Penny and Zoe spent the afternoon practicing, getting better at Zoe’s new spell, and Penny experimented with the shock spell, making it powerful enough to send her stuffed bear, now almost unrecognizable, several feet into the air. Smoke trickled from a hole where Penny zapped it, and she had to stomp out a tongue of flame that rose from the stuffing.
“Handy,” Zoe said, looking honestly impressed.
Penny was less excited about it. She guessed it was almost as powerful as your garden-variety stun gun, but you had to be right up close for it to work, and she didn’t want to get that close to The Birdman. That close he wouldn’t have to use magic against them, just lift them into the air and fly away with them.
They lost track of time as they usually did in the hollow and had to run home. The
