Chapter 1

Selina clutched the paper with her right hand, and knocked on the slightly ajar door with her left. “Tom? Are you free to talk for a few minutes?”

“Ah, Selina,” Tom replied. “Come on in.”

Selina walked into the room, and took a seat in the small chair. Tom was sitting comfortably in his leather chair on the other side of the desk. He shuffled some papers around on the cluttered table, to make some space for Selina’s paper. She placed her paper on the table, the red D neatly encircled on the top of the paper.

“I’m here to discuss the grade for my paper,” Selina began. “I don’t understand why you failed me.”

Tom leaned forward slightly. “Selina, the assignment was to analyze a science article and discuss its logical fallacies, but your paper did not cover that at all.”

“What do you mean?” Selina asked. “I talked about many different fallacies in my paper.”

“Yes, you did,” Tom agreed. “However, the article you referred to was about magic. Magic! That is hardly scientific, or real, for that matter.”

Selina’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Magic is as real as any branch of science,” she insisted.

Tom leaned back into his chair and crossed his arms. He sighed. “Look,” he began.

“What if I prove to you that magic exists?” Selina interrupted. “Will you change my grade?”

Tom gave a small smirk and replied, “Sure, if you can conclusively prove to me that magic exists, I will give you an A for your paper. I mean real magic, and not magic tricks.”

Selina scoffed. “Magic tricks? Of course not! Those are simple parlor tricks and illusions. I’m talking about proper magic.”

“Ok, we have a deal then,” Tom said.

Selina reached into her purse and grabbed something with her hand. “Earth, wind, fire, and water. These four schools of magic are not really separate, but they provide a useful way for people to think about things. It’s just like how Chemistry and Physics seem separate but are actually very similar.”

Selina opened her palm and revealed a small rock laying on top of it. “One of the basic fire spells is to heat objects.” Selina closed her hand around the rock again, and tightly held it for a few seconds. “Here,” Selina said. “Feel this.”

Selina reached towards Tom, and Tom extended his hand. Selina opened her palm and dropped the rock. The rock landed on Tom’s open palm, and he winced. He pulled back his palm sharply, and the rock dropped onto the carpet.

“Do you believe me now?” Selina asked.

Tom reached down and picked up the rock. It was still slightly warm to the touch. He examined the rock closely, and passed it from hand to hand.

“Do you believe now?” Selina asked again.

Tom chuckled. “That was a good trick, but it was more about psychology than anything. You primed me by talking about fire, and that caused me to pull my hand back.”