I could barely conceal my excitement at school. Every period was passing slowly, taking twice as long as it usually did. The class would be tomorrow, but I was excited all the same.

It would be the time when my big sister, Asma (who was 16) and I would go deep into the forest, to practice magic in a place that was enchanted so no one would see or hear us. Asma had told me that I would be learning how to transport objects.

I was 11, and it had been a few months since I had started learning magic. Ours was a very special family, all the females had the special power to cast magic spells, but they had to first learn and practice it to perfection.

“Laila! Haven’t you been listening to a word I said?” the teacher’s voice jerked me out of daydreaming.

“Sorry, Miss,” I said meekly, giving Miss Aliya an apologetic smile.

“Never mind that. Take out your notebook. You have work to do!” Miss Aliya said sternly.

I glanced at the board, and the whole class started giggling at my horrified face. Muttering angrily, I pulled the notebook out of my bag and began to work.

Saturday dawned bright and clear, though I had already been up for an hour in anticipation. Best to wear old clothes, since I always ruined my clothes when we were learning a new spell. I ran to the kitchen, where I found a note from mum saying:

Have a slice of bread and drink some juice. I had to go for some errands.

Love,

Mum

I glanced at the clock. It was 7:20am, and Asma should have been down by now. We had to leave at 7:30am.

Gulping down my juice, I wondered why Asma had not come down yet. Maybe she had already gone to the clearing. So I set off alone. Arriving at the clearing, I saw no one. That was strange.

Then I noticed the owl, its large eyes staring right at me. I had just wondered why there was an owl there in daytime when it launched at me. Shrieking, I put my arms over my face and crouched down. I could feel the air from its wings on my hands. The owl squawked obnoxiously, looking challengingly at me.

Reaching for the pool of magic in me, I willed the rocks and twigs at my feet to lift. They aligned with my hands. Though they were wobbling a bit, I kept them steady, ready to shoot if the owl showed any inclination of attacking me again. The owl thought better of it, and vanished back into the trees.

‘Phew!’ I thought. It had been a barn owl, I guessed, backing into a tree to sit on its roots. But I tripped, and the next thing I knew, I was dangling in a net, hanging in the air.

“Aaargh!” I growled, hating whoever had set this trap.

A big rock was dangling from the rope, which was holding my net. It was the classic trap you’d see in movies. There was no point in cutting the rope, since the drop would give me plenty of bruises. That was assuming that I found something sharp enough to cut the rope, of course.

I looked around for things I could use for getting down. Then I had an idea. Focusing on the boulder, I made it go down, slowly and slowly. Finally I was out, and I set the boulder on top of the net so it wouldn’t bother me again. Only then did I realise how tired I was. I collapsed onto the ground, warily checking it for traps. Then I noticed something glinting on the tree branch. It was my locket! My mother had given it to me, and I did not want to lose it.

But there was no way to climb the tree. The branches were too high. Maybe I could get it down with magic? Then a squawk drew my attention. It was the same owl. And it was heading right for the locket!

I started preparing myself for casting a magic spell to make the locket come down to me. I was desperately imagining the locket reaching me, and dropping in front of me.

Suddenly a flash of blue light made me shut my eyes, just as the owl reached the locket. When I opened my eyes, the owl was nowhere to be seen, and to my delight, the locket was right in front of me.

I snatched it up and tied it back around my neck. Had I just successfully transported an object? I was completely drained out, but I had done it! If the owl attacked again, I would not be able to hold my own.

Then I heard some rustling of leaves and started backing away, ready to run at the slightest ‘squawk’. But there, emerging out of the trees, were Asma and mum!

“Well done, Laila!” mum exclaimed. “You passed your first test!”

“This was a test?” I asked, not completely understanding.

“Yep!” Asma said, crouching down with me. “Here, have some water.”

Only when I saw the water bottle did I realise how thirsty I was. Taking it, I gulped down about half the bottle in one go.

“Are you hurt?” mum asked, joining Asma. She insisted on putting band-aids on my few small cuts.

I was happy. I had passed my first of many-more-to-come-tests, and I had succeeded in doing a spell on my own in the first try! I beamed at every bird (and person) I saw on the way to get my treat, an ice-cream.

Published in Dawn, Young World, July 2nd, 2016