I wasn’t quite finished with the story I was telling by the time 2025 ended and so decided to continue it until it reached an ending point. Then I will start a new one. Besides, I kind of want to see where Penelope ends up. And so we have…
Day 199: If you can do the spell, then it is within your power level.
If you can do the spell, then it is within your power level. Thus far no one mentioned power levels to her. ‘Amelia mentioned some people were stronger than others,’ Penelope thought. There was no real test mentioned.
‘So either it is something that is so routine no one thought to mention it or it is less structured.’ In Amelia’s journals it seemed that people were just presented with books and opportunity. If they could do the spell then it was within their power level and if not, it wasn’t.
‘There might not even be a grading or a numerical system.’
Penelope shrugged it off. She made certain to copy all of the information she found about charms in her notebook and then put it away. She hung all the charms in the jewelry box and with some effort managed to get the jewelry box back into her bedroom. Once it was in place, Penelope realized she was hungry and returned to the kitchen. She put together a sandwich, which took longer than she anticipated. When it was done, she ate it, feeling less hollow with each bite.
Once the plate and utensils were rinsed off and all extra items returned to where they belonged, Penelope took the two books Mrs. Merriweather sent over to the comfortable reading chair in the living room area. The chair wasn’t as cozy as the one in the library, but here there was bright warm sun shining in and Penelope decided she wanted to sit in it for a while.
As she settled herself, she wondered what was going on with the other agent and her faux neighbor. She looked to her phone but no matter how hard she willed it, Agent Michaelson wasn’t calling with an update.
‘In all fairness he did think I was taking a pain pill and going to bed,’ She thought finally looking away from the dark screen. ‘He probably won’t call until tomorrow at the earliest.’
Penelope shifted her curiosity to these side and opened the beginner’s book of charms. While she scanned many of the pages earlier, now she took the time to read the whole thing. It didn’t take as long as she thought. There were blocks of text that explained a concept and each block was followed by three exercises. The text was simply written and seemed designed for a much younger child.
‘Still I’m starting from zero knowledge, so the simple text helps,’ Penelope thought. It did leave her with questions, but they were mostly about the more complex charms she came across. As she was reading, bit not conducting the exercises, the book was an easy read. There were, however, pauses as she worked though it. She wanted to make certain she had the concepts down.
“I’ll do the exercises later,” she told herself. Still she wanted to know how the charms works, how they were made and what the limitations were. The simply written text laid it all out, even if she had to occasionally close her eyes and walk herself through the mechanics of it.
Penelope finished the book, her mind full of possibilities. She set it down and went to the kitchen to pour herself a drink and get a bowl of nuts. She wanted the time to let her brain sort through things rather than the snack so the extra time it took her to assemble the drink and snack didn’t bother her. By the time she made it back to the reading chair with the glass and bowl, the information seemed to settle inside her brain, like fine sand grains falling to the bottom of a lake. It was still a lot, but it was no longer swirling about. She reached for the second Book Mrs. Merriweather sent over.
Ten til Midnight 