Hunted Sorcery (Jon Oklar Book 2) by B.T. Narro (chapter books to read to 5 year olds .txt) 📕

my hand with a gentle sound. It was surprisingly warm to the touch, making me no longer think of sheared ice. This was hardened mana, and it was unlike anything I had felt before.

“The hell is that?” Michael asked as he came over.

The other sorcerers in the courtyard had gathered around us.

“It’s mana,” I said.

“It’s not just anyone’s mana,” Charlie specified. “It’s Jon’s mana. Oh, if only someone else could cast the same spell of three octaves, we could find out if all mana is the same color.”

Mine was a light grayish blue. I picked up one of the larger chips. It still felt odd to be holding my mana. It reminded me of when I was younger and would peel off a scab to inspect.

The mana was transparent, beautiful. It changed hue as I held it up and it caught the little bit of direct sunlight trying to break through the clouds. Glowing red, then orange, the mana changed somewhat drastically. Wait, too drastically for only the sunlight to be modifying it.

Then I realized it was the heat from my fingers that seemed to be causing the change in color, as it radiated brighter the longer I held it. I set it back down in the pile, and it slowly reverted back to the same grayish blue color as the smaller chips of mana around it.

“Marvelous,” Charlie whispered. “The change in color is not something I anticipated.”

“Why does it do that?” Aliana asked as she bent down and picked up the same piece I’d held. But the mana did not change color this time.

“Cold hands?” I asked her.

“Maybe.”

I hoped this wasn’t too forward as I took hold of her hand with mine to compare. I made sure to let go as soon as I had my answer.

“No, they feel warm.”

“Yeah, yours are colder,” she agreed, handing me the same piece of mana.

It changed color soon after I gripped it.

Charlie shook his wrist as he pointed at it. “That…that…”

We all stared at him, waiting for whatever he had to say, but it seemed like even he didn’t know how to express himself.

“Let me try,” Michael said as he picked up one of the larger pieces.

It did not change color.

But slowly, even the one I held faded back to the same hue as the others on the ground.

“Yes!” Charlie said. “Yes, I think we have proof. Quick, try another, Jon!”

I picked up two other pieces. They did not change color.

“Yes!” Charlie shouted this time. “Mana’s alive! Mana’s alive!”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Leon’s voice interrupted us. “Did it happen as Charlie predicted?”

Aliana and Kataleya made room for him as we were all crouching around the pile of my mana. Leon’s eyes flashed wide.

He slapped Charlie on the back. “Looks like you were right after all,” he said as Charlie stumbled a bit.

“But I didn’t predict the change in color.”

“What change in color?” Leon asked.

“Do it again, Jon,” Charlie said.

“Can you at least explain what this means first?”

“I still don’t really know. I think Leon might, however. Show him.”

I gave a look at Kataleya. I figured if anyone else would understand, it would be her. But she only shrugged at me.

I stood up and let out my breath. “The spell feels like it’s ripping off a piece of my mind.”

“Because your mind is connected to your mana,” Leon said.

“Could this be causing damage, then?” I asked. “I can’t heal whatever it’s doing.” I’d already tried, but the discomfort was over soon after the spell had ended. I was only left with fatigue.

“If casting octaves of D causes damage, then casting every spell causes damage,” Leon said. “You’re just using your mana in different ways. But rather than transforming your mana into an element or an energy, this spell just condenses your mana enough for us to see it.”

“So it doesn’t prove much after all,” I figured disappointedly.

“No, it does,” Charlie argued. “It proves many things. First, this proves that uD is the most powerful of all the D’s because it was the addition of uD that made the spell possible, and what a spell it was with uD! We can also come to this conclusion because adding uF to the healing spell of lF and F increases the power of the spell by the same magnitude—to a level unreachable by the other two notes. Secondly, it proves that notes of D add density to spells, and uD adds the most. But if you really want to densify as much as possible, one should add multiple octaves of D’s to their spell.

“Thirdly, it proves that spells that have D in them naturally, like spells of dvinia, are naturally denser than others that do not, like erto spells. It also might mean that dvinia doesn’t have the same opportunity to densify with the addition of D notes, since it already needs one just to be cast at all: uuD. However, adding uD to any erto spell will greatly increase its density. Fourthly, if that is a word, it proves that mana is alive. Alive, Jon! And it only remains alive while it’s connected to your mind. I don’t understand exactly what that will come to mean yet, but it is exciting, isn’t it?”

“Very,” Kataleya agreed.

“Interesting indeed,” Leon said. “This gives me a lot to think about.”

It sounded a little exciting to me, but all I really got from it was that adding notes of D to a spell would make it denser. Besides using Water to slow arrows, as Kataleya had done, or Waterwall to block Cason’s shattering pillars of dteria, as Leon had done, I didn’t see how this knowledge was going to help everyone. Leon already knew that adding uD to a spell would make it denser.

“Was working with D all we were going to do today?” I asked Charlie.

“Oh, we’re not even close to being done, Jon,” he said with a smile.

*****

I spent the rest of the day practicing the next set of octaves for Charlie’s following experiment. It wasn’t until