Chapter 18

Gary turned to look at the other students and the teachers.

“As you all know, some magicians are gifted with greater skills than others, and everyone learns in their own time and in their own way. This also means they gain more responsibilities.”

“Tom is here because he is on a mission, and we plan to help him achieve it. He has a lot to learn in a brief time, so he doesn’t need people calling him a liar or making his life difficult.” Gary directed this statement at Cecelia who blushed.

Gary then switched his gaze to Tom. “Tom, I noticed the people you were sitting with at breakfast. You have picked the very people you need to help you. They are all talented students and can teach you a lot. So now, let’s finished the testing so we can learn what you know.”

So, saying, they then let Tom lead them from test to test to show what he had learnt the day before. Gary got Tom to explain how he was completing each test, as best he could. Tom soon realised that by making him think about how he was doing what he was, gave him a better grasp of understanding of how he used magic.

As his comprehension grew, he found that he was really enjoying himself and having fun with each test. The one he loved playing with the most was transmogrification. He also found that forming shields became natural. Gary even gave him some pointers and Tom was happy to try them.

He was surprised when Mr Walters said, “Do you realise that all of these spells and skills are needed to become a good surgeon? Especially once you can perform them on a micro-level.”

Tom had to really stop and think about what he had been doing and where he would use them while doing surgery. “Wow, I’d have to control six or seven spells at once to be really good.”

One of the boys, called Michael Lister, said, “Not really, you just need to learn how to set some of them, so you can divert your attention to the spells you need to control at any one time.”

Tom frowned at the statement and let this little pearl of wisdom rattle around in his brain. “Thank you, yes, I can see how that would be advantageous.”

It took Gary’s chuckle to pull Tom from his thoughts. He wasn’t even aware that he had spaced out on them. He blushed when he noticed the looks that he was getting.

“Tom, why don’t you get some refreshments while the other teachers and I finish up here. Come up to my office after lunch,” Gary told him gently.

“Thank you, sir. Yeah, some food would be good,” Tom replied and then smiled.

He hurried away to get food as a multitude of thoughts and ideas raced around in his head. Bits and pieces of information from his Primer started making much more sense to him. He could now relate this information to some of the applications that had confused him.

He had a lot to think about.

Tom’s friends found him a while later.

He had his head stuck in his book of Healing. He was fascinated that the book also covered anatomy and in-depth descriptions of the systems in a human body. It included how to diagnose what was causing the problems to the patient’s health from the symptoms.

The remains of Tom’s feast were left on the table. He wasn’t even aware of just how much food he had consumed until the need to go to the loo also penetrated his consciousness.

Tom grinned at his friends as they sat down. Excusing himself, he cleaned up his mess and made a quick trip to the loo. He grabbed a fresh cup of coffee on his way back. He sat down to find that Jesse was flicking through his book.

“Where did you get this book, Tom?” she asked.

“Oh, it was on the Fortune. Lee said I could take any book that interested me from a collection that she had on the ship. There were dozens of interesting books, but this one, in particular, caught my eye.”

“I’m sure I haven’t seen half of these spells or these wonderful diagnoses in the database on our Mads,” Jess commented.

“Really?” Tom queried. He’d not even looked at the database in his vambrace, whom he had named, Tron, from his favourite film of the same name. He had always suspected that the movie, as much as his mother, had directed him towards computer programming rather than medicine after his father’s death.

It was his desire to help people that had made him shift to the Police Force even if he didn’t actually work as a Police Officer. He may have to rethink things when he did get home.

Tom popped the pad from his brace that now looked like a Mad and brought up the database. He got it to list healing spells for scars and found different incantations to the ones he had read.

He immediately noticed that some of these spells did similar things to the ones he had read. However, they were performed differently and were designed for different combinations of disciplines.

“Jesse, can I have the book for a minute?” Tom asked as he held out his hand, but his eyes didn’t really leave the screen. Feeling the book enter his hand, he said, “Scars.”

His eyes flicked to the page, and he mentally turned a couple of them and compared the spell he remembered to the ones in the database. “Huh!” he grunted.

“What?” Ray asked to gain his attention.

Tom blinked a couple of times as he shifted his train of thought to the land of the living. “Sorry, I’m finding the subject rather fascinating. Something one of the students said to me this morning has helped me a lot.”