The Rise of Ren Crown by Anne Zoelle Page A

open space in the center and began enacting spells.
    Magic shifted between and among residents of our dorm. Community Magic was using the paths that we all already possessed to recharge the group faster. It was the way Community Magic worked, building small, localized communities, then tying those to each other—most potently between two roommates, to four friends living near each other, to groups of six and ten in hallways, then onto inhabitants of larger spaces like a single dorm, then the whole Magiaduct, then to places where the entire community met—the cafeteria, the libraries, the fields and halls—until powerful magic flowed freely around the mountain.
    The Dorm Twenty-five heads gave a spiel, repeating much of what had already been shared via frequency, community, and campus communications. They reiterated that as soon as the last student was secured in the Magiaduct, we'd be locked down, and the whole Magiaduct would start to regenerate and focus Community Magic more swiftly.
    The words “locked down” resulted in fifteen minutes of panic for many in the room.
    The words “roommate reassignment” caused an additional fifteen.
    I tried to block both episodes by closing my eyes and doing mental calming exercises Draeger had claimed would help my magic refocus. The traumatic magic swirling around made me nauseous.
    Apparently, the crystal ball that we'd all had to pass our hands over as we'd entered the common room had coded and locked those of us without roommates into the system. Once everyone on campus was entered into the system, each of us without a roommate would be paired.
    “Okay, everyone. Calm down. That's right,” said the soothing voice of one of the dorm heads. “We are going to search and flag magic levels. We want to make sure everyone is physically well. Depletion, usage, mindset, and state of recovery all count in the color that is generated. Panic and trauma to a mage's magic levels will affect your final color as well.”
    I was going to have to look into Psychology Magic at some point, as I found that distantly fascinating.
    As an introvert and artist, and studying with Christian for sports psych, I had always practiced a lot of mind and visualization techniques, so knowing that mindset affected a person’s magic wasn't mind blowing, but it did make me think about how that reality could be used . My mental pyramid took on new dimensions.
    If ever things on campus went back to normal, Mbozi was going to have to start running away from my questions.
    It was hard to imagine normal, at the moment.
    I yanked my eyes open when I felt the spell scan me. It then moved to the Epsilon member at my right. Everyone's level was visible to the rest of the room.
    Green meant healthy in body and mind, and was represented across the spectrum in various verdant shades.
    No one showed green.
    The yellows were a mix of issues, physical, emotional, and mental. Every shade of yellow was represented across the broad spectrum of the four hundred or so people in our dorm.
    The Delta and Epsilon members next to me, who had been stuck in the Magiaduct during the attack, showed butterscotch limned in purple, but the dark outlines were easy to ignore due to the steadiness of their neutral central color.
    The purple outlines were likely due to a backlash through the scarf system. It made me wonder what everyone else had experienced when I'd taken a turn toward the insane after Olivia had disappeared.
    Purples necessitated heavy concern, both emotionally and magically, and they were horribly present in pockets of students scattered throughout the sea of yellows.
    Black encompassed the emotional and physical turmoil of the purples, but also indicated something was severely wrong with the person's magic.
    I was the only one in the entire room showing black.
    I folded my arms tightly against my chest and refused to look up again. There was nothing helpful in seeing the looks of horror and fear...or of seeing the more