Magic
Chapter 3
Kate had made up her mind about which three she would learn...she thought. She would learn Magic Missile, Shield, and Color Spray. But Comprehend Languages and Ray of Enfeeblement caught her eye, as did Disguise Self. "Decisions, decisions, decisions," she muttered to herself.
Rick was gone by the time she got up, and Alexis was, too. She guessed it was to talk to her dad. She didn't have a cell phone, and there wasn't a phone in the house, so she couldn't call him, not even if she knew his number, which she didn't.
Kate made her own breakfast consisting of eggs, bacon, and toast, as well as a cold glass of orange juice. She had cleaned up and was sitting on the floor, making the door open and immediately, close again. She was actually getting pretty good at it, or so she thought.
She had done the maximum times today, so she sat in the living room and watched TV until he returned.
Suddenly, the door swung open; Kate jumped up, hurrying to him. "How did it go? What did he say? Come on," she begged, "talk to me. He's my dad, and I love him."
Rick decided to put her out of her misery. "I think it went reasonably well. Jim admitted that he needed help, then asked how you were. And he said he would go to AA meetings, but we'll see if he keeps it up or not.
"Overall, it went well once I got past the tough-guy image he put up. But I think Alexis had something to say about that. I took the diaper bag along, changed her diaper, and fed her while I was there. After seeing her, your dad seemed to melt somewhat and talked about when you were a baby. I heard several stories about you when you were tiny."
Kate cringed. She could only imagine what those were. But still, he got further than she had, so she kissed him. Rick saw that one coming and kissed her. She would have put her arms around his neck, but he was holding Alexis still, so she didn't.
She broke from the kiss and smiled at him. Then, she backed away from him. "I'm so sorry. I don't know why I did that."
"I think I do, and you can kiss me anytime you like." Rick changed the subject. "So, have you done your exercises already?"
"Yes, I opened and closed the door instantly, doing the maximum number of times allowed me."
"Good, you just keep doing that until it becomes second nature. Then, we'll move on to the other 0-level spells, which you know." He changed the subject again. "I take it you've eaten already."
"Uh-huh, and I cleaned up and put everything in the dishwasher. I was waiting for you to come home. So, what do I do now?" She had used up her spells.
"Have you studied your first-level spells you would like to memorize?"
Kate nodded hesitantly. "Yes, I think I've chosen them. I think. Oh, I don't know! There are so many to learn, and I only get three of them. It's not that many."
"That's the price you pay for being a Sorceress, Kate."
"Tell me about Identify. What is that?" Kate asked, but got cut off when Alexis began crying, causing them to go to the bedroom.
"Eww, stinky." Kate turned her head, grabbed a wipe, and handed it to him when he asked for one and then another. Then, the oil, the powder, and finally, the diaper.
Alexis fell asleep fairly quickly, so Rick kissed her head, put her in her crib, and then walked out of the bedroom. He began to tell Kate what she needed to know now. "Identify is used to identify magical objects such as swords, armor, and anything magical. It will tell you what it is and how to activate it. But you must be careful. The item might be cursed, in which case you'll get a false understanding of it and not its true nature," he warned her.
"So, there are magical items?" she asked him.
"Quite a few," Rick answered. "Some are more powerful than others. Some are barely worth the 50 gold piece pearl someone has to sacrifice to understand what it is. Others are a drop in the bucket for the price you have to pay."
"Interesting. There are truly magical items you can learn about," Kate commented.
He nodded. "Yes, there are. But you won't know if they're magical unless you cast Detect Magic on them. It's one of the 0-level spells you could've learned."
"I have that one and chose to learn it. I have yet to cast it, but I know it," she said.
"That's good. So, do you want Identify to be one of your three spells or not? It's up to you to decide. There are spells for each one of them. There is no right nor wrong in choosing what to learn. It's just a matter of priorities.
"As to what to do now, read a book, watch TV, or go to your room and think about what first-level spells you want to know and why. Me, I'm going to write while I can. I'll take a catnap later," Rick told her. "All I get are catnaps. I'll be so glad when Alexis is old enough to sleep the night through. Then I really will be able to sleep, finally." He could hardly wait for that day.
Kate chose to read in her room and studied her first-level spell list again. She decided to read one of Richard Castle's books. Her mother was a fan, so it was time to find out why she was such a fan.
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Three days later.
Instantly, Kate opened and closed the door the maximum number of times she could. Now, it was time to try out a new spell. She chose Ray of Frost and tried that one. After five tries and nothing, she gave up for the day, went to her room, and read her Richard Castle book. It was her second one. She had liked the first one, kind of.
And she studied her first-level spell list. She still thought Shield, Magic Missile, and Color Spray were good choices. She would get Rick to cast Identify for her when the time came. Kate thought about one or two others but believed her choice was good. She'd get to cast four of them. Any four of them, even cast the same one again and again if it came to that.
She asked how her dad was doing and could see Rick cast Scrying on him. He used a two-foot by four-foot mirror in his bedroom to do it. She saw and heard him at an AA meeting for only 14 minutes.
"Well, he is going to the meetings at least. That's something," Rick told her.
"Thank you." Kate kissed him again and was kissed in return. She broke from the kiss and left his bedroom.
"At least I got a kiss out of it," Rick told himself and Alexis, asleep in her crib.
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It was now the next day. Kate tried Ray of Frost five times and got it twice. The coffee mug – her target – was cold to her touch. And when she went to pick it up after she thought it had cooled a little, it shattered on her. "Oops." She didn't mean for that to happen. Thankfully, Rick wasn't mad at her for breaking his coffee mug.
"I've got other coffee mugs, Kate. But you did it, and you did it instantly, too. Now, you only need to do it all five times. And do it over and over and over again before moving on to the next spell."
"Isn't that just ducky. I'll run out of coffee mugs if I keep this up," Kate muttered. But she was making progress, or at least she thought so.
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Three more days have gone by.
Kate was looking into the mirror again, and all she saw was her dad lying fully clothed in bed, surrounded by empty bottles. "Great! He's gone back to drinking again. DAMN IT, DAD!" She was furious. Kate stomped out of the bedroom and went up to her room. She wanted to be alone.
Three days later, she saw he had returned to his AA meetings. That was something, at least.
She was also destroying coffee mugs now, with regularity. She was up to five destroyed coffee mugs a day and was starting to run out of them.
"This is a magical scroll. I want you to cast your Read magic and tell me what it says." Rick handed her a scroll case. She opened it, pulled a scroll out, unrolled it, and cast her spell. She cast it five times but got nothing.
"DAMN IT ALL! STILL NOTHING." Kate thought she should be able to do this easily by now.
"Practice, practice, practice. You'll get it. I have faith, Kate," Rick said. Only, he didn't tell her which deity he prayed to.
On her third try the following day, she told him what the scroll said. "Very good, that's exactly right. Congratulations, Kate. You've learned a new spell."
"I DID IT!" Kate kissed him, and he kissed her right back. She smiled at him. Then, turning her attention back to the scroll, she tried again. Her following two attempts ended in disaster. "DAMN IT!"
"Practice, practice, practice. You'll get there, then we'll move on to another spell. I think you'll like Detect Magic," Rick said. And he smiled at her.
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Three more days later.
Once again, she saw her dad at an AA meeting. He wasn't talking about himself, but she only got 14 minutes of viewing time.
"So this is what you saw when you did one of me, Rick?"
"Yes. I learned just enough to let you into my home and trust you with Alexis. It wasn't much, but it was enough," he told her as he left the bedroom while Alexis was asleep. Kate followed him.
"All right. I've laid out three items, only two of which are magical. I want you to tell me which two it is." Rick stood there and watched her.
She saw a small bag, a dagger, and a small jar. She cast Detect Magic and got nothing all five times. "You're sure even one of them is magical?" Kate asked him. "This isn't some kind of trick, is it?"
He shook his head. "No, one of them is indeed magical. I suppose you can try again tomorrow."
"Well, crap!" Kate was bummed. "I know, I know. Practice, practice, practice."
"That's exactly right. Once you get this one down, we'll move on to first-level spells. That's where the real fun begins. Right after you do all your 0-level spells in one go, instantly." Having said that, Rick left her since Alexis was wailing her head off.
"Great." Kate didn't see the fun in any of this. She was worried about doing all of her 0-level spells instantly.
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It was Kate's fourth attempt the next day. "The bag and jar are glowing. Does that mean they're magical?" She looked at him, her fingers crossed behind her back.
"It does, indeed," Rick said. "Congratulations. It only took you what? Four tries?"
"Ha ha," Kate told him. "What are they?"
"Well, the sack is a bag of holding, which is bigger on the inside than on the outside," he told her. "The jar is a magical spice jar. When you tell it what you want, suddenly, the jar is full of the spice."
"Bigger on the inside than the outside? You mean like a TARDIS?" Kate picked it up, opened it, and stuck her hand inside it, amazed at the size of it. Her hand moved around inside it with ease.
She put the bag down and picked up the jar. "Cinnamon," she called out, then opened it, wet a finger, and stuck it inside the jar. Then, she taste-tested it. Kate looked at him wide-eyed. "Definitely cinnamon." She had never dreamed such a thing was possible. That was amazing. She closed the jar and said, "Black Pepper." She opened it and taste-tested it. "It's black pepper. That's wonderful!"
"The trick is you don't want to empty the jar. If you do, it becomes non-magical," Rick explained. "So, you can't take over the market with it. It's useful, but that's all it is."
"Oh." She closed the jar again. "What's with the bag." She picked it up again. "How does it work?"
"Honestly, I have no idea. It just works. It has a pound limit, and anything you put in it has to be able to fit through the opening."
"Interesting." Kate stuck her hand inside it again. "It's empty."
"Yes, it is at the moment. Now put it down, try a fifth time," Rick asked her, "and that's all for today." So she put the bag down, cast the spell, and got nothing.
"Well, shoot," Kate grumbled, then sighed. "I know, practice."
"That's right, but you got it in just four tries. It's not bad, Kate."
"After I failed all five times the day before," she retorted.
Rick just hummed his response and heard Alexis start crying. That got both of them to go into the bedroom and change a diaper. Then Kate picked her up and took her to the kitchen, waiting for Rick to warm up a bottle. She put a burp cloth over her shoulder, took the bottle, and fed Alexis.
Kate still wasn't ready to change a diaper on her own. Especially the stinky ones, but she could do this. She even liked doing it. Kate looked down at Alexis, who only had eyes for her while she sucked on her bottle.
Then she burped her and cleaned up what the baby threw up. After that, Kate walked into the living room, held her on her lap, and played with her while Rick looked on.
The next day, Kate correctly identified the magical items on the first, second, and fourth try. She was getting better at it. The following day, she correctly identified the magical items all five times. Now, she just needed to do it again and again and again.
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After she woke up, she showered, dressed, and had breakfast. When she finished, she stood in front of the mirror and watched as her dad drank from the bottle. "NO, DAD. STOP!" she yelled at him. Kate looked at Rick. "Can he hear me?"
He shook his head. "No, I'm afraid not."
"DAMN IT, DAD! I wish you would just stop. Please, stop." She watched for all 14 minutes, and all she saw was her dad getting drunk.
"Damn it!" She sat down on the sofa in a huff.
Rick sat beside her with Alexis, but not even that little sweetie could improve her mood.
"Maybe it's time for another visit. Perhaps you should come this time, Kate."
"I don't think that would be a good idea," she told him. "I'm too angry and upset right now. I might blow up at him."
"He's your dad; you do what you want. But I'm going to go and see him tomorrow morning," Rick told her.
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Kate got up early, hoping to see Rick before he left, but he was already gone, having taken Alexis with him. So she made herself breakfast and waited for him to come home. She was saving up her attempts at casting Detect Magic spell for him when he was there to watch her do it.
Finally, he came home, and Kate jumped up and was all over him like white on rice.
"Well, he admitted his failure. He said I didn't understand the allure of alcohol, which is true, I don't understand. He said the AA meetings were helping, but it wasn't enough. So, he's going to take time off of work, enter a drug rehab facility, and hope it's enough for him to beat this.
"Here's hoping he goes, and it does him some good," Rick told her.
"Thank you. I know it doesn't sound like much, but thank you anyway." Kate kissed him. This one was a nice long kiss, where Rick, still holding an awake Alexis, got to return her kiss.
She broke from the kiss and smiled up at him. "I was waiting for five tries when you got home, so here goes. Try number one." And she got all five tries to work.
"I did it! All five times, I did it!" She celebrated by kissing Rick again, who got to kiss her back. "Now, I suppose I need to do it again and again and again."
"Yep, but meanwhile, we need to talk about feats. There are a lot of feats to choose from. I'll get you a list." Rick went into his bedroom and put Alexis down to nap. He found the list and brought it back out to Kate.
"Now, a feat is an ability based on your level, race, and class." Rick handed her the list.
"HOLY SHIT! That's some list," Kate exclaimed. "How many do I get?"
"Two at this level. You gain one at the first level, one at the third level, at the sixth level, and so on. You don't qualify for some of these feats, but I'm giving you the entire list. You have until now, and when you can do all of your 0-level spells in one go over and over and over again. Then, we'll start on your first-level spell and apply your two feats.
"So look the list over. Once you choose, you can't un-choose. Got it?" Rick asked her.
"Got it." Kate looked at the list. "Oh, boy. How many of them can you do?"
"I can do seven of them," he replied. "For me to become a Master Alchemist, I needed Brew Potion, Magic Artisan, and Skill Focus. We'll get into skills another day.
"For now, just look them over and decide where you want to go. There are many options for you, all of them good options. It's just a question of what kind of Sorceress you want to be." He gave her a quick kiss and left her with the list.
Kate swallowed hard. It was daunting to look at the list. "And here I thought choosing which first-level spell I wanted to know was difficult."
Then she thought about all the kisses she was giving and getting. She wasn't quite ready to take it to the next level, but she knew she was getting close.