Marl enjoyed a wide variety of food. He could survive by eating pretty much anything. He could grind stone into small enough pieces just to savor the minerals, but he also enjoyed a nice cinnamon bun with coffee, which he took with one cream and two packets of raw gravel. Thus, late one evening, as Jayde concentrated and slowly conjured a bumbleberry pie, he waited with eager expectation. He found them to be quite delicious, despite their lumpiness and frozen edges.

  Fang, now a three-foot-tall yellow tabby with hundreds of green whiskers, watched as Jayde concentrated.

  For weeks she had trained hard under Mr. Li, learning different Conjuring techniques. He continued to state her progress was staggering, but she had become frustrated with how slowly he wanted her to proceed. She decided that, just this once, she would try to conjure a little more at home.

  She concentrated for ten minutes, visualizing the finished product. She saw it up close and far away, and she could almost smell it. Only after she felt she could practically taste it would she release the door in her mind and conjure the pie. The first one actually looked quite good, compared to her previous attempts. But when she cut into it, she could see raw dough, while the edges gave off a faint charred odor. The second one she conjured took her another twenty minutes. Again she tried to visualize every detail, concentrating on each ingredient separately, securing the look, feel, and smell in her mind. She released her will. Pop! The pie formed in front of her. It looked perfect. Marl agreed, though she stopped him from devouring it to take a closer look. Some of the berries had a slightly undercooked appearance, and the crust on one side seemed a bit too brown.

  Fang mewed after the second pie conjured into the room. She jumped into Jayde’s lap and pawed at her stomach. Jayde wanted to try again; however, as soon as she concentrated, the tiny kitten again jumped into her lap and began purring loudly. Jayde picked up Fang and put her in her basket. She then put the basket in the dumbwaiter and closed the door.

  The third time she concentrated even harder. She shut out all other senses and focused inward. She saw the finished product. She rotated it and viewed it from all angles in her mind. She could see it, and it appeared perfect again, but she did not release her will right away. She studied it in her mind, searching for imperfections. The pie popped into existence, but she found a few minute flaws. Jayde tried a fourth time, this time getting closer to a perfect pie but not quite there.

  On her fifth attempt she cut the pie into pieces in her mind. She opened it up, examining it in her mind, and then put the pieces back together. She did this from different angles, reorganizing it. She felt a small click. Though she had thought it perfect mentally before, for some reason she knew it now fit just how she wanted it.

  Pop!

  The pie steamed with heat, evenly distributed and baked to a golden brown.

  Cameron came into the kitchen right after Jayde had finished the fifth.

  “You’re cooking? When did you become such a good cook?” he said.

  “I don’t feel …” said Jayde and collapsed to the ground.

  “Jayde?” said Marl, bounding to her side. He picked up the girl in his massive arms, “Jayde! Wake up!” bellowed the troll. Marl’s eyes went instantly from concerned to frantic.

  “Fix her! Fix her now!” he yelled at Cameron. The rock troll’s voice boomed through the whole clinic.

  “Get her to a cot, Marl. What has she been doing?” Cameron asked, as they hurried toward the closest clinic bed.

  Marl ran past with Jayde in his arms. The clinic was extremely busy, and not a cot was available.

  “Move now!” yelled Marl to a large man with an ice bag on his ankle.

  The man took one look at the frantic rock troll and hobbled off the cot back toward the front of the clinic.

  Marl gently placed Jayde on the cot while he explained what had been happening.

  “She be make food pop from space,” said Marl.

  “What?”

  “She pop food. It ‘pop,’ and food come out,” said the troll. His eyes darted from side to side. “Fix her! Use dat thing you do and make her good!”

  “Marie, come here please,” Cameron said into the large room of the clinic.

  Marl explained what happened again to Marie.

  “She overexerted herself Conjuring,” she said.

  This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

  “What do we do?” asked Cameron.

  “I don’t know! You’re the doctor. Find out what’s wrong, genius.”

  Marl wrung his hands over and over, pacing back and forth. He looked at Cameron, willing him to have the answer.

  Cameron placed his hands on Jayde and concentrated. He did so for a full minute and then opened his eyes.

  “I don’t feel anything abnormal,” he said.

  Jayde was a sickly shade of gray. Sweat poured off her face. She looked limp, and her breathing came in raspy chokes.

  “No, no, no, no!” bellowed the troll. He smashed the ground with his fist, sending small tile fragments everywhere. Amazingly the patients nearest the troll suddenly became much better and left their gurneys.

  The front door to the clinic slammed open, and Yow Li came running in.

  “Where is she? Where’s Jayde?” cried Yow.

  “Over here,” said Marie.

  Yow ran over to Jayde. He saw her on the cot, unconscious.

  “I told her. I told her. Where’s that cat? She shouldn’t have let her try a third time, much less a fifth,” said Yow to himself.

  Cameron just looked at him.

  “She overconjured. She has the Talent, just not the control. Oh, I’m sure she’ll eventually acquire incredible stamina, but I told her to take it slowly. Okay. Where is it? Where’s the last thing she conjured?” he asked.

  “She pop food over dere,” said Marl.

  “Did anyone eat it, any of it?” he asked.

  “No,” they all responded.

  He ran into the kitchen, followed by Cameron and Marie. Marl stayed with Jayde. Yow saw the pie on the table. He closed his eyes and slapped his hands together in front of his chest. His middle three fingers laced together, extending his thumbs and pinkies. Then he swept his arms out broadly and made two large circles with his arms as a gush of wind came from him. The pie faded quickly and then popped into nothing.

  He walked back into the clinic. Cameron looked at Marie; her expression showed she had no idea what was going on either.

  Jayde was sitting up in bed, groaning and looking ill, but at least now she was awake.

  “What just happened?” she asked.

  “You are a complete idiot. That’s what happened!” yelled Yow.

  Jayde looked at him, confused.

  “What did I tell you? No more than once a day? What do you do? Not only do you do a second, but, after that, you do a third? A fourth? Then a fifth? You are lucky to be alive!” said Yow.

  “She be good, right? She good now, yes?” asked Marl.

  “She’ll be fine. A bit hungry, perhaps, but fine,” said Yow.

  Marl picked up Jayde again, this time in a rocky embrace. “No do dat, Jayde. Please no do dat. Oh, Jayde. Please no do dat,” said the troll.

  “Care to explain what just happened?” asked Cameron.

  Yow scowled. “Whenever you conjure, you have to put in a part of yourself, your will into whatever you do. With training and years of practice, you can learn to only put the tiniest fraction needed to accomplish what you want. Some things take more. Some take less. But when you start, partitioning your will is extremely difficult. That is why I tell my students never to conjure more than once a day. I need time to see how much of their will they use for each of their Conjurings.” He looked at Jayde with a face that could melt stone.

  Jayde caught her breath from Marl’s stony hug.

  “That way I can tell how many times they might be able to conjure. Teaching students how to partition is key. It is a slow process, thus my warning. Jayde apparently felt the need to put her entire will into making a stupid pie. Then she did it a second time. Luckily for her, she has the ability to recuperate faster than any conjurer I’ve ever seen. So after draining her entire will, she did it again after only a short time. Fortunately Fang gave me warning after the second Conjuring, so I made it over here as fast as I could. Unfortunately she had already finished her fifth before I could get here and stop her.”

  “So what does that mean?” asked Marie.

  “Well, I was able to unconjure it. Whenever something is unconjured, most of the will goes back to the person who conjured it in the first place. Thus, Jayde is now doing much better. She’s lucky to be alive, all things considered,” Yow said.

  Jayde held her head in her hands. “Why does my head feel like it’s going to explode?”

  “Because you’re an idiot, that’s why!” said Yow. “You just drained your entire will and then had it slammed back into you.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Jayde.

  “No, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I thought you could be a great conjurer. Great conjurers need more than just raw willpower. Great conjurers need discipline. Great conjurers need patience. Mostly great conjurers should be able to be trusted, and, if they promise something, they should keep their promise!” yelled Yow.

  “So now what?” asked Jayde. She had tears filling her eyes but fought them back.

  “Now you go back to pie delivery girl. There are five levels in training, first as novice, then apprentice, journeyman, expert, and finally master. In your weeks you already have more skill than some of the journeymen, or even some of the masters I have trained for years, but you have to have discipline! I thought since you could do lots of hard work and prove yourself, you were ready. Apparently I was wrong. Apparently you don’t know how to listen. So you can deliver food until I feel you’re ready to train with me,” said Yow.

  “You’re not kicking me out of the order?” asked Jayde.

  “No, girl, you have to do more than that. Conjuring is the bottom dweller of the order world, remember? You have too much potential for me to abandon you. You just scared me. I think you scared your rock troll too.”

  Marl nodded in agreement.

  “You reminded me of my—” Yow stopped. He took a deep breath. “You reminded me of a bad experience I once had with another young conjurer,” he finished.

  “Thank you, Mr. Li,” said Jayde.

  “You’re still an idiot. Now where is Fang?” he asked.

  “I put her in the dumbwaiter,” said Jayde.

  Jayde got out of bed, but, after an unsteady step, Marl picked her up and plopped her back on the cot.

  “Me get cat,” said Marl. He walked over and opened the door. The tiny kitten jumped down and ran directly to Jayde and jumped on the cot. Seeing Jayde doing well, she began purring and rubbing against her mistress.

  “I guess that means you forgive me for locking you in the elevator,” said Jayde. “Ow!” The small kitten had bit her finger but then immediately began purring again.

  “All right. Now, Jayde, you must truly promise me. One conjure per day. I released the bond that was once on you, so I cannot force you to keep the promise. To stop you from practicing would be stupid but only once per day. Got it?” said Yow.

  “Got it. I promise, Mr. Li. I’m sorry,” she said.

  “Good. We’ll see you tomorrow for your deliveries,” he said.

  “Thanks,” she said, fighting tears.