Spells and Sorcery

by S. Usher Evans

  PREFACE

  As to the first step of forming the young Magical Mind for practicing the art of the spell, being acquainted with the Magical Tongue of Latin. It is acknowledged to be due and principal Qualification in casting and understanding Magic, and therefore it is necessary to be well-acquainted.

  "And I decided to take French," I muttered.

  The preface seemed overly wordy and full of itself, talking about the necessity of magical persons to have a good Hand, to understand the rules of the clan or the guild (whatever that was) and the governance structure, to know the basics of math and science and reading and drawing and economics and how the English king still reigned over the colonies. I quickly grew bored with the basic stuff—after all, I was already fifteen (almost), and I was pretty sure I had a good grip on the basics.

  I flipped through the pages, marveling at how brittle they felt and yet they remained as intact as a newly published book, until I found the first chapter.

  THE BASICS OF SPELLWORK

  Spells are distinguished by their outcome and the object with which the magic has been applied.

  A SUMMONING SPELL, then, will present object to the summoner without use of the physical movement.

  A CHARMING SPELL will animate an object as if it were alive.

  An ATTACK SPELL will cause

  A jolt of electricity flitted through my body, wrenching my mind away from the words on the page. I stared at the wall, this new feeling of energy rolling through my veins. My skin was almost humming with power, like I'd had three energy drinks in the span of five minutes.

  I glanced at my alarm clock.

  12:01AM.

  I opened my mouth to call for Jeanie or Nicole, but stopped when I looked down at my fingers.

  They were glowing purple.

  I stared at them for a few moments, wondering if I'd fallen asleep. But I felt the sparks that shot out of my fingers, I smelled the burning air around me. I could taste the magic on my tongue. It was as if my heart was no longer just pumping blood, but my very essence from the top of my head to the ends of my toes.

  The most shocking of all was how much I loved this new feeling.

  Smiling, I twisted my fingers and jumped when a lightning bolt of purple left my pinky and a loud boom echoed in my room. Then, my nightstand burst into purple flames.

  "Shit!" I screamed, jumping to my feet and waving my arms to try and quell the flames. But that only served to make more lightning bolts fly from my hands, igniting my comforter.

  "Help! Jeanie! Nicole! Somebody!"

  The flames exploded, burning everything in sight and filling the room with smoke. I kept screaming, and was soon joined by the pulsing, ear-splitting fire alarm.

  "What the hell is going on in here?"

  Jeanie came flying into my room, her hair a mess and her eyes wide as she took in the scene of my destroyed bedroom. With a simple wave of her hand, the chaos disappeared, leaving nothing but the blaring fire alarm and my pounding heart.

  "What the hell?" Jeanie said, glaring at me as if this were all my fault. "You've had magic for a minute and you've already tried to burn the house down?"

  I recoiled as if she'd hit me. "I didn't… This wasn't…" My hands began to glow, and I practically felt the magic dripping out of my fingertips.

  "Jeanie?" Nicole said, poking her head into my room. "Why do I smell smoke?" Her eyes landed on me and my purple hands and her face grew concerned. "Lexie, what's going on here?"

  "You guys tell me!" I screamed and more magic exploded from my palms.

  "You need to calm down!" Jeanie barked at me.

  "I can't!"

  "Everybody take a breath!" Nicole bellowed. "Lexie, especially."

  I couldn't take it anymore and I began to cry. More sparks crackled around me as I heaved and sobbed, too afraid to move or even breathe. Each sob was accentuated by another spark of magic, which only made me cry harder.

  Nicole slowly approached me, her hands up. "It's okay, Lexie, just calm down."

  "I—hic—can't!" More magic, more explosions. And now my books had begun to levitate.

  "This is ridiculous," Jeanie said.

  Then, as quickly as it had arrived, the magical humming was gone. I released a breath and sank to my bed, lightheaded and dizzy.

  "You can have your magic back when you're calm," Jeanie said, not sounding at all sympathetic.

  I was afraid to move, but at least the fires were gone and I wasn't a human sparkler. Nicole sat on the bed next to me and rubbed my back. "It's okay. I know that must've been scary for you. We lost track of the time, otherwise we would've been up here sooner."

  "Where—hic—were you?"

  "Doesn't matter. What matters is that it's your birthday," Jeanie said. "And now you've got magic. But you'll need to learn to control it."

  "Oh, like it's that simple?" I barked. "In case you forgot, I just found out that magic exists."

  My fingertips began to glow again and a flash of shock crossed Jeanie's face, so fast I might've imagined it.

  "It is that simple, Alexis," she said. "A calm magical is a useful magical. Just take a deep breath. You can't hurt yourself or anyone else anymore."

  She was right. Aside from the vague glowing that had since disappeared, there were no more explosions or fires. Whatever she'd done to me, it was working. But that didn't mean that whenever she stopped, I wouldn't return to a human flamethrower.

  "This is such a big mistake. I don't want magic!" I cried, but I knew it was a lie the moment it came out of my mouth. I wanted my magic more than anything else in the universe—a strange desire considering I'd just found out about it.

  "You need rest, Lexie," Jeanie said. "A good night's sleep will clear your mind, and you've got school in the morning—"

  "You can't seriously think that I can go to school like this!"

  "I do, because you're a smart girl," Jeanie said. "And you're calm and rational. Remember?"

  I used to be calm and rational. I also used to not shoot purple flames out of my hands. Things had obviously changed.

  "You're still you, Lexie," Nicole tried. "Just you with magic."

  "I'm finding it a little strange that you two are being so…so…chill about this!" I said, after a moment. "I mean, this is…I…I…" My head hung and I pressed my hands into my eyeballs. "I don't even know what to think."

  "We're so chill," Nicole smirked at my word usage, "because we're trying to keep you calm so you don't have a stroke."

  A stroke was low on my list of worries, but at least things had stopped exploding for the moment. In fact, I didn't even feel the strange hum against my skin.

  I released my head and looked up at Jeanie. "How are you…I mean…what is…"

  "A grounding spell," she said. "Because I'm your guardian, I can take away your magic. At least until you're of age."

  "I thought I was of age?"

  "You've gotten your magic, but you won't formally…" She ran a hand through her hair. "Eighteen. Gram's rules are eighteen."

  "G-Gram?" More questions.

  "Jeanie, can you…?" Nicole said, holding out her hand.

  Jeanie flicked her wrist and a puff of yellow smoke appeared in the center of Nicole's hand, and with it, a small cup from downstairs. "Here, I made this after you… Well, just in case."

  I peered inside the glass at the goopy, silvery mixture. "What. The hell. Is that?"

  "It's a calming draught," Nicole said, pressing the cup into my hand. "It will help you fall asleep."

  I jiggled the glass; the goop had the consistency of halfway-set Jell-O.

  "Drink it, don't play with it," Nicole said. "That was very difficult to make."

  "What…does it taste like?" I asked, dipping my pinky into the concoction and watching it shimmy under my touch.

  "It tastes like you'd better drink it before I force it down your throat."

  Childhood memories of Nicole forcing me to drink cold medicine resurfaced, and I opened my mouth and downed the
drink. It tasted of lemon, chamomile, and honey and almost as soon as I'd had the last drop, a feeling of calm and happiness settled over me.

  "There it is," Nicole said, taking the cup from me. "Now get some rest."

  I lay back and suddenly forgot why I was so upset over magic. Magic was wonderful, it was beautiful, and it was…

  The house I stood in was familiar—even though I'd never seen it before, I could recall when I'd purchased each trinket and painting. I busied myself by tidying up the children's toys on the floor, knowing that it was a futile effort with such young girls. But it kept my mind off of the clock, and the worry that he would never show up.

  Lightning cracked outside, and it put me on edge. October storms were rare, but it had been unseasonably hot.

  Hot? It was always hot in Florida.

  I went to the girls' room to check on them, peering in through a small slit in the doorway to make sure their little bodies were still in bed. They'd been able to sense my worry, to know that something wasn't right. But a little bit of magic, and they'd fallen right to sleep. It was a shame I couldn't perform magic on myself to calm down.

  I don't have kids?

  The clock struck midnight, and my gut told me something was very wrong.

  My alarm went off three or four times before I finally had the energy to roll over and shut it off. Even then, my body felt like sludge, achy and unrested. I wanted to sleep for another three hours. I pushed myself upright, staring at the sun streaming into my room, and rubbed my eyes.

  Memory flooded back, and I ripped my hands away from my eyes. But my fingertips weren't glowing. Had I dreamed everything last night? I must have, because there was no way that so much could go so wrong in such a short amount of time. Magic and blowing up my bedroom had been just a very bad dream.

  "Rise and shine, birthday girl," Nicole said, opening the door.

  Bleary-eyed, I blinked at her a few times. "Wha?"

  "Oh, crap," she said, crossing the room to my bed. "Did I put too much valerian root in that potion last night?"

  "P-potion? Crap." I groaned and fell back into my pillow, throwing an arm over my eyes. So much for the it-was-all-a-dream theory.

  "Sorry about that, Lexie, I haven't made a potion in…well…" She cleared her throat. "It should wear off in a few hours. I really should've double-checked the measurements but…it seemed right."

  I cracked an eye open. "So you drugged me last night?"

  "Potioned."

  "Same difference." I glanced at my hand, expecting it to start glowing any second. "Why am I not…you know…magicking?"

  "Because your magic has settled, I'd guess," Nicole said with a shrug. "And you're calm. A calm magical is a useful magical."

  "You've said that a few times already," I said, rubbing my face. "What about a sleepy magical?"

  "Hey, loser." Marie's dulcet tones just served to make my mood even darker. "Heard you royally screwed up getting your magic last night."

  "Shut up, Marie," Nicole and I said in unison.

  I offered Nicole a half-hearted smile, which quickly dissolved into a yawn. "You got any wake-up potions?"

  Nicole snorted. "By the time I leaf through my old potion book, you'll already be awake. But I can offer you coffee instead?"

  Book—my book. The magical spell book that Gavon had given me. I sat up and my gaze landed on the book sitting on my desk. The letters were still glowing, the tug from my solar plexus was still there. But no one had said a thing about it.

  Oh well, maybe middle-aged men handing old books to young magicals was expected. Stranger things had happened recently.

  I moved slowly and lethargically as I got ready for school. I already didn't put much effort into my appearance—jeans, a t-shirt, and flip-flops were about as fancy as I got, but dressing was even harder than usual. My backpack felt, if possible, heavier, as I pulled it over my shoulders and trudged downstairs.

  Jeanie was already in the kitchen, and she offered me a cup of coffee saturated with milk and sugar. "Nicole said the potion hasn't worn off yet."

  "I can't believe you condoned drugging me," I said, sucking down the sweet mixture.

  "Well, I can't believe you set fire to your bedroom, so there's that," Jeanie said with a wry smile. "Now hurry up or you'll be late for school."

  I grimaced. I hadn't even considered what life would be like at school. I already felt like an other, and now? Magical? That was the last thing I needed.

  "What's that face about?" Nicole asked.

  "Just…nervous about school. I mean, based on last night, do you think it's…safe for me to go?" It wasn't that I wanted to skip, but it would've been nice to crawl back under my covers and sleep for a few more hours.

  Jeanie turned around and cocked her head, like she was reading me in some way. "Seem fine to me."

  "But what if I…I don't know…set fire to the school? Or blow up my desk? What if the government comes for me?"

  Nicole and Jeanie shared a perplexed look. "Government?"

  "Yeah, like in the movies. I'm a freak, so—"

  "You aren't a freak," Nicole said with an exasperated sigh. "You just happen to have magic. It's really not that big of a deal, Lexie."

  I couldn't believe how unconcerned they were, especially after what had happened to me the night before.

  "Wipe that look off your face," Jeanie said. "You aren't skipping school today."

  My worry turned into annoyance. "I don't want to skip school because…because I want to! I really feel like I'm a danger to people!"

  "The only person who's in danger here is you, if you don't get your butt in the car. We're gonna be late," Jeannie said.

  "You're taking me to school?" That, at least, was good news. Though I wouldn't say no to being in an enclosed space with Marie, now that I knew I could zap her if she was a bitch to me.

  "Yeah, remember? It's your birthday? You asked me to?" Jeanie sucked down more of her coffee, then put the empty mug in the sink. "Now, get your bags, or else I'll make you to go school with Marie."

  4

  "Oh, don't look so worried, Lexie. You're going to be fine," Jeanie said as she pulled up behind a queue of cars dropping off students.

  "You really can't be okay with me putting all of my classmates in danger?" I asked, for probably the fifth time since we'd left the house. "I set my bedroom on fire, Jeanie."

  "Last night, you were taken off guard. Now, you're all right. Look," she reached across the car and took my hand, "no magic here."

  I retracted my hand and stared at my fingertips. "Yeah, but what if—"

  "Lexie, you're one of the most brilliant kids I know," Jeanie said, and I was too shocked at the rare praise to respond. "Magic is simply another part of you, and it always has been. Just like you can use that brain of yours to remember all those useless facts and quotes, you can use your mind to control your magic. If you want to control it, you will."

  "Thanks," I said, although I didn't quite understand what she was saying. If I had no idea what I was supposed to control, or how to control it, I wasn't sure how effective my will was going to be.

  Jeanie pulled up in front of the school and turned to me. "Before you go, I have two ground rules with your magic. The first is you are not allowed to use your magic on anyone. Not your sister, not students, anyone."

  I nodded.

  "Second, which should go without saying, is that you aren't allowed to do magic at school. And until you get a handle on it, you are not allowed to use it unsupervised."

  Again, I nodded, although I wanted to argue that I hadn't actually willfully done any magic since I'd received it.

  "Are you picking me up later?"

  "Unfortunately, you'll have to ride with Marie this afternoon. I've got a few meetings I can't get out of. But later tonight, we'll go out to dinner for your birthday, all right?"

  "Okay," I said, cracking open the door. My stomach was a mess of nerves, but I took some solace in Jeanie's lack of concern. If she thought I
wasn't a disaster waiting to happen, then maybe I wasn't.

  Still, I stood on the curb for a moment, clutching the straps of my bag and gathering strength of mind and will. Behind me, another car pulled up, and two freshmen popped out, ignoring the driver and each other in favor of their phones. They didn't even acknowledge me as they brushed past my shoulder.

  I waited for something to happen—what, I didn't know, but something.

  The girls finally noticed me staring at them and gave me a look. "What?"

  "N-nothing," I squeaked, taking a step back and waiting for their faces to melt off.

  The girls looked at each other, giggled, and walked away. Another car pulled up behind me. Standing outside, staring at the school probably wasn't the best idea, so I adjusted my backpack again and marched inside.

  The halls were already filled with students, all of whom paid me no attention. But then again, why would they? Outwardly, I was just another kid. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad. Maybe I wouldn't royally screw things up. Maybe Jeanie was right and if I wanted to control my magic, I could.

  A sliver of calm made its way into the raging storm in my head, and I relaxed the tension in my shoulders as I repeated my new mantra. If I wanted to control my magic, I could.

  I approached my locker and all serenity went out the window as Callista and Joel stood in the way, making ga-ga eyes at each other. I stepped forward, hoping they'd see me and they needed to move.

  Nope. They continued staring longingly into each other's eyes, and I rolled mine. Get a damned room.

  "Excuse me," I said.

  Callista giggled loudly and made some comment on Joel's sports-ball performance.

  "Excuse me," I said, a little louder.

  Joel said something about Callista's car being a mess.

  "Excuse m—" My words died on my tongue as a purple glow caught my attention. I stuffed my hands into my pockets before anyone saw them.

  "Oh, sorry, Lexie," Callista said, finally noticing me standing there. She and Joel scooted a few inches to the left to grant me access to my locker.