Free The Conjuring Glass by Brian Knight

in channeling magical energy for a specific task. Without clear intention of what you expect channeled energy to do, anything could happen. Most accidents and unintended effects happen because the user’s intentions were not clear. Know what you want to do before you try to do it.
     
    Focus.
    Without proper focus to propel channeled energy, the intended magic will be weak, or may not work at all. Concentrate on your goal.
     
    Imagination.
    Imagination is the key to developing new kinds of magic, and expanding uses for known magic.
     
    This book will only open for one with the ability to use magic. Keep it safe, for it holds the secrets and lessons of those who came before you. Study the secrets of The Phoenix Girls, practice their lessons, and when you are ready, the book will give you more.
     
    Learn and grow, and when the time comes that you have learned all the book has to teach, you will become the teachers.
     
    You are The Phoenix Girls.
     
     
     
    Penny practiced while Zoe read the principles of magic written out on the first page of the old book again, first picking up and moving a fist-sized rock with the wand, then making it fly in circles over their heads around the hollow.
    “It’s like a school textbook.” Zoe said, setting the book down and glaring at it, as though it were being intentionally boring.
    Distracted, Penny turned to Zoe and lost control of the flying rock, sending it shooting through the upper boughs and startling birds into flight.
    “Yeah, but not at first. I think it changed for us because that’s how we’re used to learning.”
    “How would it know that? It’s a book!” Zoe turned away from the open book, arms crossed stubbornly over her chest—but snatched it up a few seconds later, unable to resist the temptation to reread it.
    Penny pointed the wand at the inside of the fire pit, her pale face flushing as she concentrated. The wand tip flashed, and a bright spark shot into the center of the stone ring, erupting into tall, bright flames. Without proper fuel to sustain the fire, it guttered and died in only a few seconds. “Just know what you want to do, then point, and concentrate.”
    Zoe turned to the second page and scanned it. “I want to try something.”
    Penny handed the wand over and stood back.
    “Throw something at me,” Zoe said.
    Penny thought she knew what Zoe was going to try, but hesitated. “Are you sure?”
    “Yep. If it doesn’t work, I’ll jump out of the way. Just make it something small.”
    Penny pried a small stone from the dirt. She still didn’t think it was a good idea, but threw it anyway, aiming to the right of Zoe instead of at her.
    Zoe whipped the wand up, pointing it straight out in front of her, her eyes narrowed in concentration. A foot away from her, the stone stopped abruptly and bounced back toward Penny, landing at her feet.
    Zoe gave a little shout of triumph. “It worked! Here, you try it.”
    She ran forward and pressed the wand into Penny’s hand, then ran to the creek’s edge, plucking a small rock from the water.
    “Ready?”
    “No,” Penny said, but raised the wand anyway.
    Zoe grinned, made a show of winding for a pitch, and threw it.
    Penny tried to concentrate on making a shield to block it, but her brain froze as she saw it whizzing toward her, and all that happened was that the wand gave a feeble little hoot . She jumped out of the way at the last second, and the rock just missed hitting her.
    “Oh! I’m sorry,” Zoe said, running forward.
    “It’s okay,” Penny said, though her heart was beating hard at the near miss. “Maybe we should practice that one with something softer next time.”
    They took turns with the wand for the next three hours. While their efforts yielded unpredictable, often nearly disastrous results, they at least had a handle on the few spells—if spells are what they really were—that the book had to offer.
    There were no ‘eyes of newts’ or ‘bat wings’ involved, no magic