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After work Tina helped her grandmother with her store and then with dinner after closing up for the day. Then they started on a few more spells. As they were putting their tools away Tina said, "Grandma, why are we working with all of these spells? Some of them do the same thing, and some are way more complicated! Why not stick to the simpler ones?"

Charlotte smiled, "I was wondering when you'd ask me about that. We don't have enough time to get into it now, but I have a theory I've been working on. You'll need this background to understand it and, hopefully, help me to develop it further. I'll explain it all to you Sunday, when we have a full day to work on it."

At work the next day Tina noticed that Tiffany was acting more normally towards Sarah, although she still watched her a lot. Her own work was getting easier as she went, but it was hard at times not to laugh at some of the questions people asked.

She and her grandmother continued to work on new spells after closing up her shop that night, and the next. Charlotte continued to be amazed at how easily Tina seemed to pick things up, and how much more effective her spells tended to be.

Tina's parents came up for Christmas day. It was just the four of them this year, which suited Tina just fine. Not being able to talk about magic amongst some of her relatives always annoyed her, especially when her grandmother was there.

"So how is Tina doing Charlotte?" Tina's mother asked after dinner.

Charlotte smiled, "She's doing wonderful Kristy! She's already far more advanced than I was at her age. She has a gift for magic like no one I've ever seen."

"I'm jealous!" Tina's father said, only half jokingly. He had no aptitude for magic at all, though he had the interest. Charlotte had been disappointed when her only child had no talent for magic, though she'd taught him what she could anyway. They were both very happy when Tina showed an interest.

No magical work was done that day. The next day was busy running the store. After closing they resumed their practice with different kinds of spells. Tina was a little frustrated with the seemingly needless complexity of some of them and hoped this mysterious theory of her grandmother's was something interesting, at least.

Charlotte woke Tina early Sunday morning. After breakfast they washed dishes and moved up to Charlotte's attic work room. "Well, I imagine you're curious about my theory, right?" Charlotte said once they were settled in chairs off to the side of the work area.

"Yeah. How is using needlessly complex spells going to help us?" Tina answered.

"Perspective, mostly. Some of the spells we've practiced have half a dozen versions or more. They each contain different elements and levels of complexity. And yet they all not only work, but have roughly the same effect. Why is that?" Charlotte said.

Tina frowned, "I hadn't really thought about it like that. Shouldn't differently structured spells have different results?"

"I've thought about this a lot for a long time. The biggest problem with working magic, other than the weak effects and the need to keep it a secret, is that there is no underlying structure that applies to everything. All our spells are handed down over time. Occasionally someone will rework a spell for whatever reason, but there's no understanding of why magic works the way it does." Charlotte replied.

"Isn't that why it's magic?" Tina asked, thinking that if it were understood it would be science.

"Not really. Even if it were understood in a scientific way, it still defies the laws of science as we know it. Perhaps a day will come when the two methods will meet somewhere in the middle and merge into one discipline. I find it unlikely, but you never know. In the meantime, I've been working on developing a more scientific approach to magic. If we can get a better understanding of why each spell works the way it does, we can develop new, better, and more powerful spells." Charlotte said.

"That sounds interesting, but how do we do it?" Tina asked curiously.

"I've thought long and hard on this. I believe that a form of meditation will make it possible. This method of meditation will allow you to hold multiple completed spell forms in your mind and compare them and their effects without actually casting them or needing any tools or rituals. I just discovered it in a translation of a very old text a couple of months ago. I haven't had much luck learning how to do it, though. I think you, with your natural aptitude, may be able to do it." Charlotte said excitedly.

"Me?" Tina squeaked.

"Yes, you. I know you're not that impressed with your abilities, which is good. Getting full of yourself is a good way to have an accident or get caught. Either one of which could get you killed. But you really are amazingly talented in magic. I believe you can do it." Charlotte replied.

"Okay." Tina said doubtfully, but with some excitement of her own.

The first half of the day was spent going over what Charlotte had done in her attempts to master the meditation technique. After lunch Tina made her first attempt and amazed herself by getting farther than her grandmother yet had on her first try. After several attempts she was finally able to settle fully into the necessary meditative trance. She began forming the spell forms in her mind that her grandmother had selected for her. They were all versions of the same spell, a luck spell.

Tina was able to begin to make connections between the various forms and the end result when she felt something at the edge of her awareness. She shifted her focus towards it, but it was elusive. She finally realized that someone else was doing magic relatively close by. Powerful magic. There were seemingly random spikes of magical energy, each one stronger than anything she'd ever felt before from her own spells. She couldn't get any sense of where it was or what kind of magic was being used. She was just about to reluctantly go back to her work when she felt a particularly large build up of energy and its sudden release.

"What is it Tina?" Charlotte asked worriedly as Tina's eyes snapped open and she gasped in shock.

"Someone else was casting spells. Really powerful ones. The last one was huge!" Tina said.

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To Be Continued…

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