by R.E. Packer
Chapter 19
The amulet was getting hotter and hotter with each spell Maeve threw at it. Every time she tried to get inside my head the charm’s heat would increase. I’m not sure, but I think she might have been enjoying the discomfort she was causing, at least a little. She finally finished, the heat subsided and my chest felt like when I once fell asleep in the sun.
“Quit being a baby. This is important, If I can’t get past it, I seriously doubt that Vivian can. Now we’ll teach you how to build a mental barricade without the necklace.”
After much creative instruction from Maeve and a few laughs from Gwen I was starting to be able to create a mind wall.
“Now for all the God’s sake, please use that technique when you have your juvenile thoughts running through that little mind of yours,” Maeve said.
I thought of all the times I had looked at both her and especially Gwen with appreciation and could feel my cheeks getting hotter.
“That’s a nice shade of red your cheeks have there, it matches your aura nicely,” Gwen said.
“Yeah, very funny, I thought I was going to have to wash my mind out with soap earlier,” Maeve said making a gagging noise.
We spent the rest of the day going over various magical techniques. Most witches and wizards have a particular type of magic they excel at. They showed me more fire and ice magic and ways to send kinetic energy. Eros showed me how to create a shield that would block magical as well as human weapons. By the time we were done I felt like a wizarding badass, but I was pretty sure I hadn’t absorbed nearly as much as they threw at me.
Eros went back to watching TV, loudly objecting to just about everything. Gwen had gotten a glass from the cupboard, filled it with water and set it down on the table between us.
“Put a finger in the water. Visualize a wall of water in front of you,” she said.
I put my index finger in the water, still holding the staff in my left hand. I closed my eyes and thought about a rolling wave in the ocean.
I knew I made a mistake as soon as I heard a wave crashing. I opened my eyes, my mouth made on O shape as I looked at Maeve. She was soaked, her eyes narrowed and her jaw clenched as she said, “Do exactly as we tell you Gordon. Do not improvise anything, you’re little mind will get a cramp.”
“For the love of… Why would you choose that man!,” Eros shouted at the TV breaking the tension.
Ignoring Eros’s outburst, Gwen said, “It is vitally important for everyones safety that you do not deviate in the slightest, at least not yet. You pictured a wave?” she asked.
“Yes,” I admitted.
“To be honest I half expected that. Most people are locked into a very narrow view of how things operate in the universe.”
Steam rose from Maeve’s clothes from a heat that didn’t exist in the rest of the room.
“Fire is my second strongest magic,” she said, “Which is why I’m doing this test,” her smile had a devious glint to it.
“Again, picture a wall of water. It doesn’t have to follow any rules of physics.” She held her hands out in front of her like a child would when they catch a lightening bug.
“Ready? Go.”
I pictured a two foot wall of water like an aquarium without the glass. When I had a crisp picture of it in my head, I nodded, afraid that speaking would break my concentration. Finally I opened my eyes so I could see what was happening. A wall of blue water about two feet thick hung in the air in front of me. It wrapped around the table forming a U shape. There was nothing visible holding the water in place and I didn’t know where the water had come from. I tried not to over think it.
Maeve opened her hands and a ball of fire slowly floated toward me, like a ball being lobbed to a child. The fireball sank into the wall of water and for the briefest moment I was afraid it would go through. Water was replaced with steam until the fireball disappeared in the blue liquid.
“Ahha!” I whooped in triumph. “Is that the best you got?”
Almost before I knew what happened, I heard a sharp crack as Gwen’s staff released a blue ball of ice like a fastball. It hit my water wall, crackling as it turned the water to ice. Almost immediately the entire wall was turned to ice. It hung suspended in the air the same as the water wall had.
I could barely see Maeve through the ice wall, but what I could see was a bright ball of flame headed for me, and a devious smile on her face. It slammed into the wall of ice instantly turning the entire thing into fog.
A layer of mist like a micro-environment surrounding a mountaintop hung in the room. Through the mist I heard Eros grunt. He was watching us over his shoulder from the other room, TV forgotten.
“Teamwork is very important no matter how strong you are,” Gwen said.
