Page 78 of Wings of Ebony
“That tookforeeever, geez,” Bri says, huddled over a book snuggled in a chair. The space isn’t huge, with two beds and a small table in the middle, but she has a dedicated chair in a corner that’s for her studying. Which basically means she lives in it. “What took so long?”
“Long line. Guess everyone waited until the last minute to get their texts.”
“Not everyone,” she says, hopping up to study my stack of titles.
Of course. Bri’s apparently been checking out how-to-textbooks from a local bookshop since she was old enough to read. I empty my hands on the bed. My arm muscles thank me, and light from the tiny window in our room catches my stones. They’ve been almost unnoticeable these last couple weeks, just ornaments occasionally warming time to time.
“So…” The onyx glistens like a bubble of blackness. “How do these things even work?”
“It’s like invisible momentum, an energy that you can use to move things. It can’t be made or snuffed out. Just transferred or change form.”
She’s gotta see the confusion on my face.
“Just focus on the stone in your wrists and point where you want it to go.”
“Focus and point?”
“Focus and point,” she says. “Okay, well, it’s more complicated than that if you want to distort or bewitch something, conjure fire, that sort of thing. But just moving something around? Focus and point.”
Focus and point. I think I can do that.
She examines my arms.
“Ow, it actually has been sore the last few days”
“Sorry! It should wear off soon. Sucking on some meekle can help.”
“Ugh, no thanks.” I don’t know what the heck that is. Trying weird food is more than I have in me today. I’ve been sticking to the two dishes I halfway recognize: a potato looking thing stuffed with what I keep telling myself is cheese, and a dark meat that looks like fish but has a Mongolian beef chewiness to it. Bri tried to explain what meat it is, but I really just need to live in my taste bud oblivion, right now.
Bri shrugs. “Probably smart. Last time I tasted that I felt loopy for, like, a week. Though, I think that might have been the point.” She considers the thought a moment, then moves on, ploppingdown on her bed. “Well come on, let’s see what you can do!” Her book’s still open.
Advanced Spells
Now with a Bonus Enunciation Guide
“Bri, I’m barely through the door.” I close it at my back. “And I haven’t even cracked open any of my books. Like, damn, gimme a minute.” I do wanna see if I can actually do something. See what all this pomp and circumstance around being Bound is.
She rolls her eyes deep in her head and I laugh. I pull out my spell book from the bag on my back. Bri’s back in her chair in the zone, three books open and deep lines dug into her forehead.
The writing on the page is painfully small. I squint. Moms always said I needed glasses. But glasses ain’t cheap and squinting is free.
Magic wielders can usually transfer magic fairly easily with only a basic understanding of the skill, because a lot of energy transference is felt. A humming in your veins, a warming of your wrists, you can feel the magic gathering and point it with your hands where you want it to go, silently. Though, depending on the strength and relative exhaustion of a person’s magic, a spell may be used to increase chance of success. (If the spell cast doesn’t respond, a cool-down period of three to five seconds may be needed.)
SeeAdvanced Magic Transference Appendix A.
I focus and my wrists warm. A heaviness sets on them like my onyx has turned to lead.
And point.
The stack of books on the table tumbles off the side into a pile on the floor.
“You did it!” Bri shouts.
I didn’t even know she was paying attention anymore. That’s much simpler than I thought it’d be.
“Rue, that’s great.”
“Thanks.” I glance at the text open on my lap. “What about, like, spells?”
