Opulence: Third Times the Charm | Teen Ink

Opulence: Third Times the Charm

January 28, 2010
By AquaGem SILVER, Kalamazoo, Michigan
AquaGem SILVER, Kalamazoo, Michigan
5 articles 0 photos 50 comments

Favorite Quote:
Nobody will ever win the Battle of the Sexes. There's just too much fraternizing with the enemy. ~Henry Kissinger

Life it too short to let you matter.


“So, will I learn potions or spells first?” Evan asks.

“Seer affinities are usually moon witches, which means potions. I happen to be a witch of the sun. Still, I have extensively studied potions as well. You will be learning a combination of the two, though mostly potions,” I explain.

“Oh I’m really no good at cooking though,” Evan says, shaking his head vigorously.

“Yes, well there are certain healing potions you’ll learn, along with a few dreaming ones. Those will help you initiate a premonition in your sleep. Of course, most of the training you’ll do on your own, reading books and such,” I continue.

“Great, sounds like fun,” Evan sighs.

I try to be patient and say, “Well, I found the books very interesting while I was learning. Every morning you’ll go to basic lessons with the other apprentices here and combat training. Lessons are split up into a few classes for the different levels. You’ll most likely be in the first level but you’ll be given a placement test in the morning. Mentors take turns teaching the classes so you’ll see me there at times.”

“Then what are you going to teach me?” He asks.


“I’ll teach you after lunch and we’ll work on your magical specialty. That’s really the only area where you need one on one teaching,” I say.

“Well, I guess that’s alright. I’d hate being the only one all the time,” Evan says with a shudder.

“Glad to hear you approve,” I say sarcastically. “Now I should probably introduce you to someone. Come on, I need to get my locating charm for him.”

I lead him to my room and unlock the door, both magically and with the key.

“Well it’s about time. It took you fair decades to get done,” Finley says, the little sprite buzzing around my head as soon as I open the door.

“What are you doing in here?” I ask before looking around.

There, sitting on the middle of my table is a large and rather complex looking doll house. It seems equipped with an indoor pool, greenhouse, garden, tennis court, and little nine hole golf course. There’s a nice patio out in the back with a grill. There appears to be a small steak sizzling on it.

“What is that?” I ask in a tight voice.

“It’s my home of course,” Finley says, sounding proud.

“But what is it doing in my room?”

“Well Walter didn’t see any point in giving me my own set of rooms since I don’t need all that space. He thought it best if I just setup here. Even you have to admit, I don’t take up all that much room,” Finley says.

Evan, getting over the shock somewhat, just says, “Huh, steak. That’s sounds good. How’d you get it that small?”

“You see, my boy, there are many sprite market places within your over-grown ones. There are minimizing spells used to get food to a more compatible size for us. I also keep a little garden. Nothing special, but you know, these days best to go organic. There’s nothing like walking out to your garden and making some nice fresh salsa, picking everything you’d need for it and having grown it yourself,” Finley says.

A little hysterical gasp escapes my mouth. “You’re moving that… mansion. You can live in the office.”

“Bah, I like it here much better. Besides, we finally got all the plumbing worked out. Trust me, you don’t want to have to deal with that again.”

“Uh, maybe I should wait in the hall. Nice to meet you, er, sprite?” Evan says.

“Finley’s the name,” He grins at him before turning to me with a scowl. “I can see you didn’t tell the boy a thing about me. Well, erm… boy, I’m your other trainer.”

“Two trainers?” Evan asks looking a little confused.

“Well, as you can see, Finley is a sprite. The Fey Counsel thought the Organization should get more involved with the other fey races. Therefore Finley and I will be training and teaching you together.”

“So no one else has two trainers?” Evan asks.

“Now, I really do prefer mentor instead of trainer,” Finley says, though we both ignore him.

“No Evan, no one else does,” I tell him.

“You should feel honored. You’re one of a few boys that gets a trainer that’s not a witch,” Finley tells him.

Evan just shakes his head.

“It’s um, not as bad as it looks,” I say lamely.

“Not as bad as it…” Finley says, flying back to land on his roof but misjudging the distance and ending up almost falling with an expressive outburst.

“Fin! Not in front of the kid!”

“Oh, um, crap?” He asks with a sheepish grin. I give him another look and he tries again with, “Fudge?”

“Oh please, like I haven’t heard it all before,” Evan snorts.

“Yes, you’re just so worldly,” I say dryly. “How about we take you to the tailors to get your new clothes, then we’ll have Kate find you someone to give you a tour. In the morning you’ll take a placement test, then meet Fin and I in our office. We’ll give you your schedule.”

“Sounds good. Though I don’t see the point of a placement test. Is there a “zero” place?” Evan asks.

“Bah, witches and all their funny rules. The test doesn’t mean a thing. Just some of these little witches come here knowing some spells and such from their family,” Finley says, giving me a sideways glance.

“Just come on.” I sigh and grumble slightly when Finley perches himself comfortably on my right shoulder after changing form to an angelic looking white kitten.


The author's comments:
Well this is the third Opulence short story. I'm working on writing it as a full novel. Thank you all for the support and feedback. I've really enjoyed the emails I've recieved as well. Hope you enjoy!!

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This article has 71 comments.


VampireX GOLD said...
on Sep. 14 2010 at 9:25 am
VampireX GOLD, Spotsylvania, Virginia
18 articles 0 photos 81 comments
nice. thanks for not forgeting the Fey.

Lorelei SILVER said...
on Sep. 3 2010 at 8:41 am
Lorelei SILVER, Newport News, Virginia
9 articles 0 photos 56 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Nothing is ever easy"- Zeddicus Zul Zorander, copied by Richard Rahl

when are you writing more?

on Aug. 14 2010 at 11:15 pm
iluvnacho PLATINUM, Somewhere, Colorado
28 articles 1 photo 67 comments

Favorite Quote:
\"Find the beauty in the ugly\"-Jason Mraz 5-19-10
\"Be kinder than nessicary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.\" Unknown 11-29-10

I love all three of the chapters! it's wonderful! but i just have one question. what exactly is Finley?

on Aug. 12 2010 at 2:49 pm
BrightBurningCampeador PLATINUM, Portland, Oregon
42 articles 11 photos 333 comments
I can't wait for more, this is an absolutely stunning story!

AquaGem SILVER said...
on Aug. 7 2010 at 3:20 pm
AquaGem SILVER, Kalamazoo, Michigan
5 articles 0 photos 50 comments

Favorite Quote:
Nobody will ever win the Battle of the Sexes. There's just too much fraternizing with the enemy. ~Henry Kissinger

Life it too short to let you matter.

Sorry about that mistake, I changed details of the story in the novel version I'm writting such as her age. When I add short stories on here I'm taking them from the novel and try to change back details but don't always catch them all. So in the short story I wrote she's a witch of the moon. In the novel she's a witch of the sun. I basically just traded the definitions for them, not her actual "powers".

on Jul. 7 2010 at 2:53 pm
mudpuppy BRONZE, Orangeburg, South Carolina
2 articles 0 photos 475 comments

Favorite Quote:
Life is like a box of cheese and flower petal sometimes it's soft and sweet, sometimes it just plain stinks. - M.J.

YOU should post a another installment of this! This is the kinda of stuff that I'm in to. If it were publish I would buy it!

on Jun. 28 2010 at 9:07 pm
AaronHunter BRONZE, Mesquite, Texas
2 articles 0 photos 1 comment
okay, so is Jade a witch of the moon, or a witch of the sun? In the first article she introduced herself as a witch of the moon, at the beginning of this one she told Evan she was a witch of the sun.... Can you shed some light?

on Jun. 24 2010 at 7:39 am
OfficialApprover PLATINUM, Orefield, Pennsylvania
48 articles 0 photos 1752 comments

Favorite Quote:
Grab life by the balls. -Slobberknocker
We cannot change the cards we're dealt just how we play the hand
Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted
It's pretty easy to be smart when you're parroting smart people
-Randy Pausch

This was very good, nicely described.  Great job!  Please write more!

Btw, will you check out and comment on my work?


on Jun. 22 2010 at 3:53 pm
SilverLuna SILVER, _________, Washington
8 articles 0 photos 229 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Come fairies take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the mountains like a flame.".... W.B. Yeats.
"Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss." - Douglas Adams

I like this new entrance, it's fun and lets us see more clearly into this world. I'll be very interested in reading the full novel, lol

on Jun. 15 2010 at 8:35 am
skatergirl13 PLATINUM, Woodbridge, Virginia
21 articles 0 photos 30 comments

Favorite Quote:
" your heart is the most valuable thing I have I don't want to lose it"

The story line was really good but to me it seemed a kinda bording nothing really intresting in it... but still good

on Jun. 8 2010 at 10:00 pm
Megaphone1927 SILVER, The Tardis, Tennessee
6 articles 0 photos 43 comments

Favorite Quote:
"If you don't peer into the shadows, you won't see the ghosts."-Flora Segunda

i have a question for all you writin' folks. how long did it take the editors to read your article and put it on the web? mines takin' forever.

on May. 23 2010 at 4:31 pm
cyanidesun BRONZE, Atascadero, California
1 article 0 photos 28 comments

Favorite Quote:
It is the eye of ignorance that assigns a fixed and unchangeable color to every object; beware of this stumbling block. -Paul Gauguin

I really like the Opulence story line, but I've noticed a few conflicting comments between your articles. In the first article, the main character states she is a "witch of the moon" while in this one she says the opposite, and it also says previously that Evan is protective of his mother, which wouldn't make sense if he hated his family altogether. I'm not sure if you are going to use these three articles consecutively in the full length novel, but in case you do I thought I'd just point that out for you. :)

on May. 17 2010 at 9:54 pm
JourneyWriter PLATINUM, Joliet, Illinois
21 articles 0 photos 58 comments

Favorite Quote:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

-Robert Frost

ok, so im guessing (jst a guess) that somewhere near the end or middle of this book, it will slowly turn into a romance.... am i right? no, nevermind. i want to find out for myself, so keep it coming! i love Opulence!!!

on May. 16 2010 at 2:28 pm
Drama_Queen13 DIAMOND, Nantucket, Massachusetts
51 articles 0 photos 108 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Live Life Like A Song."

I'm a HUGE fan of Opulence! I would wait on line until midnight if this ever became a book, that's how much I love it. I would be so honored if you had time to read Our Summer in the Romance part of the Fiction section. If you don't have time, no biggie. PLEASE WRITE MORE!!!!

on May. 13 2010 at 12:17 pm
meganleigh122 GOLD, Greeneville, Tennessee
13 articles 0 photos 81 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... It's about learning to dance in the rain."

you're a good writer :) you could work on some transitions, but other than that, really good :)

JeanGrey GOLD said...
on May. 10 2010 at 11:04 pm
JeanGrey GOLD, Mason City, Iowa
10 articles 0 photos 258 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying."-Oscar Wilde

MORE!!! MORE!!! *screams* lol Good! I am a big fan! :)

ZoeBrooke said...
on Apr. 23 2010 at 6:47 pm
ZoeBrooke, E. Wenatchee, Washington
0 articles 1 photo 4 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Never play leapfrog with a unicorn."

Really, really, really great! I hope you publish this, because I would be one of the first to buy it when I found out! :)

on Apr. 22 2010 at 9:26 pm
french.masterpiece BRONZE, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2 articles 0 photos 16 comments

Favorite Quote:
"When life gives you lemons, make grape juice, then sit back and watch them wonder how you did it."
-Anonymous

This is so cool!!!! you have GOT to post more!!!!!! i read the very first part around seven times, because I love it so much!!!!!!

on Mar. 11 2010 at 6:16 pm
francinejar SILVER, Chino Hills, California
7 articles 1 photo 22 comments

Favorite Quote:
God and the devil are raging inside me.

r u published yet. your the best i've read on this site

AquaGem SILVER said...
on Mar. 10 2010 at 5:30 pm
AquaGem SILVER, Kalamazoo, Michigan
5 articles 0 photos 50 comments

Favorite Quote:
Nobody will ever win the Battle of the Sexes. There's just too much fraternizing with the enemy. ~Henry Kissinger

Life it too short to let you matter.

Thank you so much for the support!!