SpellShocked (SpellShocked Saga: Book 1)

Chapter 5 - Power Overflowing

I stood gawking at the three figures in front of me, wondering why these three weirdly dressed strangers were currently standing in my living room.

"Damn," Zac said, sliding in behind me, "Who invited the cosplayers?" Sometimes I genuinely wished Zac knew when to keep quiet. Surprisingly, none of the figures said anything. In fact, they didn't seem surprised to see him enter the room at all. Glancing around I noticed my parents sitting together on the couch, white faced and clutching each other's hands tightly.

"W-who are you people? Why are you in my house?"

This time the figures did respond. The younger man's bemused smile widened as though he found my what I had said comical. The older woman's frown deepened, and she glared even harder at me, muttering what sounded suspiciously like "Insolence," under her breath. The older man simple continued to stare at me with him unmoving face.

He looked directly into my eyes for another second before he spoke again, "If you and Mr Richards would like to take a seat, I would be more than happy to explain who we are and why we are here."

"How do you know our names?" Zac snapped, taking a step towards the older man. This time, the older man's face creased ever so slightly, forming the smallest of frowns.

"I will not ask again." He spoke in a low voice but there was a sense of tension in his words now, "Sit." He raised his hand towards us, palm pointing directly at our faces. I thought I saw the air in front of his hand shimmer slightly for a second, and then I felt a soft, warm breeze blow past me. Suddenly, he turned his hand around and made a fist, and I felt my legs give way beneath me. I almost yelled when my descent was halted by a solid, wooden chair beneath me. I looked around and saw that the same thing had happened to Zac. I also noticed that these chairs were old and made of what looked like tree branches twisted into the shape of a chair. With a twisting feeling in my gut, I realised that this man had just conjured them out of thin air.

This man also had magic.

We all stared at the trio, too stunned to talk. My parents, I realised, were much more shocked than Zac and I, having never witnessed magic before; they were staring at the chairs, mouths agape, and were even paler than previously. The older man waved his hand again and produced another three chairs for the strange trio to sit on.

"Mr Hill," the older man said as he sat down. "My name is Saul. I am the First Seat of the Council of Sorcerers. This is Madame Thornton and Mr Beck, who are tutors from Merlinian Preparatory School." He gestured at the woman and the younger man in turn. "We were sent here today by the Council because we have detected signs of an Awakening from yourself and have come to investigate.

I didn't say anything; I was too busy trying to decipher what they had just said. I understood very little of what this Saul had just said to me.

"Are aware that you have been developing magical abilities?" Saul asked, sensing my confusion.

"I-I...um....yeah, I-I guess," I stammered.

"We've been monitoring you since you produced a warding spell yesterday," Saul explained, "However, we did not intervene immediately as we normally would have with other newly Awakened sorcerers."

"Wait, there are more people out there like m-I mean, us?"

Saul's mouth actually twitched upwards slightly for a split second before returning to normal, "Yes, Mr Hill, there are many more people in this world blessed with the Gift."

"What do you mean you didn't intervene immediately like you normally do?" Zac interrupted, "Why not?"

"How dare you interrupt, boy." Madame Thornton interjected. Her voice was high pitched and hoarse, as though she spent the majority of her life yelling, which I assumed she probably did. Her distain for all of us, and Zac in particular, was obvious.