Hybrid

~Training II~

Ugg..My everything hurt. My leg muscles, my arm muscles, my stomach muscles, everything! What was the point of that? All she did the whole time was laugh at me. Did she do that on purpose just to laugh at me? I just shook my head as I followed mom to her secret room study. This room just shocks me every time. As I stepped into her study the first thing that hit me was the smell. It smelled like a forest right before sun rise with dew still on the leaves. I guess that must of been from all the plants she had in here. There was a row of pots on the windowsill, along with potted plants in random spots on top of the book shelves and on her desk. Some of these plants had beautiful flowers on them. While some had no flowers at all and looked like a big bushel of leaves. On this desk that was close to the windowsill was an open book and a crystal ball. I wonder if that thing actually worked. I thought those things were just toys. Along the right wall was a bookshelf that stretched the whole length and height of the wall. It was filled with books that I couldn't even read the titles of. They looked like they were in a different language. Every once in a while there was one of those pots I mentioned holding up a stack of books. I think she was just letting me take it all in because she was standing there next to her little desk with her "mom smile" on her face. I mentally shook myself when I noticed she had been watching my reaction. This should be normal now right? So it shouldn't surprise me anymore.

"So mom. What are we going to do?" I didn't know exactly what to say, but I wanted to shack the feeling of shock and awe that was still nagging at me.

"I'm going to teach you the basics of magic." When she said this she wiggled her fingers like she was trying to give her statement some magic. I just rolled my eyes at her. I could tell that my sister might look like my dad, but she acts just like my mom.

"Ok...So what do we do first?" This was all so new to me and I'm pretty sure I was looking really lost. This is so much to do and learn in one day. Then my mom just sat down cross-legged on the floor. She then patted the floor right in front of her. I guess that meant that I was suppose to sit down next to her, and so I did.

"To learn to use magic properly and without injury to yourself you need to learn to control your energy." She had started talking before I had even got fully situated. "Your energy comes from inside you, and you can only perform a spell that is equal or less than the amount of energy you can control. If you go over that you will just harm everyone around you." I just looked at her. Harm everyone? Was this stuff really dangerous? I haven't really put much thought into that. I was still thinking this was a bunch of hocus-pocus. I'm just dreaming. A REALLY long dream.

"Focus!" I jumped when she spoke to me with that tone. She hardly ever uses that tone unless it's something serious. Once she saw that she got my attention back she started talking again. "You have to pay attention. Magic takes focus. If you lose your focus your spell could go all wrong or just not work at all." I slowly started to nod my head. Ok I have to focus. Focus, focus, focus.

"Alright now close your eyes." When she said that I gave her the 'Are you serious?' look. "Don't look at me like that. Just listen and do it." I rolled my eyes at her and then closed them. "Now...relax your breathing. Concentrate on the sound of your breaths. Think only of the air moving in and out of your lungs. Now try and picture a light that comes from within you. Picture it around your body. The brighter and stronger the light gets the stronger your energy becomes." I did as she said. As I concentrated on my breathing only I started to become more and more relaxed. I was only thinking about the feeling of the air moving through my lungs. Then I started to picture in my mind a silhouette of my body with a light coming from it. As the light grew I started to feel more energized. I felt like I had just woken up from the perfect sleep, but...something started to go wrong. The light turned dark and instead of looking like beams of light it looked more like wisps of darkness. It frightened me and me eyes snapped open, all thoughts of the light and energy vanished.

"Well..you did good for your first try." When I opened my eyes I saw that mom was looking at me with worry in her eyes. That look quickly vanished and a smile replaced it. "Don't worry too much about your first try. Meditating is hard, almost no one gets it on their first try. The more we practice the better you will get." She then stood up and held out her hand to help me up. I took her hand and with her assistance I stood back up.

"Lets move on to something else." She walked over to the pots that were sitting on the windowsill. She motioned for me to join her and I did. She then started to talk about the different types of plants she had and their characteristics. She then talked about what type of spells those plants were used for. She quizzed me a little bit and then moved on to another plant. This was how the rest of our time went that day.

When it was time for dinner we stopped for the night. Now my muscles hurt and my brain hurt. All these plants are a lot to memorize. Especially when I have to memorize what they look like and which ones look like those ones but can actually kill you. Ugg.. This is so confusing! I was repeating the names of the plants and trying to remember what they looked like as I went down the stairs and into the kitchen. The smell of cooked chicken hit my nose once I rounded the corner and the thoughts of plants left my mind. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until I smelled that chicken.

Marcella was at the stove cooking. I guess that was good since mom had been upstairs with me for most of the day. Otherwise who would of cooked supper? Dad can't cook worth a shit. One time I tried to make muffins with him for mom on mothers day and he used an ACTUAL CUP to measure one cup. Then it called for blueberries and we didn't have any so he used strawberries instead. Those muffins burnt and bubbled over the pan. So the oven was all messed up and the muffins didn't turn out. So our attempt at breakfast in bed was a fail. I never let dad get close to any of the food again after that.

"What 'cha cookin'?" I asked Marcella as I tried to look over her shoulder.

"I'm making lemon pepper chicken and some baked potatoes." She kept moving right in my was so I couldn't see over her. "Now get out of my way in the kitchen or I'm going to beat you with this fork." She held up the fork she was using to check on the chicken and flip it as needed. When I saw how long those prongs were I took a couple steps back. After that I started to set the table.

Once the table was set and supper was done cooking Marcella called everyone in to dinner and we all sat at the table waiting for everyone to get their food before we started eating. The noise level in the house increased as everyone started to sit around the table. Everyone was talking and laughing like it was a normal day. Then dad asked me how the training was going and we all talked about that for a couple of hours. Marcella getting her teasing jabs in every once in a while.

Once we were finished eating we cleaned up our plates and washed the dishes. Cat wanted to help but she is still too short to reach above the sink. Marcella ever so kindly pulled up a chair for Cat. Now the chair was in the way along with Cat. How am I suppose to do dishes with all this stuff in the way? I sighed and awkwardly continued to dry the dishes as Marcella washed them and Cat played in the water. This is so annoying. How does Marcella put up with this and still smile? I scoffed a little and saw Marcella give me a look. The look said that I shouldn't be this way in front of Cat, but I didn't care she was making this take twice as long as it's suppose to. I then suffered the rest of this ordeal in silence. That seemed to be enough for Marcella who just concentrated on pleasing Cat the rest of the time.

This is how the rest of the week went. I got up, went to school, came home and practiced with Marcella, then again with mom. That cycle repeated itself day after day. I think I was improving though. At least improving with Marcella. My muscles didn't hurt as much anymore and I was able to hold my leg up for longer and longer every day. Marcella said we would eventually be able to spar and that might be what is motivating me. The chance to purposely beat up your older sister is like the the ultimate opportunity. I wouldn't even get in trouble for it!