Page 14 of Monster's Delight

I was the only person to raise my hand, and he nodded at me to answer.

“Dodoma, the capital of Tanzania,” I said, grateful for my photographic memory.

He raised an eyebrow. “Very good. And who can tell me what is so important about that particular nexus?”

Nobody raised their hand. I squirmed internally, wanting to answer, but it felt too soon after the last question.

“Come, come,” Professor Akhtar said impatiently. “You’ve been reading the material I’ve assigned, haven’t you?” He sighed. “Okay, think of it this way. When we studied Giza’s nexus last class, what did we talk about?”

“The pyramids,” said a guy in the back of the room without raising his hand.

“Right. And what was important about them?”

Chuck raised his hand beside me. “The angles of the pyramids themselves and their distance from each other enhanced the ley lines that converged at that point, so much so that any magic performed there would increase not ten-fold, but twenty-fold,” he parroted, almost verbatim what the professor had said the week before.

“Exactly.” Professor Akhtar motioned with his hand, and a map of Africa unfurled across the front wall. “As you can see, this nexus is not as dominant as the one in Giza, with only three lines intersecting, rather than five lines. How enhanced would any magic be if it was performed there?”

I raised my hand. “Six-fold?” I responded when he called on me.

“Good.”

I raised my hand again. “The nexus under this school is a three line intersection, isn’t it? So they’d be comparable?”

Professor Akhtar smiled. “Very good. However, the architecture of the castle and surrounding area enhances the magical capabilities of the Blackthorn witches who defended it back in the twelfth century when it was built. Many tried, but none succeeded in defeating the family.”

I leaned forward, fascinated by this new information. “Does that mean that when we do magic here, it’s enhanced? By how much?”

“Compared to on the mainland, your magic is increased twelve-fold. Youmustaccount for any increased enhancements when you perform magic at a nexus point. Simply being on a ley line itself won’t increase the effect enough to matter.”

A low murmur swept through my classmates.

“But we are not talking about Northumberland Island. We are discussing Dodoma. What is located at this nexus point?”

Silence again. I glanced at Chuck out of the corner of my eye, but he was doodling in the corner of his book with his pencil.

I raised my hand. “Katavi National Park is located exactly where the three ley lines meet.”

“Precisely. Katavi is unique in many ways. It is the home of the largest buffalo herd on the planet.” His eyes twinkled. “It is also where you will find unicorn and pegasus herds.”

A collective gasp escaped the class. I’m not ashamed to admit that my voice joined the others.

“I’m not going to go into detail about their care and feeding—that’s the responsibility of the Care of Magical Creatures class—but we will discuss the ecology of the area and the effects of the ley lines on the births of these animals. We didn’t exactlyplanto have a magical sanctuary in Tanzania!” The professor paused for the chuckles to dissipate. “But the animals decided for us, and it’s much easier to go to them than move them, especially considering how out of the way Katavi is. Now, who can give me suggestions of what the ley lines might affect? Don’t bother raising your hand, just shout it out!”

I volunteered a couple suggestions along with my classmates, and they all appeared on the board behind Professor Akhtar.

“This is an excellent start,” he stopped us when the suggestions started slowing down. “You’re probably right about the nexus being a good breeding point, which is why there are so many herd members there. As you’ll see in Herbology class, a good number of unusual magical plants only grow at nexus points, so that is a guarantee.” He paused, his finger over the next suggestion.

I swallowed hard. It was one of mine.

“Who said this?” he asked.

I slowly raised my hand, feeling my throat tightening with nerves.

“Electronic anomalies. Can you tell us a little bit about what you were thinking when you said that?”

I eyed him cautiously, but his blank expression gave nothing away. I cleared my throat. “Well, it’s not an easy spot to get to, or else we’d be getting a lot of sightings of unicorns or pegasi by humans. It stands to reason, then, that there’s something affecting surveillance used there. I thought perhaps that the nexus point there, specifically, might be changing how electricity works. Perhaps there’s an increase in magnetic minerals in the soil, or something?” I let my voice trail off uncertainly in the silence of the classroom.

“Spot on...” He squinted at me for a moment and I realized he wanted my name.

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