Chapter 14: Chants

Sydney ran over to Theo and lined herself up with the target and got into her casting position, excitedly waiting.

"Alright, so you know the feeling when you cast, when the magic is flowing from your center to your fingers, right?" Theo asked. Sydney nodded excitedly. "Focus on that feeling while you imagine what you want to occur. Start small with a water ball." Theo explained.

"Alright!" Sydney said enthusiastically as she closed her eyes and tried to picture what she wanted to create. After a few moments, she seemed to get frustrated. "Why won't anything come out!?" She asked with frustration as she shook her hand around.

"It's your first time. Focus first on the feeling, moving the mana according to your will, then picture what you want to do." Theo explained.

"Hmm, okay..." She said uncertainly as she repositioned herself and focused on the sensation of magic flowing from her center and going up through her body to her fingers. "I-I can feel it!" She said excitedly.

"Keep your focus! You don't want to lose it!" Theo instructed quickly.

"R-right!" She said as she refocused on the sensation, then imagined the water ball. Slowly, a blue light started to come from her palm as she created water droplets that combined to make a water ball. After a few moments, she opened her eyes. "I did it!" She yelled happily as she looked back and forth between Theo and the water ball.

Theo gave an approving expression. After a few moments of excitement, a puzzled expression appeared on her face.

"How come it took so long?" She asked.

"You don't have much experience in chantless casting, as you do it more, you get used to it and can do it more instinctively, like me." Theo explained.

"I see." She said as she looked at Theo with amazement. "I can't believe you figured this out so young!" She said with continued amazement. "But... How do I get rid of it?" She asked as she looked at the water ball.

"Right... Just picture it dissipating, though it may take a moment." Theo said.

"Right!" She said as she closed her eyes. After a few moments, it began to shrink and dissipate and quickly, it was gone.

"Great job! Now you just gotta practice." Theo said.

"Right!" Sydney said happily with a nod and a broad smile. Theo chuckled a bit. "What is it?" She asked.

"Nothing, I'm just glad you haven't changed much." He said with a warm smile.

"Is that so?" She asked. Theo nodded.

"You're just as excitable as I remember, just more logical is all." Theo said. Sydney gave Theo a smile. She stood, looking at him vacantly for a moment, before tilting her head and responding.

"I guess you're right!" She said happily.

"Well, why don't you go ahead and try to hit that target you made." Theo said.

"Okay!" She said as she turned her attention to the target. She closed her eyes and focused, then, after a few seconds of charging, shot a water ball at the target. "I did it!" She said as she glanced over at Theo and noticed her mother standing in front of the front door, observing them. Her mood shifted as she looked towards the ground. Theo tilted his head.

"Something wrong?" Theo asked with concern. Sydney snapped her head up.

"Sorry, just got caught up thinking about something..." She said a bit timidly.

'Hm? Something's off...' Theo thought as he glanced behind himself and saw his mother standing in the doorway. 'Okay, something's way off, mom doesn't just watch interactions.' Theo thought to himself as he shifted awkwardly.

"A-anyway, we should stop here for today, we have to prepare for tomorrow's celebration, after all!" Sydney said with a wry smile as she walked to the door and practically pulled her mother inside.

'Are they... Avoiding me?' Theo wondered as he began to worry. 'No, otherwise Sydney wouldn't be talking so much... But mom on the other hand...' Theo thought as his mind began to race with thoughts. 'Gah! I don't know!' He thought as he scratched his head in annoyance.

He sighed and walked over to the door, then noticed the hushed voices of his sister and mother from inside.

"You'll have to some time soon, otherwise he'll leave before you can!" Sydney said annoyedly.

"I know..." Kendra responded melancholically as the sound of footsteps could be heard walking away from the door.

'What were they talking about?' Theo wondered as he heard a sigh and another set of steps began to walk away from the door. 'I'd imagine they want me to avoid talking about it... Or rather, they want to keep it secret... I mean, I probably shouldn't mention it, I'd just add fuel to whatever fire they're trying to put out...' He thought to himself as he hesitantly opened the door.

He walked inside and saw his mother in the kitchen, preparing some kind of liquid. "Oh, Theo, I think Sydney went to her room, she wanted to say something to you." Kendra said with a quiet tone.

"Right..." He said as he walked through the entryway and to Sydney's room. 'Strange... Why go inside saying she has to prepare, just to say she needs to say something to me...?' Theo wondered as he knocked on her door, his heart beginning to race as his uncertainty changed to worry.

"Come in." She said like an order, like a commander that was abruptly interrupted during a meeting.

'She definitely wasn't like that a moment ago...' Theo thought as he opened the door. As he walked in, his focus moved across the room, settling onto his sister, who is sitting on her bed with her legs crossed, a serious expression across her face. Theo took a shallow breath. "Mom said you wanted to say something." He said as he looked into her eyes, the usual soft expression gone and replaced with a piercing gaze.

"I don't like lying. I'll say that now." She said.

"Right?" Theo said in confusion as he tilted his head slightly and a perplexed expression crossed his face. 'Where is this going?' He asked himself. Sydney sighed and lightened her expression a bit as she stood up.

"Theo, I don't want you to think that I think you were lying, that's not what I mean." She said.

'Well, I suppose that's a relief...' He thought to himself. 'Of course, that explains literally nothing...' He added.

"Mom said that when you come back, we should do our best to put on happy faces that you'd be able to recognize. Which, for me, isn't difficult, but for dad, and most of all mom herself... They can't maintain them. And I hate having to act as if nothing changed in the time you were gone." She said as she walked over to him and put her hands on his shoulders.

"What do you mean?" Theo asked as he began to process the words flowing into his ears. 'What's changed? I mean, mom's sad, but I can attribute that to the fact that I was missing and possibly dead, and, obviously, that would linger after I was found... But what else has changed?' Theo wondered as he tried to see the possibilities.

"Theo..." She said as she moved her hands to his back and gave him a hug. "After we heard about your disappearance... Things just..." She paused as her eyes began to water and her breaths became unsteady. "They fell apart..." She said as she strengthened her hold on Theo.

'What...?' Theo wondered. 'Firstly, is she crying? Secondly, what am I supposed to do here? And thirdly, what exactly fell apart? Are mom and dad still together? Did they just stop talking? What exactly happened that I wasn't aware of?' Theo continued his train of thought as a million things ran through his mind.

"Mom began to isolate herself, and dad started going to the tavern more and more... I didn't know what to do... So, I looked for you... For so long..." She said as tears began to run down her face. "I thought that if you came back, things would go back to normal... But I forgot something..." She continued.

'What could it be? I mean, there isn't too much to remember, right?' Theo thought to himself.

"You... Still haven't fulfilled the requirements... You have to go to the family house still... And having to part ways again so soon... It's not just mom that's sad about it..." Sydney said as she gripped the back of Theo's shirt.

'Ah... That... That makes sense... Mom didn't want the last thing I saw before going to be them crying...' Theo thought to himself. Theo hesitantly moved his arms around Sydney and hugged her back. "Well, now I feel kind of bad... For the time I was in that cell, I was content while you all were going through mental anguish, worrying over me..." Theo said. 'Plus, I didn't even consider the fact I'd still have to go...' He thought to himself.

"No..." Sydney said. "You were seven... How could you have known?" She asked through tears as she began to cry harder.

'I said something wrong... Of course, mentally I'm...' Theo thought to himself with a pause. 'No, I shouldn't think that way, after all, to the people here, I'm twelve...' He amended his thoughts.

"None of this was your fault... I just... I wanted you... To hear... So you knew why everything was different... Why you'd have to leave again..." She said. "Mom couldn't do it... she didn't want you to be sad, but... It had to be said..." She added.

"Sorry, I said something unnecessary..." Theo said.

"Stop apologizing... We should be the ones doing that!" She said angrily.

"I..." Theo paused. "I just don't know what to do with a family that cares about me so much..." Theo said softly.

'Ultimately, I was unable to help ease her worries or even comfort her. All I could do was stand there... It was painful, knowing there was something I could do, but not knowing what it was. At the end of the day, my skills as a human haven't changed, I'm still the same useless dreg of society I was before reincarnated, I just gained some fancy tricks.' Theo thought at the end of the night.