Today's Reading

The outside world vanished. My body moved on its own, like a starving animal grasping for food. My feet carried me forward, and my hand grabbed the envelope.

'Anabelle Gage 184 Whilmington Place'

'Elmidde, Caimor'

There was no return address. Just a name, embossed on the pale wax seal, imprinted with the emblem of a white sphinx.

PARAGON ACADEMY

My heart jolted against my rib cage. I burst out the front door, splashing through a mud puddle in my haste. My shaking fingers ripped off the seal and pulled out a blue piece of paper, unfolding it. I leaned against a lamppost and began to read in the hazy sunset.

'Dear Ms. Gage,'

'Thank you for your interest in Paragon Runic Academy.'

'I am sorry to inform you that we cannot offer you a place in the class of 3519. Our admissions committee evaluated a high volume of applicants this year, and only accepted those with the highest scores on cognitive reasoning, tactical proficiency, and magic potential.'

'Your scores on the entrance exam were as follows: Critical Reasoning and Rhetoric—71/100'

'Strategy and Tactics—98/100 Natural Science—63/100 Psychology— 97/100'

'Magic Potential—58/100'

'AVERAGE: 77.4/100, out of a minimum entrance score of 95'

'We wish you well in your future endeavors. May you strive to be an Exemplar.'

'Sincerely, Nicholas Carriwitch Headmaste'

'This letter has been sent by mandate of public disclosure act 518 (c5).'

The world blurred around me. I read the letter again. Then again, and again. Each word was like a needle to my heart, more painful with every line. Tears welled in my eyes.

This wasn't right. This couldn't be right. Paragon had never sent rejection letters before.

I scanned the letter again.

Public disclosure act 518 (c5). According to an enclosed slip, it was a transparency law passed by Parliament last year. Every applicant was getting one of these, with copies of their test scores. My previous two exam results were enclosed in the same envelope. Thirty-one and fifty-three, respectively. I had never even been close.

I'd put everything into that test. I'd bled and sweated, reaching for a life beyond Clementine's basement, beyond this damp little corner of Lowtown.

And I'd failed. I hadn't even made the cut to be a Grey Coat, an assistant to a real student or professor. I wasn't even good enough to brew some student's tea.

I let my gaze drift up the inclined streets of the capital. Above the brick houses of Lowtown, above the shops and apartments of Midtown and the pale mansions of Hightown, above the crater at the peak of Mount Elwar, and the clouds that had parted.

Through a film of red tears, I saw Paragon Academy.

The school sat on a cluster of floating islands, massive chunks of rock frozen in the sky. Crimson sunlight shone over dormitories with glittering spires, lecture halls with stone columns and flying buttresses, arches and bell towers, theaters and clubhouses, all connected by a web of bridges and staircases.

How many nights had I sat here, robbed of sleep, gazing up at my dream? How many meals had I eaten here, alone, staring at the impossible?

And how many thousands had done the same? Thinking they were special, that they were worthy of a grand destiny. How many failures?

As I watched, a student jumped off an island and dropped through the sky. She unfurled a wingsuit under her arms and shot through the air, flying past a zeppelin. Detached, free, blindingly fast with the wind at her feet.

Now I would never know that feeling. The rest of my life would be grey, empty, and short. And I'd never get to help anyone.

My legs carried me back to the house, ignoring my caution, my fear. I burst through the front door, grabbed the silver folder, and stuffed it into my jacket. It held the plans for Clementine's criminal job. Maybe I could give it to the cops.

This excerpt is from the ebook edition.

Monday we begin the book THE LAST EMBER by Lily Berlin Dodd.

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