Leo smiles and shrugs his shoulders as he sips his coffee. “So, have you looked at the book?”
“I was waiting for you,” Victor says.
“Well, go on and start reading while I dig into my food,” Leo advises.
“Isn’t your food . . . “ Victor stops when he sees Leo’s hands glow red as he holds them above his plate. “ . . . cold?”
“Not anymore. You forgot I can control fire,” Leo says. He flicks the linen napkin, giving it a good snap before he takes a seat.
Victor reaches over to grab the book, giving Leo a playful eye roll. He looks at the writing in bold green letters. He reads the title out loud, “The Waking of the Warlock. Sounds interesting.”
“It is,” Leo says as he puts a forkful of food in his mouth.
Victor opens the book and reads the first page.
The Waking of the Warlock
Becoming a Warlock is a challenging task. The process is grueling and long, but oh- so-satisfying. Many men, andthose who identify as men, will try to overcompensate, which is their first failure. Just like a newborn child, a newborn Warlock must be able to adapt to new environments and learn to trust those around them as they learn to become independent on their own. If you wish to succeed, you must be patient and never give up if you can’t make the spell work on your first attempt. Do not let frustration take over. Do not be afraid to fail; that is how you learn.
After Victor reads the first passage, he notices Leo has already finished his breakfast. “What did you do, unhinge your jaw and drop your food down your gaping hole?”
Leo laughs out loud, “That sounds so inappropriate. So, what do you think of the passage?”
“It’s . . . interesting,” Victor comments. “It sounds like the writer knows a thing or two about being a Warlock. If they are writing a book about it, they should.” Victor looks at the author’s name, “Clarence Waterlily? Their last name is Waterlily?”
“Yup,” Leo says as he finishes his coffee. “You’d be surprised how talented a Warlock they are. Or witch. I think they go by either, depending on who’s talking about them. Anyway, they are very talented, but they enjoy being a tailor. They like to size others up, no pun intended.”
“Feel up, too,” Victor says sarcastically. Victor looks back at the spine and examines the symbols some more. “Leo, what do these mean?” he asks.
Leo looks closer at the symbols. “I’m not completely sure, but they might be coven emblems. I think this one might be a rune. Why do you ask?”
“Just curious,” Victor replies softly. “I just have this feeling that I might have seen these before.”
“Maybe you have and not realized it. Your grandma might have owned something with one of them on it,” Leo suggests.Leo leans in and looks closer at the symbols. “I think most of the books I got you have symbols somewhere on them. You should read this book first before moving to the next. They discuss what you can expect during your journey. But, before you do that, we need to get ready to check out.”
“Why, where are we going?” Victor asks as he thumbs through the pages.
“We are going to Chicago to meet up with your first instructor. Your first course is Air Magic,” Leo informs.
“Sounds appropriate, being the windy city and all.” Victor looks up just as Leo rolls his eyes.
“Actually, his specialty is Water. But for some reason, he enjoys teaching Air Magic,” Leo explains. “I guess it’s because Air is very easy to achieve, and there’s a demand for air instructors. Plus, he enjoys hearing himself speak. A lot.”
“If I knew we would be traveling a lot, I wouldn’t’ve packed light like you suggested,” Victor remarks.
Leo finishes his juice before pushing away from the table. “Don’t worry, everything we need, we can get where we’re going. So go pack, and you can leave your things; someone will collect them for us. Can you be ready in an hour?”
“I guess,” Victor answers as he gets up from the table.
“Good, meet me on the third floor in an hour. And don’t worry about changing into your suit. We can do that before we go to your first lesson.” As Victor walks away, Leo clears his throat. “Forgetting something?” Victor looks down and grabs the book before he heads back to his room.
An hour later, when Victor is about to leave his room, he peers into Leo’s room. He’s not in there, and neither are the boxes. When he walks to the elevator, the doors open when he approaches.
“Floor three, sir?” the bellman asks Victor.
“Yes, please. Thank you,” Victor says as he steps to the back of the elevator.
Victor exits the elevator and looks around for Leo. The only things in the hallway are several large, wide mirrors attached to the wall. Victor cocks an eyebrow as he speaks to himself, “How original. Walking through a mirror to get to where we are going.”
