“Jackie, why is magic so hard?” Isaac complained, leaning on Jackie as they left Juno’s class. He’d been officially placed in the advanced Dark magic class and he agreed that it was a good idea because intermediate had been boring and easy, but advanced was fun and hard and as much as Isaac normally liked fun and hard things, he thought that it could also be fun and easy.

“Because if it was easy, anyone would do it?” Jackie asked, trying to lean back on Isaac and failing because he was shorter than Isaac. He was wearing a black armband, which Isaac was too. The king had died the other day. Isaac was more upset about it that he’d thought he would be, but it shouldn’t be a surprise. He knew Gavin and his family would be upset. And Yancy was really upset. The last time Isaac had seen him he’d obviously been crying.

“But that’s not true,” Isaac said. He sighed. “Because no matter how easy magic was, most people can’t just start touching the Pillars. So they could make it easier for the rest of us, is all I’m saying.”