Sara

After quick showers, we changed into clean uniforms. I attacked my hair with the brush and tied it up again. Maddy and Amber had that magical hair that just cooperated with them. Adhya sloppily braided hers.

"I don't want to put the corset on," I complained. Maddy nodded in agreement, "I don't even know how we managed to do the freaking obstacle course in them."

"Better put them on though, who knows what we'll have to do next?" Amber grumbled. I sighed in frustration.

Adhya came over to help me with the armored corset. This time, we were laced up much quicker. Walking into the hallway, we ran into the boys.

Adam was rubbing his temples like he had a headache. Griffin snorted and Jared hid a laugh behind his hand. Keanu was biting his lip, eyes raised to the ceiling, barely holding in laughter. I raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Just no," Adam said abruptly. Adhya looked to Jared, "What the...?"

"Adam has a thing about hair looking good at all times," he chuckled.

"Beg pardon?" I said. Adam let out a frustrated sigh, "Bah just come here!"

I, of course, didn't move so Adam stepped forward and quick as a flash had whipped my hair into a complex braid. He tied it off then went to work on Maddy. It was a bit more difficult because of her height.

As he finished up with her, I shook my head in disbelief, "How are you doing that?"

"These things tend to happen when you grow up with nine sisters," Adam replied sassily while struggling with Adhya's hair.

"Ten sisters if you count the cousin that lives with them," Keanu added.

"And the only other male is the goldfish," Griffin finished. I choked back a laugh. Adam grumbled as he completed Adhya's braid. Within seconds he had plaited Amber's hair as well.

"That has to be a magical ability," Adhya commented. Maddy nodded, "Agreed."

Jared led us back outside to where we'd finish up our break period. Kathryn, Charlie, Kyla, Tim, Madi and Ginger met us in the courtyard. There we discovered that Mr. Draggerd was surprisingly the one to supply us with lunch. We sat cross cross on the grass eating sandwiches. Mr. Draggerd made a mean PBJ. Literally. It tried to bite Kathryn.

While passing out much nicer fruit snacks, Keanu asked, "So how you feeling girls?"

"Like I got hit by a bus," Adhya replied and fearlessly grabbed another PBJ. I nodded, it was pretty accurate.

"You'll get used to it," Griffin comforted. "We have weekends and odd days off from training. And if your feeling really bad, you only have to take notes with Gwen then you can go relax."

"That's a relief," Amber sighed. Kyla laid down on the grass, "We even have a healing hot spring to go swim in after training. It's pretty nice."

I stretched out on my back as well. Griffin laughed and mimicked me. Charlie flopped back like a felled tree, making us all laugh. Mr. Draggerd walked around to each group and handed out bottles of ice water.

"Drink it all," Ginger said and took a swig. Jared sipped his then explained, "Magic is energy and you guys have used a lot today. You can only use a certain amount at a time. It's like a muscle that you have to exercise."

"This explains the water, how?" I inquired, still confused.

"The magic causes an excess of energy which translates into your body heating up. If you use to much at once your symptoms can range anywhere from a bad fever to incinerating on the spot," a girl's voice said. It belonged to one of the gold eye twins.

"So by drinking or eating cold things you lower the chance of that happening," her brother concluded. Keanu grinned, "Leif! I was wondering when you'd join the party."

Leif rubbed the back of his head, "There was a crisis earlier. Had to help Leavanna."

"I was just fine thank you very much!" Leavanna retorted and crossed her arms.

"You were stuck in the doorway."

"Because you didn't calibrate the spring on my shield correctly!"

Kyla snickered at the twins' feisty nature, "Come meet the gang."

After quick introductions, we learned that Leif and Leavanna had been training for almost a year. Both specialized in speed magic. Leif's partner Alice was a spirit charmer and Leavanna's partner Lionel excelled at shape shifting.

I sipped my water then looked to Griffin, "What's your specialty?"

He stiffened and wouldn't meet my eyes. I tilted my head, trying to catch his gaze. He eventually looked up at me, and took a deep breath.

"I can see through illusions," he muttered quietly.

"Why would you be ashamed of that?" Amber asked, picking up on our conversation. Keanu sighed as did Kathryn.

"He thinks that it's not useful in battle," she snorted. "Even though it's probably the most helpful talent!"

"It's amazing, even Gwen can't fool him!" Adam said with his mouth full of fruit snacks. "And she can even create living shadows!"

"That talent of yours has saved my rear more times than I can even count!" Leavanna said encouragingly. Griffin pasted on a smile, "I guess you're right."

I could tell that he wasn't even close to convinced of that. I decided to let it go for now, as Mr. Draggerd was hollering at us to get to our next class.

"Just when I thought he had some chill," Adhya commented as we scurried in the direction of the castle.

"You thought wrong!" Leif chuckled. It was the twins turn to guide us to our next class. We entered the castle courtyard and headed for a small building in a grove of trees.

It was made of the same seamless white stone as the rest of the castle, but had a thatched roof and several gray stone chimneys. Smoke steadily pumped out until we drew near. It stopped for a minute, then a small explosion shook the building. A kid threw open and window and half hung out as smoke billowed out.

"Jerry!" A familiar voice yelled.

"Oh no," Maddy said.

"Oh yes," Madi replied with a grin.

We cautiously entered the building, and into the middle of Barda wearing a leather apron, giving Jerry an earful.

"I know that your specialty is explosions but could you please keep it under control in here?" Barda finished his lecture. Jerry nodded and hurried to his work station.

The building was one large room essentially. It had a high ceiling and hard packed dirt floor. Rectangular metal tables were in two columns while a circular one sat in the center. Cabinets were haphazardly shoved everywhere, on the walls, above the windows, under our feet even. Several forges puffed smoke merrily. All manner of metal and ore was strewn around.

"So," Barda boomed as his eyes fell on us. "You all ready to forge some weapons?"

Beginner or not, forging weapons sounded like fun. We all nodded and grouped up at tables. Griffin, Maddy, and Keanu were at my table. Jared, Adhya, Amber and Adam were at one to my left. The twins and more experienced of our friends headed over to a cabinet where they pulled out half finished weapons.

Barda walked to the center table, which was the largest by far, and pressed a button. Holographic images of blue prints flickered to light. I looked at the table and saw that tiny magic circles were projecting these images.

Using the table like a touch screen, Barda slid blueprints to different tables. The other teens began to tap at their tables, pulling out symbols for fire, water and metal. As he finished assigning everyone their weapons he headed our way.

We each pulled on a leather apron, just in case there was another explosion. Reaching into a pocket, Barda pulled out some thick paper and good pencils. He laid them on the table, the said, "Draw the weapon you want to build."

"Really?" Adhya asked. "Anything we want?"

"If you can think it, we can make it. An upside to magic forging," Barda said with a grin. Another new kid whined, "I don't know what any weapons are."

"Well then go watch a ton of anime and get back to me," Barda retorted sharply. Amber and I hid our laughs.

As the other students began to work, I scribbled away at the paper. My first instinct was to draw something simple, like a sword or shield. However I found myself scribbling out those designs.

I glanced over to those who were building their weapons. No two were the same, there was a sword gun, a rocket propelled spear, a shield with serrated saw edges.

I thought about movement and how I'd end up fighting. I didn't think I could use larger weapons like a hammer or scythe. Dual knives seemed to small, and not good for defense.

Defense, that's it! I thought excitedly. My pencil moved furiously across the page. Carefully, I sketched out some arms. Over those I began to draw some gauntlets. I erased the armored hand and extended it up to my elbows. Ideas swirling, I quickly wrote in the details.

Looking up, I saw that the others were finishing as well. Standing up, I walked over to Barda and placed the designs on the table. He pulled it close to his face, then broke into a grin.

"I like this," he laughed. Barda set to work, taking the image from the paper and making a 3D image of it. He had me place my hand on the projection circle and it glowed purple.

"What did that do?" I inquired. While manipulating the image Barda replied, "Signing your name on the paper basically. Helps me with measurements."

With that he enlarged it to life size. He placed the image over my real arm. Using a finger as a pen, he wrote notes over it. As he finished noting the placement of my wrist, Amber came up with her finished design.

"That's quite a unique bow," Barda commented with pride in his voice. "And I think I can apply the daggers to it."

Swiftly Barda reshaped the daggers and applied them to the ends of the bow. They curved with the bow and laid flat on it. Amber had a small frown until Barda snatched the image from the air. He made a quick jerking motion and the blades sprang up, effectively making a twin spear. Then he pressed the base of the blades and they popped off into regular dual knives.

"Yes and yes," Amber said excitedly. She grabbed the bow and spun it once in hand. "This is perfect."

Barda pulled up my weapons again, "This has just given me an idea."

He settled the image on my arms, and I could feel the weight. Flexing my wrists, the blades shot out over my hands. Barda nodded then began to form another piece. It was fitted to the ends where the blades sprang out.

"Lift your arm and point it at the wall," he instructed. I did as he told, then clenched my hand into a fist. An image of a knife shot out and pierced the wall. I grinned, "I like it, I like it a lot."

Barda laughed and saved the modifications. He tapped the magic circle and it shrank into the table again. The image of my weapons vanished off of my arms.

"I'll have the materials for both these tomorrow," Barda informed us and waved us off. He quickly went back to work, juggling four images at once.

I sat back down at the table and peeked at Griffin's designs. It looked like a halberd. The end of the shaft was wrapped around a crystal of some sort.

"Woah, that's so cool!" I told him and lightly pushed his shoulder. Griffin smiled, "I hope Barda thinks so too!"

Laughing I pushed him up and towards Barda. Maddy was having her weapons adjusted. It was a pair of dual pistols with some crazy twist to it no doubt. Barda took careful measurements of each of her fingers and wrists.

I looked over to where the others were fine turning their weapons. Ginger was methodically sharpening a huge axe with a stone. Little Madi was glaring at her bazooka. She cranked a dial and aimed at the target on the wall.

She pulled the trigger and a butterfly flitted out. It flew steadily towards the center of the target. It perched there for a moment, then exploded.  I covered my head as pieces of target flew through the air.

Barda gave Madi a thumbs up. Jared faceplamed and Adhya peeked out from her hiding place behind him.

"Well that was a thing," Keanu said as he brought his designs to Barda. Adhya snorted, "Yes, casual explosions are a thing."

"I'm sure there are worse things," Adam argued. Rolling my eyes, I inquired, "Like what?"

"Look out!" Kyla suddenly shouted. I shrieked and ducked under the table with Adam. A spear had struck where we just had been.

Adam stuck his head out from the table, "What the heck Kyla?!"

"Sorry! The calibration needs to be tweaked!" She called as she jogged over. Cautiously, I rolled out and stood up while Kyla wrenched the spear free. Pressing a button, she shrank the spear down into a long dagger.

"Everyone ok?" Barda hollered without looking up from the weapons he was working on. Adam replied, "Yeah just a close call!"

"I'm not sure if that was worse than the explosion," Jared commented, earning him an elbow in the gut from Adhya.

"Teenagers and sharp objects," I said sarcastically. "What could possibly go wrong?"