Chapter Fifteen: A New Friend

 Narrated by Artemis Masterson

Spring was here, and Apollo and I were going to school now with Erytheia and Xanthe (although they were a couple of years above us). I hadn't found a friend yet, but I wasn't too bothered. A lot of the other kids found it funny that Apollo and I were twins, particularly when they realised that I enjoyed reading and playing chess as opposed to playing sports like Apollo. 

One afternoon, after lunch, I went into the playground and noticed a girl I hadn't seen before. She was wearing a pale pink crop top and a pink wrapped skirt.

"Hello, are you new?" I asked.

"Yes," she said. "I'm Malia, by the way."
"Oh cool, I'm Artemis," I replied. "I love your outfit."

"Thank you!" she smiled. "I'm from Sulani, it's native clothing there."

"Ooh, I've only been to Sulani once," I said. "It must be so much fun living near the ocean."

"It is," she said, "but it never snows there. I'd love to see snow one day."

The next day was Easter, and Mum and Dad both baked some tasty goodies. Dad asked me about school.

"Are you enjoying it?"

"Yes!" I said eagerly. "I love learning new things. Apollo's favourite lesson is PE, of course. I'm not sure what my favourite is yet, but Science is pretty fun."
"It is," he nodded. "I wasn't much good at it, though. I liked English and Drama - and Music, of course."

Later that evening, I did my homework. I had some spellings and some maths. My room was pretty cosy, and I liked working there. I particularly liked the gently glowing, swirling light above my desk. Erytheia had told me that we were all Spellcasters, and that probably soon I'd be taken to the "Magic Realm", whatever that was. 

The next day, after school, Erytheia called a meeting of our kids' club, "No Adults Allowed". I stood near the door to say hello to people. When Alexander was the first to arrive, I decided to tease Erytheia a bit.

"Hey, Erytheia!" I grinned. "Look! It's your BEST FRIEND, Alexander! I bet you've got a crush on him!"
"Artemis!" she hissed. "Did you have to do that with him in earshot?"

"Don't worry, Erytheia," he called, "that's what younger siblings are like."

That weekend, Malia invited me over to her house in Sulani. 

"Hey! Sorry about the rain," she said when I arrived.

"Ah well, it's still lovely out here," I smiled, looking at all the lush vegetation. "It must be great in summer."

Inside, we were approached by a man who I assumed was Malia's dad. 

"Hello, you must be Artemis," he said. "As you can probably guess, I'm Malia's dad. You can call me Keanu, though, we're pretty informal in this house."

"Hello," I replied. 

"Has Malia told you about me?" he asked.

"Uh... no?" I replied, looking at Malia, who seemed equally confused.

"Well, I'm a merman," he said. "I just thought I'd let you know because sometimes I make... weird noises. A bit like a screeching dolphin. I know you must be thinking I'm crazy, but it seems to be a thing merfolk do."

"That's OK, there are weirder things," I said. "I'm actually from a family of Spellcasters, but I can't use my powers yet."
"That's so cool!" Malia grinned. "By the way, those two are Coco and Oscar. Coco's the one with the pink collar. Do you have any pets?"
"We recently got two kittens, actually," I said. "One of them is also called Coco. The other one is Heidi."

Although I enjoyed reading books on my own, it was still nice when my parents read to me. When Dad got home from work, he told me that he wanted to read me a childrens' book that featured Spellcasters and all sorts of supernatural creatures. It sounded like a lot of fun.

"I wish I could cast spells," I sighed.

"I know. But magic can be pretty dangerous, so the Sages say that magic can only be practised once you hit adolescence - so, when you're a teenager. Just concentrate on doing well at school for now."

Mum ended up taking Apollo and I to the Magic Realm.

"So why are we here when we can't practise magic?" I asked.

"It's still a good idea to get you used to the place," she explained. "You can learn a lot about magic and its history, even though you're still young. There are a lot of books over there in Magic HQ."

"This place looks awesome!" Apollo exclaimed. "Look at the sky! And all these cool glowing things! Being a Spellcaster is the best!"