Parvenu: [5] Son & Heir/Sun & Air

"Professor Woo?" Lex gently asked from the open doorway, to draw his attention.

"Yes?" The professor asked cautiously as he looked up from some papers that he had been reading.

"The two of us are going to be starting your class this afternoon and we were supposed to meet you now so that you could... do whatever it is that you do for new students." Lex said frankly.

"We've gotten ahead of ourselves. Come in and have a seat, then tell me a little about yourselves." Professor Woo said warmly.

Lex led the way inside and sat down in one of the chairs across from the cluttered desk.

Lucky seemed uncertain, but eventually followed.

"We're Lex and Lucky Darroch and even though we're both enrolled in Witchcraft as a specialty, we thought that we'd like to try learning Sorcery together before we look into anything else." Lex cautiously explained.

"Darroch?" Professor Woo slowly asked as he took note of the boys' dark hair and eyes and other similar features.

Both boys waited anxiously under his scrutiny.

"Lex, was it? That name sounds familiar. Wasn't that the name of G Darroch's rather impressive self-portrait illusion?" Professor Woo asked cautiously.

"Yeah. That was me. But I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't tell everyone. Starting out as a new person is hard enough, having everyone know that I'm not completely 'real' might be a little too much for me to deal with all at once." Lex said frankly.

"You're G's illusion?" Professor Woo asked dubiously.

"Yeah. But G having an identical twin all of a sudden would raise a lot of questions, especially with our non-magical friends. It's best if I just change how I look." Lex said as he gave the internal push to let go of his 'Cousin Lex' form and become his waking self.

"So, are you telling me that you're an illusion that came to life?" Professor Woo asked slowly as he stared at the exact duplicate of his student.

"Yes. But there was a lot more to it than that, and I'm not allowed to talk about all of it. The part you need to know about is that G was holding an ancient relic of air and brought up my illusion so that he could sort of be in two places at once. Somehow with that and the chaos with magic spewing all over the place like a fire hose, I became what I am." Lex said frankly.

"And just what is that, if I may ask?" Professor Woo asked cautiously.

"By the loosest definition, I'm an air elemental, a sylph. In reality, I seem to be more like an elemental witch than anything else." Lex said honestly.

"An elemental witch based in air." Professor Woo stated more than asked.

"Yeah. I know elemental witches aren't really that rare. Just the part about me being made instead of born makes me kinda special." Lex said uncomfortably.

"You really are the image of G, aren't you?" Professor Woo said appreciatively.

"He does good work." Lex confirmed.

"What about you? I know that elementals don't always get the magical payload that one might expect." Professor Woo said seriously.

"I haven't really had a chance to try everything out yet, but as far as I know, I have about the same talents as G. At least, I haven't run into any air-based spells that I haven't been able to do yet." Lex said honestly.

"Have you had the opportunity to try your hand at any illusions?" Professor Woo asked curiously.

Rather than answer verbally, Lex dispelled his illusionary clothing to reveal the casual jeans and red t-shirt that he was wearing underneath.

When Lucky saw what he was doing, he likewise released his own spell.

"Very nice! I didn't have the first clue that you were wearing illusionary clothing." Professor Woo said appreciatively.

"Lucky's wasn't an illusion, it was more of a matter construct, but he covered it with an illusionary sleeve to smooth it out, so it's still pretty impressive." Lex explained.

"Really? That sounds like an interesting technique. Would you mind showing me?" Professor Woo asked hopefully.

"Sure. But, just so you know, I can't do magic the same way that you do." Lucky said before slowly and precisely going through the steps to recast the cylindrical construct.

"I don't recognize the style of magic that he's using. What is that?" Professor Woo asked cautiously.

"When Lucky sees magic, it's like he can see inside it and translate it into the kind of magic that he can perform." Lex tried to explain.

The oddly shaped uniform came into being, but it looked like Lucky was wearing dryer vent hoses over most of his body.

Before Lex or Professor Woo could comment about it, Lucky enacted his modified version of the 'changey' and the stiff cylinders suddenly conformed to the shape of his body.

"I'd be interested in finding a variation of that for my own illusionary constructs. That looks like it would save a lot of time." Professor Woo said honestly.

"If you like that, you'll love this." Lex said with a smile of pride for his brother.

Professor Woo watched carefully and was surprised by the transformation of the clothing that Lucky appeared to be wearing. One minute it was impossible and unreal and the next the boy's uniform looked normal to the point of being completely unremarkable.

"The coolest thing is, you can touch it. Not only does it look real, it feels it too." Lex said proudly.

Lucky automatically extended his arm, in case Professor Woo wanted to try it for himself.

After a moment of hesitation, Professor Woo indeed did feel Lucky's sleeve and went so far as to slowly feel the button on his cuff.

"This technique is like the next step beyond illusions." Professor Woo said in wonder.

"I know it looks that way, but check this out." Lex said in prelude, then turned to Lucky and asked, "Can you make a carrot for us?"

"No." Lucky answered honestly.

"Why not?" Lex asked curiously.

"Because I don't have a spell for that." Lucky said simply.

"But you know what a carrot looks like, don't you? Can't you improvise a spell to make a carrot?" Professor Woo asked seriously.

"If I took some time and worked on it, I could probably come up with something that you might be able to guess is supposed to be a carrot. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be very good though." Lucky regretfully explained.

"Lucky's a magic mimic. If he can copy someone else's magic, he can do something great with it. And if he can copy two people's magic, he can combine them in a way that the original casters of the spell probably couldn't." Lex said seriously.

"So that uniform spell is him copying someone else?"

"Actually, I think that one comes from him copying three of us at once. Me, G, and Paul were all working on it at the same time and Lucky picked up on all of them and combined them into the uniform that he's wearing." Lex calmly explained.

"Still, that's such a versatile technique. It would be nice if we could find a way to replicate it using standard magic." Professor Woo said seriously.

"I can talk to Paul about it when we get home. He's got a talent for doing multiple spells simultaneously. He could probably help us figure out how two or three of us could cast the spell at the same time to get the same result that Lucky gets on his own." Lex said speculatively.

"I think it might be worth at least investigating. Even if you had to use charm magic to do part of it, the savings in time would probably be worth it." Professor Woo said consideringly.

"I'll see what Paul says about it." Lex promised, then thought to ask, "So are we alright to sit in on your class as part of the Witchcraft observers?"

"I was wondering about that. Why are you just monitoring sorcery? You obviously have the talent for it." Professor Woo asked curiously.

"To me, sorcery is G's thing. Not only is he good at it, but it's also something that sets him apart and makes him special. Even though he probably wouldn't say anything about it, I really don't want to horn in on that part of his life." Lex explained seriously.

"I suppose I can see that." Professor Woo conceded.

"The other side of that coin is, I want something that I can call my own. I'd like to feel like I'm good at something that's just mine." Lex said timidly.

After a long awkward moment, Lucky quietly said, "I can copy someone else's sorcery, but I don't know yet if I can do it all on my own. I'd like to go to your class to figure out what I can and can't do, but I don't want to be part of the class, like, full-time, forever, at least until I know if I can do my own sorcery or not."

"Well, if you're a mimic, I suppose it's important for you to experience a variety of magics and practitioners to see if you can picture yourself fitting in amongst them." Professor Woo said carefully.

"Professor Sondheim seemed to think that it'd be good for me to take a look at some air specialties other than sorcery. Once we've taken a good look at sorcery and gotten used to our other classes, we may give that a try." Lex said carefully.

"Speaking of that, the third period bell will be ringing shortly. Do you need to discuss anything else with me before you go to your next class?" Professor Woo asked cautiously.

"No. We just wanted you to know that Lucky can't do sorcery like a regular sorcerer. If you're okay with that, we should be able to do just fine in your class." Lex said seriously.

"As long as you're learning the lessons that you need to know, I won't worry about the small stuff." Professor Woo said simply.

Before the boys could respond, the bell rang, signalling the countdown until the next class started.

"Thank you for talking with us, Professor. We'll see you again after lunch." Lex said respectfully.

"Yes. I'll see you then. I hope the rest of your placements go well." Professor Woo said warmly.

* * * * *

"What do we have next?" Lex asked as he leafed through his class schedule, in search of Friday.

"Third period? I think it says 'spelling'. Is that like ABC or Abracadabra?" Lucky asked curiously.

"The second one. C'mon, it's not far. This way." Lex said as he walked quickly down the hallway.

"Why would they give me spelling if that's the one thing that I can't do at all?" Lucky asked as he fought to keep up.

"I don't know. But I think Mrs. Bright probably knew what she was doing. Maybe she wants for you to figure out how to fake it when you're around other witches." Lex cautiously suggested.

"I'm just glad that you're going to be there with me. I'd be really scared if I was going in there all by myself." Lucky said frankly.

"I can promise you that there's nothing to be scared of. I remember taking this class with Paul and G last year." Lex said honestly.

"If you already took it, you shouldn't have to take it again." Lucky said with concern.

"Actually, this is probably a really good thing for me. The only kind of magic that I know how to use is G's. He really worked hard to make his sorcery do everything that he wanted it to, but I think that this time around, I'd like to try something else." Lex said introspectively.

"Like what?" Lucky asked curiously.

"I don't know yet. Maybe you could help me figure that out." Lex said with a smile.

Lucky seemed surprised by the suggestion, but not at all against the idea.

* * * * *

"Mrs. Herdez?" Lex asked as he and Lucky approached.

"Yes?" Mrs. Herdez cautiously answered at the sight of the unfamiliar pair of boys.

"We're supposed to start your class today." Lex said uncomfortably as he held forward his class schedule as evidence.

Mrs. Herdez looked from Lex to Lucky, obviously recognizing the physical characteristics they shared.

"What are your names?" Mrs. Herdez asked cautiously.

"Lex and Lucky Darroch." Lex answered for both of them.

Mrs. Herdez looked at her clipboard for a moment, then muttered, "I don't see you here."

"Mrs. Bright just scheduled us a few minutes ago. You might not have gotten the update yet." Lex quietly offered.

"I suppose that's one use for these things." Mrs. Herdez said as she grudgingly signed into her computer, which had been timed-out in a screensaver.

"Even if you hadn't told me your names were Darroch, I would have guessed. Your family features really do carry through." Mrs. Herdez said as she navigated through menus to get to the classroom scheduling spreadsheet that she was looking for.

"You should see it when the whole family gets together. It's really super creepy how much everyone looks alike." Lex said frankly.

"There you are." Mrs. Herdez finally said with accomplishment, then fell silent as she read for a moment.

Lex and Lucky waited anxiously for her reaction, not able to judge her mood thus far.

"One of you is a mimic?" Mrs. Herdez finally asked curiously.

"Yes Ma'am. I am." Lucky timidly admitted.

"Then it seems that you and I have an interesting adventure ahead of us." Mrs. Herdez said warmly.

"We do?" Lucky asked cautiously.

"Yes. How many opportunities do you think we have to experience an entirely different magical paradigm? It is my hope that between us, we can discover how you can make the most of your gifts, while also exploring a unique new magical superstructure." Mrs. Herdez said happily.

"So you're not going to try to force me to use the same spells as everyone else?" Lucky asked to be sure.

"I will ask you to attempt to use the traditional method, if only to demonstrate to what degree that it is, or isn't, effective." Ms. Herdez said seriously.

"You seem awfully excited about this." Lex cautiously observed.

"I'm not only a teacher, I'm also a researcher. The fact of the matter is that for long periods of time, I don't have anything to research, so I content myself with helping the next generations develop an appreciation for confident and forthright spellcasting." Mrs. Herdez explained.

"I kinda thought it was just a job." Lex weakly responded.

"When something like this comes up, it's an opportunity. The rest of the time... it does keep food on the table." Mrs. Herdez conceded.

"Am I going to be doing things like everyone else or are you going to have me doing my own stuff?" Lucky asked anxiously.

"A little of each, I suppose. But for right now, I'm going to put you with a group and we'll see how that works out." Mrs. Herdez said seriously.

"We don't really know anyone in here. Do you want us to just be a team of our own? We already know that we work well together." Lex explained as he looked around the room at the variety of unfamiliar people.

"No. I have a team in mind for you. I can't quite say why, but I get the feeling that putting you with Erica and Lucia might end up being the best thing for all involved." Mrs. Herdez said speculatively.

"I don't know who that is." Lex quietly admitted.

"Here. Allow me to introduce you." Mrs. Herdez said as she stood from behind her desk.

Lucky and Lex shared a look, then reluctantly followed when Mrs. Herdez stepped away.

* * * * *

"Attention everyone! We have a pair of new students with us today, Lex and Lucky Darroch. I hope that when you have the chance, you will take a moment to introduce yourselves and welcome them to our class." Mrs. Herdez said a little too happily.

After a moment for a flurry of muttered greetings to pass, Mrs. Herdez led the boys to a pair of girls sitting together at a table.

"Erica, Lucia, I'd like for you to meet Lex and Lucky." Mrs. Herdez said pleasantly.

"Oh God! You're not sticking them with us, are you?" The blonde, Erica, whined with an impatient eyeroll for good measure.

"Yes. And do keep in mind that group projects determine the grade of the entire group, not just the one presenting at the time." Mrs. Herdez said with no small measure of satisfaction.

"So you want for us to carry them?" The dark-haired, biracial girl, Lucia, asked with disgust.

"No. But part of what you're here to learn is how to be part of a team. If you choose to reject the teamwork aspect of your training, it will, of course, be reflected in your grade." Mrs. Herdez said professionally and informatively.

After a long tense moment, Erica turned to Lex and firmly said, "Just stay out of our way and do what you're told."

Lex looked to Mrs. Herdez and with his sarcasm turned up to eleven, he said, "Thanks."

Mrs. Herdez restrained a chuckle at the reaction, then leaned in to confidentially ask, "Do you think that you won't encounter such people out in the 'real' world?"

Lex was surprised by the question and after a moment, he honestly said, "No. I didn't think about that."

"Now you have something new to think about." Mrs. Herdez said with a grin at him, then added more seriously, "Your group will need to perform a spell so that I can judge your skill and accuracy. Your new teammates will be able to fill you in on the requirements."

"What about Lucky? He can't do normal magic." Lex asked anxiously.

Mrs. Herdez glanced at Lucky and smiled before responding, "I will be the one grading you, so explain to your teammates as much as you feel that you need too... or don't. I suspect that it will serve you best if you get into the habit of deciding such things for yourselves sooner rather than later."

Lex slowly nodded his acceptance of her words as she walked back to her desk.

"She has waaay too much faith in us." Lex said frankly.

* * * * *

"Rikki does water and I do air, so that means when it comes to spelling, that we're kinda stuck doing basic." Lucia said frankly.

"If you could find a basic spell that leans toward 'mist', there might be something that both of you could cast that not everyone else could." Lex cautiously suggested.

"What are you even doing here, anyway? Shouldn't you be in elementary school?" Erica asked snottily.

"We skipped ahead a few grades." Lex said nonchalantly, then glanced at Lucky to see how he was doing.

Lucky seemed to be soaking it all in, ready to stand behind Lex in whatever story he decided to reveal about their pasts.

"So you're smart?" Lucia asked cautiously.

"Compared to elementary schoolers, yeah. Compared to the people in this class... I don't know yet. I guess we'll all find out together." Lex said frankly.

"Do you know of any mist spells that we might be able to use for a spelling project?" Lucia asked hopefully, then seemed to wither under the reproachful glare of Erica.

"Yeah. There's this one where you can take a cup of water and use air to mix with it and make it look like it's disappeared, but when you reverse the spell, you can bring the water back and fill the cup again. The good thing about it is, if you can work with either air or water, you can shape it and make it do things that someone else can't." Lex said slowly.

Lucia waited for Erica's response before giving an opinion.

"That doesn't sound like much of a spell, but if it's basic, then maybe Herdez will let us do it." Erica finally relented.

"Well, it's not for sure. It sounds like something that we should all be able to do, but we won't know for sure until we've actually tried it. If we can all make it work, then we can work on making sure that it's up to Mrs. Herdez' standards." Lex said seriously.

"Do you want for me to get us some cups of water?" Lucia asked Erica cautiously.

"Let them do it. The little kids are supposed to fetch and carry for the older ones. It's what they're for." Erica said matter-of-factly.

"Do you have any younger brothers or sisters?" Lex asked curiously.

"Yeah. One of each. So I know what I'm talking about." Erica said confidently.

"I bet they absolutely hate you." Lex said simply.

"Yeah. But that's just how brothers and sisters feel about each other." Erica said dismissively.

"I'm new here, so it might not be the same for me, but I love all my brothers and my sister and I wouldn't ever wish for them to have a moment of pain or worry." Lex said honestly, then turned to Lucky and asked, "Lucky, you have a sister. What do you think?"

"She's my twin, but we're as different as two people can be. Sometimes I don't like her that much, but I always love her and I'd never want her to be hurt." Lucky said consideringly.

"What about the water?" Lucia asked seriously, trying to get the group back on task.

"Lucky? Do you think you could make some of Paul's water flames?" Lex asked curiously.

"Sure. But you can't. Isn't this for a spell that we're all going to have to do?" Lucky asked cautiously.

"Yeah. But this will give us a chance to try the spell out and see if we all can do it. If it doesn't work, then we haven't gone to a lot of trouble for nothing." Lex explained reasonably.

"Four?" Lucky asked to be sure.

"How about you just do one for now. I'll cast my spell on it and we'll see how that turns out, then we can decide what to do from there." Lex said decisively.

Lucky pointed at the table beside them and without any further word or deed, a ball of flame came into existence.

With the twist of his hand, the little flame metamorphosed into a plume of water.

"What the hell is that?" Erica gasped at the sight.

"Was that from hell?" Lex asked Lucky curiously.

"Yeah. The flame is..." Lucky reluctantly admitted, then cautiously asked, "...does it matter?"

"I guess not. I just forgot for a minute that you can do infernal magic." Lex said, then made a sign in front of the flame-shaped fountain and held it.

"Aqua simul cum aere. Caligo ortum. Servire me." Lex said very precisely as he performed five distinct hand gestures.

The plume of gurgling water began to dissipate. Unexpectedly, the resulting mist retained enough coherence to be able to follow it into the air and continue to see it as being a singular shape.

"What is it?" Lucia whispered.

"I don't know. It wasn't supposed to be anything." Lex said honestly.

"Can you make it move?" Lucky asked curiously.

"I don't know." Lex admitted, then slowly reasoned, "The spell I used bound it to my will, so I should be able to command it. I just don't know what to tell a little cloud of fog to do."

"Can you make it move over Sydney's head?" Erica asked curiously.

"Maybe." Lex said slowly, then cautiously asked, "Who's Sydney?"

"She's the brown-haired girl by the door." Erica said seriously.

"Go ahead, little guy. Get on over there. See if you can do it." Lex said in an encouraging voice.

The little cloud seemed to condense slightly, becoming more defined, before moving in slow motion, as though it were running in mid-air.

"It's a horse." Lucky finally said in realization.

Lex looked again and decided that Lucky was right.

"It's kinda beautiful." Lucia said slowly.

"I think so too." Lex agreed.

"Are you controlling it or is it doing what you said?" Erica asked cautiously.

"I just told it what to do." Lex said honestly, then after a moment to consider, he slowly added, "If I stop paying attention to it, it will dissipate. Even though it's across the room, I could command it from here... it's connected to me by my will for it to be manifested."

"Sydney's seen it." Lucia cautioned.

The group watched as Sydney used a textbook to swat at the vague horse-shaped cloud of fog.

"Come back here now. You did good." Lex said gently, knowing that his creation could hear him.

The little cloud began a slow-motion gallop back in their direction.

Most of the class had stopped what they were doing and were watching the progress of the cloud.

"What an interesting manifestation. What have you created here?" Mrs. Herdez asked as she approached.

"I was just showing Erica and Lucia a spell that I thought that all four of us might be able to cast." Lex said seriously.

"That seems to be a rather high-level manipulation for a group project." Mrs. Herdez cautioned.

"I'm the only one who's tried it so far, but as far as I can tell, it falls mostly into 'basic' and leans a little bit into the 'air' and 'water' specialties without really requiring mastery of either." Lex said carefully.

"Would you like to go ahead and select the Nuggle as your group project?" Mrs. Herdez asked curiously.

"Can we go back and change it if we find out that one of us can't do it?" Lucia asked cautiously.

"Yes. Of course." Mrs. Herdez said, then turned her attention to the foggy little horse galloping into their midst before continuing, "This is just such an interesting manifestation that I'd like to see what you are able to do with it."

"Do you want a report with the gestures, words and everything?" Lex thought to ask.

"Yes. The girls are familiar with all the requirements. If you have any questions, they can fill you in." Mrs. Herdez assured him.

"Do I have to do a separate one or include mine in with theirs?" Lucky asked seriously.

"If your report is mostly like theirs, you may include it. If it ends up being significantly different, you may submit your own. Just do whatever seems to make the most sense." Mrs. Herdez said casually before walking away.

Lex turned back to his group and his attention was drawn by the foggy little horse, hanging in the air before him.

"You did a great job, little guy. Thank you. I release you." Lex said, then watched as the fog dispersed into nothing.

"Didn't you say the water would come back when you were finished with it?" Erica asked curiously.

"Yeah. I think that's optional. Instead of 'release' if you say 'return' when you dispel it, the water empties out of the air back to where it came from." Lex explained.

"Do we have time for me to try it?" Lucky asked hopefully.

Lex glanced at the clock, before answering, "Yeah. Go ahead."

Lucky pointed toward the table and a flame appeared.

He turned his hand and the fire became water.

While forming three hand signs in succession, Lucky carefully said, "Water and air combine. Fog rise up and serve me."

"That's not the same as what you did." Erica said slowly as she watched a recognizably different foggy horse float high into the air.

"Maybe when this is all done, we can have Nuggle races." Lex suggested to Lucky with a smile.

"We're not going to get the grade if we're not all doing the same spell." Erica said insistently.

"Lucky's magic is different. He can cast just about anyone else's spell, but he has to change it to make it work for him. Mrs. Herdez knows about it and wants for Lucky to do his projects both ways, trying to use our style of magic and then again using his own." Lex explained.

"So... what? He's like a super-witch or something?" Erica asked hesitantly.

"No. He's a mimic. He can copy other people's magic after he's seen it. The other side of that is that he can't cast a spell that he hasn't seen before." Lex carefully explained.

"Come down here. I want to see if I can change your spell to make you different." Lucky said seriously.

"Why don't you wait until we're in another class for that?" Lex cautiously suggested.

"Yeah. I've got everything I need. I can do it at home." Lucky agreed, then looked to his foggy horse and said, "You can go away now."

As expected, the little horse turned in slow motion and began to gallop away as it dissipated.

"Do we have enough time to try it?" Lucia asked anxiously.

"Yeah. If you'll go get us some water, I'll get a written version of the spell for us." Erica said decisively as she walked around the table to get her backpack.

"You doin' okay, Buddy?" Lex asked Lucky cautiously.

"Yeah. This is pretty much how I thought it would be." Lucky said honestly.

"At least you're allowed to do magic here." Lex said quietly.

"Yeah. And I'm happy about that. I just knew when I came here that not everyone was going to be nice." Lucky said honestly.

"Will you write the spell down for me so I can try and do it myself?" Erica asked as she presented Lex a spiral bound notebook.

Rather than answer aloud, Lex made a few quick hand signs over the notebook. Once that was complete, he touched the notebook with one finger and the page began to fill with writing.

"What's with you guys? Why are you so powerful?" Erica asked in astonishment.

"Pretty much anything special that we can do is because of our brothers Paul and G. If we seem powerful at all, it's because they taught us and encouraged us to be like they are." Lex said seriously.

"I just got two, you guys can make your own, right?" Lucia asked as she placed two glasses of water on the table.

"Yeah. We've already done ours. Go ahead. We don't have much time left." Lex said encouragingly.

After making sure the glass of water was placed directly in front of her, Erica began to perform the five gestures while slowly reading the text of the spell.

After a moment, she quietly said, "It's not working."

"Do you know the equu-nonum?" Lex cautiously asked.

"You mean that nursery rhyme about horses?" Erica asked uncertainly.

"Yeah. If you think about it, you'll see that it's a spell definition. Go ahead and recite a line from the equu-nonum and see if that doesn't fix it." Lex said seriously.

"Is that how you did it?" Erica asked with annoyance.

"No. But if I'm right, I just think it could make things turn out right." Lex explained.

"Whatever." Erica muttered before restarting her spell.

Although it couldn't be classified as a 'graceful' casting by any means, it was done competently enough that, in the end, she received the desired result.

Before Erica could react to that, Lucia began her own casting of the same spell.

While it was no more polished than Erica's had been, it also resulted in a foggy little horse rising up from their worktable.

"I guess that proves that all of us can cast the spell. Now we just have to get better at it so that we can present it for a grade." Lex said frankly.

"If you two can take care of yours, we can do ours." Erica said firmly.

"Lucky, when do we have this class again?" Lex asked cautiously.

While Lucky ruffled through his class schedules Erica said, "Tuesday."

Lex glanced at Lucky in time to see him nod his agreement.

"We can all work on our spells and compare them when we get together again." Lex said decisively.

"What makes you think that you're in charge, little boy?" Erica asked disgustedly.

Without a word, Lex began to grow until he was just a bit taller than she was.

"If you have a better idea, I'll be happy to listen to it. If not, this is a way of getting everything done and getting the grade." Lex said in his considerably more mature voice.

The bell rang before Erica could think of a way to respond.

Lex immediately shrank back down to Lucky's size and quickly asked, "What do we have next?"

After a moment of perusing the schedules, Lucky announced, "Basic magic with Mrs. Cualla."

"C'mon, I can't wait."

To Be Continued...

Editor's Notes:

Wow! That was cool! They sure put those two in their place, didn't they?

I have quite a fondness for both Lex and Lucky. They both have had quite the adventure. And they seem to have come through with flying colours, at least so far.

Again, I have so much respect for the people at the school. They seem to have their heads on straight. Teaching the boys to be self reliant is very important, but teaching them to cooperate and by doing so, teaching the girls that they need to cooperate if they want to be successful is also very important

Keep in mind that this is not only the first day, it is their first class. No small feet, considering that one of them was never allowed to use his magic, and was threatened to be cursed if he even tried to use it.

And, to Lex, everything is new. Sure he has G's memories, but he is not replicating G's spells, he is doing this on his own.

Both boys have taken what they have learned from their brothers and melded them into their own individual style and manifestations.

I think they will both do very well, with or without the help of the snooty girls.

I definitely want more, and the sooner the better, thank you very much MM for another fine chapter!

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher