When I got home, I retreated to my room and let Annie in the window so I could try out my new spell, Resistance. It didn't work on any of the inanimate objects. "Try it on me," Annie suggested.

"What?"

"Well, 'Resistance' sounds like a good thing, so you can try it on me, and then I'll fly into the wall and see if it hurts less or something."

"Alright, I guess we can try it." Unfortunately, it did nothing of the sort. I also tracked down another rat, cast Resistance on it, and cast a Magic Missile at it, and it still killed the rat. "I sort of get the feeling it's meant to resist stranger things, like maybe it would help me realize the Ghost Sound is an illusion," I thought. After a lot of tests over the next week or so, I discovered two facts; one, I was right; it very slightly improved my chance to disbelieve an illusion (and improved Sophia's chance to not be affected by Touch of Fatigue). Two, it belonged to the group of spells that I could cast as many as I wanted of per day. I decided to call this group "0th level" because they were kind of lame, and the other group "1st level".

I also discovered a couple of exciting new things. Touch of Fatigue lasted 12 seconds instead of six, now. Ghost Sound now worked for 30 feet, Magic Missile had a range of 120 feet instead of 110, and Mount summoned a horse for 4 hours instead of 2. Even more exciting, I could now cast 6 0th level spells per day and 4 1st level spells.

I was returning from testing one day at the Boat Graveyard, my store of spells exhausted, when Annie flew down from where I had been circling overhead and landed on my shoulder. "Two thuggish-looking people with ABB colors are about to come around the corner," she whispered in my ear. I quickly turned down an alley and whispered back, "watch them, and come tell me if I need to turn again." Luckily, the two thugs, members of the all-Asian gang the Asian Bad Boyz, hadn't noticed me, and I was able to get home safely.

..

The next Saturday, me and Annie went shopping. Yes, I brought my pet raven with me on a shopping trip, hidden inside a purse. I had tried to protest that it was a crazy idea, but Annie was insistent. Strangely enough, I was able to tell how much the clothes and masks were really worth much better with Annie along. Clothes and masks because I was finally putting together my cape costume. There wasn't too much I could do with my abilities, but I could probably do a little, and that was all that mattered. Even if I wouldn't be the classiest cape ever with a store-bought costume.

As I bought a domino mask and quickly shoved it in a bag, I suddenly heard a suspicious sound and looked over to the side of the store, where I saw someone who looked down quickly. "Was she watching me?" I wondered. "And how did I notice? Maybe having Annie with me helps me notice people spying on me, and helps me shop better? What a weird power!" When I walked outside, I quickly walked to the side and found a position where I could look at the door, somewhat covertly. "Annie, go watch the other entrance." And I gave my familiar as good a description of my potential stalker as I could.

Half an hour later, Annie flew back, landed on my shoulder, and whispered in my ear. "It was Sophia." I froze in fright, and Annie flew to a tree nearby to look less suspicious.

"No more spells in school," I muttered, just loud enough that Annie could hear. She cawed in agreement.

..

That night, I was walking down to the Boat Graveyard wearing most of my costume, which looked a lot like normal teenager clothes, when Annie flew to my shoulder to warn me of three incoming ABB members. "I'm not going to hide this time. I can still cast all my spells for the day. Stay with me, I want to see if I notice them better." Sure enough, I spotted the three thugs rounding a corner before they saw me, and well before I normally would have seen them in the darkness. I pulled on my mask, and Annie took to the air. I also cast Resistance on myself and Annie, figuring that I had enough level 0 spells to spend one trying to figure out if Resistance was any good in a fight. One of the thugs saw me and swaggered closer.

"Who do you think you are? Some cape, wearing a mask? You don't look like any cape I've ever heard of!" one demanded.

"Do I have to be a cape to want people not to know who I am?" I asked as I kept walking. The two other thugs blocked my progress, however.

"You know what I think?" one of them asked rhetorically. "I think you are just a helpless little girl who wants us to think you are a cape so we'll be too scared to steal your lunch money. Hand it over, little girl."

"Alright, you asked for it," I said. "Magic Missile," I cast at the nearest thug. He was close enough that he could easily have disrupted my hand motions, but he was more curious than worried. A blast of energy smacked him in the face, giving him a black eye. "Oh, you are a cape, and a lame one at that," the thug behind me snickered. The one in front of me punched me in the gut, making me fall backwards. I felt like I should have thrown up, but the magic had fortified my constitution enough that I kept it in.

"Some spell," I thought, although it was undeniably helpful in this instance. I reached for the thug who had been behind me before I fell and cast "Touch of Fatigue" before pulling myself to my feet and starting to run. I had to remind myself I wasn't actually retreating, just trying to get some space. The uninjured thug tried to follow me, but Annie swooped down and clawed at him. The one I had hit in the face paused, dazed, before running after me, but Annie's distraction had given me enough time to cast "Mount", summoning a horse. Instead of mounting it, I slapped it on the butt and sent it careening towards the thugs. Two jumped out of the way in time, but it stepped on one's foot, crushing it. Hmm, that had actually been more useful than Magic Missile, at least under those specific circumstances. I sent another Magic Missile into the thug with the black eye, keeping him on the ground where he had fallen after jumping out of the way of the horse. The other one pulled himself to his feet and swung his arm at Annie, knocking her to the ground. I felt my familiar's pain, but I could see her pulling herself upright, so I worried about my own predicament. "Mount," I cast again, and this time I pulled myself onto the horse, but before I could start riding away, one of the thugs drew a pistol and shot the horse, making it fall over and throw me off. Now that I was out of combat magic, I used my backup plan and cast, "Ghost Sound." Police sirens as loud as seven people combined filled the air, while a voice called out "This is the police. Drop your weapons." The two thugs who were still standing ran away, and I did as well. I slowed to a walk when I got a block away, and Annie landed on my shoulder.

"All clear. They don't suspect it's a trick."

"Awesome!" I replied. "And I just learned a new spell!"