“Half-witches usually awaken late,” Endora lectured as the image on the glass clarified itself. “To do so at the age of 18 is actually quite soon for a half-witch. Not unheard of, but it means there was likely a trigger. And, there!”
With a grand gesture, Endora willed the image on the glass into focus. Some big, dumb jock sitting under a jacaranda tree. It took a moment for Jon to connect the dots that he was the big, dumb jock.
“Okay, let’s change to a different filter.” Another wave, and most of the image disappeared. All that was left was a heatmap in the shape of a big, dumb jock. Most of it was yellow, with a small bit of red at the core of his torso. “This will show us where magic is present.”
A yellow silhouette of a girl entered the frame. Sarah.
“She’s already emitting low-level magic passively.” Endora’s expression became analytical. “She’d already awakened some time earlier.”
The woman let the sequence play out on the screen without any sound. And at the end of a brief, mimed conversation, the Sarah heatmap bent down to kiss the Jon heatmap on the cheek. And the point where skin met skin darkened to red, sweeping out from Sarah’s lips into Jon’s face. Then purple, pushing the red downwards into Jon’s chest. Then white, sending the red and purple to overwhelm all of the yellow in Jon’s body.
When Sarah’s form turned away, Jon had a large mass of white in his torso, with purple almost everywhere else, and a faint outline of red along his skin. Sarah was still mostly yellow, but had a patch of purple around her mouth.
And Jon’s form began to shrink.
“Well, that was fascinating, but not quite what we’re looking for.”
“What are we looking for, grandma?” Sarah asked, staying on her side of the glass orbs.
“Something triggered you into awakening your magic. The more I look at you, the more I’m sure of it. This construct will let me see every time that you’ve used magic.”
The woman waved her hands again, and the image changed. The heatmap was gone, replaced by a full-color picture of Jon’s bedroom, empty. Then Sarah entered, alone.
