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Then we settled down to the lessons Oas developing spells forIt had turned out that Ohile being an expert in the science and theory of ic instinctively, so he was irasp it the way he did, and he didn’t understand the need to break it down into steps Instead, he studied the way ic lessons with me

Or maybe elerade by nohich was pretty good, considering I’d only been working at it for a feeeks My job for the ti for Owen’s research while still putting up a front of doingjob at the company

Rod jotted a few notes on Owen’s spell--probably adding those necessary steps that Owen forgot to mention because they were instinctive to him--then said, "Yeah, I think this’ll work Let’s see what you can do Owen, I’ll need you to provide an attack in a second"

I listened as Rod talked ical control needed to carry out the spell I had to memorize and then internalize the words so that all I’d need to do was think theot that down, the rest was easy because the ic than anything else I’d ever studied It was truly awesome

"Okay, I think you’re ready to test it," Rod said with a satisfied nod when I’drelatively harmless and visible, please"

Iat ht not to duck and to focus on my spell as the ball came toward me and then fizzled haruys turned to each other "Whattaya think?" Rod asked "Did it look like a shield to you, or just like ical immunity?"

"It looked like a shield, but only because I knohat to look for In a real-world setting with a fight going on, I think it should be okay They’re not going to just use fireballs, and it’ll be less obvious in blocking other spells"

"So while I’?" I asked

Owen grinned "No, you should be safe from that"

"Then why don’t I just keep this shield up all the time? And why don’t you people shield yourselves all the tiic," Owen said "And it’s an energy drain If I did soht be commercially viable as a shield for certain situations, like the ical equivalent of body ar the idea

"I think we’ve lost him for the day, and he may have just made his next million," Rod said with fond amusement "Now, let’s see how fast you can put that spell up"

He drilled me in spells for the next hour while Owen scribbled frantically in his notebook, occasionally s to himself I knew I should have been exhausted by the time the lesson ended, but I was exhilarated I felt like I’d finally found soood at "You’re a natural," Rod confirmed with a proud smile

"Not too natural," I said "More like a freak of nature"

"That justot a ton of paperaiting for e howup to work these days Sarin over my shoulder as I headed out of the room "And you never knoho’ll show up"

Owen joined me on the way out, and as soon as ere out of earshot of the schoolrooh that illusion was nice work, I like what’s behind it a lot better"

"Oh, you charh inwardly I really was quite pleased It had taken uy as movie-star handsome as Owen--and a powerful wizard on top of that--was into ettable way Oas a certified genius, so it was unlikely that he rong I still wouldn’t turn heads on the street unless I put on erie-model illusion, but I didn’t need to if Owen liked what he saw

"Rod’s right, you really are a natural I don’t know if you’re picking h to absorb sorandress is rather astonishing You’ve already ure out where your particular talents lie"