The Apprentice's Apprentice

Part 23

Cora stood with her spine like a ruler, her feet pressed against each other on the wood of the conservatory floor, her eyes on the woman seated in front of her in the white rattan chair. Selena met her gaze steadily, her expression one of polite interest. It was Warren who broke the silence with a cough that sounded loud in the vacuum of speech. "I believe Cora has mastered the basics of spellcasting and would like you to see it for yourself."

Selena turned her blue eyes on Warren, one delicate eyebrow raised. "Do you now? Are you certain? If you aren't, it would be best for you to continue training her. I won't be giving you a second chance at this."

Warren swallowed but his chin rose and he didn't look away. "I'm sure. Cora is more than capable of casting a spell properly."

Cora shifted her weight from one foot to the other, her one hand tightening slightly on the egg she held. She wished she had Warren's confidence. While she certainly felt like she could do the transference spell in her sleep, under Selena's sharp gaze she felt she was far more likely to mess up. Or she'd forget something important, like when she'd forgotten to write her name on that French exam last year and had nearly failed.

If she'd known she was going to be tested today, Cora knew she'd have practiced harder last week. Or even practiced over the weekend. But as soon as they'd gotten in after school, Warren had led her here, instead of to the library.

The return of Selena's gaze had her focusing on the here and now. "And how do you feel about this, my dear? Do you feel you're ready to move on to mastering all seven of the basic spells?"

Cora could feel her palms go damp but she nodded. "I do. Also I'm getting tired of making stuff float."

That made Selena chuckle. "I do appreciate your honesty even if I wish you were in a trifle less of a hurry to move on. Such is the curse of every apprentice, all of them wanting to learn everything as quickly as possible with little thought to true mastery. Only we older mages ever seem to care about the proper foundation to our spellcasting." She sighed, continuing. "If you're prepared, then please demonstrate your spell."

She hesitated for a second, but a little shooing motion from Warren made her step forward. Cora gently placed the egg Warren had given her earlier onto the table beside Selena then straightened. She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself. The last thing she needed to do was make the egg explode again.

Cora shifted her feet slightly until she was in as comfortable a position as she could be in, standing there with Selena watching her like a cat at a mouse hole. Only then did she reach for the warmth at her centre.

Today she went for perfection rather than speed. She pushed the warmth into a sphere around the egg, having found fencing it in from the beginning making it easier to reabsorb after, and kept it firmly inside her mental wall. Or shield, as Warren insisted she call it. Only when she felt that she had the right amount of power in there did she stop.

She permitted herself a brief break to take another deep breath before she moved on to the next step. She concentrated on the feeling of a cushion, turning the raw magic into the right form for the spell. She kept her focus down to a knifepoint, ignoring even the sound of her own breathing. She wasn't going to mess this up.

Once she felt the cushion as a real object, something she could touch, Cora released the spell slowly. Letting the power trickle in a bit at a time as she raised the cushion in her mind had made this easier and her egg less prone to rolling around. While she knew there was no way the egg could fall off since she had it hedged in with her magic, it didn't stop Cora from getting twitchy whenever it got too close to the edges.

Gently the egg rose up until it hovered at Cora's eyes level. She left it there for a few seconds, both to prove she'd done it properly and so she could get herself ready for the last step. She bit her lip for a second before she caught herself. Displaying her nervousness would only draw more of Selena's attention and make her feel it more strongly. If she acted strong, she thought she might feel stronger.