The Boy

After opening ceremonies, the girls were allowed to wander around the campus to their heart’s delight in the hopes it would prevent them from getting lost when classes started. The school sat tidily against the bright blue sky like hand laid quilt squares. An embroidered sun radiated golden light and directionless warmth. Even the grounds were neatly groomed into geometric shapes without a single flower out of place. The students were expected to fall in line with matching purple uniforms and tightly tied up hair.

“Where are all the boy witches?” Klava asked. Her peers gave her a look as if she’d committed a grave sin.

“There’s no such thing," one of the girls said quite defiantly. The very thought of rowdy things wielding magic like a sword made Delphi’s nose wrinkle. There were warriors and heroes out there in the world, but witchcraft was a lady’s vocation. Delphi was the model of a perfect lady. Or at least, what the wealthy considered a perfect lady. Soft spoken, sculpted hair with a tall posture, she resembled an ebony chess piece.

“Yes there is,” Klava insisted. “Men had the easiest time learning to read and write in the olden days. There were far more of them than girl witches back then.”

“They must not have been very good at it because there are none now,” Ariadne said kindly. "Witchery takes patience, kindness, and a love of creation.”

Klava frowned at the lack of logic. Boys were just as capable of making things as girls were. Just because the magic took a gentle hand and a tolerance for failure didn’t mean it was impossible for boys to do. Why, witch magic was defined by being a celebration of nature. Everyone came from that. It was ridiculous to assume boys forgot it all after being born.

“Besides,” Ariadne said, “even if there were ones, the headmistress wouldn’t allow them to attend. They’d be too big of a distraction.”

“By doing what, breathing?” Klava shook her head. “It’s no wonder they’re having to pull people out of the nameless villages to attend here. They’ve put all their effort into making rules for why people can’t come in.”

“No, by being…” Delphi’s face darkened with an embarrassing scarlet undertone. “You read the guidebook Madam Gorgon gave us, didn't you?” She puffed out her chest in an attempt to regain some dignity as Klava stared at her with growing confusion. “They’re leerers, undressing people with their eyes and then getting mad when it’s all in their heads. Imagine trying to learn while a boy throws a fit because you won’t bathe with them. It would be utter chaos.”

“If Madam Gorgon talked with a flesh and blood person at that age with those bits, he’d tell her the same thing I did.” Klava huffed. “It’s complete utter nonsense.”

“Says who?” Delphi stamped her foot.

“Says actual boys, that’s who.” Klava crossed her arms. It had only been a few days since she left the village, but she was confident they’d still be fighting with sticks and debating on which bugs made the best trophies when caught alive. They never regarded her as anything other than a captive audience. “If you don’t believe me, we could go ask one.”

“How?” Delphi asked.

“Well,” Ariadne spared a glance at the main gate, “there’s always outside.”

Delphi blanched at the thought of setting a toe out of line. Even if it was magic that was banned from entering the mortal plane, young inexperienced witches were often lumped into that equation. Something to do with active imaginations and poor impulse control made elders skittish about having the untrained milling about with mundane people.

So naturally Klava thought, for gifted students like her and Ariadne, those sorts of rules shouldn't apply. They knew there was a time and place for magic. As long as they were careful not to use it outside of class, there shouldn't be a problem.

“Unless," Ariadne continued, "you’re afraid of being proven wrong.”

“I’m afraid of getting detention, isn’t that enough?” Neither girl was willing to budge, so Delphi hung her head in defeat. “One hour, and even if you can find a boy in that time, I bet he’ll say something that will make you uncomfortable.” She was practically dragged out the gates by her classmates as Ariadne made a bee line for one portal of swirling green and silver.

***

The streets were empty. Klava hadn’t thought to factor in time of all things when leaving the sunny school grounds for the Overworld. A sun or moon had been blacked out by a blanket of dreary grey clouds. Everything was wet and still all at the same time. Klava shot Ariadne a look; she must have picked this place for a reason, but there was no one here to talk to.

“They must all be inside.” Homes had been boarded up, shops left empty. “I don’t suppose going door to door is an option? This place used to be full of people, I don’t understand.”

Klava spotted a warm glow coming from the castle that loomed over the town. “We’ll try there.” She pointed to the crumbling building. “There has to at least be someone in there.”

“If there is no boy, then it won’t count.” Delphi shouted after Klava, who marched ahead with single-minded determination.

“There will be a boy,” Klava said, as if she could will him into existence. “There will be a boy and he will say I’m right!” The three walked until they got to the castle grounds. There was no one to lower the drawbridge, so they orbited around the slimy moat looking for a way in.

“You’re running out of time,” Delphi said in singsong, dark braids bouncing as she didn’t lift a finger to help.

Klava scooped up a rock, whispered sweet nothings to it so it’d float gently in her hand, and then hurled it through the glowing window. There was a crash inside the room. The rock may have gone straight through it. She crossed her arms and waited, ignoring the suspicious looks from her classmates. At long last, a dark crop of hair popped out the open window to find where the stone came from.

“You there, boy!” Klava shouted. He turned toward the three of them, a little smudge from where they were standing, but he wasn’t objecting. “Would you like us to strip to our undergarments and prance around in the moonlight?” Delphi smacked her arm, offended by the very notation.

“What!?” the boy yelped. “Why would you do that?”

“See? Utter confusion. The thought never crossed his mind,” Klava said to Delphi.

“Well now it has!” Delphi hissed. “He can barely see us. We’re probably at a safe enough distance.”

“What if we had incredibly large bosoms?” Klava shouted back up at the tower. Delphi covered her mouth.

“Ah, no.” Now he was uncomfortable. “Please go away. I am very busy.” He shook his head and closed the window, though he lingered, watching to see when it was safe to turn his back to them.

Klava foisted her fists in the air in celebration. “I told you,” Klava pried Delphi off her, “both of you, rules against boy witches are utter nonsense.” There was no other girl standing at their side. “Ariadne? Where did she go?”

“Back to school most likely.” Delphi spared a glance back up at the silhouette watching them with a shiver. He didn’t move like any boy she’d ever seen. Too still in the way he carried himself, like a ghost. “We should get out of here.” As a future oracle, she’d come to know the most accurate premonitions were not visions or prophecies, but a visceral gut reaction. “I don’t like this place. It reeks of death.”

“What about Ariadne?”

“She shouldn’t have wandered off then.” Delphi grabbed Klava by the wrist and led her back toward the portals. “She’s the one who brought us here, she should know her way back.”

“But-”

“We already broke the rules by coming here for silly reasons. If we’re gone too long, all of us will be in trouble.”

“I guess.” Klava wanted to bang on the castle door and demand entrance. There were no witches from Cariann Gardens to ask why the people hid away from their own town, or any other questions she had wanted answered. Unfortunately in exchange for proving her right, their strange acquaintance decided to impersonate a turtle, hiding behind tall stone walls. With Ariadne missing, she couldn't loiter on the steps and wait out his shyness. “I hope she’s okay.”

Ariadne was more than okay at their following class, sitting next to Klava with a giddy smile. Throughout the day, her notepad was steadily covered with silly little doodles. It seemed she had come around to Klava’s side without any evidence needed. Boys, she agreed, were not a distraction at all.