"Exactly." Ms. Terwilliger seemed very pleased. "And that's where the practice comes in."
Fortunately, it didn't take too many attempts before I figured out how to make it all work together. Adrian cheered me on when I successfully managed to throw my first fireball, resulting in a beautiful shot that perfectly hit the rock I'd been aiming for. I flashed Ms. Terwilliger a triumphant look and waited for the next spell we'd be moving on to. To my surprise, she didn't seem nearly as impressed as I expected her to be.
"Do it again," she said.
"But I've got it down," I protested. "We should try something else. I was reading the other part of the book - "
"You have no business doing that yet," she scolded. "You think this is exhausting? You'd pass out attempting one of the more advanced spells. Now." She pointed at the hard desert floor. "Again."
I wanted to tell her that it was impossible for me not to read ahead in a book. It was just how I operated with all my classes. Something told me now was not the best time to bring that up.
She made me practice the throw over and over. Once she was convinced I had it down, she had me work on increasing the fire's heat. I finally managed to get up to yellow but could go no farther. Then I had to work on casting the spell without the ashes. Once I reached that milestone, it was back to practicing the throws. She picked various targets for me, and I hit them all effortlessly.
"Just like Skee-Ball," I muttered. "Easy and boring."
"Yes," Ms. Terwilliger agreed. "It's easy hitting inanimate objects. But moving targets? Living targets? Not quite so easy. So, let's move on to that, shall we?"
The fireball I'd been holding above my hand vanished as shock shattered my control. "What do you mean?" If she expected me to start aiming at birds or rodents, she was in for a rude awakening. There was no way I was going to incinerate something alive. "What am I supposed to hit?"
Ms. Terwilliger pushed her glasses up her nose and backed up several feet. "Me."
I waited for the punch line or at least some further explanation, but none came. I glanced behind me at Adrian, hoping perhaps he might shed some light on this, but he looked as astounded as I felt. I turned back to the singed ground where my earlier fireballs had struck.
"Ms. Terwilliger, you can't ask me to hit you."
Her lips twitched into a small half smile. "I assure you, I can. Go ahead, you can't hurt me."
I had to think a few moments for how to phrase my next response. "I'm a pretty good shot, ma'am. I can hit you."
This earned an outright laugh. "Hit, yes. Hurt, no. Go ahead and throw. Our time is running out."
I didn't know how much time had passed exactly, but the sun was definitely lower in the sky. I looked back at Adrian, silently asking for help in dealing with this insanity. His only response was a shrug.
"You're a witness to this," I told him. "You heard her tell me to do it."
He nodded. "You're totally blameless."
I took a deep breath and summoned my next fireball. I was so frazzled that it started off red, and I had to work to heat it up. Then I looked up at Ms. Terwilliger and braced myself for the shot. It was more difficult than I expected - and not just because I was worried about hurting her. Throwing something at the ground required almost no thought. The focus there was on aim and little else. But facing a person, seeing her eyes and the way her chest rose and fell while breathing . . . well, she was right. It was entirely different from hitting an inanimate object. I began to tremble, unsure if I could do it.
"You're wasting time," she warned. "You're sapping energy again. Throw."
The command in her voice jolted me to action. I threw.
The fireball flew from my hand, straight at her - but it never made contact. I couldn't believe my eyes. About a foot in front of her, it hit some kind of invisible barrier, smashing apart into small flames, which quickly dissipated into smoke. My jaw dropped.
"What is that?" I exclaimed.
"A very, very powerful shielding spell," she said, clearly enjoying my reaction. She lifted up a pendant that had been hanging under her shirt. It didn't look like anything special, just a piece of unpolished carnelian wrapped in silver wire. "It took incredible effort to make this . . . and requires more effort still in order to maintain it. The result is an invisible shield - as you can see - that's impervious to most physical and magical attacks."