Because of her problems before, Brie had to repeat many of her classes, and now she’s on the last one: Introduction to Broom Flying. She’s learned to manage her fear of heights and feels more confident in the air, so she’s not worried about passing and getting her flying license. But Willow, who is part wolf shifter, has her own problems, and now Brie has to help her friend. Read on to find out what happens in this excerpt from The Daring Witch!

Magic Classes

Magic classes in the afternoon were different from the earlier ones. For Earth magic, I had Trees and Wood I for lecture, and a woodworking class for my hands-on course. All the students in the Earth classes were the same as last year, including Erin. The teacher, Mrs. Murphy, introduced Willow to everyone else and didn’t give her extra explanations for the earlier classes she’d missed. If Willow couldn’t follow what was going on, she didn’t say anything either.

The lecture on trees was similar to Herbology from last year, but dealing with much larger plants. That was going to be my first challenge. I could memorize all the magical properties of the woods by taking lots of notes and keeping up with reading the textbooks, but I had a harder time when it came to practicing magic. Earth techniques still felt heavy and slow for me. If only I didn’t have to waste time repeating classes, I might have been able to learn more about Water magic like I really wanted.

Woodworking sounded like a typical high school shop class at first. We would be cutting wood with power tools instead of magical spells, so we spent a lot of time going over safety practices for the shop. Ms. Murphy promised that what we created would have magical properties, but I didn’t know what difference there was between a witch-made chair and a mundane chair from a factory. The important thing was that a chair had to be comfortable to sit in.

The class I was looking forward to the most was only offered in the spring: Ocean Magic. If I passed every single one of my required classes, I’d be allowed to join the specialized Water course. So I had to make sure that I did well instead of having to repeat something again.

I also had to repeat Basic Broom Flying after I was booted from the class during junior year. I’d mostly learned to suppress my fear of heights and connect with my broom, but I had to pass the full course to be licensed to fly outside of school property. My friends had all completed the class already. Everyone else in the class was a junior, and they looked so young as they struggled just to get their brooms off the ground.

And then there was Willow, eyeing her broom with distrust. She’d been forced into the broom class to be with me. Unlike most students, she had never flown before. She wasn’t eager to try it out. While everyone else practiced hovering, Willow stood there without touching her broom, leaving it laying on the ground.

Coach Bloodgood walked by with her peregrine falcon familiar perched on her shoulder. “Are you having trouble, Miss Jansen?”

Willow shook her head. “I’m not sure why I have to learn this at all. Wolves don’t fly.”