Chapter 4: Books

Kendra knelt in front of the chest, then opened it with her free hand. Inside the chest is three books. 'Books!' Theo thought to himself as an excited expression appeared on his face.

"Ah, that's where they went, I knew I should have looked in here." Kendra said.

"What is it, mama?" Sydney asked as she walked over to the chest and took a peek inside.

"They're my old beginner books for magic. One for attack magic, one for support magic, and one for magic circles!" Kendra said with a nostalgic expression. "The skills I learned from these three books got your father and I out of a lot of sticky situations." She said melancholically as she put her hand on the cover of one of the books and moved it from one side to the other.

'Seems like she's stopping herself from saying something...' Theo thought. Sydney seemed captivated by the books.

"Mama! Will you teach me how to learn from books?" She asked excitedly.

"Hm, maybe. I'll have to talk with your father about it." Kendra said.

"Okay!" Sydney said excitedly.

'She's definitely stopping herself from saying something... But I guess sometimes things are better left unsaid...' Theo thought to himself as he looked at his mother's nostalgic expression that was clearly mixed with some pain.

"Next?" Theo asked.

"Hm?" Kendra said as she snapped back to the here and now, then looked at Theo. "Ah, right, adventure." She said. "Alright, Sydney, let's go to the next room!" Kendra said with a gentle tone as she stood back up.

"Right! Across from us, the left door!" Sydney said as she ran over to the door on the other side of the hall and jumped into a stopping position in front of the door, then opened it. Kendra followed, closing the door as she exited the room.

"So many...!" Sydney said excitedly, then paused. "Things!" She said as she rushed into the room. Kendra laughed.

"This is your father's crafting room." Kendra said as she entered the room.

"What does he make?" Sydney asked as she looked around the room at the wooden sculptures and objects.

"He makes various items out of wood. He wants to sell them at some point." Kendra said.

"They're really, really good!" Sydney said happily.

'He certainly does have skill, but I can see why he hasn't started selling them yet. There are a lot of imperfections in the statuettes.' Theo thought to himself as he looked at the statuettes and other items. Kendra watched Sydney explore the room for a few minutes.

"Alright, time to go downstairs, I have to start cooking dinner." Kendra said.

"Aww, okay." Sydney said in a disappointed tone.

"Well, I'm sure you're hungry, right?" Kendra said.

"That's true!" Sydney said happily as she grabbed Kendra's hand to hold it. They began to walk to the exit of the room.

The night progressed smoothly, their father got home, they washed up, they ate, they went to bed.

Theo looked through the wooden bars of his crib to make sure his parents were asleep, the moonlight from the window illuminating the bed softly. 'Good.' Theo thought to himself as he moved his attention to above him, then moved his palms to face the ceiling.

'Now picture it perfectly, a ball of water...' He thought to himself as he closed his eyes and imagined a deep blue ball of water. He felt the mana flow from his abdomen to his fingers as a soft blue light was emitted from his hands a ball of water formed above him.

After he had imagined the ball, he opened his eyes and saw the ball of water above him. 'I'm getting faster.' He thought to himself as he clumsily moved his hands around, manipulating the water and separating it into different clumps of water.

Once the water was separated, he changed the water from spheres into humanoid shapes and put on a show inspired by the sword in the stone.

"Hmm, water..." John said quietly as he began to wake up, too quietly for the distracted Theodore to hear. John opened his eyes slowly and saw the floating water, constantly changing form, fluidly moving in sequence. Confused, he moved his focus to where Theo is, making sure he was still there, and saw him moving his arms at the water. 'What the...?' John wondered as he sat up, causing the bed to squeak a bit.

Theo quickly turned to face the bed and saw John looking directly at him with a confused expression.

"Uh... Dream?" Theo said uncertainly as he moved his arms away from his center of mass, dispersing the water into the air, combining it with the ambient humidity. John looked up and saw the water was no longer there.

'Did he...?' He wondered as he stood up and grabbed his cup which is on the nightstand on his side of the bed. "You fill my cup and I won't say a word to your sister or mom." He said.

'Deal!' Theo thought as he moved one of his hands and made a small stream of water to fill John's cup. "Promise!" Theo said with a smile.

"Yes, yes, I promise." John said as the stream stopped as the cup was full. He took a sip. 'Refreshing.' He thought. "You do this every night?" John asked.

"Eh..." Theo said instinctively, as he decided whether he would lie or not. 'On one end, there's him telling mom, on the other, he honors our deal...' Theo thought as he watched his father drink from his cup. "Yes." He said hesitantly.

"You're smarter than you let on, aren't you, Theo?" He asked. Theo chuckled nervously. "Well, even if you are, you're still a baby; A very smart one, but a baby nonetheless.

'I'm mentally thirty, thank you very much.' Theo thought to himself. "Sleep?" Theo asked. John nodded.

"Both of us." He said. Theo nodded.