Children of the First

So I was working on this chapter, and it just wasn't turning out anything that really wowed me. I didn't want to change the whole thing since it's one of Shawn's first classes and will be rather important down the line; plus my carpel tunnel is flaring up, so a rewrite tonight was out of the question. (Sure, I revised like I always do, but there's no way I was starting over and wrecking my wrist).

On a related note, you know that I always love to get comments, but I'd like to make a special request for your opinions on this chapter. Many much comments for me please! I altered my writing process a bit this time and the content is quite different, so some feedback would be really helpful and much appreciated.
Thanks for reading!

My next class was at noon, so Fallon and I only had enough time to grab a couple of sandwiches in the student center, which was fine by me—I didn’t have much of an appetite after my little mishap with Bridget.

I had to ask for directions twice before I finally found Wester Hall—my schedule just said “Into Magic Theory—WSTR 100,” which wasn’t much help—but I managed to make it there with a minute or two to spare.

The class was required for all freshmen during their first semester, so it was held in a huge, stadium-style lecture hall. I’d heard that there was only one professor for the entire freshman class, but that would mean he taught the same class six or seven times a day. Anyone who could handle a mob of two hundred freshmen seven times a day would have to be some kind of ogre—either figuratively or literally. An actual ogre would probably just eat most of us though.

Maybe that’s the secret, I thought. Maybe he eats the troublemakers to keep his strength up and scare the rest of us into obedience.

I scanned the auditorium for a place to sit that wasn’t in the middle of the crowd. I saw Retis sitting alone in a row near the back of the room, so I made my way through the crowd and up the stairs to join him.

“Hey,” I said, flopping down in the seat next to him. “Didn’t know you were gonna be in here. Have you seen Roo or Jarn?”

“Nah, they’re in the two o’clock class,” Retis said, then looked at me and frowned. “What happened to you? You look like hell, kin.”

“It’s a long story,” I sighed. “I’ll tell you later.”

The professor had just walked in the door and the room had quieted as the last few people found their seats.

“I’m Professor Thomas Porter,” he said, stepping onto the small stage at the front of the room. “And this…” He pressed a button on the podium and giant screen descended from the ceiling. “Is…” The projector flicked on:

“Hang on… I hate these damn electrical systems…”

A few seconds later, the screen changed to a computer desktop, and the professor opened a slideshow presentation.

“And this is Intro to Magic Theory,” he pronounced as the first slide appeared.

“Well that was worth it,” Retis muttered.

“I’m passing out the syllabus,” Professor Porter drawled on. “And then we can go over it together.”

His voice was tired—bored even—and he spoke slowly, plodding along with the gently condescending tone people use with children and the elderly: “No, Grandma, it’s time for your nap right now. I’ll tell you what though; after you wake up, we can go to bingo together.” Either he was very bored and tired (which seemed likely) or he thought we were a bunch of idiots (which was just as likely).

Either way, he certainly wasn’t the imposing disciplinarian I’d expected, nor the enthusiastic scholar I had hoped for; he was a short, balding, potato-shaped human with a thin beard and thick, power-nerd glasses. Instead of an ogre, we’d gotten Ol’ Grandpa Teddy-bear.

“Does anyone still need a syllabus?” he asked. “Anyone? Going once… Last chance… Alright then.” He lumbered back to the podium and switched the presentation to the next slide—the first paragraph of the syllabus swirled in from the corner of the screen with a standard boo-woop.

“As I said, I am Professor Porter and this is Intro to Magic Theory.”

Retis smacked himself in the forehead.

“In reality,” the professor continued, “magic theory is only one part of the freshman seminar.”

“The other part is the exciting challenge of who can stay awake longest,” I hissed, and Retis grinned.

“Besides general theory,” Porter droned, “this class will also cover the various laws and regulations that govern the use of magic; spellcasting and the different types of magic; specializations and how to choose one; and finally, putting your abilities and specialization to work for a company or other form of occupation.”

He was reading the syllabus word-for-word—the exact same thing that was in our hands and on the screen. If it had been happening to someone else, it might have been funny. But not that funny.

“Questions, questions,” he said, I guess asking if we had any, but the way he said it just sounded like random noun identification.

“Who the hell could have a question?” Retis whispered.

“Guess that answers that.” I pointed at a girl near the front.

“Yeah, I have a question,” said the girl, gesturing with her pen as she spoke. “I just want to be clear—all that stuff, like the law and junk, that’s not in this class, right? Like, this is the theory and the law and jobs and stuff is in a different class.”

Retis and I exchanged pained looks. I wasn’t sure whether to pity or despise her. I mean, there’s no excuse for stupid, but it’s also not always the person’s fault. Hell, maybe she just wasn’t listening for the first… all of it.

“No ma’am,” Professor Porter answered in the same monotone. “Magic theory is only one part of the freshman seminar. Besides general theory…”

“I don’t think I can take much more of this,” Retis whispered.

“I don’t know how he can take it,” I whispered back. “Doesn’t he do this over and over all day?”

“I bet he’s not even awake right now. I bet he sleeps through the whole day and only wakes up to eat.”

“We better be careful not to wake him, then—it can be dangerous to wake up a sleep walker. You know, he kind of looks like a teddy bear… I bet he’s hibernating this semester. That must be it.”

We stifled our laughs and tried to pay attention, but he was going over the grading scheme with an example. A very long, slow example of how scores were averaged. Then he did another example and moved on to reading every homework assignment for the semester out loud. I really hoped there wasn’t anyone in the class that wouldn’t be able to read them for themselves.

I zoned out after a few minutes, and my mind drifted back to Bridget and the voices I had heard. They had known my name… but they were in my head, so really I knew my name, right? And what was I supposed to remember? For prophetic voices, they sure didn’t tell me much.

I’d pretty much concluded that I had just been hallucinating from the pain, when Retis dropped a sheet of paper on my lap. I turned it over and burst out laughing—I clapped my hand over my mouth, but a “ha” had slipped out, earning a giggle from Retis and glares from everyone else around us.

Retis had drawn a picture of Professor Porter in a teddy bear costume, skipping through a meadow with a picnic basket on his arm. The caption said “Professor Teddy Porter – Intro to Picnic Theory.”

We spent the rest of the class period drawing Professor Teddy Porter—and occasionally ‘P. Bear Porter’ or just ‘Teddy’.

Finally, Teddy (as we took to calling him) finished going over the syllabus. “Questions, questions? Everybody on board?” Teddy waited a good thirty seconds before he continued. “Great, well that’s all we’re going to do today. Read chapter one in your ‘Fundamentals’ book for Wednesday, and you’re free to go.”

“Finally.” I stood up and stretched.

“As soon as I call roll.” The walls nearly shook with two hundred simultaneous groans. “Abiny, comma, Priscilla,” Teddy called, then squinted as he looked for a raised hand in the sea of bodies. “…Ah, there you are… Priscilla,” he repeated, marking her down. “Thank you, Priscilla. Aster, comma, Leydim…”

Twenty minutes later, Retis and I were on our way back to the dorm. When we got there, the first thing Retis did was turn on his computer. The first thing I did was fall asleep. The second thing I did was take off my shoes and get in bed.

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