Cursed (Book # 3 of Hunted)

The Marble

Phoebe was sitting at the desk, bent over a clear glass marble about the size of a golf ball. She had been working with this marble all week. It was her only homework assignment. The goal was to fill the marble with a pure white light like a miniature sun.

It should have been easy. I had seen Phoebe teleport, make objects levitate, set things on fire, heal wounds and throw people across rooms with her mind. How hard could it be to make a marble glow? Apparently very. She had yet to succeed.

After three days of watching Phoebe struggle, I had asked Welthea about it after class. She had explained it thusly: Phoebe was a natural born witch; filled with potential and very powerful, but for the most part she worked on instinct, meaning she knew very little about how magic actually worked. The White Witch Program instructed its students not only in how to perform magic but in the physics of magic; the how and the why.

Phoebe had been under the impression that magic was, as Aggie Cromwell once said, 'really very simple, all you've got to do is want something and then let yourself have it.' This sadly was not the case. The most powerful spells couldn't be performed through sheer force of will. One had to understand the math behind it, for lack of a better term, and had to work in accordance with those circumstances. Unfortunately, math had never been one of Phoebe's strong suits.

The marble shattered and Phoebe let out an enraged shriek. She shoved her chair back and stood yelling, "That's the fifth one this week!" She slammed herself face down on her bed and screamed into her pillow. I walked over to the desk and looked down at the glittering pebbles of glass. They were smoking slightly.

"You 'willed' at it again," I said, and she groaned rolling onto her back.

"How am I supposed to make something happen without willing it?" she asked glaring up at the ceiling. I shrugged and picked up her notebook covered with instructions, formulas and magically animated drawings of hands performing complicated gestures.

"Step one, visualize the objective," I read aloud, "Step two, proper finger position. Cross the index and ring finger of the right hand (projective), behind the middle finger and run the thumb along the midline keeping in mind Wellpot's 43rd tenet of...eh?" The words dissolved into gibberish swimming across the page and twisting into different shapes. I set the notebook down and walked over to Phoebe.

I pat her on the shoulder and said, "Just keep trying, I'm sure you'll get there eventually." She sighed and sat up retrieving yet another glass marble from a pouch on the nightstand.

"Now you sound like--" she placed her finger on the tip of her nose pushing it up until she looked like a Whoville reject "--Our Lord Weatherby." She spoke in a nasally, mock British accent and I knew exactly who she was talking about.

"That Weatherstone guy still giving you problems?" I asked. She grinned and replied, "Not since Cameron and Jiayen spent every break the last two days stalking him. We were in the garden yesterday practicing shield charms and I was doing moderately okay when the little prick had the audacity to comment on my form. The knife landed so close to his face I think he might have peed himself."

We shared a laugh. I had yet to meet this guy, but I knew the type. I'd have to thank Cameron and Jiayen for accepting Phoebe so readily into their ranks. It felt good knowing there were others around to protect her. Speaking of which...

"I have to meet a professor at the library. Do you want to come?" I asked gathering the materials I needed to get started on tonight's homework. Might as well make use of the library's study rooms while I was there.

Phoebe frowned and replied, "I'd love to, but if I don't get this marble lit ten times by Monday, I'm donesky." She got off the bed and plopped back down at the desk, setting the marble aside and poring over her notes. I sighed. It was probably better if I met Professor Mills alone anyway. I didn't want everyone to know Phoebe was friendly with vampires too.

I kissed the top of Phoebe's head and gave her an encouraging pat on the shoulder before leaving the dorm. I started across campus towards the main building which housed the library.