Luna's Awakening

14

After we ate lunch, we went back down in the basement to start practicing spells. I still couldn't get over the event that happened just twenty minutes before, and the fact Beth and Anna Marie were carrying on like nothing had happened. I was still looking over Anna Marie, trying to make sure she was okay and kept bracing myself for another of those weird episodes.

I closed the basement door behind us and when we reached the bottom, Beth immediately walked over to the desk, grabbed a blank sheet of paper and pen. Anna Marie and I walked over to the desk to see what she was doing.

"Luna, we are going to start off with a simple light spell," Beth said and sat down in the desk chair. "While Starlight Academy does help you with every spell that is known, with the exception of Black Magic, it is encouraged that you do know at least two spells before beginning the semester. A basic light spell is easy to do and something you can catch on very quickly."

I peered over her shoulder, where she started drawing a circle, then a triangle in the middle of it, and then around the circle and triangle, a diamond.

"You can conjure up light by drawing this symbol," she explained. "It is the symbol of light, and by casting the spell, you will be able to bring light to the room and control it at your fingertips."

She passed a blank sheet of paper over to me as well as the same pencil she'd used to draw.

"Draw that symbol," she instructed.

I did as she said and waited for her next instruction.

She took my hand and placed it over the symbol.

"Focus on light," she said. "Envision holding light at your fingertips, at being able to control and manipulate it. Focus on the symbol, on the light you see everyday, and imagine being able to control it."

I gazed at the symbol, thinking of the light that glowed from hers and Anna Marie's hands when they healed me. I imagined that light coming from my hand, of being able to shoot it across the room, of being able to make shapes with it.

"Now repeat these words," Beth instructed. "I summon light to me to obey my every whim."

I repeated the words in a soft voice, "I summon light to me to obey my every whim."

For about three seconds, nothing happened. Then a small but ever growing light started to appear from the page, high lighting the symbol on the page.

I watched, intrigued, as the light grew brighter and brighter, until I had to look away.

"Good! Good!" I heard Beth call out encouragingly. "Keep at it! Keep at it!"

"What's going on down here?"

I jumped away from the desk and the light immediately disappeared. The three of us turned around to find Dad standing at the bottom of the steps, wearing his running shorts and T-shirt that was soaked with sweat, and had apparently just come back from a morning run and had thankfully missed me launching Anna Marie through the house and through the dining room table.

He was staring at us quizzically. "I heard some shouting down here."

I beamed and held up the page to show him. "I just learned my first spell!"

For a brief second, I could have sworn I saw sadness pass over his face before a forced, cheery smile spread over his lips. "That's great! What did you learn?"