Misfit Mage

by Michael Taggart

  It wasn’t perfect even then. We’d been able to partially refill seven charms, which wasn’t much considering how many charms she had and how many she had given Annabeth. The seven we had charged were only a quarter to a half filled. The whole process was very inefficient, but Sandy wasn’t sure how to make it better.

  After supper we tried the magic circle again. This time I wore a t-shirt and comfortable shorts and I knew what the process was going to be like. I was both more relaxed because it wasn’t my first time and more tense because I knew some magic overload was headed my way.

  This time I kept my eyes open the whole time. Once the magic started flowing I could see the path it was taking. Since we were four people, we were more of a square than a circle, and the flow reflected that. It kind of wobbled as it moved from person to person. The flow wasn’t smooth at all. I could also see the little motes of magic in the air and they were not being influenced by our magic yet.

  When Sandy hit third gear the flow was a lot thicker and it smoothed out some of the ripples a bit. I could see some of the magic breaking free and streaming off into the room. The motes of magic in the room were agitated now and starting to spin in the circle. Their spin was interrupted a lot by all the extra magic flaring off from our circle.

  Sandy kicked it into fourth gear, vortex time, and I hung on for dear life again. Even though I was shaking and twitching with power, I was still paying attention to what was happening. The flow got even thicker and became the closest to a circle yet. When the magic was going from person to person at their hands, though, it was throwing off sparks. The power transfer wasn’t smooth and the sparks were interfering with the spin of the motes of natural magic. Despite all that, the motes did spin and form a vortex. It was a lurching, twisty sort of thing with a thick funnel on the bottom. It rested on the charms most of the time but what didn’t get absorbed just skittered across the floor and outside the circle. Once they were outside the circle, they would raise into the air and get sucked back into the top of the funnel again.

  I know I was still new at all this but there had to be a better way to do the circle.

  Sandy collapsed first this time. I’d been determined that I wouldn’t be the first to go down and break the circle. The after effect felt even worse than before. My body twitched long after we ended and the room was spinning so badly I didn’t even try to sit up. I just laid there on the cool floor until John took me back to my room. I thought I would be ok then, but I ended up throwing up for a few hours. Bermuda whined and tried to make me feel better but there wasn’t much he could do.

  I spent the whole time going over what I’d seen and felt during both circles looking for the pattern. I can figure out just about anything, and I wasn’t going to go through this night after night for such a low payout in recharging. By the time I finally feel asleep, with an anxious Bermuda curled up beside me, I had a plan.

  15 Third Time’s the Charm

  I woke up to sunlight, Tyler, and my kitten again. It was like waking up in heaven. I didn’t have the amazing apartment like John or Annabeth had, but my mornings were pure bliss.

  I caught Tyler up on my day yesterday and what I was planning. He thought it sounded reasonable but he wasn’t a magic user so he didn’t know if it would actually work on not. He said he was working on my third remnant. The fourth one, death experience guy, was staying buried inside and he couldn’t touch him yet. I was just glad progress was being made.

  Tyler wished me luck and slipped out to go do his stuff. Bermuda yawned and stretched. He looked so cute I had to kiss him on the head. He put his paw on my face, like “Too close dude. A little too close.” Of course that made me want to kiss him again.

  We played a rousing game of Kiss the Cat Before He Gets Away. I got in some good loving and only got scratched a little bit. It’s hard to hold onto a squirming cat and it wasn’t long before he was prancing away.

  I had a shower, breakfast, and then settled in for some magic work. Bermuda had other ideas, though. He was bursting with young energy and he started tearing around the apartment. He needed something to chase so I made one of my little magic creations for him to play with. I was thinking of cats chasing lasers, so I made him round, bright red, and glowing. Then I gave him a little hovercraft engine so he could scoot across the floor and up the walls. I gave him free reign over the apartment, except for the TV area. Stay away from the TV. I called him Dot, filled him with magic, and turned him loose. He gave me a big wink, then zipped over to Bermuda and began dancing around on the floor in front of him. The kitten was fascinated, and it wasn’t long before Dot was zipping around the apartment with Bermuda in close pursuit. Thank goodness I didn’t have much in the way of breakables because they were racing everywhere. At one point Bermuda was going so fast he raced up the wall and across it like he was defying gravity. His eyes were big and ears were up. Dot was making little zoom-zoom noises and flashing me the thumbs up as he flew by. They were clearly having the time of their lives.

  I know I was supposed to be working on magic but I took time to just watch them for a while. It’s all about the journey after all. Take time to smell the roses and all that. I’d never had a pet before, but they sure do make your place a home. I wasn’t at the level of Annabeth, but this place felt like mine and it was a happy space.

  Finally, I let them do their thing and I settled back in for some magic work with Penny. I needed her to wake up today as she was the centerpiece for my plan tonight. Over and over I pulled in magic from her, mixed it with my magic, and sent it back.

  At first, I worked with want felt comfortable. Then I started pushing the boundaries a bit. I gradually took bigger and bigger amounts of magic and pushing back more and more. It was sort of like taking lots of really deep breaths.

  Bermuda got tired from all his running and curled up in my lap for a nap. I felt for Dot but couldn’t find him. I guess he ran out of magic. That seemed fast. I’d need to tweak his design a bit when I called him back up again. In the meantime, he’d served his purpose and used up some of that kitten energy. I went back to my magic flows again. It wasn’t until Bermuda woke up again that I realized I’d been at it for hours. I needed a break so I called up Annabeth and went to her place for a midday sandwich. I told her I was up to something but wouldn’t say what. Just that I need to have Penny’s help to make it happen.

  After lunch we settled down in her Tuscan courtyard and got to work again. This time I pushed the boundaries a lot. I pulled in Penny’s magic until I thought I would burst. Then pushed it to her until the world turned gray. I was tingling and sweating from the effort. This was nothing like I had done before but I thought I was starting to get results.

  Since Annabeth had another way of sensing magic, I asked her if she would pay attention to my magic transfer and offer feedback. She thought that was a great idea and listened to what I was doing for a while. She said the pure magic sounded like white noise, or static on a radio. When I was moving magic around, she could hear what mine sounded like, and it sounded like bells ringing. Sometimes it seemed like little bells tinkling, and sometimes like big grand bells with volume and vibrancy and lots of tone. I wasn’t sure how to use that information right now, but I tucked it away in my mind for further review.

  She listened to Penny and said she could hear a single bell and it sounded huge. Like maybe the biggest bell in Notre Dame. It wasn’t loud but it was clear. Penny was in there, I just needed to give her more of my magic.

  By the time we were ready to head to Sandy’s for supper, I could feel just a touch of Penny again. It was faint, like she was far away or at the end of a tunnel, but it was her.

  I was so very glad to hear from her again! Up to this point we had been working on theory that all this exchanging of magic was going to work. Now I had real evidence that she was going to get better and I was on the right track. I headed down to Sandy’s with a much lighter heart.

  When I got there, Bermuda had already arrived. He seemed to go
wherever he wanted in this House. Snowy and Biscuit seemed to have accepted him, or at least decided to tolerate him more. Sandy was serving roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. Apparently, that was a big favorite of John’s and something he used to eat back in Scotland. I couldn’t imagine eating beef with a pudding but John said to wait and see. I was going to love it.

  It turns out the pudding is like a fluffy biscuit you pour gravy over. It really was delicious. We had roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, and roast potatoes and carrots. The gravy went over everything and it totally rocked. I had two helpings and started in on a third.

  I don’t usually eat this much but Sandy said using magic is hungry work. John had finished the emerald ring he had been working on. He showed it to us before sending it off to his Etsy buyer. I remembered seeing it before but I’d been wasted. Now that I was sober, it was even more beautiful. The contrast with the white and yellow gold in each tiny leaf was just stunning. The centerpiece of the ring, the flawed emerald, was now finished and it somehow looked both raw and sparkly all at the same time. Whoever got that ring was going to love it. It was a one-of-a-kind masterpiece.

  I was nervous about bringing it up, but when Sandy finally got down to business about tonight’s circle, I told everyone that I had something in mind and I wanted to lead tonight’s circle.

  Sandy looked shocked and she exchanged a look with Annabeth. I wouldn’t say more than that and it really got their curiosity going. I did tell Sandy that if I completely failed then we could always do it the way we had been. I thought she might have an issue with it, but she and Annabeth just looked relieved. I knew that Annabeth didn’t enjoy doing the circle but it never really occurred to me to consider how this affected Sandy. I’m sure putting out that much power was no picnic either.

  We cleaned up from supper and there was lots of speculation about what I was up to. I just told them it would require them to get in the mindset of a shaman and I’m sure John could fetch his body paints.

  That was a hard no. I got a glare from both Sandy and Annabeth. Then I suggested that maybe if just John got painted it still might work. That was met with an enthusiastic yes by both of them.

  John had a big belly laugh and suggested we could all wrestle him for it. Annabeth said sure and wrapped herself around one leg. Sandy said she always liked wrestling him and wrapped herself around his other leg. Everyone looked at me and said it was my turn to take him down. A seven-foot mountain man is way out of my league, even with two pretty women hanging on to him, but I gave it a try.

  I gave a yell, a flying leap, and wrapped myself around his torso. I didn’t even rock him when I landed. John walked around the apartment with all three of us hanging onto him. He was roaring and threatening bad things but being very gentle with us. We were like kids compared to him.

  He decided to clean up the dishes with the three of us trying to slow him down. I was beating on his back and Sandy and Annabeth were hanging on to his legs and digging in for dear life, but we never even slowed him down. It was a lot of fun though, and we soon fell off and helped clear up supper.

  We headed to the circle room and that’s when I started getting nervous. I knew everything was going to be ok, but I still didn’t want to look like a fool in front of my new friends. I took deep breaths and reminded myself that if worse came to worst; we could just do it the way we had done it before.

  We got to the circle room and I suddenly had to pee. Come to find out, there was a bathroom attached. Thank goodness. After I did my business, I looked in the bathroom mirror and gave myself a pep talk.

  “You can do this. You have a good idea and this can work. If it works, it will be a major breakthrough and John and Sandy and Annabeth are going to be so happy. This is just like the poker tables. Take the leap. Make it happen. You are good!”

  I washed my hands then slapped some water on my face. I felt like it was my first poker tournament. I was so nervous I’d thrown up for that. Fortunately, I wasn’t throwing up this time.

  Oh god, I had to pee again! What the heck. Get it together. After the second pee and second hand wash I was ready.

  Once out of the bathroom, Annabeth gave me a big hug. “It’s going to be ok,” she whispered. I guess I looked as nervous as I felt.

  I got a hug from Sandy too. She can be a bit intimidating at times, but her heart is pure gold. Not to be left out I got a hug from John as well. Except he picked me up and squeezed me until my eyes popped.

  That did the trick. I wasn’t nervous any more. I stepped up to my usual spot in the circle. There really wasn’t any sort of ‘head of the circle’ spot and I felt more comfortable being where I usually stood.

  “So, I have a theory about how a magic circle works,” I said. “And it’s based off of what I saw happen in our last circle. Then I’ll talk about what’s happening with our circle and I have a possible solution to make it better.”

  I looked around and everyone nodded. They were with me so far.

  “First, let’s talk about numbers. I think it’s better with more mages in a circle because it is closer to an actual circle with more people. We have four people, so we are basically a square. That’s not very circle like. Even five people would be a hexagon, like a stop sign, and that’s more like a circle. Eight people make an octagon and that’s definitely more circular. We want magic to spin, so it’s all about flow. The less circular we are the more there is resistance to the flow.”

  I looked around again and everyone nodded. Sandy looked thoughtful. She had the most experience with magic circles so hopefully this was jiving with what she felt before.

  “Now let’s talk about flow. I think charging circles normally have the magic flow through the participants because everyone is helping with the spin. The example I’m thinking of is the old grain mills with horses. They would have a giant circular rock to crush the grain and spokes coming off of it. They would hitch horses to the spokes who would then walk in a circle and grind the grain. If you only had one horse, it would still work, but the force would be off balance. If you had two horses, you’d have double the power, and the forces would be balanced on opposite sides of the stone.

  “I’m thinking that is the same idea with a charging circle. Magic flows through the mages and they all help get it moving. The magic is balanced and it can flow a lot faster. That doesn’t work in our situation. John can’t help with the magic flow in the traditional sense, I’m brand new to this, and compared to experienced mages, so is Annabeth. So, really it’s you, Sandy, that is making this circle work.

  “John said you were a power prodigy and I believe it. If you didn’t have the power you did, there is no way four people would work. What is interesting is when you really rev up your power it starts flowing around us as well as through us. That is when it seems to be the most like a circle and that’s when the vortex happens.”

  I looked around the circle again. So far everyone seemed to be following along and in agreement. Annabeth was her usual sunshine self. She was beaming at me and sending good energy my way. I really appreciated that. Sandy was looking very interested. Clearly she was enjoying my thoughts and looking relaxed. Looking at her now, I realized how tense she had been before as circle leader. John looked like he was thinking about beer. He’s probably wishing he had a pint while he was listening to me talk.

  “The final thing I’ll bring up is the size of the circle. It makes for a wide vortex and that makes for a wide funnel. When the funnel touches down on the charms, it’s much bigger than they are. The excess magic is shooting across the floor and outside of the circle, only to be caught up into the funnel again. It’s possible that magic particles are being sucked through the vortex lots of times before being absorbed into a charm. Or maybe they are going through the vortex and never ending up in a charm. That’s just a lot of wasted magic. What would solve this is a smaller vortex that spins faster. That would create a tight tip of the funnel, and a very focused magic on the charms.”

  “That all sounds very
logical,” Sandy spoke up. “I haven’t thought of a charging circle in that way before, but it seems to fit. The only thing is, how do we do it differently? How do we make a better circle? I’ve tried using place holders for missing mages before and that didn’t seem to work. The House made us some magical dummies, but the flow just wouldn’t start. John tried using various metals to see if we could get a good magic conductor but that didn’t work either.”

  “This time we have something you haven’t tried before.” I held up penny. “This time we have an actual awakened and aware magic conductor. I’ve been working with her all day and I think she can do this.”

  I whispered to her in my mind. “Penny? Are you there?” I heard a distant chime. I sent her the thought of what I needed and felt a small return glow. She had more than enough power to make the transformation, but I wasn’t sure if she was awake enough to do it.

  There was a pause, then it happened so fast I almost dropped her. Penny stretched out really thin, like a dinner plate. Then a hole grew in the middle and all the metal went to the edges. She was now a thin ring, about a foot in diameter. She paused for a moment, then started expanding. She had the same amount of metal as always, but she was making the band thinner and thinner so she could form a larger circle.

  She expanded to about three feet in diameter and stopped. She was so thin and light you could barely see her. It was amazing there was enough metal in a penny to expand this much.

  I held her gently on one side with two fingers of each hand. I let my magic sink into her, making sure she was alright, then wrapping her with my essence. I didn’t want anyone else’s magic to get into Penny and cause problems. The magic was going to spin outside her, not through her, so she should be ok. I looked at her in my magic sight and she glowed with emerald light.