"Yes!" Millie shouted as she shot up from her seat. "That's my sister!"

Her enthusiasm was met with a chorus of groans, but that didn't bother her in the slightest. She felt completely justified in her reaction. Misty had absolutely crushed it and she was so proud to be her sister.

"Shut up, Tarby," a voice from a few rows up retorted. "No one cares."

"Excuse me?" Millie sassed, her intention was to be anything but polite. She weaved her head up and down looking for the source of the rude remark. "Who said that?"

"I did," a scrawny boy with choppy brown hair and braces said. Had to be a first year.

He held no reservations about fessing up. In fact, he seemed quite satisfied with himself and eager to take credit for his comment. Millie looked him over, completely unimpressed. This boy really thought he was clever. As if she hadn't been told that no one cared about her a million times before.

"I'd like to see you do what she just did," Millie shot back. "You wouldn't last one second."

"Please," he scoffed. "She's nothing special. It's only the first task, that's always the easiest. She'll crack as soon as the second one starts."

"You think that was easy?" Millie said, her voice raising. "What are you 12? I bet you can't even tie your shoes!"

"At least I'm not in handcuffs," he said back.

He looked to his little group of friends circled around him for validation. They happily gave it him, laughing along and egging him on. Taunting from the other girls in her class was one thing, but there was no way Millie was going to let some pre-pubescent amateur witch act like he was better than her sister. Especially when she had just accomplished more than he ever would in his entire life.

"You're lucky I am otherwise I would tear you apart, you little shit," Millie snapped.

"Millie," Meadow whispered through gritted teeth as she tugged on her sister's pleated skirt. "Sit down. You're causing a scene."

"I am not!" Millie shot back in defense.

As she soon the words left her mouth, she realized everyone within a twenty foot radius had turned in their seats to watch the fight unfold.

"Oh," Millie said, her voice quieting down. "Well," she said as she sat back in her seat. "Some scenes need to be caused," she said to Meadow with a flick of her hair.

"You know I don't really-" Meadow started but she quickly was quickly cut off by a high-pitched ringing that signaled the beginning of the next task.

"Hold that thought," Millie said, shushing Meadow. "The next task is starting."

☪ ☪ ☪ ☪ ☪

Back down in the Arena, Misty returned to the middle of the floor. The Assembly watched her closely as she held her high. She tried to not show too much emotion, but she couldn't help the tiny smile forming on her lips.

"Miss Tarby," Scottie's grandfather said. "You have...done well on the first task."

The words came out painfully for him. Admitting that a Tarby had succeeded was difficult for him. Misty knew this and it filled her with joy to give him no choice but to do so. But of course, it was extremely short lived.

"But," he quickly added. "Keep in mind you still have two tasks left. There is plenty of room for error, Miss Tarby. Overconfidence has brought down many a great man."

"Yes, Sir," Misty said.

Personally, she thought there was no such thing as overconfidence. There was nothing wrong with believing in yourself. But she was smart enough to know it wasn't her place to challenge the head Assemblymen, especially in that moment.

"Very well," he said. "Sir Franklin, please assign the next task."

With a nod of his head, Sir Franklin reached into the golden goblet once more to pull out another piece of paper. It was much less dramatic the second time around, but still the crowd was tense. They couldn't wait to see what awaited her next.

"Misty Tarby," Sir Franklin said as he held the paper out in front of him with a raised pinky. "You must now master levitation."

There was a moment of intensity as the crowd collectively sucked in their breath. They all remembered two years ago when Kiernan McGovern lost his concentration and hurtled towards the ground in a flash and hit The Arena floor with a crunch. The students all watched in horror as his unconscious body was carted out in a stretcher. He survived, but broke both his legs and cracked his skull.

While the crowd was struck with alarm, Misty was elated. She didn't show it, but she couldn't be happier with her second task. Levitation was really nothing more than an exercise in focus and will-power. The trick was being able to tune out any and everything around you and channeling all your energy inward. It may have been difficult for others, especially in The Arena, but Misty had been tuning out vitriol and other useless noise hurled at her and her family her whole life. It was how she survived. This would be easy in comparison.

"In order to succeed in this task," Scottie's grandfather said. "You must reach at least 50 feet in the air and stay there for a minimum of three minutes. Do you understand what's being asked of you?"

Misty understood perfectly. She knew what she had to do. There was just one thing she needed clarification on. And she was feeling just bold enough to seek it.

"What's the record, Sir?" she asked.

"Excuse me?" he said.

"The record, Sir," she said again. "The longest time someone has stayed in the air."

"I know what a record is," he said, angered by her questioning his intelligence. "What I'm trying to understand is why you would ask such a question. Three minutes is extremely difficult to achieve. Most witches don't make it past one."

"I'm not most witches," she said.

"Might I remind you of what I said earlier about overconfidence, Miss Tarby?"

Misty put her head down and bite her lip. She realized she may have stepped out of line, but she didn't regret asking. She didn't see anything wrong with her ambitious nature, but she knew The Assembly would never see it from her point of view. Admiration for ambition was only for those who you wished to see succeed.

"Yes, Sir," she said softly. "I'm sorry, Sir."

"Apology accepted," he said with a nod of his head. "Your time begins when you hit 50 feet."

With a wave of his hand, a ten foot timer appeared above them. Misty glanced at the clock briefly before crouching down on the ground and crossing her legs. She let her hands rest on her knees and closed her eyes. She took deep breaths as she let her surroundings melt away. Focusing only on her levitation spell, she felt herself raise slowly into the air.

It didn't take long for the clock to tick as it began to count down. Misty stayed completely still and serene in the air, not wavering even a little bit. Her concentration was unshakable. Every pair of eyes in The Arena was fixated on the clock. Every second was crucial to this task and no one wanted to miss a single one.

The crowd gasped when it hit two minutes. Then again when it hit one. When it got down to five seconds, they started to count down.

"Five, four, three," they chanted in amazement. She was really going to do it. To their surprise, some of them even began to root for her. "two, one!"

The timer hit zero and went off with a buzz, but Misty stayed in the air. The Assembly looked to one another, rolling their eyes and shaking their heads, but still Misty stayed. She knew she had met her time requirement, but she wasn't interested in simply meeting her requirement.

After an extra minute went by, Scottie's grandfather as well as the rest of The Assembly began to lose their patience. Two extra minutes and Scottie's grandfather's anger was boiling over.

"All right, all right, enough," he shouted. "You've proved your point."

Misty opened her eyes with a satisfied smirk and let herself float back down to the ground. Two down, one to go.