Chapter 4

The following new characters appear in this chapter:

Ryan

PhD student, 5'-10'' tall, 155 pounds, 26 years old, brown hair, hazel eyes

Alisha

PhD student, 5'-7'' tall, 135 pounds, 36C-24-35, 27 years old, black hair, brown eyes

Harry Harrington

Professor, Head of the Magic Department, 5'-8'' tall, 190 pounds, 42 years old, dark brown hair going bald, blue eyes

William Patrick O'Connell

Thomas's Father, 5'-10'' tall, 170 pounds, 44 years old, dark red hair, gray eyes

Maureen Kathleen Stuart O'Connell

Thomas's Mother, 5'- 3'' tall, 123 pounds, 36C-25-36, 42 years old, dark blond hair, blue eyes

On leaving the restaurant, I again used the transfer spell, and we appeared in front of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Building.

"This is the Graduate School building where I work. The large building a block down from here holds the College of Arts and Sciences where the undergraduate Magic students attend classes," I informed Leila so she would be aware of the differences.

"So you teach who again?" she asked to be sure.

"I run the PhD program for the Magic Department of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. I also teach many of the classes for the students in the Master's program. The Head of the Magic Department has certain problems," I told her but went no further before we entered the building. I needed to use my instructor's ID to enter and took Leila with me by using a spell to hold the door open so we both could enter. We went up to my office then.

Of course, the office was a bit of a disaster since I keep it warded, and the cleaning staff can't access it. Neither can my colleagues which agitates them no end. I passed us through the wards and heard Leila gasp at the disaster that confronted us.

"I'm afraid that I am not that tidy and spend a minimum amount of time here," I told her and started transferring some of the mess to the trash bins behind the building. The room was soon more presentable. I checked today's schedule and what classes I was teaching, and which of my few PhD students would be there to assist with the Master's classes.

"Right!" I said after checking everything. There was a tap on the door directly after that, and I lowered the wards to admit the PhD student whom I sensed on the other side.

"This is Ryan. He is one of my PhD students, and he will be assisting me with the first couple of classes for the Master Level students. A young lady named Alisha will be helping with the last class, and the PhD group will meet later this afternoon," I told Leila before turning to Ryan.

"Ryan, this is Leila. She is a prospective student in the Magic Program. I met her over the weekend and invited her to observe some of our Magic classes to see if she would be interested in attending BU," I told him. There were currently a number of other schools that taught Magic both here in the Boston area and in other parts of the country, and the world.

"Glad to meet you," Ryan said, and I could see the look on his face when he checked her Talent.

"She has a strong Talent," I told him nonchalantly.

"Yes, strong!" he said somewhat surprised, and I could feel him checking my Talent also, something that he had only done occasionally before. He turned a little pale then. "Very strong!" he added.

"Shall we go up to the classroom?" I asked and took Leila's hand. Ryan proceeded us out the door, and I closed the door before bringing my wards back up around it again. Ryan followed us up to the classroom.

Students had already begun to arrive when we reached the room. I had Leila take a seat near the back of the room, which wasn't that large. The Master's classes only consisted of five to ten students each. Each class was at a different point in their study for Master's Level accreditation. This particular class was just in their first semester of study, and was larger than later classes were. I thought that it would be a good introduction to the study of Magic for Leila.

The first and second classes that morning went well with few problems, and we broke for lunch at noon on finishing the second class. Ryan went to do some studying and after a fine lunch in the school cafeteria, we were joined by Alisha. The two of us had received many glances and some hard looks in the cafeteria during lunch. Alisha didn't ask any questions or check Leila's Talent when she arrived, and I presumed that she had spoken to Ryan before joining us.

The third class started at one o'clock and consisted of those students closest to finishing up their Master's degrees, and who would be taking their test for Master Level certification at the end of the school year in May. Technically, these should be the only Master's Level students that I should be teaching, but as I have stated previously, the Head of the Magic Department has problems.

I was close to half way through the class when Professor Harry Harrington, the Head of the Department of Magic, arrived to disrupt the class, and accuse me of impropriety in front of them.

"Professor O'Connell, what is this woman in the back row doing here? She has been here for all of your classes today, and she is not a student. I have checked on that!" he demanded in a righteous and self-assured tone of voice. This would, of course, have been simple using the universities face recognition software.

"Her name is Leila. She is a prospective student in the Magic program, and I invited her here to sample some of the classes today to see if she would be interested in attending BU," I told him calmly. This explanation did not sit well with him however.

"I don't believe that she is a prospective student at all. I think that she is some slut that you picked up over the weekend for sex, and you haven't finished with her yet. Several students here saw you out with her this weekend and informed me about your carrying on with her," Harrington shouted at me in front of the entire class. This was very bad form, even for a New England yankee.

"Leila has only been studying Magic for a few days but has made remarkable progress," I told him, but I was no longer calm. It was apparent that he had not checked her level of Talent.

"We'll see about that!" he said in anger, and I could feel him start a spell and saw the glyph as he drew it. I glanced at Leila, but she was still very calm. I could also feel the spell that she was casting. It was an elementary Level One ward that freshmen Magic students learn. She had not, however, added the Magic to its sign yet.

Harrington finished his spell and hurled it against her. Leila added a huge amount of accumulated Magic to her simple ward at the same time. Harrington's spell crashed into her ward and simply vanished, having no effect on it at all. Harrington on seeing this was very upset. I in turn decided to use the encounter as a teaching point to try to defuse things.

"Attention class! Who can tell me what spell Professor Harrington used?" I asked. No one raised a hand or spoke for many seconds.

"We aren't familiar with the spell, Professor," several students said after that.

"Well then, can any of you tell me what spell Leila used to counter his?" I asked.

"It was one of the elementary First Level wards," one of the students volunteered and several others agreed with him. Professor Harrington had been standing there through all of this with an angry expression on his face.

"That is correct. Now who can tell me why Professor Harrington's spell had no effect on a First Level ward?" I asked the class. They all looked at me like fish out of water and none of them had answered. I sighed and began to explain.

"What you have seen demonstrated is the difference between Magical Knowledge and Magical Power. The spell that Professor Harrington used was a Master Level spell that you haven't encountered yet. He is quite knowledgeable about Magic.

"Leila, on the other hand, is a complete Novice in the study of Magic and could only draw on an elementary First Level ward to defend herself. However, she has a very strong Talent and loaded that spell with a sufficient level of Magic that the Professor's spell simply dissolved on hitting it. And that is the difference between Knowledge and Power," I told the class, most of whom were unfamiliar with the concept. I had been moving closer to Leila while I was speaking.

"You want power? I'll show you power!" Harrington shouted in a harsh voice. I could feel him start on a killer spell, and drew my personal wards up around Leila and myself. The pitiful weak spell that hit my wards had no effect on them at all and simply vanished.

"I would suggest Professor that you depart before you embarrass yourself any further," I suggested in a growl. I was past the point of being upset with him, and if he continued, I was going to show him and the class what happens when you upset an O'Connell Senior Master. Fortunately, it didn't come to that, and he turned to leave.

"You haven't heard the last of this, O'Connell," he threatened on the way out. The class had been holding its collective breath for the last several minutes in expectation of a showdown, but relaxed now. I could feel a number of them canceling the wards they had cast. One of them was Alisha's.

"As you may have noticed, Professor Harrington is a bit out of sorts today. You shouldn't let that bother you, and we will continue with the class," I told them trying to make the best of a poor situation. During the remainder of the class, most of the students weren't paying attention as they spent time reviewing what had happened. Eventually, I just wrote their next assignment on the board before finishing early and leaving with Leila and Alisha. We returned to my office.

"What was that all about?" Alisha asked after we were all seated in my office.

"Harrington had a bug up his butt," I told her. She was looking at Leila then.

"How did you pull all of the Magic that you added to that ward?" she asked her.

"I only drew on enough Magic to make the ward stable. Most people can't put enough Magic into it to do that," Leila told her.

"Ryan told me that you had a strong Talent. Actually he said a very strong Talent, but I have seldom felt that strong a Talent. Professor Tom here has that strong a Talent, but he is a Senior Master and has been for some time," Alisha told her before turning back to me.

"What were those wards that you cast? They were like armor plate. Leila's ward, even with all of the Magic, was a little spongy. But yours were like running into a mountain full tilt," she asked in an amazed voice.

"They were my own personal wards. All of the O'Connells have personal wards and general wards. Each one's personal wards are a bit different, but all of our wards are difficult to penetrate. The personal wards are the most difficult, and I don't know of an instance when any of them have ever been penetrated," I told her.

"Are we still having class this afternoon?" Alisha asked following that.

"Do you think it would be worthwhile?" I asked her with a smile.

"Yeah, the story is probably out all over campus by now," she agreed with a grin. "The rumor mongers will be blowing it out of all proportion shortly."

"Why don't you talk with the others in the program and give them the straight scoop. I'll talk to all of you tomorrow. Hopefully things will have calmed down by then," I told her, and Alisha left to look for the few other students in the PhD program.

"How are you feeling?" I asked Leila when Alisha had left, and I had restored my wards.

"It was funny, I didn't feel threatened by him or his spells. The spell for the ward came to me as soon as he entered the room and started talking trash. I drew the sign for the spell and just held the Magic in my left hand like you showed me this morning. Then I transferred the Magic when he neared the end of his spell. I could understand what he was saying and somehow knew how long the spell was and the last line for it. I was ready when he reached it," she told me calmly.