“Philip.”He pointed to a freckled youth with bright orange dreadlocks.
“That his hypothesis is bullshit is what it is.If your magic was unstable, it would be crackling, and objects would be rattling on the shelves.”He flailed his hands wildly to indicate movement.“We can see that your magic is smooth as silk, as usual.”He glared at his fellow students, daring them to contradict his rebuttal.
“Those are two signs of unstable magic.Another is that it wouldn’t answer my call easily.As Philip proclaimed so artfully, my magic flow would be fractured.”Quentin held out his right hand, palm up.A blue flame flared into existence, then playfully danced across his fingers.“As you can see, my magic is fine.If it were unstable, the fire would flicker or spit sparks, especially so soon after an outburst.Other ideas.”
He probably should’ve called Philip out on his language, but he couldn’t scold the kid after his adorable defense.It was like an angry Chihuahua defending a Hellhound; unnecessary, but sweet.
He pointed to another student.“Amanda?”
“Buildup of outside magic?”
“Explain.”He might know what she was referring to, but her fellow students probably hadn’t read all the way to chapter eight when they were still reviewing chapter two in class.He would bet his shiny vampire necklace that she’d gotten straight A’s in all her classes since kindergarten.
Amanda straightened her shoulders, standing tall in the spotlight of attention.“In places where magic is performed consistently, there can be a buildup if it isn’t cleansed properly, which can cause issues as time goes on.”
“Excellent answer,” Quentin praised.“Unfortunately for your theory, not only did the janitorial team cleanse the room last night, but I smudged the room before making the circle as I always do, and I hope all of you will make the habit of doing so yourself.Never depend on someone else to handle potential magical buildup.Always be responsible for sterilizing your own spell space.You can’t assume they cleansed the area as thoroughly as you would.Even the best janitorial staff sometimes misses things, especially if they aren’t magic-sensitive or have a busy schedule they have to rush through.”
“Are you magic sensitive?”a student from the back asked.
“Yes, as are most of the students here are to some degree.You might find yourself gaining more sensitivity the longer you work with magic, but no promises.Keep in mind that not being sensitive to magic isn’t necessarily a negative thing.People without sensitivity can often stand being in magic-rich environments far longer than I could.Every ability has its ups and downs.”He added that last part because some of those he knew were sensitive were giving others a superior look.Better to crush that rivalry right away.“It is more important to focus on what you’re doing than to rely too much on feelings.As we can see,” he waved to the damage, “it doesn’t always help.”
Laughter took away the last of the tension as most of the students nodded in agreement.Good.Hopefully, they would remember that advice when they were conducting rituals on their own.
“What other factors are involved in creating a safe rune circle that we might have missed?”He snuffed the flame and raised a finger one at a time as he made new points.“The runes were correct, the magic was stable, there was no buildup…”
“The chalk!”Marian Goldwin’s blond hair flapped as she jumped up and down.“What kind of chalk did you use?”
“Hmm.Good question.”He pulled the box from his pocket.“I found this chalk in the desk from a previous teacher.”He tilted the box to show the remaining stick and a half.“I usually make my own, but I couldn’t find my tin before class started.”He didn’t mention his distraction over Grevin being mauled by the demon he’d summoned.One of the best bits of advice he’d gotten from a fellow professor was that students didn’t need to know about a teacher’s personal life.It helped to establish a professional boundary between them, especially when Quentin was the same age as most of them and younger than some.
“This looks to be homemade.Now, generally, rune chalk is made from demon bone and dragon ash to help channel magic and, in some cases, control or manipulate fire.How would we test if ours is made from those components?”He set the box on the desk and folded his arms.
Amanda waved her hand back and forth as if she were flagging down a taxi.
“Amanda.”He nodded to her.
“If we crumbled it and poured water over it, the demon bone would turn the water red, and dragon ash would cause sparks.”
Philip raised his hand again.
“Yes?”
“How do they get demon bone?Are they killing sentient creatures to make chalk?”Philip’s obvious concern had Quentin holding his hand, palm out, to stop the other students from espousing their less-than-humanitarian views on demons.
“I asked the same question when I began rituals,” he admitted.“There is a contract between our realm and the demon realm that only demons who volunteer their bones, like organ donation, or minor demons that are more like beasts, can be used.We exchange them for goods they can’t get in their realm.”
“What kind of goods?”asked Jason, a dark-haired student, who had a pencil poised over his notepad as if Quentin was going to give a quiz at any moment.
Quentin shrugged.“Usually, fresh vegetables that can’t grow there, alcohol, and luxury fabric.I’m not sure of the details, but we can save that for another time.Let’s get back to our chalk issue.According to Amanda’s hypothesis, testing the chalk would result in red water with sparks if made of the proper components.Does everyone agree?”
A few shoulder shrugs, but most nodded along.He couldn’t tell whether they trusted Amanda’s scholastic brilliance or had no idea and were just going with the crowd.
“But what if it’s regular chalk.The non-magical kind?”Marian asked.
“It would sink because chalk is heavier than water,” Quentin remembered from his chemistry class.He didn’t recall much, but that fact had stuck in his head.
“Philip, can you grab that cauldron on the shelf over there, please?Marian, could you fetch me the bottle of purified water that fell on the floor next to the pile of incense sticks?”He pointed to what he needed.The students quickly grabbed their assigned objects and brought them over.
“Set the cauldron on the floor.”He waited until it was in position.“Marian, pour the entire bottle of water inside the cauldron.”
