It would be a lie to say Theo wasn't even a little afraid. It's not like he ever thought he would be able to do magic. Naturally, it hadn't even crossed his mind. It was all new to him, certainly, but he felt he had to give it a try. It was the least he could do.

“What?” Hayden frowned in confusion. “You mean, like, spells?”

"Well, yeah. I want to know how you do all...that," he gestured with his hand to imitate what Hayden had done the last time. "Whenever I was able to manipulate magic, it always happened by accident. I want to try controlling it."

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea," Hayden said narrowing his eyes.

"On the contrary," Theo said, turning his body to face Hayden. "It’s just...I don't want the same thing to happen as it did at the headquarters. It would be bad if this thing got triggered and I didn't know how to control it," Theo pledged to him, putting his palms together. "If I was able to control it even a little bit, I think I would feel safer. I won’t mess around, I swear," he said. "Please?”

Hayden closed his eyes and sighed, lifting up his head to the sky under Theo's attentive gaze.

“Just a few things," he finally said, letting out a small smile when he saw the excitement in Theo's eyes. "So you don't endanger neither your nor my life."

"I won't!" Theo complained without taking the smile off his face.

"We'll start with the basics and work our way up," Hayden said, standing up and moving closer to the water. "Let's do a simple manipulation spell."

"Wha— Right now?"

"Yeah," he simply said and turned his head to Theo. "The easiest way to control your magic is by learning how and where to direct it to. Come here, I will show you."

Theo walked over to his side and watched as Hayden raised his arm toward the water and kept his eyes fixed on it.

"Elsinne," Hayden said with a soft voice, and his eyes glimmered with a bright red light.

From the water emerged an imperfect ball of water that floated in the air and followed the movement of Hayden's hand.

Theo watched the scene with sparkling eyes, and when Hayden's hand clenched into a fist, causing the ball to lose its form and fall like rain into the stream, he directed his enthusiasm to the wizard.

“That’s so cool!” he acclaimed.

"Now it's your turn to do it." Hayden took a step closer to him. "You will have to concentrate. It might be easier if you close your eyes." Theo did as he said and his senses were immersed in Hayden's voice. "When you feel that you are relaxed and centered, try to gather all your energy in your hand," he said guiding Theo's hand to point to the stream. "Then, focus on what you want to do. Saying the spell will help you direct your energy."

"And how exactly do I do that?" he frowned without opening his eyes. "The energy thing."

"Imagine all your energy flowing into the palm of your hand," Hayden replied. "Take a deep breath. And direct it to the water."

“That’s not very helpful, though,” Theo thought, but still listened attentively to Hayden's instructions. He wasn't feeling peculiarly different. Several minutes passed, and the feeling of emptiness lingered on. The more he sought the power inside of him, the more he realized he was completely dry of it. It was as if all of the energy he had previously summoned had suddenly dissipated. He shut his eyes tightly and stopped his wandering thoughts. His mind was occupied only with the possibility of him losing control of his magic. He gulped. The recurring feeling of vulnerability squeezed his chest.

“Elsinne!” Theo blurted out.

Nothing. Nothing at all. Theo sighed and lowered his arm. The flame inside him seemed to have been extinguished to ashes.

"It doesn't feel at all like it did that time," he snorted.

"It’s all right. Let's try it again," Hayden said without hesitation, bending down to take water from the stream in his hands and approaching Theo again. "Maybe it'll be easier for you this way. Try manipulating this water. Don't think about anything else but this," he reassured him. "You don't have to close your eyes if you don't feel like it."

A bit discouraged, Theo tried to clear his mind and focus on that moment. He fixed his gaze on the water that Hayden was holding in his hands. Theo extended his hand over it while the other one reached unconsciously to his chest, where the pendant hung.

"Don't overthink it," Hayden murmured.

Theo took a deep breath. "You've done it before," he thought, "you can do it now." Then, he let it out.

"Elsinne," he commanded, and the muscles in his hand tightened involuntarily.

Drop by drop, the water began to rise from Hayden's hands and gather in an amorphous shape in the air. Theo slowly opened his eyes and when he saw what was happening, a bright smile lit up his entire face.

“You got it," said Hayden raising his eyebrows. Theo redirected his attention to Hayden and looked at him through the floating water between them. When he noticed Theo's gaze on him, Hayden smiled back in awe and took a step back from the floating water ball. He could barely put the sole of his shoe on the ground when he, too, began to levitate.

The grin on Theo's face faded into a panicked expression.

"Am I the one doing this?" Theo said hurriedly. "Hayden! How do I stop it?!" He immediately clenched his fist and lowered his arm without getting any results. He kept repeating the spell and extending his hand in a vain attempt to stop what was going on.

Hayden, who was no higher than three feet in the air, stretched his arms down and calmly cast a spell. He started to descend slowly until he reached the ground. Theo watched him, unable to move from where he was standing.

"Well, that was unexpected," Hayden chuckled as he walked over to him.

"I'm sorry," Theo quickly said. "I didn't—"

"I probably shouldn't have interrupted, it seems I distracted you," he raised an eyebrow holding back a smile.

Theo gave him an incredulous look but failed to maintain eye contact with Hayden.

"I'm not doing that again," he said. "At least not if there are people around."

"You shouldn't worry too much," Hayden said, "it was your first time after all."

Theo still had a worried frown on his face.

"Was yours like that?" he said, glancing at Hayden. "Did you lose control your first time as well?"

Hayden looked down.

"Not really."

“So it is weird,” Theo sighed.

"It was funny, though." Hayden held up his hand to the still-floating water ball and made it explode with a snap. Most of the water splashed on Theo.

"Really?" Theo said, wiping his face with his sweatshirt sleeve.

"Payback," Hayden shrugged and turned around to head back to the house. "Take it easy. You will get it eventually if you practice. For now—"

A fairly large amount of water splashed on Hayden's back.

“I may not be able to properly cast a spell yet,” Theo smirked, “but I can still use my hands.”

Hayden, taken by surprise, turned around and saw Theo smiling broadly and shaking his dripping wet hands.

"Fair enough," he said taking a step towards Theo. "Though brave of you to challenge a wizard." Hayden smiled mischievously and his eyes glowed with the familiar red.

"Wait! I’m already soaked!" Theo walked away from him trying to escape to the safety of the house without any luck. A much larger amount of water than he had thrown to Hayden drenched him completely.

“We're back to square one," Hayden chuckled.

"You don't say," said Theo, brushing the locks of hair from his face.

"Good thing we didn't practice with rocks," a corner of his mouth lifted.

"Don't encourage me," Theo laughed. "By the way, out of all the spells there are, shouldn't there be one to dry us off?

"Mmh, actually," Hayden said, raising his eyebrows. "There might be. But I highly doubt you'd like it."

"Then don't," Theo started walking down the path. "We should go back before we catch something,” he looked back, “or before you get any weird ideas."

"Yeah." He caught up with Theo to walk alongside him. "If it makes you feel better, I can ask Oswin to lend you an introductory book on magic.” Hayden ran his hand through his hair. “Since we'll probably be here for a while."

"Oh, thank you, that would be great," Theo gave him a half-smile.

"No problem," said Hayden. “Don't practice without supervision, though. I think it would be best if you took it one step at a time”

“Sure.”

Theo looked down at his hands and the incident from earlier on came to his mind. Wanting to know more about magic and about the world he was in had been his own initiative. An impulsive decision, it might be, but one he would have had to make eventually. Once again, that warm sensation... All the way to the house, he couldn't get out of his head the warmth he had felt in his chest the moment he cast the spell. Nor how easily he had lost control of the magic. It should make him afraid to even try to use his powers. It should. But all he was feeling was interest, curiosity about whether he would be capable enough to control them in the future. And, as a matter of fact, that was all he cared about.