Chapter Forty
Four days have passed since Victor started practicing Fire Magic. Eddie is standing off to the side, conjuring earth-made targets for Victor to hit. Leo stands just behind Victor, commanding what he wants Victor to use on the target.
“Red Ball. Blue Ball. Red Flame. Orange Ball,” Leo commands. Victor throws one attack after another.
“Red Flame,” Leo orders.
Victor throws a blue flame, missing the target. He hunches over from exhaustion and is covered in sweat from working hard. It also doesn’t help from the heat of the fire and the humidity.
Leo pats Victor on the shoulder. “Let’s break for lunch. Eddie made chicken katsu.”
“Oh, I love chicken katsu,” Victor mentions cheerfully. As he turns around, wiping his sweat-drenched face with a towel, he sees Wren preparing a stone table Eddie created. “Wren? What are you doing here?”
She looks up and smiles at Victor. “Hey, hot stuff.” She giggles, “See what I did there? Get it? Get it?”
Victor laughs as he shakes his head. “Funny. What are you doing here?”
“Well, I’m here in an official capacity,” Wren mentions as she sits daintily. “Since you’re finishing the first part of your training, I’m here to review the exam with you.”
Victor plops down on the stone bench beside Leo and gives him a confused look. “You didn’t tell me there was an exam.”
Leo places his napkin in his lap and piles food on his plate. “The exam is based on everything you learned in the past few weeks.”
“How come it’s taken you longer to learn Fire Magic than any of the others you’ve practiced?” Eddie comments as he stuffs his mouth full of food.
“I didn’t realize how intense Fire Magic was going to be,” Victor replies.
“Told you,” Leo remarks immediately.
Victor gives Leo a side-eye glare. “If my teacher wasn’t a dick about it, I might have been able to finish sooner. Or it could be because he wanted to be alone with me for as long as possible.”
Leo gives Victor a shit-eating grin without looking at him.
“You’ve been tough on him. Maybe I should have done that so you guys could have stayed longer,” Eddie winks at Victor.
“You’ll do anything to get me to stay with you,” Leo comments without looking at Eddie. He takes another bite before he continues. “And try to get me drunk from your tequila at the same time.”
Everyone at the table snickers.
“What does this exam entail, Wren?” Victor asks as he’s chewing his food.
“It’s the same thing Leo was doing with you just now. I’ll be calling out commands as you attack your targets. Then you will battle it out so I can see your fighting skills,” Wren explains.
“The targets will be moving as well,” Eddie adds with a mouth full of food.
Victor raises an eyebrow. “Moving targets? And a battle?”
“Well, if you had stayed longer, I could have shown you how to make moving targets with your Earth Magic,” Eddie winks.
Leo leans over to Victor, still chewing his food. “It’s so easy. You already know how to do it. Just flying chunks of earth in the air.”
“He doesn’t know how to make the targets walk,” Eddie grins cunningly. Everyone looks at him with skepticism. He leans back dramatically, clutching his imaginary pearls. “I’m sorry that you can’t fathom my awesomeness.”
“Victor did the same pose to me a few days ago. Is it a Mexican thing?” Leo asks with a mouth full of food.
“No, just a gay thing,” Victor responds.
Wren adjusts her glasses, then puts her clasped hand in her lap.
Victor is about to take a bite when he feels Wren’s eyes on him. “What?”
“I’m ready,” Wren responds.
“Well, I’m not,” Victor remarks as he puts another bite. “Leo hasn’t been feeding me because he’s a horrible teacher and won’t let me eat unless I perform an attack perfectly.” Victor looks over and sees Leo’s narrowed eyes.
“Keep it up, and I’ll make sure you don’t eat again for a week,” Leo declares.
Victor points his thumb at Leo with exaggeration. “See! This is how it’s been for the past week with this guy.”
Leo leans into his index finger and massages between his eyebrows. “I would sooo like to set you on fire right now.”
Victor leans into Leo and whispers, “I like it when you put your heat all over me.”
“Is that a euphemism?” Wren asks with a confused expression.
Leo gives Wren a side-eyed look before he turns to Victor. “Are you finished yet? The sooner we finish this exam, the sooner we can head back to the hotel and get in the hot tub.”
Victor gives Leo a look as he takes the last piece of chicken from Leo’s plate. After a few chews without breaking eye contact, he says, “Now I’m ready.”
Everyone chuckles as they stand up and walk to the open field. Victor takes his spot next to Wren. Wren hands him his jacket. He thanks her and puts it on. Eddie starts creating stationary targets of different sizes and distances.
Before Wren starts giving commands, three black SUVs arrive.
Everyone turns around, confused, as the vehicles park.
Superior Charles steps out first, then holds out a hand to help Superior Jackie, while Superior Eugene walks around from the other side.
Akisha, Madame Jeanette, Lucas, and Jon start to climb out of the second SUV.
Everyone is dressed in their suits for the ceremony.
Lucas is wearing his gray suit with a light blue shirt and deep blue tie.
On his lapel is a small brass shield pin with his coven’s emblem engraved in the center.
The shield resembles a coat of arms than a coven emblem.
Jon is wearing a dark blue suit with a simple white shirt and a solid black tie.
On his right wrist is a small silver chain with a charm linking the chain together.
When the third SUV turns off, Victor’s eyes light up with joy when he sees Elliott, Frank, Amber, and Lupe hopping out. Although they are not dressed up in suits like all the other magic wielders, they are dressed in simple business attire. Victor walks over in astonishment.
“What is everyone doing here?” he asks his friends.
Amber and Lupe run over to Victor to hug him.
Superior Charles walks over to Victor with his tall demeanor.
“Well, this is kind of your big day, young empath. It’s not every day we have an empathic witch or warlock complete the first portion of their training.
Chiyo sends her regards. She just started training a group of young witches.
” Superior Charles puffs his chest out and places his hand on his hips.
“You know, the last empath to finish this part of the training was me. Before that, it was your grandmother.”
Wren raises an eyebrow, knowing she passed the exam after Victor’s grandmother and before Superior Charles.
Wren takes a few steps forward, focusing attention back on the exam.
“I don’t mean to put a damper on things, but we need to finish this exam before it gets too late.
Especially if we are to make the celebratory luau tonight.
Now, please keep your distance so no one gets hit by projectiles when the targets explode. ”
Eddie creates chairs out of lava rocks for everyone.
As Superior Charles steps up to his seat in the first row, he looks at it, waves his hand around a couple of times, and adds some more elegance to his chair using nearby plants, leaves, and tree branches.
As he’s about to take a seat, he sees that Superior Jackie has done the same thing, only more elegantly, with native Hawaiian flowers blossoming before her.
“Show off,” Superior Charles comments in his low husky voice. Superior Jackie gives him a wink before they both sit down.
Eddie rolls his eyes at the spectacle.
“I saw that, Eduardo,” Superior Charles says as he lights up his cigar. Even though he didn’t physically see it, he’s known Eddie long enough to know when he makes gestures behind his back.
Leo sits behind Superior Charles with Lucas and Jon. “So, Lucas, I see that you finally told everyone.”
“Well, I figured since we were all invited, I might as well tell them,” Lucas remarks.
“Hey Leo, thanks again for inviting us,” Frank mentions from behind.
Leo turns and looks at Victor’s mundane friends. “I didn’t invite you.”
“I invited everyone,” Superior Charles comments over his shoulder. “Now, will the peanut gallery please quiet down?” Superior Charles turns back around and nods at Victor to begin.
Victor steps next to Wren and takes a deep breath.
He stretches his neck and rotates his shoulders, getting loosened up for the physical intensity he’s about to endure.
As he closes his eyes, he starts to feel this energy flicker around his chest. It starts to spread throughout his body.
This energy feels familiar. It’s as though he’s been touched by it before.
As his fingertips begin to tingle, he begins to see an image.
A glow starts to appear. It’s dim and hazy at first. Then, it starts to get brighter. As he focuses on this glow, he can make out a figure. He smiles when he realizes it’s his mother. She is smiling proudly back at him.
“Are you ready?” Wren asks softly.
Victor opens his eyes. This time, he knows his eyes are glowing white. He can feel the energy coursing through his veins. “Ready.”
Wren notices Victor’s eyes but doesn’t flinch. She knows this is the untapped power Victor didn’t understand. He now has control over it. She looks over at Eddie, standing on the sidelines, giving him a nod to begin.
“Let’s start with some Air Magic,” Wren commands.
Wren starts giving orders on where to direct the attack. Victor is cool as a cucumber, consistently hitting his targets. One after another, Victor doesn’t miss a beat as Wren speeds up the attacks.
Wren switches things up and throws in Water Magic. Victor complies without any hesitation. A hint of a blue hue appears in his eyes as he goes back and forth between Air and Water Magic.
“Tidal Wave,” Wren commands.