“Duhhhh, bae,” I teased, and Alex rolled his eyes.
“Proceed as you wish.”
Professor Umbra ushered us forward, and the group surged toward the items.
Alex and I broke apart. He gravitated toward the swords, whereas I went straight for the wands. Even if they were considered old-fashioned, I couldn’t help myself. Ireallywanted a wand as a totem. My fingers found a light wood one first and trailed the length of its twisted grain embedded with emeralds, my birthstone. It was so beautiful that it made me want to cry, but there was absolutely no spark or a sensation of “rightness” as Umbra had said.
Dejectedly, I set it down and moved on.
The next one was carved from dark wood and was almost as pretty as the first, with its elaborate, curved handle. But again there was no epiphany, so I set it down.
I moved on to a wand with an identifying card beneath it, and when I read the card, my jaw slackened.
I’m looking at freaking Merlin’s wand? Oh, please, please, please, let this be my totem.
Equal parts nervous and excited, I grazed the wood with my fingertips, but once again, nothing sparked inside me.
I let out a huff.
I supposed it wasn’t surprising that Merlin’s wand wasn’t mine. Something of that caliber should go to a witch like Alex or Diana, but still, what a bummer.
Continuing on, I picked up each wand one by one, held it for a second, and set it back down when no sense of “rightness” overcame me. After I’d held every wand on the table and felt nothing, profound dejection settled in. I needed to pause and collect myself, so I scanned the room to see if anyone else had lucked out.
It didn’t seem like that was the case. Eva had also gone straight for a table of wands, and was frowning down at them and muttering beneath her breath. Alex and Hunter were still at the wall of weapons, along with every other guy in our class.
I rolled my eyes. How typical that all the dudes would want a weapon. Unfortunately, none of them had bonded with a totem yet.
As if to emphasize that fact, Efraim threw up his hands, whirled away from the weapons, and strode up to my table, his lips pursed with annoyance.
“No luck?” I asked.
“Zero,” he said, shaking his head. “One actually burned me.” Efraim raised his hand, which was blistering and red.
I cringed. “That sucks. I didn’t have any luck either, but maybe this table will be better for you. I need to move onto something else.” I turned and began making my way to the next table of wands.
“Holy crap!” Efraim cried, and I froze before whipping back around.
No way.
There Efraim stood, in the same place that I’d just been, with Merlin’s wand held aloft.
And the damn thing was singing.
“Excellent, Efraim!” Professor Umbra cheered. “Efraim is the first initiate to bond with his totem. And quite a sensational one it is, too.”
“Heck yeah! It cured my hand!” Efraim said excitedly, looking from his wand to his once-blistered hand in amazement.
“Very good, indeed! I’ve been waiting years to see who claimed that piece of magical history.” Professor Umbra gave Efraim a pleased nod and turned her attention to the rest of the room. “As for the rest of you, let that be a lesson that your totem will probably not be an item you are initially drawn to. They will more likely be something that you need.”
Something I need? I tilted my head. Honestly, I knew I didn’t need any of the stuff in this room. I’d grown up with plenty, and if I requested it, my parents would buy me whatever I wanted. It was a charmed life that made claiming that I “needed” any material item difficult. Still, Professor Umbra knew better than me, where totems were concerned, so I pivoted away from the second table of wands that I was about to peruse and scanned the room.
My next inclination would be weapons. We were spies-in-training, so weapons seemed useful, and I was attracted to two daggers with pearl inlaid handles.
Which meant I should probably look elsewhere.
Keeping that in mind, I ambled over to the least crowded jewelry table.
“If only that one would have chosen me,” Amethyst said when I stopped at her side. “Then life would have made sense.”
