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

have a single hair out of place.
    “Madame Beauregard wanted to offer me a job,” she said, as she leaned against the wall next to them. “Dorm Monitor.”
    “Wow,” Imaiqah said. “She must think highly of you.”
    Alassa shrugged. “It’s extra responsibility,” she said. “I didn’t even know the post existed .”
    “They start from Fourth Year,” Caleb put in. “One male, one female; they’re meant to keep an eye on their fellow students while Madame Beauregard keeps an eye on the Third Years. I wasn’t one.”
    Imaiqah elbowed Alassa. “Bet Jade was,” she said. “Write to him and ask.”
    “I will,” Alassa said. “Who do you think the other Dorm Monitor will be?”
    Emily tuned them both out as they started discussing the various boys in their year and contemplating the most likely candidates. It wasn’t a post she wanted, not when she’d be the same age as the students she was meant to supervise. Jade had been a prefect, she recalled, but he’d never had to boss around his fellow Sixth Year students, only students who had been younger than him. Alassa would need reserves of tact and diplomacy Emily suspected she didn’t have to make the position anything more than an empty title.
    Caleb cleared his throat. “Did you want the post?”
    “No,” Emily said. “I didn’t know it existed either.”
    She leaned against the wall and watched as students kept flowing into the Great Hall. There were only eighty Fourth Year students, divided almost evenly between male and female; she knew a handful of them by name, but others were strangers. Imaiqah would be able to talk about anyone in their year in great detail, Emily knew, yet Emily herself had never had the knack for learning about people, let alone making friends. She only knew Melissa and her cronies because they’d tried to make her life miserable.
    The doors started to close, a handful of remaining students hastily running to get into the Great Hall before it was too late. Melissa was one of the last, her long red hair spilling out behind her as she ran into the chamber. She looked different, Emily noted, although it was hard to put her finger on why . There was a new resilience in the way she moved that surprised Emily. She waved, wondering if Melissa would come over, but Melissa did not approach them. Instead, she merely found a place to stand and waited.
    Should have chairs here for us , Emily thought. Standing here for hours is no fun .
    She pushed the thought aside as the Grandmaster stepped through a door and walked onto the stage. The lights dimmed slightly, drawing everyone’s attention to him. Emily stood straighter, clasping her hands behind her back. The Grandmaster was not someone to ignore.
    “Greetings,” the Grandmaster said. “Welcome back to Whitehall.”
    There was a long pause. Normally, Emily knew, he would introduce the Year Head and allow him to make the rest of the speech, but this time he merely waited, his hidden eyes sweeping the room. Whitehall was his , Emily knew; the wards respected him as their master, even though he would one day stand aside for a new Grandmaster. That day, Emily hoped, would be a very long time in coming.
    “This is your Fourth Year at Whitehall,” the Grandmaster continued. “As such, it is perhaps your most important year at Whitehall. Your Year Head, therefore, stands before you now.”
    It took Emily a moment to realize he meant him , that he was the Year Head. She couldn’t help smiling as a rustle of understanding ran through the giant chamber. She liked the Grandmaster, while Master Tor had been a jerk and Mistress Irene had been sharp-tongued and strict. If the Grandmaster had time to serve as Year Head as well as his Grandmaster duties, there were few indeed who would wish for someone else. The Grandmaster could open doors no one else could, at least at Whitehall.
    “First, a handful of minor announcements,” the Grandmaster said. “Quite a few of you have obtained chat