Magic

Chapter 14: New Adjustments

Outside the large window in the hidden study, orange and yellow leaves covered the forest. Ella stared out at Reignlen. Fall was beautiful. She couldn't remember what she'd previously thought of this season, but she wished that she did. Hard to believe that fall had first arrived only last week.

Ella glanced over her shoulder at the stairs, expecting Hans to show up, but she didn't hear any sign of him. It looked like he would be a few minutes late today. He and Cassandra must've gotten behind on something. Ella let out a small sigh and peered back at the window.

Not too long after, small raindrops gently tapped on the window, covering the glass. Ella sat there as she watched tiny raindrops cloud the view. So far, there was no sound of any lightning, just the rain beating the window. Placing her gloved fingers on the glass, she peered down and could still see the garden below perfectly.

Peter and Rollins were racing through the yard, jumping over puddles. Right after Rollins leaped over a large puddle, Peter slipped and fell forward, getting wet. Rollins raced over to him with a large smile. They both laughed until Norman peaked his head from behind a door and told them to get inside.

For the past weeks, Hans had been helping her with her magic by using the peach and reading out of this book that Cassandra had found called The Extraordinary Existence of Magic. They would often read a chapter before starting training with the peach. Ella did very well with the book, however, she had yet to gain control of her magic.

Footsteps reached the top step and went forward in the room, causing Ella to glance over her shoulder where Hans was coming towards the table. "I'm sorry I'm late, Ella. Training went longer than usual today."

Dropping her arms, Ella rose from her chair and went over to the table. "It's alright, Hans. Maybe I shouldn't have come here so early."

"There's nothing wrong with being early," Hans reassured, going over to the front of the table. "Today was just one of those days. And just to let you know, we will be having your training on Thursday instead of tomorrow."

"Why is that?"

"Uncle Edgar and Aunt Heidi are throwing a charity party tomorrow," Hans explained over the soft raindrops in the background. "I have to help Cassandra and the other soldiers. I think that it would be less stressful for you if we didn't have too much going on. Are you okay with that?"

Ella nodded. "I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Ella's arms stretched out towards The Extraordinary Existence of Magic, and once her fingertips felt the soft leather, she pulled it closer to her. She reached for the pages and opened the book to page eighty-two. She peered down to the page where a large "Chapter Twelve: Effects of Magical Abilities" was written in large bold letters at the front with an image of a woman moving leaves into the air right above small letters that traveled through the rest of the page.

"I think that we're on chapter eleven, Ella," Hans informed, pulling out a chair and sitting across from her.

"I read that chapter last night," Ella explained. She pressed her finger on the "chapter twelve" page and went through some pages until she finally reached chapter eleven and opened it for Hans to see. "It was what you told me about how my powers are affected by my emotions."

Hans' eyes widened in approval. "Wow. Did you come here to read or did you take the book to your room?"

"I took it to my room after I found out that you weren't going to be here yesterday," Ella replied. Yesterday, a thief had stolen some money from donation, so Hans had to help Cassandra and the other guards find the thief. It took such a long time that it overlapped the hours that Hans would have taught her and Cassandra wrote a letter to Ella that she had Owl deliver to her. "Was I not supposed to?"