When Kinya walked into the flying room with the rest of their class, she was not surprised by what their teacher Ms. Kamis looked like. She was the woman Kinya had seen in the hallway the day before. “I see we have a new student.” Said Ms. Kamis. “Emma, please help Kinya. She probably doesn’t know how to fly yet. Now everyone, today I want you to work on the double back flip. We’ve been doing it for two weeks, and Lesley’s the only one who’s mastered it. So that means you’re not going to leave until it’s time to go, and you’ve done the double back flip. I don’t care if I have to keep you here all night, as long as you do it. Understand? “Yes Ms. Kamis.” The whole class said in unison. “Good. You will begin … now!” Lesley instantly leaped into the air and did one …… two… three… four backflips before landing perfectly on the classroom floor. “Perfect as usual Lesley, although I specifically said double backflip, I’m glad you can do more because it seems like some people can’t even do less.” She glared at the class. “Get to work!” Emma quickly taught Kinya how to fly, and the two girls spent the first few minutes of class almost flying into the first backflip before falling back onto the floor again. “I think we should take a small break.” Said Emma. The new best friends sat down side-by-side and talked. “how did Ms. Kamis know my name?” “Telepathy. She knows people’s names before they tell her. Pretty boring power.” They sat in silence for a few moments before Kinya asked another question. “Why is the floor covered with pillows?” “So that if someone falls they won’t get hurt. Doesn’t really make sense since we all know the standard healing spell.” Then, realizing Kinya didn’t, she added, “Iltebo.” The next two minutes were spent in silence. (Except for the background noise of people talking and falling on the cushioned floor.) Finally the two girls stood up and continued zooming around pointlessly. Emma managed to do a double backflip right before the bell rang. “Well it seems Kinya is the only one who didn’t complete the assignment. I suppose that means she’ll just have to stay here until she does.” “I’ll stay here too!” Volunteered Emma. “No. You did the double backflip, which means you’ll be going to Aglay with the rest of your class.” “What’s Aglay?” Whispered Kinya as Emma left. “Moving objects. Sorry, can’t talk now. Bye!” Five minutes later, Kinya stumbled out of the second backflip and two minutes after that she was stumbling through the door of the aglay classroom. “Finally! I thought you would never come. You’ve ruined your chance at being good at aglay, you know. Not that you ever had a chance, of course.” “Lesley, if you don’t shut up I’ll—“ “What? Fudgeificate me? Ha! You can’t even do that. Aglay is the hardest magical subject ever. I’m the only one in here who can do it. Except Ms. Milly of course.” She glanced at the teacher. “If you’re hoping to be good at this, you’re pushing your luck way past its breaking point.”
“WILL YOU CUT IT OUT!!!!” shouted Kinya as she thrust her arms forward. A folding chair in the corner of the room zoomed at Lesley, who screamed as she leapt out of the way. “What in the world did you do that for! You could of...”Lesley screamed, drawing all the attention back to her. After that Ms. Milly decided that they should just sit on the floor and copy down the names of famous people in the subject of aglay. Finally, they walked down the hall toward underwater class. Behind that class's plain boring door was a plain boring classroom. “Good afternoon class. Hello Kinya, I’ve heard of you. My name is Ms. Senfield. I hope you like it here. Anyways class, follow me.” She led them out a door in the corner of the room to a fenced in lake. “Okay everybody, today we’re going to pick waterweed. We’re running low on our stock of it. Please remember that the under-water-breathing spell is Arsbintul. Also remember that it only last for 15 minutes. Please come up then with your waterweed. Okay, now line up. Go!” everyone took turns saying the spell and jumping into the lake. Out of all the classes that Kinya had seen so far, this seemed to be the only that Lesley was bad at. She mumbled the spell much less enthusiasm than usual. When Kinya said the spell, she felt more confident that she had ever been, or would be in her life. This was most completely and definitely, NOT something Lesley could tease her about. The water felt cool and smooth on Kinya’s skin, instead of freezing cold like it should have been, since it was the middle of October. Kinya spotted Emma swimming around without a care in the world. She tried to call out to her, but the only things that left her mouth were a few bubbles. Emma noticed her new best friend and signaled for them to swim to the surface. When she reached air, Kinya surprised herself by taking a deep breath. “Emma, I can breathe up here! My spell isn’t wearing off is it?” “Of course not! You see, the under-water-breathing spell adds gills, but DOES NOT take away lungs. The human body doesn’t work like that because if you take away your lungs, well, your whole blood system would collapse.” “Meaning?” “Meaning you would basically die.” Kinya was stunned. She had never heard Emma sound so professional and, well, normal. On second thought, maybe not normal. “Listen, I have an idea. I’ll dive down to the bottom of the lake and show you what waterweed looks like, then you’ll be able to collect some.” She got ready for the dive but was stopped by the sound of Kinya’s voice. “Wait! How will I know when the under-water-breathing spell is wearing off?” “You’ll just know,” said Emma firmly. “Now follow me!” she dived smoothly back under the beautiful clear waves. It was obvious that Emma fit in down there like a key fits into a lock. When Kinya got down to the bottom of the lake, she stared out at an underwater field of what looked like seaweed. Emma smiled and swam off to pick waterweed somewhere else. Kinya pulled at least twenty of these strange blue plants our of the lake’s rocky ground before deciding that she wouldn’t be able to hold any more. She gazed at some of the fish passing by. One of the strangest ones was the one with a red ball on his nose, a rainbow colored suit, and puffy orange hair under a silly little hat. A clown fish, obviously. Suddenly she realized something very important. Her gills were starting to close! The spell was wearing off! She started to swim toward the surface. Five seconds left until her gills were gone. Swim, swim … four seconds ….. faster Kinya faster … three … why won’t my legs kick harder … two … I’m going to drown! Two feet left to the surface … one. Kinya felt the arms of her new best friend pull her out of the water. She never realized how great it felt to breathe.
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