Trial By Fire (Schooled in Magic Book 7) by Christopher Nuttall

raised among mundanes, will see magic as a way to boost yourself, to become powerful, to exact revenge for slights real and imagined. Others, raised among magicians, will see yourselves as separate from the mundane world, able to interact with it on terms you choose. Neither feeling is healthy, nor is it good for the future of the Allied Lands. We seek to teach you how to handle your powers responsibly, because in the wider world it is often the case that the only check on your power is you .
    “For many of you, this will be your final year at Whitehall. You will be released to walk the land, to become everything from alchemists to court wizards, taking with you what we have taught you. You will be released on a world that will bow to you, that will see your robes and your power and grant you respect. You will define yourself by how you handle what you have become, if you tame magic or if you allow the magic to tame you .”
    He paused, looking down at them. Emily felt her breath catch in her throat.
    “I do not count our successes as those who learn to handle great power, who can perform vast feats of magic, although those things are important. I count our successes as those who end up calm and confident, reasonable people whom the Allied Lands can depend upon in the endless war. Some of you will feel otherwise, and that is understandable. However, you must learn to shape your own path in the future. Your lives are what you make of them.”
    He repeated himself, slowly. “Your lives are what you make of them.”
    There was a long silent pause. He was right, Emily knew; she’d seen too much abuse of mundanes by magicians to believe otherwise. If her life had been different, if she’d had magic on Earth, her stepfather wouldn’t have lived a year...and how many others, perhaps, would she have sought to hurt? There were times when she wondered why Frieda hadn’t gone back home, one final time, to avenge herself on those who had cast her out. Maybe Frieda was just a better person...
    “Dismissed,” the Grandmaster said, very quietly.
    The doors opened, allowing light to spill into the Great Hall from the corridor outside. Emily looked at Caleb, then at her thoughtful friends, and started towards the door. Outside, Aloha stood leaning against the wall, wearing the red robes of a Fifth Year student. Her dark face was marred by a worried frown.
    “Emily,” she called. “I have orders to take you to the Grandmaster’s office.”
    Alassa elbowed Emily. “What have you done now?”
    “Nothing,” Emily said. She hastily recalled her timetable. “I’ll see you in Healing?”
    “Of course,” Alassa said. “We’ll take very good care of Caleb, don’t you worry.”
    Emily felt herself flush - Caleb was blushing, too - and followed Aloha up a small staircase to the Grandmaster’s office. The room was unlocked, but she felt the wards probing at her magic as she stepped inside; if she hadn’t been cleared to enter, she suspected she wouldn’t have enjoyed the consequences. Trying to break into offices was an old tradition at Whitehall, but so were a whole series of unpleasant hexes intended to keep out trespassers.
    “It’s good to see you again,” Aloha said, as she closed the door. “I heard interesting things about your summer.”
    “It was... eventful ,” Emily said. She didn’t really want to talk about it. Aloha was the brightest student at Whitehall; given time, she might figure out the truth. “And yours?”
    “I studied,” Aloha said, flatly. “I...”
    She broke off as the door opened and the Grandmaster stepped into the room. “Emily, Aloha,” he said, as he closed the door behind him. “Thank you both for coming.”
    Emily nodded, once.
    “The pair of you present us with an odd problem,” the Grandmaster said. “You have both completed the levels of Martial Magic provided at Whitehall, at least for students, but you’re too young to go straight to an apprenticeship. I have no intention of