A Tale of Magic... by Brandon Dorman

what Brooks says about me.”
    “Well, you should ,” Mrs. Evergreen said sternly. “In two years, you’ll be sixteen and men will start courting you for marriage. You can’t risk a reputation that scares all the good ones away. You don’t want to spend your life with someone mean and ungrateful.… Trust me .”
    Her mother’s remarks left Brystal speechless. She couldn’t tell if she was just imagining it, but the dark circles under her mother’s eyes seemed a shade darker than they were before breakfast.
    “Now go to school,” Mrs. Evergreen said. “I’ll take care of the dishes.”
    Brystal was compelled to stay and argue with her mother. She wanted to list all the reasons why her life would be different than other girls’, she wanted to explain why she was destined for greater things than marriage and motherhood, but then she remembered she had no evidence to support her beliefs.
    Perhaps her mother was right. Maybe Brystal was a fool for thinking the world was anything but dark.
    With nothing more to say, Brystal left her home and headed for school. As she walked along the path into town, the image of her mother leaning at the sink stayed prominently on her mind. Brystal worried it was as much a glimpse into her own future as it was a memory of her mother.
    “No,” she whispered to herself. “That is not going to be my life.… That is not going to be my life.… That is not going to be my life.…” Brystal repeated the statement as she walked, hoping if she said it enough times, it might extinguish her fears. “It may seem impossible right now, but I know something is going to happen.… Something is going to change.… Something is going to make my life different.…”
    Brystal was right to be worried; escaping the confinements of the Southern Kingdom was impossible for a girl her age. But in a few short weeks, Brystal’s definition of impossible would change forever.



CHAPTER TWO

    A SIGN
    T hat day at the Chariot Hills School for Future Wives and Mothers, Brystal learned the proper amount of tea to serve to an unexpected visitor, the type of appetizers to cook for a formal gathering, and how to fold a napkin into the shape of a dove—among other riveting subjects. Toward the end of class Brystal had rolled her eyes so many times her eye sockets were sore. Usually she was better at hiding her annoyance during school hours, but without the comfort of a good book waiting for her at home, it was much more difficult to conceal her irritation.
    To soothe her aggravation, Brystal thought about the last page she had read in The Tales of Tidbit Twitch before falling asleep the night before. The story’s hero, a field mouse named Tidbit, was hanging off a cliff while battling a ferocious dragon. His tiny claws were getting tired as he swung from ledge to ledge to dodge the monster’s scorching breath. With his last bit of strength, he threw his small sword at the dragon, hoping it would wound the beast and give him a chance to climb to safety.
    “Miss Evergreen?”
    By some miracle, Tidbit’s sword flew through the air and pierced the dragon’s eye. The creature jerked its head toward the heavens and howled in pain, sending fiery geysers through the night sky. As Tidbit crawled down the side of the cliff, the dragon whipped its pointed tail and knocked the mouse off the boulder he clung to. Tidbit fell toward the rocky earth below, limbs flailing all around as he reached for something— anything —to grab on to.
    “Miss Evergreen!”
    Brystal sat straight up in her seat like she had been pricked with an invisible pin. All her classmates turned toward her desk in the back row and stared at her with matching frowns. Their teacher, Mrs. Plume, glared at her from the front of the classroom with pursed lips and one of her penciled eyebrows raised.
    “Um… yes?” Brystal asked with large innocent eyes.
    “Miss Evergreen, are you paying attention or are you daydreaming again?” Mrs. Plume