One day when Pip joined Miss Hartford for tea, he was surprised to find Lord Finlington in the sitting room. He was further surprised when Miss Hartford asked the dukex for a walk in the garden, leaving Pip alone to entertain the viscount.
The dukex agreed but said, “We shall return in a half hour.”
Pip couldn’t tell who the statement had been intended for, but he nodded as if it were meant for him.
After they left, Pip felt the usual shyness that came upon him when he was alone with Lord Finlington. He was distracted, as ever, by noticing the way the viscount’s coat brought out the grey in his eyes and how gracefully his fingers moved when he stirred his tea. Flustered by these observations, Pip cast about desperately for a conversation topic. Fortunately, the viscount, as usual, had the matter well in hand.
“How are you getting along, m’dear?” he asked.
“Very well, sir,” Pip replied.
“I’m so glad to hear it. I admit, darling, I have been worried about you being unable to settle here. You will tell me, I hope, if you are ever unhappy. I assure you, I will do everything in my power to make sure you are well situated.”
Pip swallowed. “That is very kind of you, my lord. I confess I do not know what I have possibly done to deserve your kindness. I think you should know that you rescued me from more than just prison in bringing me here. I don’t know how I shall ever repay you.”
Lord Finlington gave a small smile. “Extracting you from your previous situation was a personal goal of mine ever since our evening at the Fox & Thistle.”
It was the first time the viscount had ever referenced that conversation and Pip was horribly embarrassed by it. He ducked his head and clasped his hands together. “I cannot imagine what you must have thought of me, sir.”
“Oh, I don’t know the best way to describe it, darling,” Lord Finlington replied. “But I think I can liken it to seeing a flame being covered with a dark lampshade. Your light was so diminished when you were in that man’s presence. Now, I do not wish you to mistake my concern for pity. There are a great many people in London for whom I might feel pity. But in you I saw a man who had a great strength of spirit, not to mention an absurd amount of untapped magical talent. I wished to free you from that darkness and show you how brightly you might shine.”
Pip chewed his lip, feeling undeserving of such a grand comparison.
“I regret to say it took me several months, far longer than I would have liked, to think of a good strategy. I was a trifle worried you might be of the same opinion of your situation as dear Nell and that you would refuse my help. Especially when you turned down Nell’s invitation to accompany her. I didn’t want to press the matter for fear I might lose the opportunity to help you. So I thought it out carefully for months. It was not until I recalled something Nell told me about paying off her debt that I had a notion of what to do. I thought perhaps the reason you had turned Nell down was out of a sense of indebtedness, rather than love. In any case, I thought it best to be sure. I decided if you really did love the wretched man that at least you would have the proper choice. We only learned of your arrest because I sent Nell to pay the rascal off.”
Pip was dumbfounded. “You would have paid off what I owed him? You intended to do that…for me?”
“Of course, darling. And gladly.”
“I already owe you so much. I hate to imagine having that debt added to it.”
The viscount gave a small sigh. “I wish I could impress upon you, m’dear, that not everyone is cut of that cloth. I have no expectation or desire for any repayment. I consider you my friend, but even that is something separate, for I would hate for you to accept my friendship out of obligation.”
“I do consider you a friend, sir. I’m afraid I’m still getting accustomed to the rest. It is…quite the opposite of what I have learned throughout my life.”
“I understand. Not to worry. But you did not answer my question, dear man,” the viscount said. “Are you happy?”
Pip looked at him, startled. “Of course, sir.”
Lord Finlington waited.
Pip considered a moment longer. “Or rather, let’s say, I am learning to be happy, sir.”
The viscount smiled in evident relief. “I am so very glad to hear it, darling.”
Pip frowned a moment, thinking back to something the viscount had just said. “I hope you will forgive the question, sir, but what did you mean by ‘an absurd amount of magical talent?’ I know I have a moderate amount of magical ability, but nothing I have seen in my magic lessons has shown anything more. Miss Hartford has never said anything about it.”
The viscount’s smile widened. “Ah, I’m so glad you brought that up, m’dear. It is the second reason I asked Gerry if I might visit with you today.”
Pip’s eyes widened. “You asked to speak to me today?”
“Yes, I hope you don’t mind. I wished to see how you are getting on and also discuss your magic lessons. Gerry and I have been discussing them for quite some time.”
“You have?”
“Yes, darling, ever since she adapted her lessons to a more practical style. You see, Gerry is, frankly, a magical genius. She understands the theories and science of magic better than most spellcasters in the country. She has instinct for what a spell needs to be more potent. However, her experience with magic is more cerebral—that is to say, she goes at it from what she knows of it. As she knows a great deal, this is not a detriment to her. Most spellcasters are similar—they see magic as a science. They learn the theories and the diagrams and the placements and the movements until they gain proficiency. Nell taught herself because she was good at observing what people did. She discovered her little look-away spell in a manner that was, I think, part accident and part cleverness. She learned it worked by trial and error, determining when people noticed her or didn’t notice her.
“You, however,” he went on, “are different. You feel magic, which is very rare indeed. You felt the spell in the lock when you broke into the study, even though you didn’t know that at the time, and you were able to maneuver the lock pick around the spell quite unconsciously. Then you not only sensed the trap I had laid, but you resisted it.” The viscount shook his head. “That is, dear man, not common. For it means you can not only sense magic, but you can examine that sense too. Only a few spellcasters have that and most of them have to be trained to learn it. I have learned to sense magic, but it took years of practice and study. And even then it is still a challenge for me to not be swept up in the feeling.”
Pip gaped. The viscount chuckled. “Think about the time we did those travel spells, hm? And every time you’ve practiced a spell since. Can you feel when the spell is active?”
Pip nodded slowly.
“And you can feel when it has been taken down?”
Another nod.
“Well, there it is,” he said, as if that settled the matter.
“You mean, Miss Hartford and Nell don’t feel that?”
“Well, they could, I’m sure, if they put their minds to it. As a matter of fact, Gerry and I have discussed it and she wishes to learn. I intend to teach her, but first, I intend to teach you.”
Pip did not know what to say.
“It will be a learning experience for both of us. For I have never taught anyone that particular skill, besides myself. You already have the innate ability, so it will be less about learning how to do it and more about how to control and apply it.”
“You’re sure you don’t mind, sir? I know you’re very busy.”
“Mind? You sweet thing, I am impatient to begin! Gerry and I have settled on a schedule. She shall continue to teach you three evenings a week, every other day. I shall take the in-between days for the more advanced lessons.”
“Oh, sir,” Pip said, feeling a little panicky. “I’m sure I’m not at all ready for advanced lessons.”
“I think you may surprise yourself,” the viscount said.
It occurred to Pip when he went to work the next day that every time he got accustomed to his routine in his new life, something happened to shake it up. He sat with that realization all day and finally came to the conclusion that he did not entirely mind it.
And so, he began the new phase of his magical education. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, he would learn spells with Gerry and practice those he already knew. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, Lord Finlington would come by the shop to teach Pip a very different form of magic. Gerry was always present for these lessons. She assured him that she liked having time carved out for her own magical experiments. But Pip suspected her presence had been arranged in advance for his comfort. Considering how shy he felt when he was alone with the gentleman, he had to admit that her presence did make him a little less flustered. Having the whole of Lord Finlington’s attention was both exhilarating and nerve-racking.
Lessons with the viscount were very strange, but Pip rather loved them. For the first two weeks in November, they ran through spells Pip had mastered. First, the viscount would perform the spell and have Pip try to describe how the magic felt. Pip would then perform the spell, trying to cast and feel the magic at the same time. It took a while to get accustomed to it, for it was a bit like doing two completely different things at once.
The more they practiced, the more it became instinctual, and Pip found that he didn’t have to concentrate so much on feeling the spell. Oddly, it also made casting the spells themselves easier. Because instead of going off his eyes alone to straighten an item, he could sense when the spell was balanced as he placed the items.
After the second week, the viscount pronounced himself satisfied with Pip’s progress and said, much to Pip’s alarm, that they would be moving on to a certain kind of advanced spellwork. Since taking up magic lessons, Pip had learned mostly basic spells and only ones that required a set up. These were the more traditional form of spellcasting and often required sigils and incantations and exact placement, not to mention thorough clean up.
Gerry had explained to Pip that there were three kinds of spellwork: the basic ones; more complicated and fiddly spells that were cast the same way as the basic ones; and the more modern so-called Motion spells. These spells had emerged in recent years and required fewer ingredients and no set up or clean up at all. However, they were often very difficult to get right: the hand motions had to be exact, any incantations that were used had to be said perfectly, and the ingredients themselves had to be in tip-top shape. Pip learned that this form of spell casting was what Nell had taught herself back in London. It was why her castings had not been consistently successful, and as her ingredients were often not in prime condition, the magic was not as potent.
Lord Finlington started Pip on a levitation spell. It was the same spell he had witnessed Nell performing in their room, what felt like a lifetime ago. After practicing the feel of magic as he performed it, Pip was surprised how easily Motion magic came to him. He could feel when he did the hand motion correctly and he could sense the spell take hold in his hand. He progressed through these lessons with far more speed than anything he had learned since leaving London. The viscount was thrilled and began giving Pip increasingly difficult spells to perform.
The one that gave him the most stick was a wind spell.
“It is a combination of two spells you have already learned,” Lord Finlington explained. “It combines levitation and lateral movement.”
Both of these spells had proven to be very helpful for Pip’s work in the shop, as he was able to shift boxes up and around the back room. It must be confessed that he performed the spells even when he didn’t strictly need to, but Gerry always laughed indulgently and encouraged what was, to Pip’s mind, excessive laziness.
“Now, we do not use a feather as with the levitation spell, nor a wood rod as with the lateral movement spell. We will be using a willow branch. The reason for the willow branch is that it contains Constitutional Properties that are used for both spells.”
The viscount passed a willow branch to Pip. He had learned over the course of their lessons that Lord Finlington liked to see him take a hands-on approach to his learning. That is, he encouraged Pip to pick up the ingredients, move them around, or feel the weight of them in his hand. So Pip swished the willow branch a bit, noting the sound it made as it cut through the air and the feel of it against his palm.
“Very good, darling,” Lord Finlington said.
Pip resisted the urge to beam. No matter how many times Lord Finlington complimented him or praised his work, it never failed to thrill Pip.
The viscount held out his hand to take the branch back and said, “The movement is a bit complicated for this one. You will essentially be combining the gestures of the other two spells. Doing the upward maneuver for lateral movement and twisting your wrist to indicate the direction. Like so.” He demonstrated, sending a handkerchief to billow around the room.
“As with all spells, you can control the power behind it. But because this spell makes use of two separate movements, there is automatically more power in it. It is very easy to overshoot, so we will be using lighter and less breakable objects for our practice. And you will have to temper that power as we’ve discussed.” He looked at Pip expectantly.
“With tighter wrist movement, more focus, and…er…calm?” Pip recited.
“Exactly, m’dear. Excellent memory. And, of course, control will come in time. So don’t fret if it doesn’t come easily now. Let us begin, shall we?”
As much as he had learned to master the two original spells, combining them proved very tricky. He could feel the spell activate and he could sense that the magic in it was strong, but he struggled to adjust the power behind the spell. After a week, Lord Finlington pronounced himself satisfied and moved them on to a new spell, but Pip was frustrated by his own lack of control and continued to practice when he was alone in the garden. He wanted to do better than simply meet the viscount’s expectations; he wanted to surpass them.
Although once when he was practicing, Mr. Hartford strolled by and commented, “You know I’ve always felt as though Motion spells are beyond me.”
Pip stared at him in surprise. “Really?”
“I don’t quite like the idea of doing magic so openly.”
Pip picked up the pillow he had been practicing with. “I suppose after working in the shop, magic feels like the sort of business one does openly. I only do it alone when I’m practicing.”
“Are you enjoying it?”
“Yes, much more than when I first started. And actually I think I like Motion spells better than Traditional ones.”
Mr. Hartford’s mouth twitched. “I’m glad you’re enjoying it. Perhaps I ought to give it a try after all.”
“Both your sister and Lord Finlington have said you’re very talented with magic. It would probably help you when you’re trying to get a book off a particularly high shelf.”
Mr. Hartford gave a surprised sort of laugh. “That’s as good an inducement as any. Thank you. I shall consider it.”
He walked away and Pip felt a strange sort of accomplishment from the conversation.