I appreciate all the comments on the last page, man, I was worried about the response to it!  I thought people would be on one fence or another, and never expected that both sides would be represented!  Just because I think one way is logical, doesn't mean that someone else will, and that's fascinating!

Welcome to the second part of Chapter One-- I can't believe we're almost halfway there! (unless I take more than 30 pages for the first chapter, which I'm almost at and could be a possibility, honestly!)  Say hello to the spirits and to the first occurrence of Academic magic!