The chalk dropped back to its original position as Tami looked at the piece in her hand. It lifted up and floated over, pressing to the ground, and started to draw. But the lines were shaky and not cleanly drawn.

“Doesn’t work, hotshot. I’m not as good as you are. Happy?”

“Actually—yes. That crappy rune has more valid power in it than any of the rest. So let’s do this… let’s have you all just draw the runic alphabet with telekinesis only,” he said. “It’ll be your homework.”

“But what about this one?” Erika asked. “We’ve got, like, well over an hour into it.”

“Well, let’s see if I can finish it,” he said, his chalk now zipping over as he looked at Tami’s diagram. The chalk started to draw runes, but the young witch kept his eyes on the diagram and didn’t look at the actual circle.

“I hate you when you make it look easy,” Zuzanna said. “Are we even related?”

“See the sweat on my forehead? This is really hard but in some ways, it’s better,” he said, finishing an eighth of the circle before the chalk fell to the ground. “I’ll have to practice too, but I think we might be on to a better way to do this. Think about it: You absolutely have to be drawing on your personal magic source or it won’t work. Therefore, anything you do draw will be solid and valid work. It may take time to finish, but it should work the first time.”

The chalk lifted back up and drew another four runes before he set it down again, his face shiny with perspiration. “Whew, that takes some effort.”

“How are we supposed to do it if you have so much trouble?” Zuzanna asked.

“Well, for one thing, you all aren’t recovering from major blood loss and extensive broken bones,” a disapproving voice said. All heads turned to see Stacia approaching across the basement floor.

“Oh, teacher is about to get schooled,” Alice Morloft said from the back of the group.

“Nah. It’s good for him. He’ll either wear himself out gradually or he’ll just pass out where he’s standing,” Stacia said.

Declan gave her a determined smile and the chalk lifted and began to draw again.

“You’re going to let him beat himself to a pulp?” Tami asked, frowning.

“He’s not in danger of hurting the healing bones and the effort is good for him. He’s getting a little pudgy, don’t you think?” Stacia asked the girls. As one, they all turned to study their teacher, who was having increasing difficulty concentrating.

“Yeah, maybe a little softer around the middle,” Erika said after a moment.

The chalk fell. “Really?” Declan asked, looking at his girlfriend.