SpellShocked (SpellShocked Saga: Book 1)

Chapter 20 - Lakeshore

The rest of the day went by relatively painlessly. I managed to make it through Transmutation class without being asked to perform a spell, but I got another extensive list of spells to learn. Runes was easy enough too as it was essentially just like learning how to spell, except with weird symbols rather than letters. The last period of the day we had free which I was extremely grateful for. After dinner that night – where Maya was nowhere to be seen – I headed for the library and handed the list to the librarian. He brought me a pile of thirteen books that I was only just able to carry.

"Dude, that's a lot of books." Hunter joked as I struggled into our room, arms beginning to buckle under the weight I was carrying. I tossed the books onto my bed and collapsed into a chair, breathing heavily.

"T-There's...so...many..." I groaned in between breathes. I was frowning down at them, wondering just how on earth I was meant to be able to cover all of this material in such a short period of time. My idea of returning home at the end of the year was looking like it was going to be impossible.

"You don't have to read them cover to cover, you know?" he explained, "There's some pretty advanced magic in some of those, but you only need to focus on the basics at this stage."

"S-Still," I complained, "There's s-so much I have t-to catch up on."

"And you're worried you're gonna look like an idiot if you can't do what we can?" I stared at him for a moment, shocked.

"H-how d-did you-,"

"I haven't known you very long but from what you told me last night it's not hard to see how not being able to do simple spells would make you feel embarrassed." I nodded slowly. Hunter wheeled his desk chair closer to me, sitting on it the wrong way once again.

"Okay, so you can't do many spells,' he began, much to my embarrassment, "But do you know how long it takes people to learn how to channel magic? Most people take a good solid 6-9 months, some even a year. You've managed it in, what, two or three months?"

"Well...kinda. I-I'm not there y-yet..."

"Well you managed to almost properly cast an illusion spell with very little channelling experience and no spell casting experience, so I'd say you're not far off. Not to mention that a lot of people struggle to cast spells. It's like anything else; some people are good at some things, others are better at other things. Magic's no different."

"Anyway, my point is you're learning this stuff at a really fast pace, so I wouldn't be surprised if you were all caught up, or even more advanced than most people in a couple months' time. You're a natural, and with me, Az and Olivia helping you out, you'll be there in no time."

"H-Hunter, I can't ask you g-guys to give up your own f-free time to...babysit me."

"Who's asking? I'm offering! And it's not babysitting, it's more like tutoring."

"S-still..." I muttered, feeling guilty that he felt responsible for helping me.

He watched me for a couple of seconds, unnervingly, before he stood and said, "Right, get up. Come on! I'm taking your mind off of this whole magic garbage for a bit." I didn't move, I just stared at him, confused. "I'm serious!" he laughed, "Get your ass up!" He grabbed my hands and pulled me to my feet. Then started to jog out of the room, leaving me choice but to follow him.

I followed him out of the dorm building and back towards the school. "Where are we going?" I yelled after him.

He turned around, still jogging but backwards now, "You'll see! It's somewhere special to me!"

Hunter led me to the edge of the forest nearby the school, where he stopped running and waited for me to catch up. I stopped beside him, panting a little. "It's not far now, let's go." He grinned and walked into the forest. I briefly considered how stupid it would be to follow someone I barely knew into a secluded area, especially after what happened the last time I took a stroll through a forest with a guy. But this was different. This island was warded so that people like Umbra couldn't get in. And I had no reason to distrust Hunter; I didn't know how long he'd be willing to put up with me, but he had been nothing but kind to me so far. So, I followed him in.