Showing posts with label FinitumEN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FinitumEN. Show all posts
Monday, June 1, 2009
Finitum Capax Infiniti (EN) - Index
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prologue: The Present, United Kingdom
1. Turn Over a New Leaf
2. Forced Ruralization
3. Arrivals
4. Fresh Fish
5. Beginnings Are Hard
6. Mondays Are Always a Pain
7. Strange Tuition
8. Practice Makes Perfect
9. What Goes On
10. What Big Eyes You've Got
11. A Darker Shade of Pale
12. Suffer The Children
13. Interlude: One Thousand Years Ago
14. Second Interlude: Nineteen Ninety-Seven
15. Third Interlude: Even Ants May Dream
16. Eisenhower Was Right: It's Dominoes All The Way Down
17. Too Long in the Tooth
18. The Rook Checks
19. Memento Mori
20. Children of The Mind
Monday, March 30, 2009
Finitum capax infiniti: Prologue
Prologue: The Present, United Kingdom
"Kingsley**, surely you're mistaken!"
"Minerva, I wish I were, but it is true: I've just received an owl from the Head Auror a few minutes ago, and he insists that there are eyewitness' reports that the Ever-Locked Room stands open! The Unspeakables demurred to comment, like always…"
The Headmistress' lips disappear into a thin line.
"Does Potter know who…, what lurked in that room?"
"No. He's been told the usual lies about 'love' and whatnot; and, as far as I know, you and I are the only ones still alive that know about the Truce. That's why I've decided to come all the way out here, in the middle of the night, and tell you in person. I don't think I could trust myself to utter these words in any other room except the Headmistress' Office."
None of the portraits on the wall are feigning sleep tonight, as they usually do, well aware of the implications.
"Minerva, take all the precautions that you deem necessary. I'll have Potter mobilize his Aurors and you'll have whatever protection we can afford. I'll go and have the Daily Prophet print some escaped troll story to justify the mobilization of all the Aurors, or something along those lines. Just keep all your students here!"
"Kingsley, please, I'll do whatever is in my power to do, but… You know that we cannot withstand him. If he decides to come, he will come, no matter what we throw at him…"
Both Minister and Headmistress look down at the ancient desk, thinking about the last time that the resident of the Ever-Locked Room came to Hogwarts, one thousand years ago. The secret history makes both of them blanch. Weary with worry, they finally sit down.
"But, did somebody disturb his rest? What happened?"
"I'm in the dark, too. All we know is that he invoked the Truce twenty-odd years ago, and disappeared into the Department of Mysteries and his room. And we thought that it was the last we'd see of him for at least another thousand years… Good riddance to bad rubbish, we all thought."
"But now he's back. Woe to the world… Can we not ever have peace and quiet?"
"Minerva, we've had over a decade to recover since the Second War. I guess our luck just ran out… Look, I must set things in motion. I'll keep an eye out for developments and I'll be in touch. See to your students!"
"Aye, Minister, sir!" McGonogall directs one of her withering looks at the Minister of Magic, reminding him that he had also been one of her students, long ago.
Shacklebolt raises his hands as if to say "sorry", and then he leaves hurriedly.
"You know? I took some exception to being called a liar just now, but it's true: I lied to Harry about the room… Who wouldn't have lied? It's not as if we can go around telling our children that we harbor the worst monster in all the history of the world in the very building of the Ministry of Magic…" The portrait of one Albus Dumbledore, Former Headmaster, is leaning against his frame, his chin on his hand.
"Yes, well, be that as it may, I still need to arrange for the security of the students. I have no choice."
"Neither did Griffindor… It was either the Truce, or the extinction of our kind." This portrait had long, greasy-looking hair, and a very large and curved nose, and his tone of disdain belied his interest in the safety of the students. "So, do what you can: no one could ask anything else from you."
"Right. Thank you, Severus. I just hope Potter, Weasly, and their Auror lot get here soon, so I can concentrate on the castle and leave the perimeter to them. Albus, please tell Hagrid I need to see him right away. Please, have him come directly. I have to wake up the teachers."
But the object of their worries was at that moment flying transatlantic and hypersonic, on his own power, without an airplane, en route to the United States of America.
** Some characters and settings based on J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series
To be continued…
Finitum 1 (EN)
1. Turn Over a New Leaf
The kid sat crumpled on the third row of the ancient Suburban, and sulked. He was an expert at sulking. With his beanie hat pulled down over his closely cropped dark red hair, almost over his emerald eyes in order to escape any stray stares, and with his ears stuffed with marshmallow earphones so that he could avoid any attempt at conversation, he was the personification of sullen aloofness.
The only other person in the SUV was the driver, Shari Wingrove (neé Sara Ruiz), and she did all she could to avoid falling into the trap of being the first to speak, but it never worked. She always tried to engage her son in conversation. Especially today, with such a long trip ahead of them.
"Listen, I'm sure you'll have an easier time in this new school. I understand that all those military academies were not really your thing. But this new school, well… Remember me telling you about your auntie Marge? She was a wild one, she really was! Wasn't she? Anyway, she went to that school, and she did very well, got her high-school diploma and all. I'm sorry it's so far away and… Hmph! You're not listening, are ya? Of course you're not…"
After checking a couple of times on the rear-view mirror, to see if she could catch his eye, she gave up trying to soothe his mood. He was also an expert at ignoring his mother.
"It's gonna be a long trip…" she sighed, and looked again at the GPS, to make sure she didn't miss the next highway, yet again. Truth be told, she was glad to be ignored this one time, because she needed to concentrate on making the right turns. When they finally made it out of Texas she would need to find the turn into Interstate 84 at Gallup, in New Mexico, and then it would be almost a straight shot all the way up to I-86. Then she would have to pay attention again to avoid getting lost until they finally made it past Ketchum, Idaho. Why The School should be all the way in the middle of nowhere, in Idaho, she couldn't guess. But they really wanted Giovanni there.
They were very insistent in all the letters they sent, almost begging her to send Giovanni to their boarding school. They promised scholarships for tuition, room and board, and living expenses. They were so enthusiastic in recruiting her son, that they even sent a very nice old lady to give her a presentation about the school, even before she had replied to any one of their letters.
How they had heard of her son, the nice old lady named Adelaide, was very eager to explain. Supposedly, a friend of a friend of a teacher who knew auntie Marge, back in the day, and who worked at Giovanni's last military academy, had recognized untapped potential in her son, had sent a letter of recommendation to The School, and they agreed that they just had to get him into The School. They just… had to. They had all sorts of grants supporting The School, Giovanni fit all their profiles, and "Bob's your uncle." Never mind that neither Giovanni nor Shari had filled out any sort of applications, no, everything was settled, and all that was left to do was for the legal guardian to sign the pertinent documents. And never mind that neither she nor her son had ever known anybody before who used the phrase "Bob's your uncle".
At the time, she was ecstatic to have this offer fall on her lap. It was right down providential. A couple of days before, the principal from the Preparatory School had phoned her to tell her that he was very sorry, but Giovanni was "not the right fit for the school," and could she please come get'im a'fore the week's out? Thank you, ma'am… For the fifth time straight, in as many military academies, her son was not the right fit for the school. Whatever the heck that meant. So she said yes, yes to The School, yes to the scholarships. Please and thank you. What else would she had done, if not? I mean, all the silly independent school districts in Texas had already black-balled Giovanni as "intractable, unsociable, and insufferable."
But that was hardly fair. Giovanni wasn't a bad kid. Okay, well, he was a bit unsociable, but who wasn't unsociable at sixteen? And the teachers were intimidated by his ability to just… know things. To be able to answer the test questions without doing one single homework assignment, or to be able to answer questions in class that even the teacher wasn't sure how to answer… Well, that had to be intimidating to all those bureaucrats.
Or maybe it was because nothing seemed to go right whenever Giovanni was around. He didn't have bad luck, as it were. Things just didn't work out with him around, that's all. When he was little, of course he got blamed for busting all of his toys. But as he got older, other situations arose that were more difficult to explain than a simple broken toy. Like the time when the cheerleader squad was…—
"Fodder Mucker!!!" Shari hated to use curse words: they were too vulgar for her. Instead, she was very fond of minced oaths. "Was that Sierra Blanca we just passed? Oh, right, like you would be paying attention. I just hope we don't end up in Mexico if I miss a turn… Alright, I guess I better stop woolgatherin' and pay attention to my drivin'…"
She checked the GPS, yet again. Under normal circumstances, the trip all the way to Idaho from South Texas should only take about twenty-four hours. But with the sorry state of her Suburban, she would have to baby it to avoid breaking down in the middle of the road. She would have to make frequent stops to avoid over-exerting her venerable but hardly trusty old SUV. They would have to stop over for the night at El Paso.
Just then, she realized how very skillfully old lady Adelaide had avoided explaining exactly what was the curriculum at The School. Also, it kind of nagged at her not to be able to pinpoint the exact reason why she hadn't thought of The School in the first place. How did she forget about it, since it was all that Marge would talk about when they were kids? She supposed that, after Marge died on her trip to England twelve years ago, she put a lot of things about her sister out of her mind.
Oh, well, once she found a half-way decent motel at El Paso and got into a shower, she would review all the paperwork from The School, to see what they were all about… Maybe she'd even remember to do it, this time.
"Yep, it's gonna be a long, long, long, long trip, alright…"
The kid sat crumpled on the third row of the ancient Suburban, and sulked. He was an expert at sulking. With his beanie hat pulled down over his closely cropped dark red hair, almost over his emerald eyes in order to escape any stray stares, and with his ears stuffed with marshmallow earphones so that he could avoid any attempt at conversation, he was the personification of sullen aloofness.
The only other person in the SUV was the driver, Shari Wingrove (neé Sara Ruiz), and she did all she could to avoid falling into the trap of being the first to speak, but it never worked. She always tried to engage her son in conversation. Especially today, with such a long trip ahead of them.
"Listen, I'm sure you'll have an easier time in this new school. I understand that all those military academies were not really your thing. But this new school, well… Remember me telling you about your auntie Marge? She was a wild one, she really was! Wasn't she? Anyway, she went to that school, and she did very well, got her high-school diploma and all. I'm sorry it's so far away and… Hmph! You're not listening, are ya? Of course you're not…"
After checking a couple of times on the rear-view mirror, to see if she could catch his eye, she gave up trying to soothe his mood. He was also an expert at ignoring his mother.
"It's gonna be a long trip…" she sighed, and looked again at the GPS, to make sure she didn't miss the next highway, yet again. Truth be told, she was glad to be ignored this one time, because she needed to concentrate on making the right turns. When they finally made it out of Texas she would need to find the turn into Interstate 84 at Gallup, in New Mexico, and then it would be almost a straight shot all the way up to I-86. Then she would have to pay attention again to avoid getting lost until they finally made it past Ketchum, Idaho. Why The School should be all the way in the middle of nowhere, in Idaho, she couldn't guess. But they really wanted Giovanni there.
They were very insistent in all the letters they sent, almost begging her to send Giovanni to their boarding school. They promised scholarships for tuition, room and board, and living expenses. They were so enthusiastic in recruiting her son, that they even sent a very nice old lady to give her a presentation about the school, even before she had replied to any one of their letters.
How they had heard of her son, the nice old lady named Adelaide, was very eager to explain. Supposedly, a friend of a friend of a teacher who knew auntie Marge, back in the day, and who worked at Giovanni's last military academy, had recognized untapped potential in her son, had sent a letter of recommendation to The School, and they agreed that they just had to get him into The School. They just… had to. They had all sorts of grants supporting The School, Giovanni fit all their profiles, and "Bob's your uncle." Never mind that neither Giovanni nor Shari had filled out any sort of applications, no, everything was settled, and all that was left to do was for the legal guardian to sign the pertinent documents. And never mind that neither she nor her son had ever known anybody before who used the phrase "Bob's your uncle".
At the time, she was ecstatic to have this offer fall on her lap. It was right down providential. A couple of days before, the principal from the Preparatory School had phoned her to tell her that he was very sorry, but Giovanni was "not the right fit for the school," and could she please come get'im a'fore the week's out? Thank you, ma'am… For the fifth time straight, in as many military academies, her son was not the right fit for the school. Whatever the heck that meant. So she said yes, yes to The School, yes to the scholarships. Please and thank you. What else would she had done, if not? I mean, all the silly independent school districts in Texas had already black-balled Giovanni as "intractable, unsociable, and insufferable."
But that was hardly fair. Giovanni wasn't a bad kid. Okay, well, he was a bit unsociable, but who wasn't unsociable at sixteen? And the teachers were intimidated by his ability to just… know things. To be able to answer the test questions without doing one single homework assignment, or to be able to answer questions in class that even the teacher wasn't sure how to answer… Well, that had to be intimidating to all those bureaucrats.
Or maybe it was because nothing seemed to go right whenever Giovanni was around. He didn't have bad luck, as it were. Things just didn't work out with him around, that's all. When he was little, of course he got blamed for busting all of his toys. But as he got older, other situations arose that were more difficult to explain than a simple broken toy. Like the time when the cheerleader squad was…—
"Fodder Mucker!!!" Shari hated to use curse words: they were too vulgar for her. Instead, she was very fond of minced oaths. "Was that Sierra Blanca we just passed? Oh, right, like you would be paying attention. I just hope we don't end up in Mexico if I miss a turn… Alright, I guess I better stop woolgatherin' and pay attention to my drivin'…"
She checked the GPS, yet again. Under normal circumstances, the trip all the way to Idaho from South Texas should only take about twenty-four hours. But with the sorry state of her Suburban, she would have to baby it to avoid breaking down in the middle of the road. She would have to make frequent stops to avoid over-exerting her venerable but hardly trusty old SUV. They would have to stop over for the night at El Paso.
Just then, she realized how very skillfully old lady Adelaide had avoided explaining exactly what was the curriculum at The School. Also, it kind of nagged at her not to be able to pinpoint the exact reason why she hadn't thought of The School in the first place. How did she forget about it, since it was all that Marge would talk about when they were kids? She supposed that, after Marge died on her trip to England twelve years ago, she put a lot of things about her sister out of her mind.
Oh, well, once she found a half-way decent motel at El Paso and got into a shower, she would review all the paperwork from The School, to see what they were all about… Maybe she'd even remember to do it, this time.
"Yep, it's gonna be a long, long, long, long trip, alright…"
To be continued…
Finitum 2 (EN)
2. Forced Ruralization
Giovanni stood wan and pale, hands massaging his numb butt, and with a sneer on his face as he laid eyes on The School for the first time.
"Oh. My. God! You gotta be shittin' me… Aw!! Alright, alright! I'm sorry! Sheesh…"
Shari had just slapped the back of Giovanni's head. Hard. She didn't like saying bad words herself, and she absolutely hated to hear her son saying them.
Shari was a strange mixture of a stern disciplinarian, prim, proper matron from the eighteen hundreds, and a touchy-feely, new-agey, hippy-mom from the nineteen seventies. Giovanni was raised in some weird sort of tyrannical Pedocracy, where there was a wide latitude to express oneself and to make one's own decisions, except for whenever mom made up her mind about something. Then, there was no room for arguments. Whining, crying, holding-breath spells, sensible and reasoned arguments, none of it worked, though Giovanni always tried, rather earnestly. There were spankings when he was a small kid, but not many, and not as frequent as any other "difficult" boy like Giovanni would have gotten in any other home; but there was also a lot of caresses, hugs, kisses, tickles, and many hours of playing and romping around whenever mom was around. Shari was a single mom, and spent a lot of time working all sorts of odd jobs and odd schedules, but she always had time to play with Giovanni, no matter what time of the day, no matter how long she had gone sleepless. There was always time for her baby. Perhaps Giovanni understood and appreciated it, because he tried very hard not to antagonize his mom directly. Sure, he had trouble showing that he really cared, but he didn't do it on purpose. He was just teenaging out, as Shari liked to call it.
Now, Shari had to admit, as they both stood side by side facing The School, that Giovanni's reaction to it might have been completely appropriate.
"Wowzers…," was all she managed.
The School had sent some directions for Shari and Giovanni to find their way to Ketchum, Idaho. In the beginning, Shari thought it was some sort of joke that The School listed its address only as "on the outskirts of Ketchum, Idaho." When they arrived at Ketchum, Shari was already wondering if her old Suburban would not simply cough up gears and bolts and fall to pieces afterward. She had just forced it to climb the fifty-nine hundred feet up the mountain, up to Wood River Valley, where Ketchum nestled along Sun Valley. On top of that, the trip that should have lasted twenty-four hours was already half-way into it's fourth day.
But the view was majestic, with the valley cupped by giant mountains, bristling with forests, and cutting a wide azure swath across the sky out of the encroaching clouds all around. The trees seemed to go on forever, while Ketchum itself seemed some sort of dirty lint on that deep green carpet… Where, pray tell, could "on the outskirts" be, precisely?
After asking in several gas stations and stores on the way to Ketchum about "The School", and getting nothing but blank stares, she finally pulled over in disgust at a gas station right outside Ketchum's town proper, and while she had Giovanni fill up the tank, she riffled through all The School's brochures, growing more and more antsy by the second, trying to find some more directions, or a map, or something. Of course, the very last brochure she checked was the one with very detailed and precise directions on how to get up to The School "on the outskirts of Ketchum."
Funny, she thought, I could've sworn this brochure didn't come with the rest of them… Well, whatever. Might as well hurry up, who knows how early the sun goes down in these places…
So she started driving around, brochure in hand. Soon, she started getting distracted by odd things happening with her list of directions. For example, after a couple of turns, this was printed:
"Look for a Piggly-Wiggly. If you are a block away from it, you've gone too far already: You should turn around and go back two streets, to where there is a Taxidermist shop, and turn left. No, your other left." Shari could have sworn that line hadn't been there when she had scanned the directions quickly at first.
But she persevered, and after a couple more turns she found herself driving down on a black-top one-lane road that seemed to twist painfully around the foot of the mountain. Fairly soon, there were no more houses, and deer looked up at the Suburban with their typical stupid astonishment as they grazed along the sides of the road. Shari thought she had gone too far, and slowed down to check on her directions. Of course, it read:
"If you think you have gone too far, you haven't: you still have 1.8 miles to go. Zero out your travel odometer right now, and in 1.8 miles you will come across a rusty gate on the right side of the road. Yes, that's the right side."
She was so numb with the trip that she did whatever the brochure said. And, sure enough, one-point-eight miles later they came across a gate on the side of the road that had a rusty sign on it: "The School." Shari made Giovanni get off and push the gate open and closed for her, and read the next set of instructions:
"It may seem there is no road, but it's there, don't fret: the road is where the trees don't grow. Follow it, and if you don't stop sharpish at the end of the road, you'll find yourself parked inside the entrance hallway. Pay heed!"
She drove carefully for several minutes, following the path made by the lack of trees, and after a sudden turn and drop of a hill, The School loomed immediately before them. Shari had to stand on the brakes, and the Suburban groaned as if it had a tummy ache, while all the fast-food trash littering the inside of the cab rushed into the foot well of the front seats. The School was at the very end of the road, literally. The road ended at the front door, and beyond the building itself they could see the deepest ravine they've ever seen this side of a National Geographic.
Shari and Giovanni got out of the Suburban and stood side by side, looking upon some sort of stone and log ski lodge designed by Frank Lloyd Wright while he smoked a two-gallon bucket of crack and nursed a log-cabin fetish. The stone base of the lodge seemed to be two city-blocks wide from side to side, but only the length of a regular lodge from front to back. And the logs on the top section were piled on top of each other, as if someone had smooshed several log cabins at weird angles. From where they stood, they could see no less than thirteen steeple rooftops, nine stone chimneys, five lightning rods, and every roof had a weather vane with fantastical figures topping them.
"Wowzers!," repeated Shari.
"You have got to be fucking kidding me!," said Giovanni, and this time no one slapped the back of his head.
Giovanni stood wan and pale, hands massaging his numb butt, and with a sneer on his face as he laid eyes on The School for the first time.
"Oh. My. God! You gotta be shittin' me… Aw!! Alright, alright! I'm sorry! Sheesh…"
Shari had just slapped the back of Giovanni's head. Hard. She didn't like saying bad words herself, and she absolutely hated to hear her son saying them.
Shari was a strange mixture of a stern disciplinarian, prim, proper matron from the eighteen hundreds, and a touchy-feely, new-agey, hippy-mom from the nineteen seventies. Giovanni was raised in some weird sort of tyrannical Pedocracy, where there was a wide latitude to express oneself and to make one's own decisions, except for whenever mom made up her mind about something. Then, there was no room for arguments. Whining, crying, holding-breath spells, sensible and reasoned arguments, none of it worked, though Giovanni always tried, rather earnestly. There were spankings when he was a small kid, but not many, and not as frequent as any other "difficult" boy like Giovanni would have gotten in any other home; but there was also a lot of caresses, hugs, kisses, tickles, and many hours of playing and romping around whenever mom was around. Shari was a single mom, and spent a lot of time working all sorts of odd jobs and odd schedules, but she always had time to play with Giovanni, no matter what time of the day, no matter how long she had gone sleepless. There was always time for her baby. Perhaps Giovanni understood and appreciated it, because he tried very hard not to antagonize his mom directly. Sure, he had trouble showing that he really cared, but he didn't do it on purpose. He was just teenaging out, as Shari liked to call it.
Now, Shari had to admit, as they both stood side by side facing The School, that Giovanni's reaction to it might have been completely appropriate.
"Wowzers…," was all she managed.
The School had sent some directions for Shari and Giovanni to find their way to Ketchum, Idaho. In the beginning, Shari thought it was some sort of joke that The School listed its address only as "on the outskirts of Ketchum, Idaho." When they arrived at Ketchum, Shari was already wondering if her old Suburban would not simply cough up gears and bolts and fall to pieces afterward. She had just forced it to climb the fifty-nine hundred feet up the mountain, up to Wood River Valley, where Ketchum nestled along Sun Valley. On top of that, the trip that should have lasted twenty-four hours was already half-way into it's fourth day.
But the view was majestic, with the valley cupped by giant mountains, bristling with forests, and cutting a wide azure swath across the sky out of the encroaching clouds all around. The trees seemed to go on forever, while Ketchum itself seemed some sort of dirty lint on that deep green carpet… Where, pray tell, could "on the outskirts" be, precisely?
After asking in several gas stations and stores on the way to Ketchum about "The School", and getting nothing but blank stares, she finally pulled over in disgust at a gas station right outside Ketchum's town proper, and while she had Giovanni fill up the tank, she riffled through all The School's brochures, growing more and more antsy by the second, trying to find some more directions, or a map, or something. Of course, the very last brochure she checked was the one with very detailed and precise directions on how to get up to The School "on the outskirts of Ketchum."
Funny, she thought, I could've sworn this brochure didn't come with the rest of them… Well, whatever. Might as well hurry up, who knows how early the sun goes down in these places…
So she started driving around, brochure in hand. Soon, she started getting distracted by odd things happening with her list of directions. For example, after a couple of turns, this was printed:
"Look for a Piggly-Wiggly. If you are a block away from it, you've gone too far already: You should turn around and go back two streets, to where there is a Taxidermist shop, and turn left. No, your other left." Shari could have sworn that line hadn't been there when she had scanned the directions quickly at first.
But she persevered, and after a couple more turns she found herself driving down on a black-top one-lane road that seemed to twist painfully around the foot of the mountain. Fairly soon, there were no more houses, and deer looked up at the Suburban with their typical stupid astonishment as they grazed along the sides of the road. Shari thought she had gone too far, and slowed down to check on her directions. Of course, it read:
"If you think you have gone too far, you haven't: you still have 1.8 miles to go. Zero out your travel odometer right now, and in 1.8 miles you will come across a rusty gate on the right side of the road. Yes, that's the right side."
She was so numb with the trip that she did whatever the brochure said. And, sure enough, one-point-eight miles later they came across a gate on the side of the road that had a rusty sign on it: "The School." Shari made Giovanni get off and push the gate open and closed for her, and read the next set of instructions:
"It may seem there is no road, but it's there, don't fret: the road is where the trees don't grow. Follow it, and if you don't stop sharpish at the end of the road, you'll find yourself parked inside the entrance hallway. Pay heed!"
She drove carefully for several minutes, following the path made by the lack of trees, and after a sudden turn and drop of a hill, The School loomed immediately before them. Shari had to stand on the brakes, and the Suburban groaned as if it had a tummy ache, while all the fast-food trash littering the inside of the cab rushed into the foot well of the front seats. The School was at the very end of the road, literally. The road ended at the front door, and beyond the building itself they could see the deepest ravine they've ever seen this side of a National Geographic.
Shari and Giovanni got out of the Suburban and stood side by side, looking upon some sort of stone and log ski lodge designed by Frank Lloyd Wright while he smoked a two-gallon bucket of crack and nursed a log-cabin fetish. The stone base of the lodge seemed to be two city-blocks wide from side to side, but only the length of a regular lodge from front to back. And the logs on the top section were piled on top of each other, as if someone had smooshed several log cabins at weird angles. From where they stood, they could see no less than thirteen steeple rooftops, nine stone chimneys, five lightning rods, and every roof had a weather vane with fantastical figures topping them.
"Wowzers!," repeated Shari.
"You have got to be fucking kidding me!," said Giovanni, and this time no one slapped the back of his head.
To be continued…
Finitum 3 (EN)
3. Arrivals
Before Shari and Giovanni could recuperate from their stupefaction, several things happened at once: The Suburban behind them gave a cough mixed with a whine, and belched a blue-black cloud of smoke from the front grill. A tiny old man in greasy coveralls trotted towards them from the far side of the cabin. An impressively tall and brawny lumberjack, with a huge ax on his shoulder and encased in flannel, emerged from the forest behind them. The front door to the whimsical log building in front of them opened and three matronly old women rushed at them with smiles on their face and hands knotted in their bosoms. A small window above them opened up and an elfin face framed by straight dark hair peeked out for a second or two. And, unnoticed by all of them, a pair of eyes glared hungrily from one of the cellar windows for a moment, before receding back into the shadows.
A round of welcoming ensued, with Shari and Giovanni buried under hugs, handshakes and many pats in the back by everyone involved. And as sudden as it had begun, it was over: The lumberjack went into the house, the three ladies pulled out all of Giovanni's belongings from the Suburban and retreated into the cabin, and the tiny old man in greasy coveralls opened the Suburban's hood and practically disappeared inside of the engine well, all the while muttering angrily under his breath. In a matter of moments, Shari and Giovanni again stood alone in front of the cabin. Except for the old man, who was still cursing under his breath at the state in which he found things inside the Suburban. With a huff of disgust, he looked over at them, and then muttered:
"Some folks ain't takin' care of they stuff, I guess… Goan' get me tools!," and then ran back towards the side of the lodge.
Just then, one of the matronly ladies came back out, and Shari was able to finally recognize her as old lady Adelaide, and she was beckoning them towards the entrance.
"We are soooooo glad you've finally arrived!," she said while patting both their shoulders nervously. "Come in, come in! Are you hungry? Would you like some tea? You look absolutely exhausted, let me show you to your quarters, young lady! Did you find us alright, Shari? My, my, you are a handsome boy! And your mom is so pretty! Your picture does not do you justice, neither of you! Let me show you to the parlor!"
Old lady Adelaide wouldn't let them squeeze a word in sideways, so they gave up after a few unsuccessful tries. At the parlor, the other two old ladies were waiting for them, barely containing their enthusiasm.
"Well then, introductions all around: This is Agatha," Adelaide pointed at the old lady with the really thick eyeglasses, "and that one is Tabitha," she now pointed to the old lady with a white beehive hairdo.
"And she's Bagatha!," Agatha and Tabitha squealed at the same time, and then they all giggled like schoolgirls.
Giovanni's sneer on his face was a clear indication that he was about to say something rude, so Shari just elbowed him in the ribs and gave him a warning look. He just rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything, yet.
"Sorry, we always have our little joke…" Adelaide wiped away a tear, and while the other two continued gently chuckling, she waved for Shari and Giovanni to follow her through another hallway. "Come with me. I'm sure you both are famished after such a long trip. Let me take you to the kitchens and we'll get you squared away proper. Then, we'll get you settled down for the night already, because we begin the day pretty early around here."
So, while Giovanni wolfed down a small pile of hot-dogs and French fries, Shari asked all the adult questions about which classes were scheduled, and about buying any last minute supplies, or scheduling meetings with teachers, and other things like that. But Adelaide kept waving all those things off, as if none of it really mattered.
"Look, Shari, we understand you had to drive a long way, all the way from South Texas, so we know you must be absolutely bushed. Why don't we talk about all this tomorrow, after you have a good night's sleep? For tonight, we'll have you stay in one of the guest rooms. It has its own bathroom, so it ought to be quite comfy. We'll take care of settling down mister Giovanni, here, and get him ready for tomorrow. Mister Wozniak, the gentleman with the ax, did you see him? Yes? He will be in charge of Giovanni's orientation, since he is the Group Leader for Giovanni, and… Oh, speak of the devil…"
If Mr Wozniak had seem big and tall outside, by the forest, the enclosed space in the cabin made him look only slightly less massive than a grizzly bear. And almost as hairy. He placed a huge paw of a hand on Giovanni's shoulder, which made both the boy and the stool where he sat list to one side. But when he spoke, a curiously high and delicate voice emerged from his cave-like mouth, making both Shari and Giovanni listen open-mouthed.
"Well, well, well, you've finally made it here! Welcome! Are you done with your little snack? You still hungry? No? Fine! Say your goodbyes to your mom, because tomorrow at dawn you are starting in The School, and you won't see your mom again until the Christmas break. Adelaide and I will wait for you in the hallway, to give you a little privacy."
Wozniak and Adelaide retired to the hallway, where they immediately engaged in an intense, whispered conversation.
Meanwhile, Shari and Giovanni, veterans of many boarding schools, had their goodbye routine down pat.
"You've got my cell number, so call if there's anything you need," Shari said, knowing full well that Giovanni would never call.
"Alright, mom. Bye, then…" Giovanni tried to get up and walk away, like always, trying to avoid his mom getting all gushy and gooey on him. And, like always, he never made it… Shari pulled him back and gave him hugs and kisses, and squeezed his face in her hands. Giovanni pretended to feel embarrassed by the affection, like always…
"I'll send you whatever money I can afford, so you can buy stuff you need, okay?"
"It's alright, mom, don't worry about it, okay? They said all expenses were being taken care of, right? So don't worry, okay?" Giovanni didn't want his mom to go and get yet another part-time job.
"Okay, be good, ya hear?"
With the goodbye ritual completed, Giovanni gave a half-hearted wave and walked toward the whispering hallway, where his new teachers waited for him.
"Well, they can't possibly be any worse than the last five drill sergeants…" Giovanni thought.
And he was right. And wrong.
Before Shari and Giovanni could recuperate from their stupefaction, several things happened at once: The Suburban behind them gave a cough mixed with a whine, and belched a blue-black cloud of smoke from the front grill. A tiny old man in greasy coveralls trotted towards them from the far side of the cabin. An impressively tall and brawny lumberjack, with a huge ax on his shoulder and encased in flannel, emerged from the forest behind them. The front door to the whimsical log building in front of them opened and three matronly old women rushed at them with smiles on their face and hands knotted in their bosoms. A small window above them opened up and an elfin face framed by straight dark hair peeked out for a second or two. And, unnoticed by all of them, a pair of eyes glared hungrily from one of the cellar windows for a moment, before receding back into the shadows.
A round of welcoming ensued, with Shari and Giovanni buried under hugs, handshakes and many pats in the back by everyone involved. And as sudden as it had begun, it was over: The lumberjack went into the house, the three ladies pulled out all of Giovanni's belongings from the Suburban and retreated into the cabin, and the tiny old man in greasy coveralls opened the Suburban's hood and practically disappeared inside of the engine well, all the while muttering angrily under his breath. In a matter of moments, Shari and Giovanni again stood alone in front of the cabin. Except for the old man, who was still cursing under his breath at the state in which he found things inside the Suburban. With a huff of disgust, he looked over at them, and then muttered:
"Some folks ain't takin' care of they stuff, I guess… Goan' get me tools!," and then ran back towards the side of the lodge.
Just then, one of the matronly ladies came back out, and Shari was able to finally recognize her as old lady Adelaide, and she was beckoning them towards the entrance.
"We are soooooo glad you've finally arrived!," she said while patting both their shoulders nervously. "Come in, come in! Are you hungry? Would you like some tea? You look absolutely exhausted, let me show you to your quarters, young lady! Did you find us alright, Shari? My, my, you are a handsome boy! And your mom is so pretty! Your picture does not do you justice, neither of you! Let me show you to the parlor!"
Old lady Adelaide wouldn't let them squeeze a word in sideways, so they gave up after a few unsuccessful tries. At the parlor, the other two old ladies were waiting for them, barely containing their enthusiasm.
"Well then, introductions all around: This is Agatha," Adelaide pointed at the old lady with the really thick eyeglasses, "and that one is Tabitha," she now pointed to the old lady with a white beehive hairdo.
"And she's Bagatha!," Agatha and Tabitha squealed at the same time, and then they all giggled like schoolgirls.
Giovanni's sneer on his face was a clear indication that he was about to say something rude, so Shari just elbowed him in the ribs and gave him a warning look. He just rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything, yet.
"Sorry, we always have our little joke…" Adelaide wiped away a tear, and while the other two continued gently chuckling, she waved for Shari and Giovanni to follow her through another hallway. "Come with me. I'm sure you both are famished after such a long trip. Let me take you to the kitchens and we'll get you squared away proper. Then, we'll get you settled down for the night already, because we begin the day pretty early around here."
So, while Giovanni wolfed down a small pile of hot-dogs and French fries, Shari asked all the adult questions about which classes were scheduled, and about buying any last minute supplies, or scheduling meetings with teachers, and other things like that. But Adelaide kept waving all those things off, as if none of it really mattered.
"Look, Shari, we understand you had to drive a long way, all the way from South Texas, so we know you must be absolutely bushed. Why don't we talk about all this tomorrow, after you have a good night's sleep? For tonight, we'll have you stay in one of the guest rooms. It has its own bathroom, so it ought to be quite comfy. We'll take care of settling down mister Giovanni, here, and get him ready for tomorrow. Mister Wozniak, the gentleman with the ax, did you see him? Yes? He will be in charge of Giovanni's orientation, since he is the Group Leader for Giovanni, and… Oh, speak of the devil…"
If Mr Wozniak had seem big and tall outside, by the forest, the enclosed space in the cabin made him look only slightly less massive than a grizzly bear. And almost as hairy. He placed a huge paw of a hand on Giovanni's shoulder, which made both the boy and the stool where he sat list to one side. But when he spoke, a curiously high and delicate voice emerged from his cave-like mouth, making both Shari and Giovanni listen open-mouthed.
"Well, well, well, you've finally made it here! Welcome! Are you done with your little snack? You still hungry? No? Fine! Say your goodbyes to your mom, because tomorrow at dawn you are starting in The School, and you won't see your mom again until the Christmas break. Adelaide and I will wait for you in the hallway, to give you a little privacy."
Wozniak and Adelaide retired to the hallway, where they immediately engaged in an intense, whispered conversation.
Meanwhile, Shari and Giovanni, veterans of many boarding schools, had their goodbye routine down pat.
"You've got my cell number, so call if there's anything you need," Shari said, knowing full well that Giovanni would never call.
"Alright, mom. Bye, then…" Giovanni tried to get up and walk away, like always, trying to avoid his mom getting all gushy and gooey on him. And, like always, he never made it… Shari pulled him back and gave him hugs and kisses, and squeezed his face in her hands. Giovanni pretended to feel embarrassed by the affection, like always…
"I'll send you whatever money I can afford, so you can buy stuff you need, okay?"
"It's alright, mom, don't worry about it, okay? They said all expenses were being taken care of, right? So don't worry, okay?" Giovanni didn't want his mom to go and get yet another part-time job.
"Okay, be good, ya hear?"
With the goodbye ritual completed, Giovanni gave a half-hearted wave and walked toward the whispering hallway, where his new teachers waited for him.
"Well, they can't possibly be any worse than the last five drill sergeants…" Giovanni thought.
And he was right. And wrong.
To Be Continued…
Finitum 4 (EN)
4. Fresh Fish
While Adelaide got Shari settled down in one of the guest's rooms, presumably, Mr Wozniak took Giovanni on a quick tour of the lodge. The hallways wandered seemingly at random, at different levels. There would be a short four-step stair in the middle of one hallway, and all the rooms on the far end would be only three or four feet higher than the rooms in the near end of the hallway. And, in some other hallways, there were steps going up and then going down for no apparent reason. Some corridors had five doors in a row on one side, and none on the other. And there was this one corridor that led nowhere, and had no doors on either side, just blank walls. As they walked around, Wozniak kept pointing at different doors and saying things like, "closet, study hall, closet, library, my office, dorm, closet, closet, closet, classroom, closet, dorm…" It seemed as if most of the doors in the house led to closets. When Giovanni asked if that was true, Mr Wozniak gave him a rather weird reply.
"Well, usually they are closets, but you can never tell for sure…"
After walking what seemed a straight line, without two consecutive turns in the same direction, Giovanni was surprised to find himself back in the kitchen, entering now through a different door than before.
"Okay," said Mr Wozniak "That's just the first floor, but you'll spend most of the time there, so that's enough for the moment. Let me show you to your pod, now… Yes? Question?"
"Yeah, you just said 'just the first floor'. So, how many floors are there in this place?"
"Oh, there are several. At the moment, and off the top of my head, I would say four… Yes, about four sound right, at the moment… Question?"
"Erm… No, now that I think about it, no, thanks, no more questions…," Giovanni said while screwing up his face in consternation.
"Very well. Walk with me while I explain how things work around here. The School is a special educational system for Gifted students. We only have about fifty students in each center, and we have many centers nationwide. They are all part of The School. In each center, we group the students according to aptitude level. This center here is for novices. Now, don't go feeling all self-conscious and stuff, eh? You're a novice because you didn't know you were Gifted until very recently, and some of the kids here knew they were Gifted, but had never before been able to use their Gift. The students here range from age eleven to seventeen, so don't be surprised to find yourself in a classroom sitting next to a child on one side and a grown-up on the other side. Like I said, it's all done according to aptitude. You will all stay here as long as you need to stay."
"Well, that don't make no sense!" Giovanni was quick to protest. "How can you keep us all in the same classrooms, if an eleven year old will be studying elementary-grade Math, for example, while a seventeen year old will be studying Physics?"
"Ah, that's why we have tutors to work individually with every child, for the regular classes you'll need to take in order to get your High School Diploma in this state. Those three ladies you met, Agatha, Tabitha…"
"And Bagatha…," muttered Giovanni.
"Ah, you liked that, didn't you? Yes, the three Furies, as they are known to our people, they are the tutors for all the regular classes and stuff. They'll get you squared away proper, they will. You'll see, that without having to attend the skull-numbing drudgery of regular classes, you'll find that regular school-work is all easy-piecey lemon-squeezey!"
Giovanni cocked an eyebrow at the alliteration.
"Anyway, you'll have time to learn all the differences in your new education. You are now officially Gifted! Welcome to The School for the Gifted!" Wozniak patted Giovanni on the back, forcing him to brace himself against the corridor's wall. "So, tonight I will take you to your pod. This year, we only had forty-three students, so you make lucky number eleven in your pod. We have barrack-like dorms, so you get a bed, a footlocker, and a dresser to put away all your stuff, and get to sleep with ten other people around you. Cozy, eh? Well, that's really everything you need to know tonight. We're here: Welcome to your pod!"
Wozniak and Giovanni stood in front of a solitary door in the middle of a long hallway. Wozniak opened the door and stepped through, with Giovanni hesitating a little bit at the threshold.
From his vantage point, the pod looked like any other barrack he had seen in movies, except the walls were covered with posters of teen idols, violent video-games, and heavy metal bands. All around the room there was a happy maelstrom of children, candy wrappers, torn notebooks, dirty socks, laundry of indefinable cleanliness status, and many other pieces of debris, which made Giovanni feel almost home. Everything stopped suddenly, when Wozniak raised his alto voice.
"Okay, everyone settle down, already! I bring you… Fresh fish!! Go get 'em, tiger!" And Wozniak pushed Giovanni into the room with one of his gigantic paws, smiled at him once, and slammed the door shut. Maybe it was his imagination, but Giovanni thought he heard locks turn and chains rattle against the door.
He turned around, and was confronted by ten faces looking at him with various degrees of curiosity, friendliness, and, in one or two faces, malice. He felt chagrin momentarily, when he noticed that most of the kids were younger than him. A lot younger. And he was flabbergasted to see two or three girls in the group. That was going to make shower-time interesting and uncomfortable. He did not look forward to early mornings, when his body did all sorts of weird things of its own volition, and all of them apparently designed to embarrass him.
"Well, here goes nuthin'," thought Giovanni. Then, he took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and resumed his slouch. "Alright, which one is my bunk?"
He was surprised when the smallest of all the children piped up, "Why, that's just rude, boy. Where are your manners? Why don't you introduce yourself? Or, never mind, who cares? Maybe just pay the toll, give us whatever dollar bills you have in your your wallet, and maybe we'll tell you which one is your 'boonk'… Then again, by the sorry raggedy looks of you, you might only have coins!!" Some of the kids with the more unfriendly faces chuckled.
"Fine, if that's how you want it…" Giovanni, at five foot nine and a hundred thirty pounds soaking wet, was small for his sixteen years of age. But his long career in boarding schools had toughened him enough so that he hadn't allowed anyone to haze him without reprisals since he was thirteen. It might have cost him many bruises and puffy eyes, but nobody messed with him afterwards. He was wiry, and had learned to use his monkey-strength to his advantage against bullies: He just never stopped, he kept coming no matter how bruised and battered he was, like a wild animal.
So he took three steps up to the obnoxious child, who didn't stop smiling until Giovanni had grabbed him and was holding him upside down, dangling him by his ankles a few inches over the floor.
"Now," said Giovanni, cool and collected "Just point me in the right direction, won't ya?"
Two of the oldest children, who seemed to be all of thirteen, pulled out identical slender sticks from their back pockets, and pointing them at Giovanni's back, yelled in unison, "Boils and Rash!" Two red sparks shot from the tips of their sticks towards Giovanni's back.
Some of the children screamed in fright, and the youngest girl actually yelled, "Behind you!!"
The moment the sparks connected with Giovanni's back, he arched in pain for a second, and let go of the offending child, who landed on his head and was knocked out for a while.
"Ow! That burns!" Giovanni kept trying to reach behind his back, to rub the place where the sparkles had hit. "Alright, you mother-lovers, it's on!"
Giovanni and his two bony fists advanced on the two kids who still had their sticks pointed at him. They looked at him wide-eyed and slack-jawed. Out of the corner of his eye, Giovanni noticed that they all looked flabbergasted.
He was about to reach for those two heads to knock them together when the door banged open and Mr Wozniak seemed to fill the entire room all of the sudden.
"What in the name of Bocephus are you two doing with your wands out? Didn't I tell you to put them away after dinner? Gimme!" His huge hand made it seem as if the wands had disappeared when he closed his fist over them. "Every one in bed in thirty seconds! Now!!"
Giovanni could have sworn that the wind created by Wozniak's roar had blown all the children into their beds. At last, with everyone laying down and still, he saw the only empty bed, and went to lay down on it, with his clothes on.
"Good night!!" Another roar, and the lights went out.
While Adelaide got Shari settled down in one of the guest's rooms, presumably, Mr Wozniak took Giovanni on a quick tour of the lodge. The hallways wandered seemingly at random, at different levels. There would be a short four-step stair in the middle of one hallway, and all the rooms on the far end would be only three or four feet higher than the rooms in the near end of the hallway. And, in some other hallways, there were steps going up and then going down for no apparent reason. Some corridors had five doors in a row on one side, and none on the other. And there was this one corridor that led nowhere, and had no doors on either side, just blank walls. As they walked around, Wozniak kept pointing at different doors and saying things like, "closet, study hall, closet, library, my office, dorm, closet, closet, closet, classroom, closet, dorm…" It seemed as if most of the doors in the house led to closets. When Giovanni asked if that was true, Mr Wozniak gave him a rather weird reply.
"Well, usually they are closets, but you can never tell for sure…"
After walking what seemed a straight line, without two consecutive turns in the same direction, Giovanni was surprised to find himself back in the kitchen, entering now through a different door than before.
"Okay," said Mr Wozniak "That's just the first floor, but you'll spend most of the time there, so that's enough for the moment. Let me show you to your pod, now… Yes? Question?"
"Yeah, you just said 'just the first floor'. So, how many floors are there in this place?"
"Oh, there are several. At the moment, and off the top of my head, I would say four… Yes, about four sound right, at the moment… Question?"
"Erm… No, now that I think about it, no, thanks, no more questions…," Giovanni said while screwing up his face in consternation.
"Very well. Walk with me while I explain how things work around here. The School is a special educational system for Gifted students. We only have about fifty students in each center, and we have many centers nationwide. They are all part of The School. In each center, we group the students according to aptitude level. This center here is for novices. Now, don't go feeling all self-conscious and stuff, eh? You're a novice because you didn't know you were Gifted until very recently, and some of the kids here knew they were Gifted, but had never before been able to use their Gift. The students here range from age eleven to seventeen, so don't be surprised to find yourself in a classroom sitting next to a child on one side and a grown-up on the other side. Like I said, it's all done according to aptitude. You will all stay here as long as you need to stay."
"Well, that don't make no sense!" Giovanni was quick to protest. "How can you keep us all in the same classrooms, if an eleven year old will be studying elementary-grade Math, for example, while a seventeen year old will be studying Physics?"
"Ah, that's why we have tutors to work individually with every child, for the regular classes you'll need to take in order to get your High School Diploma in this state. Those three ladies you met, Agatha, Tabitha…"
"And Bagatha…," muttered Giovanni.
"Ah, you liked that, didn't you? Yes, the three Furies, as they are known to our people, they are the tutors for all the regular classes and stuff. They'll get you squared away proper, they will. You'll see, that without having to attend the skull-numbing drudgery of regular classes, you'll find that regular school-work is all easy-piecey lemon-squeezey!"
Giovanni cocked an eyebrow at the alliteration.
"Anyway, you'll have time to learn all the differences in your new education. You are now officially Gifted! Welcome to The School for the Gifted!" Wozniak patted Giovanni on the back, forcing him to brace himself against the corridor's wall. "So, tonight I will take you to your pod. This year, we only had forty-three students, so you make lucky number eleven in your pod. We have barrack-like dorms, so you get a bed, a footlocker, and a dresser to put away all your stuff, and get to sleep with ten other people around you. Cozy, eh? Well, that's really everything you need to know tonight. We're here: Welcome to your pod!"
Wozniak and Giovanni stood in front of a solitary door in the middle of a long hallway. Wozniak opened the door and stepped through, with Giovanni hesitating a little bit at the threshold.
From his vantage point, the pod looked like any other barrack he had seen in movies, except the walls were covered with posters of teen idols, violent video-games, and heavy metal bands. All around the room there was a happy maelstrom of children, candy wrappers, torn notebooks, dirty socks, laundry of indefinable cleanliness status, and many other pieces of debris, which made Giovanni feel almost home. Everything stopped suddenly, when Wozniak raised his alto voice.
"Okay, everyone settle down, already! I bring you… Fresh fish!! Go get 'em, tiger!" And Wozniak pushed Giovanni into the room with one of his gigantic paws, smiled at him once, and slammed the door shut. Maybe it was his imagination, but Giovanni thought he heard locks turn and chains rattle against the door.
He turned around, and was confronted by ten faces looking at him with various degrees of curiosity, friendliness, and, in one or two faces, malice. He felt chagrin momentarily, when he noticed that most of the kids were younger than him. A lot younger. And he was flabbergasted to see two or three girls in the group. That was going to make shower-time interesting and uncomfortable. He did not look forward to early mornings, when his body did all sorts of weird things of its own volition, and all of them apparently designed to embarrass him.
"Well, here goes nuthin'," thought Giovanni. Then, he took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and resumed his slouch. "Alright, which one is my bunk?"
He was surprised when the smallest of all the children piped up, "Why, that's just rude, boy. Where are your manners? Why don't you introduce yourself? Or, never mind, who cares? Maybe just pay the toll, give us whatever dollar bills you have in your your wallet, and maybe we'll tell you which one is your 'boonk'… Then again, by the sorry raggedy looks of you, you might only have coins!!" Some of the kids with the more unfriendly faces chuckled.
"Fine, if that's how you want it…" Giovanni, at five foot nine and a hundred thirty pounds soaking wet, was small for his sixteen years of age. But his long career in boarding schools had toughened him enough so that he hadn't allowed anyone to haze him without reprisals since he was thirteen. It might have cost him many bruises and puffy eyes, but nobody messed with him afterwards. He was wiry, and had learned to use his monkey-strength to his advantage against bullies: He just never stopped, he kept coming no matter how bruised and battered he was, like a wild animal.
So he took three steps up to the obnoxious child, who didn't stop smiling until Giovanni had grabbed him and was holding him upside down, dangling him by his ankles a few inches over the floor.
"Now," said Giovanni, cool and collected "Just point me in the right direction, won't ya?"
Two of the oldest children, who seemed to be all of thirteen, pulled out identical slender sticks from their back pockets, and pointing them at Giovanni's back, yelled in unison, "Boils and Rash!" Two red sparks shot from the tips of their sticks towards Giovanni's back.
Some of the children screamed in fright, and the youngest girl actually yelled, "Behind you!!"
The moment the sparks connected with Giovanni's back, he arched in pain for a second, and let go of the offending child, who landed on his head and was knocked out for a while.
"Ow! That burns!" Giovanni kept trying to reach behind his back, to rub the place where the sparkles had hit. "Alright, you mother-lovers, it's on!"
Giovanni and his two bony fists advanced on the two kids who still had their sticks pointed at him. They looked at him wide-eyed and slack-jawed. Out of the corner of his eye, Giovanni noticed that they all looked flabbergasted.
He was about to reach for those two heads to knock them together when the door banged open and Mr Wozniak seemed to fill the entire room all of the sudden.
"What in the name of Bocephus are you two doing with your wands out? Didn't I tell you to put them away after dinner? Gimme!" His huge hand made it seem as if the wands had disappeared when he closed his fist over them. "Every one in bed in thirty seconds! Now!!"
Giovanni could have sworn that the wind created by Wozniak's roar had blown all the children into their beds. At last, with everyone laying down and still, he saw the only empty bed, and went to lay down on it, with his clothes on.
"Good night!!" Another roar, and the lights went out.
To Be Continued…
Finitum 5 (EN)
5. Beginnings Are Hard
"So, how'd he do? Did he use any magic?," Adelaide asked anxiously, as soon as Wozniak squeezed into the kitchen again.
"Well, I don't think he did, but he was able to either deflect or dodge the Thompsons' double attack… Oh, and next time I see their older brother, Mac, I'm gonna have a word or two with him about teaching novice children advanced curses… I took their wands away for a while… Yeah, so, anyway, The Thompsons tried their infamous bodily harm curse, but I think they missed… I think I went back inside a little bit too soon, though, because it seemed to me that li'l Wingrove was about to punch their lights out…, which would have been regrettable, of course," Wozniak hurried to add, when he noticed Adelaide giving him a hard look. "Gotta watch out for 'im, though, seems to have a temper, that one. So… How did it go with Ms Wingrove? Will the Memory Charm take?"
"We'll see. I told her everything about The School and then modified her memories… If Giovanni decides to tell her about his stay here next time they meet, then Shari's memories should simply come back, and it would be as if she had just forgotten for a little while. But you know that kind of Charm is always tricky… We'll see," Adelaide repeated.
Suddenly, both stood up ramrod straight and cocked their head to the side.
"There it is, again! Do you hear it this time?," Adelaide whispered.
"Yeah, it's like you said, like a muted trumpet… Ach! I feel nauseated, as if someone just riffled my innards…" Wozniak actually looked a little green around the gills.
"I don't feel well myself, either. I think I will retire for the evening. But we'll have to tell the rest of the staff in the morning. This is some sort of intrusion. Someone is scanning us! Talk to Johannsen and have him double-check the security of the Perimeter."
"Yes, ma'am! On my way!"
***
Meanwhile, Cerulean Pod was quieter tonight than any other night in recent memory: It wasn't customary to have grizzly-sized Mr Wozniak yelling at them to get into bed ahead of Lights Out, or to have their resident bullies so easily thwarted. Only the very brave dared to continue gossiping in whispers that floated from one bed to the next. However, something none of them knew because they were all novices, was that no one, but absolutely no one, had ever withstood two full-blast bodily harm curses with nothing more to show for it than a slight itch.
Oblivious to all these exciting facts, Giovanni snored noisily, with one arm draped over his face, and a leg hanging down on the side of his bed. The four-day trip in an ancient SUV had taken its toll.
***
Next morning came entirely too early for Giovanni, tired as he was. An insistent but soft chime had begun ringing around five-thirty, which he was able to ignore for a few minutes until the youngest girl in the dorm, who slept in the next bed over, kicked the foot of his bed a few times.
"Wakey, wakey!" She was one of those annoying people who are actually chipper in the morning. When she saw him sit up, she left for the bathrooms.
Giovanni considered skipping the shower so he could snooze a few more minutes. But he had grown accustomed to getting up at five in the morning for the last couple of years, so he just mumbled curses for a few seconds while he stretched and cleared the gunk from his eyes. Then, he rummaged through his luggage until he found a towel, toothbrush, toothpaste… He was very relieved to find that the pod had two sets of restrooms and bathrooms, for boys and for girls, and got cleaned up in a few minutes. When he came out of the bathroom, though, he realized he had forgotten all about the three girls in the dorm, and belatedly covered himself with the towel, turning slightly less red in the face than the three girls.
"Maybe next time you will consider taking a change of underwear into the bathroom with you, like all the normal people do, asshole!"
This was the tiny kid who had sassed him last night. Giovanni didn't bother arguing with the boy, but instead looked at him intently and rubbed his own forehead pointedly on the same spot where the mini-bully sported a small goose-egg. That shut him up. Giovanni got his clothes, went back to the bathroom, and came back out. He went to his bunk, made the bed, and started putting away his stuff.
"You'll have time to do that after breakfast!," the small girl said, still entirely too happy for such ungodly time of the day.
"Um, okay, thanks. Hi, sorry, didn't have much time last night for introductions. I'm Giovanni…" And he stuck out his hand.
"I'm Circe!" And she ignored the hand to give him a quick hug. "I'm so happy to meet you! I like you! Come on, breakfast! I'm so hungry! Let's go!"
"Okay… But you lead the way. I'm not sure I could find the way back to the kitchen."
"Don't be silly! Of course you can! All you have to do is go straight. As long as you don't take two turns in the same direction, one after the other, you will always end up in the kitchen!"
True enough, although they seemed to wander for far too many minutes, they actually arrived at the kitchen with everybody else. All the other students entered through three other doors, and Giovanni realized these were the students from the other three pods. Everyone passed in front of the stove, and received a plate full of food. At the stove, a lady about the size of a commercial refrigerator and wearing the whitest apron that Giovanni had ever seen, stood there monolithic, and dispensing the food like an automaton.
"Erm… You got some cereal instead?," Giovanni asked, as he received a plate piled high with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, grits, biscuits, and ham.
The kitchen goddess only flicked her eyes at him, and mumbled gutturally, "Eat it! It's good for you!"
"Look, no offense, but…"
"Thank you, miss Loeb! May I have some grape jam?" Little Circe elbowed Giovanni ahead of her, and her bright smile seemed to mellow titanic Ms Loeb back into impassivity.
"Whoo! That was close! Look, just eat whatever miss Loeb gives you, and no one gets hurt, okay? Just do it, it's one of those things, you'll see…" Circe hurried Giovanni away from the kitchen and into a dining room with barely enough room to sit all forty-four students at once.
The decor was Early Crazy Hunter, with all the four log walls decorated by dozens of antlers of all sizes, from floor to ceiling. There were eleven small square tables for the students, and a long table at the back, where the teachers sat. Each table had jugs of milk, orange juice and water, and four place-settings. Belatedly, Giovanni realized that the only spots available were at the table where the other two girls in his pod were looking at him and giggling, no doubt remembering his after-shower promenade au naturel. He felt awkward for a moment or two, feeling as if he were sans pants again.
"This is Traci, and this is Staci," Circe said brightly, once they were all seated, "and this is Giovanni."
The girls were about fourteen, very blond, very dimply, each one sporting a four-billion-watt smile, and seemed as cheerful as Circe and didn't mock him or anything, so maybe they were okay.
Just then, the Three Furies arrived at the teachers' table and sat down, except for Adelaide, who remained standing.
"Children!," she raised her voice, and everyone fell silent at once. "The assignments for this morning are: Cerulean Pod with Mr Wozniak…"
"Mr Wozniak is our Pod Leader, and he teaches Practicals," Circe started commenting in a whisper, for Giovanni's benefit. "I like him a lot!"
Adelaide continued, "Indigo Pod with Ms Loeb…" A few groans were heard, since nobody liked washing approximately two billion dirty dishes throughout the day. "Cyan Pod with Mr Johannsen…" At this there were a few fervent "Yes!"
"Mr Johannsen is the Caretaker: He keeps all our gadgets running. They say he also teaches anyone that asks him nicely how to fix cars and stuff." Circe actually wrinkled her nose.
Before Adelaide continued, there were louder groans in the room. "Settle down, children, yes: Cobalt Pod with Mrs. Staab…"
"She's the Housekeeper, and she's very picky and she's always hovering, double-checking on you, ugh!" While Circe commented on Adelaide's assignments, Giovanni looked around the dining room, finally finding two other boys that looked about seventeen and a girl that looked his age, or maybe a little bit older. Right then, he realized that everyone else was staring at him. Circe elbowed him again. "Just wave and smile! Ms Adelaide just introduced you!"
"Um, hi…" Giovanni waved. With their backs to the teachers' table, the Thompsons and the mini-bully put their hands to their chest and flipped him the middle finger.
"Well, it's good to know who're your friends… Circe, who's that little kid, the one I dropped on his head?"
"Garret Feldman. I'll tell you all about him later… Now that you're finished, let's all get back to the pod so you can put away your stuff. So, let me tell you the daily schedule…"
"You know my schedule?" Giovanni looked down and was amazed to realize that he had eaten everything on his plate…
"Of course, silly!" Meanwhile, Circe continued her explanation. "We all have the same schedule! So, Wake-up Call is at five-thirty. Breakfast from six fifteen to six-forty-five. Personal Time until seven. Chores until noon…"
"Chores?"
"Yes, we all have to help maintain the place. Takes a lot of work. Really old place, this school, and the weather is harsh out here in the mountains, you know? So, Lunch for forty-five minutes, and another half-hour of Personal Time after that. Then, from one-fifteen until six in the afternoon, Tuition. They switch us from classroom to classroom every hour or so, to avoid us going stir-crazy, but usually we start classes all of us together, to work on our Regular School stuff with the Three Furies. If you're having trouble with a subject, they sometimes let you work a bit longer on it, but mostly they just send you on to the next classroom. We don't always end up in the same group, or have the same classes. So there are four main classes: Regular School, with the Furies; Practicals, with Mr Wozniak; Integration, with Dr Doe; and, Theory, with Professor Benoni. I don't like Professor Benoni at all, but the older girls all think he's dreamy… Ew! I don't know, I just think there's something seriously wrong with him. He's just too young to be a professor, I think. Anyhoo… After classes, Dinner for forty-five minutes. Then, one and a half hour of Homework, and Personal Time until Lights Out at ten. So. Now you know. And now that you put your stuff away, let's go meet Mr Wozniak at the front lawn. Ready?"
Giovanni was already exhausted just hearing Circe telling him all about it.
"So, how'd he do? Did he use any magic?," Adelaide asked anxiously, as soon as Wozniak squeezed into the kitchen again.
"Well, I don't think he did, but he was able to either deflect or dodge the Thompsons' double attack… Oh, and next time I see their older brother, Mac, I'm gonna have a word or two with him about teaching novice children advanced curses… I took their wands away for a while… Yeah, so, anyway, The Thompsons tried their infamous bodily harm curse, but I think they missed… I think I went back inside a little bit too soon, though, because it seemed to me that li'l Wingrove was about to punch their lights out…, which would have been regrettable, of course," Wozniak hurried to add, when he noticed Adelaide giving him a hard look. "Gotta watch out for 'im, though, seems to have a temper, that one. So… How did it go with Ms Wingrove? Will the Memory Charm take?"
"We'll see. I told her everything about The School and then modified her memories… If Giovanni decides to tell her about his stay here next time they meet, then Shari's memories should simply come back, and it would be as if she had just forgotten for a little while. But you know that kind of Charm is always tricky… We'll see," Adelaide repeated.
Suddenly, both stood up ramrod straight and cocked their head to the side.
"There it is, again! Do you hear it this time?," Adelaide whispered.
"Yeah, it's like you said, like a muted trumpet… Ach! I feel nauseated, as if someone just riffled my innards…" Wozniak actually looked a little green around the gills.
"I don't feel well myself, either. I think I will retire for the evening. But we'll have to tell the rest of the staff in the morning. This is some sort of intrusion. Someone is scanning us! Talk to Johannsen and have him double-check the security of the Perimeter."
"Yes, ma'am! On my way!"
***
Meanwhile, Cerulean Pod was quieter tonight than any other night in recent memory: It wasn't customary to have grizzly-sized Mr Wozniak yelling at them to get into bed ahead of Lights Out, or to have their resident bullies so easily thwarted. Only the very brave dared to continue gossiping in whispers that floated from one bed to the next. However, something none of them knew because they were all novices, was that no one, but absolutely no one, had ever withstood two full-blast bodily harm curses with nothing more to show for it than a slight itch.
Oblivious to all these exciting facts, Giovanni snored noisily, with one arm draped over his face, and a leg hanging down on the side of his bed. The four-day trip in an ancient SUV had taken its toll.
***
Next morning came entirely too early for Giovanni, tired as he was. An insistent but soft chime had begun ringing around five-thirty, which he was able to ignore for a few minutes until the youngest girl in the dorm, who slept in the next bed over, kicked the foot of his bed a few times.
"Wakey, wakey!" She was one of those annoying people who are actually chipper in the morning. When she saw him sit up, she left for the bathrooms.
Giovanni considered skipping the shower so he could snooze a few more minutes. But he had grown accustomed to getting up at five in the morning for the last couple of years, so he just mumbled curses for a few seconds while he stretched and cleared the gunk from his eyes. Then, he rummaged through his luggage until he found a towel, toothbrush, toothpaste… He was very relieved to find that the pod had two sets of restrooms and bathrooms, for boys and for girls, and got cleaned up in a few minutes. When he came out of the bathroom, though, he realized he had forgotten all about the three girls in the dorm, and belatedly covered himself with the towel, turning slightly less red in the face than the three girls.
"Maybe next time you will consider taking a change of underwear into the bathroom with you, like all the normal people do, asshole!"
This was the tiny kid who had sassed him last night. Giovanni didn't bother arguing with the boy, but instead looked at him intently and rubbed his own forehead pointedly on the same spot where the mini-bully sported a small goose-egg. That shut him up. Giovanni got his clothes, went back to the bathroom, and came back out. He went to his bunk, made the bed, and started putting away his stuff.
"You'll have time to do that after breakfast!," the small girl said, still entirely too happy for such ungodly time of the day.
"Um, okay, thanks. Hi, sorry, didn't have much time last night for introductions. I'm Giovanni…" And he stuck out his hand.
"I'm Circe!" And she ignored the hand to give him a quick hug. "I'm so happy to meet you! I like you! Come on, breakfast! I'm so hungry! Let's go!"
"Okay… But you lead the way. I'm not sure I could find the way back to the kitchen."
"Don't be silly! Of course you can! All you have to do is go straight. As long as you don't take two turns in the same direction, one after the other, you will always end up in the kitchen!"
True enough, although they seemed to wander for far too many minutes, they actually arrived at the kitchen with everybody else. All the other students entered through three other doors, and Giovanni realized these were the students from the other three pods. Everyone passed in front of the stove, and received a plate full of food. At the stove, a lady about the size of a commercial refrigerator and wearing the whitest apron that Giovanni had ever seen, stood there monolithic, and dispensing the food like an automaton.
"Erm… You got some cereal instead?," Giovanni asked, as he received a plate piled high with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, grits, biscuits, and ham.
The kitchen goddess only flicked her eyes at him, and mumbled gutturally, "Eat it! It's good for you!"
"Look, no offense, but…"
"Thank you, miss Loeb! May I have some grape jam?" Little Circe elbowed Giovanni ahead of her, and her bright smile seemed to mellow titanic Ms Loeb back into impassivity.
"Whoo! That was close! Look, just eat whatever miss Loeb gives you, and no one gets hurt, okay? Just do it, it's one of those things, you'll see…" Circe hurried Giovanni away from the kitchen and into a dining room with barely enough room to sit all forty-four students at once.
The decor was Early Crazy Hunter, with all the four log walls decorated by dozens of antlers of all sizes, from floor to ceiling. There were eleven small square tables for the students, and a long table at the back, where the teachers sat. Each table had jugs of milk, orange juice and water, and four place-settings. Belatedly, Giovanni realized that the only spots available were at the table where the other two girls in his pod were looking at him and giggling, no doubt remembering his after-shower promenade au naturel. He felt awkward for a moment or two, feeling as if he were sans pants again.
"This is Traci, and this is Staci," Circe said brightly, once they were all seated, "and this is Giovanni."
The girls were about fourteen, very blond, very dimply, each one sporting a four-billion-watt smile, and seemed as cheerful as Circe and didn't mock him or anything, so maybe they were okay.
Just then, the Three Furies arrived at the teachers' table and sat down, except for Adelaide, who remained standing.
"Children!," she raised her voice, and everyone fell silent at once. "The assignments for this morning are: Cerulean Pod with Mr Wozniak…"
"Mr Wozniak is our Pod Leader, and he teaches Practicals," Circe started commenting in a whisper, for Giovanni's benefit. "I like him a lot!"
Adelaide continued, "Indigo Pod with Ms Loeb…" A few groans were heard, since nobody liked washing approximately two billion dirty dishes throughout the day. "Cyan Pod with Mr Johannsen…" At this there were a few fervent "Yes!"
"Mr Johannsen is the Caretaker: He keeps all our gadgets running. They say he also teaches anyone that asks him nicely how to fix cars and stuff." Circe actually wrinkled her nose.
Before Adelaide continued, there were louder groans in the room. "Settle down, children, yes: Cobalt Pod with Mrs. Staab…"
"She's the Housekeeper, and she's very picky and she's always hovering, double-checking on you, ugh!" While Circe commented on Adelaide's assignments, Giovanni looked around the dining room, finally finding two other boys that looked about seventeen and a girl that looked his age, or maybe a little bit older. Right then, he realized that everyone else was staring at him. Circe elbowed him again. "Just wave and smile! Ms Adelaide just introduced you!"
"Um, hi…" Giovanni waved. With their backs to the teachers' table, the Thompsons and the mini-bully put their hands to their chest and flipped him the middle finger.
"Well, it's good to know who're your friends… Circe, who's that little kid, the one I dropped on his head?"
"Garret Feldman. I'll tell you all about him later… Now that you're finished, let's all get back to the pod so you can put away your stuff. So, let me tell you the daily schedule…"
"You know my schedule?" Giovanni looked down and was amazed to realize that he had eaten everything on his plate…
"Of course, silly!" Meanwhile, Circe continued her explanation. "We all have the same schedule! So, Wake-up Call is at five-thirty. Breakfast from six fifteen to six-forty-five. Personal Time until seven. Chores until noon…"
"Chores?"
"Yes, we all have to help maintain the place. Takes a lot of work. Really old place, this school, and the weather is harsh out here in the mountains, you know? So, Lunch for forty-five minutes, and another half-hour of Personal Time after that. Then, from one-fifteen until six in the afternoon, Tuition. They switch us from classroom to classroom every hour or so, to avoid us going stir-crazy, but usually we start classes all of us together, to work on our Regular School stuff with the Three Furies. If you're having trouble with a subject, they sometimes let you work a bit longer on it, but mostly they just send you on to the next classroom. We don't always end up in the same group, or have the same classes. So there are four main classes: Regular School, with the Furies; Practicals, with Mr Wozniak; Integration, with Dr Doe; and, Theory, with Professor Benoni. I don't like Professor Benoni at all, but the older girls all think he's dreamy… Ew! I don't know, I just think there's something seriously wrong with him. He's just too young to be a professor, I think. Anyhoo… After classes, Dinner for forty-five minutes. Then, one and a half hour of Homework, and Personal Time until Lights Out at ten. So. Now you know. And now that you put your stuff away, let's go meet Mr Wozniak at the front lawn. Ready?"
Giovanni was already exhausted just hearing Circe telling him all about it.
To Be Continued…
Finitum 6 (EN)
6. Mondays Are Always a Pain
Giovanni followed Circe, realizing that if you took two left turns in a row at any point in the hallways you ended up in the parlor eventually. Then, from the parlor you were able to find the front entrance to the lodge through the French doors at the back of the parlor. Also, he realized he was feeling kind of… fond of the little girl. He was really surprised at how easily he had taken a liking to Circe, since she was at least three or four years younger than he was, and also since he was not the kind of boy that took a liking to anyone, ever, much less to a girl who talked continuously.
Even though it only took them about two minutes to get to the front entrance, Circe managed to ask him what was his name, his age, his mom's name, where he was from, what was his favorite movie of all time, what was his favorite color, when was his birthday, did he have any girlfriends, did he like Coke or Pepsi, what kind of music he was into, could she listen to one of his songs in his iPod, did he like television, and would have probably carried on if they hadn't arrived at the front lawn to find everyone there, ready to start the chores for the day. Mr Wozniak was already waiting for them.
"Alright, today we do some wood chopping. We're gonna need lots of fire logs, kids: Winters here are snowy and cold! I have the axes ready, follow me to the shed."
The shed was about fifty yards away from the main lodge, behind the first line of the forest trees. Walking next to him, Giovanni exchanged some pleasantries with Mr Wozniak about how he'd slept last night and if he liked breakfast, while they walked there. When they got to the shed, everybody blanched a little when they saw the huge pile of logs there. It looked as if someone had piled an area the size of a basketball court with stacks of logs twenty-feet high.
"Oh, don't worry, kids, you don't have to finish them all today. We only need two or three cords of fire logs. Let's see how much we can get done today."
"Mr Wozniak," asked one of the younger boys, "isn't one cord a pile four by four by eight feet large?"
"Look at the big brain on Bryan!," beamed Wozniak, "That's right! Look, lemme show you what I need you to do…"
For the next half-hour Mr Wozniak showed everyone how to split logs to the right size and how to pile them into the nearby rusty trailer. When everyone had their gloves and goggles on, and had been divided in pairs, they started their chore of the day. Giovanni wasn't sure it was such a good idea to have a bunch of kids swinging axes in close proximity with each other, but everybody seemed willing to be extra careful with each other. He was pulled aside by Mr Wozniak, and they walked away a few paces, just out of earshot.
"Look, Giovanni, I need to bring you up to speed about what's going on here, why you were sent for, and what The School is all about. I'm sorry we couldn't get you six weeks ago, for the beginning of the semester. So I'm gonna have to give you the abridged version of the orientation. But you seem to be a pretty tough kid, so I'm hoping none of the secrets I'm about to tell you will bend you out of shape… For starters, the brochures says we are a College Preparatory School, but that's not entirely accurate."
Giovanni had learned long ago the art of silence. He just arched an eyebrow, meaning for Wozniak to continue.
"Look, many of the kids here are just like you, so don't think you are the only one. Many kids here didn't know they had the Magick, and they come from families that had never displayed any skills. But, all of the sudden, one day they find themselves doing strange stuff that shouldn't be possible, and our scouts detect them and convince their parents to send them to The School, so that we can teach them the proper way to use their natural gifts. And this is what happened with you, mostly."
"Well, I ain't got no magic in me… Never done nothing extraordinary, that I can think of…"
"Really? Well, in your family there has been another rather extraordinary person with the Gift."
"What, Aunt Marge? My mom told me she came to this school when they were kids… But she was just a big weirdo."
"What! Look, Marge Wingrove's the stuff of legends, boy!" Mr Wozniak seemed annoyed, and with his size, it was rather alarming to see him scowl. "She was the most Gifted one in the Twentieth Century, I'll have you know!"
"Alright, chill out… Jeez, man, I'm just telling you how she looked to me when I was a little kid, okay? Not my fault she acted all whack… Anyway, how was I supposed to know that she was a good magician? I mean, was she better than David Copperfield at least?" That was as close as Giovanni ever got to an apology.
Mr Wozniak snorted with contempt. "Ha! Copperfield only performs tricks, kid! I'm talking about real Magick! But you'll have time to get used to the idea." Wozniak calmed down immediately. "First, I hear you have some catching up to do with your regular school stuff, so you're in for a rough time with the Furies. But in the mean time, I want you to be extra mindful of the lessons you will be learning with Dr Doe, Professor Benoni, and myself, okay? Okay, then… Ah, and one more thing: I know you're a tough cookie, but don't let the Thompson brothers and Garret Feldman provoke you into kicking their butts. By the looks of it, you can take on all three at once in a fair fight, but those kids come from families that have had the Magick in them for generations, and they have some pretty nasty tricks up their sleeve. I don't wanna have to come down hard on any of you, so don't give me a reason, alright? If they keep bullying you, just let me know and I'll have them straightened out. Now, what questions do you have?"
"Erm… So, you guys really believe you are wizards and witches?"
"No, no, not at all! We believe in Magick! The witchcraft stuff we leave to our British cousins! Ah, ha, ha, ha!" Wozniak actually tilted his head backwards to guffaw. "You'll learn all about that in your classes, but suffice it to say that we believe strongly in our inherent humanity."
Giovanni raised his eyebrow again.
"What I mean to say," Wozniak continued, "is that we believe in the power of the Will over Reality. We believe in living in our modern society as a part of it. Our Magick is only an aspect of our individuality, just like musicians, for example: They do extraordinary things when they do music, but are just regular people the rest of the time. Our British cousins are a bit more…, well, say the truth and shame the Devil, my granny used to say…, the Brits are rather Medieval. They've cut themselves out of the regular course of human History and have decided to live in a fantasy world of their own making. And then they wonder how come each year there's fewer of them… No, like I said, we are part of the regular society. We just do extraordinary things. Anyway, let's get to work! You know how to split logs? Yes? Good, you take the first turn: you split and I pile the logs. Then, ten minutes later we switch, ready?"
By lunch time, Cerulean Pod could hardly walk, they were so sore from splitting so many logs. They almost completed one cord of fire logs that day.
Giovanni followed Circe, realizing that if you took two left turns in a row at any point in the hallways you ended up in the parlor eventually. Then, from the parlor you were able to find the front entrance to the lodge through the French doors at the back of the parlor. Also, he realized he was feeling kind of… fond of the little girl. He was really surprised at how easily he had taken a liking to Circe, since she was at least three or four years younger than he was, and also since he was not the kind of boy that took a liking to anyone, ever, much less to a girl who talked continuously.
Even though it only took them about two minutes to get to the front entrance, Circe managed to ask him what was his name, his age, his mom's name, where he was from, what was his favorite movie of all time, what was his favorite color, when was his birthday, did he have any girlfriends, did he like Coke or Pepsi, what kind of music he was into, could she listen to one of his songs in his iPod, did he like television, and would have probably carried on if they hadn't arrived at the front lawn to find everyone there, ready to start the chores for the day. Mr Wozniak was already waiting for them.
"Alright, today we do some wood chopping. We're gonna need lots of fire logs, kids: Winters here are snowy and cold! I have the axes ready, follow me to the shed."
The shed was about fifty yards away from the main lodge, behind the first line of the forest trees. Walking next to him, Giovanni exchanged some pleasantries with Mr Wozniak about how he'd slept last night and if he liked breakfast, while they walked there. When they got to the shed, everybody blanched a little when they saw the huge pile of logs there. It looked as if someone had piled an area the size of a basketball court with stacks of logs twenty-feet high.
"Oh, don't worry, kids, you don't have to finish them all today. We only need two or three cords of fire logs. Let's see how much we can get done today."
"Mr Wozniak," asked one of the younger boys, "isn't one cord a pile four by four by eight feet large?"
"Look at the big brain on Bryan!," beamed Wozniak, "That's right! Look, lemme show you what I need you to do…"
For the next half-hour Mr Wozniak showed everyone how to split logs to the right size and how to pile them into the nearby rusty trailer. When everyone had their gloves and goggles on, and had been divided in pairs, they started their chore of the day. Giovanni wasn't sure it was such a good idea to have a bunch of kids swinging axes in close proximity with each other, but everybody seemed willing to be extra careful with each other. He was pulled aside by Mr Wozniak, and they walked away a few paces, just out of earshot.
"Look, Giovanni, I need to bring you up to speed about what's going on here, why you were sent for, and what The School is all about. I'm sorry we couldn't get you six weeks ago, for the beginning of the semester. So I'm gonna have to give you the abridged version of the orientation. But you seem to be a pretty tough kid, so I'm hoping none of the secrets I'm about to tell you will bend you out of shape… For starters, the brochures says we are a College Preparatory School, but that's not entirely accurate."
Giovanni had learned long ago the art of silence. He just arched an eyebrow, meaning for Wozniak to continue.
"Look, many of the kids here are just like you, so don't think you are the only one. Many kids here didn't know they had the Magick, and they come from families that had never displayed any skills. But, all of the sudden, one day they find themselves doing strange stuff that shouldn't be possible, and our scouts detect them and convince their parents to send them to The School, so that we can teach them the proper way to use their natural gifts. And this is what happened with you, mostly."
"Well, I ain't got no magic in me… Never done nothing extraordinary, that I can think of…"
"Really? Well, in your family there has been another rather extraordinary person with the Gift."
"What, Aunt Marge? My mom told me she came to this school when they were kids… But she was just a big weirdo."
"What! Look, Marge Wingrove's the stuff of legends, boy!" Mr Wozniak seemed annoyed, and with his size, it was rather alarming to see him scowl. "She was the most Gifted one in the Twentieth Century, I'll have you know!"
"Alright, chill out… Jeez, man, I'm just telling you how she looked to me when I was a little kid, okay? Not my fault she acted all whack… Anyway, how was I supposed to know that she was a good magician? I mean, was she better than David Copperfield at least?" That was as close as Giovanni ever got to an apology.
Mr Wozniak snorted with contempt. "Ha! Copperfield only performs tricks, kid! I'm talking about real Magick! But you'll have time to get used to the idea." Wozniak calmed down immediately. "First, I hear you have some catching up to do with your regular school stuff, so you're in for a rough time with the Furies. But in the mean time, I want you to be extra mindful of the lessons you will be learning with Dr Doe, Professor Benoni, and myself, okay? Okay, then… Ah, and one more thing: I know you're a tough cookie, but don't let the Thompson brothers and Garret Feldman provoke you into kicking their butts. By the looks of it, you can take on all three at once in a fair fight, but those kids come from families that have had the Magick in them for generations, and they have some pretty nasty tricks up their sleeve. I don't wanna have to come down hard on any of you, so don't give me a reason, alright? If they keep bullying you, just let me know and I'll have them straightened out. Now, what questions do you have?"
"Erm… So, you guys really believe you are wizards and witches?"
"No, no, not at all! We believe in Magick! The witchcraft stuff we leave to our British cousins! Ah, ha, ha, ha!" Wozniak actually tilted his head backwards to guffaw. "You'll learn all about that in your classes, but suffice it to say that we believe strongly in our inherent humanity."
Giovanni raised his eyebrow again.
"What I mean to say," Wozniak continued, "is that we believe in the power of the Will over Reality. We believe in living in our modern society as a part of it. Our Magick is only an aspect of our individuality, just like musicians, for example: They do extraordinary things when they do music, but are just regular people the rest of the time. Our British cousins are a bit more…, well, say the truth and shame the Devil, my granny used to say…, the Brits are rather Medieval. They've cut themselves out of the regular course of human History and have decided to live in a fantasy world of their own making. And then they wonder how come each year there's fewer of them… No, like I said, we are part of the regular society. We just do extraordinary things. Anyway, let's get to work! You know how to split logs? Yes? Good, you take the first turn: you split and I pile the logs. Then, ten minutes later we switch, ready?"
By lunch time, Cerulean Pod could hardly walk, they were so sore from splitting so many logs. They almost completed one cord of fire logs that day.
To Be Continued…
Finitum 7 (EN)
7. Strange Tuition
After lunch time, Circe showed Giovanni that, in order to get back to the Cerulean Pod, all you had to do was turn to the left twice at consecutive hallways, and then turn right at the next. That deposited them on the long hallway with just one door on it. Now that Giovanni was finally getting his bearings, he noticed that the threshold of the door was actually painted Cerulean blue. Circe had been explaining to him on the walk back that the only sure way to navigate the lodge was to remember how to get to the kitchen, to the front parlor, to their pod, and to the library.
"You see, we all go to the library to start every day's lessons, and from there the teachers come and get us… Otherwise we'd still be lost, wandering the hallways! You know? This building has a name: It is the Lodge of the Thousand Halls! Brrrr! I would hate to get lost in here! There are stories of children who go missing after wandering around, so stick to what you know, okay? Two turns left, one right: Cerulean Pod. Go straight: the kitchen. Two lefts in a row: the parlor. Two turns right: the library. Don't go wandering! Okay? Okay?"
"O-kaaay," Giovanni actually rolled his eyes. Preposterous! How could anyone ever get lost inside a house? No matter how silly it looked, it was just a house, wasn't it?
But, just in case, he followed Circe passively when she walked with him towards the library, taking both right turns without protest. However, he imagined it might be interesting to grab the Thompson Twins and Garret Feldman, blindfold them, spin them around a few dozen times, and then set them loose into the bowels of the lodge.
***
At the library, Giovanni was pleased to see that everyone had the same look on their faces: utter despair. It was very strange to see kids age eleven through seventeen sitting together at reading tables and couches, all scratching their heads and grimly carrying on with their assignments, especially because he guessed that every single one of them had completely different assignments. So, from now on he wouldn't possibly get bored with classes, because there would be no need for him to wait for the rest of the classroom to catch up.
The moment he arrived at the library, Agatha smiled at him and sat him in a table by himself. While Adelaide and Tabitha went around giving everyone their own assignments and answering questions here and there, Agatha handed Giovanni test after test, and demanded of him to complete each test in ridiculous amounts of time. For instance, there was a five-page test, printed in the front and in the back, full of quadratic equations, one after the other, with only a blank space to show his answer, but no blank space at all for him to work on the problem. Agatha gave him ten minutes to complete it. He had barely finished the first five problems when Agatha took the test away and handed him an English essay. Then she gave him tests of Chemistry, Biology, U.S. and World History, and Government, also demanding him to finish in record times.
A little after two hours the tests were over, and Giovanni felt as if they had put his brain in a rotissomat. While he rubbed at his temples, he noticed that most everyone had left, and felt immediately depressed. Maybe everyone else was a lot smarter. Maybe they were really "gifted" students, and they had made a mistake in selecting him for the School. Sure, he thought he was way smarter than most of his classmates in the military academies where he'd been before. And he was positive that he was smarter than even the teachers in the public schools he had attended before. Well, so this is what it feels to be slower in the head than everyone else. Ah, crap…
But he also noticed that Garret Feldman seemed to be sweating bullets, sitting hunched over a large stack of papers, chewing on the eraser of his pencil, and with Adelaide looking over his shoulder sternly. He started feeling a little better about himself. At least he didn't have one of the Furies looking at him like an angry vulture because of his test's answers. As long as he was doing better than little booger Garret, he would be satisfied, he thought with a smirk on his face.
Just then, pulling him out of his daydream, Agatha and Tabitha came and sat at the table, facing him. Each one of them sat ramrod straight, shared a look between them, and looked at him intently. Giovanni could now see why they were called "The Furies": when they were not smiling, they looked grim and forbidding.
"Look, Giovanni, there's no sugar-coating it: you are in for a rough time. You have lots of catching up to do. So we need to get all this Mickey Mouse crap out of the way first. Every weekday you will spend the first three hours of Tuition with us to deal with all your regular classes. Whatever time you have left after being with us, you will use earnestly to learn as much as you can from Mr. Wozniak, Dr. Doe, and Professor Benoni. Do we have an understanding?"
Five military academies had prepared him well for the appropriate response: "Sir! Yes, sir! Erm… Ma'am!!"
"Riiiiight… Well. Fine, look: if you really apply yourself, I think we can finish your school curriculum for the eleventh grade by November, and your Senior course work by April. It's the best case scenario, alright?"
"Are you joking??"
"Does it seem to you we are joking, young man?" Giovanni had to confess that their serious faces seemed incapable of ever joking. But he couldn't believe that they were going to squeeze two years worth of regular school in less than two semesters.
"Sorry, but I just can't believe it…"
"We understand, but all these tests we gave you were in order to gauge not only how much you already knew, but how capable were you of adapting to increased pressure and diversity of topics. We will design a course plan with your particular strengths and weaknesses in mind, and we will get you your High School Diploma by next Summer. But don't think it's going to be easy at all: you will work harder than ever, we won't take no for an answer, and we will not allow you to fail, in spite of yourself, young man!"
For a moment there both old ladies had such a flinty look in their eyes that Giovanni didn't doubt for a second that they would probably resort to torture, if necessary, to make him perform to expectations.
"We are not doing this so that you can take it easy; quite the contrary, you'll work like you've never done before, but otherwise you will not be able to fully dedicate yourself to the real task of learning: to develop the Magick in you!"
"Erm… yeah, about that: I have serious doubts about my magical whatever…"
"Yes, we know, but that's why you will have the other classes too. Look, we understand it will be very difficult in the beginning for you to accept all the things that you will learn from your other teachers. All we ask is that you keep an open mind. That's all!," and then both of them smiled.
Giovanni was surprised he felt relieved to see them smile. He hadn't really thought about it, but now he realized that he had somehow been feeling intimidated by those two ladies. Clearly, they were not as grandmotherly as they appeared in the beginning.
"Now, let's get you to Mr. Wozniak so you can start your real education!," Adelaide, having finished with Garret for a while, and having returned after taking him to his next class, came up to the table, placed a hand on Giovanni's shoulder, and then they all left the library together.
After lunch time, Circe showed Giovanni that, in order to get back to the Cerulean Pod, all you had to do was turn to the left twice at consecutive hallways, and then turn right at the next. That deposited them on the long hallway with just one door on it. Now that Giovanni was finally getting his bearings, he noticed that the threshold of the door was actually painted Cerulean blue. Circe had been explaining to him on the walk back that the only sure way to navigate the lodge was to remember how to get to the kitchen, to the front parlor, to their pod, and to the library.
"You see, we all go to the library to start every day's lessons, and from there the teachers come and get us… Otherwise we'd still be lost, wandering the hallways! You know? This building has a name: It is the Lodge of the Thousand Halls! Brrrr! I would hate to get lost in here! There are stories of children who go missing after wandering around, so stick to what you know, okay? Two turns left, one right: Cerulean Pod. Go straight: the kitchen. Two lefts in a row: the parlor. Two turns right: the library. Don't go wandering! Okay? Okay?"
"O-kaaay," Giovanni actually rolled his eyes. Preposterous! How could anyone ever get lost inside a house? No matter how silly it looked, it was just a house, wasn't it?
But, just in case, he followed Circe passively when she walked with him towards the library, taking both right turns without protest. However, he imagined it might be interesting to grab the Thompson Twins and Garret Feldman, blindfold them, spin them around a few dozen times, and then set them loose into the bowels of the lodge.
***
At the library, Giovanni was pleased to see that everyone had the same look on their faces: utter despair. It was very strange to see kids age eleven through seventeen sitting together at reading tables and couches, all scratching their heads and grimly carrying on with their assignments, especially because he guessed that every single one of them had completely different assignments. So, from now on he wouldn't possibly get bored with classes, because there would be no need for him to wait for the rest of the classroom to catch up.
The moment he arrived at the library, Agatha smiled at him and sat him in a table by himself. While Adelaide and Tabitha went around giving everyone their own assignments and answering questions here and there, Agatha handed Giovanni test after test, and demanded of him to complete each test in ridiculous amounts of time. For instance, there was a five-page test, printed in the front and in the back, full of quadratic equations, one after the other, with only a blank space to show his answer, but no blank space at all for him to work on the problem. Agatha gave him ten minutes to complete it. He had barely finished the first five problems when Agatha took the test away and handed him an English essay. Then she gave him tests of Chemistry, Biology, U.S. and World History, and Government, also demanding him to finish in record times.
A little after two hours the tests were over, and Giovanni felt as if they had put his brain in a rotissomat. While he rubbed at his temples, he noticed that most everyone had left, and felt immediately depressed. Maybe everyone else was a lot smarter. Maybe they were really "gifted" students, and they had made a mistake in selecting him for the School. Sure, he thought he was way smarter than most of his classmates in the military academies where he'd been before. And he was positive that he was smarter than even the teachers in the public schools he had attended before. Well, so this is what it feels to be slower in the head than everyone else. Ah, crap…
But he also noticed that Garret Feldman seemed to be sweating bullets, sitting hunched over a large stack of papers, chewing on the eraser of his pencil, and with Adelaide looking over his shoulder sternly. He started feeling a little better about himself. At least he didn't have one of the Furies looking at him like an angry vulture because of his test's answers. As long as he was doing better than little booger Garret, he would be satisfied, he thought with a smirk on his face.
Just then, pulling him out of his daydream, Agatha and Tabitha came and sat at the table, facing him. Each one of them sat ramrod straight, shared a look between them, and looked at him intently. Giovanni could now see why they were called "The Furies": when they were not smiling, they looked grim and forbidding.
"Look, Giovanni, there's no sugar-coating it: you are in for a rough time. You have lots of catching up to do. So we need to get all this Mickey Mouse crap out of the way first. Every weekday you will spend the first three hours of Tuition with us to deal with all your regular classes. Whatever time you have left after being with us, you will use earnestly to learn as much as you can from Mr. Wozniak, Dr. Doe, and Professor Benoni. Do we have an understanding?"
Five military academies had prepared him well for the appropriate response: "Sir! Yes, sir! Erm… Ma'am!!"
"Riiiiight… Well. Fine, look: if you really apply yourself, I think we can finish your school curriculum for the eleventh grade by November, and your Senior course work by April. It's the best case scenario, alright?"
"Are you joking??"
"Does it seem to you we are joking, young man?" Giovanni had to confess that their serious faces seemed incapable of ever joking. But he couldn't believe that they were going to squeeze two years worth of regular school in less than two semesters.
"Sorry, but I just can't believe it…"
"We understand, but all these tests we gave you were in order to gauge not only how much you already knew, but how capable were you of adapting to increased pressure and diversity of topics. We will design a course plan with your particular strengths and weaknesses in mind, and we will get you your High School Diploma by next Summer. But don't think it's going to be easy at all: you will work harder than ever, we won't take no for an answer, and we will not allow you to fail, in spite of yourself, young man!"
For a moment there both old ladies had such a flinty look in their eyes that Giovanni didn't doubt for a second that they would probably resort to torture, if necessary, to make him perform to expectations.
"We are not doing this so that you can take it easy; quite the contrary, you'll work like you've never done before, but otherwise you will not be able to fully dedicate yourself to the real task of learning: to develop the Magick in you!"
"Erm… yeah, about that: I have serious doubts about my magical whatever…"
"Yes, we know, but that's why you will have the other classes too. Look, we understand it will be very difficult in the beginning for you to accept all the things that you will learn from your other teachers. All we ask is that you keep an open mind. That's all!," and then both of them smiled.
Giovanni was surprised he felt relieved to see them smile. He hadn't really thought about it, but now he realized that he had somehow been feeling intimidated by those two ladies. Clearly, they were not as grandmotherly as they appeared in the beginning.
"Now, let's get you to Mr. Wozniak so you can start your real education!," Adelaide, having finished with Garret for a while, and having returned after taking him to his next class, came up to the table, placed a hand on Giovanni's shoulder, and then they all left the library together.
To Be Continued…
Finitum 8 (EN)
8. Practice Makes Perfect
Giovanni was very pleased to see that all the other School kids were in the same class with him again. Maybe, he thought, maybe I'm not as far behind as I thought I was in the beginning.
The Three Furies had walked with him through a couple of corridors and, when they all reached a door with a strange symbol carved on it, the door opened up by itself and Giovanni was gently pushed inside by Agatha.
"Mister Wozniak, sorry for the delay and the interruption!"
"No problem at all, miss Agatha, and thank you for bringing him," and he motioned Giovanni to go and find a place to sit on the floor.
Circe squeezed closer to Traci and Staci and made him a spot next to her. As Giovanni crossed the room to go sit down next to Circe, many of the children whispered to each other and openly stared at him. The forty-four kids were sitting in a semicircle in three rows around Mr Wozniak, who was so large that everyone could see him from anywhere in the classroom. This classroom was an empty room, that only had one solid-looking three-legged stool and a blackboard. On top of the stool there was what looked like a metal bucket, and right next to it, a plastic milk crate full of papers was set on the floor. Mr Wozniak still wore his flannel shirt, jeans, suspenders and hiking boots. He didn't seem very teacher-like, at all.
While Giovanni settled down, Mr Wozniak bent over the crate and fumbled with the pile of papers in there, all the while mumbling under his breath, and straightened up with a wad of papers in his hand, and walked up to Giovanni.
"Okay. Here you are, mister Wingrove!" Mr Wozniak placed about fifty pages in Giovanni's hands. "These are all the handouts from the last six weeks. I want you to read at least up to chapter three by tomorrow, and by Friday I expect you to complete all the exercises up to chapter five. That should catch you up with the rest of the class. Now, back to what I was saying before…"
Giovanni noticed all the children perking up and sitting forward, intent on whatever Mr Wozniak was about to say.
"We've been practicing all the steps leading to an act of Magick. You've learned some basic symbols and how to properly draw them. You've learned the drawing of the circle and the triangle, and the proper way to do it. You've learned that you must draw these symbols, the circle and the triangle, in precise strokes, in the correct order, and thinking the words to yourself in order to focus. Once you are focused, you should be able to effect the Magick."
"Wait a minute!" Giovanni interrupted rudely. "You mean to tell me that we are in this school to learn magic spells? That's just stupid!"
"Yeah, whatever. We'll see how you feel about it after class. Now, pipe down and pay attention, alright?" Mr Wozniak didn't seem perturbed at all.
"Wingrove, you're an asshole…" The whispered insult floated all the way to where Giovanni was sitting down. Of course, Garret was who said it, and he was sitting two rows behind him, with his cronies, the Thompson Twins. Giovanni looked over his shoulder and was surprised to see that most of the kids in the classroom seemed to agree: they were all frowning at him. So he shut up. For the moment.
"Okay, Garret, why don't you go ahead and show us how it's done? You have more practice than most already." Mr Wozniak was beckoning with his paw.
With a self-satisfied and smug expression on his face, little eleven-year old Garret stepped to the front of the class and took the chalk from Mr Wozniak's hand.
"You remember all the steps, yah? Okay, then, I need you to say out loud what you're doing, so that you won't get distracted. Children, remember that at this point, concentration and focus are the most important aspects. Do it, then! The Act of Joining!!"
Garret nodded and assumed a very serious expression. He took the chalk and knelt down on the floor.
"This circle encompasses my intention. This circle represents my will." Garret said the words in a sing-song, while he drew a circle on the floor in two strokes, and then a smaller, concentric circle inside of it. "H… N… P… Q… One phrase for each letter, one thought for each phrase: Union, Joining, Complete, Same." As he declaimed, he drew the letters evenly spaced in between the circles and then circled each one and joined them with lines drawn across the circles, with the resulting drawing a kind of number four inside two circles. "It is my will, what I do." As he said this words, he drew a triangle inside the circles with a flourish.
Garret then stood up and broke the chalk into two pieces. He took one piece on each hand and showed them first to Mr Wozniac and then turned around and showed his hands to the rest of the classroom. He then bent down and placed the two pieces at the center of the number four figure, inside the triangle. Garret turned to the metal bucket and picked out a road flare from inside, he took off the cap and, after taking a deep breath, said in a loud voice: "I will it!"
He lit the road flare, and bent down to place it inside the triangle and the circle, next to the chalk pieces. The moment the road flare touched the floor it went out. At the same time a small but bright flash of blue flickered on the floor, inside the circle.
Mr Wozniak ruffled Garret's hair and said, "Well done! Well done! Back to your seat, now. Thank you very much." He then bent down and picked up the chalk, which was now in a single piece again, and showed it to the classroom.
There were several "Ooo!" and "Aaah!", except for Giovanni, who had a sneer on his face.
"Oh, puh-leeze! Like you've never seen a cheap magician do sleight-of-hand before. What next? A bunny out from a hat?" And then blew a raspberry. Circe elbowed him in the ribs, hard, and she looked miffed. "Wha? You believe this crap?"
"Okay, then, next!! Circe, come on up here, and bring your friend the skeptic with you!" Mr Wozniak seemed oddly amused.
"Let's go!" Circe seemed furious, and dragged Giovanni behind her by the hand. Some of the kids laughed at him, while others were still commenting on Garret's demonstration.
"Okay, Miss Circe, first, tell me: can this circle be used again?" Mr Wozniak pointed his sausage-like finger towards the floor.
"Y-yesss?" Circe made it into a question, looking a little confused.
"For the same Act, of for a different Act?"
"No, it has to be the very same Act…" She seemed a bit less unsure now.
"Explain."
"It wouldn't work for a different Act because the focus would need to be different."
"Well remembered!" Mr Wozniak beamed at Circe, who smiled brightly again. "And, remember kids," Mr Wozniak continued, now talking to the whole class, "that the only reason why we know which Act was performed with this circle and triangle is because Garret said the words out loud. Otherwise, we would never could guess what is the meaning of the letters he wrote because…" Mr Wozniak paused, and then the whole classroom chorused with him, "the symbols are personal, and only have meaning for the one who drew them!" Mr Wozniak smiled, and then continued on his own, "We can never be able to use the circle again if we don't know its purpose. Now, Circe, use the circle… Wait! Let's do a little bit of cheap pres-ti-di-gi-ta-tion for Giovanni here. Giovanni, do you have any dollar bills in your pockets? Giovanni, do you? Hey! Giovanni!!"
Giovanni blinked (clearly he wasn't paying much attention) and then pulled out a dollar bill from his wallet.
"If you want to, you can write something on it, across the whole bill, so that you know this is your dollar bill. Now, you tear it in half. And place it in the middle of the circle, on the floor." Giovanni complied, writing "This is stupid!" on the bill, and then tearing it in half, but length-wise. He then placed it on the floor, making sure that both halves were apart. "Okay, Circe, let 'er rip!" Mr Wozniak sounded as if he were about to laugh.
Circe mumbled a few phrases in a low voice, clasping her hands under her chin, repeating most of what Garret had said, bent down and then touched the edge of the circle with her fingertips, straightened up, grabbed a road flare, lit it up, and yelled, maybe a bit louder than necessary: "I will it!!!" She then let the lit flare drop to the floor, inside the circle.
The instant the road flare touched the floor it went out, and another blue flash blinked around the circle.
"Well, I'll be…" Giovanni stood there, blinking owlishly, looking at the restored dollar bill laying on the floor next to a burnt out flare. "She didn't even touch it!" he whispered.
Giovanni turned to Mr Wozniak, and with an addled look on his face he demanded, "But, how is it done?"
Mr Wozniak just laughed a big, hearty, full-bellied laugh. "Oh, Giovanni, you think you've just seen something extraordinary, right? Boy, oh, boy, are you in for a crap-load of surprises!! As to the 'how' it is done, well, do your homework, and you'll learn step by step the procedure. But as for 'how', like, in 'how is this possible at all?', well, that's why you have to take a class with Professor Benoni. He'll explain much better, I promise… Now, you two go back to your seats. Who wants to go next?"
The whole classroom raised their hands.
They spent the rest of the class, until dinner time, with every one trying at least once the Act of Joining. Giovanni started reading his handouts and doing the exercises right there, in class, asking questions to Circe, Staci and Traci, and at the end with several other students whispering the right answers to him, to help him complete the monstrous amount of homework.
But Mr Wozniak didn't let him try out his Magick that day.
Giovanni was very pleased to see that all the other School kids were in the same class with him again. Maybe, he thought, maybe I'm not as far behind as I thought I was in the beginning.
The Three Furies had walked with him through a couple of corridors and, when they all reached a door with a strange symbol carved on it, the door opened up by itself and Giovanni was gently pushed inside by Agatha.
"Mister Wozniak, sorry for the delay and the interruption!"
"No problem at all, miss Agatha, and thank you for bringing him," and he motioned Giovanni to go and find a place to sit on the floor.
Circe squeezed closer to Traci and Staci and made him a spot next to her. As Giovanni crossed the room to go sit down next to Circe, many of the children whispered to each other and openly stared at him. The forty-four kids were sitting in a semicircle in three rows around Mr Wozniak, who was so large that everyone could see him from anywhere in the classroom. This classroom was an empty room, that only had one solid-looking three-legged stool and a blackboard. On top of the stool there was what looked like a metal bucket, and right next to it, a plastic milk crate full of papers was set on the floor. Mr Wozniak still wore his flannel shirt, jeans, suspenders and hiking boots. He didn't seem very teacher-like, at all.
While Giovanni settled down, Mr Wozniak bent over the crate and fumbled with the pile of papers in there, all the while mumbling under his breath, and straightened up with a wad of papers in his hand, and walked up to Giovanni.
"Okay. Here you are, mister Wingrove!" Mr Wozniak placed about fifty pages in Giovanni's hands. "These are all the handouts from the last six weeks. I want you to read at least up to chapter three by tomorrow, and by Friday I expect you to complete all the exercises up to chapter five. That should catch you up with the rest of the class. Now, back to what I was saying before…"
Giovanni noticed all the children perking up and sitting forward, intent on whatever Mr Wozniak was about to say.
"We've been practicing all the steps leading to an act of Magick. You've learned some basic symbols and how to properly draw them. You've learned the drawing of the circle and the triangle, and the proper way to do it. You've learned that you must draw these symbols, the circle and the triangle, in precise strokes, in the correct order, and thinking the words to yourself in order to focus. Once you are focused, you should be able to effect the Magick."
"Wait a minute!" Giovanni interrupted rudely. "You mean to tell me that we are in this school to learn magic spells? That's just stupid!"
"Yeah, whatever. We'll see how you feel about it after class. Now, pipe down and pay attention, alright?" Mr Wozniak didn't seem perturbed at all.
"Wingrove, you're an asshole…" The whispered insult floated all the way to where Giovanni was sitting down. Of course, Garret was who said it, and he was sitting two rows behind him, with his cronies, the Thompson Twins. Giovanni looked over his shoulder and was surprised to see that most of the kids in the classroom seemed to agree: they were all frowning at him. So he shut up. For the moment.
"Okay, Garret, why don't you go ahead and show us how it's done? You have more practice than most already." Mr Wozniak was beckoning with his paw.
With a self-satisfied and smug expression on his face, little eleven-year old Garret stepped to the front of the class and took the chalk from Mr Wozniak's hand.
"You remember all the steps, yah? Okay, then, I need you to say out loud what you're doing, so that you won't get distracted. Children, remember that at this point, concentration and focus are the most important aspects. Do it, then! The Act of Joining!!"
Garret nodded and assumed a very serious expression. He took the chalk and knelt down on the floor.
"This circle encompasses my intention. This circle represents my will." Garret said the words in a sing-song, while he drew a circle on the floor in two strokes, and then a smaller, concentric circle inside of it. "H… N… P… Q… One phrase for each letter, one thought for each phrase: Union, Joining, Complete, Same." As he declaimed, he drew the letters evenly spaced in between the circles and then circled each one and joined them with lines drawn across the circles, with the resulting drawing a kind of number four inside two circles. "It is my will, what I do." As he said this words, he drew a triangle inside the circles with a flourish.
Garret then stood up and broke the chalk into two pieces. He took one piece on each hand and showed them first to Mr Wozniac and then turned around and showed his hands to the rest of the classroom. He then bent down and placed the two pieces at the center of the number four figure, inside the triangle. Garret turned to the metal bucket and picked out a road flare from inside, he took off the cap and, after taking a deep breath, said in a loud voice: "I will it!"
He lit the road flare, and bent down to place it inside the triangle and the circle, next to the chalk pieces. The moment the road flare touched the floor it went out. At the same time a small but bright flash of blue flickered on the floor, inside the circle.
Mr Wozniak ruffled Garret's hair and said, "Well done! Well done! Back to your seat, now. Thank you very much." He then bent down and picked up the chalk, which was now in a single piece again, and showed it to the classroom.
There were several "Ooo!" and "Aaah!", except for Giovanni, who had a sneer on his face.
"Oh, puh-leeze! Like you've never seen a cheap magician do sleight-of-hand before. What next? A bunny out from a hat?" And then blew a raspberry. Circe elbowed him in the ribs, hard, and she looked miffed. "Wha? You believe this crap?"
"Okay, then, next!! Circe, come on up here, and bring your friend the skeptic with you!" Mr Wozniak seemed oddly amused.
"Let's go!" Circe seemed furious, and dragged Giovanni behind her by the hand. Some of the kids laughed at him, while others were still commenting on Garret's demonstration.
"Okay, Miss Circe, first, tell me: can this circle be used again?" Mr Wozniak pointed his sausage-like finger towards the floor.
"Y-yesss?" Circe made it into a question, looking a little confused.
"For the same Act, of for a different Act?"
"No, it has to be the very same Act…" She seemed a bit less unsure now.
"Explain."
"It wouldn't work for a different Act because the focus would need to be different."
"Well remembered!" Mr Wozniak beamed at Circe, who smiled brightly again. "And, remember kids," Mr Wozniak continued, now talking to the whole class, "that the only reason why we know which Act was performed with this circle and triangle is because Garret said the words out loud. Otherwise, we would never could guess what is the meaning of the letters he wrote because…" Mr Wozniak paused, and then the whole classroom chorused with him, "the symbols are personal, and only have meaning for the one who drew them!" Mr Wozniak smiled, and then continued on his own, "We can never be able to use the circle again if we don't know its purpose. Now, Circe, use the circle… Wait! Let's do a little bit of cheap pres-ti-di-gi-ta-tion for Giovanni here. Giovanni, do you have any dollar bills in your pockets? Giovanni, do you? Hey! Giovanni!!"
Giovanni blinked (clearly he wasn't paying much attention) and then pulled out a dollar bill from his wallet.
"If you want to, you can write something on it, across the whole bill, so that you know this is your dollar bill. Now, you tear it in half. And place it in the middle of the circle, on the floor." Giovanni complied, writing "This is stupid!" on the bill, and then tearing it in half, but length-wise. He then placed it on the floor, making sure that both halves were apart. "Okay, Circe, let 'er rip!" Mr Wozniak sounded as if he were about to laugh.
Circe mumbled a few phrases in a low voice, clasping her hands under her chin, repeating most of what Garret had said, bent down and then touched the edge of the circle with her fingertips, straightened up, grabbed a road flare, lit it up, and yelled, maybe a bit louder than necessary: "I will it!!!" She then let the lit flare drop to the floor, inside the circle.
The instant the road flare touched the floor it went out, and another blue flash blinked around the circle.
"Well, I'll be…" Giovanni stood there, blinking owlishly, looking at the restored dollar bill laying on the floor next to a burnt out flare. "She didn't even touch it!" he whispered.
Giovanni turned to Mr Wozniak, and with an addled look on his face he demanded, "But, how is it done?"
Mr Wozniak just laughed a big, hearty, full-bellied laugh. "Oh, Giovanni, you think you've just seen something extraordinary, right? Boy, oh, boy, are you in for a crap-load of surprises!! As to the 'how' it is done, well, do your homework, and you'll learn step by step the procedure. But as for 'how', like, in 'how is this possible at all?', well, that's why you have to take a class with Professor Benoni. He'll explain much better, I promise… Now, you two go back to your seats. Who wants to go next?"
The whole classroom raised their hands.
They spent the rest of the class, until dinner time, with every one trying at least once the Act of Joining. Giovanni started reading his handouts and doing the exercises right there, in class, asking questions to Circe, Staci and Traci, and at the end with several other students whispering the right answers to him, to help him complete the monstrous amount of homework.
But Mr Wozniak didn't let him try out his Magick that day.
To Be Continued…
Finitum 9 (EN)
9. What Goes On
Everyone was very enthusiastic during dinner, except for Giovanni, who was again feeling a bit dumber than usual since he was so far behind in Practicals schoolwork. He had hardly poked around his huge plate of boneless pork chops, steamed vegetables and fruit salad, but Circe kept reminding him to eat his food.
Giovanni was too intent in catching up, so he kept working on his handouts. Many of the pages of exercises were stained with fruit juice already. When Staci, Traci, and Circe finished their dinner, Giovanni tried to leave with them, but as soon as he tried to drop off his mostly full dinner tray with the dishwashers, Ms Loeb seemed to materialize out of thin air behind him, looking down at him through heavy-lidded eyes.
"What's wrong with your food?" The enormous kitchen monolith asked.
"Erm… N-Nothing, nothing's wrong. I'm not too hungry, is all…" Giovanni tried to shrug his way out of it, and started slinking to the side. He wasn't fast enough. Ms Loeb, seemingly not moving at all, suddenly had his dinner tray on one hand, while the other had Giovanni by the arm.
"Go back. Sit down. Eat everything. It's good for you!"
"Hey! Stop pulling! I'm coming along, alright? Jeez…"
Most of the kids laughed openly at him, and the Thompsons and Garret stood by the door, looking at Giovanni being frog-marched back to his table. Circe poked her head back into the room for a moment, trying unsuccessfully not to laugh at him, and said, "See? Toldja! Toodles!!"
Fifteen minutes later Giovanni presented his empty plates to Ms Loeb, who only grunted and resumed her impersonation of a fridge.
By the time Giovanni returned to his pod, everyone was still buzzing about being able to practice the Act of Joining that day. All the kids talked excitedly with each other, and even the Thompsons and Garret seemed to be in high spirits and getting along with everyone else. Giovanni made a bee-line for his bunk, and continued working on his Practicals homework, even though he also had a ton of homework from the Furies. After a while, he got up and asked Circe if she had a piece of chalk, because he wanted to give it a try.
"No no no no no!!" Circe shook her head emphatically. "No Magick allowed in the Pods. Didn't you read the School Rules? No? Well, you can't practice in the pods."
"And why the hell not? Who's gonna know?"
"Oh, they'll know, believe me. Didn't you see how fast mister Wozniak came back into the pod yesterday, when the Thompsons tried to hex you? And, besides, if someone uses Magick in the pod, everyone gets punished. We are still waiting to see what kind of punishment we'll get because of what the Thompsons did to you. So don't even think about it, okay? Okay?"
"The Thompsons tried to do what to me? What are you talking 'bout? Well, whatever. Fine. But I still don't think it's possible for them to know that…"
"Just because you're bigger and meaner than us, doesn't mean that all of us together can't take you on, you know?," Bryan interrupted him, coming up to him rather suddenly. Giovanni was surprised to be addressed like this by Bryan, who was also on the shrimpy side, and a few years younger than him. "If you try to get us all in trouble, we will make your life miserable, you get me?"
"Look, kid, get off my dick, alright? I'm not trying to get you in trouble, okay? And, if you ever give me crap again, I'll stick you into a toilet head-first. Now, do you get me?" Giovanni couldn't stop himself from doing his macho thing. He even thought about giving Bryan a small shove for good measure, but out of the corner of his eye he noticed two things at once that made him pause. He noticed that the other kids were actually scared of him, and it made him feel rather rotten to be seen as the heavy. And he also noticed the disappointment in Circe's face, and he was confused to feel hurt by it. Since when did he care about anything an eleven-year old girl thought of him? Well, he was confused. So, he changed his mind and mellowed out. Instead of shoving Bryan, he patted him a few times on the shoulder. "Don't sweat it, kid, I'm not gonna get you guys in trouble, alright? I just didn't know… But don't forget about the toilet, huh?" And then he smiled.
Giovanni didn't ordinarily smile. Apparently, it wasn't a "cool" thing to do, to go around smiling like an imbecile. It indicated weakness, or something, so he didn't smile. But, even though Giovanni didn't quite know it, his smile was nothing short of spectacular. It was like looking at the sun coming out at dawn. Bryan automatically smiled back, forgetting all about having been threatened just now to be dunked in a toilet. Circe's expression changed into amazement, and the older girls felt themselves blushing and their eyes sparkled for a moment or two. The Thompsons and Garret felt their loathing deepen, and now hated Giovanni even more.
All this for a smile…
***
"Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey!!!" Circe again kicked Giovanni's bed a few times, and for good measure pulled away his pillow from under his head.
"Hey! Give it back!" Giovanni half-sat up.
"You sure?"
"Yes! I'm s—" Of course, Circe banged him pretty hard on the face with his pillow, and then ran away, laughter tinkling behind her all the way into the bathrooms.
Oh, crap, Giovanni thought, is she going to be like this every morning?
***
This was the second day Giovanni was in the school, and he started to find out how tricky these people really were. During breakfast, when Adelaide announced that Cerulean Pod would spend the morning again with Mr Wozniak, Giovanni began to suspect that his pod would be forced to chop up all the logs as punishment. And he was right. Mr Wozniak was waiting for them outside, and with a grin on his face he announced that they would be spending every morning with him until the logs were completely chopped up, however many days it took.
After everybody took a moment to groan and protest, they got started, seemingly willing to do away with the logs in the shortest amount of days.
Giovanni was pleased to see that everybody now gave the Thompsons and Garret all sorts of dirty looks, and every so often other kids would "accidentally" kick out and spill their piles of fire logs, forcing them to pile them up again.
Something new Giovanni noticed, and was a little bit uncomfortable with, were the small smiles and shiny eyes on the faces of the girls in the pod when he caught them looking at him. Well, at least Circe wasn't acting all weird…
***
After lunch, when they got to the regular classes with the Furies, Giovanni thought that he'd be in trouble for not doing his homework. But Agatha didn't even ask him for his homework, and instead launched into an explanation of the rather complex schedule they had designed for him. It was divided into many short segments of time, and Giovanni would be spending sometimes a few minutes in one subject before switching to a completely different subject.
"You see? The thing is that many of these facts can be linked together. Usually, the student has to make this links on his own, and that slows down the learning process a lot. When presented with all this related topics across different subjects, the student can more easily fit them all together in his head. So, sometimes something you learn in Maths will have relevance with something in Chemistry, or even History, and you'll learn everything easier."
However, at the end of the three hours of regular class, Giovanni still felt as if his brain had been slowly roasted and pierced multiple times. And, he also found out his punishment for not having done his homework: he had a pile twice as high assigned for today's homework. "Just make sure you turn it in by the end of the day tomorrow, dear. Now, grab your stuff and let's go. Professor Benoni is waiting for you. You'll spend the rest of the evening with him."
Giovanni was disappointed that he wouldn't go to Practicals that day.
Everyone was very enthusiastic during dinner, except for Giovanni, who was again feeling a bit dumber than usual since he was so far behind in Practicals schoolwork. He had hardly poked around his huge plate of boneless pork chops, steamed vegetables and fruit salad, but Circe kept reminding him to eat his food.
Giovanni was too intent in catching up, so he kept working on his handouts. Many of the pages of exercises were stained with fruit juice already. When Staci, Traci, and Circe finished their dinner, Giovanni tried to leave with them, but as soon as he tried to drop off his mostly full dinner tray with the dishwashers, Ms Loeb seemed to materialize out of thin air behind him, looking down at him through heavy-lidded eyes.
"What's wrong with your food?" The enormous kitchen monolith asked.
"Erm… N-Nothing, nothing's wrong. I'm not too hungry, is all…" Giovanni tried to shrug his way out of it, and started slinking to the side. He wasn't fast enough. Ms Loeb, seemingly not moving at all, suddenly had his dinner tray on one hand, while the other had Giovanni by the arm.
"Go back. Sit down. Eat everything. It's good for you!"
"Hey! Stop pulling! I'm coming along, alright? Jeez…"
Most of the kids laughed openly at him, and the Thompsons and Garret stood by the door, looking at Giovanni being frog-marched back to his table. Circe poked her head back into the room for a moment, trying unsuccessfully not to laugh at him, and said, "See? Toldja! Toodles!!"
Fifteen minutes later Giovanni presented his empty plates to Ms Loeb, who only grunted and resumed her impersonation of a fridge.
By the time Giovanni returned to his pod, everyone was still buzzing about being able to practice the Act of Joining that day. All the kids talked excitedly with each other, and even the Thompsons and Garret seemed to be in high spirits and getting along with everyone else. Giovanni made a bee-line for his bunk, and continued working on his Practicals homework, even though he also had a ton of homework from the Furies. After a while, he got up and asked Circe if she had a piece of chalk, because he wanted to give it a try.
"No no no no no!!" Circe shook her head emphatically. "No Magick allowed in the Pods. Didn't you read the School Rules? No? Well, you can't practice in the pods."
"And why the hell not? Who's gonna know?"
"Oh, they'll know, believe me. Didn't you see how fast mister Wozniak came back into the pod yesterday, when the Thompsons tried to hex you? And, besides, if someone uses Magick in the pod, everyone gets punished. We are still waiting to see what kind of punishment we'll get because of what the Thompsons did to you. So don't even think about it, okay? Okay?"
"The Thompsons tried to do what to me? What are you talking 'bout? Well, whatever. Fine. But I still don't think it's possible for them to know that…"
"Just because you're bigger and meaner than us, doesn't mean that all of us together can't take you on, you know?," Bryan interrupted him, coming up to him rather suddenly. Giovanni was surprised to be addressed like this by Bryan, who was also on the shrimpy side, and a few years younger than him. "If you try to get us all in trouble, we will make your life miserable, you get me?"
"Look, kid, get off my dick, alright? I'm not trying to get you in trouble, okay? And, if you ever give me crap again, I'll stick you into a toilet head-first. Now, do you get me?" Giovanni couldn't stop himself from doing his macho thing. He even thought about giving Bryan a small shove for good measure, but out of the corner of his eye he noticed two things at once that made him pause. He noticed that the other kids were actually scared of him, and it made him feel rather rotten to be seen as the heavy. And he also noticed the disappointment in Circe's face, and he was confused to feel hurt by it. Since when did he care about anything an eleven-year old girl thought of him? Well, he was confused. So, he changed his mind and mellowed out. Instead of shoving Bryan, he patted him a few times on the shoulder. "Don't sweat it, kid, I'm not gonna get you guys in trouble, alright? I just didn't know… But don't forget about the toilet, huh?" And then he smiled.
Giovanni didn't ordinarily smile. Apparently, it wasn't a "cool" thing to do, to go around smiling like an imbecile. It indicated weakness, or something, so he didn't smile. But, even though Giovanni didn't quite know it, his smile was nothing short of spectacular. It was like looking at the sun coming out at dawn. Bryan automatically smiled back, forgetting all about having been threatened just now to be dunked in a toilet. Circe's expression changed into amazement, and the older girls felt themselves blushing and their eyes sparkled for a moment or two. The Thompsons and Garret felt their loathing deepen, and now hated Giovanni even more.
All this for a smile…
***
"Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey!!!" Circe again kicked Giovanni's bed a few times, and for good measure pulled away his pillow from under his head.
"Hey! Give it back!" Giovanni half-sat up.
"You sure?"
"Yes! I'm s—" Of course, Circe banged him pretty hard on the face with his pillow, and then ran away, laughter tinkling behind her all the way into the bathrooms.
Oh, crap, Giovanni thought, is she going to be like this every morning?
***
This was the second day Giovanni was in the school, and he started to find out how tricky these people really were. During breakfast, when Adelaide announced that Cerulean Pod would spend the morning again with Mr Wozniak, Giovanni began to suspect that his pod would be forced to chop up all the logs as punishment. And he was right. Mr Wozniak was waiting for them outside, and with a grin on his face he announced that they would be spending every morning with him until the logs were completely chopped up, however many days it took.
After everybody took a moment to groan and protest, they got started, seemingly willing to do away with the logs in the shortest amount of days.
Giovanni was pleased to see that everybody now gave the Thompsons and Garret all sorts of dirty looks, and every so often other kids would "accidentally" kick out and spill their piles of fire logs, forcing them to pile them up again.
Something new Giovanni noticed, and was a little bit uncomfortable with, were the small smiles and shiny eyes on the faces of the girls in the pod when he caught them looking at him. Well, at least Circe wasn't acting all weird…
***
After lunch, when they got to the regular classes with the Furies, Giovanni thought that he'd be in trouble for not doing his homework. But Agatha didn't even ask him for his homework, and instead launched into an explanation of the rather complex schedule they had designed for him. It was divided into many short segments of time, and Giovanni would be spending sometimes a few minutes in one subject before switching to a completely different subject.
"You see? The thing is that many of these facts can be linked together. Usually, the student has to make this links on his own, and that slows down the learning process a lot. When presented with all this related topics across different subjects, the student can more easily fit them all together in his head. So, sometimes something you learn in Maths will have relevance with something in Chemistry, or even History, and you'll learn everything easier."
However, at the end of the three hours of regular class, Giovanni still felt as if his brain had been slowly roasted and pierced multiple times. And, he also found out his punishment for not having done his homework: he had a pile twice as high assigned for today's homework. "Just make sure you turn it in by the end of the day tomorrow, dear. Now, grab your stuff and let's go. Professor Benoni is waiting for you. You'll spend the rest of the evening with him."
Giovanni was disappointed that he wouldn't go to Practicals that day.
To Be Continued…
Finitum 10 (EN)
10. What Big Eyes You've Got
Giovanni walked alongside Agatha, without speaking, thinking that perhaps he should try to borrow Circe's night-light and try to stay up all night in order to finish the ungodly amount of homework he had just been given. But he forgot all about it when he noticed that Agatha had taken him to the hallway that seemed to lead nowhere and had no doors in it. They walked all the way to the end of the hallway and then she pressed on the wood paneling of the end wall, making a hidden door open. She started walking down the staircase there.
"Where're we going?"
"Oh, Professor Benoni's classroom is in the basement. Thought you knew…"
The single rise of steps ended in another door that opened into a single hallway with one single wrought-iron door at its end. Agatha put her hand on the door, and it opened silently into a brightly illuminated room.
"Professor Benoni, here's the boy." Giovanni couldn't tell why, but Agatha sounded a bit uncomfortable.
"Ah, thank you, thank you! Please, Giovanni, please come in!" A slight man, barely taller than Giovanni, apparently in his early twenties, stepped up to him and pumped his hand precisely three times. "Nice to meet you. See you later, miss Agatha!" But Agatha had already closed the door.
Giovanni's first impression of Benoni is that he looked forever surprised. But he just had a high forehead and wide-set, bright eyes, that made him look as if he were just about to laugh at something.
"Well, well, well, the famous Wingrove scion, here to grace us with the promise of greatness… Ah, but your aunt's untimely demise was a stroke of the worst luck, I daresay! Well, hopefully we can keep a better eye on you!" Benoni seemed sincere enough, but Giovanni felt mocked all the same.
"Well, then, here we are: Theory of Magick! Wonderful. And we have here today three of the more promising young ones, together for a special class. You know each other already, I'm sure!" Benoni gestured grandiosely, and Giovanni was able to finally take his eyes off the thin man and see that Circe and Garret were sitting on the floor. This room was as austere as the Practicals room, with just a blackboard, a three-legged stool and cushions on the floor for the students. But Giovanni felt disconcerted to see that there was just a small window high up in the corner of the ceiling with the wall, but the room seemed lighted brightly. There were no lamps in evidence, and there seemed to be no source for so much light. Shrugging it off, Giovanni went to sit down by Circe.
"Very well, then, introductions all around: Circe Kostya here, she's the long lost scion of the Alecto family, recently re-introduced to her great-granny, Adelaide!" Everything Benoni said sounded enthusiastic and mocking.
"Wow," Giovanni nudged Circe, "you didn't tell me you were related to the Furies."
"Yes, well, my family didn't know we were related to them until the beginning of the year, when I started doing Magick without meaning to…" Circe seemed a bit uncomfortable and proud at the same time.
"Yes, yes, a very interesting story!," Benoni interrupted happily, "how the great Adelaide lost track of her only daughter and she ended up living in Russia, and then her children moved back to America and had this precious little girl here. Yes, interesting!"
"Yah, thrilled…" Garret mumbled, anything but.
"Ah, young master Garret Feldman, you do honor your long lineage justly renowned, as our good mister Wozniak attests in his reports of your comportment in Practicals!" When Benoni said this, Garret puffed up like a miniature peacock.
"And I can do lots of other stuff, too! And not only basic stuff, either!" Garret looked immediately sorry to have confessed this.
"Of course, of course!" Benoni soothed, "it's understandable that Feldman Senior felt the need to take a hand in the early education of his proud progeny, of course!"
"Well, I can't do squat, so I don't know what's this all about, alright?"
"Ah, succinctly put, Giovanni. Well, to business, then. Let me tell you why we are meeting exclusively today. I have information that pertains only to you because of your special circumstances, and would be of no use to the rest of your classmates, so I will ask for your discretion, yes?" Garret nodded fervently, Circe a bit less certain. But Giovanni just narrowed his eyes and stared at Benoni. He didn't like being singled out, and he was suspicious of secrecy without knowing the reason behind it.
"Very well, these past six weeks we've been studying the reasoning behind the Acts of Magick. We've learned…" Benoni interrupted himself to hand Giovanni a hard-backed book. "Please go ahead and read to chapter three, inclusive, and you will be caught up with the class. It is rather dense and convoluted, so don't worry too much if you can't make much sense of it. Many experts cannot make much sense of it, either!"
Giovanni looked down at the book in his hands. "Of the Will," said the title. He leafed through a few pages, and only saw sentence after sentence written in very small letters. Argh!, he thought, as if I needed extra homework…
"As I was saying, we've learned in class some history, and some general ideas as to how and why Magick has existed as long as there have been human beings. With these thoughts in mind, answer me this: Yesterday you practiced the Act of Joining. Wouldn't it had been easier to use glue?"
Garret and Circe looked confused for a moment, but Giovanni only smiled, and asked in return, "Woulda been easier, but it wouldn't have been magic, right?"
"Na-ah!! It would too have been Magick!" Circe contradicted him, with her eyes full of wonder.
"Yes, because it would have been an expression of your Will, to join the two pieces together." Garret also seemed excited to think of it in this manner.
"O-kaaaay… So, everything humans do, because they do it out of reasoning with their brain, everything is magic?" Giovanni sounded as if he wanted really bad for it to be true.
"Ah! Well done: we've come to the crux of it! No!!" Benoni still sounded mocking. "No, humans do not do everything out of reasoning! Mostly, everything is directed by the genetic material in your cells: Even your behaviour can be traced back to the way chemicals in your bodies are put together!!" And he smiled. "Now, let's go back to the example with the glue. Yes: if you glue something to put it back together, you are doing an Act of Joining. It is Magick. But!!" Benoni put up a finger and let the suspense build for a couple of seconds. "But, where does the Magick reside? Where is the Magick in that Act?"
"In he who has the Will to Act…" Circe and Garret parroted the line learned in that very same classroom.
"No!" Giovanni had the manic look in his eyes of someone who has caught a momentary glimpse of the machinery behind the curtain. "No! The Magick," Giovanni said the word for the first time with the proper spelling in his mind, and it sounded completely different to him, and everyone else. "The Magick resides in whoever invented the glue!"
"What?" Circe and Garret said, and then whipped their head around from Giovanni to Benoni.
"Yes! Well done!" Benoni spoke at the same time they had. "You did very well with very few clues to go on! Congratulations! Yes! He is right: The Magick started with whoever thought of inventing glue, and we all benefit from it. Did you not use the same circle yesterday, time after time? Yes? Of course you did. So the glue is some sort of circle, and the Magick in it is active for whoever uses the glue for the same Act."
Benoni paused for a few seconds, looking avidly into the three young faces there, each one wrestling with the concepts at the moment. A momentary flicker of the light seemed to fill his face with harsh angles, and his eyes seemed to glisten with the sheen of cold marble. Giovanni caught a glimpse of the change for a fraction of a second, and the cold and clamy hand of dread clutched his heart for a heartbeat or two. But the impression only lasted for a small moment of time, and then was gone, and Benoni still stood there, smiling benignly at the three children.
"Wait a moment…" Giovanni had again the manic look on his face. "So, if the genes control most of your behavior, then Magick is… a genetic trait! You could breed Magick into people! You could make everyone magical!!" Giovanni had stood up, so excited he was by his discovery.
"Alas, if it were that easy…" Benoni sighed theatrically. "Unfortunately, even modern Science cannot isolate a single gene or group of genes that predispose people to be magical."
"They are looking for it??" Said Garret and Circe together.
"Well, no… not exactly!" And Benoni suddenly looked smug. "But they are looking for the combination of genes that give rise to consciousness…" Benoni said off-handedly, as if it didn't matter. "But let's stop here for today. I've given you plenty of material to think about. We'll meet again in one week's time, and you will be prepared to speak of these matters. Read the chapters I've indicated, and search the Internet for information on the subjects we've spoken about today. Until then, I bid you adieu!"
And just then, the door banged open and Agatha, Johannsen and Wozniak tumbled inside.
"You three, out! Go with mister Wozniak. Now!!" The three kids got up hurriedly and exited the room, afraid to see Agatha so angry. But she kept her gaze fixed on Benoni, and it was immediately apparent that her beef was with him. "What the hell were you doing in here?" Agatha demanded.
Benoni just shrugged. And then smiled, the way sharks seem to smile at times.
Giovanni walked alongside Agatha, without speaking, thinking that perhaps he should try to borrow Circe's night-light and try to stay up all night in order to finish the ungodly amount of homework he had just been given. But he forgot all about it when he noticed that Agatha had taken him to the hallway that seemed to lead nowhere and had no doors in it. They walked all the way to the end of the hallway and then she pressed on the wood paneling of the end wall, making a hidden door open. She started walking down the staircase there.
"Where're we going?"
"Oh, Professor Benoni's classroom is in the basement. Thought you knew…"
The single rise of steps ended in another door that opened into a single hallway with one single wrought-iron door at its end. Agatha put her hand on the door, and it opened silently into a brightly illuminated room.
"Professor Benoni, here's the boy." Giovanni couldn't tell why, but Agatha sounded a bit uncomfortable.
"Ah, thank you, thank you! Please, Giovanni, please come in!" A slight man, barely taller than Giovanni, apparently in his early twenties, stepped up to him and pumped his hand precisely three times. "Nice to meet you. See you later, miss Agatha!" But Agatha had already closed the door.
Giovanni's first impression of Benoni is that he looked forever surprised. But he just had a high forehead and wide-set, bright eyes, that made him look as if he were just about to laugh at something.
"Well, well, well, the famous Wingrove scion, here to grace us with the promise of greatness… Ah, but your aunt's untimely demise was a stroke of the worst luck, I daresay! Well, hopefully we can keep a better eye on you!" Benoni seemed sincere enough, but Giovanni felt mocked all the same.
"Well, then, here we are: Theory of Magick! Wonderful. And we have here today three of the more promising young ones, together for a special class. You know each other already, I'm sure!" Benoni gestured grandiosely, and Giovanni was able to finally take his eyes off the thin man and see that Circe and Garret were sitting on the floor. This room was as austere as the Practicals room, with just a blackboard, a three-legged stool and cushions on the floor for the students. But Giovanni felt disconcerted to see that there was just a small window high up in the corner of the ceiling with the wall, but the room seemed lighted brightly. There were no lamps in evidence, and there seemed to be no source for so much light. Shrugging it off, Giovanni went to sit down by Circe.
"Very well, then, introductions all around: Circe Kostya here, she's the long lost scion of the Alecto family, recently re-introduced to her great-granny, Adelaide!" Everything Benoni said sounded enthusiastic and mocking.
"Wow," Giovanni nudged Circe, "you didn't tell me you were related to the Furies."
"Yes, well, my family didn't know we were related to them until the beginning of the year, when I started doing Magick without meaning to…" Circe seemed a bit uncomfortable and proud at the same time.
"Yes, yes, a very interesting story!," Benoni interrupted happily, "how the great Adelaide lost track of her only daughter and she ended up living in Russia, and then her children moved back to America and had this precious little girl here. Yes, interesting!"
"Yah, thrilled…" Garret mumbled, anything but.
"Ah, young master Garret Feldman, you do honor your long lineage justly renowned, as our good mister Wozniak attests in his reports of your comportment in Practicals!" When Benoni said this, Garret puffed up like a miniature peacock.
"And I can do lots of other stuff, too! And not only basic stuff, either!" Garret looked immediately sorry to have confessed this.
"Of course, of course!" Benoni soothed, "it's understandable that Feldman Senior felt the need to take a hand in the early education of his proud progeny, of course!"
"Well, I can't do squat, so I don't know what's this all about, alright?"
"Ah, succinctly put, Giovanni. Well, to business, then. Let me tell you why we are meeting exclusively today. I have information that pertains only to you because of your special circumstances, and would be of no use to the rest of your classmates, so I will ask for your discretion, yes?" Garret nodded fervently, Circe a bit less certain. But Giovanni just narrowed his eyes and stared at Benoni. He didn't like being singled out, and he was suspicious of secrecy without knowing the reason behind it.
"Very well, these past six weeks we've been studying the reasoning behind the Acts of Magick. We've learned…" Benoni interrupted himself to hand Giovanni a hard-backed book. "Please go ahead and read to chapter three, inclusive, and you will be caught up with the class. It is rather dense and convoluted, so don't worry too much if you can't make much sense of it. Many experts cannot make much sense of it, either!"
Giovanni looked down at the book in his hands. "Of the Will," said the title. He leafed through a few pages, and only saw sentence after sentence written in very small letters. Argh!, he thought, as if I needed extra homework…
"As I was saying, we've learned in class some history, and some general ideas as to how and why Magick has existed as long as there have been human beings. With these thoughts in mind, answer me this: Yesterday you practiced the Act of Joining. Wouldn't it had been easier to use glue?"
Garret and Circe looked confused for a moment, but Giovanni only smiled, and asked in return, "Woulda been easier, but it wouldn't have been magic, right?"
"Na-ah!! It would too have been Magick!" Circe contradicted him, with her eyes full of wonder.
"Yes, because it would have been an expression of your Will, to join the two pieces together." Garret also seemed excited to think of it in this manner.
"O-kaaaay… So, everything humans do, because they do it out of reasoning with their brain, everything is magic?" Giovanni sounded as if he wanted really bad for it to be true.
"Ah! Well done: we've come to the crux of it! No!!" Benoni still sounded mocking. "No, humans do not do everything out of reasoning! Mostly, everything is directed by the genetic material in your cells: Even your behaviour can be traced back to the way chemicals in your bodies are put together!!" And he smiled. "Now, let's go back to the example with the glue. Yes: if you glue something to put it back together, you are doing an Act of Joining. It is Magick. But!!" Benoni put up a finger and let the suspense build for a couple of seconds. "But, where does the Magick reside? Where is the Magick in that Act?"
"In he who has the Will to Act…" Circe and Garret parroted the line learned in that very same classroom.
"No!" Giovanni had the manic look in his eyes of someone who has caught a momentary glimpse of the machinery behind the curtain. "No! The Magick," Giovanni said the word for the first time with the proper spelling in his mind, and it sounded completely different to him, and everyone else. "The Magick resides in whoever invented the glue!"
"What?" Circe and Garret said, and then whipped their head around from Giovanni to Benoni.
"Yes! Well done!" Benoni spoke at the same time they had. "You did very well with very few clues to go on! Congratulations! Yes! He is right: The Magick started with whoever thought of inventing glue, and we all benefit from it. Did you not use the same circle yesterday, time after time? Yes? Of course you did. So the glue is some sort of circle, and the Magick in it is active for whoever uses the glue for the same Act."
Benoni paused for a few seconds, looking avidly into the three young faces there, each one wrestling with the concepts at the moment. A momentary flicker of the light seemed to fill his face with harsh angles, and his eyes seemed to glisten with the sheen of cold marble. Giovanni caught a glimpse of the change for a fraction of a second, and the cold and clamy hand of dread clutched his heart for a heartbeat or two. But the impression only lasted for a small moment of time, and then was gone, and Benoni still stood there, smiling benignly at the three children.
"Wait a moment…" Giovanni had again the manic look on his face. "So, if the genes control most of your behavior, then Magick is… a genetic trait! You could breed Magick into people! You could make everyone magical!!" Giovanni had stood up, so excited he was by his discovery.
"Alas, if it were that easy…" Benoni sighed theatrically. "Unfortunately, even modern Science cannot isolate a single gene or group of genes that predispose people to be magical."
"They are looking for it??" Said Garret and Circe together.
"Well, no… not exactly!" And Benoni suddenly looked smug. "But they are looking for the combination of genes that give rise to consciousness…" Benoni said off-handedly, as if it didn't matter. "But let's stop here for today. I've given you plenty of material to think about. We'll meet again in one week's time, and you will be prepared to speak of these matters. Read the chapters I've indicated, and search the Internet for information on the subjects we've spoken about today. Until then, I bid you adieu!"
And just then, the door banged open and Agatha, Johannsen and Wozniak tumbled inside.
"You three, out! Go with mister Wozniak. Now!!" The three kids got up hurriedly and exited the room, afraid to see Agatha so angry. But she kept her gaze fixed on Benoni, and it was immediately apparent that her beef was with him. "What the hell were you doing in here?" Agatha demanded.
Benoni just shrugged. And then smiled, the way sharks seem to smile at times.
To Be Continued…
Finitum 11 (EN)
11. A Darker Shade of Pale
"Well, if you ask me, there's something not quite right with the dude… I can't put my finger on it, but something is just… off, somehow." Giovanni had Circe and Garret nodding their head, as they walked behind Mr Wozniak, trying to keep up with him. Giovanni had asked what was going on, and Mr Wozniak hadn't answered yet. "He reminded me of Michael Jackson…"
"Look, he's a Professor of the School, so I don't wanna hear any disparaging comments about him, you hear? If we rushed in is because mister Johannsen's security system detected something hinky going on in the basement, alright?"
"Hinky, how?"
"Well, y'all should've appeared in his monitors wherever you were in the lodge and… Yes, miss Circe, those stories about kids getting lost are not true. Well, they are true, but we've always found them… eventually. Anyway, you four guys didn't quite register there for a while: you were kinda phasing in 'n' out, and the alarms went off. The alarms go off if there are any unauthorized or unrecognizable Acts of Magick. So Johannsen came and got me, and on the way to the basement we came across Agatha, and then we went together to check on you guys. Agatha was upset because we couldn't open the door for nuttin'! Not brute force, not Magick, nothing worked. And I gotta tell you, if anyone could open any door, that'd be Agatha. But she couldn't and she got kinda pissed off, I guess. But then it opened by itself, you guys are okay, everything's fine. That's it! End of story: Bye-bye."
"Wait a minute! You mean to tell me that you guys spy on us all the time?" Giovanni felt oppressed by Big Brother, already.
"We don't spy on you!" Mr Wozniak rolled his eyes as he said it. "We just track you around the lodge. What? You thought we were gonna let fifty teenagers run around loose in the house? I don't think so! Anyway, here we are: get in and find a seat." They had arrived to the Rune Room, as the Practicals classroom was known.
This time around, there were only another eight students from the other pods in there so they didn't have to squeeze in anywhere. They just plopped down at the front.
"Okay, then, we were reviewing some advanced concepts here. Giovanni, if you want to, go ahead and continue working on your homework while we all carry on here. This review we are having, you won't catch up with it until next week, so…"
"Mister Wozniak, sir!" Giovanni interrupted with a raised hand. "Please, may I try to perform an Act of Magick?"
"Erm… Well, why not? But try something easy, to begin with, alright?"
"Yes, sir!" Giovanni bounded up and went to stand by the bucket-full of flares. He stood there for a few seconds, frowning in concentration, and then whispered, "well, here goes nuttin'!"
Giovanni grabbed a flare from the bucket and lit it.
The other children laughed. Garret actually grabbed his ankles and rolled around on the floor, he was laughing so hard.
"Okay, now, quiet down children! Giovanni, you started at the last step! Look, first…"
But Giovanni still had that frown of utter concentration on his face, with the cords of his wrist standing out from the effort. Suddenly, with a flash of blue from in between his fingers, he opened his hand and, at the same moment, the flare went out and appeared as if it had never been lit.
"Wow!!" Circe got to her feet and came closer, with the rest of the children trailing right behind her, all of them with "ooh's" and "ahh's," and everyone asking, "hey, how'd he do that?" Even Garret was impressed.
But Mr Wozniak had closed his eyes to slits and asked in a dangerous voice, "Who taught you to do that? Tell me now!!"
"Chillax, dawg! I figured it out by myself: the circle, the triangle, and all that hocus-pocus is only to help you get psyched up. But if you concentrate hard enough, you can do all those steps in your mind!"
"First of all, you will address me as…" But Mr Wozniak didn't have time to put Giovanni in his place, because precisely at that moment all the flares lit up at once, making the metal bucket warp and making the stool and the blackboard catch on fire, too. "Holy fuck on wheels! Alright, kids, no screaming, and stand against the wall, I'll take care of this!"
Mr Wozniak grabbed a pendant he wore under his shirt and clasped it in his hands while he whispered several nonsense words, and then spread his hands towards the blaze. The fires went out as if someone had thrown a switch, but everything was charred and the smoke was thick all around them.
"Alright, then, all you kids: out the door and wait for me outside. Wingrove, not so fast: you come and help me open all the windows!"
Once they were all outside and the windows had been opened, Mr Wozniak and Giovanni rejoined the group.
"Okay, pay attention, kids! Apparently, mister Wingrove skipped a few pages in his handouts, because one of the first things you all learned was the principle of equivalent exchange, from Alchemy, remember?" Everyone nodded. Giovanni started going from pale because of the fright, to bright red. He didn't know if he felt chagrin at causing yet another weird accident in his long history of being the weird-accident-causer, or anger at being singled out by the teacher. "What mister Wingrove did wrong was to forget that he has to offer an exchange of energy for the Act. How much energy does one need to effect Magick?" He asked at no one in particular.
"A twentyfold exchange," ten children chorused at once.
"That's right. That's why we have charts of equivalences, to avoid what happened today. Mister Wingrove managed to produce a negative feedback: the Magick had no source to channel the energy needed, and so it grabbed it from whatever was handy. Luckily, this time there was only the fire, which will be cleaned up presently by mister Wingrove. But the recoil can be unpredictable, and the Magick could've taken hold of someone's lifeforce instead. It wouldna killed anyone for something so simple, like Wingrove's flare trick, but it woulda given some unlucky person at least a really bad headache! So, remember what you saw today, and always remember the basics! Now, mister Wingrove, at the next hallway, turn left and the first door to your right is a closet. There you'll find all the supplies needed to clean up my classroom. I'll be back for you in one hour. Let's go, kids, and finish our class outside. I hate the smell of burnt cushions! Every year someone always manages to light them up…"
Giovanni stood there for a few moments, and then went looking for a broom.
***
One hour later, most of the debris was neatly bagged against the wall, and Giovanni had swept the best he could, which wasn't saying much.
"Ooo, boy! Mrs. Staab is gonna love you for making her crew clean up this mess after you!" Mr Wozniak seemed to be in a much better mood. "Look, Giovanni, what we do in The School is to teach those who have the Magick that they must be always responsible in the way the use it. I have arranged for you to spend the rest of the evening with doctor Doe, so that you can get a better perspective of what is like to live a normal life and be part of the society, even though you have the Magick in you. C'mon, put the broom down and follow me, I'll take you to her classroom."
"Were you mad because I cheated and skipped some lessons?"
"No, no, not really! I was upset because usually it's the dark magic that uses many shortcuts. I thought you were going down the wrong path, and I wanted to know if a student had told you to do it in order to get you in trouble…" Mr Wozniak didn't have to name them, but it seemed to Giovanni that the Thompsons might be kids that would know some of those shortcuts. "Tell me: did you really figure it out by yourself, that you didn't need the circle and triangle?"
"Uh-huh! Well, actually, the whole idea came into my head when the Benoni guy was telling us stuff a while ago."
"You mean Professor Benoni," Mr Wozniak looked threatening again. "What was he talking about?"
"Well, since he asked us to keep it a secret, I guess I better tell you, then! He said that humans do not act by reason, but that their bodies control what reason tells them to do. So I thought that the whole thing about drawing lines and crazy doodles was not about having the right idea in your head, but about making your body act a certain way. And then your body would let your mind do whatever it wanted… Or something like that. I don't know, when I try to think it in words it kinda almost don't make no sense. But if I let my body do it, it's pretty simple, really… What? What I do now?" Giovanni looked alarmed to see Mr Wozniak looking at him through slitted eyes again.
"You did nothing wrong. But listen, this kind of thing we don't teach to our children, okay? In none of the teaching programs of The School we talk about this, to anyone at all. So I need you to promise me that you will not try again to short-circuit the Magick, alright? I want you to promise me, especially your most solemn promise, that you will not speak to the other children about this. I will let them all think that you had an unfortunate accident, and you will do likewise. Promise?"
"Fine…" Giovanni still hated secrecy, and now he seemed to be keeping secrets about one thing, but for two different reasons. So he didn't actually said the word 'promise'.
They arrived again at the hallway with no doors, but Mr Wozniak pressed a different plank this time. The same hidden door opened, but the stairs now went upwards. Giovanni was probably too lost in thought, so he didn't comment on such an odd event. Or, maybe he was finally coming to terms with the Magick. So he just climbed the stairs, lost in thought. They reached the top of the stairs, and Mr Wozniak was just about to knock on the door when Professor Benoni opened it suddenly, drawing yet another profane exclamation from Mr Wozniak.
"Professor Benoni! Sorry, but I was expecting doctor Doe to come to the door, is all!"
"Ah, yes! The good doctor stepped out for a moment and will be back presently. Allow me to take young Wingrove into the room, and I will remain here until wonderful Jane returns, yes?"
"Erm… Ah, well, I mean to say, after what happened a couple hours ago, I don't know if Agatha will be okay with me leaving the kid here and…"
"Yes, all is quite well, rest assured!" While they had this interchange, professor Benoni had managed to pull Giovanni into the room by the arm, and was slowly, but decidedly closing the door on Mr Wozniak. "Not to worry, I'm sure our doctor will make her appearance in a matter of moments! No, my good man, do not fret! Thank you! Will see you at supper!"
The door was closed already, and Giovanni finally noticed that he was quite alone with Benoni, and that once again the lighting in the room did not quite match the time of the day. It looked exactly like the Theory classroom. Benoni took a step closer to Giovanni and started talking.
"While we wait, allow me to ask you this: What if humans evolved their capacity for Magick as a kind of last resort against the cruel world? What if the primitive brains of the proto-humans couldn't deal with reality as it is, and developed Magick to avoid having to look at the Universe right smack in the face? What if the Magick was gone, what would we see? What do you think the world really looks like? Very well, I'll see you next week. Good-bye, for now!"
Giovanni's eyes suddenly watered and he blinked hard. When he opened his eyes again after a moment, he found himself standing in a completely different room which looked like a nice and cozy attic, and a very short woman in her late thirties, with short, straight hair and an elfin face was standing at the opposite end of the room, by the only window.
"Thank you for coming, I am doctor Jane Doe, your Social Integration teacher. Did you come here by yourself? Anyway, please knock on the door next time, instead of just letting yourself in, like you just did. Please, come and sit down, we have much to talk about."
Giovanni had never been so afraid in his life: What if he had gone insane, and all this was happening only inside his head? Or, maybe Drill Sargeant Doakes from his most recent military academy had finally got so fed up with Giovanni's attitude that had shot him on the head, like he kept threatening to do for the past month, and all this had been a hallucination while his brain waited to run out of oxygen and finally die. Or, maybe…
Giovanni was afraid because maybe this was really real, and it was actually happening.
"Well, if you ask me, there's something not quite right with the dude… I can't put my finger on it, but something is just… off, somehow." Giovanni had Circe and Garret nodding their head, as they walked behind Mr Wozniak, trying to keep up with him. Giovanni had asked what was going on, and Mr Wozniak hadn't answered yet. "He reminded me of Michael Jackson…"
"Look, he's a Professor of the School, so I don't wanna hear any disparaging comments about him, you hear? If we rushed in is because mister Johannsen's security system detected something hinky going on in the basement, alright?"
"Hinky, how?"
"Well, y'all should've appeared in his monitors wherever you were in the lodge and… Yes, miss Circe, those stories about kids getting lost are not true. Well, they are true, but we've always found them… eventually. Anyway, you four guys didn't quite register there for a while: you were kinda phasing in 'n' out, and the alarms went off. The alarms go off if there are any unauthorized or unrecognizable Acts of Magick. So Johannsen came and got me, and on the way to the basement we came across Agatha, and then we went together to check on you guys. Agatha was upset because we couldn't open the door for nuttin'! Not brute force, not Magick, nothing worked. And I gotta tell you, if anyone could open any door, that'd be Agatha. But she couldn't and she got kinda pissed off, I guess. But then it opened by itself, you guys are okay, everything's fine. That's it! End of story: Bye-bye."
"Wait a minute! You mean to tell me that you guys spy on us all the time?" Giovanni felt oppressed by Big Brother, already.
"We don't spy on you!" Mr Wozniak rolled his eyes as he said it. "We just track you around the lodge. What? You thought we were gonna let fifty teenagers run around loose in the house? I don't think so! Anyway, here we are: get in and find a seat." They had arrived to the Rune Room, as the Practicals classroom was known.
This time around, there were only another eight students from the other pods in there so they didn't have to squeeze in anywhere. They just plopped down at the front.
"Okay, then, we were reviewing some advanced concepts here. Giovanni, if you want to, go ahead and continue working on your homework while we all carry on here. This review we are having, you won't catch up with it until next week, so…"
"Mister Wozniak, sir!" Giovanni interrupted with a raised hand. "Please, may I try to perform an Act of Magick?"
"Erm… Well, why not? But try something easy, to begin with, alright?"
"Yes, sir!" Giovanni bounded up and went to stand by the bucket-full of flares. He stood there for a few seconds, frowning in concentration, and then whispered, "well, here goes nuttin'!"
Giovanni grabbed a flare from the bucket and lit it.
The other children laughed. Garret actually grabbed his ankles and rolled around on the floor, he was laughing so hard.
"Okay, now, quiet down children! Giovanni, you started at the last step! Look, first…"
But Giovanni still had that frown of utter concentration on his face, with the cords of his wrist standing out from the effort. Suddenly, with a flash of blue from in between his fingers, he opened his hand and, at the same moment, the flare went out and appeared as if it had never been lit.
"Wow!!" Circe got to her feet and came closer, with the rest of the children trailing right behind her, all of them with "ooh's" and "ahh's," and everyone asking, "hey, how'd he do that?" Even Garret was impressed.
But Mr Wozniak had closed his eyes to slits and asked in a dangerous voice, "Who taught you to do that? Tell me now!!"
"Chillax, dawg! I figured it out by myself: the circle, the triangle, and all that hocus-pocus is only to help you get psyched up. But if you concentrate hard enough, you can do all those steps in your mind!"
"First of all, you will address me as…" But Mr Wozniak didn't have time to put Giovanni in his place, because precisely at that moment all the flares lit up at once, making the metal bucket warp and making the stool and the blackboard catch on fire, too. "Holy fuck on wheels! Alright, kids, no screaming, and stand against the wall, I'll take care of this!"
Mr Wozniak grabbed a pendant he wore under his shirt and clasped it in his hands while he whispered several nonsense words, and then spread his hands towards the blaze. The fires went out as if someone had thrown a switch, but everything was charred and the smoke was thick all around them.
"Alright, then, all you kids: out the door and wait for me outside. Wingrove, not so fast: you come and help me open all the windows!"
Once they were all outside and the windows had been opened, Mr Wozniak and Giovanni rejoined the group.
"Okay, pay attention, kids! Apparently, mister Wingrove skipped a few pages in his handouts, because one of the first things you all learned was the principle of equivalent exchange, from Alchemy, remember?" Everyone nodded. Giovanni started going from pale because of the fright, to bright red. He didn't know if he felt chagrin at causing yet another weird accident in his long history of being the weird-accident-causer, or anger at being singled out by the teacher. "What mister Wingrove did wrong was to forget that he has to offer an exchange of energy for the Act. How much energy does one need to effect Magick?" He asked at no one in particular.
"A twentyfold exchange," ten children chorused at once.
"That's right. That's why we have charts of equivalences, to avoid what happened today. Mister Wingrove managed to produce a negative feedback: the Magick had no source to channel the energy needed, and so it grabbed it from whatever was handy. Luckily, this time there was only the fire, which will be cleaned up presently by mister Wingrove. But the recoil can be unpredictable, and the Magick could've taken hold of someone's lifeforce instead. It wouldna killed anyone for something so simple, like Wingrove's flare trick, but it woulda given some unlucky person at least a really bad headache! So, remember what you saw today, and always remember the basics! Now, mister Wingrove, at the next hallway, turn left and the first door to your right is a closet. There you'll find all the supplies needed to clean up my classroom. I'll be back for you in one hour. Let's go, kids, and finish our class outside. I hate the smell of burnt cushions! Every year someone always manages to light them up…"
Giovanni stood there for a few moments, and then went looking for a broom.
***
One hour later, most of the debris was neatly bagged against the wall, and Giovanni had swept the best he could, which wasn't saying much.
"Ooo, boy! Mrs. Staab is gonna love you for making her crew clean up this mess after you!" Mr Wozniak seemed to be in a much better mood. "Look, Giovanni, what we do in The School is to teach those who have the Magick that they must be always responsible in the way the use it. I have arranged for you to spend the rest of the evening with doctor Doe, so that you can get a better perspective of what is like to live a normal life and be part of the society, even though you have the Magick in you. C'mon, put the broom down and follow me, I'll take you to her classroom."
"Were you mad because I cheated and skipped some lessons?"
"No, no, not really! I was upset because usually it's the dark magic that uses many shortcuts. I thought you were going down the wrong path, and I wanted to know if a student had told you to do it in order to get you in trouble…" Mr Wozniak didn't have to name them, but it seemed to Giovanni that the Thompsons might be kids that would know some of those shortcuts. "Tell me: did you really figure it out by yourself, that you didn't need the circle and triangle?"
"Uh-huh! Well, actually, the whole idea came into my head when the Benoni guy was telling us stuff a while ago."
"You mean Professor Benoni," Mr Wozniak looked threatening again. "What was he talking about?"
"Well, since he asked us to keep it a secret, I guess I better tell you, then! He said that humans do not act by reason, but that their bodies control what reason tells them to do. So I thought that the whole thing about drawing lines and crazy doodles was not about having the right idea in your head, but about making your body act a certain way. And then your body would let your mind do whatever it wanted… Or something like that. I don't know, when I try to think it in words it kinda almost don't make no sense. But if I let my body do it, it's pretty simple, really… What? What I do now?" Giovanni looked alarmed to see Mr Wozniak looking at him through slitted eyes again.
"You did nothing wrong. But listen, this kind of thing we don't teach to our children, okay? In none of the teaching programs of The School we talk about this, to anyone at all. So I need you to promise me that you will not try again to short-circuit the Magick, alright? I want you to promise me, especially your most solemn promise, that you will not speak to the other children about this. I will let them all think that you had an unfortunate accident, and you will do likewise. Promise?"
"Fine…" Giovanni still hated secrecy, and now he seemed to be keeping secrets about one thing, but for two different reasons. So he didn't actually said the word 'promise'.
They arrived again at the hallway with no doors, but Mr Wozniak pressed a different plank this time. The same hidden door opened, but the stairs now went upwards. Giovanni was probably too lost in thought, so he didn't comment on such an odd event. Or, maybe he was finally coming to terms with the Magick. So he just climbed the stairs, lost in thought. They reached the top of the stairs, and Mr Wozniak was just about to knock on the door when Professor Benoni opened it suddenly, drawing yet another profane exclamation from Mr Wozniak.
"Professor Benoni! Sorry, but I was expecting doctor Doe to come to the door, is all!"
"Ah, yes! The good doctor stepped out for a moment and will be back presently. Allow me to take young Wingrove into the room, and I will remain here until wonderful Jane returns, yes?"
"Erm… Ah, well, I mean to say, after what happened a couple hours ago, I don't know if Agatha will be okay with me leaving the kid here and…"
"Yes, all is quite well, rest assured!" While they had this interchange, professor Benoni had managed to pull Giovanni into the room by the arm, and was slowly, but decidedly closing the door on Mr Wozniak. "Not to worry, I'm sure our doctor will make her appearance in a matter of moments! No, my good man, do not fret! Thank you! Will see you at supper!"
The door was closed already, and Giovanni finally noticed that he was quite alone with Benoni, and that once again the lighting in the room did not quite match the time of the day. It looked exactly like the Theory classroom. Benoni took a step closer to Giovanni and started talking.
"While we wait, allow me to ask you this: What if humans evolved their capacity for Magick as a kind of last resort against the cruel world? What if the primitive brains of the proto-humans couldn't deal with reality as it is, and developed Magick to avoid having to look at the Universe right smack in the face? What if the Magick was gone, what would we see? What do you think the world really looks like? Very well, I'll see you next week. Good-bye, for now!"
Giovanni's eyes suddenly watered and he blinked hard. When he opened his eyes again after a moment, he found himself standing in a completely different room which looked like a nice and cozy attic, and a very short woman in her late thirties, with short, straight hair and an elfin face was standing at the opposite end of the room, by the only window.
"Thank you for coming, I am doctor Jane Doe, your Social Integration teacher. Did you come here by yourself? Anyway, please knock on the door next time, instead of just letting yourself in, like you just did. Please, come and sit down, we have much to talk about."
Giovanni had never been so afraid in his life: What if he had gone insane, and all this was happening only inside his head? Or, maybe Drill Sargeant Doakes from his most recent military academy had finally got so fed up with Giovanni's attitude that had shot him on the head, like he kept threatening to do for the past month, and all this had been a hallucination while his brain waited to run out of oxygen and finally die. Or, maybe…
Giovanni was afraid because maybe this was really real, and it was actually happening.
To Be Continued…
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