At Yakov's reaction, I leaned forward. A hope blossomed in my chest, a hope that my long search wouldn't be fruitless in the end, but I held my horses. For all I knew, Yakov was just giving me a show in order to convince me to give him my money.
So I had a complicated task in front of me—gauge whether Yakov was a real deal without coming out as a complete nutjob if he wasn't.
I was sure that complete nutjobs were a commonplace occurrence for practicing espers. I mean, who else believed in this kind of bullshit besides genuine witches, vampires, shapeshifters, mermaids and other supernatural creatures? Still, I had some pride and reputation to uphold.
By now, though, I had plenty of practice in that kind of thing.
"What do you feel, Yakov?" I asked with honest eagerness.
The man leaned back in his chair, clutching his hand to his chest like it was burning. "I feel… There's truly a powerful curse, dear Diana. Dangerous, dangerous curse on this drawing…"
"But what kind of curse? Do you know?"
"Yes, yes, it was a curse of terrible hatred…" Yakov's voice lowered to a mutter. "Hatred that burns like hellfire and heartache so terrible that it can split a strongest soul in two. Dear Diana, where did you find this thing?" He looked at me with deep concern.
I answered his question with my own. "But what does it do, Yakov? You speak in riddles. Please, can you explain so I could understand?"
At my question, Yakov straightened in his chair. His bushy brows furrowed, giving his face a severe look, but with no malice. "The matters of arcane aren't something that those without a talent for it should know. I'd love to explain everything to you, dear Diana, but I'm afraid it will only take a peace of mind from you. Ignorance is a bliss there, trust me."
Alright, I decided to risk it. My patience for dancing around the bush was over.
Something that I could've avoided if I added a second item to the picture from the start, one that had no magic within. That would've been a more foolproof test, but also a more obvious one. Now, if only Yakov had offered me a handshake from the start, but he didn't give me a ligitimate reason to touch him.
For some reason, people began to suspect me in foul play when I tried this with them. Maybe because they, too, knew about "Psychic Battle".
"Yakov, please, but I do have talent. And if you are a real deal, then you should be able to tell." Or so I hoped. It was only a guess of mine that witches could feel auras like other supernatural creatures could. I would be embarrassed if that wasn't true.
At Yakov's surprise, I sat straighter in my seat. After a moment of shock, he scrutinised me with puzzled eyes for several seconds, before taking a deep breath. This was when his eyes bugged out in astonishment.
"Oh, dear Diana, forgive me for my rudeness! I should've inspected your aura sooner!"
Now it was my turn to look at him in puzzlement. I didn't feel anything like I did when Andrey examined my aura, and couldn't help but think that he might have been just feigning the 'realisation'.
"Your aura is truly something amazing, dear Diana. I never saw a well so wide in my life. I don't know why you would need my expertise of all people—I'm sure you can examine any item with much better precision than I can."
I just blinked. What the hell was he talking about? A well… Could he mean… my 'hole'? I mean, that thing that witches had instead of normal auras. If that was true, then a well really sounded much better.
Most importantly, at this point, Yakov really seemed… a legit witcher! I grinned, ectatic from the perspective of finally learning something about my potential power.
"But I don't know how to, Yakov." I honestly admitted, though with way too much enthusiasm. "I had no one to teach me. It was pure luck that I even found that I was a witch in the first place! Please, Yakov, you seem to be the first person with actual abilities that I've seen around. Can you help me?"
Yakov froze. Opened his mouth. Closed his mouth. Coughed. Still, I could tell that he was tense.
"Of course… of course I can, dear Diana. But please, tell me, how did you find out that this drawing was cursed?"
"Well, I found out that when I touch magical objects, they feel wrong. Too cold or too hot."
"And for how long was that going on?"
I shrugged. "The first time that happened with me was about a month ago."
Yakov let out a breath of relief. "Oh, dear Diana, you shouldn't touch any magical items with bare hands until you learn to close your well. It's dangerous!"
"It is? How? I was just fine…" If you forget the discomfort. "Also, does a well mean my… well, the void instead of my aura?"
For a second Yakov scrutinised me from under his caterpillar brows, before, apparently, considering me not absolutely clueless. "Yes, Diana. Did you have someone to explain to you about magic before?"
I waved my fingers in the air. "Well, I met someone who knew a little about it, but he wasn't a witcher himself, so he knew very little…"
Yakov huffed. "He must be someone very ignorant to not explain the basics like these. Dear Diana, when a witch like you or me touches an object with stronger aura, a part of that aura will try to flow into her well like water flows into a hollow. From there it enters her body, and gathers within like a toxin that will, when it reaches a critical mass, bring terrible effects on it. Only if the well is closed, a person can avoid this."
I swallowed. That didn't sound good at all. Apparently my method of testing things for magic was a metaphysical equivalent of sticking a fork into a power socket to find out whether it had power.
"These things are a common problem for witches who do not exercise caution in their magic, as it's unavoidable that undesirable auras will enter one's body during spell-casting. I don't think that you should worry, though, dear Diana. Even the witches that cast spells left and right need years for the negative effects of it to show. Most of us enjoys long lives without them at all."
It was my turn to let out a breath of relief. "So will you teach me how to do all that kind of stuff, Yakov? I can pay you for tutorship, it won't be a problem."
"I'm… oh, I'd be ecstatic, too, but I cannot do it without notifying my coven. How about I introduce you to it? I'm sure that after you meet all my friends from it, you will want to join too. There's no better environment for a young witch's learning than a good coven!"