Lewis slept deeply that night, but only because he was exhausted from the effort of using magic. If it took all day for him to make water ripple a little, how could he carry out any request he would receive as High Mage? They would expect difficult, complex things from him, and they would expect him to not take an entire day to do just a little magic. These worries resumed as soon as he woke up, just as the sun was rising. He got up, since he and Curtis were leaving early.

  Lewis was glad it meant they wouldn’t be having breakfast with the others. Miriam seemed nice, but Blake clearly didn’t like him. He wanted to meet the other mages at the hall, but that could wait until he and Curtis returned from Palegrove. Maybe by then he would have learned how to do the most basic things with his magic and would actually feel like he was a mage. He still wouldn’t be qualified to be High Mage, but he had to start somewhere.

  Curtis came to the tower just after Lewis had finished packing his bag for their journey. Curtis had brought him several spare robes the day before, since he was expected to always be wearing the dark green robes of the High Mage. The two of them had a quick breakfast in the tower before setting off through the birch forest. It was a warm morning. Lewis breathed in the late Spring air deeply, listening to the birds. Even that didn’t get his mind off things.

  “What did the spirit say?” Curtis asked. “And what did the pact entail?”

  Lewis tensed at the memory. “The pact was…not what I thought it would be.”

  Curtis raised a brow. “How so?”

  “He spat in my mouth,” Lewis said. “That is how we formed a pact.”

  Curtis stopped walking, staring at him for a long moment. “That’s not what I expected either, but we truly know little about this magic. What did he say? What sort of spirit was it? From what I’ve read, spirits are in the shape of animals, but their size is determined by how strong their magic is.”

  “His name is Amnis, and he’s a salamander spirit,” Lewis said as they started walking again. “He told me most with magic like mine die when they use their magic without a pact. The pact is supposed to stop that from happening because Amnis gave me part of his essence.”

  “Very literally…” Curtis muttered. “How big was he?”

  “Massive,” Lewis said. “Amnis said a pact with a lesser spirit might not have protected me when I use my magic. He said it’s the magic of spirits, which my body wouldn’t be able to handle without the pact.” He told Curtis about spirits eating each other for more power, and that he had been in danger of being eaten when he summoned a spirit. “I think that means spirits can’t eat me now, but I don’t know if it means Amnis can’t either.”

  Curtis nodded slowly, his brows furrowed. “That is a good question. I don’t think you’re in any immediate danger of him eating you. Not if your magic becoming stronger will make his stronger as well. If he didn’t have the patience to wait for your magic to get stronger, he likely would have already eaten you.”

  Lewis thought of the effort it had taken to do a tiny bit of magic the day before. “What if my magic doesn’t get any stronger?”

  Curtis shook his head. “You just need time. It’s difficult for all of us at the beginning. Maybe not as difficult as it was for you yesterday, but your magic is different. We’ll practice again when we stop for the night.”

  The two of them walked through the pale forest through the day, stopping only briefly for a rest. The sun was setting when they finally stopped for the night. It had been a long time since Lewis had walked such a distance, the longest distance having been the two days from Palegrove to Whisperstream. His feet ached, and he had the beginnings of a blister on his heel. There were two more days of this to look forward to. Worse was the knowledge he couldn’t just go to sleep after they ate. He had to try to use magic first, while already exhausted.

  It was a warm enough night they didn’t need a fire. After Lewis and Curtis ate some of the bread and cheese they had brought with them, Curtis took an extra flask of water from his bag and poured the contents into a bowl. He set it on the ground between them, saying nothing. Lewis assumed he was supposed to do what he’d done the day before. Hopefully it wouldn’t take all night.

  Lewis stared at the water, calming his thoughts. The sooner he got on with it, the sooner he could sleep. The water, reflecting the light of the moon, didn’t stir. Lewis closed his eyes tightly, feeling like he had already been staring at it for a long time. Maybe he was trying too hard? Should it be this hard? He took a deep breath and opened his eyes again, looking back at the water in the bowl. This time he just watched the still surface, letting himself blink whenever he needed to, thinking about what he wanted it to do rather than focusing his entire being on it.

  His eyes started to close. It had been such a long day… A blast of water hit him in the face, bringing him sharply back from the edge of sleep. He blinked, staring at the now empty bowl. Curtis was laughing.

  “What happened?” Lewis asked, drying his face with his sleeve.

  “That is why you should be well rested when you do magic,” Curtis said. “I thought it might help since you were having so much trouble yesterday, and you were going for such small magic you wouldn’t be in any danger.”

  “Did I do that?” He didn’t dare hope yet.

  Curtis managed to stop laughing. “Well, I didn’t throw it at you if that’s what you’re wondering. That was entirely you. As soon as you drifted off, the water came rushing out of the bowl.” He cleared his throat. “I was a little worried by how close to the bowl you were leaning. I thought you might fall asleep right into the water. Did you learn anything from this?”

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  Lewis thought about what had just happened. “I was trying too hard yesterday. Trying so hard to use the magic makes it harder to use magic.”

  Curtis nodded, sliding the empty bowl back into his bag. “There is a fine line between focusing too hard and not enough.” He chuckled quietly. “And not falling asleep while you’re trying to do magic. I think that’s enough for tonight, but hopefully this means you’ll have better luck tomorrow.”

  Lewis wanted to try again now that he knew what he needed to do, but that wouldn’t be a good idea. He would probably just fall asleep again. Even in the warm night air, he was chilly being soaked. He changed his robes and hung the other over a branch to dry, then he slept more deeply than even the day before. In the morning, his other robes were dry. He and Curtis set off after a breakfast of more bread and cheese.

  “Birch Hall is far out here,” Lewis said.

  Curtis nodded. “It’s at the border between Betula, Ferax, and Conlis, but it’s just far enough into Betula that it’s considered a part of this country. Still, Birch Hall is neutral. Ferax and Conlis may be at odds, but mages from both those places study at the hall. Some mages leave the hall when they become Adepts to travel all over the world, fulfilling requests in all three countries. Mages are just as neutral as Birch Hall.”

  “So if Conlis and Ferax went to war, mages from there wouldn’t fight in it?” Lewis asked. “Or would it just be their choice?”

  Curtis frowned. “It’s much more complicated than that. Mages are required to be neutral. It is a law all three countries agreed upon, and it is a law that means the countries cannot hire mages to fight in a war. It also means a country can’t request a mage to do something against another country.” He sighed. “Being neutral has its benefits, but it does mean that if a mage wants to fight for their country, they are not allowed to. Thankfully, it has been a very long time since there has been any war on this continent, even if Ferax and Conlis still despise each other.”

  “Betula is more closely allied with Conlis, but they’ve said they’re neutral when it comes to Ferax and Conlis’s disagreements,” Lewis said.

  Curtis nodded. “That is partly why Birch Hall was built in Betula, even if it is barely in Betula.”

  “My father told me that,” Lewis said, his thoughts wandering to their house in Palegrove. “He was usually away, at Birch Hall, or out on a request.”

  Curtis nervously tugged at the ribbon in his hair, making it tighter. “Who took care of you when Stewart was away?”

  “A maid,” Lewis said. “Always a different one that he would hire only when he was going to be away. I left home when I was sixteen.”

  A silence settled between them.

  “He feared he shut you out too much,” Curtis said. “When you left Palegrove entirely, he wanted to find you, but he also worried it was best to let you go. He didn’t want you involved in magic in any way, in case it would make your magic surface on its own.”

  “How would he have found out what my magic could do to me?” Lewis asked.

  “He traveled all over, reading ancient books about our world and about magic,” Curtis said. “He never gave up on finding a way to help you.”

  It was hard to believe that after all this time. He had believed for so long that his father was just disappointed in him for not being a proper mage.

  “I understand why he didn’t tell me,” Lewis said, “but I still wish he had. Couldn’t I have made a pact with a spirit sooner? That is supposed to protect me from my magic.”

  Curtis frowned. “That’s what worries me. Before Stewart vanished, he told me he found something more about your magic. He seemed troubled, but he didn’t get a chance to tell me about it before he vanished. I worry what else the pact means, or maybe he was just worried a spirit would eat you. I’m still worried that spirit plans to eat you eventually. As soon as we return to Birch Hall, I’m going to read all the books Stewart brought back from his most recent trip. I hope whatever he found out is in one of those.”

  “I want to read them too,” Lewis said.

  Neither of them said much more as they walked through the day. When they stopped again for the night, they ate in silence before Curtis filled the bowl with water again. They had found a stream earlier, where he had refilled their flasks. He had stopped at the stream before on the way to Palegrove and was certain it was clean.

  This time, when Lewis gazed into the water, he was excited. Would it be easier this time? The excitement made it harder to calm his mind and focus. He consciously relaxed his tense shoulders, imagining the water rippling while watching the still surface. A ripple spread through the water, followed by another. Lewis realized he was holding his breath and let it out. More ripples spread through the water. He imagined waves in the water, but it simply continued to ripple. He was getting sweaty and tired again already.

  The water stopped rippling entirely, and Lewis couldn’t make it start again. He leaned back against the tree behind him, breathing hard. Curtis carefully poured the water back into the flask and put both back into his bag. He handed Lewis another flask of water to drink from. He felt a little better after that, but he went right to sleep after. In the morning, he and Curtis set out early again.

  “You made good progress last night,” Curtis said. “Just remember, this is going to take time. You’re not going to suddenly be capable of localized rain clouds.”

  “My father could make it rain?” Lewis had rarely seen his father actually do magic.

  Curtis smiled. “He could do far more than that.” The smile faltered. “I know it feels like you have little time to learn, and truly you don’t, but this isn’t something we can rush. Still, so long as you remember what you learned, to not focus too hard, I think you’ll keep making progress.”

  “How much can Novices do when they first come to Birch Hall?” Lewis asked.

  Curtis itched his nose, not looking at him.

  Lewis sighed.

  “You’ll get there,” Curtis said, patting him on the shoulder. “As you’ve seen, pushing too hard, trying too hard, will only make this more difficult.”