He’d informed each recipient that there would be a meeting at lunchtime.  When they were all gathered, he asked Amanda to share what she’d learned by watching him.  She quickly laid it out for them in simple terms.  Immediately there was a flood of questions.   He held up both hands to quieten them.

“I have one more spell to learn for myself.  You can all watch.  I warn you - don’t try to touch me.  The result is shocking.” He grinned at his own joke.  Nobody else did.

He pulled out his Flame Shot scroll, opened it and read it.  He didn’t see the looks on everyone’s faces as he was distracted by the information upload.  This time it was more extensive as most of the information was new.   He learned at what temperature the air around him would ignite, and how bad that would be for him.  He absorbed information on combustible materials and their ignition points.  Vectors and intercept courses for hitting moving targets.  How to control whether heat built up almost instantly or more slowly.  And how to keep it contained in a pressurized space for maximum benefit.  The latter would, in theory, allow him to appear to hold a ball of flame in his hand without being burned.

When he refocused his eyes, the others were staring at him.  Amanda was once again using her spell to look inside him.  A few folks had been distracted by her glowing eyes.

To get their attention, and to show off a little bit if he was honest, he raised a finger and shot a short burst of flame into the air.

“Show-off!” Michael accused him, though he was laughing when he said it.

“That was cool!” Chloe shouted, standing up in her chair. “Teach me!”

“Over my dead body.” Nancy pushed her back down onto her bottom.

Sam cleared his throat.  “So, we have these things.  Whether they’re nanobots or midichlorians from Star Wars or friggin’ Whovians, whatever you wanna call them-”

“Whos,” Meg interrupted him.

“What?” A flustered Sam looked at her, annoyed.

“Whovians are people that run around with trench coats and very long scarves saying, ‘It’s bigger on the inside.’  You’re thinking of the tiny little people that Horton heard, which are whos.”

Chloe smiled and nodded her head.  “They live in Whoville!”

Properly chastised, Sam continued.  “Fine. Whos. Or damned Tweedlebugs.  Whatever.” He waited for Meg to correct him again, but she just smiled.  “So these things are inside us now? Like, all the time?”  He rubbed his chest as if he had acid reflux.

“As far as I can tell,” Amanda confirmed.  “And not just inside us.  I think they’re all around us, all the time.  And we only see them when they congregate around us in a high density to heal or upload info.”

Lilly said, “So we can like, use the force?”