Page 6 of Grave Situation

It’s only the tug from Tia’s part of my mind that stops me from lunging at him. I suck in a deep breath. “Remember what I taught you, that a spell is the visualization of your intent?” He nods. “Excellent. So do you understand why thinking of a large fireball in the middle of the classroom while trying to use your magic might be a bad idea?”

A blank stare is his only response, and I grit my teeth.

“Tell me: What is magic?”

“It’s energy in our bodies,” he replies promptly, seeming proud to know the answer. “Mages have more kintick energy?—”

“Kinetic.”

“Yes, that. We have more than other people, who only have what they need to survive. And we can learn to use the extra energy to do stuff.”

At least he knows that much. “Good. How do we ‘do stuff’?”

He grins. “We picture the extra energy and then imagine it doing what we want it to.”

My hands twitch. That’s the most dumbed-down explanation I’ve ever heard. He definitely didn’t hear it from me. “Close enough. Now, when you imagined using your magic—the kinetic energy—did it occur to you that it might be bad to also imagine a fireball?”

His face turns tragic. “I couldn’t help it! The fireball just popped into my head when you said to think of fire!”

My patience is disappearing at an alarming rate. “That’s why you have meditation classes, to keep you from accidentally visualizing random things at the wrong times.”

“Oh.” He grimaces. “I can’t get the hang of meditation. I keep falling asleep in that class.”

I clench my fists to keep from actually strangling him and think grimly about the conversation I’m going to have with the meditation professor later. He’s not going to enjoy itat all. “Donotthink of fire until I tell you otherwise. In fact, try not to think at all. You should find that a simple task.”

He seems puzzled by that, and as I turn toward the next student, Tia tugs again. I send my thoughts winging toward her.“Yes?”

“Everything okay? You seem… upset.”

“I was nearly incinerated by a moron who can’t tell the difference between lighting a candle and laying siege to a settlement.”

Her amusement flows along the connection between us, and I relax slightly.“Oh. Just another day in the life of teaching, then. You should bring them out here and let the dragons teach them all about fire.”

The only reason I don’t shudder is because I don’t want anyone to suspect the link between us. It’s not uncommon for telepaths to frequently hold mind-to-mind conversations, but that’s not exactly what I’m doing right now.

“No, thanks. Now let me get back to work. You dragon riders seem to have all this free time.”

In response, an image forms in my head. It’s the City of Knowledge, spread out far below, and as I realize I’m seeing what she is, Leicht—the bastard—banks into a steep dive. My stomach churns as I cut the connection with Tia to the sound of her laughter. I fucking hate dragons. And heights. And the very idea of flying.

“Professor?” a tentative voice asks, and I focus on the student in front of me. It’s Lenora Gill, the farm girl who thinks I’m a monster and a disgrace to mages everywhere. Surprisingly, she earned the use of her name within the first three weeks, and there’s been a grudging truce between us. Grudging on her part. I’m quite happy for her to exist.

Well, as happy as I am for any of my students to exist.

“Have you been practicing, Lenora?” She lit the candle for the first time at the beginning of the week, and once I was satisfied she could do it reliably and without any unwanted side effects, I gave her a taper to practice on outside of class.

“Yes, Professor.”

I nod to her candle and feel the tiny, controlled surge from her as it lights. She’s a bit clumsy still, but her technique is solid.

“Excellent work. Could you please go light the coals in that brazier?” I point toward the fireplace, which has been set up for this little challenge. There’s no tinder or kindling, just the cold coals. To get them alight, she’ll need to make the flame hotter and sustain it. Lighting a candle is easy in comparison—a single surge of magic to set the wick alight. This, though, requires focus, steady use of power, and creative visualization. Not everything we do with magic is easy to visualize.

She walks toward the hearth confidently, no doubt not realizing exactly what this will take. I watch carefully as she makes her first attempt and some of that confidence fades. Shewas raised on a farm—she should be aware that coals require concentrated heat to light. That puts her several steps ahead of the pampered, wealthier students who’ve never had to light their own fires in their life. I know, because I was one of them, and it was only when one of my classmates explained things to me that I realized I’d been going about it the wrong way.

Keeping half my attention on her, I turn to the next student and brace myself. “Okay. Try to light the candle.”

By the timethe last of the leaves have left the trees and autumn is only a technicality, I’m finally satisfied that all my students can light the fires in their dorms. Some of them are still likely to set fire to themselves at random other times, but for different reasons. Fire is one of the tougher abilities to fully master, which is why we have the students begin with it right away.

Leaving one of my fire-prone students in the infirmary under the watchful eye of the academy healer on night shift, I head toward my master’s rooms. Her burns aren’t all that bad, but her dormmates were pissed off about nearly being part of a human bonfire, so I decided it would be better for her to spend the night elsewhere.

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