The Magic Exam

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Writing prompt: You live in a world where everyone is tested for magical ability on their 13th birthday. If they cannot perform magic by then, they are killed to improve the human race. It is your 13th birthday.

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5 out of 5 stars. “I bought the magic color-change water for my son and it worked perfectly! Very easy to use.”

1 out of 5 stars. “Too simple. No way this could have got me past the magic exam.”

Great. I clicked over to the next tab. Some kind of remote-controlled flying object, whose “remote” could be hidden in your sleeves or pocket. My dad had sent me this link, and promised that he would buy it for me if that was what I wanted. But man, $1200? Surely there must be something else.

I scrolled past hologram projectors, boxes with hidden compartments, chemistry experiments. Apparently faking one’s way through the magic exam is a big business. Would I be able to do it or not?

I could buy one of the cheaper things, but then I’d have to rely more on sleight-of-hand. I felt way too nervous for that.

Clicking, clicking, clicking.

It’s not fair. Why was this so easy for other people? My best friend had been bending spoons since she was 3 years old. I have a cousin who was so confident for his exam that he actually attempted a transfiguration- and succeeded. He turned a freaking shoe into a living, breathing cat. And made it look easy.

That cat probably has more magic than I do.

Okay, okay, calm down, keep looking through the black market sites. Just pick something.