The Fifth Rule: "Magic is a science."

"So now that I've seen," I said, "how do I begin to use magic?"

"How do you use magic?" Knave asked mockingly. "How do you use a flashlight?"

"You just...turn it on," I said.

"But how does it work?" Knave asked.

"The batteries, um, send a current through to the bulb," I said. I didn't have the best knowledge on how things worked. "Look, I'm a bartender. I could tell you how to make a Harvey Wallbanger, but not a flashlight."

"Of course not," Knave said. "But it's the same principle. Magic is a science, though, of course, not literally, as it really subverts most, if not all, of science. But the way science creates light and the way magic creates light-" He lifted up one hand and suddenly there was a glow in the palm of his hand. "-are very similar." The glow disappeared. "For a light bulb, electricity is run through a filament until it glows. In this scenerio, the electricity is magic and the filament is us."

He stepped forward and grabbed my hand. "Feel the pulse," he said. "Feel it." I could feel something, a dull throb at the back of my head giving me a headache, and then there was a tingling sensation down my arm and into my hand. "Grab a hold of that," Knave said, "grab a hold and then pull, pull until you draw it into yourself, into your hand."

I did. I pulled, somehow, and I felt the tingling sensation increase until my whole arm felt like it was going to go numb and then I saw that my fingertips were glowing, just slightly, but there they were.

Knave looked on approvingly. "Good," he said. "Perhaps this won't be such a waste after all." He clapped his hands, like he was applauding a performance.