Tom Crepeau - Wandmaking 101

By David Hochhalter and Tom Crepeau

Goblin Books

Burke, Virginia

Copyright, 2019, David L. Hochhalter and Tom M. Crepeau.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any meansgraphic, electronic or mechanicalwithout permission in writing from the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

This is a work of fiction, not a work of history. All characters portrayed in this book are products of the authors imagination. Even when a character is modeled and named for a person who really existed, what emerges on the page is a portrayal of a fictional character who did what they did on these pages to create a good story. It is not presented either to praise nor to diminish the actual people. Instead, our characters are used by the authors to present a good story, nothing more, and (hopefully) nothing less.

Cover Art by Tiago Da Silva

Content Edit by September C. Fawkes, septembercfawkes.com

Formatting by Anessa Books

Published by Goblin Books

Burke, Virginia, USA

Table of Contents

Magic, as it is so commonly described, is difficult to measure using standard scientific principles. The origin appears to be a field (or fields) of energy in nature which certain individuals can tap into to a lesser or greater extent. However, if one assumes that these same individuals can apply force to an object using this magic field, those same objects must obey the Motion of Bodies in the natural world. Therefore, working backward, a set of basic principles can be deduced which describes the mathematical field of magic. While the principal of Universal Gravitation states that every particle of matter is attracted by, or gravitates to, every other particle of matter, this is not necessarily true for the field of magic.

From the Introduction of Principia Magica, 1729,
copied from a partially destroyed original, recovered in 1954

The British Museum; Sir Isaac Newtons 4th publication

Along the Coast of Delaware

H ed made it to the third fence.

The Spiritavit School had a dozen guard towers, three fence lines (the middle one electrified), and teachers patrolling round the clock. It had taken six days of planning and over an hours work to get where he now lay.

Once he got to the real road, he would make his way up to his Uncle Jimmy and his girlfriend Paula, upstate. Hed had no trial. They just told him how lucky he was to get this opportunity, then shoved him in a car with that silent bitch who smiled at him like he was tomorrows lunch. Yes, he was going to make a stink.

He sensed someone. He stopped. He was already down flat. The person was closetoo close. He moved away from the person, trying to stay deep in shadow. He relaxed; it wasnt one of the teachers with those predator eyes, like the lady who brought him here. It was just a girl, about his own age, looking around. Maybe she had followed him through the fences, and was also trying to escape. He hesitated.

He tried to figure out what she was doing. She would crouch down, sniff the ground, then stand up again like she was trying to be a bloodhound. Creepy didnt begin to describe it, but maybe this was her way of figuring things out. Every kid sent here had some magic; maybe this was hers. He had seen crazy things in New York; this was just one more to add to the list.

Sighing to himself, he made a decision. He got up on his hands and knees, then carefully circled around, slipped behind and gently grabbed her, one hand over her mouth so she couldnt scream. Maybe it was the mud and dirt on her, but something felt really wrong. She was coldreally cold, and she wasnt really trying to resist. Turning her around so she could see him, he made a universal shushing sound to tell her to stay quiet. He swallowed hard when he saw her eyes. Moving his arm up to her neck, he swallowed again. He couldnt find her pulse. Her eyes were weird: the pupils were way too large. Was she dead? At least it hadnt been one of the teachers with predator eyes. What was going on here? He never heard of any drugs that could do this. Was it magic that had done this to her? It felt evil.

Fear made his heart beat faster. This had gone from annoying, to weird, to crazy, then to terrifying in seconds. He turned to make a break for the hole. When he lifted his hand off her mouth, she started to scream like he had been killing her. The sound was unearthly, like a death wail.

He squirmed through the hole hed already made, sprang up and started to run. The girl stayed where she was, still screaming.

Damn! Half a mile past the fence line it turned into a swamp! He wanted to relax, but he hadnt covered enough distance yet. He changed direction and kept up his pace, hoping to edge around it and find a road.

Another minute, and he paused to listen. Footsteps: someone was tracking him. Oh, no. It was one of those weird teachers, from the prison pretending to be a school where hed been held. They could call it the Spiritavit School of Magic all they wanted, but they simply went through the motions of teaching the same normal subjects taught in any regular school. Although the students who came here all could do magic (it was why they were sent here, since ordinary reform schools couldnt deal with them), they didnt have any classes in magic.

With his magical Sight, he could almost see a dark green glowing outline of a person, behind him. These bastards were strange.

He watched a small glowing ball of red-green energy form, outlining the teacher, then streak toward him, barely missing. Just the feel of it passing was like ice in the veins. Shit! He had never heard of magic like this.

He changed direction again, sprinting as fast as he could, while trying desperately to stay silent. Finding an old road, he began following it. He glanced over his shoulder. He felt more than saw another ball of energy forming. Desperation won out. He stopped, raising his hands.

I surrend- he managed, starting to turn before the ball of energy slammed into his back. His legs quit working. He fell, face first. He couldnt move his body. He could still feel: it was pain and coldness, more than he ever believed possible. As his eyes began to lose focus, he felt something being shoveled over him. Dirt?

The last thing he saw was his Yankees ball cap, lying in front of him, as it and he were being covered. Then everything went black.

Miss Cassandra (Katy) Altum,

Ms. Jonnie Puliver, and Ms. Sarah Cognitor

of the Sunshine Mystery Magic Club

are pleased to invite you to

The Birthday Party of Ms. Margaret Decker, Age 9

Friday, August 16, 1963 at 4:30 P.M.

in the Assembly Room of Brookhaven

Middle School, Middletown, Virginia

Mystery and Genuine Magic

to be provided by the Sunshine Mystery Magic Club

It will be a party the friends of Ms. Decker

are unlikely to ever forget

framed blank invitation in the library of the home
of Lord Nathan and Lady Amelia Altum

Brookhaven Middle School

I t was a Friday in October. After our club meeting Jonnie, Katy and I waited outside the Principals office.