Chapter 6: Magic Lessons
She next morning, she stepped out of the tent hesitantly, nervous to see the damage she'd done and how angry the boys—or worse, Pan—would be. She grimaced when she looked around. Besides branches and leaves scattered everywhere, the tents were all ripped and the boys' weapons were thrown every which way. It was a mess, and it was her fault. At least no one had gotten hurt, she grimaced as she eyed the poison-coated, lethal weapons. She crouched and began to drag branches off the ground, swinging them to the edges of the site; at least she could help clean up.
"Oh perfect, you want to help," Pan appeared behind her, smirking in amusement. She straightened and nodded. Her face plain and her eyes wide and honest, she looked into his face.
"I made this mess, the least I can do is help sort it," she stated simply. He chuckled when she turned to resume working. She stopped, huffed out a breath, and turned back to him. She grabbed a fistful of her hair and threw it over her head and out of her face. She really needed to find something to tie it back with; she'd never needed to in the tower since she didn't really do much, but here in the forest, her long, silky hair had become a mass of tangles, twigs, dirt, and leaves. She raised her eyebrows at Pan, waiting for him to explain the apparent joke.
"You're going to clean it all up," he declared smugly. She grit her teeth. She didn't have the energy to argue and she wasn't such a princess—despite their ideas—as to complain about a little work. In fact, it might be good. Surviving in the forest would require physical strength, she didn't want to rely on magic she couldn't control to help her. She again turned to drag a branch away. Again he chuckled. This time she ignored him.
"Not like that. This is lesson number one," he materialized beside her, his shoulder touching hers. She was getting used to it, but she still stumbled a step away at his proximity. And in confusion.
"What lesson?" she looked around, part of her expecting the other boys to come harass her. Any lesson he was teaching would probably be more like a punishment.
"Your magic, of course," his tone was as if he were talking to a child. She was too surprised to tell him she wasn't one.
"You're serious? You're really going to…teach…me…how to…how to," she stuttered, her eyes wide. Someone was really going to let her have control over it? No one had ever given her that, everyone wanted it for themselves. Her eyes narrowed. Everyone wanted it for themselves. "But only enough to give control to you, right?" she growled.
"I will require your power at times, most likely. And that will be the price—I will teach you to use your own power, and, in return, you will obey me when I ask you to use it for my purposes," he said easily, leaning back slightly and crossing his arms.
"I already know how to give someone else control, thanks," she muttered. "I can will it to someone."
"Oh I'd assume that. But you see, love, I do genuinely want to help you," he nodded enthusiastically. Mocking, always mocking. No one simply gave her her magic, they always wanted something from it. But he made a tempting offer.
"You'll teach me how to use it, to have complete control over it. And in return, if you call upon it, I use it as you wish?" she reiterated. He nodded. And smirked.
"When. When I call upon it."
"But besides those times, I have complete control, and can do whatever I wish with it?"
"Fine by me. So long as you don't get any cute ideas of attacking me. You'll never win those. You may be strong love, but I'm not one to be trifled with," he narrowed his eyes at the end, a dark grin at what he could do. She didn't doubt him. He stuck out his hand, and she shook it, staring him straight in the eye as she did.
"Right," she breathed, then thought of something. Pan basically ruled the island, but she knew he wasn't labeled as a kind or just leader. She didn't want her magic abused, not again. She gripped his hand tighter when he started to pull away, but he didn't try very hard. "Ask me," she reasoned. He raised his eyebrows, confused but intrigued. "If you want my magic, ask me for it. Don't demand, don't abuse it. I will not let it be abused anymore," she stated, jaw set and eyes hard, refusing to let him trap and control her like everyone else. He looked hard at her, then nodded and twisted his hand out of her fingers. "Now, lesson one," she nodded, bracing herself. He nudged her shoulder, turning her to face the ruined campsite. He then stood behind her, cupping the back of her hands with his palms. He moved them so that her palms lay open toward the camp but her arms stayed at her sides. He then took two fistfuls of her hair and put one against each palm.
"In time," he began, and she stiffened as his breath pushed against her hair and the back of her neck. "You will not have to touch your hair for this. But for now, it helps. The gesture is like…training wheels," now she could hear the smirk in his voice. He really did love knowing more than others. She stayed stiff.
He stepped back from her but remained close enough to talk quietly. "Now concentrate on this area. Look at the branches, imagine the broken trees they were ripped from," she winced as he reminded her of the harsh actions she'd caused. He saw. "Don't be upset, just focus. Right now, when commanding magic to do something for you, you must not let your emotions taint your thoughts. Magic hates being controlled," he chuckled, "and it'll very clearly let you know that." She shot him a glare over her shoulder and he continued on. "If it sees your emotions, it will use them as a weakness, and slip through any loopholes. And it will take advantage, turn against you." He was describing it so darkly. It seemed wrong. Yes, her magic hadn't been under her control, but it had never hurt her or caused serious damage. Even now, none of the boys had been wounded by the storm despite how they were in the open when their own weapons flew around them.
"Magic will do this, or just yours?" she murmured quietly to herself. She knew he heard when he grimaced, but then resumed as if he hadn't.
"Now focus on the branches and their trees, and imagine the branches disappearing from the camp," he instructed. She closed her eyes, and tried to imagine the campsite's ground as it had been before: smooth dirt, a few twigs and leaves, but cleared of any obstacles and large bits of nature. She opened her eyes and gasped, seeing the branches covering the camp begin to fade, becoming faintly glowing blurs. But then they reappeared, solid and messy as ever.
"You lost focus. Do it again. This time, don't get distracted," Pan quipped. She pouted at him, she couldn't help but admire the magic—especially since it was of her own doing. She closed her eyes and again imagined the clean floor. She held her eyes for longer this time, ensuring that the picture was crystal clear in her mind. "Good girl," she heard Pan murmur under his breath, his voice full of satisfaction. She opened her eyes and laughed in glee. It was gone! All the branches, rocks, all the debris was gone and the campsite was a clean clearing again.
Pan stood and looked around, his eyebrows furrowing in shock. She did too, and actually clapped her hands. The entire forest was clean, branches weren't thrown over others, or on the ground, or tangled with each other. Trees weren't damaged and torn or bent. It was all back, healed, as if the storm had never touched. "Good girl," he said louder and nodded at her, smirking amusedly at her celebration. "Now put the weapons away," he gestured to the arrows, bows, spears, swords, slingshots, and daggers skewed on the floor. He leaned against a tree and crossed his arms casually, waiting.
"I don't know where…" she began but he just gestured around.
"They belong to all the boys, so they go in all the tents. Don't worry about specifics, just imagine them resting neatly in the corners of the tents, and the magic will do the rest," he nodded for her to start. She felt more pressured, now that he knew she was capable.
She closed her eyes and imagined first the material of the tents, the canvas woven with cloth and plants alike, and how it swept across the forest floor. She then remembered the corners, how the hand-carved wooden poles that held the tents up and steady. She pictured an assortment of weapons piled next to a pole, underneath the material. She tried to go into detail: the thinness of the wooden arrows, the length of the spears, the stone tips of each weapon that were coated in semi-dry black liquid, the slight curve to the wooden swords' blades, the varying sizes of the stone daggers, the bowstrings, and the curved bows. She heard Pan chuckle in satisfaction and opened her eyes, joining him with her own amazed laughter. The weapons were away, in the tents. Pan peeked into a couple, and shook his head.
"You got them right. Each boy's weapons, specifically, are in his tent. Not bad, little princess, not bad at all," he nodded, smirking. She beamed at him, then looked around the camp and forest again, just to assure herself that it had really worked, bouncing on the balls of her feet slightly with excitement. She had done it. It was of her own will, her own wish, and she had done it. So caught up in her euphoria, she didn't even notice that Pan's smirk had slid and he was still looking at her, watching her reassure herself of her obvious success. Then she stopped moving and frowned.
"What exactly did I do?" she turned to him. He straightened, stepping towards her.
"You made objects disappear in one place and reappear in another. Short range. But very well-done, very clean. Most leave behind a part or two of the object when they first try it."
"What else can I do?" she asked hurriedly. He arched an eyebrow. "What else will you teach me?"
"I don't know what you can do, but I enjoy finding out as much as you do," he admitted. "Magic allows you to do many things. Make objects disappear and reappear, as you've just practiced. Change your appearance to others. Transport yourself or others. Make objects completely just disappear without emerging anywhere else. Magic is used to curse people: make them ill, cause them to hurt themselves, make poison, make people sleep or be imprisoned or hungry or in pain—and other things—forever, possess people to do your will. Many, many things," his voice lowered to a whisper, his eyes bright and biting into her wide, amazed ones. Then she blinked, and stepped back.
"I don't want to curse people like that, that's horrible," she gasped.
"There are varying kinds of curses. Some are worse than others," he shrugged. She remained uncertain, and silently hoped he would never ask her to do anything serious to someone. She'd read in quite a few legends that terrible curses tore your soul to shreds. If anyone had a soul—and if Pan or she did—was debatable, though.
"So…what about my magic?"
"Yours, since it's directly from you and not stolen or acquired like most, I think, works best when you want it to. I told you to imagine your results just now, the storm you caused formed from your emotions and your desire for control," she looked down, still a bit ashamed, but he carried on. "And you dragged my Shadow to you simply by asking," he chuckled, "that, love, is not a common action."
"So, I can just sort of…wish my hair to do something for me?" she tried to follow.
"More or less. You may need to concentrate more times than others," he considered. Then he whipped his head to look back at her. "There are restrictions you should know. You cannot make people love each other, not truly—"
"There's a difference?" she asked. Having little knowledge of love outside of novels, she barely knew how love really worked.
"You can make lust—you know what that is?" he smirked as he asked, teasing her naivety. She glared. "I'll take that as a yes. But you cannot make true love. Too powerful. Oh, and true love will undo most curses," he scowled, as if the idea was disgusting. She'd always thought it rather incredible, that two ordinary humans could create something so powerful that it could defeat curses and the evil witches and dragons in books. "You cannot make a person die. You can bring them close, but not even a poison made by magic or any spell or curse will make a person die directly."
"How? It's poison," she asked, cutting him off again. He narrowed his eyes at her for a moment.
"Any poison, made by magic, will bring a person to death's doorstep. But, true love's kiss, or an equally strong magical antidote, will save them. Natural poisons do the trick though, especially Dreamshade. Scratched by that, no magic will save you. We coat all our weapons in it, you see. As do natural means of death: pierced by a weapon, illness, all that," he grinned at the last part, baring his teeth. He thought for a moment, then added. "Oh, and once a person is dead, you cannot bring them back to life. No matter what, dead is dead, alive is alive."
"And…you said about, transporting myself. And possessing people," she grimaced at that.
"Ah, yes, possession. It's interesting. You can say or do most anything you like while you're in them. But again, you can't make them kill themselves or love—and you can only possess someone for a limited time. Varies with the user, but all magic has a limit. And a price," he smirked. Her face turned hard and she looked away from him, her hair glowed a bit brighter.
"Yes, I know," she muttered.
"I'm sure you do," he smirked. When she didn't make any attempt to reply, he cleared his throat and moved on. "Anyway, transporting yourself. That one's fun." He was suddenly right in front of her. "I do that," then he was behind her, at the entrance of one of the boy's tents, half way across the camp, "all the time." She grinned. It looked fun.
"Teach me that!" she pleaded. He chuckled at her excitement.
"In time," he promised. She beamed and, to her surprise and satisfaction, he smiled back. Not a huge one, but large enough to be more than just the hint she'd seen last night. Despite its small size, it lit up his whole face, and ma