Ric smiled. "I'm learning magic!"
Mr. Mendes looked from Ric to Inez. "Are you teaching him?"
She crossed her arms. "The boy has a book, Francisco. I'm going to teach him what not to do."
He walked over and pulled the book from Ric's hands. "This is dangerous stuff. You'd better be careful."
As if on cue, the paper in the room began to rise. It began to fly about the room.
Josh looked around, paniced. "Oh god! The spell isn't finished!"
The paper began to fly faster and faster about the room. Soon, everyone was being batted repeatedly by the pieces of paper. Josh and Ric flailed about. Francisco and Inez quickly pulled the poys to the ground. Above their heads, a multi-colored tornado of paper continued to turn.
"Do something!" shouted Francsico.
Inez rolled over, getting ready to cast a spell. Suddenly. both heard Ric chanting. He had somehow gotten the book and began reading. As he finished, flames erupted from the book, spiralling upward to the paper. The flames consumed the flying paper, turning them to ash. In about a minute, only a fine rain of ash was left of the paper. Miraculously, nothing else was touched. The flames quickly snuffed themselves out.
Josh and Francisco sneezed as the ash fell on them. Inez sat up and looked around. "Well done!" she hugged Ric.
Francisco looked around as well. "Well, let's clean up the ash and then go out for lunch." he said, relieved that his house was intact. "I think Ric has practiced enough for today."