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"That's a lesson for another time," she said.
"So if I'm not slowing time, what am I going to do?"
"You're going to create a tear," she said. "A portion of a portal."
"I thought portals were crazy dangerous for people who don't know what they're doing," I said.
"We've been through this," she said. "Your magic is basically a portal key. Besides, you have me to help. I wouldn't ask you try it alone."
"I have no idea how to open a tear," I said.
"Close your eyes and concentrate on the magic you feel in the room. My magic will be amplified by the fabric. I'm going to guide you for this first time."
I closed my eyes and focused on the tingling in my hands. As I did, it intensified until it was nearly a burning sensation that didn't cause pain. It was an odd feeling, uncomfortable, but tolerable. Was that from the fabric or was that Professor Halifax's magic? "I feel something."
"Good, concentrate on connecting to that feeling. You need to be able to channel it through your veins. Pull it into your own magic, weave them together."
I took a deep breath and focused on the unfamiliar magic, urging it to come into me. Slowly, I felt it seeping up my arms, toward my chest. My own magic flickered like a pilot light deep in my belly.
Then I felt something else. Another magic that I didn't recognize. It felt like it was pulling me toward it, somewhere beyond the black cloth my hands were on.
"Don't fight it," Professor Halifax said. "Embrace it."
I steadied myself, leaning into the new magic, letting it mingle with mine the way I had with the twins. But this felt cold and dark and foreign. It wasn't familiar and welcoming the way the magic meld had been.
"That's your time magic coming to the surface," she said. "Feel that? You have to harness it, control it. Don't lose focus."
I held the magic, following the other magic's lead, urging it downward into the cloth.
Suddenly a bright light split the fabric and I could see what could only be described as a tear. It opened in the fabric, a blue light around the seams. Inside was a black void. Nothingness staring back at me.
It was cold and terrifying, sending a rush of ice through my veins.
Gasping, I let go of the magic and in a burst of energy, I was thrown from the table. I landed on my ass nearby, panting and sweaty.
"What was that?" I asked.
"You created a tear," she said. "You held your magic and channeled it successfully. Without stopping time, I might add."
"So what does this mean? How does this help me?' I asked.
"That feeling you had when it called to you, how was it?" She asked.
"Uncomfortable," I said. "Dark and unwelcome."
"Interesting." She walked over to me and offered her hand.
I took it and pushed myself off the ground with her help. Her hand was like ice. As cold as the magic that had run through me. "When you felt that, though, instead of panicking, you embraced it. You controlled it. You didn't succumb to fear."
She walked back to the black fabric and started to fold it up. "Next time you feel the time magic threatening to rise, you embrace it and command it until you can send it away."
I nodded, the exercise finally making sense. It wasn't about opening the portal, it was about control. "I can do that."
"Good. We'll keep working on it, but in the meantime, remember if you feel it coming, embrace it, don't fight it."
