drop to the table, her face creasing with worry. “Do you think this is a good idea?”

Yet, instead of letting her husband a chance to answer, she followed up with three more questions that were all variations of the first one.

Words circulated around in Timi’s heads as he struggled to pick which would most likely convince his mother to give her assent to his and Tomi’s participation in the tournament.

“It—”

“I wasn’t talking to you Timi,” she cut him off, “allow your father to answer me.”

Tomi kicked Timi under the table to be silent.

It would be better to allow their father to do the talking, as he was the only one who could convince their mother to let them compete in the tournament.

Tomi looked into her father’s eyes, communicating through her gaze that she really wanted to do this.

Their mother had always been somewhat overprotective, intent on trying to keep them away from danger, but their Dad had a more relaxed approach to parenting, preferring to let his kids try things, even if there was a chance they could get hurt.

“I think it is,” Yomi Afolabi replied, his thick voice vibrating through the air. “Jira comes from wizards. If there’s one person who could find a way to defeat them at their game, it’s her.”

“But…won’t this be dangerous? And…what if they lose? Won’t it only make things worse for us? And…and…think of what losing in such a big way in front of strangers could do to our children?”

Tomi’s mind drifted three houses away to Lila’s. Chances were, the Orion girl was having a similar conversation with her parents right now. Tomi hoped it was going better there than here.

Yomi reached across the table to comfort his wife. “Let’s put our faith in their teacher. Like I said, I’m sure Jira knows what she’s doing. What we should be focused on now is giving our children all the support they need.”

That seemed to do the trick.

Wura Afolabi calmed down and reluctantly gave the kids her blessing to compete in the witches vs wizards tournament.

Unable to contain their excitement, Tomi and Timi sought permission to finish their yam and egg stew in their rooms.

Tomi sped through the corridor, pulling to a stop in front of her door and pushing it open with her shoulder.

She dropped her food on her reading table, almost spilling it over the “Art of Enchantment” book she’d been reading for the past week.

She clambered onto her bed and slid open her window, taking a bustle of wind to the face.

She turned her neck to the left, zooming in past the two houses on the opposite side of the street to Lila’s house.

It was a good thing the houses in Witches’ Cove were cramped together. If she was living in a different, more spacious neighbourhood, the houses would be farther from one another and she wouldn’t be able to see her friend’s house from her room.

Like their hearts were connected, a minute after Tomi stuck her head out through a window, a lantern flickered on in Lila’s room.

Lila leaned out through her window and gave Tomi a thumbs up.

Tomi replied with a thumbs up of her own before withdrawing her head.

It did go well. The two girls had been scared their parents would bar them from participating. That they’d both got permission to compete had to be a good omen. It meant the Gods were on their side. It meant they were going to win.