The door shut behind me with a click, and turning my head, I found my whole family gathered in the living room, watching my every move. I knew that asking to stay after school was weird for me, not to mention actually having hope of finding my specialty at sixteen, but it was still a little creepy. I wished somebody would just open their mouth and break the awkward tension going on. It was driving me crazy.

"So...." my mom began hesitantly. "How did the meeting go?"

I took a deep breath. This was either going to go really well, or really badly. "Well," I started, taking a few steps toward the couch. "He-"

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" My mom ran towards me, holding up her hands in warning. With a tilt to her head and a wide, expecting look in her eyes, she pointed down to my feet, still wearing my favorite black and white shoes. It was a you-know-the-rules look.

Oh right.

I backed up to the door again, kicking them off and making my way to the couch a second time, sitting closer to my dad than my mom. "Like I was saying, he did it. He figured out my specialty." I said it nonchalantly with a shrug. Maybe making it not sound like a big deal would make them take it differently.

"THEY DID WHAT?" My dad thundered on my left, and I felt a breath escape from me. So much for that plan. "Tell me, what magik did they work on you? Some kind of read your soul spell?" he joked.

"Oh stop it," my mom interrupted. "They most likely had him do some test, and something finally clicked for once."

Her words stung, but I did owe them some kind of answer. "Actually," I butted in, "It was like reading my soul, I guess." I stopped as I saw the weird, disbelieving looks on my family's faces. My sister was only barely beginning to understand the limits of magik, and even she knew something sounded off. "My teacher, Mr. Dekoran, his specialty is really strange. He can take magik out of things, or people, and absorb it himself, or put it in other things. So when he had me stay after, he sort of... pulled my magik out of my body, and compared it with a bunch of different types, and found a match."

"Huh. That's different. So... what is your specialty?" My dad asked, raising a thick eyebrow.

I had had the entire ride home to think of how to explain it, but even so... how do you explain that you have an ancient, never-researched before magik, but you were only going to use it for extra credit? Actually, now that I thought about it, maybe it was better to leave the last part out. "Basically... there used to be these Witches way back in the day that could make potions. Potions that could make people stronger, or heal them, or... anything, I guess. They were called Apothecaries, but they must not have been very common, because eventually that trait went extinct. Or mostly extinct anyways, because when Mr. Dekoran was looking at my magik earlier today, he told me that I'm the last Apothecary, and now he wants to see what kinda stuff I'm able to do, and have me start staying after school. So I'm not a totally useless Witch, but I don't have anything super exciting to help modern society. That's all." I looked around at my parent's stunned faces. I bet they were just expecting me to say that there'd been no luck, once again, after I'd sent that text that I was staying after. With the implication that I'd have to be a 'real Witch' now, I wish I could have delivered.

"That's all?" My mom questioned, seemingly half in shock. "Honey, this is great!" And just like that I was swept up into a hug. "Oh we need to thank this teacher of yours. Finally, you know just what you're good at, and oh, just imagine the kinds of scholarships you could get with that. This is wonderful!"

"You really think they'd give me scholarships for that alone?" I tried to get out with my face being squished in the hug. If that's true, then maybe this wouldn't be so bad. Last time I had looked at the class requirements for archeologists, they were way too expensive for me to expect to pay off in a few years. Not to mention all the interning, on the job training, and actually being hired. I didn't want a magik-based career, 

"Of course they would. Really, what college wouldn't want to have the last Apothecary as their student?"

"Even if I wasn't going to be a professional Witch?" I immediately regretted opening my mouth as soon as the words came out. This wasn't something to talk about anyone with.

"What? Why would you not be a professional, especially with a specialty like that?" I was pulled out of the hug now, being held out and examined at arms length. A confused look sat on my mom's freckled face as her green eyes examind me worriedly. I hated that look. "Honestly, what else would you even go for?"

I looked away. "... I don't know." Why did I think being an Apothecary would change anything? I already knew being an archeologist was out of the question, so why did I even sat that? This is why it's better to not bring it up in the first place.

"Listen. I don't know much about Apothecaries and ancient magik, and perhaps this all seems sudden and... nerve-wracking for you, but if you're actually able to make things that can help and heal other people, then that's something you should go for. Especially with the way the world is. You could prove how useful and helpful magik is. Maybe then someone could stop getting into so many fights?" The last line came out more than hinting.

"Yeah I guess," I answered in a flat tone. I knew I was going to have to bring up the career thing at some point, but now wasn't the time. They couldn't afford classes like that, neither could I, so why ruin right now? Why not just let them be happy that I wasn't being the worst Witch and a disappointment for once?

"Well, that settles it then!" my dad announced, smacking his hand down on the coffee table in front of us. "I say ice cream and pizza. Let's celebrate Crow finding himself today!"

"Yeah, let's get ice cream!" Gaia shouted, and I wondered how much of the conversation she'd actually listened to.

The car drive there was rather boring, full of my dad singing horribly to random songs on the radio, and my mother asking me every two seconds if I could make a potion for 'insert blank here'. I don't know how many times I had told her that I didn't even know the first thing about Apothecaries before Gaia screeched, "We're here!"

The clanging sounds of a busy kitchen and the sweet smell of dough rising greeted me as we stepped in, but that wasn't the only familiar thing I recognized out of the decorated room of the restaurant. The shock of seeing him surprised me, but I quickly got over it as a small smile filled my face.

"Hey Elliot!" I called out, getting the blond boy behind the counter's attention.

"Hey!" He smiled back, releasing his levitation on the wad of pizza dough in his hand, and catching it as it fell back down.

"I didn't know you started working at a pizza joint. Guess even a magikal prodigy has to start somewhere," I joked. Then it hit me. I hadn't seen him all Summer. Had barely even texted him after he had said he was going off to learn at M.A.F.E.S. Was it okay to talk just like we always had?

"Forget being a magikal prodigy. Just the magikal part made it hard for me to get a job pretty much anywhere else. If it wasn't for the owner happening to be a neighbor of mine, I don't think most places would have hired a Witch at all." He sighed for a moment, his deep brown eyes looking dark and downcast. But sure enough, in a moment he perked up, and focused himself on looking directly at me. "So anyways, what's new with you? Just grabbing a quick dinner, or celebrating with the family?"

"Oh, well I guess we're-"

"WE'RE CELEBRATING!" My dad finished for me, slapping a hand on the counter as his voice boomed proudly all over the restaurant. I tried not to groan. "After all, Crow here finally figured out his specialty!" He grabbed my shoulders, shaking me as if to prove a point.

"... Excuse me, what?" Elliot spoke politely, voice barely above a whisper, a stark contrast to my father. He really did seem to be the same shy teen as last year, which I was extremely grateful for. I've heard so many times that freshman year changes you a lot, and I'd hate to lose my best friend.

"He figured out his specialty today, so we're celebrating!"

"Oh no, I understood that. It's just... it's just that well..." He fiddled white the crisp white sleeve of his uniform. "I thought he was an Ord."

Honestly, I thought so too. And just when I was starting to like the idea. An Ord was just short for Ordinary. A Witchborn, with all the right genes, but none of the magikal aptitude. Of course, having two Witch parents, it would be rather rare, and I still would have been able to leviate things with a lot of effort, but getting a broom license with that on my record would have been hard enough. A specialty? Impossible. Though I'd never told anyone, that's what I had figured the whole time, only growing more and more sure after how many doctors and specialists had told me the same exact thing.

"Yeah, well, it turns out that I'm actually an Apothecary, probably the only one that exists right now," I told him. "One of my teachers had me go through a whole ordeal today to figure it out, and now I'm going to start staying after to learn how it all works."

"That's so interesting Crow! I'm happy for you," Elliot replied as he led us to a table. Sitting down, he held out a water jug, pulling the water out with magik. With no gravity to affect them under Elliot's control, they bubbled up into spheres, spiraling through the air as he gently controlled them into a glass for everyone. Being a Scorpio, I knew he could control water, but to watch his face become so calm as it swirled through the air, making it look so natural, so easy... It amazed me every time.

He took our orders, and I didn't see much of him for the rest of the night unless it was to check on us or some other table. I stuffed myself with as much pizza and ice cream as possible, until the sleepiness hit me, and the clock ticked closer to closing. Slowly we got our stuff together, with me practically having to cart Gaia along with her eyes closed, and made to leave. I glanced around, trying to find Elliot to tell him goodbye before we left, but it turned out he was waiting by the door.

"Hey, before you go," he called, and I turned to face him. "Start texting me more often, all right? And let me know how this Apothecary thing goes. It sounds cool."

"Sure. I will, for both things." Then I said bye and got in the car. It wasn't a long ride home, but I started to fade in and out with the smooth motion of the car and the quieter songs on the radio. The last thing I remembered thinking before passing out was why I had to be the one to text him? And if he wanted to talk, why hadn't he said anything all Summer before?