Dr. Chester continued talking. "It was about fifteen years ago, one evening, that I managed to be recruited as temporary backstage help for the night, for a certain magician's show. At one o'clock in the morning, after the last show, he explained over a couple drinks how his most amazing tricks worked. Magic is for the most part a matter of will. No magic words or special talismans, all you need is to develop a sense for it."
"Which I develop by experiencing magic firsthand," Jon finished.
"Right. It's not exactly difficult; about half of the people that do go on to become magicians get the hang of it in one session. Most of the rest don't take that much longer. Many people, though, do end up without any power, mainly because their own disbelief has actually nullified their own power." Chester explained.
"I think I understand. So are some things easier to do than others?" asked Jon.
"Good question. The easiest thing to affect is yourself, and almost as easy are willing volunteers and objects. Distance is a factor-- the closer the better. For example, at this present distance I can levitate you easily," Chester explained, raising his hand to Jon like some kind of Jedi master.
Jon found himself getting lighter quickly, until he lifted off his chair and hung about five feet in the air.
"On the other hand, if we were at opposite corners of the room I wouldn't be able to lift you. But rather than demonstrate that, why not see if you can start unlocking your own potential? You're hanging there in the air. Without moving your body, I want you to try to feel the power holding you up, and influence it in any way you can. Move in any direction, or break the levitation spell completely."
Meanwhile, Lisa produced a puff of blue smoke from the floor below her feet. Doing a twirl, the smoke seemed to condense and form into a blue silk dress on her body. She took Karyn aside for their own one-on-one training.
"Creating objects out of thin air is about the most difficult thing to do. The law of conservation of mass can be broken, but you have to sneak around it," Lisa explained, holding up the fabric of her dress. "Much easier is doing things to your own body, like this." She grabbed her own head and lifted. With a pop Lisa had detached her own head and set it on the table between her and Karyn.
"So how am I going to get started doing this?" Karyn asked.
"I'll give you a little help," Lisa offered, reaching for Karyn's head. "You mind a trade?"
"What, you mean trade heads?" Karyn asked.
"Yep. Don't worry about a thing. This is completely painless," Lisa reassured. Taking a firm grip of Karyn's head, she pulled it off. "Now take my head and put it on your body."
A minute later, Karyn's head was on Lisa's body in the blue dress. "Wow, you do have a nice body."
"I'm flattered, but you're not too bad yourself," Lisa smiled, shifting in her seat with Karyn's body. "Now, since I'm sort of an experienced magician there should be enough residual magic in that body for you to start feeling it."
Karyn smirked and began massaging her borrowed breasts.
"I didn't mean that," Lisa laughed, giving a playful smack to the back of Karyn's head.
"So I'll be able to do that thing you did with the light?"
"Yeah. It's easier than teleporting, I find. Since you're actually making yourself incorporeal rather than just vanishing, you can see where you're going a lot easier, even if it takes a little longer. Once you're there you just have to emerge a new body from whatever materials happen to be there -- dirt, furniture, trees, light fixtures, whatever."
"Neat!"
Jon was still hovering in the air, but was ever so slowly beginning to move backwards.
"Excellent!" Dr. Chester urged. "You're moving!"
"Backwards?" Jon asked.
"Yes."
"Good, because that's what I was trying to do." Jon began moving faster backwards, until he felt the back wall.
"Try coming forward now."
Hesitantly, Jon floated forward, slowly at first, but then at about normal walking speed.
"Now go up and down, and try going in a circle."
Jon tried levitating higher, then came back down to where he was before, and began flying in circles over the tables.
"And just so you know, I stopped levitating you back when you were coming back from the back wall. You're doing this on your own now."
"I think I sort of feel something," Karyn said.
"We'll start small, though. Reach for the tabletop and imagine it's made out of Jell-O," Lisa instructed. "And just push your hand into it."
Karyn's hand pushed into a hard table.
"I'll give you a little help," Lisa said, taking Karyn by the wrists and pushing down. Karyn's hands sank into the tabletop.
"Okay, I think I get it now."
"Imagine a simple shape made out of the same stuff as the tabletop. Sphere, cube, cylinder, cone, teapot, whatever. And see if you can pull it out." Lisa let go of Karyn.
Karyn paused, then slowly drew her hands out of the table. It was hard once again as she rested her hands on top of it. Opening her fists, in each hand was a small cube with an arrangement of spots on the sides. Karyn dropped the dice on the table. "Did it," she announced.
"Try something else," Lisa urged.
Suddenly, Karyn, still wearing Lisa's body, vanished.
Lisa looked around, knowing that Karyn would try to surprise her. Lisa felt a weird shifting sensation by her right shoulder, and turned her head to find Karyn's head growing in.
"Whoa! That's pretty good!" Lisa gasped.
"That's still my body you've got. And you're absolutely right, I don't look all that bad. I'll look even better once I get a chance to try these new powers out on myself." Karyn and Lisa's heads shifted into a more symmetrical arrangement on their shared body. Taking control of their whole body, Karyn walked back over to Jon and Dr. Chester to see how they were doing.
Jon had reshaped one tabletop so that it looked like a miniature castle was formed out of its surface.
"She's got it," Lisa's head announced to Dr. Chester.
"Excellent. Jon here seems to have gotten the hang of the art pretty well himself. Why don't I leave you to practice?" Dr. Chester replied with a wink, vanishing from the room.
