Julianne and Tina escort Sally Lee back to the patio and settle her between Josh and me. She huddles there, glaring at Jackal. I pat her hand. “We’ll protect you, Sally Lee. Won’t we, Josh?”
“I’m just waiting for her to make one wrong move so I can kick her freakin’ teeth down her freakin’ throat.”
“And here I thought you were the mild-mannered Clark Kent.”
“Just watch me.”
We bump fists, Josh and I.
Bonwitch says, “Yonder, Off.”
The slice of light narrows to an amber beam, which slides into the pitcher of iced tea, and vanishes. Everyone oohs and aahs and applauds. I love vanishing amber beams.
“Now. Have I got your attention?” Bonwitch says. “The First Fundamental of Real Magic is this.”
Everyone, including Jackal–especially Jackal—-leans eagerly forward. Sally Lee opens her laptop. Josh poises his Fineliner over his pad of yellow paper. I hold my breath and listen. Just listen.
“Knowledge is power. But wait, there’s more to it than that. What, I ask you, is the first knowledge, the most vital knowledge you must seek before you can begin to practice Real Magic? Magic that really works in the everyday world?” Bonwitch helps himself to a tumbler of tea and a wedge of lime. “Go on, play with the question. We’ve gotten too serious, I think. Have some fun.”
“How to make a billion dollars.”
“How to find true love.”
“How to pick up babes.”
“Excuse me. How to cure cancer.”
“Yeah, how about fighting for world peace?”
“World peace? Try defeating our enemies.”
“Try getting revenge on those who have hurt you.”
“How about getting power over everyone,” Jackal says.
“Abby?” Bonwitch says.
“The first knowledge? The most vital knowledge?” I mull that question over. “I’ve always thought of knowledge as the most powerful thing in the world for any endeavor. Raising a child. Growing a business. Defeating our enemies. And, yes, fighting for world peace. Fighting evil.”
“A freakin’ bleeding heart,” Jackal says. “I knew it.”
“I can live with who I am. Can you?”
Jackal shrugs.
“A lot of our graduates go into supernatural units of the military or law enforcement to fight evil,” Bonwitch says. “Evil magic has a way of persisting over centuries, even millennia, especially when unhuman entities are involved. Go on, Abby.”
“I changed my life and left my childhood home, seeking knowledge. Seeking peace of mind, too, I suppose. And now that I’ve gotten to my destination, what’s the first thing I’ve discovered? I don’t know who I really am. I’m supposed to be dead, but I’m not. I don’t know what I’m supposed to be, anymore, but I’m not what people once thought. Sally Lee is right. Who am I, anyway?”
“Precisely,” Bonwitch says, immensely pleased. “Magician, Know Thyself. Without self-recrimination yet without self-deception, you must look in the mirror of your soul. At the light and the dark. Only when you attain thorough self-knowledge may you exert your power in the world to accomplish what you aspire to, whether it’s finding true love, curing cancer, or fighting evil. Only then you can. All the technical training in the world won’t help you if you haven’t first mastered yourself.”
“Man, I would have gone to a shrink if I wanted to, like, analyze myself,” says Jigg.
Other students grumble their agreement.
Bonwitch sets down his tumbler of tea and stands. “That is all for today. Your homework assignment is this: you must look in the mirror of your soul and describe in writing who you are. Ask yourself what your inciting incident reveals about you. Probe deeply, beyond the obvious. Find the connection between that incident and your power. How that affects your goals as a magician. If you finish early, you may email your essay to me. In any case, please turn in a printout at our next class.”
More grumbles and complaints.
“Fear not, for fear is the enemy of Real Magic. I am not going to judge you, but help you connect with your power.”
Tina looks doubtful. “But, Professor Bonwitch, I haven’t got a dark side.”
“‘Light’ and ‘dark’ may depend on the context, Tina. Bravery is usually good, fearfulness usually bad. Yet, in the face of real danger, heedlessness is bad and caution good. You follow?”
“I think so,” Tina says.
“Thank you all for an excellent beginning,” Bonwitch says as we students pack up our gear. “Not quite what you expected, eh? Never worry, we shall get to spell-casting and curse-breaking and apportation all in good time. Good-bye till next class. Abby?”
“Yes, Professor Bonwitch?”
“May I see you in my office?”
“Of course.”
“Teacher’s pet already?” Jackal sneers. “Watch your back, Abby Teller. You know how I feel about pets.”
********
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