The Apprentice's Apprentice

Part 13

Cora leaned back against her locker, her eyes closed as the sea of noise that was a hundred conversations happening around her began to ebb. She only opened her eyes when she heard footsteps stop in front of her. She nodded at Warren and hefted her purse higher on her shoulder, the grocery bag her lunch was in wrapped around her other wrist.

"Are you ready?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah. Lead the way."

She followed him down the stairs at out the back doors of the school, passing several people who nodded or waved at them on the stairs and in the halls. Outside they moved past the usual crowd who loitered and often smoked there, and headed straight towards the green expanse of the football field.

The nearest of the faded bleachers was already occupied but Warren only gave it a cursory glance. He aimed them towards the huge, spreading maple that lay right in front of the chain-link fence that enclosed the whole of their school's fields and track. Warren motioned to the shaded grass under the tree before dropping down himself. Cora sat more gingerly after a quick look around. While they were out of normal earshot of the bleacher group, she was sure they'd be able to hear her if she screamed, and kept that thought in mind just in case. After all she still really didn't know Warren.

As a light breeze made the shadow they sat in move so that little specks of light appeared in it, Warren turned to Cora and held her eyes with his. "I want you to understand that doing magic in public is generally a very bad idea. Especially nowadays. All it takes is one person getting a video or pic or something they shouldn't and uploading it and all of us are screwed. If you weren't a Wild mage and probably confused as hell, I wouldn't do this."

Cora crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not confused, I just refuse to believe in magic because some random person comes up to me and tells me it's real. And if you can't prove it to me right now, then you're crazy and I'm going to ignore you. Or get you committed if you keep bugging me. Just in case you were wondering."

Warren grimaced. "I'm not crazy. I can see why you'd think that, but I'm seriously not. Now look, my specializations don't lend themselves well to demonstrations so I'm going to have to do something that I'm not that great at. It's not something I have a weakness for, but it's definitely not my strong suit. Keep that in mind when you're watching me."

She waved a hand dismissively. "Get on with it already."

He made a face but looked around and grabbed one of the leaves that had fallen from the tree and put it directly in front of himself then inhaled and exhaled deeply a few times. As Cora watched, Warren closed his eyes for a moment then snapped them open. His gaze was locked on the leaf as he extended one hand out. He pointed at the leaf and slowly raised his arm. The leaf mirrored his movements, slowly floating up until it was level with his shoulder.

For a few moments, all Cora could do was stare at the thing. Then she scooted closer and waved her hands above then below the leaf, looking for some kind of wire or string, something to prove it was a trick. She swallowed hard when she saw nothing but wasn't about to admit defeat just yet. "I've seen this kind of trick done on TV before. Got anything else?"

He winced slightly. "Alright then. Keep your eye on the leaf and pick a word for me. It can be anything as long as it's not too long."

"Pirates," Cora said, thinking of One Piece again. She moved back to where she'd been sitting before, a good three feet from where Warren was and held one arm out along her crossed legs, palm up. He let the leaf drop back to the ground before he picked it up and held it in his own upraised hand. Cora kept one eye on the leaf as he'd said and the other on him.