When Magic Flows

A DAY FULL OF ATTEMPTS

A few days have passed since the Yule Ball and I could barely take Nicholas out of my head. I wanted to see him again. I wanted to ask him how things with his dad were going, and more than everything, I wanted to kiss him again and feel if his curls were as soft as they look like.

But as for now, as the Christians’ party was over, the current council decided to begin our training as soon as possible. If I hadn’t more reasons to start learning soon, now I have extra motivation: bring someone’s dad from the dark path to the light one. 

So, in the first week of the New The year we went to the newest training center. This center has been prepared for the last six months to receive the new coven’s leader and the lieutenants. As we were a low number, it was not necessarily big, but it was appropriately equipped, and have places for training protection spells, enchantments, potions, and other themes that they will approach during our training. 

The lieutenants would have regular classes, which I would attend too, but I would have some extra few sessions with my mom and grandmother, which were the last two coven’s leaders before me and would offer me advanced magic lessons and some advice for the future I would face. In general, the counsel prepared everything with accuracy, and we were all ready to start. 

Our first class was about protective spells. We were all gathered in the small gym that was enchanted to resist the force of any wrong spells. We all received a small potion to drink and be protected likewise, and now we were all prepared for our first class. 

James Palmer, the current lieutenant responsible for the coven’s protection entered the room and all the chattering ended, overcome by our curiosity and anxiety, and started his first class: 

“Good morning ladies and gentlemen, I hope you all are eager to learn what we have to share with you. I believe that I say this in the name of all the instructors, but the spells and potions that will be taught here are a sum of ancient wisdom and our own experiences. It is important for you to not ignore your ancestor’s wisdom. We got here because others made the sacrifice and experienced difficulties that made our lives easier now. Do you get me?”

“Yes, sir.” We all responded at once.

“So, we still don’t know which one of you will be responsible for which areas in the coven. Therefore, you will all be trained in every area and we will check on your affinities and abilities to set an organized and well-oiled group.”

“For our very first lesson, we will learn how to conjure a dome. A small one, in the beginning, until you get stable enough to conjure bigger ones. The goal here is to produce a dome big enough to protect our community in times of need. We hope this will never be needed to be done, but still, better be safe than sorry.”

“So, spread throughout the gym, each one in a limited zone and we will start to practice, ok?”

And then, Mr. Palmer produced a small dome, enough to protect the square he was into. He didn’t squirm or seem to suffer in his effort to produce it, and this gave me the impression that this would be easy enough to accomplish and this would sound like a good achievement for my first day. A piece of cake.  

“So, you will have to try drain strength from your natural element. For some of you, it will depend on the hour of the day if it is a celestial element. It does not mean that you have no strength during the day if your element is the moon, but you will be slightly weaker than you would be at night. Focus on this element and let your power lead the way. Concentrate on a protective dome and let’s start practicing!” He also gave us the proper enchantment and soon we were all ready to go. 

Easier to be said than done. It was really challenging to produce a small force field, much more a dome! If I was bringing force from a natural element, nature seems not to be wanting anything with me at the moment. I started to feel a little embarrassed. Legends say that I would be a powerful witch. What if this wasn’t true and I’d let the coven down? What if the legend was wrong and I’d be a weak leader? I tried hard not to look around and compare my efforts to the others in the room, but I ended up peeking around me and I must confess, I was a little relieved that everyone else looked as frustrated as I was

The fact was that I dreamed that I could be a natural talent for witchcraft, and the way Mr. Palmer was doing magic seems so easy, but then I found out that this is really hard work.

Two hours later and the best result that I had was a weak purple light that barely reached the size of my hand, and I was exhausted as if I just ended running a marathon. 

When we left our first class for lunch, I saw my companion’s ugly faces. We practice small and basic magic here and there, but nothing as much complex as this! Whacked and humiliated, we went to the cafeteria that was in the training center. 

“I would appreciate it if you don’t mention a word about this class. It was beyond frustrating!” Alistair told us. Of course, he would be embarrassed, as proud as he was.

But actually, everyone was beaten up: “I will never mention this class again in my life” Jared murmured “Urgh! I feel as if I was hit by a train! How can I be in another complex class like this in an hour?” He stated another of our obvious concerns.

“I am not sure if I should practice this spell night and day or if I should just let it go and accept that this was not for me” Mary told us at that moment.

“I think I will forget it and accept it in my heart that defense is not meant for me” Sybil confessed to no one in particular.

“Is there any chance that they did this just to put us in the right place? To humble us?” I asked them.

“I’m not so sure, but I wouldn’t doubt it” Jamie said. “For now, I feel as if I could eat a whole dragon to get back my strength.”

“Yeah, me too.” a couple of people told at the same time. 

When lunch arrived, I did not know if the food was always that delicious or if I was just starving. This morning has been so exhausting that I didn’t know what to expect from the afternoon class. 

When we arrived at the second classroom, we were slightly relieved that this class would be potions. I was looking forward to this class and gladly I was not disappointed about it!

Since potions class demanded chemistry abilities and I really have them, this was better than I expected, and after a few attempts, I was able to produce a simple elixir that would heal most common ailments. Yeah, maybe I could be a healer. I think that this was the right path for me, and I was on my way to get there. 

Well, at least it was not a totally lost day, but of course, there was a lot of work ahead. Well, we survived day one. 

I said goodbye to my new classmates and went home willing to share all the details about the potions class, not so much my protection class. My father, always so perceptive caught my humor in the air and in the first opportunity we were alone, he decided to ask me: “Do you want to talk about your day, sweetie?”

“Well dad, I’m not sure… I always thought I would be a natural, but our first class was about protection and conjuring a dome and It was definitely not a walk in the park. So, I had high expectations for today, but that fell as if they were a sandcastle that gets wet by the sea.” I said and started to pout. 

“Oh, honey, what does your mom tells you all the time? It takes time, sweetie. It takes time and practice, and your mom did not get there in the first week. Her skills are the result of hard and continuous work. Practice leads to perfection, darling.”

“Thank you, Dad, for always give me advice with the right word at the right time. It is really good to know that I can count on you in times of need”

And then my mom got into the dining room and said jealously: “You can count on me too, honey! You can count on your entire family, always. But if you want to succeed in your training you will need to practice a lot. It will be challenging and exhaustive, but eventually, you will get there. You are a powerful one, child. You still don’t know how much, but you are powerful. Have faith in yourself and be brave.”

I smiled at her: “Oh, mom, don’t be jelly. I know I can count on you too, and especially know I need some tips, so, I’m all ears. Please, tell me everything that there is to know about creating a dome.” And we started discussing all my attempts that day.