More than Magic: Semester Aboard (8 page)

"Oh?" I asked.

"He wants to know what you'd like to start
out with. Air, fire, water, or earth," Thomas said.

That was an odd question. "What do you mean,
start out with?"

"It's a bit complicated," he laughed. "Just
pick one."

"Fire!" Charlie said at the same time Dani
said, "Water!"

I considered choosing air or earth so that
neither of them felt bad, but I thought about how Charlie had just
made some flames appear. An absurd, but maybe not that impossible,
image of me with a wand conjuring fire popped into my head. It did,
out of the choices, seem like the coolest.

"Fire?"

"Wait, which did she pick?" Charlie said to
Dani. "Did she say fire? Cause I'm pretty sure she-" Dani shoved
him off of the bed and onto the floor. "Ouch." He pinched Dani's
calf right below his shorts.

"Ow! I hate when you do that!"

"Fire it is," Thomas said, ignoring them.
"I'm going to cut out. You're in 4098, right? I'll call you when
I'm back on board after tomorrow's trip."

He started out of the room and TS got up.
"I'm going with him. Wanna clear out of our room?"

Dani and Charlie laughed. The three of us
stood too.

"I have to go find Mariana and fill her in,"
Dani said.

After we all dispersed I found myself back
out on deck. A witch. Magic. My thoughts were whirling. I couldn't
believe it and yet, I had to. They had shown me proof. All of the
little strange things they did made sense now. I still hadn't
learned how Dani had gotten back on the ship and I had to smile. I
knew now that they'd answer anything I had to ask. I was one of
them: a magic, as they said. It was a strange thought.

I was disappointed the next day when none of
them were on my trip with me. Trekking through the rainforest and
visiting a Panamanian Indian village was really neat, but my mind
was elsewhere the entire time. When I got back on the ship I stayed
put in my room, waiting for Thomas to call. Laurie got back from
her trip and we traded stories and showed off our souvenirs. At
last, the phone rang. I headed down to Thomas' room and saw a pile
of sticks on one bed.

"Here we are," he said with a grin. "One of
these will be your wand."

I looked at the sticks, feeling rather
disappointed. I'd been picturing a carved, polished wand. Some of
these still had bark on them and most were bent or had joints where
other branches had been attached.

Thomas laughed at the look on my face. "Don't
worry," he said. "They'll get better. Have a seat."

I sat down in a chair at the desk and he sat
on the other bed. "First, I need you to forget whatever you've read
or seen in movies. Magic, real magic, is different. It's like a
muscle. You need to work it, keep it in good shape, stretch it. You
can't just see someone like Jon and do the same things he can. That
takes lots and lots of time and practice. Just like you couldn't
throw a football as far as Phil Simms can without practice. Make
sense?" I nodded and he hesitated. "I'm really not sure how much,
or how well, I can teach you, but it's imperative you start using
magic as soon as possible."

"Why?"

"Like I said, magic is similar to a muscle.
If you never use it, eventually it will get weaker. You go long
enough and it starts to fade. You're what...nineteen?"

"Twenty-one," I said indignantly.

"
Wow
, you're lucky. It’s not exactly
something people are willing to volunteer in studies for, so we
don’t know much, but from what I hear most witches and wizards are
out of luck once they hit twenty. You’re incredibly lucky it hasn’t
faded yet. You can never get it back once it does."

Even though it had been less than twenty-four
hours since I had found out magic existed, that thought sent a
chill through me. "What do I do?"

He laughed. "Use magic. Once you start using
it, it won't fade. Which, as I said, is why we're doing it as soon
as possible." He gestured to the sticks. "Now, think of your wand
as an extension of you. It's a muscle too, same as your magic. You
can't pick it up and cast powerful spells, it has to be trained and
stretched just like your ability. It will start to tailor itself to
you. The better you get, the better your wand will get. You could
take another witch's wand and use it about as well as her arm if
you chopped that off."

"Why did I have to choose fire?" I asked.

"Oh, right," Thomas said. "Just getting to
that. This isn't wave your wand and say ‘hocus pocus’ and make
stuff happen magic. All magic is derived from different elements.
Fire, being a great example. It's not just flames and sparks, it's
also a source of light, and heat, and sometimes destruction. It
represents a few other things too. All of which can be produced
with fire magic. The more complex you get, the harder the magic is.
Same with the stronger you get. Right now, you can probably make a
couple of sparks. In a few years you'll probably be able to start a
nice big campfire with a flick of your wand. It's easiest to learn
magic by starting with one element and getting confident in the
basics. Still following?"

"Yeah, I think so," I said.

"Every type of wood is different. Some react
better with fire, some with metal. Different woods work better for
different people. Some woods are easier to for beginners. It's kind
of a complex science," he laughed. "What we've got here are a
variety of woods, all from trees cultivated specifically with the
intent of making wands for fire magic."

"Am I stuck using fire magic, then?" I
asked.

"No, no. We're just going to do that to
start. As you get better you can upgrade to a wand that's good for
more than just fire or forget fire altogether. Most witches and
wizards find different types of magic they like to use and tailor
their wands for those. Jon has like, a dozen different woods worked
into his wand."

"Ok," I said. "So, how do I pick one?"

"Well," Thomas sighed, "that's why we have so
many. Ideally, you'd have some idea of where to start. A lot of
people are good with the same woods as their parents. My dad liked
oak for a base, and my mom loved chestnut and walnut. When my magic
first emerged I tried all three. Walnut ended up being my
favorite..." He paused and something in his voice made my stomach
clench. Why had Jon taken care of him when his father died instead
of his mother?

"Your mother isn't...dead too, is she?"

"Yeah."

Oh god, poor Thomas. I wasn't sure why, maybe
I wanted him to know I understood, but I said, "I never knew my
mother. She ran off and left us when I was just a baby. Drugs and
rock and roll or something."

"Guess we have more in common than I
thought."

"Guess so. Seems like Jon really cares about
you though."

Thomas smiled. "Yeah, Jon and Natsuki, his
wife, have been great to me." He frowned in concern. "But you said
your father..."

"He remarried and after he died she took care
of me. Even though she was busy with the new baby, Rachel was more
of a parent to me than he ever was." I wasn't exactly bitter, but I
couldn't help but sound like it.

"New baby?" Thomas asked. I was grateful he
went for the happy side of things.

"My half-sister," I said. "Emily. She's nine
now," I added, giving him an idea of how long ago my father had
died.

To my surprise, he took it a different way.
"Only nine years, huh? That's hard."

I shrugged. "I'm ok. You have any siblings?"
I asked, getting off the topic.

"No, but I've got Tethys. TS that is," he
amended. "He's always been there, wouldn't trade him for any real
brother in the world." He rolled his shoulders and stretched.
"We've got wands to dig through."

"How do I start?"

"I hope you’re well rested and that you had a
big dinner," he laughed. "Magic does tire you out and the healthier
you are, the better your magic will be.
Mar
is the word for
fire magic. There's a lot of willpower involved. You need to
picture what you want done and make your wand do it, just like you
make your fingers move. For now, you're going to try making a spark
with every one of these wands."

"Every one of them?" There had to be close to
fifty.

He nodded. "We'll set aside the ones that
work and then go from there." Thomas waited a moment and then
gestured at the pile of sticks. "Go for it."

Feeling incredibly stupid, I picked one up
and pointed it at a piece of paper on the desk. "
Mar
," I
said, imagining sparks shooting out. Nothing happened.

"Next," Thomas said, not sounding
concerned.

After four more sticks I felt a bit
discouraged. "I am really a witch, right?"

"Without a doubt. Just be patient."

I tried a couple more and to my surprise a
tiny spark jumped out of one. "It worked!" I gasped. Had I really
just used magic?

"Great. Set that one over here and keep
going."

"Seriously?"

"We want to make sure we get the best
one."

It took almost an hour to get through all of
them. But soon I had a pile of seventeen wands that had made tiny
sparks and a bigger pile that hadn't. I was started to feel
incredibly tired.

"That's it for now," Thomas said. "You're
tired. Keep those and tomorrow night we'll narrow it down
more."

"How do we do that?

"Same as tonight," he laughed. "After a few
tries one will be more powerful than the others. It should also
start to look a bit different."

"Look different?"

Thomas grinned. "They won't stay sticks.
It'll smooth out, straighten up, look polished. Just like the
pretty wands you were probably picturing."

I laughed, embarrassed. I realized I hadn't
seen his wand yet. In fact, I hadn't seen him do any magic at all.
"What does your wand look like?"

He turned his head away and looked almost
sad. "I don't have one anymore."

That didn't make sense. "Why not? Did it
break?"

"No. We can make new ones when they break.
I..." He hesitated and took a deep, almost shaky, breath. "I can't
use magic anymore."

I stopped myself from blurting out another,
"Why not?" I wondered in horror if it was permanent.

"You must be tired," he said abruptly. "We'll
finish this tomorrow night."

He wasn't going to talk about it, that much
was clear. I stood and gathered my seventeen wands. "Goodnight
then. And...thanks, for helping me." I didn't add that it must have
been really hard for him. It must have been awful watching somebody
learn magic when you couldn't.

I hid the wands in the back of one of my
drawers and got ready for bed. I had so much to think about I
thought that I'd take forever to fall asleep, but my first time
using magic had worn me out and I fell asleep very quickly.

Chapter 6

My trip didn't leave until later in the day,
so I took my time going up to breakfast. Everything had been
transformed with red, white, and blue in honor of the Fourth of
July. I was halfway through the buffet line, torn between a donut
with festive sprinkles and some sort of tart shaped like a four,
when I spotted TS. I watched while he piled what looked like
nothing but bacon and sausage on his plate, and hesitantly followed
him to a table and sat down across from him. The last time I had
seen him he had turned into a giant wolf, it was strange to look at
him and know what he could do. Even though I had, sort of, used
magic, it still hadn't really sunk in. Plus, I wasn't sure if he'd
want to sit with me. After all, it had been less than forty-eight
hours since I had found out that werewolves existed.

"Morning," he said when I sat down. "Happy
Fourth of July."

"Same to you." I glanced at his plate and
couldn't help but ask, "Do you only eat meat?"

"Pretty much, right." He looked wistful and
softly added, "I wish I could eat it raw when I'm human."

I laughed, but I couldn't quite tell if he
was serious. I watched him eat for a moment. I was curious about
him. Well, honestly, I was still curious about all of them, but TS
was right here.

"So, your name is uh...Tethys?"

"S'right," he grunted. He swallowed his
sausage and smiled sheepishly. "Excuse me. Right. Tethys. I just go
by TS usually."

"Tethys…" It sounded familiar.

"It's a goddess," Dani said, dropping his
plate down next to me.

TS glared at him. "It's a moon."

Dani chuckled and yawned. "Goo'mornin', Jen,"
he said before he finished. He downed down an entire cup of coffee
and then made a face. "This ship coffee is kind of nasty. But...I
think I need more."

"Good morning, Dani," I laughed. He got up,
in search of more coffee I assumed. "So, a moon?" I asked TS.

He nodded. "My parents named us all after
moons."

"You have siblings?"

"Right. Two sisters, Dione and Rhea, and two
brothers, Iapetus and Enceladus."

"Jeez. Who’s oldest?"

TS laughed. "Technically me. Ian’s about two
minutes younger than me. Di was five minutes after him and Rae was
less than a minute after her. Ed’s the baby, he was born about four
minutes after Rae."

"You’re all…you were born the same day?"

He shrugged. "What can I say? Werewolves have
big litters." I nearly choked on my breakfast at the word litter in
reference to human babies. Or at least, sort of human. Suddenly his
eyes grew wide. "Dani! How can you wear that in public?"

Dani had returned with another cup of coffee.
I wasn't sure what TS was referring to. Dani was just wearing a
pair of shorts and a blue t-shirt with some sports team logo.

Dani glared at TS. "It's like, eight in the
morning. You can't be a dick about my team for at least another two
hours."

TS shook his head. "You have been paying
attention the past couple of years, right?"