To gain a spell a mage must perform a set up and tie the spell to a trigger. The set up requires either a deep understanding of the spell, performing the spell by some non-magical means, or some combination of the two. The trigger can be anything from a specific word to a general gesture.

Master Alan Vanderbuilt, Vice Principal of Apprentices, was having a good day. The end of the quarter was three weeks away and everything was going smoothly. Principal Weaver had left two days ago on maternity leave and Vanderbuilt had word that that morning she had given birth to a healthy boy. He decided he would have a cup of tea to make the day perfect.

Vanderbuilt murmured “boil” to start the water in the kettle boiling and thought how miraculous it was that he had not had any reports about the Miller siblings for a whole week.

Just as he was pouring the water into his teapot, the secretary, Pierre, walked in.

“A mister Chad Lawrenceson to see the principal, sir.”

“Let him in,” said Vanderbuilt, wondering what this could be about.

A tall, fit young man walked in looking a little dazed and wearing what appeared to be southern farming garb.

“I am sorry to inform you that the principal is out and won't be back anytime soon,” said Vanderbuilt, as he left his teapot to steep. “Is there anything I can help you with? Or can I take a message?”

“I'm not sure, sir,” replied the young man. “You see, I am a new apprentice. I came with The Wizard. I met him while he was near the village of Fresh Springs where I live... I mean lived. He gave me a test and made me an apprentice.”

“Oh, why is the principal gone now? She has always had a way with people like this who have delusions of grandeur. How did he even find out that wizards initiate apprentices?” thought Vanderbuilt before saying: “Excuse me if I am having a hard time believing you, but 'The Wizard' isn't very descriptive. There are about sixty wizards in Landrea, yet you claim to have come with 'THE Wizard.' I am sorry. I am going to have to ask you to leave. If you want to leave a message for principal Weaver, you can do so with Pierre on your way out.” Thinking the conversation over, he returned his attention to the tea pot.

“Excuse me, sir,” Chad said, “but I really did come with a wizard, Wizard Ferdinandson. I am sorry, I didn't know not to call him 'The Wizard.' That is what Selena and the others all called him.”

That caught Vanderbuilt's attention. He knew that Selena Yellowborn had been selected to lead an expedition with a wizard, but he didn't remember which one. He had no trouble remembering Selena. There were very few people who made abecedarian after only three years at The Academy. However, none of the expeditions were supposed to be back for a couple of days. Maybe this man really had met with an expedition and then raced back to The Academy to try and use their names to get in before they were around to rebut what he was saying.

“Names, those are a good starting point,” said Vanderbuilt, “but that is still not enough for me to let you stay at the academy. Surely if you had come with a wizard, he would have been nice enough to introduce you himself, or at least write you a letter of introduction. I must ask you again to leave.” He again returned his attention to his tea. He poured himself a cup, hoping that it had not been steeping for too long. Turning around, he was surprised to find the young man had not moved.

“Sir, I really did come with wizard Ferdinandson. He was planning on bringing me here himself, but everybody I came with was called to see the Overseer as soon as we arrived. You see sir, one of the apprentices that was with him died. Is there some way I could get a message to him? I am sure he would write me a letter of introduction.”

“A death! That could cause an expedition to come back early,” thought Vanderbuilt, completely forgetting about his tea. “Your story keeps getting wilder,” he said, “but it also keeps getting slightly more believable. I will humor you. I will have Pierre notify the Overseer's office that...what was your name?”

“Chad Lawrenceson.”

“Right, that Chad Lawrenceson needs a letter of introduction from wizard Ferdinandson verifying that he is an apprentice of the Academy.” He then started to call out, “Pier...”

Before he could finish Pierre was at the door.

“Sir,” he said, “the Miller siblings are here again. Apparently they were disrupting abecedarian Binder's lecture on green beans.”

“Thank you, Pierre,” said Vanderbuilt. “Chad, you may leave. I will have the message sent.” As Chad was leaving he said to Pierre: “Pierre, please notify the office of the Overseer that Chad Lawrence needs a letter of introduction from wizard Ferdinandson. Also, show the troublemakers in.”

Pierre left and was soon replaced by Quartz and Jet Miller. It was hard to believe that they were siblings. Jet was tall and slender with long black hair, while her brother Quartz was short and built like a rock, with blonde, almost white, hair. Vanderbuilt thought that if you combined the two the result would look a lot like Chad. Immediately, Quartz burst into a string of prepared excuses. Vanderbuilt held up his hand until Quartz noticed and stopped his rambling.

“I know,” said Vanderbuilt, “that you two get picked on a lot, but that is no excuse for allowing your tempers to get out of hand and disrupting classes. As I have told you before, when these things happen, you need to inform your teacher or myself so that we can put a stop to it for good. As it is, you end up in trouble and whoever it was who angered you gets away scot-free. I think something a little more severe than a week of kitchen duty is inline for you two.”

Just then Pierre popped his head in.

“Sir, a letter for the principal from wizard Ferdinandson in regards to Chad Lawrenceson. I thought you might want to see it.”

“That was fast!”

“Sir, this letter came before I had a chance to send the other. Would you like to see it?”

“Yes. I am sorry, you two, but could you wait just a moment?”

He took and read the letter.

It was true. Wizard Ferdinandson had really made Chad Lawrenceson an apprentice and dumped him on him three weeks before the end of the summer quarter. Wondering what he should do, he glanced up and noticed the Millers still standing there. “Oh, this is going to be good,” he thought, “this is going to be really good.”

As Chad left the office two apprentices were shown in. He had spent enough time with the expedition to recognize the black and white “robe and sash” of an apprentice. He wished that he still had Selena and Edward to talk to. They had tried to teach him everything he might need to know once he got to the The Academy on their trip here. Nobody had expected the whole expedition group to be pulled away so suddenly that there had only been enough time for the Wizard to call upon a random novice to direct him to the principal's office. Because of the rush, he was now sitting here waiting for a letter. He was alone, and really hoping that he wouldn't get thrown out before he had a chance to prove himself. As he sat worrying about what to do if The Wizard didn't get his message, Pierre headed back into the vice principal's office. Shortly after, Pierre came back out and informed him that the vice principal would like to see him again.

Upon entering, he noticed that the two apprentices were still present. On seeing their strikingly different hair colors, he thought that if you mixed their hair, the result would be very similar to the vice principal's salt and pepper hair.

“This,” said the vice principal, addressing the apprentices, “is Chad Lawrenceson and, as of right now, he is officially recognized as an apprentice of The Academy.”

“Really?!” exclaimed Chad at the same time that Quartz said: “Wait, what?”

“Apparently,” continued the vice principal, “wizard Ferdinandson has tested him and found him worthy to be an apprentice. However, he cannot start classes because it is so late in the quarter. Therefore, until the end of this quarter, you two are in charge of him, including lodgings, robes, and anything else he might need to get settled in here.”

“You have got to be kidding me!” broke in Quartz.

“I am not. Also, because Chad doesn't have any classes, I am assigning him kitchen duty until the end of the quarter. Please be so nice as to keep him company.” said the vice principal with a mischievous grin. Then turning to Chad, he said, “Chad, this is Quartz and Jet Miller. They will take care of you until the end of the quarter, at which point you are to report back to me. Here is a letter stating that you are indeed a new apprentice. You are all dismissed.”

Chad was exuberant, It was finally happening. This was real. He was an apprentice at the Academy. As they were leaving the office, Chad heard the vice principal murmur under his breath: “Cold and over steeped!”

“The first thing we need to do is get you some clothes.”

Quartz couldn't believe this. First, they got into trouble because he had defended Jet from one of the other apprentices who was picking on her because of her age. Now, they were put in charge of some mage wannabe who would also be picked on for his age. And to top it all off, his sister was already trying to make friends with the guy and help him out.

Quartz spoke up: “No, the first thing we need to do is teach this country bumpkin how to defend himself.”

“Please Quartz, don't be so rude. We are also from the country and no one will know to pick on him until he has apprentice's robes anyways. They will just think he is a farmer who lost his way. In any case, you can just defend him for now if it comes to that.”

“But that's my point! I don't want to defend him. I don't want anything to do with him!”

“Well,” the new guy piped in, “the Vice Principal said you have to have something to do with me. So, can we make this as painless as possible for both of us? Just show me where to get clothes, where I will sleep, and where the kitchen is. Then we can part ways. I am confident I can take care of myself.”

That irked Quartz. They were currently walking across one of the lawns and Quartz thought it was as good a place as any to teach this new guy what he was going to be up against from the rest of the students. All for the sake of helping him of course.

“So, you think you can take care of yourself?” He said with a mischievous grin.

“Quartz, don't do anything stupid,” Jet interjected.

“I am not going to do anything stupid. I am just going to help him learn what he is up against. Darkness!”

As Quartz said “darkness,” a shadow 3 meters across appeared above the new guy, blocking about 95% of the sunlight from reaching him.

His sister immediately said, “Please, Quartz, do stop this!”

But the new guy simply kept on walking.

“I'm not letting you get away that easily,” Quartz thought to himself.

“Darkness!”

Again a shadow appeared, extending the shadow in the direction that the new guy was walking.

“You said you can take care of yourself, but what are you going to do when your light is blocked like this and your enemy also attacks your person?”

“Bother. Do you really want to know?” the new guy said in an exasperated tone. “Uncover, shadow, quick, bind.”

Before Quartz realized that he was using magic, the new guy had dispelled the shadows and placed a new shadow above Quartz. This one was darker but smaller.

Jet exclaimed, “Oh my!”

Quartz said “what the?!” as he tried to run to get out from under the shadow, but he couldn't move. He realized what “quick” and “bind” meant now. The new guy had grown the grass at his feet and used it to bind him to the spot. Quartz was completely flabbergasted and could only stand there while the new guy walked away.

Jet was dumbfounded. Her stupid brother had actually attacked the new guy. If she remembered correctly, his name was Chad. While it was true that Quartz hadn’t gone all out, and he probably had meant to be helpful, he still attacked an untrained layman. However, Chad had initially ignored and then retaliated against her brother. Now her brother, who was called a protege, was trapped in darkness and Chad was walking away.

“Jet, would you please show me where I can get my robes?”

“Um, sure... but, what about my brother?”

“I am not much of a mage. As soon as we get a little further away the spells will dissipate. I am going to assume he meant well. I take it that he is not much of a people person?”

“You are amazingly understanding if you know he meant well, which I think he did. How can you say you are not much of a mage? What you just did was amazing. I don't know how many times I have been caught in a shadow and couldn't do anything.”

“I just got lucky because I have a lot of experience getting out from shadow blankets though I have never experienced one quite as dark, big, or long-lasting as your brother's. Shadow blankets are one of the favorite pranks of the village children. As for the binding, I only know that because of my experience as a farmer.”

His explanation made sense, but Jet knew from experience that dispelling a shadow was very difficult. Either he was a high level mage or he had an amazing low level spell. She was guessing it was the former.

They continued to talk as they made their way to the academy tailor shop.