The Tethering: The Complete Collection

10. Wizard’s Wand-2

A week later, Jacob could not have been happier with his life at the Mansion House. He had yoga on the lawn with Claire and Emilia in the mornings, three wonderful meals at the huge family table, and lessons with Aunt Iz and Professor Eames. Jacob had been told by everyone that he was doing exceptionally well, and the lessons were increasingly interesting.

Iz spent her time teaching him to channel his power through his wand, and Professor Eames focused on teaching him specific spells. He spent time in the student library reading other books on magic besides the Big Three, as Connor liked to call ATLAS, Lingua Veneficium, and the Compendium. And every evening, Emilia would help him make sense of the day’s work, tutoring him on particularly difficult spells and concepts. Or sometimes just sitting on the veranda talking, Emilia telling him about the magical world and all its strangeness, and Jacob, in turn, telling her about all the people they had known back in Fairfield.

Jacob sat in Iz’s office, enjoying the warmth of the midday sun as it poured through the open window, daydreaming about asking Emilia for help with his spell pronunciation that evening. Not that he needed it, but that was beside the point. He liked being helped, because he had to sit close to Emilia so they could read from the same book.

“Jacob,” Iz said, gently calling his attention back to her. “A very important part of learning to effectively use magic is control and concentration. Once you learn to truly focus your mind, you will be able to do amazing things.”

Aunt Iz walked over to her shelf and retrieved not a book, as Jacob had expected, but a round fish bowl. She set the bowl on the desk in front of him. Apart from being filled with water, the bowl was empty. There weren’t even any marbles at the bottom.

“What I want you to do is create a water vortex. Vertunda.”

The water at the top of the bowl began to swirl. Within seconds, the swirling had reached the bottom of the bowl, creating a perfect miniature tornado.

“The principle of creating a vortex is the same at any level, though the energy required does increase with size. The point of this exercise is not only to create the vortex, but also to maintain it for a prolonged period of time.”

“How long?” Jacob asked.

“Let’s try creating a vortex first. After that, you can work your way up. Your first goal will be five minutes. Now, focus on the water. The incantation is vertunda,” she said slowly, emphasizing each syllable. “Now speak clearly and picture the water beginning to swirl.”

“Vertunda.”