“Good luck with that. Not even my wife could get more than a first name out of Lily.”
“Do you think she would speak to me about him if she understood that it was important to her daughter’s future?”
“Honestly, I don’t know.”
“Do medical records exist for Lila?”
“Yes. We have our own Healer. She’s been Lila’s only doctor her whole life.”
“She did your blood test?”
“Yes, twice.”
“Hm, maybe we should start by comparing the blood samples.”
“All right, as long as you send us what you have, I’m okay with it. Is this a good number to message?”
“Yes, this is my number. Message me or email, whatever is easiest for your healer. I’ll get the contact information to our doctor immediately.”
“Very good, Council Head, thank you. Could you ask Lila to call her mother back in a few minutes? Jerry is finishing the magic talk, and she needs to speak with her daughter.”
“Of course. Tell her it will be from a different number, but the same area code.”
“Will do.”
“Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Finkle, good day.”
They hung up and Alexander looked at Lila and Sebastian for a minute.
“Sebastian, why don’t you show Lila the conference room and lend her your phone. You and I need to talk to Chief Henry and the hospital, see if we missed anything.”
“What will happen to me?” Lila asked worriedly.
“Until we learn more, Sebastian is going to be your teacher and guardian. He will be responsible for all your basic needs: housing, food, training, etc. If the two of you find that you are not compatible, we can see about finding a different guardian for you to live with.
Lila looked at Alexander and then Sebastian, a frown deepening between her brows.
“What is it, my dear?” asked Xander.
“’Guardian’ sounds a lot like ‘parent.’”
“In a way, he will be. Until you are tested and found proficient with your magic, you must remain the responsibility of someone who can guarantee the Magique community that you will not go rogue.”
“Rogue?”
“Yes. There are those who flout our laws. Mage law is strict and discipline is swift and severe. In our world independence is earned, not given arbitrarily at a certain age.”
“So I will be Sebastian’s ‘dependent’?”
“Yes, and I apologize. It is necessary for your safety as well as the safety of the Magiques around you,” he gave Lila a sympathetic smile.
“What about my job at the college?”
“I’m afraid you will have to leave that job.”
“Why? How will I make money to live?”
“Your magic is why, and we will take care of everything, including helping you find an appropriate career path for your future.”
“Appropriate?” Lila’s face held something that looked like insult.
“One with power such as yours should not be a mere cog in the bureaucratic machine. You are destined for more, Miss Bell.”
Sebastian showed Lila to the conference room so that she could call her mother back. While Alexander waited for Sebastian to return, his gaze fell on a framed manuscript page that hung on his wall. It was an old interpretation of the prophecy. Alexander had memorized it centuries ago, but he liked having the visual reminder of his belief in his sight every day. Now he recited it to himself as a prayer.
Lila talked to her Mom for more than an hour. Eventually, Lily stopped freaking out about magic being real, and they were able to talk about her living under the guidance of Sebastian.
“Remember, honey, if he does anything that makes you uncomfortable, you go straight to that head guy and complain. Don’t wait for him to act.”
“Mom, He’s like a hundred years old. He looks at me like I’m an infant.”
“Lila, you are exactly the kind of beautiful that older men go for.”
“Well I’ve already turned this one off with swearing and snark. He’s very old fashioned, so I’m pretty sure I’m not his type.”
“Just remember.”
“Yes Mom, I will. Love you Mama Belle.”
“Love you, Baby Belle, call me every day, or else I’ll get on a plane.”
“Okay Mom, I will.”
The remainder of the day was spent doing necessary errands that would make Lila a comfortable resident of Sebastian’s household. He took her to the council office in city hall where she was registered as a dependent of Sebastian’s and she had her photo taken for her new I.D. It rankled her a bit that she was dependent on Sebastian, but he explained the novice/teacher relationship to her as they left the building and strolled to the diner for lunch.
By the time Lila had dragged her last french fry through the ketchup on her plate and started chewing it’s sweet and salty perfection, she had a decent grasp of just how much her life had changed overnight. She couldn’t say yet if it was better or worse, but it was drastically different.
In the mage culture, a novice was the responsibility of their family, or the mages at the monastery. All young mages were schooled in magical practice to control their power, mage history, so that they could conduct themselves properly among mages, and they were told about the other Magique races so that they could navigate their Magique world. In either case, younglings were taught the skills needed to achieve first novice, then acolyte, and finally mage status in a school environment. Once the Teacher decided that the Student was ready, they were tested by the council of elders.
Until the council determined that the Student had achieved the control and knowledge of a mage, they would not be granted independence. An independent mage had control of their power and sufficient understanding of the magical world and it’s laws. So Lila’s tutelage would consist of physical conditioning, magical practice, and book learning.
By late afternoon, all errands were completed in town and Sebastian and Lila headed out of town to see if they could find the Millers and get into Lila’s cottage.
Chapter 4
August
Five weeks later Lila’s daily routine and new life was more or less established. She woke early to breakfast with Sebastian and then spent 3-4 hours working out with him in the gym that took up the basement space in his house. Lila had practiced gymnastics as a child, but she had never gone to a gym for fitness. Sebastian was an unsympathetic trainer, constantly pushing her to go for more reps or more weight. After an hour of either weight training or cardio, Sebastian taught Lila Aikido. He explained that the practice shared a similar philosophy to the way they used their magic. The intent was not to do harm to an attacker, but to use his inertia against him and divert his blow in such a way as to render his attack useless. Sebastian was teaching Lila to defend herself, but never aggress. (That would be ‘unladylike.’) Lila argued constantly that it was the 21st century, and Sebastian should give up his chauvinist views towards women, but her arguments fell on deaf ears, and Sebastian suggested that less talking might result in better mastery of the forms he was teaching her.
The workout was exhausting, but luckily, mages recovered quickly, and by the time she’d showered and eaten lunch, she was ready for a few hours of reading the history, practice, and politics, of mages. She learned that mages and most other races were born into their magic, and their power was inherited from their parents. This was why old Magiques were prejudiced. Two mage parents could make a mage child with the same or more magical power, but if one parent was a different race, less power was guaranteed.
The Mage Way was a religion that centered around a prophecy that basically said a mage was destined to save the Magique world. Because of this, every youngling’s power was measured and recorded by the teacher, and then again by the Council of Elders, when they achieved independence. Gaining independence meant that a student had achieved full mage status, and their power was at its peak. They were welcomed into the mage community as an immortal du
ring a sacred and solemn ceremony.
When Lila read the Prophecy for the first time, she asked Sebastian about the pronoun ‘It’. Sebastian explained that that was the pronoun used in the original prophecy, and many left it that way. That led to a discussion about female mages and their roll in mage history. Lila would have expected that females were relegated to secondary roles, the way that humans were with the occasional woman standing out, like Joan of Arc, but what she found was that female mage history was virtually nonexistent. It had never been recorded, or if it had, no one kept it. Mages were the most chauvinistic race of people she had ever come across.
Lila was appalled, and took it out on Sebastian, who in turn tried to send her to her room until she could control herself. When that enraged her further, Sebastian fled the house, locking her inside, and did not return until the next day when he arrived after breakfast with flowers and a bottle of PMS pills, which nearly led to his death, mostly because Lila was waiting for her period to arrive.
Lila hadn’t bled since she arrived in Sebastian’s house. She wasn’t pregnant, the hospital had done a test. She knew that stress could affect her cycle, but she had always been able to predict her period to the day, she was that regular. She thought about calling her doctor in Florida, but what could she do? Lila wondered how long she should wait before bringing up her concern with someone.
Most nights Lila made dinner for Sebastian and herself. Not because Sebastian insisted but rather because he only ate red meat that he grilled or picked up from a restaurant. He would go out to do errands in the afternoon and come home with enough ribs or steaks to feed an army, but no salads or sides, or even a potato. Cooking dinner for Lila was more self preservation than subservience.
She learned to give him very detailed shopping lists, using measurements and specific names of vegetables in order to avoid his uneducated oversight or confusion. Especially after he came home with brussel sprouts instead of bean sprouts she had intended for a salad. He had been surprised when the brussel sprouts did not appear with dinner, and she had been surprised that he was disappointed. The next night she made him brussel sprouts with bacon and garlic and she reveled in his praise.
Lila had never had a father growing up, but she imagined that this new relationship that she and Sebastian were developing was similar to a father/daughter relationship. In spite of the arguments and aggravations, she liked Sebastian as a father figure and a teacher, and she found that when he did praise her, it made her happy.
Sebastian did not own a television or a radio, a fact that Lila lamented every day. He had a stereo in the living room, but his music collection was 90% classical and opera. Of the remaining music that he owned, Ella Fitzgerald was the most modern artist that Lila could find. She vowed to find a record shop as soon as she was allowed to explore downtown. When asked about it, Sebastian would tell her that she had to earn a day off and even then any plans to go shopping would have to be at his convenience. The end result was that every evening was spent practicing her magic. After dishes were put away and the kitchen cleaned, they would sit down together at the large farm table in the kitchen opposite each other and Sebastian would show her something that she would attempt to duplicate. The magic came easily, but not the control of it, and the three inch thick oak table paid nightly with dark burn marks.
Lila had remembered everything about herself and her past human life. The most significant experience from her past was, surprisingly, that she’d grown up in a circus. Though she had not performed until she was in high school, she had trained in gymnastics, trapeze, trick riding, and even knife throwing. Lila had excellent balance and aim, both skills that made her training faster and easier.
She also remembered the sad date with Mitchell from the college. But her memory remained blank from the time she got out of her dead car to waking up covered in blood. This led to a discussion of vampires. Vampires were the only Magiques who were ‘made’, not ‘born.’ Apparently, many vampires possessed the ability to wipe memories, and it was especially easy to do to humans. Sebastian and Alexander wondered if a vampire was somehow involved in Lila’s attack. Since no information had surfaced about Lila through the magical database either, her sudden appearance remained a mystery.
Lila talked to her Mom every few days just to break the monotony of her routine. She wasn’t allowed off Sebastian’s property unescorted, because she didn’t have perfect control of her magic, and the only visitor they had was Alexander when he came to check on her progress. As a result, she told her mom everything she learned about Magiques. Her mom, in turn, told her about the Magiques in the circus that she had grown up with. It turned out that what Lila had dismissed as a magic trick had actually been real magic.
The more Lily learned about Magiques, the more she wished she had information about Lila’s father to tell her. Unfortunately, at fifteen, when Lily met Torin, she was too mesmerized by his beauty to care too much about details like his last name or where he’d come from. She was quite embarrassed by the fact that she knew so little about him, and even more embarrassed that she’d been so head over heels for him that she’d ignored every lesson about safe sex and gotten pregnant at sixteen.
It took Lily three weeks to work up enough courage to tell Lila the story of her father. She called Lila when she was in the middle of magic practice, and told Lila that Sebastian was welcome to listen as long as he didn’t interrupt with questions. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to get it all out otherwise. Sebastian agreed, and Lila finally heard the tragic love story of her mother and father.
Torin was a beautiful bad boy, with dark hair down to his shoulders, tons of piercings, ripped denim and combat boots. He was transferred into Lily’s sophomore home room halfway through the year. From the moment their eyes met, Torin pursued Lily. He had the exact same class schedule as she did, and by third period, he was sitting next to her. By the end of the week they were inseparable. When summer came, they both got jobs at the mall, and Torin picked her up every morning in an old beat up mustang.
They spent every available minute together. On weekends he took her to the beach, bowling, the movies, the amusement park. They talked about getting married as soon as they graduated high school and leaving Florida together for anyplace else. Lily didn’t care as long as she got to spend the rest of her life with him. They consummated their love on the fourth of July when Lily’s parents had gone away for the weekend.
Lily lived her dream for a full year before she skipped a period and began to worry. The morning she took a home pregnancy test was the same morning that Torin vanished from her life. It was the first time since they met that he did not show up to walk to school with her. Three days later Lily started looking for him. She had never asked for his address, so she went to the school office. When she asked the registrare for Torin’s address, she realized she didn’t know his last name. She begged the woman to search for his first name. She was turned away by the woman who told her that was not possible. Lily showed up at the desk every day after classes and refused to leave. The vice principal got involved after five days and took pity on Lily.
Together, Lily and the vice principal looked at every student I.D. on record and found that there was no Torin registered at her school. They even checked every student photo. Lily’s life shattered. She’d lost the love of her life, and didn’t even know if he was alive.
Months later, when her baby bump began to show, she was still depressed and tired of making excuses to her parents for her sad behavior. She packed her school bag one morning with a few toiletries and underwear instead of books and left home never to return. Two days later she met Janey.
By the end of Lily’s tale, tears were sliding down Lila’s cheeks.
“I’m so sorry for your loss, Lily,” Sebastian said with so much emotion that Lila could tell he’d experienced a similar loss.
“Oh,..I’m better now. After all, he left me the greatest love of all, my Baby Belle.”
Sebastian smiled sadly a
t the endearment the Bell women called each other.
“It’s not the same kind of love,” he said.
“No, it’s not,” Lily said regretfully, “but I don’t think anything compares to the intensity of teenage love.”
“Like Romeo and Juliet.”
“Exactly.”
“Mom, why didn’t you tell me about him when I was younger?”
“Oh, Lila, I don’t know. I guess I hurt for so many years when I thought about him, that I just couldn’t. I loved him so hard that he only belonged to me. I couldn’t even share him with you. I’m sorry about that now.”
They said good night and ended the call, but neither Lila nor Sebastian stood to leave the kitchen. Lila sniffled and laid her head down on her arm. She thought about the love her parents experienced, so intense that they couldn’t get enough of each other.
“I’ve never loved someone like that,” she said aloud, and thinking of Romeo and Juliet, she added,”Is it really possible to love someone so hard that you’d be willing to die for them?”
Sebastian smiled at Lila’s use of her mother’s word. He had loved someone hard once, and he agreed with Lily, it was hard to share it with someone else.
“It is possible, I think, but only for the inexperienced.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m thinking of Romeo. Juliet was the biggest thing that had happened to him in his short life. Her loss was monumental, so it wasn’t hard for him to take his own life. But what if she had died ten years later? Would he still have been able to? If he had a family and other responsibilities? I don’t think it would have been so easy then.”
Lila thought about her parents' story as she got ready for bed. It was so bittersweet, she didn’t know how she felt about it.
That night Lila experienced a dream she had not had since she was a child. It was a dream from her childhood. In it, she was a small girl again. It was very early, the sun not fully up yet. Her mother was in the bed next to her, asleep. When Lila opened her eyes, she saw her friend, Tee. He was waiting for her.
Magic's Love Page 4
