Cora leaned back against her locker, her eyes closed as the sea of noise that was a hundred conversations happening around her began to ebb. She only opened her eyes when she heard footsteps stop in front of her. She nodded at Warren and hefted her purse higher on her shoulder, the grocery bag her lunch was in wrapped around her other wrist.
"Are you ready?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Yeah. Lead the way."
She followed him down the stairs at out the back doors of the school, passing several people who nodded or waved at them on the stairs and in the halls. Outside they moved past the usual crowd who loitered and often smoked there, and headed straight towards the green expanse of the football field.
The nearest of the faded bleachers was already occupied but Warren only gave it a cursory glance. He aimed them towards the huge, spreading maple that lay right in front of the chain-link fence that enclosed the whole of their school's fields and track. Warren motioned to the shaded grass under the tree before dropping down himself. Cora sat more gingerly after a quick look around. While they were out of normal earshot of the bleacher group, she was sure they'd be able to hear her if she screamed, and kept that thought in mind just in case. After all she still really didn't know Warren.
As a light breeze made the shadow they sat in move so that little specks of light appeared in it, Warren turned to Cora and held her eyes with his. "I want you to understand that doing magic in public is generally a very bad idea. Especially nowadays. All it takes is one person getting a video or pic or something they shouldn't and uploading it and all of us are screwed. If you weren't a Wild mage and probably confused as hell, I wouldn't do this."
Cora crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not confused, I just refuse to believe in magic because some random person comes up to me and tells me it's real. And if you can't prove it to me right now, then you're crazy and I'm going to ignore you. Or get you committed if you keep bugging me. Just in case you were wondering."
Warren grimaced. "I'm not crazy. I can see why you'd think that, but I'm seriously not. Now look, my specializations don't lend themselves well to demonstrations so I'm going to have to do something that I'm not that great at. It's not something I have a weakness for, but it's definitely not my strong suit. Keep that in mind when you're watching me."
She waved a hand dismissively. "Get on with it already."
He made a face but looked around and grabbed one of the leaves that had fallen from the tree and put it directly in front of himself then inhaled and exhaled deeply a few times. As Cora watched, Warren closed his eyes for a moment then snapped them open. His gaze was locked on the leaf as he extended one hand out. He pointed at the leaf and slowly raised his arm. The leaf mirrored his movements, slowly floating up until it was level with his shoulder.
For a few moments, all Cora could do was stare at the thing. Then she scooted closer and waved her hands above then below the leaf, looking for some kind of wire or string, something to prove it was a trick. She swallowed hard when she saw nothing but wasn't about to admit defeat just yet. "I've seen this kind of trick done on TV before. Got anything else?"
He winced slightly. "Alright then. Keep your eye on the leaf and pick a word for me. It can be anything as long as it's not too long."
"Pirates," Cora said, thinking of One Piece again. She moved back to where she'd been sitting before, a good three feet from where Warren was and held one arm out along her crossed legs, palm up. He let the leaf drop back to the ground before he picked it up and held it in his own upraised hand. Cora kept one eye on the leaf as he'd said and the other on him.
Warren kept his eyes open this time, though he did take a couple of deep breaths. He stared down at the leaf without blinking as a few droplets of sweat began to bead up along the sides of his face. He didn't move and his eyes stayed open even when the drops began to run all the way down to his neck.
Between one moment and the next the leaf was gone. Cora opened her mouth but the tiny pricking feeling on her hand got her to look down. Its points pressing gently into her skin, the maple leaf lay in her palm in the same position it had recently occupied Warren's in. It was still even faintly warm from his body heat. Or the spell. Cora really didn't know which it was, too busy gaping to even give it any thought.
Before she'd even recovered the leaf jumped up so it was hovering at eye level, the flat side facing her. She hadn't managed anything more than blinking when black lines appeared across the green of the leaf. They spread out and connected until they spelled the word Pirates. It hovered in front of her for a moment before it dropped back down to her hand.
Hesitantly, Cora touched the leaf but nothing happened. There was only the faintest trace of residual heat. She traced the letters with her finger but they didn't change or even smear. It was like they'd been burned into the leaf.
She looked up at Warren. He smiled at her and put his hands on his knees. "Told you I wasn't crazy."
Cora nodded, mind slowly going through the facts. The leaf had been in Warren's hand. She was sitting too far away from him to be able to lean over and put the leaf in her hand even if he was inhumanely fast and could do it without her seeing him. She had seen the leaf disappear right from his palm. Warren hadn't moved or anything and then the leaf wasn't there. Almost at the exact same time she'd felt the tiny pinpricks that were the leaf's points touching the skin of her palm and wrist.
Then it had flown up above her with no wires or anything and nothing under it. Somehow the word she'd chosen at random, and who but her would have chosen One Piece, had appeared one the leaf as if it had been burned into it. And pirates wasn't exactly an everyday word or something most people would associate with her or magic so it's not like he could have predicted that it would be her choice. It seemed like the only explanation was the one that Warren was giving her. That he could use magic and had just transported the leaf from his hand to hers and burned a word into it.
The sound of him clearing his throat made her look up. "Do...do you need time or another demonstration or something? You, uh, you look a little pale there."
"I'm-" she tried but her voice cracked. She swallowed a couple of times and coughed once. "I'm fine, I think. This is just... This is really real, isn't it? Like, I'm not dreaming and this is actually happening."
Warren rubbed the back of his neck but nodded. "Yeah, it is. If it makes you feel any better, the first time I saw a major spell being done I damn near ran and hid. And I was already thirteen at the time."
Cora shook her head. "What am I supposed to do?" she whispered.
He smiled at her. "Don't worry. That's why my master wants to talk to you. Between the three of us we can figure out what'll be best for you and how to get your training started. You don't really need to think about what you're doing until you move past the basics and really start focusing on your specializations. For now you'll just be learning about magic, how to control it, and stuff like that. It'll probably take you a bit longer than other people to get settled and going, both because you're a Wild mage and because you're older than when most people start."
She blinked and did her best to process everything Warren was saying. She latched onto the last statement as a lifeline of sorts, something to make everything feel slightly more normal. "How old are people normally when they, when they do this," she said, waving in the direction of his hand.
"Puberty. That's when most people's power starts breaking through. Though since most people with magic are Line mages, they know something of the basics before they start."
"Then why haven't I noticed anything yet?" Cora asked, one hand opening and closing. The good thing was that she wasn't crazy. The bad thing was neither was Warren. And that meant she was actually going to have to deal with him, his ability to make everyone know him, and whatever other surprises he had up his sleeve. And if what he said was true, she'd be involved in this same insanity, even though she'd never seen any sign of it. Then again, it wasn't as if she'd looked. Not since she was like five anyway.
Warren shrugged. "There's a couple of possibilities. My bet is that you're probably strongest in one of the magics that isn't very showy. Since three of the seven are like that, it's the most likely reason. Though my master will be able to tell you more."
"I guess I'd better come with you then to meet him. I mean, that's what I should do, right? Go meet your master?" Cora asked. A sudden idea struck her and she leaned forward. "Hey, is there a way to say, get rid of magic? Like, if I decided I didn't want it, could I get rid of it? Because, I'll be honest, I really would much rather get rid of it. I get the feeling it's just going to be more trouble than it's worth."
He stared at her for a long moment, his eyes wide. Then Warren's face twisted into a grimace. "No. As far as I know there's no way to get rid of magic once you have it. You're kind of stuck with it. But look," he said when her face fell. "Wait until you actually start doing it. Magic's a lot of fun and you can do some really cool stuff with it. I know a guy who was so good at transference he was actually able to make himself fly."
Cora had to admit that that sounded kind of cool. She had always wanted to fly. But then another thought struck her and she frowned. "But isn't it dangerous? I mean, can magic blow up or hurt people?"
Warren's whole body went rigid and for several seconds the only sound was the gentle shushing of the leaves in the wind. Finally he nodded slowly. "Yes," he said, his voice rough. "It can be. But that's not something you need to worry about."
She opened her mouth to ask him something else but Warren was already getting to his feet. "I'll come get you after school at your locker. You can come meet my master then. See you," he said, and before she could say anything, walked off.
Cora watched him go, wondering what nerve of his she'd hit.