In Part 1 (Ch. 1-5), we met our Static bookworm narrator Emilie and her friends: the active Mage Jess, the shy Wizard Shannon, and the enthusiastic and Dynamic Alex. But when Emilie was set to research her favorite true dragons, she read a mysterious note saying that she was a true dragon herself.
I successfully convinced my parents that I felt sick so I wouldn’t have to go to church today. I’ve never done that before, but Al told me last year about people skipping school that way. I still need to go to school tomorrow and I needed to do homework today anyway, so it’s not that big of a problem.
What it does do is let me not be in a large crowd today and have a few hours to myself in the morning. Plenty of time to read the Mymoir and possibly try using magic.
I’ve obviously never used any kind of magic, what with being Static, but there are instructions in the Mymoir on how to do so, along with a whole bunch of spells. Unlike when Jess does her thing, these spells have written instructions on exactly what I have to do so that my magic does exactly what the spell tells it to do. Like, if I pick out a cube of space in my range, the spell will make the heat in that space vanish until it’s a cube of ice. Or frozen air, or whatever.
I guess if I’m careful, that should be safe to try. I head down to the kitchen and grab a small plate, then set it in front of me. Then I think better of it and swap the plate with a small bowl and set that in front of me after filling it with water. I close my eyes and try to look at the bowl of water with just my “heat sense.” It stands out less than I would like, but I can see my hand prints on the sides of the ceramic and the water is below room temperature. I pick out a small cube in the center of the top of the water (since ice floats) before willing “Bontu’s Ice Cube.”
I feel the spell activate, and—oh that’s how that works! The cube I’d picked is much easier to make out as the spell rapidly removes heat, making it a lot colder and—to my color-coded heat sense—more purple. Maybe two seconds after it started, I can feel the spell end. I open my eyes to see a perfectly-shaped ice cube floating in the bowl. Er… almost perfect. It’s not even on every side; I think it started to float before the spell finished, and the water next to it is super cold, too.
The Mymoir said that I don’t have to use a spell to use magic, which is sorta weird considering how Aspect magic works, but then again this isn’t Aspect magic. And since Star spells consist of written instructions (both for me and for my magic, and I can read the part for my magic), I guess that means I can just pick out and use part of what’s there without writing anything. Which is another bonus because I don’t want the other Dragons to know that I exist and I can tell who wrote what just by reading.
Looking back at the bowl, I try to do the opposite of what the spell did. I pick out the water and tell it to get warmer.
Nothing happens.
What did the spell instructions say, again?
Oh. I will my magic into adding heat to the water. Just a little. The color of the water gets lighter as it warms up, and I can see the ice start to melt. I’ve watched ice melt before, but never this quickly, even on a hot day. I think the ice cube was about an inch wide when I started? But it only takes half a minute to melt away completely. It’s like I stuck it in the oven.
I stop willing heat into the water, and the color stays constant. When I’m sure it’s done, I pour the water down the drain, then dry the dishes and put them away.
…
The dishes clattered a little when I put them back: I’m shaking with nervous energy. I used magic! Maybe not the sort that everyone else uses, but magic! I probably shouldn’t use it when other people are watching. It looks a lot like fire and ice magic, sure, but while I’m at home there’s no one to pin it on. And using magic at school would be super suspicious especially since Alex told everyone I’m Static. Plus there was that thing about a “dragon form,” so… I probably should read some more.
Having a Mage for a BFF has taught me a decent amount about magic. Er, Aspect magic. The kind most people use. Anyway, the relevant part here is that people store magic that’s constantly refilling until they hit their maximum, whatever amount that is. And when they’re at maximum, whatever extra magic they get is released to the area around them. For Static people, that cap is just above zero, so just being next to me makes magic easier for Jess. Everything alive makes more Aspect magic, but only Dynamic people and monsters can use it.
Star magic is kinda similar. The Mymoir says the name is because Dragons are pretty sure their magic comes from stars. Not in a religious sort of sense or anything, but a literal “stars make magic of this kind” sense. There’s a bunch of long explanations, but just being able to read those explanations doesn’t mean I understand them. Something about splitting and merging gases and metals and stuff.
Anyway, the magic refills at a constant rate to a maximum that is different for each Dragon. Ninety percent of it goes into the person’s “object,” but it still counts against their maximum. The difference here is what happens at max, and it’s really worrying to me. When a Dragon hits their magic cap, they’re forced to transform. To dragon form. I don’t know what my cap is, but I really don’t want to hit it when I’m anywhere near people.
The dragon form itself takes enough magic to maintain that I won’t refill at all while I’m in it, so it’ll be a good way to get rid of magic. But it would also make it obvious that there’s a Dragon in the area, which wouldn’t go over well with pretty much anyone, especially Jess’s family and the Defense Force. But apparently most Dragons fill up in a little under a week, so…
I sigh.
I’m going to have to transform at some point very soon. (Or “shift;” for some reason, the Mymoir likes to use that word instead of “transform.”) I’ll do my best to put it off until at least Saturday, I guess. Then I’ll need some excuse to ride my bike out of town by myself. Not that I’m leaving; I’ll come back when I’ve hit empty or when I can’t spend any more time out of town. But I really don’t want people to know about any “nearby” Dragons.
I’ve got a plan. Sort of. Better than nothing. But I don’t want anyone to know, so I probably shouldn’t talk to my friends. Not right now, anyway.
When I thought over my plan this morning, I felt pretty good. Once I got on the bus, not so much. The smell of magic from the other kids overwhelmed me and I ended up curled in a ball on a seat by myself. Yeah, I know I rode the bus with Dad on Saturday, but it just felt more intense today somehow. I don’t even know if Jess is at school today because I didn’t get off the bus until everyone else had left. Al almost had to drag me off.
Technology class was pretty okay since nobody in the class is Dynamic. And I guess I can verify that now, not that it matters that much to me. It was almost like a normal class aside from my heat sense telling me the location of every person in the classroom, the building, and even far beyond the building. (It’s actually pretty distracting.) I never realized how many cars pass the school every day.
After that class… well, the smell doesn’t help with my nerves. I left the feather at home so I wouldn’t have to worry about it, but I never realized just how many Dynamic people were around me all the time. Or at least I didn’t think about it. I’ve gotten up to lunch but I’m just sitting by myself today, off to the side. It’s all just too much. I’m glad I had two days before this, but I’m wondering how I managed to go to the library on Saturday. Maybe having Dad around helped.
My heat sense shows me that someone is approaching from in front while I take another bite of pizza, and the smell says whoever it is, is Dynamic. I lift my head to see Alex, and my heart races. I don’t want to talk. Not just yet. “Um…” she starts. “You did see us, right?”
“Yeah,” I reply, my voice shaking. “Not today, okay?” Please don’t ask why.
“Okay!” Her voice is cheerful, but she looks confused. “I’ll see you later!”
“Yeah…” I mumble as she walks away, thankfully without saying anything else.
My lunch finished without further interruptions. But if Alex is going to come by every day, this is gonna be hard.