Firecracker: A Young Adult Fantasy (Arcturus Academy Book 1) by A.L. Knorr

Author:A.L. Knorr [Knorr, A.L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Intellectually Promiscuous Press
Published: 2020-09-30T05:00:00+00:00

Part Three

We All Fall Down

Nineteen

A Bloody Mess

“Define quenching,” I prompted April as we sat cross-legged on the floor in a corner of the fire-gym. I held an Arcturus Academy first-degree skills manual open on my lap. Basil was teaching me fourth-degree skills, which meant I actually wasn’t that familiar with the parameters of a first-degree mage. It was a good way for me to learn terminology, but still felt a bit like skipping kindergarten and then being asked in grade four to help a kindergartner learn their vowels.

April closed her eyes and recited: “Quenching is the cooling of hot materials by drawing the heat into one’s own body through contact with the skin, or through telekinetic power.”

“Yes, but you’re not meant to give that last part in your theoretical exam because it’s not taught at the first-degree level.”

“Shouldn’t I include it if I know it?”

“No. Remember what Wanda said? ‘Students should demonstrate full mastery of each degree before moving on to the next, including their understanding of where the lines are drawn between the different degrees.’ That means they don’t give you any extra credit for adding next level information in your answers, they might even penalize you for it.”

April rolled her eyes and wrapped her arms around her knees. “That’s stupid if you ask me.”

“Maybe, but no one did.” I shifted on the hard floor, trying to ease some of the pressure in my butt. “Now focus. You’ve told me you have a photographic memory. Today, I want you to prove it, but don’t go overboard. Define ‘metastasis’?”

She rocked back, lifting her toes off the floor, her expression bored. “So easy, they use the same term for cancer, which is macabre if you ask me.”

“No one did.” I sighed. I liked April fine but I was learning that there was no such thing as a short and straightforward answer from her. Patience, Saxony. Patience.

“Metastasis is the act of moving the fire around inside the body while keeping it whole. A mage of the first-degree should be able to metastasize the fire from the tip of one finger to the tip of the opposite toe without breaking it or losing power.”

I nodded. “Good. And what’s the difference between ignition and combustion?”

She took a breath, eyes focusing up and to the right as though reading from a book hanging in the air. “Ignition is the simple act of producing a live flame in the hand, whereas combustion is the lighting of flammable materials. It’s the result of high-temperature redox, or reduction-oxidation, an exothermic chemical reaction between the reductant and the oxidant, which often but doesn’t always result in a flame. It involves a sequence beginning with endothermic pyrolysis leading elementary radical reactions which can be hot enough to give off incandescent light and provide enough energy to be self-sustaining.”

I frowned and flipped back and forth through the Fire Skills manual and tried to find where April was repeating this from. “All you’re supposed to answer is that ignition is producing a flame in the hand and combustion is lighting flammable materials.

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