When the water started to run cold down my back, I ended the kiss. The warm water, as well as Victoria’s ministrations, had helped relieve some of the muscle strain, but it still hurt as I reached back and shut the shower off. Grabbing my other hand as she stepped back, she opened the sliding gss door and grabbed a towel.
Quickly toweling each other off, we got dressed. The second I opened the door, the room was filled with a delicious aroma. If we were in a cartoon and not reality, then I would have been floating as the smell pulled me to its source. Instead, we ran down the stairs, stopping in the dining room just as Gregory pced down a dish.
To my surprise, Marcy was sitting at the table reading as Gregory walked back into the kitchen. Seeing us as he turned, he said, “Dinner is just about done. Have a seat.”
Taking our usual spots, I tried to get a gnce of the parchment that Marcy was pouring over. It looked old. The edges were tattered and the paper was yellowed until nearly brown. As soon as my eyes caught a few of the symbols on the page, my head started to pound with an intense pain.
A sensation of information pouring into my head, filling it with more than it could hold, overtook me. My eyes closed as I reached up to my face. Steady ringing filled my ears, drowning everything else out. The first thing I heard was Gregory from practically next to my ear. “Could you not read that where you won't nearly kill someone?”
“He shouldn’t go reading things he doesn’t have the ability or right to,” Marcy stated with a ft emotionless voice.
“Mother!” Victoria excimed.
“Tell me I am wrong.” Marcy snapped back. “If he didn’t learn this here, he would have learned the lesson elsewhere. Only then he would have probably died.” My eyes snapped open as I looked over at her. Being careful to not look at the parchment again. There was silence for a minute as I waited for an expnation.
It was Gregory who broke the silence first. “Since she doesn’t seem willing to tell you what just happened, I will.” Going to his seat across from me, he continued, “There are some words and symbols that carry power or knowledge. The parchment my sister is reading holds a number of them.”
“If they hold knowledge and power, why is she reading them?”
“Because they don’t just carry power and knowledge, they also are a nguage. How to expin this,” Gregory held his chin with his thumb and finger for a second before continuing. “What do you think of when I say the word tree?”
“A tree,” I said, not understanding what he wanted me to say.
Rolling his eyes, Gregory answered for me. “You think of a tall pnt with bark. Branches coming out of the trunk with leaves all over. Maybe a bit of moss or vines on the surface. Maybe even a few fruits. That one word represents that object.”
“But it doesn’t hurt my head to read the word tree.”
“That’s because it isn’t a word from a nguage built on magic and magical concepts. If you wrote tree in such a nguage then it would give you some power over a tree. Not much but some. In fact, that is how some magic is cast.”
“Only if you are incapable of casting it any other way.” Marcy snorted as she rolled the parchment up. Pcing it on the edge of the table.
“It is a good pce to start and nearly everyone does so,” Gregory said, admonishing his sister before continuing. “To cast a spell one will ask or tell mana what to do with such a nguage.”
We started to grab things off the ptes in the middle and eat as I asked, “So if I want to learn magic, I will have to also learn a whole new nguage?”
“Yes,” Marcy said, pointing a fork at me, “In fact, tomorrow Victoria and I will be unlocking your magic. Tonight will be the practice run. After that, we will each instruct you on various words and their uses every day.”
“So soon?” I said, my eyes going wide at the prospect of being able to use magic.
“Don’t get any ideas of becoming super powerful or being able to throw spells around.” Marcy flicked the fork before returning to eating. “The procedure will likely cause you to pass out for a number of days. Even after you wake up you won't be able to use much magic. In fact, casting spells is like a muscle. It will require training and time to grow.”
Nodding in understanding, I ate my food. Not really paying attention to what was going on around me. Instead, various images of various spells from video games and books came to mind. The thought of being able to cast such things exciting me, even if it did take me years to accomplish.
Seeing the st piece of food on my pte, I lifted it up to Victoria’s mouth. She smiled as she took it. Returning the favor, she fed me her st piece of meat. As I swallowed it, a tingle went down my spine. Bouncing against something, it traveled back up my spine before veering to one of my shoulders. Specifically, the spot where she had bitten me. It swirled around the spot until it vanished as if down a whirlpool. I shivered at the odd sensation.
