Chapter 45
Caedmon rested a hand over the pocket where he’d deposited the crinkled piece of paper. "Felt? And what exactly did this sensation feel like?"
Alistar thought about how best to explain it. "A warm feeling, sort of like somebody was trying to get my attention by waving a torch at night." Brushing a hand through his recently shortened hair, he sighed. It was quite a difficult thing to explain.
"And?" inquired Caedmon. "Do you still feel it?"
"Yes," Alistar said slowly. "But it’s different, somehow." The feeling that had been coming from Caedmon’s office was different from the others that he had sensed throughout the property. If he likened it to temperature, the distant signals were cool, while those nearby were warm, with the area around Caedmon’s office red hot. "The feeling...has cooled off."
"But it’s still there?"
He nodded. "Before, it was as if the whole room was on fire, and that I could feel the heat from the guest room where Patricia folds the laundry. Right now, it’s more like the heat of the embers from the cook fires in Crystellum. It’s still hot around you and Mister Alder, though." His uncle must have thought he was crazy. He knew that not much of what he was saying made sense.
Caedmon turned to his friend. "What do you think, Alder?"
Alder smiled, looking back and forth between the two. "I think your nephew has gained his magical awareness."
"What? I can do magic?"
Alder shook his head. "That’s not what I’m saying. Usually, magical awareness comes a while after one breaks into their energies."
"Then, if I have this magical awareness, shouldn’t that mean that I can do magic?" Alistar’s mind was racing. First, he would find all of the thickest, most informative books on magic that he could get his hands on. After reading as much material as possible, he would save up his allowance so that he could afford a grimoire, or a spell book, as he’d read about one day in Caedmon’s library. Being able to use magic would make saving Kaila much easier. But before that, since it was still many years away, he planned to show off his abilities to Anice the moment that he could manifest them. Once he could conjure flames above his hands like Servan had done, she would have no choice but to respect him.