The Eye of Elicion: The Kinowenn Chronicles Vol 1 (15 page)

Lucy handed in her written test, took a deep breath, and went to a station that had been prepared for her. Nicodemus had laid out everything she should need including two separate cauldrons. She was confused by this until he explained that she would be brewing two potions at once. Lucy, having never done this, felt the butterflies awake in her stomach and begin to flutter. Nicodemus assured her it was doable and advised her to read through all the instructions in both potions before figuring out how she would go about arranging her time. He did not want her to rush and informed her there was no specific time limit to brewing the potions, but each one had steps that had to be done at specific time intervals so if she was not done by lunch, she was probably doing something wrong. With that, he gave her the instructions, sat down at his desk, and opened a book to read while she worked.

Lucy read over each potion’s instructions carefully. She was to brew a sleeping potion and a potion that, in some worlds, worked as food for magic. In other words, if you had no more energy to work magic, a sip of this potion would revive you for a certain amount of time. In books, there were warnings about using and brewing sleeping draughts. Brewing them incorrectly could be disastrous. Putting them into use could be equally so. Rip Van Winkle was not a fairy tale, but a warning. If books were careful to warn about sleeping draughts, they were doubly adamant in their warnings on magical stimulants of all types. They were to be used only in extreme cases. They could be addictive and the wear and tear on the body still occurred. There was always a price to using magic.

Lucy started by preparing all the ingredients. That way, when it was time to add three diced lizard spleens, they were ready to throw in rather than trying to cut them while she had two potions brewing in vital stages. She also lined up the ingredients in the order they went into each potion so she wouldn’t accidentally skip anything. She double-checked everything and began with the sleeping potion. It looked like by starting with that one, she would be able to switch back and forth perfectly. After adding cornflower petals and stirring three times, it would be time to switch to the other potion and add a pinch of unicorn horn dust with a counter clockwise swish, and so forth and so on. Neither potion had a description of how it should look so Lucy had no idea if either was at the stage it should be. However, since neither had exploded and neither was issuing noxious fumes, she continued on.

Nicodemus, though reading about the effects of snake scales on certain potions depending on the different world, glanced up from time to time to watch his student work. He had decided to challenge her. Although both potions were mentioned in the intro book, the directions were left out because no students were expected to make them until their third potions class. Of course, she would not know this until she told her friends what she had been asked to make, but he was curious about this girl. From the looks of things, she could make an excellent potions maker if she wanted to, but he understood her arguments against taking the classes. It was always a skill she could cultivate later if she chose.

Even though he was reading, he had already graded her test, in a way. He had perfected a method of holding a student’s test between his hands and knowing about how many answers were right. Of course, he went through each test answer by answer, but it helped anxious students if he could tell them they did alright, and it gave him things to look for as he graded each test. If he sensed a lot of wrong answers in a stack of tests he could look for patterns of wrong answers to see if he needed to re-explain a concept. He was interested to read her test because according to his skill, she had gotten every answer right, and that was impressive as well. However, he though if she saw him grading her test it might distract her from her potions, and he felt that would be rude.

Lucy finished and approached Nicodemus to let him know. He smiled at her, got up, and walked towards her work station. Both potions were simmering and appeared correct. The sleeping draught was clear with silver wisps rising from it. The other potion was deep purple.

“I will have to grade each potion and your written test. I can tell you right now, you have passed. If you are interested in exact scores, or have any questions, return mid-afternoon, and I will give them to you,” he said kindly.

“Thank you,” said Lucy.

“For now, go out and enjoy a beautiful day,” Nicodemus nodded towards the window where the sun was streaming through, begging people inside to come outside and play.

Lucy nodded and left with a smile.

Nicodemus studied each potion. He was impressed. They were perfect. He took two small vials and filled one with each potion. Then he emptied the cauldrons, put all the ingredients away and sat down to read over Lucy’s test answers. He knew her kind of student. She would be back mid-afternoon and read any comments he wrote on her test paper.

Outside of Nicodemus’s classroom, Lucy almost tripped over Justin. Lucy noted that tripping over Justin was starting to be a habit.

“Have you been here the whole time?” wondered Lucy.

“No, just the last little bit,” he replied, but Lucy could see where his finger marked the pages in the book he was reading. She was sure he had started the book yesterday, and now he was more than half through. He was either a much fast reader than Lucy, which she doubted (somewhat vainly, though accurately), or he had been there much longer than he claimed.

“So, how did it go?” he asked.

“Good, I think. Nicodemus told me I passed, but if I want more specific input, I have to come back this afternoon.”

“Wonderful,” Justin said with enthusiasm. “You’ll go back, of course,” Lucy nodded. “It’s always good to get feedback. Now you don’t have to worry about that. What did he have you brew?”

“A sleeping draught and a potion to revive your magical abilities even if you are drained. They were both difficult, but I think I did well.”

Lucy was looking out the window they were passing, so she did not see Justin’s look of surprise at what she had just done nor did she know that when he ran his fingers through his hair like that, he was doing some serious thinking. Again, he was impressed. He did not tell her what he was thinking. He was sure Gavin or Maya would let her know how advanced those potions were. Right now she seemed happy to be done and he did not want to give her anything else to think about. Justin was aware the she had had a lot thrown at her over the last few days.

“By the way, where are we going?” Lucy asked. They were down a corridor she had not seen before.

“Outside of course. It’s too beautiful to be stuck indoors.”

“Sounds perfect. What are we doing outside?”

“I have an idea. You’ll see when we get there.”

Lucy was suspicious but followed him anyways. She had no idea what kind of ideas Justin had, but she was sure a walk around the grounds was not it. Justin led her to lush portion of grass beside a river. Earlier, he had piled a bunch of pebbles. Now he stood next to them.

“You have spent some time in the classroom. How would you like some practical experience with your skills?” Justin asked with a quirk of his eyebrow.

Lucy assessed the twinkle in his eyes, the pile of pebbles and found herself suspicious. However, he had a point.

“What did you have in mind?”

“Well,” he began, making a motion with his hand that brought a pebble floating into the air, “I will start using hand motions so you know what to expect, but we’ll cut that out after awhile. I thought I would send a weapon, if you will, in your general direction, and you will have to deflect it.”

Justin motioned again, and the pebble slowly floated towards Lucy. She made a motion with her hand, and the pebble floated aside.

“And if I miss?”

“I’ll heal you,” he said simply, sending another pebble in her direction.

She deflected that as well and asked one more question, sure that the pebbles would start coming faster and harder.

“Will this exercise work both ways?”

“Certainly,” Justin said with a smile. “Once you’ve got this down you may send pebbles at me to your heart’s content, and once you’ve got that down, I’ll make you do both at once. Ready?”

“Proceed,” she said with a smile.

She thought the challenge sounded fun and it was a good thing to know. Sure, they were starting with pebbles, but once she got the concept down, she should be able to deflect things like knives sent flying in her direction as well.

The lesson began. Justin motioned and sent a pebble at Lucy, and Lucy pushed it off to the side. Then, after a couple, she tried stopping them in midair and letting them fall into a pile at her feet. It took about the same amount of effort, and this way she would have a pile of pebbles when it was her turn to send them at Justin. Justin started to send them faster and harder. He built up slowly, but his main goal was to see how fast she could go. When he was out of pebbles, he declared it her turn. She smiled and sent one at him fast and hard. He barely managed to turn it aside.

“You don’t start off easy, do you?” he commented as another came at him.

“Why should I?” she asked. “I assume you know what you’re doing. I’m just trying to keep your senses sharp.”

Soon, she was out of pebbles as well. Justin made a motion and halved the pile in front of him to slide half over in front of Lucy.

“Now it is time to throw and block. Let’s see if you can multitask.”

Lucy simply smiled. She liked challenges. They went back and forth. Both were sweating due to the combination of concentration and hot sun. Then, Justin cheated. Not cheated per se, but he did something unexpected. He sent three pebbles at once. Lucy was surprised. She managed to block two, but the third one hit her hard in the arm. She stumbled backward.

“Ouch!” she exclaimed.

Justin immediately felt bad and came forward to assess the damage he had created. His concern, made him overlook the fact that she might be angry about this. Thus, he was surprised to suddenly notice a ball of water out of the corner of his eye, and the surprise caused him to think, “What in the world?” rather than stopping it as it slammed into him. He was drenched. In her anger Lucy had reached out to the river and grabbed some water without realizing she was doing it. His look of surprise, shock, and drowned rat were enough to cause Lucy to laugh.

For about half a second Justin thought about dumping her in the river, but the wince of pain that crossed her face despite the laughter were enough to stop him. Some might say they were even at this point. He did start this by sending more rocks at her. He had expected her to send a bunch back at him and was ready for that potential. He had not been ready for the water. This taught him two very important things. First of all, he was not always as prepared as he should be. Second, Lucy had instincts and power. So, he swallowed his very wet pride and came forward to look at her arm.

She held it out for him, and he pulled her sleeve up to her shoulder. There was already a bruise forming around a bleeding gash. At least he hadn’t hit her in the head, he thought. He put his hand on her arm and concentrated. Nothing was broken. He healed the gash and had her move her arm about to make sure it was better.

“Thank you,” Lucy said. Her arm was sore but not nearly as painful as it had been a moment before.

“I’m sorry about throwing more than one at a time,” he said. “I thought you would manage to stop them.”

“That’s ok. I think we’re even,” she replied, motioning towards his drenched form.

“You don’t happen to know a self drying spell do you?” he asked, wringing the water out of his hair.

She laughed, “No, but I’ll bet you will learn one before the day is over.”

She was right about that. They trudged back towards the school so Justin could find some dry clothes.

“So, what exercise comes next?” she asked jokingly.

“Next, you do that blindfolded.”

She looked at him in surprise, but he did not seem to be kidding.

“You’re serious?”

“Certainly. You need to learn how to sense things coming at you. This will help you if something is coming at you from behind or in the dark. Don’t worry, I’ll find some sponges or something to start out with rather than the rocks.”

“Even though the skill sounds like a good idea, I question your methods.”

“Don’t worry; I’m sure I’ll think up something even crazier before this is all done. Believe it or not, I’m trying to help you hone your skills, not hurt you. Think though, if you are fighting with a sword, it’s good to be able to sense an arrow coming for your back and stop it.”

“I suppose that’s next weekend’s entertainment?”

“Of course. I’ve already enlisted Gavin to spar with you.”

“He’s coming for the laughs is he?”

“Not entirely, I told him he’d be sparring you while blindfolded, and he thought he could use the practice.”

Lucy just shook her head. Justin seemed adept at thinking up crazy things to do. She wondered if he had done them himself.

Justin, meanwhile, was wondering about that ball of water and whether or not he should ask her about it. He had tried manipulating elements and ways of doing things. He had practiced long and hard by watering his aloe plant with balls of water from the sink. She had just pulled and succeeded. Granted, she had the advantage of not knowing how hard certain things were supposed to be and how few people could do what she had just done. He decided he would talk to her about it later. That was definitely a talent to work on fine tuning another day. It was time for lunch, and Justin said he would meet her there after changing into some drier clothes.

Neither glanced up at the school. If they had, they would have seen Eric watching them. He knew about the exercise Justin had planned and was watching from the window. He was impressed with the skills Lucy showed. Nicodemus had showed him the results of Lucy’s potions exam. He had laughed when the ball of water hit Justin, but he was intrigued as well. This girl probably would be able to throw fire. It would serve her well if she could. Although, being able to do something and being able to handle the results of that something were two different things. Only time would tell, but Eric was beginning to feel better about this plan all the time.