By the Orchid and the Owl by Mariah Montoya
By the Orchid and the Owl is a fantasy book. It follows Rayna Drey, who is 18 years old. Once you turn 18, you are sent to the institute to be branded with faerie magic; you do not know which magic you will get. You then spend the next 5 years at the institute learning to control and harness this magic. The types of sanctioned magic are: the ability to wield elements, summon objects, shift forms, talk to wildlife or manipulate minds. Rayna, on her first night at the institute, the night before the branding drinks some ale laced with bascite (the same stuff that would be branded into her), she explodes with a raw type of power, luckily for Rayne Coen Steeler, a fifth year mind manipulator can teach her to hide it, however Coen is hiding many secrets too. Rayna begins to uncover dark secrets about the Island and its council. If they find out, she and Coen face a fate worse than death.
The magic woven into Eshol is the only thing that keeps us safe from the monsters beyond our shield. We must each bear a thread of that magic to keep our fortifications tight.
