Scott and Katie’s Apartment

1:30 PM

Scott and I felt like robots with all the wires stuck onto our bodies. Betty did her job well; she brought two portable EKG machines for each of us and had set them on the coffee table. The machine on the left was mine, and it showed my heartbeat going rather fast, enough to pound out of my chest. I blamed it on the butterflies in my stomach as I thought, I can’t believe it; I’m going to learn magic.

I hoped Scott thought the same as he set the cords to the side. Each one was attached to the space on our chests and arms just above our elbows. Betty took our temps first, everything was normal, to human standards that is.

“Do you think this is a bit much?” Scott asked as his left leg shook with agitation, but Betty didn’t answer.

Mike brought out two glasses of cold water for us to drink after the test was finished.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” Scott said with a nervous smile. “Sure hope this doesn’t involve a treadmill test.” I couldn’t tell if he was being serious or joking around.

“Nothing like that, Scott.” Arana stood on the spellbook, my spellbook, on the coffee table, and each talon made indentations into the leather cover. “I’m only covering what’s needed.”

Mike and Keeji stood near the boxes seeming as confused as Scott was.

Once Betty had finished setting everything up, she joined Mike and Keeji and as Arana started. My heart skipped a beat in anticipation.

“The first thing you need to know is that terran magic is unlike anything you’ve read in books,” Arana said with her glowing blue eyes aimed at Scott and I on the couch. She tapped the book with her talon. “From what this book says, magic does not come from your spirit, your soul, or your body’s natural energy. It’s neither invisible nor electric based. It is a purified energy source in liquid form called mana, blue and white marble-like color with a consistency of blood or latex paint.”

“Liquid?” I asked, already reminded of last night.

“Wait, you’re talking about that stuff that changed us?” Scott asked, the same thing that I was.

Arana nodded, “Afraid so. But this is not made of your blood or replaced your blood. The book says that it has a direct connection to your nervous system, the fastest way to transfer energy and messages.”

“I thought you said it’s not the body’s natural energy? The nervous system has energy. Why so different?”

“The nervous system energy is separated. The nerves only carry the mana.” Arana hopped off the book and opened it with her beak. I started gobbling up all the imagery she passed, and she stopped on one section of very detailed anatomy sketches.

“The mana is stored in a container called the Mana Heart, located directly below your first one.” Her right wing extended to the picture of a terran chest depicting the hearts. Above was the four-chamber heart, but directly below was a perfectly round ball. It was all black with blue veins. Then Arana pointed at my chest where it lay, an inch below my bust. “I have no idea how a new organ can fit in your bodies but I’m assuming it is part of your diaphragm or shrunk your stomach. It can hold tremendous pressure and stores it until needed. Although there is no simple way to tell how to measure it without casting spells.”

I rubbed the spot to feel where it was, but I couldn’t feel it. I’ve always read about magic systems strictly linked to the body’s natural energy, or the energy around us, but a stand-alone energy container and nervous system-like delivery method was kind of freaky, and awesome. This new body seemed more and more incredible every time I learned something new about it.

I still didn’t think learning magic was a bad idea, on the other hand, Scott was scratching his chest and had gulped loud enough to be heard.

“Jesus,” Mike blinked, “Arana, are you saying there is a new organ in their chests? Betty, are you hearing this?” Betty nodded, slowly, as she scribbled into a notepad on the kitchen counter.

“History in the making,” Betty whispered.

Arana nodded.

Scott shook his head slightly, “That’s impossible. We would feel bloated from… wait. That must be when we were feeling something punching us in the chest.”

Keeji flicked his ear. “Yeah I remember. Happened at the same time and you guys almost rolled off the stairs.”

Arana folded her wing. “It was the heart making mana for the first time, as I recall. Once the heart reaches maximum capacity, production stops to prevent overflow.”

I was beside myself from all of it, realizing how incredible it all sounded. “Is the mana active?” I asked leaning forward and resting my elbows on my lap. If it was active, I would be worried about casting spells. Who knew if this stuff acted like gasoline? One spark and your gone.

“On the contrary, no. It’s more harmless than peanut butter. But when it’s ‘charged’ as the book states, it is active and very powerful. How much power is unknown.”

“Well, that’s comforting. Jump the gun and see what happens. Next this whole building is in cinders,” Scott said, sounding sarcastic and frightened. Arana nodded and Scott sighed, knowing too well he hated it already.

I leaned back and sighed, any attempt to sum all of it up proved daunting. I didn’t know if I could perform magic now that I realized I’m I was a ticking time bomb.

I looked down at the book, still open to the Mana Heart section. I skimmed through the aged parchment, trying to make more sense of everything, and tuned out everyone else.

From my days pretending to be a witch, the urge to read the book was great. It’s my nature, curiosity kills me. It became interesting, really interesting, so I sat the book on my lap. I mean come on, I’m reading from a leather-bound book that materialized from my chest, and from my mind, holding secrets of magic. My magic.

Every chapter I skimmed was like a refresher, everything I had learned was there, updated to terran physiology. Some of the stuff was either unbelievable or unorthodox: rune crafting for unique spells and rituals, diagrams of performing quick-use spells, potion recipes from enchantments to mana regeneration, item enchantments, and all sorts. A lot were confusing, unrecognizable even. One section was on body transformations and I had thoughts about removing my tail. Not that I would want to, I love mine. I found more diagrams of the added body pieces, how the armor plating on my limbs were laid out and what it was made of (dense cartilage), nervous system maps of far denser layouts, including a fully illustrated representation of the Mana Heart. Grossest. Thing. I’ve ever laid my eyes on. Scott coughed at the picture.

Yet something was… unsettling. The Wave made understanding it more complicated. So how can all this come from a crystal? How was I “enlightened” with magical wisdom, but didn’t know about it? I had to investigate further back home how it all fit.

“Looks like a blue cancer cell feeding off the spinal cord,” Scott summed, I hadn’t noticed him leaning over to see it.

I kept flipping the pages; reading over more spells. “Amazing. Imagine Robert getting obsessed, Scott.” I closed the book and set it back on the table. “I wonder if yours is the same?”

Scott shook his head, “I figure I don’t want to know.”

Keeji came closer and examined the book. “Bet a silver dollar his is thinner than Katie’s.” He followed the bet with a hissed snicker.

“I have trouble understanding magic, Keeji, that doesn’t mean I ignore it.”

“Okay, have it your way, but it would be nice for me to go back home,” Keeji stepped back.

Arana spoke up, “Katie, you seem flustered.”

I sighed and set the book back on the table, “Well, the truth is. I don’t know. This all sounds thrilling and dangerous. I’m having thoughts I might blow up.”

“Katie, that’s ridiculous. I know you and you have the calm mind to keep yourself under control. Also, the book says that when focused properly, the magic will reach that level. For you, you’re not ready to reach that level of concentration. It’s your choice to continue.”

I thought about it some more, if I wanted to fulfill my dream. Scott was concerned about it all and I respected his judgment, but he never understood my hobby. I licked my lips to ease the dry feeling and said, “Will it hurt?”

Arana shrugged, she didn’t know either.

Don’t back out of this, Katie, you can do this, I thought. Hands sweating, nerves twitching—it was the moment of truth. “Okay, let’s make some magic.”

Arana bowed, “Hold out your right hand, we’re going to perform a simple technique.”

I did as she said, ignoring Scott shift in his seat. “So what is the spell? Fire? Water? Something to fix the mountain roads?”

“You will only feel the magic to understand the power. No need to burn down the building on the first try.” Good point. “Now as the book says, every spell, incantation, charm, and ritual of terran magic rely on the trigger spell, the activation of your mana.”

“Okay,” I nodded. Mike assumed that it was like turning on a generator.

“Exactly. So in order to do this you have to follow the process step by step.” Arana opened the book again to the desired section, “Focus on your hand to feel a tingling sensation and say or think the word in your ancestor’s language.”

I stared into Arana’s eyes. “Th-That’s it?”

“That’s it. Simple.”

Now everything was moving fast around me. Eighteen hours ago Scott and I were outside painfully transforming into terrans and meeting our totems. It was unbelievable what I was about to do, and I felt like crying in happiness. Somebody slap me.

I kept my hand out, and Scott butted in, “Are you sure this won’t hurt her? Because if this… demonstration does there will be hell to pay?”

“You doubt this history making venture?” Arana asked.

“I have my reasons.”

“Scott, stop stalling and let her do it,” Mike spoke up.

His tail was flapping, still agitated by the idea. Scott looked at me and shook his head, “Katie, I know you want to do this. To make sure nothing bad happens, I’ll go hide behind the chair.” He took off the EKG leads, got up, and went as Keeji followed leaving me alone. Yeah, I felt down about that, but don’t blame him. I was fine with it.

Arana looked at me hard. “Use the same breathing exercises from those yoga classes and trunk books to clear your mind and focus.”

I took three slow breaths, pushing back all my worries aside, and let my mind’s eye focus on my open hand. Keep reading, you will know this soon. I kept my eyes open to not miss a thing. A tingling sensation occurred in my hand and past my wrist. People say it’s muscle, but feels different, like “feeling” it with your mind.

“When you believe you have a good focus,” Arana continued, “say the word ‘luchtaigh’ with passion.”

Wow, Gaelic, that’s been a while. Looks like choosing our pendants to my favorite language in the world was a good choice. I kept my focus, feeling the growing strain in my muscles. I glanced at Scott, gripping on the counter, and Keeji, peeking his brown furry head from the fridge, witnessing an important moment of my life. Scott nodded as if saying, “Be careful.”

I looked at my hand and whispered, “luchtaigh.” I had no idea what would happen. Fireworks? A glow? No. In fact, nothing happened and I felt disappointed.

“Louder,” Arana demanded.

“Luchtaigh!” I had emotion behind it.

For a brief second, nothing happened, again. I thought, did I screw up on the pronunciation? I know I didn’t screw it up, I used to speak it. Is Arana protecting me or not trusting me? Then, it happened.

It started as a short jolt of electricity in the center of my chest. Then a large release of pressure like a water valve opening up—which felt good—traveling up my spine and down my arm. Pleasure enthralled me. What expected to be a glowing hand was wrong. My skin cracked with glowing veins of blue and white marble as what Arana said. The veins shaped, overlapped, angled, enlarged, and circled into familiar Celtic tattoo designs. They pulsed with power as my muscles twitched. I felt the energy, incredible energy; a culmination of all the collective energies of the universe. Pleasure grew, only then that this was real. Everything was real. Merlin, eat your heart out.

Unfortunately I didn’t look at it like a deer meeting headlights. I got scared.

I screamed and shook my arm from the sudden surge of alien energy. My focus diminished. I saw my arm go back to normal, the tattoos vanishing, leaving behind trails of steam.

Everybody yelped, then crowded around me. Betty checked my pulse, Mike’s jaw dropped, and Scott was quiet.

“I’m okay, I think,” I told them. I didn’t feel any shakes, jitters, or stomach cramps. Everything was fine.

“Incredible,” Mike muttered.

Scott wasn’t impressed. He kept examining my arm, looking for the tattoos. Nothing except my smooth skin. “Katie, are you sure?”

“Totally. I was scared but geeze that felt weird,” I replied.

Arana coughed to get my attention, “It’s natural to be scared, Katie, but how did it feel?”

“How did it feel?” I repeated. “At first it felt great, but then it felt… like I can do anything with it. Anything.” I paused, looking at my hand. With a smile I said, “Let’s do that again.”

“What?” Scott said agape. “After all that? I almost keeled over, Katie.”

“Hey, this is my choice, not yours.” If you can tell that I became addicted to magic, then it’s probably too late to talk me out of it.

Arana tried like Scott, but I pressed on. I didn’t care about the sudden jump of my heartbeat, I cared about the feeling. I told everybody to back off, and they did, but Scott stayed and sat by me.

And again I charged my mana, hoping to keep it on as long as I can. Hand out, focus back up, said the word, and the familiar feeling came back without problems. Mom and Dad always called me a fast learner and I lived up to that statement. I kept it going for five minutes. Scott stared at my glowing arm as the color shifted. Then something odd happened. In a minute, little droplets of mana seeped through the tattoos and wisps of energy flowed out like steam. Drops fell on the carpet and table, some in the water as it too glowed and shimmered. They were like little glowing lightbulbs lasting for three seconds until they extinguished and dissolved.

“Unreal,” Scott muttered.

“You can say that again,” I said before relaxing. I felt out of breath keeping it up, but still didn’t shake. I felt a closer connection with the primal energy. It was a good thing that we didn’t show this to my parents, but I wished Robert could have seen it. I relaxed and the demonstration ended.

“Not bad, not bad,” Arana beamed. “What are her vitals, nurse?”

Betty examined the machines, “I’m still stunned from this. I’m seeing a ten to fifteen BPS jump every time she ‘charges’ her mana. Everything else is stable,” she said then fell quiet.

“I-I can go on. Just one more,” I said to Arana.

“No, Katie, you done enough,” Arana disagreed, “you’re exhausted, clearly not used to this. You need to relax for a bit and let Scott learn too.” She eyed him, but Scott shook his head. I shook mine too, not wanting to listen.

“I’m doing it again,” I demanded. This time I had both hands out. I should’ve stopped but the rush got me. My dreams were getting the worst of me, the addiction was strong.

I focused on both arms and said the word. They each glowed the same, each one having a different tattoo pattern than the other each palm held a round dot of mana in the center. Everybody told me to stop, but as I loosened my focus when Scott poked me, something went wrong.

My mind accelerated and I lost consciousness, rolling my eyes up and jolting backwards. I started seeing things. People I didn’t know sped past my sight like race cars, all with overpowering emotions, while I felt stronger gravity pulling on my body.

I saw a woman at a convenience store on her cell phone gripped tightly in her hand. She spoke to her daughter in Arrowhead, telling her that mommy would be home as soon as the road opens. I heard she wanted her to hide in the closet at home, but shrieked when she heard a deep female voice. The daughter’s tiger totem, Orvilday, promised to protect her until they meet. The mother’s eye shadow coated her cheeks as she then fainted on the linoleum floor.

It jumped to Ashley at her house. My friend laid on the couch, with the Bible wedged in her arms. She looked so tired but refused to sleep. Sadness filled within, I wondered if I would ever be able to show my face to her ever again. She rolled to the other side and I shrieked when I saw a chef’s knife in her hand.

The last person I saw was, surprisingly, Tom Herb, the local homeless religious nut. He was walking down the snow-covered back road with an open bottle concealed in a brown paper bag. The picket sign he carried all the time was gone. He staggered all over the place and mumbled incoherently like he was being spied on, taking large gulps of liquor. To think the last person I wanted to see was the town’s drunk, religious freak.

He screamed. “God! I need you. I need your guidance! Please take me to Heaven. I don’t want to be part of this Rapture anymore! I took care of that demon, that’s enough to save me, right?” His voice echoed.

He turned around as I saw how disgusting he became since two days ago. His clothes were soaked to the brim and he shivered from the cold. His eyes were filled with fear and remorse, and his neck was covered in white whiskers. I had hated that guy since I had moved there. I gasped when I saw his hands and arms stained with blood. His gaze met mine, like I was standing there. I froze.

I blinked heavily when he raised a finger at me, like he saw me, the said with a growl, “Demon!” Instantly he raised the bottle and chucked it at me. I shrieked as everything dissolved to a sea of brilliant color.

The colors were soothing apart from the feeling that my body was being shoved somewhere else. I felt tears fall down my cheeks from the brilliance. I wiped it with my still glowing hands.

I didn’t understand what happened, but it was the greatest experience yet. As one famous boy once said—I love magic.

It was not beautiful, man, not at all. Seeing her Katie convulsing on the couch with her eyes rolling back and her hands smoking up and dripping with mana she looked like a drug addict. I violently shook her.

“Dammit, Katie, wake up!” I screamed. “Arana, I thought you said this wouldn’t hurt her?”

“Apparently she went ahead of herself,” Arana said hurried. “Snap her out of it before she goes deeper.”

Betty screamed as she looked at Katie’s EKG, “Oh my God, her heartbeat went flat!”

Yeah, I lost it and I went crazy.

I kept shaking her shoulders. Her arms still glowed as her limbs began shaking uncontrollably. I spoke her name really loud to help wake her up.

“Katie!” I yelled, “Katie, wake up dear!”

She was still unresponsive, her mouth quivering, whispering something impossible to hear. I had promised her parents I wouldn’t let anything harm her and this started. I kept shaking her and calling her name until Arana told me to not break her neck. I told her to shove it.

I cried out her name one last time, “Katie!”

Suddenly her arms stopped glowing, her body stopped convulsing, she woke up, and gasped for air. It scared me and made me back away. Katie started to cough. Not this again.

“Katie, are you all right?” I asked.

Then she leaned back and grimaced. Ah shit, the spell hurt her.

“Tail,” she said gritting her teeth, “Scott, you’re on my tail!”

I looked down, when I had panicked and started shook her, my knee landed square on Katie’s tail between the couch cushions, right against the wood frame.

I leaned away and sat down. Katie started coughing again and looked really out of it for a second. Betty came around and examined her from her heartbeat to her breathing. The EKG machine beeping from the sudden flat line made Betty’s skin turn pail. “I don’t understand, she should be dead now,” she commented. “Katie, are you feeling any pain?”

Katie blinked and shook her head, “Besides the tail, everything is fine, really.” she said. It seemed like it, Katie looked the same as before she charged her mana. Droplets of sweat formed on her forehead.

“Scott, hand her the glass of water,” Arana told me. I grabbed my glass and held it to make her drink. She drank it all and slumped, sighing.

“Incredible,” she whispered.

“Incredible?” I glared with irritation, “Incredible? Katie, you looked like you were having a stroke. Do you realize you scared the living shit out of me? What would Brenda and Jonathan feel if I brought home your body?” My tail expressed my anger, swaying and wagging so much I almost swatted Mike.

“Scott, I’m fine, really. God, what was that?” I was clueless what she meant.

“Clearly she knows how to cast spells, presumably on herself,” Arana interjected, “Katie, tell me. What was going on in your head after you said the words?”

Katie was still rubbing her tail from my knee indent but was thinking. “Well, I did what you said,” she began, “keep kept my mind clear, said the word, and kept my focus on as long as I could. God this is insane, it felt like I had the power of the universe in my hands.” I started to doubt that this Katie was the same Katie as before, I was feeling uncomfortable about her “cheery” mood describing the magic. “I don’t know what happened but I was suddenly seeing people and hearing voices. I swear I didn’t do anything else. This sounds incredibly crazy I guess.”

“Well yeah, you think?” Mike chimed.

“Anyway… I’m really confused. I saw three people that lasted the longest. Mike, I saw Ashley. I saw her in shambles. I nearly cried seeing her on the couch.” Mike gasped and backed away, clearly understanding what Katie said. “Then I saw some woman crying for her terran daughter then… I saw Tom.” She rubbed her forehead.

That reminded me so much of my problem. Seeing things in your mind without control can be downright evil. Believe me, I went down that road, but it had nothing to do with magic. Yet I couldn’t understand Mike’s reaction. What did she really see?

Then I said, “Wait, who’s Tom?” I asked, but from her eyes, she told me without saying. “Wait. Tom? Tom the deadbeat religious nut?”

Katie nodded. “The same, but drunk, maybe. He was screaming on the street, drinking, and yelling. Kinda crazy if you ask me. He turned around and his clothes were covered in blood.” She gagged a bit, “This might sound unbelievable, but he saw me. Standing there, looking at him. He went into a terrifying rage and came after me, calling me ‘Demon.’ Next thing I knew I felt my tail in pain.”

That got my attention. Looks like Tom took a humongous blow from the Wave than Ashley. Katie’s eyes told me the whole truth and I didn’t think twice that it was a lie. It was hard to believe it all.

She leaned on me, then I stared down at Arana. “Care to explain, Arana?”

A wing went under her beak and she pondered, humming, “Sounds familiar. Did you feel any weightlessness, sudden experiences with gravity?”

Katie nodded and said, “Yeah. How did you know?”

Arana hummed again and I got anxious, “Seeing people. One saw you. Different voices.” She then consulted the book, a little obnoxious. I knew she had the the answer but come on, Katie almost gave me a heart attack. “Ah, found it,” Arana said, looking at a particular page. “You casted a remote viewing spell.”

“Remote viewing,” Mike repeated. “Is that the kind of stuff science-fiction says about spies with psychic powers and can spy on people without being there?” I’ve read an article about it once, as Katie pressed me too, but didn’t care to consider it.

“Yes but highly concentrated. Katie didn’t have focus so she just spied on random people. I can’t really explain how Tom saw her.”

“Oh, great,” I said with a deep sigh of disappointment, “the first minute practicing magic, and my girlfriend becomes a paranormal peeping-tom.” Katie told me to not exaggerate, as I do.

“But seriously, I don’t want to do that again,” Katie shook her head. “I swear. Although, I can’t shake the feeling how Tom saw me. The look on his face…”

Betty shook her head, then turned as someone realizing something slowly. “Ms. Walsh, what do you mean by Tom covered in blood?”

“Like I said, Betty. He looked like he butchered a cow. Seriously, I’m not making this stuff up.”

Betty kept on blinking as she rose to her feet. Something about it made me worried, “Is McDemit still out there?”

Mike nodded, “Yeah, of course. He never left.”

“Can you tell the sheriff to look for Tom, I have a very bad hunch,” Betty muttered.

“Betty what are you getting at?” I asked and she nodded.

She scratched her hair. “That woman I told you about arrived at the hospital half dead. She lost a lot of blood. Nobody could find the attacker, but I suspect that selfish man did it. You two stay here; I need to talk to him too.” She left us alone with the slam of the door.

I had growing worries that if we ever saw Tom, we needed to run as fast as we could.

“So do you believe me, Scott?” Katie asked me. , “Now do you believe that magic is real?”

“Believe? I have trouble believing what happened,” I scoffed. “To me, there is no way how you ‘saw’ these people and Ashley. I see this differently than you. What I saw is my girlfriend having a magic induced seizure. Who knows what else you can do or what’s in that book. I am convinced magic is real, but I’m more afraid of when I start charging mine. What if I get a seizure? What if my mind locks up like before?”

“Scott,” Katie screamed. I shut up, ending my tirade. “You’re panicking. It is normal. You’re still against my views of things, but bear with me on this one. Magic will help us. Look, we’ll just practice on two spells. The two of us. We can take it nice and slow just like our first date. Trust me; I will never do that spell ever again.”

“You’re still going through with this?”

“Scott, stop. This is me doing what I dreamed about. I’m doing this to protect myself.”

“Fine, but do you think Tom can’t find you? That sick bastard knows this town.”

Keeji jerked his head between us. “I’m with Katie, Scott, I’ve seen him through your thoughts and I too hate this guy. Don’t be hatin’ me, but I want you in tiptop magic fighting shape. Plus I really like to go back to our Inner Sanctum.” His tail kept on wagging, hoping I say yes.

“What the dog said,” Arana agreed. “For better or for worse, it has to be done.”

I was outvoted. I was the only one not liking the idea. Katie and the totems were badgering me to agree that it was the right thing to do, and as insane as it was, they were right, no matter how much I disagreed. Betty and Mike would be on Katie’s side too I guessed. Whatever happened with having doubt of the unknown?

I was literally cornered by my own friends.

I told them I needed a moment to think as they went ahead without me. Katie decided on casting an offense spell. Katie focused on charging her mana to get easier at it, Arana read the book for the specific spells, and Keeji learned from Arana how to reenter my body. He nodded and agreed like a dummy.

God if only my mother and father were here. May not be the good thing to ask for, but anything goes right? After being alone for four years without my parents, except the inheritance for college, was easy after they died. I wanted to do things I had planned from the very beginning and this happened. The move. The degree. The secret ring hiding in my backpack for Katie.

After my parents died, recovering from it was near impossible. Their death killed my spirit, and I thank Katie for saving me.

Now magic, it seemed, was dividing us. It scared me to be left out. There are a lot of people, like me, who think that magic is something that should never be meddled with. They’re pretty much the same way when dealing with new technology: afraid to touch it because either it could consume their lives, or they don’t know if it’ll blow up after pressing the On button. I was the guy that if magic consumed me, I would never recover.

I sat down at the kitchen table and tried to calm myself after our short fight, I started cleaning my Dad’s pistol, a SIG Sauer P226. With his materialistic and patriotic ideals, he had a guy engrave the U.S. Navy symbol on each side of the handle with white enamel to make it pop. You might have thought that he was a Navy Seal just from the gun. He wasn’t, he was a normal everyday radar technician onboard a carrier for five years. In fact that’s how my Mom and Dad met. She worked in logistics alongside my Dad, coordinating troops and aircraft during Desert Storm, even though they were part of two different divisions. Too bad Dad didn’t keep the gun after he retired and married Mom, so he bought the same one and called it the “one memory he will never forget.”

He had taught me how to clean and shoot it, and they had both told me stories of their service, even Deryl. As I counted the bullets in the two magazines I saved, all twenty of them, and made sure the spring was still good, I hated myself that Katie and the gang were right.

I watch her holding a charge, then start to casting a fireball. Arana told her to keep it in her hands. What started as a ball of blue mana, it then transformed instantaneously to pure flame in golf ball size. How it changed eluded me. The look on Katie’s face was priceless. I hadn’t seen her make that kind of face since high school. Once she had made the fireball and extinguished it, they moved on to making a shield. Making sure to not perform the last stunt, she charged both of her hands, spread out with her palms open before her, and used her imagination to think of a wall. My jaw dropped when one sluggishly formed; a vertical Celtic symbol covered oval that flickered in and out of existence. Mana flowed from her hands to form it, but her unstable concentration shifted from the brilliance. Alas, she didn’t accomplish it, but she was huffing hard like no tomorrow, still smiling. I caught her clapping and jumping like a little girl.

To believe she knew how magic worked scared the crap out of me.

Oh and Mike, Betty, and Sheriff McDermit the spectacle, and McDermit nearly fainted.

Although, I did try to charge my mana, just to be curious. Don’t judge me, I had thoughts too. I laid my right hand out of view. Keeji noticed me and while keeping quiet he helped hide it with his body. I didn’t know what to do, so I said the word Katie said, with feeling.

Nothing happened.

Instantly, Katie caught me. She smiled. Guess who got lessons.