so there was this deck of cards, right

[lexicality]

Jessica's house is cute. Lexi could see doing a lot of her homework here, listening to the calming chatter of gossip and getting help from Jessica on math (Bella's no help there) and helping Jessica on English. Forks isn't so bad. She doesn't mind the rain as much as Bella does.

Jessica goes to pee before they even start their assignment, after just introducing Lexi to her mom and dad as "one of Chief Swan's kids", and Lexi doesn't want to do work by herself or she wouldn't have come over in the first place. She sits on the couch and plunks her bag down and waits. There's a random deck of cards over there; she picks it up and flips through it. She's been trying to learn to bridge-shuffle.

Comments

[incanted]

"Cool. So spells are contagious," she says brightly.

[lexicality]

"Bella, is this blob of light yours or the device's?" calls Lexi.

[incanted]

"It's mine! I'm learning spells!" Bella calls.

[cardistry]

"You can make it go away," says Brilliance helpfully, dispelling his.

[incanted]

Bella wants-it-away, and it stops feeding her information. "Can I make those invisible?" she asks. "Or are they all glowy?"

[cardistry]

"I've never done an invisible one," he says. "You could wrap it in a barrier, I guess."

[incanted]

"How do those work?"

[cardistry]

"You remember when we went in that house and there was nobody there, even though there were people there? That's a barrier," he explains. "People and magic inside it can't see or touch people and magic outside it or vice versa, but stuff like houses and tables is still in both. If there was a way to put a kind of - one-way barrier around a search spell, then most people wouldn't see it running around. I guess anybody who's good with barriers could still tell."

[incanted]

"Okay. Is there an incantation for barriers?"

[cardistry]

"You can do 'em without," he says. "Well, I can."

[incanted]

"Okay... how do I do them, then?"

[cardistry]

"Want one," he suggests.

[incanted]

"If I want it around a finding spell, do I do the finding spell first or second?"

[cardistry]

"Good question," he says, "never done it, no idea, maybe you have to do them both at once?"

[incanted]

"...Okay, I guess if I'm doing the barrier without an incantation that's not physically impossible." She focuses on her more complicated want. "Area search."

[cardistry]

There's a feeling like a word being just on the tip of your tongue, and no spell.

[incanted]

"I - feel like I almost did it. Is that what being about to make up a new spell feels like? Should I come up with a new incantation?"

[cardistry]

"Try that!" he says encouragingly.

[incanted]

"...Invisible Search," she attempts.

[cardistry]

The little blob forms, and seals itself inside a mirage-like distortion in the air, and darts off. By the time it reaches the hall, it's completely invisible, but still transmitting its location to Bella.

[incanted]

"Cool!" She dismisses it again; she is already pretty confident about Lexi's location. "Okay, is there a spell to fly without you helping, I want to be able to do that."

[cardistry]

"Maybe," he says. "I wouldn't even know where to start, though. I can fly naturally."

[incanted]

"Lucky you." Bella closes her eyes and tries just wanting in an upward direction, like she did when she had the aurora-colored wings at her heels.

[cardistry]

This does not work.

[incanted]

"Well," she says, "just wanting doesn't do the trick. Maybe I can make up an incantation for it. Does it have to be one that isn't - already in use somewhere?"