Magical Me

Ch. 11 - Casting

"If there is anything else to know about this building I am going to scream," Birgit moaned as she slumped on a couch near William and Drake. "How long has Hunter been gone?" She moaned.

"Twenty five minutes," William said testily.

"He'll be back soon," Drake said in a more reassuring tone, looking up from a newspaper he'd grabbed off the table. 

No sooner had Drake said this than Hunter came through the door and shrugged off a backpack. Birgit was surprised to see how full it was, throughout all the years she'd known Hunter he'd always been a light packer and his bags were usually half empty.

Birgit hurried over to him, and stopped short of hugging him. Her feelings were so muddled, the terror of being attacked and called a witch still gripped her. Hunter, of course, was the most confusing thing for her emotions; everything about today had reminded her how much she really missed him, and he was the key to both knowledge and freedom, but she still just wanted to get out of there and away from him. It was nerve racking knowing that this her emotions were not her biggest problem anymore. 

"So what kind of spell are we casting?" She asked, nudging his bag with her foot.

"Well first we're doing a protection spell because that is clearly our highest priority right now, and then a secrecy spell so that we can talk in peace." He looked at her for a moment and his hand twitched before he called over to the other hunters, "Can you grab a spell book for me?"

As Hunter bent over to get supplies from the bag she crouched with him, extending her hand to take whatever he would hand her. "Do you do magic too?"

Hunter gave her a wink, "You know I do." And then he winced, "I'm sorry that was... I shouldn't have said that." He ran a hand over his jaw. Birgit noticed the tightness in his jaw and the slight frustration in his eyes. "No, to your question. You're the only witch here."

"Oh," she said wanting to say something to ease his frustration, but she didn't want to excuse the joke either. Instead she pushed on with questions, "So who's going to do the spell? Even if I'm a witch, I don't know how to cast a spell."

He put a candle in her outstretched hand, "You are going to learn. We've practiced with witches before," he shrugged, "we'll stop you if you do something wrong." 

Without further time for converstation he stood, taking Birgit's arm he pulled her up as well. He passed her another white candle. "Set these at opposite ends of the room," he instructed. "And then I will give you two more which you'll set again on polar opposites."

Birgit nodded, this didn't sound too hard. She walked around the half-wall which divided the safe house cottage. William was sitting cross legged on the floor and impatiently said, "Well, hurry up then." Birgit bit back her response; even if she did not like him he was there to help her. She followed Hunter's instructions, feeling a little bit foolish. She turned around and he was carrying two more candles, which he handed to her. 

When she was finished both Hunter and William were sitting cross legged and Drake was just entering the room. Drake joined them on the floor. Before Birgit had time to inquire about the unusual seating arrangement Hunter instructed her to do the same. 

Drake and Hunter flipped through the giant text, looking for something particular. Without looking up Drake asked, "Do you know how to cast a circle?"

"No." Birgit said, trying not to snap at him as she sat on the floor. "I don't know anything." 

"Okay, well this will be basic and something you will learn to do instinctually then." Drake ran his fingers over a page but deciding it wasn't what they wanted flipped again. "Now get a good look at the room, all of it, and then close your eyes."

Birgit rolled her eyes and did what he said. She fixed the boys with a pointed stares before following orders and closing her eyes. "What you're going to do right now is create a magical shield. You're going to have to dig deep and find your power, what makes you feel strong."

 "Many witches feel as though its a light within them, radiating from their bounds." Hunter mumbled. 

"You two focus up, I can guide her through a simple sheild." William interrupted. Then addressing Birgit, his tone softening, William said"Now I'm gonna tell you this before you get distracted - when you find your power source recreate the room in your mind and then imagine filling it with a warm light. Got that?" 

Birgit nodded and pinched her eyes tighter. What makes you strong, Birgit? Where is your inner light? It took her a few minutes before Birgit could feel a warm glow coming from the area in her chest where she knew her heart beat. That's it, she realized and then began picturing the room filled with bright light. 

Safe, she thought. Please make this safe. 

"You can feel it, now let's move on." Drake's voice came. 

"Good job, Birgit. You're almost done the first spell. Now you're not going to open your eyes just yet, alright?" Hunter's voice was faded, distant, but it was soft and urging and she felt inclined to listen. She gave a small nod and he continued. "You're going to picture each of our faces in turn and that same warm light around our faces, okay? Be sure it's bright large circles okay. And the edges of light need to be hard, like... like you're making a bubble." 

That didn't sound so hard. She started with William, his pale face almost aggressive in its lack of expression. She felt silly imagining the light around him. How is this going to help? She wondered. 

Then she moved on to picturing Drake. In her mind's eye his dark face was smiling, a twinkle in his eye that implied kindness. She felt less ridiculous forming a light bubble around him, he was incouraging her to do this. She knew she wouldn't judge. 

Then came her visualization of Hunter, and that was draining. His eyes were half lidded, like when he was fighting to stay awake just to talk to her a little longer, his half smile touched his lips and she saw the emotion - raw emotion - in his face. She couldn't explain what she was feeling, or what emotion he was portraying but it was so strong the imaginary light around the image shone so bright that she was almost blinded by the halo.

Still sounding distant she heard Hunter's mutter of "wow". Unable to help herself she opened her eyes. Nothing looked different, if anything the room seemed a bit darker and she felt weaker. Dark and weak... was this what protection was supposed to feel like? 

"Congratulations," Drake smiled. Reaching over to take her hand. "You've just cast your first spell."