Upside Sunshine

He picked up the soup and tried to eat it. 

One spoonful was all it took for him to make a face and drop the spoon. 

"But how would you know what their power level is compared to yourself?"

"Simon, do you remember when we were in that classroom?  There was this round black sphere the size of a billiard ball." 

I scrunched up my face trying to remember.  "It was made of some strange material that absorbed all light." 

My eyes crinkled with a smile.  "When Connor touched it, I saw an arc of power surging from the center.  It lit up the ball so brightly that it hurt my eyes." 

"Hahaha!  I remember!"  Simon laughed.

"It's just an old-fashioned magik electrometer.  It measures how much magikal charge a mage has left within so a novice mage can determine whether he has enough power to execute an energy-intensive Command."

He slapped his leg with mirth.  "I remember you trying it out.  Hahaha, you were inert!"