Sarah Winters laughed a bit over my admission.
“No matter how you slice it, Alice, her human side will never leave her—even if you did try and suppress it with that incantation spell of yours awhile back.” She sought to point out.
Teena was shocked. “You tried to suppress it?” She interjected in that point of the conversation—having come back with her own breakfast tray.
Alicia nodded. “It was either that or face an inquiry. By the time Tillie’s powers and abilities started to manifest themselves in her, some people on the inside were beginning to get too curious for their own good—” she said, casting a sideways glance at her friend.
Sarah Winters just sat there and shrugged. “Not my fault,” she said. “Really. At the time, I had never seen a pureblood human in their natural environment—let alone one from someone I once knew and called a comrade and friend.”
Alicia’s mood darkened just a bit. “You could have kept your fucking mouth shut, Sarah. This was—after all—a family matter. And not for the ears of the Witch’s Guild or the High Sorcerer at the time.”
Sarah wasn’t the least put off by her friend’s words.
“Just doing my duty, Alice. You would have done the same in my place—if I had married out of bounds with a human and gave birth to an eshwa spawn.”
Alice bristled—snarling under her breath. “My child is not half-blood.” She complained. “I don’t care what the High Sorcerer thinks. My baby girl is very special.”
“Being eshwa is not the end of all things, Alice. It means that she will be carrying the unfortunate mark of a diluted blood line all of her days. Like your parents did and their parents before them.”
Tillie didn’t seem to mind the distinction—if it meant embracing her human heritage.
Alicia couldn’t argue those apples. “But I had such high hopes when Trevor came into the picture. I had thought for certain that her bloodline would be broken and that our own power would be restored in the next generation.”
Sarah shook her head sadly.
“Her progeny would have carried a portion of her human side. A full quarter human in fact. It would take two to three more generations before a full magical familiar was even born into the family—providing…?”
“Nobody falls in love with a human.” Teena remarked off the side. “Believe me, I know how that feels. It’s not easy living with a mixed heritage going back generations and you never know what’s going to happen next.”
“Which is why I am concerned with my daughter’s loose associations with some…humans.” Alicia pointed out.
Tillie sighed. “Mom…dad once told me that it didn’t matter what you were—so long as you loved and supported that person.”
Her mom didn’t budge an inch on the issue. “You’re not old enough yet to make that kind of a decision. Not yet at least.”
“Funny, I seem to remember when you secretly fell in love with dad at the age of seventeen and you swore yourselves to secrecy on that matter.”
Alicia appeared stung by her daughter’s words.
“It was a different time. Before the purges took place. Before the inquisitions. Before the tribunals. The trials. The public protests.”
“None of which had anything to do with us,” the teen calmly pointed out. “All of that took place in the months and years following the Great War. When magical kinsfolk were solely to blame for the devastating loss of human life on their own home soil.”
Sarah Winters nodded. “She has a point. Most magical familiars shunned that conflict completely. Some even went into hiding for a time because of it.”
“So what changed?” Teena wanted to know. “I heard that some humans blamed your kind for what happened over at Macedonia. Then Ruckersburg. Then Skyway. Then Dortmund Valley.”
“None of which could be proven,” Alicia said with visible agitation. “People then were either scared, high, drunk, or terrified of things they thought they saw on those nights—before everything went to hell in a hand basket.
“But the bottom line: The magical kinsfolk were very well organized and trained for these skirmishes and they proved it by pushing the human regiments or armies out of the contested areas—given them a chance to reclaim some portions of their ancestral homelands.”
“That’s how the Great War got its start? Was a fight over land?” Teena questioned in all curiosity.
“Over a lot of things,” the other woman said, taking a drink from her milk carton. “It was such a destructive conflict. Beyond anything anyone had a modern recollection of. That’s why the Witch’s Guilds shut down during that time and largely disappeared from society.”
“But what about the rumors, myths, or legends of a few entering the side of the humans?” Tillie asked—feeling a bit nostalgic about the time.
“It’s nothing but stories, honey.” Alicia said with an uncomfortable air.
“But great-grandma said that she once rescued a human patrol squad from—”
“It was unconfirmed.” She denied flatly. “Plus, Gloria was drunk that night when she told that story, so I wouldn’t put too much faith in what she said.”
Her daughter sat back in her seat.
“Were you always like this, mom? I mean vindictive and hostile towards humans or humanity in general?” She boldly questioned—putting a complete damper on what was going on at the table by large.
“You certainly did blame dad for a few things over the years. But I always wasn’t sure. I thought you were just blowing off steam?”
Sarah chuckled at my unintended line of questioning. “I guess that wasn’t going to last long…” she remarked gaily.
Alicia turned on her own flesh and blood in that instant, almost ready to slap the impertinence out of her.
“You have no right to question me over my views and stringently held beliefs about humans and humanity in general.” She bit out coldly. “I sacrificed too much for this family already and I don’t need you to make me regret every second of that.”
Tillie didn’t shrink away from her mother’s salvos. But she wasn’t about ready to surrender either.
“Are you…did you blame dad for giving birth to a half-blood in the first place? Is that why you restricted me from having anything short of a normal childhood—is because of what courses through my veins?” She countered hotly, her face wavering in the process.
Slap!
The whole room went still then—as everyone watched the scene unfold before their eyes.
Even Teena didn’t say anything as her fork fell out of her mouth and hit the side of her tray.
Tillie’s face betrayed both shock, astonishment, and the hurt of being physically smacked by her mother.
“I am not going to have any more further part of this discussion, young lady. You have earned a time out. I want you to leave my presence…now. Take your tray and go.” Alicia said smartly—pointing out the nearest exit.
Tillie didn’t say anything. Couldn’t say anything.
Not when she was still bound by the rules governing her life and the restrictions laid down by not only her mother but that of the Witch’s Guild of Lower Tam.
But she didn’t act out like a typical human teenager either. She was a magical familiar. A witch.
And she knew her place. Just like so many others before her.
So she got up. Picked up her tray. And walked out of the lunch room.
Sarah watched her go, but didn’t offer anything more in her defense. It simply wasn’t her place to say anything right at this point—even though she was also a High Witch.
But Alicia carried more seniority in the matter. Plus, this was a mother-daughter dispute. And she had no right to intervene. Let alone interfere.
The room resumed its activities soon after that—once the spectacle itself died down.
“I’ll be right back,” Teena announced to the table at large and followed in Tillie’s wake out the nearest exit—leaving her half-finished tray of food behind.
&n
bsp; CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
A Park Rendezvous
Charlie managed to get down to Level Two on his own without a guide or an escort—finding himself on the corner of Maple Street and Tenth Avenue and trying to remember where exactly Mercy’s Street Mission was.
He couldn’t have gone about a half city block before he ended up lost in a deserted alleyway surrounded by two crumbling buildings which were slated to be demolished at some future date anyways.
But either his sense of bad timing or direction screwed up his telemetry because where he popped out next was definitely not on his immediate itinerary.
“Come on…” he breathed in apt frustration. “I was only here the month before last! It couldn’t have been that long ago!”
Breathe, man. Breathe…the young man counseled himself—focusing on that for a few seconds before opening his eyes and taking one good look around.
Okay, so his mistake wasn’t that terrible. Nor was his luck. He just needed to remember the exact street address the women’s mission was.
It took Charlie approximately twenty more minutes to realize that he had come in from the rear end of the street and not the front—because that’s where the facing of the mission was.
But just as he was about to celebrate his good fortune, he happened to spy a young girl running out into the street and disappearing between a cluster of buildings.
And rather than announce himself to the world that he had seen her, he decided to go ahead and tail the girl from a relatively safe distance.
Leaving the mission behind him, Charlie sprinted across an empty parking lot and hit the small park where the clustered buildings eventually lay directly ahead of him and the older boy was beginning to wonder what his mystery guest was up to.
He didn’t get a very good look at who had flown the coop. All he saw was a momentary flash of movement and the bare whisper of material that left him eating his own dust wake.
Shit! She moves fast! Charlie reflected with open amazement. Even I can’t run that quick!
In the next few minutes, he kept up despite the disadvantage he was at, trying to keep the person in his line of sight. But her magical aura movements were wrecking havoc with his human sight.
One minute she was there, the next gone. One minute there. Next minute…?
Gone.
He blinked twice in realizing that he had just lost sight of her again—in front of him—and sprinted all the way to the end of the park’s cul de sac and thought that this was the end of his journey.
It was nearly the end of his life at that point as well.
Because the second he turned around, he was face to face with that same girl, but in a defensive position, arms bent, hands out, fingers cocked.
And they were glowing with an unearthly fire all their own. Red magical glyphs danced around her wrists in sequence as she stood stock still—ready to attack.
With a cry, she leapt at him without mercy and he yelled in surprise—stumbling backwards and falling on his ass.
The girl was on him in a heartbeat, her hands charged and ready. The look on her face was completely devoid of emotion, but more pure rage and anger than he had ever seen in someone’s face before.
Not even Roz herself could get this angry…!
But as he went down, Charlie smashed the back of his head against a low-lying rock in the craziness which ensued and he moaned softly as a result—his eyes fluttering a bit in return.
It took Tillie five whole seconds to realize who it was that had managed to trail her all the way to the park and she sighed—extinguishing her magical incantations with a sharp flick of the wrist.
“What the fuck man…?!?” she hissed with strong annoyance. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
Charlie was in no position to argue. He was still partially out of it from his encounter with the rock. But he managed to moan some more, before rolling over onto his side.
Holding his head in quiet agony, he just lay there for a moment to regain his equilibrium and senses—not too mention his hammering heart and roiling stomach—then he started to laugh unexpectedly at his own discomfort and personal embarrassment.
“Ow…” he cried out pitifully—reaching out to her blindly. She took his hand—knowing the rules of no contact—and pulled him up to his feet.
Charlie was a bit wobbly from his experience and he thought for a second that he had cut himself on that same rock. A spot check revealed no blood, but a growing knot where his cranium bones fused.
Tillie sighed in exasperation and had him turn around for a moment while she performed a healing incantation for his head and in a few seconds, the small injury went away on its own.
“Now…what the fuck where you following me for?” She asked—straight up. “You could have gotten yourself killed back there with that asinine stunt!”
“I’m sorry,” the older boy was blabbering. “I just wanted to come and see you—that’s all.”
Tillie’s emotional façade cooled down from being super heated back towards rational thought.
“That’s sweet, Charlie. But now is not a good time for a visit. Mom and I just had a nuclear moment and I’m in perpetual time out. If I was at home right now, I would be grounded and in my room.” The girl explained for his overall benefit.
Charlie nodded, looking over her shoulder and seeing someone else he didn’t know come up the pathway.
“Who’s that?” He questioned warily.
“Who?” the girl echoed, turning around to see who it was.
“Her.” Charlie reiterated with a simple hand gesture.
Tillie’s shoulders slumped in slight disappointment.
“Oh, wonderful. My babysitter’s here.” She joked weakly.
“Can’t be that bad,” Charlie was saying before Teena Clarkson managed to join them.
“You’re a hard girl to track down.” She said—wiping her brow. “Lucky for you, I was able to follow both your magical aura and his life force.”
Charlie was a bit confused by the news.
“Huh? Come again? You followed us by…how?”
Tillie sighed.
“She’s an élan. Belonging to the same distant group called élans—the descendent class of faeries and elves. Elvish folk if you want to get technical about it.” She filled in at that point.
“They have some rather…unique abilities all their own—which made them invaluable as hunters and trackers.”
Teena nodded.
“She’s right. It’s all in the wrist,” she said, showing hers. It wasn’t bare at all. But covered in ornate tattoos. Tribal by the looks of them.
Charlie leaned over in Tillie’s direction.
“Should I be worried?” He whispered.
The girl elbowed him in the ribs gently.
“No. She’s perfectly harmless. Head maintenance supervisor. Or so I was told.” She defended elaborately.
“True. To a point.” Teena compromised easily enough. “In truth, I’m one of the Resistance cell leaders for Quad Sector Six, Block Twelve of this level.”
Tillie was confused by this new information.
“Ah, what now? Who? Where is it…exactly?” She stammered blindly.
“You’re standing in it.” Charlie acknowledged with a small wave of his hands.
“Welcome to Block Twelve.”
Tillie laughed lightly. “You’re joking. This…park? It’s all under her jurisdiction?”
Charlie nodded. “Pretty much. It makes for a great outing from time to time. Or for teenage girls like you needing a place to get away and delegate.”
The other girl smacked him one for even suggesting that.
Charlie rubbed his shoulder while wincing. “For a girl, you certainly hit hard,” he complained.
“Feels like you’re using brass knuckles on me.”
Tillie raised her hands and showed him what was interlaced along her fingers: Conductive silver rings and bands melded together to form one single strand.
They only broke apart at the joint to allow for unrestricted flexibility.
Charlie took a hold of one of her hands and scrutinized the fine rune markings etched into the metal itself.
“What are these?” He asked.
“Ley lines.” The girl told him. “Depending on what’s needed or required, they help channel or enhance my incantation magic.”
“I thought ley lines where a thing of myth or legend?” he ventured curiously. “Because I remember reading that they were found along different pathways in the ground and met up at a specific nexus point?”
“Maybe in the old days, that was true.” Teena interjected then. “But magical familiars and some magical kinsfolk were able to parlay that into a physical ability rather than a geological one.”
Tillie extracted her hand from Charlie’s—even though she didn’t really mind if he was innocently holding her hand at this point. Or the bare fact that she also hadn’t told him yet about her own personal boundaries as a witch and magical familiar.
“Er…sorry.” Charlie quickly apologized out of habit. “I was only curious about those markings on your fingers. Or why it looks like you’re wearing metal finger gloves from this angle.”
The other girl giggled, but nodded just the same.
“Teena’s right of course. The ley lines of old used to be charnels of ancient power and magic dating back to earlier times of human history. Some hypothesized that this is where all true magic had come from. But no one knows for sure. Not even those like us who have ancestral memories.”
Charlie nodded. “So how powerful are you again? Just curious.”
Tillie kicked him lightly with her foot.
“I was almost ready to vaporize your dumb ass in a heartbeat if it turned out it wasn’t you whom tailed me the entire way.” She laid out in no uncertain terms.
“My magic is not picky when it comes to a target. It goes where it wants to go.”
Teena chuckled at her words. “That’s usually how misunderstandings get started—if I’m not mistaken.”
Tillie nodded sagely. “Yes,” she breathed out. “But I held back my full weight. Until I was certain it wasn’t whom I thought it was.”
Generation Witch Year One Page 16
