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Now I seem to have their attention, though both Kat and Brom shift uneasily in their seats.
“What would happen to this school if the headless horseman were to break through the wards?” I go on, pacing back and forth. “Wouldn’t you want to know how to defend yourself? Or say it’s not the headless horseman, but another witch, or coven, or some leader of the dark arts, coming here to hurt you and your friends. Wouldn’t you want to know how to defend yourselves?”
“Yes,” Paul says, a determined look on his face.
“Yes,” Martha says. “Please teach us.”
The rest of the students nod eagerly.
I can’t help but smile at their enthusiasm. A classroom full of students who know how to fight back goes a long way when I know I have to protect them from whatever the future holds.
“I need a volunteer,” I say.
Paul is first to raise his hand, and I wave him over onto the platform in front of the class. Paul’s always been dependable for any demonstrations.
“Hold out your hand,” I say to him. “Palm up.”
He does as I ask.
I take my hand and place it above his, hovering just a few inches. I focus my concentration on the empty space between our hands, willing it to fill with energy and light. At first, heat begins to pool in my hand and then radiate downwards toward Paul, then light begins to build, like a firefly is caught between our hands.
The class ooohs and aaahs and Paul lets out an impressed chuckle.
“Keep your hand still,” I tell him, slowly taking my hand away. “And concentrate on hanging on to that energy. Visualize it going into your skin, into your muscle, your veins, your bones, and hold it there inside you.”
I step back, and though my hand still gives off warmth and light, it’s fading, while the rest seems to sink into Paul’s skin.
“Now that isn’t augmentation, that’s just a very visual representation of bestowal,” I announce to the class. “But, for demonstration purposes, I have to give Paul magic that you’ll be able to witness when he augments it.”
I face Paul again. “Now, I’m going to try and use something called the voice on you. With the voice, I’m going to try and talk to you inside your head. You’ll notice my lips barely moving, but you, and only you, Paul, will hear me. When you hear my voice, I want you to use the power I gave you and try and pull the voice from my throat so that the whole class can hear it. That will be a good example of augmenting another’s power.”
“Alright,” Paul says, looking nervous.
Hello Paul, I say to him in his head.
His eyes widen.
“H-hello,” he says.
You can tell the class that you hear me.
He gives the class an anxious look. “I can hear him in my head.”
More impressed murmurs abound.
Now, I’m going to keep talking to you and I want you to take that magic I just gave you and try to pull this voice from my throat. Keep visualizing that heat and light that you saw that went in you. Make sure it goes back out of your palm.
He nods. “Okay.” He looks at the class again. “He’s telling me to take his voice.”
I stare into Paul’s dark eyes. Are you ready? I’ll keep my voice going, but I need you to start visualizing and manifesting this to happen. His pupils go large as he frowns in concentration. Focus on my voice, focus on taking it, focus on that golden light, that pure energy and life force and using it to—
Golden streams sprout out from Paul’s hand and come for my throat. I try to keep using the voice, but already I feel it being taken from me.
I watch as the gold twists in the air and then suddenly:
IT WORKED!
Paul’s voice blows through my mind, enough to make me stumble backward against the desk, my hands over my ears.
Then the light goes out, and he rushes over to me. “I’m so sorry, are you alright?” he asks, sounding panicked.
I laugh, straightening up. “I’m fine. I’m fine. You were just a little loud, that’s all.”
“So it really worked?” he asks. “How long do I have it for? Will it ever go back to you?”
“I hope so,” I admit, since I’ve never actually had it taken away from me. “Energy is renewable. My voice is earned by magic I’ve practiced so it should come back. But for now, I’m depleted of it. As for you, it depends.” I look at the class, feeling a burst of pride at how enraptured they all are. This is why I am here. This is what I was meant to do.
“I don’t expect this exact scenario to ever come up,” I tell them, “because all it will end up being is a shouting match, but now you know that if you are in a situation, where perhaps someone is attacking you with fire, that you can take that fire from them and either use it for yourself or disable it within the person, at least for a period of time.”
