Razed by Magic

Chapter 11

The next two weeks flew by in a surprisingly pleasant blur. Mr. Harris welcomed Eli every morning with a wide smile and a baked good. Despite his best efforts, Eli found himself liking the older sorcerer. He had gone to Maddie's house two other times at the end of each week to reassure Rebecca that her daughter was still in good hands. The wariness she had shown on that first day was still there, but she hid it well, and Eli was more than comfortable playing nice while Maddie was around. And she was always around. Maddie must have asked him a thousand questions, from what kind of jobs did sorcerers do, to could you fly with magic. Her curiosity, and breath, seemingly knew no end. It was nice. If more sorcerers were like Maddie and Mr. Harris, he doubted he would want to always punch the arrogance off their faces.

Westmore became used to his presence, he was just another underpaid teacher largely ignored.

The class continued their routine: history, magical theory, and occasional snoring in the morning, with meditation in the afternoon. No one had managed to draw in magic, which didn't surprise Eli and annoyed Maddie. She left school every day scowling like someone had just told her candy was now illegal.

Conscious of his new arrangement with Damien Alard, Eli checked the wards surrounding the school, walking the perimeter and carefully examining each rune carved into the walls after school. It was difficult to tell how effective they were without being able to examine them with magic, but they looked solid. The runes were carved skillfully, the typical protection and alarm symbols used, as well as more complex ones that added strength. Judging just from the looks of them, Westmore was warded well enough to keep out anything less than one of the Sages and Fae royalty. Francis clearly hadn't lost any of his skill, a fact which filled Eli with relief and gnawing guilt.

After checking the wards, Eli found himself at a loss of what to do next. He wasn't a detective, he had no idea how to look for clues, or what to do even if he found one. He made halfhearted plans to go check out the places the vamps had disappeared from, but always managed to come up with an excuse to push it to the following day. So long as he kept Maddie safe and no more vampires went missing, Damien and Benjamin would leave him alone. Hopefully.

"Today's the day Eli. I'm going to draw in magic for sure." Maddie raised her fist into the air as she made her declaration. Only her confidence and complete lack of shame made the gesture come across as determined instead of dorky.

"I'm sure you will," Eli said, smiling, "but it's alright if you don't. Like I have told you so many times I think I'm now saying it in my sleep, drawing in magic takes time. Lots of it." Eli sat on the edge of Mr. Harris' desk, twisting his body side to side in a stretch. Only a slight tightness and pain from his scar, which was always the case. Looked like the beating the Bewleys and Damien had given him had finally gone away. It was no magic, but the Void was still quite amazing.

"Nope. It's gonna be today. I want to know if I'm an evoker or enchanter."

"Is there one you would prefer?" Eli asked, genuinely curious.

Everybody always had one that they immediately preferred, and would be ecstatic or disappointed. Being an evoker was usually preferred. The ability to summon windstorms and call down lightning at the drop of a hat seemed more powerful to the young kids. Which just showed how naïve they really were. Eli would rather fight three evokers at once, than one enchanter who had been giving time to prepare.

"I wanna be an evoker," Maddie said, proving Eli right, "they sound so cool. Plus we learned that a lot of evokers become Sentinels, and that's what I want to do."

Eli jerked in surprise, nearly falling off the desk. "A Sentinel? Why do you want to be one of them?"

Maddie beamed up at him. "Because they catch bad guys. Mr. Harris said that they're the ones who protect humanity from vampires, weirs, and rogue sorcerers. I want to do that."