Heading to Magic Academy

Pancakes and Elbows

Through the clouds, the sun blinked on and off. The relief that had wrapped Theon's skin tore away when the sun finally wrenched the clouds aside.

The past week had been spent in the dim of his room by a lamp. But now Theon was all out in the sun, its hot fingers digging away at his neck. Every so often, the prickle of releasing sweat ran down his back.

Rubbing his hands on his shorts, his palms remained simultaneously clammy and warm from magic — summoning balls of light proved to be exciting.

Today was his second lesson with Mr. Adler.

One foot in front of the other... Right, left, and right would eventually lead him to the door... He would click the doorbell, a tiny ring in the distance, and the shuffling of feet would grow loud. The door would crack open and cool air would beckon him in, bathing him dry... A prickle slithered down Theon's back.

He grimaced and tugged the back of his shirt.

Could imagining cold trigger magic? It bounced around in his head as he tried to step out of its way.

The heat pounded his brain, threatening to roast the mush — thinking was like dragging through warm mud. But Mr. Adler would be lounging in the comfortable chill of his home, expecting him to be awake and active. So Theon rubbed the sweat off his nose and continued conjuring balls of light.

The thought of magic coming alive, ice crawling in the veins of his whole body, sent a shiver down his arms. He was back near the lamp as his mother's voice echoed through his head. What was it that she had said?

He knew magic could flow through both his hands. But why wouldn't it be able to stop halfway down his arm?

Folding one, he jutted out his elbow. He tried imagining the chills along his elbow, and it wasn't hard under the glaring sun.

And when the shadow that carved out his elbow disappeared, leaving cold tingles, his breathing quickened in excitement.

"Theon, you passed the house," a voice chuckled.

"Oh." Theon wrapped his hand over the glowing elbow and slid the other over the sweat dripping down his ear, hating the stick. "Sorry, Mr. Adler."

The teacher stood, hand gripping his door frame.

"Well, come in," he called. "Did you learn anything from the textbook?"  

"Yeah, sure did, Sir."  But he probably gave him the wrong one.

Theon hurried to the steps.

When he approached the door, he whipped off his cap to let the cool air flood his skin.

"I saw you do a little trick there," Mr. Adler remarked.  "You've been practicing?"

As Theon relaxed into the couch he nodded faintly.  The pillows caressed him like clouds and were cool to the touch.

"It's weird 'cause I think I made ma elbows glow," he replied.  "Sir."

"It's not absurd.  Magic can flow anywhere," Mr. Adler said.  "Here, lemme show you a trick."

Mr. Adler rolled up his sleeve, and the tattoos scrawled all over his arm were just as prominent as the previous week.

"My element is ice, so it's easier for me to do this," he jutted out his elbow as Theon had earlier, "but you would be able to do it also."

"If you apply the element to the elbow or whatever body part you'd like, you can use it to do many things...  One of my favorites is to create a hardened shell around the body part if you are doing hand-to-hand combat."  A bulk of ice formed around his elbow.  "So if someone dives in for a punch, you can block with the side of your elbow."