Her stern voice echoed in Alex’s ears. Finally he nodded, pulled his arm back, focused on her center of gravity, and concentrated. He threw the scatterclips, and they soared together as one bunch; then, at the last possible moment, they separated from the pack, found their marks, and stuck fast.

Ms. Octavia didn’t even blink. “Good. Now, see? I’m stuck here. The clips have secured me to this wall through my clothing. They have not pierced my skin. You have succeeded in stopping me from moving, attacking, or fighting until I can manage to release myself from their grasp.”

Alex, who had been holding his breath all this time, sighed in relief. He wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.

“Release,” Ms. Octavia said, and the scatterclips dropped to the floor. She stepped away from the wall and gathered them up.

“So …,” Alex said, thinking out loud, “the enemy has to be standing in front of a wall in order for them to work? That’s not very convenient.”

“Not necessarily a wall. A tree will do. But there are other ways to direct the clips.” She leaned in conspiratorially. “Your friends likely haven’t gotten to this in their training yet, since they learn their own focus spells first, but I will tell you if you promise not to use it on anyone but a true enemy.”

Alex’s eyes widened. He nodded. “I promise.”

Ms. Octavia grinned. “If your target is standing in an open area, your verbal component of the spell is ‘Propel!’ You say it when you release the clips. The clips will then veer off as usual, but they’ll continue to fly, dragging your enemy as far as necessary until they find something solid to attach to.”

“Smokes,” Alex said, his eyes lighting up.

“Indeed. Sometimes you can pick up another enemy or two along the way, and they’ll be stacked! It’s great fun to watch,” she admitted. “You must be careful, though, that there are no friends in the path behind your enemy, or they could get snagged as well.”

“Wow!” Alex said. “What else can they do?” He held the scatterclips in his hand and looked at them with new admiration.

“Well,” Ms. Octavia said, growing serious again, “as I said before, they can cause serious injury or death. But one must know the verbal component for that.”

“What is it?” Alex asked.

Ms. Octavia hesitated. She pursed her wide lips together, hiding all of her teeth. “I don’t think you’re quite ready for that. It’s an upper-level spell. A bit too dangerous in the hands of a first year.”

Alex nodded, even though he was very disappointed. “I understand,” he said. He was just thankful to be learning spells at all. But his mind raced, wondering what the powerful words could possibly be.

Lessons and Warnings

Alex flew through his first weeks of Magical Warrior Training, determined to catch up to the others. Whenever he wasn’t in class or in training, learning how to paint himself invisible, studying slam poetry charms, or drawing chalk outlines that would freeze a targeted person in one position indefinitely, he was in his room practicing all these things. He slipped into his classes late and left early so he wouldn’t have to talk to anyone. He took most of his meals in his room, still percolating with disgust at Lani for continuing to badger him with her pranks. He didn’t respond to any of his friends who left messages for him through his blackboard, though Clive of course delivered all of the messages rather loudly. Alex wished desperately to have his shush button back.

And so it was that ever since the governors’ visit, Alex had completely abandoned his friends. Yet he missed the companionship they’d all had during those moments when they weren’t laughing at him or disgusted by him. Finally, one morning, Alex decided to come down to the dining room to eat.

“Why won’t you answer our messages?” Lani demanded over breakfast. She pouted dramatically.

“Yes, why?” Meghan said.

Alex put his breakfast on the table and sat down wearily. He was tired of being yelled at. He looked at Samheed, who simply raised an eyebrow and took another spoonful of jam for his toast.

“Hello, Samheed,” Alex said pointedly.

“Awex.” His mouth was too full to say more.

“It’s not like we were going to yell at you. We just … we were worried since you haven’t been around,” Lani said.

“I wasn’t worried,” Samheed said after swallowing. “You were worried.”

“I meant Meg and me.” Lani shot Samheed a cross look.

“I wasn’t worried either,” offered Meghan. “Well, not much, anyway.”

Lani blushed furiously and flounced in her seat. “Fine. I was worried.”

“Well, get on with it, then,” Alex said. “Have at me and get it over with.”

“You mean the governors’ inspection thing?” asked Meghan. “It’s over. Hardly anybody’s talking about it now.”

“Yeah, right. Then why is Ms. Morning sitting over there shooting pins at me with her eyes?”

Meghan turned to look at her focus instructor and waved. Ms. Morning startled and blinked, and then her face broke into a pleasant, almost sheepish smile as she nodded hello. “See, Alex? She wasn’t even looking at you.”

Alex shrugged and began to respond when the giant blackboard in the dining hall came to life, and Oscar—for that was his name—spoke. “Attention, students. Please report to the theater in place of your first class this morning.” The children could hear the announcement ringing in stereo throughout the mansion. Oscar melted into the screen once again, and the words he’d just spoken were written in large neon letters, sure to catch the attention of even the least aware.