Chapter 6

  Over lunch, we filled Ken in on how my date with D.T. had gone.

  "She's a fencer?" he asked with obvious interest. "You should invite her to practice with you."

  I swallowed a bite of my sandwich - Black Forest ham with Jarlsberg cheese on sourdough - and chuckled. "If her fencing lessons were as traditional as mine, I'm not sure how well she'd take the considerably more aggressive…not to mention potentially lethal…style you've been teaching me."

  Ken shrugged. "It wouldn't hurt for you to review your basics by teaching some of it to her, and I'd be willing to help." He hesitated a moment. "And…if she's really going to help you protect the town of Oakwood, it wouldn't hurt for her to learn that style as well. Though honestly, with her build, longsword might be more the thing for her."

  Sparkle, who had been nibbling her way curiously but without much satisfaction through a sandwich of her own, looked up. "Either way, it's still a good idea. Do I have to finish this?" The sandwich had been Penny's idea, being tired of watching our fairy friend eat nothing but junk food.

  She did not seem to be winning the battle.

  Personally, I had given up trying to understand the biological needs of either of my friends from Faerie, and was content to let them eat what they felt they needed to. Certainly, almost a year of watching Sparkle consume nothing but sugary garbage (and sweet fruits) had done precisely no harm at all. So…yeah…I had a feeling it was just going to be one of those things I had to accept and move on.

  Penny sighed heavily. "No."

  "Yay!" Sparkle was off to the fridge in an instant, returning a moment later with a plate of chocolate chip cookies.

  Penny reached over and plucked one off Sparkle's plate, putting it on her own. Sparkle just beamed at her.

  "So," I said, "neither of you have any issue with me seeing D.T.?"

  They shook their heads in unison.

  "She makes you feel good," Sparkle said, "and you make her feel good."

  "You also have complimentary skill sets," Penny noted. "And, frankly, she seems better able to handle the…the vagaries of the supernatural world than you do, sometimes."

  I laughed softly. "My life does seem to keep throwing curve balls at me."

  Ken sat down beside me and rested his elbows on the table. "Life is like that. On the whole, I think you've handled it fairly well. Just look at where you are now…it wasn't even a year ago yet that you came home to Oakwood Hall, and you've made such great progress."

  "Thank you," I said, and finished the last bite of my lunch. A minute later, I said, "All right, what's on the agenda for this afternoon? Keeping in mind that I have the town meeting to attend this evening. It'd be a great look if I promised to go, then was so exhausted that I fell asleep mid-meeting."

  Ken chuckled. "But that's not happening to you as much anymore, is it. Your magical stamina has improved by leaps and bounds."'

  "Well, we've been working it pretty hard," I said with a chuckle.

  "True. You are driven," Ken agreed. "How are your studies of sign language going?"

  "Very well," I said. "ASL and BSL are similar enough that I'm picking them both up together, and I'm just stumbling over the syntactic differences. I think I could hold a conversation in it now…it might be a simple conversation, but I could keep up reasonably well."

  "Good," Ken said with a nod. "Then this afternoon we're going to review the spells you already know well, and see if you can cast them using sign language instead of a verbal focus. Silent spellcasting is a hurdle that many spellcasters never overcome…this is a shortcut to accomplish it that very few ever seem to consider for some reason. At least, they didn't used to…I suppose I can't speak for today, and my information on that came from your father, which makes it a few years out of date."

  "Either way, it seems like a good step to take," I said. "The few spells I've mastered casting silently can be cast faster than the others, so casting with sign language should speed me up in general. Right?"

  "Right," Ken nodded. "So, whenever you're ready?"

  I rose, brushed a few crumbs off my shirt, and nodded. "Let's go."

  "If you don't mind," Sparkle said, "I'd like to go back out to the village and spend some time with Spice and Shine. It'll be good for relations with the rest of the community if they see me out there once in a while."

  "Of course not," I said with a smile. "That sounds like a good idea. Penny, do you want to go with her? I know sitting around watching me cast spells over and over again can't be terribly exciting."

  Penny, who had been taking our plates to the sink, was suddenly back in her natural fox form. She stretched and arched her back for a moment, then nodded. "Actually, I think I might go down to the garden and talk to Dara. She knows a lot about the history of my clan that my grand-dam wasn't able to teach us. And you're as safe as you possibly can be in the workshop."

  She took protecting me so seriously. "That sounds good too. If I finish up early enough, I might join you."

  So we split up. Once my friends were out of earshot, I breathed a little sigh of relief and smiled sheepishly at Ken. "I love them both dearly…they're the sisters I never had. But sometimes…"

  Ken chuckled. "They're absolutely devoted to you. I imagine it can get a bit smothering at times."

  "Only sometimes," I said again. "Most of the time I love it." I lowered my eyes as we walked and added quietly, "It's nice to have friends who want to be with me just for the sake of being with me, not because of what I can do for them."

  Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw him look at me. "This goes back to your school days, I take it?"

  "More recently than that," I said, and sighed. "All through school and even into Cambridge, I was 'the brain' to other kids. 'Caley, help me with my homework' is something I heard a lot. And of course, at university, once I was a TA, I had students coming to me constantly for help with things they should've been able to do on their own." I shrugged a little. "I didn't really mind it, I like helping people…I just…"

  "Would've liked some friends who liked you for you, not for your brain," Ken said.

  "Yeah." I hesitated for a moment, then smiled at him. "It's also nice to have someone to talk to about it."

  Ken returned my smile. "Any time, Caley. I live to serve." His smile widened, dimples appearing. "So to speak."

  I shook my head. "You love that joke."

  "I do."

  A few minutes later, I stood facing the target Ken had painted on part of the gently curving wall of the workshop. It was a series of four concentric red and white rings - I'd rejected the first one, which had been a human silhouette - which were intended to improve my accuracy. Oh, I could hit the center on every try without any trouble…but accurately hitting without hesitation whichever section Ken called out was something I was still working on.

  "Let's start with your ice slivers spell," Ken said. "Right now, it takes you a few seconds to build up to firing it off, so I want you to work on speeding up how quickly you gather the initial water."

  I looked around quickly and saw no open source of water. Ken usually had a bucket handy for this. "No water source?"

  Ken shook his head. "You've known since very early in your lessons how to summon water from the air around you. I want you to start working on creating it, in case there aren't any ready sources available when you need it. You've been lucky so far."

  He wasn't wrong. Fighting von Einhardt during a thunderstorm had been something of a stroke of luck. The sheer volume of water available for me to work with - not to mention the existence of lightning in the atmosphere already, plus some help from the Hall - had allowed me to punch well out of my weight class, as the saying goes.

  I quickly reviewed what I knew about conjuring water rather than summoning it. Conjured water was a temporary construct formed out of the energy of magic. Conjuration, in turn, was a combined sub-category of both evocation, casting spells from pure energy, and transfiguration, casting spells which turned existing matter from one substance into another. Conjured water would only last a few minutes at most, wouldn't slake thirst, and wouldn't nourish living things (like plants). Spells that used conjured water were also more energy-intensive than using summoned water, which made them more taxing to cast.

  It would, however, wash off all manner of grime and quickly leave you dry, which was a handy trick. It would also last long enough to be turned into ice and used as a weapon, leaving no trace behind. Which was also pretty handy.

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  In this case, I would add a kinetic component to the spell, creating a sphere of ice and shaving razor-sharp slivers off of it, shooting them towards my target at speeds approaching those of a modern bullet.

  "Ready?" Ken asked.

  I nodded and began gathering energy to me. "Ready!"

  "Outer circle, upper left," Ken said.

  My hands snapped and moved through my chosen gestures as I envisioned the effect of the spell. A sphere of ice, about the size of a softball, materialized between my hands and began spitting slivers of ice at the wall. As they flew from it, the sphere of ice began shrinking. It was like watching a time-lapse video of someone chipping away at it.

  A few of the ice slivers struck in the second circle instead of the outer one, but I was in the right area, at least.

  "Not bad," Ken said. "You are definitely improving. Remember that when we started this exercise a couple of weeks ago, those ice slivers struck the wall in a line from the center of the target to the outer edge. But accuracy is as important as speed. Some spells - like your lightning spells - will track a target…but this one won't. So if you miss, you're going to hit whatever's behind your target."

  I winced a little. "Point taken."

  "Good! Second circle, bottom right."

  I shifted my aim and more slivers of ice shot off of the sphere, peppering the wall. The first few struck the inner edge of the first circle instead of the second, but my grouping was tighter.

  "Very good!" Ken said. "How's the energy drain."

  "Not effortless, but I can maintain this for a while now," I said.

  "Also very good," he said with a smile. "Imagine trying to do this back when you were getting started? It would've knocked you out right out."

  I laughed, remembering how casting a spell to create a small breeze and make a pinwheel spin had left me so dizzy that I'd had to sit down, and so tired that I'd been in bed and asleep shortly thereafter. "I have come a long way in a relatively short -"

  "Center circle!" Ken said, interrupting me.

  I gritted my teeth and shifted the ball of ice…but he'd caught me out. My concentration had slipped for a moment, and now the spell did too. A couple of ice slivers shot away to strike the center of the target, but the kinetic component of the spell collapsed and what was left of the ball of ice dropped to the floor and shattered.

  "Damn!" I said, lowering my arms.

  "And that's why we do these exercises," Ken said with a chuckle. "You know what you did wrong?"

  I nodded. "My concentration slipped while I was remembering and commenting on the memory."

  Ken smiled. "And you can fix that. I promise you, before the year's out, we'll have you firing off snarky quips while you're throwing spells around."

  "I'm not sure that's really my thing," I said, rubbing my palms on my leggings.

  Ken chuckled. "Well, we can work on that too, then. It's practically required hero behavior these days."

  I rolled my eyes. "Let's go again."

  Ken nodded. "This time, I want you to create larger ice spikes instead of the little slivers. Small and fast is good, but there may be times when you need to be a bit more…aggressive about it." He winced a little as he said it. "Sorry. It's a fact of life when you're dealing with the supernatural world."

  "No need to apologize," I said quietly, "or to tip-toe around it. Von Einhardt hammered the point home very nicely." My hands danced through the chosen gestures as I visualized what I wanted, then I made a broad, circular gesture in the air in front of me. As my hand passed through the air, foot-long spikes of ice - about five centimeters across at the base and tapering to a needle-fine point - formed in its wake.

  When my hand finished tracing a full circle in the air, I had formed a full dozen lethal-looking spikes of ice, which began to slowly rotate clockwise as if orbiting an invisible point.

  Ken looked surprised. "…Wow. Okay, then."

  "Don't look so shocked," I said, feeling my cheeks heat up a bit. "You watched that animated series with me on my laptop and enjoyed it just as much as I did."

  "Touché," he bowed slightly. "I didn't think you were taking inspiration from it, that's all. And I have no idea when you practiced that without me seeing it…there's no way you did that so smoothly on your first try."

  I flashed him a quick grin. "You're not with me 24/7, and Sparkle and Penny like to nudge me to practice at every opportunity. This I've been working on out in the clearing. You'd be amazed how encouraging an entire village of fairies cheering you on can be. Now, am I holding this ready all day, or…?"

  "Is it a strain?" Ken asked curiously.

  I shook my head. "Not terribly. Once they're formed, it's just light telekinesis, which is pretty -"

  "First circle, top right!" Ken snapped. "Second circle, left! Third circle, bottom! Bullseye!"

  I'd half expected him to try that trick again, and was ready this time. Also, the spikes of ice were easier to aim than the rapid-fire slivers. I made flicking gestures with my hands, using the invisible force created by the ongoing spell to fling the spikes at the target. One after another, four of the floating ice spikes shot away from the others and shattered on the magically-reinforced stone wall of the chamber, hitting the precise spots Ken had called out.

  "Excellent!" Ken enthused. "Really, Caley, that was excellent."

  When I looked over at him, he was beaming. "You have that spell down pat. Your response time was perfect, and your aim was precise." He shrugged. "I think we can call that one perfected. Now…can you dispel the rest of the spikes without leaving a mess?"

  I winced. "Almost?"

  "Show me," he said, chuckling.

  I released the spell, and the spikes began to drop and melt at the same time. I made another gesture and envisioned them dissolving completely before they reached the floor…and all but one of them did. The last one splashed a bit, leaving a small puddle that began evaporating almost before it had finished forming. Within a few moments, there was no indication they'd ever been there at all.

  "Not bad," Ken said. "Dispelling the remains of a conjuration spell isn't easy, and you got most of it."

  "But not all of it," I said, feeling frustrated.

  "Caley," Ken said gently, "you started learning magic less than a year ago. Yes, your father set up a system for me to help you cheat by giving you all of the theory lessons while you're sleeping, but even so…it takes most apprentices at least five years to accomplish what you have in ten months. Even if we were doing the theory while you were awake, you'd be at least three years ahead of what your father said is normal for a student of magic, and two years ahead of where your mother was within a year of actively starting to learn magic. And she grew up with magic."

  I took a deep breath and let it out, along with a self-deprecating laugh. "Sorry. I know that. Every once in a while, though, I feel like I'm not going fast enough."

  Ken frowned and folded his arms. "Is this about von Einhardt?"

  I opened my mouth to say no, then closed it again and gave the question serious consideration, looking down at my feet. I hadn't really talked to anyone about my…I was reluctant to call it a fight, since it had been stunningly one-sided even before he stopped toying with me and really laid into me. The only reason I'd beaten him had been…well…

  "How was I able to beat him, Ken?" I asked quietly, my eyes coming up to meet his. "I mean, I know I was able to beat him because the Hall intervened by moving the gargoyle over the portico and by giving me the energy I needed to call down that huge lightning bolt. Maybe I'm asking the wrong question…"

  I trailed off, looking down again, and Ken patiently waited for me to try again. Finally, I said, "How is the wrong question. The right question is why was I able to beat him?" I looked up at him again. "He was toying with me, and I knew it. I threw everything at him that I could, and while I caught him off-guard a couple of times, that was because he hadn't expected me to be as capable as I was.

  "But," I continued inexorably, practically purging a thought that had been nagging at me for months, "I still shouldn't have been capable enough to beat someone who was probably more than ten times my age and had to be at least that much more experienced than I was. If not more. He had me dead to rights when the Hall stepped in and tipped the scales by distracting him and giving me energy."

  I spread my hands wide. "I should be dead right now."

  Ken sighed slowly and nodded. "I won't disagree that you got very lucky." He ran a hand over his mouth and chin. "Honestly, Caley, I don't know. But I can make a couple of educated guesses, if it will help."

  "Please," I said earnestly. "I just want to understand what happened."

  Ken sighed again. "Remember, I was just an observer, and only got to see the tail end of it when Ariana and Emrys arrived. But I'd say that it was primarily what happens whenever anyone becomes overconfident. Von Einhardt was certain he had you on the ropes, and…as you said, he was toying with you. That made him careless, and you and the Hall were able to take advantage of that with just a little prompting from Emrys.

  "On top of that…" he shrugged. "I would remind you of his age, and note that the human mind isn't really designed to function at maximum capacity for that long a time. From what little we know of him, it's a safe bet that the things he'd done to extend his life past two hundred were probably…unpleasant in the extreme. That has a cumulative negative effect, despite what people who do it to themselves would like to think. You might call it the magical equivalent of dementia."

  Ken smiled. "I think I can also reassure you that you most assuredly would not be dead right now if the Hall hadn't intervened. Emrys was fully prepared to act if you hadn't been able to…and not even someone like von Einhardt would stand a chance against him. Even with Emrys not exactly at the peak of his power."

  That took a weight off my chest that I guess I'd been studiously ignoring. "Thank you, Ken."

  He waved it off. "I've been waiting patiently for you to bring it up for a few months now. This seemed like as good a time as any to give you a bit of a nudge."

  "Sometimes I need one," I agreed. I refreshed myself with another deep breath, letting it out slowly along with what was left of my tension. "All right…what's next today?"

  Ken pointed to the target on the wall. "I want you to put a lightning bolt on the bullseye…and sustain it for as long as you can."

  I blinked a few times. "Sustain it?"

  Ken nodded. "Yes, sustain it. I want you to connect yourself to the wall with a bolt of lightning. It doesn't need to be intense, but at least enough to knock a grown man down, and keep it going until I tell you to stop. Think of it as an exercise in endurance."

  "All right." I shrugged and turned back to the painted target. I made the necessary gestures, envisioned the spell, carefully fed it energy, and thrust my cupped hands toward the wall. With an audible snap, like a circuit being closed, a ball of roiling electricity burst to life between my hands, and sent a single streamer of power down range to jitter back and forth across the bullseye.

  I was quite pleased with this. It was much more controlled than my early attempts at lightning…no little bolts forked off of it to touch the floor or anything else within range of it. And while it moved around on the target, it did so in a fairly small area, and never left that area.

  "Excellent!" Ken said. "Now hold it there."

  I set my jaw and did. It wasn't hard, really, but it was a bit like…trying to close a door on a windy day. I had to lean into it a bit, metaphorically speaking, both to keep the lightning on target and to keep the spell intact and energy flowing.

  "Perfect!" Ken said encouragingly. "Keep going!"

  I saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye and, freeing my right hand from holding the lightning bolt steady, flashed my fingers through a quick series of gestures and cast a shield spell. A blue-white disk of force popped into existence, spreading out from the palm of my right hand, just in time for a half-dozen bean bags to bounce off of it, one after another.

  "Fantastic!" Ken cried happily. "Can you hold that?"

  I clenched my teeth and nodded. Holding both spells in place - the very energy-intensive lightning and the shield spell - was a definite strain. But I could do this.

  More bean bags bounced off my shield as the bolt of lightning skittered back and forth on the bullseye. The area it moved around on spread out a little, but not much. But I could feel the strain of holding both spells steady growing.

  Finally, after almost two dozen bean bags slammed into my shield, one finally burst through it and bounced harmlessly off my hip. My shield collapsed, and I released the lightning spell before it ran out of control.

  I bent over, put my hands on my knees, and panted out, "I feel…like I just…ran a marathon," before Ken could ask how I feel.

  I felt his hand on my shoulder and looked up to see him smiling down at me. "That's fine. You did great. I'm very proud of how much progress you've made." He squeezed my shoulder gently. "Let's call it a day here. Go grab a shower, and go to that town meeting tonight in the knowledge that I'm confident you can handle whatever weird problems they might have for you to look into."

  I'd honestly never felt as proud of an achievement as I did at that moment.