Liath has been training her whole life for this moment.
She goes through the checklist one last time. Power sharer, check. Tin of high-quality healing cookies, two dozen. Rack of anti-poison potions, one dozen. Her first aid kit (with Adderall, caffeine, morphine, Tylenol, aspirin, penicillin, multivitamins, activated charcoal, vitamin C, chelation tablets, enchanted blood test strips, lancets and two lancet projectors.) Five sets of clothes (all enchanted silk). Two good pairs of enchanted running shoes, one good leather belt. Her enchanted sunglasses (flash-sensitive), and her magnesium flash powder for making things go BANG. Her enchanted circlet (gem-studded, alertness-promoting), and her charm bracelet (every little charm a tiny enchantment). Twenty-three little tubes of poison-reactive chapstick. Her athame, her multitool, her scissors, and her 3-in-1 hatchet/prybar/hammer, one solid piece of iron. Her honing rod for all the blades in those. Two water bottles and a Lifestraw. Her alarm clock, her pocket watch, her music box, and her flashlight, all wound. Half a kilo of gemstones to hold power in. A hundred yards of paracord. Her wearable weight set (empty of water) and her resistance bands. A deck of cards.
There'll be more waiting for her on the inside - Santa Barbara has a few students this year - but that's altogether less certain. Once she goes in, all the rules are things she has to hold inside herself and keep to by her own discipline and willpower. The most important of all: No malia. She's going to work for every drop of mana she can earn, like she has been for years. She's going to be strong on her own terms.
She's earned this. With every moment of her life so far, she's become worthy to survive.
Her parents don't hug her goodbye, but they nod at her with respect.
She nods back, anti-nausea tablet still dissolving in her mouth.
"See you in four years."