“Contrary to popular misconception, magic doesn’t work on the user’s own biology. Can’t explain why. My mom didn’t know either once—when I fell and skinned my knees and I couldn’t heal myself. I was in such a panic. But my mom used a special medicinal salve and some band-aids to take the sting away and then later on—both my knees were throbbing. But she said that was normal. I thought I was still going to die.”
“Must have been traumatizing.”
“When you’re ten years old and just awoken as a witch—? Yes. It was. It was also one of my first lessons about magical incantation use and some of their underlying properties.” Tillie said—wincing a little bit from her stomach distress. “Where is that stuff anyways?”
“Coming!” Charlie called out, sprinting across the space between them and holding a medicine cup’s worth of Bepto Bismol.
Roz managed to catch a glimpse of it and asked the most obvious question of the day: “What happened to the chewable tablets you had?”
“Box is empty. I haven’t had a chance to go get some replacements in the past month or so.” The older boy told her while he had his girlfriend sit up to the best of her ability and then had her drink down the required dose.
“This should help.”
Tillie nodded gratefully—not moving from her required seat. “Thanks.” She said softly—both eyes closed in that moment.
Both Charlie Roz waited a few more minutes in respectful silence while Tillie waited for the medicine to do its thing and then she suddenly inhaled without warning and cut loose with a loud belch of her own.
“Oooh…sorry. Yeah. I can taste everything with that one. The Bepto as well. Interesting taste,” she breathed out with open relief. Then she took another deep breath and sighed.
“That feels so much better. Now I have a little bit more room than before.”
“Enough to finish off my pastry?” Charlie wanted to know.
Tillie shook her head.
“Oh hell no. I don’t think I can look at food the same way again—especially after tonight.”
The other two laughed, but everyone knew what that meant.
Then a quiet knock at the front door grabbed everyone’s attention.
“I wonder who that is?” Roz wanted to know—while Charlie got up to go answer the door.
Tillie shrugged—even as her boyfriend opened it and they were all looking at Rachel D’Amboise herself.
“Hey! Meeting go well?” he queried pleasantly.
“Change of plans, kids. Felix wants to see all three of you—pronto.”
“It’s only eight-thirty. I’m due to start my shift in a couple of hours,” the other boy protested lightly.
“He knows. But something else has come up and he wants an audience with you three. It’s very important.” The woman implied sternly—not moving from her position.
Tillie sighed and got off the bed as best she could. But Roz could tell that she was favoring herself as best she could. Rachel noticed her state and asked what was wrong with her.
“She ate too much—again.” Charlie filled in. “I just gave her some of the pink stuff for an upset stomach.”
“Ah…I see.” Rachel said with quiet sympathy. “Can she walk?”
Charlie turned back towards his girlfriend and shrugged. “I would think so. But she’s going to be in quite a state until we get over to the court house.”
“I heard that.” The other girl said with some slight unhappiness on her part. “I should be fine before then. Although…I’ll probably need to pee first before we go.”
“Go. Go.” Charlie encouraged quickly—stepping aside so that Tillie could pass him and go into the hallway beyond.
“I’ll be right back.” She said—leaning back a bit to kiss him on the mouth briefly.
Charlie couldn’t react fast enough before she was gone in a flash and he was left a bit flustered as a result.
Rachel giggled after seeing the his reaction. “Still a bit new to the idea?” She said.
“It’s just…different.” He admitted to some degree. “I have never been in a relationship before, so I’m still getting used to this.”
“Of course.”
Roz joined him—having grabbed both their jackets and the room key off the ring clamp next to the door—by offering him both.
“Thanks.” Charlie said gratefully—slipping his on as quickly as possible and then briefly pocketing the key. Then he stepped outside of his room with everyone else—took one last look inside—and then locked the door.
The three of them headed down the hall before they stopped in front of the bathroom and waited until Tillie Gunderson had a chance to come out.
Which was about five minutes later.
“Sorry about the wait,” the other girl apologized up front. “I’m not used to eating so much over the course of any given day.”
“Diet restrictions?” Rachel queried curiously.
“Part of it is that reason. The other is the witch’s code. I’m not allowed to eat a whole lot of human food. There are markets in the city which caters to magical familiars.”
“So coming down here was—”
“—a bit of a break from the usual. And a treat. Especially the New York style deep dish pizza I had when I first came here at the pizza parlor. That was pure heaven in itself.”
“So no guilt then?” Rachel wanted to know.
Tillie hesitated for a moment.
“Sometimes.” She admitted right then. “I remember being human once. I remember all the delicious things that I could eat without fail because my father was human and my mother—?”
“And then on the day you awoke…you realized then that you could never belong to that world anymore. The human one. The one of avarice, wonder, and untold dreams.”
“—and all the cotton candy a girl like me could wish for…” Tillie remarked with heavy sadness and regret.
Charlie put a reassuring hand on his girlfriend’s shoulder. “You still can, Tillamook. There’s a cotton candy venue down on George Street and Pacific Avenue that have twelve different flavors.”
Tillie’s face changed in that instance. But it wasn’t one for the better—that much was certain.
“Now you’re just torturing me.” She pleaded with him then.
“Just saying,” Charlie offered, bumping into her with his hip. “There’s no reason for you to deny yourself life’s simplest pleasures just because you’re a witch. Or a High Witch in training.”
Tillie went silent.
“My mother would never forgive me. Just as Rachel here hasn’t forgiven me for all the things I’ve done in the name of humanity.”
Rachel’s facial expression changed in that moment—changing to pity for the girl.
“Look, I didn’t say it was your fault, Tillamook. You’ve just never been good at following authority. You are so determined and pigheaded at times—even when you were at the Academy.”
“It wasn’t my fault!” She exploded right then in rage. “There were just so many rules…! So many laws…! So many things that I had to follow! But I couldn’t help myself! No matter what I did or what I tried…I couldn’t get rid of the part of me that was human for all time...” Then she slumped to her knees, hunched over. In the next second, her lithe frame started to shake and shiver, then the tears started to flow unimpeded.
“No one’s blaming you for this, Tillamook.” Charlie said, bending over in that moment to try and comfort her.
But the girl wasn’t in a forgiving mood.
“Really? The second I leave this place, my life with you will be over!” She yelled at him point blank. “I will no longer know what it means to be in love or be loved! All because of the stupid rules!”
Rachel shook her head in mock sympathy. “You think the rules were put in place to torment you and prevent you from forming healthy relationships with those of your own kind? Is that what you believe?”
The girl looked up at her former teacher and instructor with mis
ery in her eyes.
“It is when you’re a product of two worlds! You should know! The Ten Rules specifically spell that out at the Academy on the White Board in the Hall of Mages. I have to be of one world. Of one kind—species if you want to get technical about it. There is nothing printed in large relief that says anything about those of us who are half-lings in this world of ours. There are no guidelines for that. We have to be forced to choose which side we belong to in that moment—like Roz here has to.”
Everyone looked at the other girl in that instant. But she just shrugged. “I’m not so tied to the same philosophy as witch girl here is.” She said. “I’m almost human in most regards—even though I am still a quarter elf.”
Rachel looked at her for a moment. “So you have had no problems adapting to your situation any?”
Charlie coughed a few times in embarrassment.
Roz looked down at him with annoyance, but he was too busy pretending to be noticed. But she gave him a slight kick in his general direction anyways nonetheless.
“I wouldn’t say that,” she admitted freely. “But my situation with my family was a bit different than Tillie’s here was.”
“But you’re a half-ling, right?”
The other girl nodded. “Yes. Why?”
“Then you must know how the world in general treats people like you. And her.”
Roz shrugged. “I know the stories. The horrors. The whispered secrets in the night. The backdoor meetings. The handshakes. The deals. Everything which surrounded people like me for years. It was no different during the Civil War of the middle 1800s than it was here in the 22nd century.”
Charlie didn’t say anything at first. Then he stood up. “But most of the slavery laws in place forbade people from taking half-lings as either their servants or slaves. Or so I was told.” He stated in passing. “Is that why Tillamook has had a hard time adapting? Because of the ugliness surrounding half-ling history?”
Rachel nodded in quiet sympathy. “Yes. Because of that. She had seen the pictures. The video slides. Every conceivable piece of media out there depicting the horrors of slavery. Did you guys even know that just like in America’s old Civil War, the Great War had its origins in the history of slavery of magical kinsfolk—particularly those who are half-lings?”
“I thought it was due to the hatred humanity had shown towards them and magical familiars?”
The woman sighed—before shaking her head. “It wasn’t always that. But I’m not the least bit surprised by your answers or comments. The issue of slavery has been a festering boil in this country’s sad long history of histories going all the way back to the Middle Ages.” She said. “That’s how this nation’s two great wars were fought over: Humanity’s lust for control over those they see as inferior and weak.”
“But that wasn’t always the case—was it?” Came a different voice into the conversation. It was Tillie’s. And it looked like she was done crying.
Everyone gave her some much needed space to stand up and then waited for her next answer.
“What’s going on in the here and now isn’t based on the issue of slavery. At least—not in its total context. It was the fallout from the old federal government’s attempts to level the playing field so that all kind can benefit on equal terms. But because the war left so many open wounds…the nation’s survivors believed that they had been betrayed by those they thought represented them.” She said evenly.
“And because nerves were frayed and shot, the government didn’t want another possible third civil war to break out and be an end to all things. So they moved quickly to pacify the tide of anger and misplaced rage by making special compensation for those affected by the conflict while…making secret deals behind closed doors.” Charlie explained in sudden realization—then looked at his best friend in turn.
“So…your family—?”
“—were part of that series of secret negotiations.” Roz finished for him. “We wanted to make sure that we wouldn’t be blamed for wanting our freedoms. To be saved by humanity’s own selfish wants or desires. And no longer be slaves to their whims.”
“Because you had no way of fighting back after the war ended.” Rachel saw with a nod of acknowledgement. Then she glanced over in Tillie’s general direction and sighed.
“Now it makes sense.”
Charlie was confused by her statement. “What do you mean?” he asked.
“Tillie’s behavior at the Academy from the beginning. We all thought she was just…acting out at times or being a nuisance—or why—?”
“—why I didn’t follow the rules like everyone else?” Tillie chimed in knowingly.
Rachel nodded. “Yes. You racked up quite a few demerits for your behavior. And sometimes by your actions. But you wouldn’t let anything go. Not even the slightest. You fought tooth and nail in the protections of those who were like you. The ones that sat next to you in class. Or the ones in the school whom didn’t have a guardian, protector, or champion.”
“I prefer the term advocate, Instructor.” Tillie corrected.
“Oh. My mistake. The lower student body compromised of…how shall I say it—?”
“Half-lings.” Both Roz and Tillie chimed in together. “It’s okay. It’s not a racial slur. Not like it was in the old days.”
“Some wouldn’t feel the same way, Tillamook.” Rachel said unpleasantly. “They see the both of you as, well…different.”
“Being born of two worlds usually evokes a strong reaction out of those of you who were born human.” Tillie said in passing. “Even if the war ended. Even if everything came to pass as you laid out earlier. There are some things which can never be expunged from history.”
“But then why attack magical familiars? Why try to erase magical kinsfolk from the annals of history and their homeland?” Charlie wanted to know.
“It’s like I said last night before bed, man: Revenge.” Tillie told him flat out. “The human race was almost subjugated by magical kinsfolk and their allies before the war ended. In a last ditch effort, humanity tried to silence their would be captors with an ultimatum: By striking out at those cities which were the many strongholds of our kind.”
“—which ended the war almost overnight. A truce was struck. Accords were drawn up in Richmond, Virginia. A lasting promise of no more losses. No more conflict. Even after fifty million plus humans perished. Along with five million magical kinsfolk and some of their stalwart allies. Humanity wanted no part of the horrors they themselves visited upon their former…slaves.” Rachel whispered in quiet realization.
Tillie nodded. “And because of that, the rest of the country was thus spared of any further humiliation. The issue of slavery—for all intent and purpose—died on that night. On May 15th, 2157—six years after the war got started.”
Roz rubbed her head for a second. “No wonder everyone’s so fucking pissed right now.” She remarked with thinly placed humor. “And because of that…history repeats itself once again. The losers become the aggressors in a nationwide genocidal campaign of retribution and attrition.”
“Which nobody seems to be in a position of stopping.” Charlie sought to point out to everyone in the hallway.
“Because no one thought it could happen again.” Tillie told him. “People like me and Roz here thought we had won a lasting peace amongst humanity’s survivors and their children. It turns out we were responsible for lighting the match. For what is happening now—33 years later.” She took in a deep breath before releasing it.
“And now we’re the ones who are paying for it. Every one of us who has a drop of blood from both magical kinsfolk and our human progenitors.”
“It’s not just you that’s suffering. It’s also them.” Charlie threw out.
“I know.”
“So how can we stop further bloodshed?” Rachel wanted to know then. “How do we get the killing to abate?”
Tillie shrugged. “I don’t have the foggiest idea.” She said at that point. “But I do know
that we can’t just surrender to the humans either. They would exterminate us outright rather than let us live another day.”
“That doesn’t sound too good.” Roz muttered unhappily.
“No. It doesn’t.” The other woman said with a heavy sigh of her own. “But I suppose in light of things, we have to find a different solution than all out warfare. We have to get humanity to see a different path.”
Tillie snorted. “Good luck with that one. I still have a target painted on my back by the armies of the Third Watch. And one Captain Kara Plummer in particular.”
“Why the sudden interest in just you?” She argued lightly.
“Because I am the holder of the Dragon’s Tear?” The girl joked ruthlessly.
“That couldn’t be the only reason.”
“Okay. That I’m a witch?”
“Not good enough.” Charlie threw in.
The other girl stared at him. “Come on…seriously man? You‘re going to play that card with me again?”
The older boy shrugged indifferently. “There has to be some other reason why everyone’s after you so badly. It can’t be because you’re a witch and in possession of the Dragon’s Tear. There’s got to be some other hidden agenda. And ulterior motive.”
Tillie patted him on the arm. “Well, when you find one, um…let me know. In the meantime, we have to find out what Felix wants from us.”
Charlie snorted derisively. “That wasn’t the answer I was looking for, Tillamook.” He fired back at her evenly.
His girlfriend smiled.
“Hey. I may be the heroine of this little story of ours, but even I don’t have all the answers to give you. I’m just an integral part of it. Like all of you.” She told him.
“So that’s it?” Roz echoed with open amusement. “We just keep playing our respective parts until the villain of the story decides to show herself at a most opportune time? That would be…sometime tomorrow after the Third Watch launches their intended attack on us.”
Tillie laughed. “Yeah. I know. Great—isn’t it?”
“No! Why would it be? I’d rather die not knowing about some things in life witch girl.”
Generation Witch Year One Page 48
