“Something less realistic then,” said Meg, her mouth twitching into the barest smile.
“Mission Impossible?” suggested Jared.
“I’ve watched it five times and I still don’t get it. How did Ethan piece it all together?” I asked before clamping my mouth shut. I’d forgotten myself; maybe they didn’t want the newbie’s input.
“Ugh, me too,” sighed Kitty, putting my fears to rest. “And don’t get me started on two and three.”
“The singing Buffy episode? I have the score so we can sing along,” said Clara and I guessed the boxset on the shelf must have been hers. Her enthusiasm was quashed quickly with a chorus of groans.
Eventually, a new comedy release was not so much agreed upon, as not entirely rejected by the table, with Evan shrugging his shoulders in a “don’t care” way. He had barely said anything throughout the meal but I’d seen him shoot a glance in my direction when he thought I wasn’t looking.
“Can I help you clear away?” I asked Meg.
“Thank you, dear. If you’ll just stack the plates in the dishwasher, well, that will do nicely.”
I was glad to have a job to do to save me feeling out of place and Kitty quickly joined me in clearing the table as Meg foiled the leftovers.
“So, you and Marc?” said Kitty when there was just the two of us left. She wasn’t as chipper as she had been earlier and I wondered if she had had a long day too. “What’s going on between you?”
“Marc and me?” I replied sounding like an echo. Maybe Evan had said something about us being curled up together in my room? I opened the dishwasher and stooped to stack it. “There’s nothing between us. We only met a few days ago.”
“Oh, I thought you two might have been ... dating or something.”
“No. He’s nice and I like him. He’s attractive but we’re not dating.” I rolled a scenario through my mind. I liked him and trusted him and he would make a good boyfriend, I decided. Not that I was looking for one. I blushed as I remembered the kiss. The very nice kiss.
“I see.” Kitty gave herself a shake and went to retrieve the glassware from the table. “Do you want to, you know, date him?”
“I don’t know.” I was getting a little uncomfortable with being grilled about a man I barely knew by a woman I’d just met, even though I’d already had Kitty pegged as forthright. “I haven’t really thought about it. I don’t even know if he’s dating anyone.”
“He isn’t.” Kitty’s voice was quiet and I looked up at her from where I was stacking the last plate. Ahh. Maybe Kitty had a thing for Marc.
“Anyway, I’m not really that into dating,” I said quickly to fill the silence. That was technically true anyway. My last date had been months ago and I’d soon decided I’d rather not bother if that was what was on offer.
“Have you known each other for a long time?”
“Forever practically. We grew up together, went to the same school. My family knows his, yada, yada.”
Étoile ducked her head around the door. She had a small plastic folder she held to her chest. “If you’re finished, Stella, I need to go over a couple of things with you. I’ll be quick. I’m sure you want to chill out with the movie too, get to know everyone a little better.”
Kitty waved me away. I wiped my hands on a kitchen cloth and sat at the table with Étoile. She opened the folder and spread a few things out. “I know you have a British driver’s licence but you can’t use it long term here, so here’s your American one.” She pushed it towards me – my picture was already on it.
“How did you get this?”
Étoile shrugged. “That’s not important. We closed your bank account and transferred the money into a new account for you. There’s your card and statement.”
I looked at it and raised my eyebrows. The figure on the opening balance was far higher than what I had in my current checking and savings combined. Like, ridiculously high. “There must have been a mistake.”
“No mistake. Steven transferred cash from your parents’ estate. He said there was a letter in the stuff he gave you explaining everything.”
I recalled the letter. I hadn’t read it yet and made up my mind to open it later.
“They can’t have left me this much.”
“They did and Steven has looked after their assets so it’s all yours.”
I traced my name in the little letters on the card. “I thought I wasn’t supposed to have anything traceable.”
“From your old life, yes, but this is new and the things we set up ... well, you won’t have a problem. You can start your life afresh.”
“Friends in high places?”
“Something like that.” Étoile was offhand. “You already have your passport so I think that’s it.”
“What do I tell people? I don’t have an American accent.”
“The truth should suffice if you stick to the facts. You had an American dad, he died early and you grew up in England and now you’re trying out life here.” It sounded so neat and succinct the way Étoile explained and I nodded. Étoile slipped the cards and paper back into the folder and pushed it over to me. “Now we’re done with that little business, we’ve got film night to look forward to. I didn’t vote for it, so if it’s terrible, you can’t blame me. Come on.”
The sofas were fully occupied when we joined the rest of the household, so we pulled floor cushions and nestled on the floor. I stretched out my legs and leaned against the arm of Kitty’s armchair and she patted me on the head like a favoured pet while David fiddled with the DVD player and the opening credits loomed on the screen.
Whether my companions were lost in the film or in their own thoughts, I couldn’t tell but it did give me the opportunity to look over them. When I looked at Evan, careful to barely adjust my head, I found him already observing me and I held his gaze a long moment before he returned to the book he had opened. He seemed to have been searching my face, though I couldn’t decipher what for, but I noticed he didn’t turn the page for some time even though he seemed lost in concentration.
When I looked away, I saw Marc was watching me too, so I gave him a little smile and refocused my eyes on the screen, though my thoughts were on Evan. I couldn’t help wondering what he might have to teach me, and why I had been lumped with him when he seemed so openly hostile to me.
I knew one thing though.
I was desperate to learn. As much as I appreciated everything that was being done for me, I wanted my life and I wasn’t prepared to just be kept indefinitely. The only way I was going to get some semblance of my life back – it was clear to me now – was to be able to control my magic.
SIX
If I thought I would get any time to acclimate myself to my new home I was wrong. My first lessons started with a rude awakening from several thumps on my door as Kitty called to me, giving me a scant few minutes to drag on jeans and a strappy top before scampering down the stairs. I had just enough time to grab a muffin and the last of the coffee and stuff them down my throat just as Evan appeared in the kitchen doorway.
“We’ll head into the library,” he muttered, signalling that I was to follow, without greeting anyone else.
Behind his retreating back, Kitty pulled a face and I stifled a giggle as I scrambled after him.
I’d passed the library several times since my brief tour but never paused to look inside so I was surprised to find it not at all stuffy. Instead, the room was large and airy, every wall covered with white shelves holding hundreds of books. Some were old and well-thumbed with creased spines, others newer purchases; all of them covering a myriad of subjects. There were some easy chairs and side tables with lamps spread around. It was a lovely room.
“I hadn’t thought magic would be all about book learning,” I said, scanning the spines for familiar titles.
“It isn’t. In fact, ignore the books entirely.” Evan waved a hand dismissively at the groaning shelves. “Unless you want to pick up something to read later in your free time.”
“So, how do I learn?” I frowned.
“It’s not like a class, Stella. I don’t give you a textbook that we work through. You’ll learn as we go along and we’ll adapt as appropriate. Show me what you can do.”
“What do you mean?”
“You must be able to do something.” Evan paused and waited for me to jump in; then, exasperated, prompted me with a flick of his hand and raised eyebrows, “Something magic?”
“I can move myself,” I replied cautiously.
“How?”
“I don’t know! I’m in one place, and then I just ... vanish and end up somewhere else.”
“Show me.”
I took a deep breath and thought about being somewhere else. I closed my eyes and waited. I waited for the tingling and crackling in the air and the powerful burst of energy that signified me flitting out of the world. After a minute, when the feeling didn’t come, I opened my eyes and looked around. I was still in the library and Evan was looking perplexed. I felt like I had just lied on my résumé and been called on it in an interview. I heaved a sigh of disappointment. This was not going to be easy.
“One of two things happened there,” said Evan and I looked at him hopefully. “You either went and came back so fast that I didn’t notice or, nothing happened.”
I rolled my eyes petulantly. His sarcasm was so funny. Not.
“Try again.”
I tried again… and again, for the next thirty minutes. I tried with my eyes open and with my eyes closed. I tried holding my breath and I tried breathing deeply. I tried until I gave myself a headache. Evan stood in front of me, his arms folded across his chest, the entire time.
“Okay. Let’s leave that a while.”
“I’ve never really focused on doing it before. It just seemed to happen,” I practically tripped over my tongue to explain, feeling a little like I had just failed a test. Maybe I wouldn’t get my witch hat now? I guessed I would get over that.
“Tell me about the times you’ve moved before.” Evan signalled to a chair and we sat facing each other. I rested my chin on my hands and my elbows on my knees as I thought about it.
“I think it happened more often when I was younger. My foster parents were always saying that I was a really fast runner when they couldn’t work out how I had gotten past them, but I think I must have just moved myself. When I was a teenager, if I ended up some place different, I just thought I hadn’t remembered. You know, like walking along thinking about something else and you look up and think, hey, how did I get here?” I looked to Evan to see if he understood and he nodded so I continued. “When I was older, it really only happened when I panicked and that’s when I knew I was different and it wasn’t just because I wasn’t paying attention. There was a fire once and I should have been trapped, but I moved myself outside. And one time with my boss, well, a bookcase tipped over and I should have been under it too but I wasn’t. Then, last week, when I was being chased?” I gulped and fought the panic that clamoured in my ribcage. “He had me by the throat and I just vanished.”
Evan chewed on that and then asked, “The bookcase just tipped over, huh?”
I frowned. “Well, I was thinking that it would be great if it did tip over and... it did.”
“So you might be able to move things too?”
“I...” Well, yeah, I thought, wondering why the idea made me feel so glum. I knew it had been me but the idea of being able to do that kind of stuff at will? It excited and frightened me all at the same time.
“It’s called telekinesis. Instead of moving yourself, teleportation if you like, telekinesis means you can move objects with your mind.”
I thought about it. There had been a lot of unexplained things happening around me that couldn’t be put down to coincidence. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. “Well, maybe, but I’ve never really tried. I guess it might be that.” I looked up at him to see how he was taking it. A normal person would be laughing at me by now. Evan’s thoughtful face was refreshing. He didn’t think I was nuts.
Evan looked around and I followed his eyes as they ran over the laden bookcases. He grinned for a moment and I was caught so off guard by the lovely line of his mouth that I almost missed him say, “Perhaps we shouldn’t be in smashing distance of a bookshelf right now.”
I smirked at him and barely stopped myself from rolling my eyes. It was an unpleasant habit and hardly one to bring out the best in people.
“We’ll try it out some other time. So lately, you’ve only moved when you’ve panicked?”
I nodded.
“Well that’s something,” Evan decided, his voice strong. He nodded and I thought some of the hostility seemed to have gone from his face.
“And Étoile held on to me once and moved me.” I recalled her grabbing me and moving me from my flat to the airport. “She did it at will.”
“She’s been taught from birth.”
“Lucky.”
“You’ve really not been taught anything? At all?” Evan was searching my face like there was some sort of clue waiting there for him to discover.
“Not a thing.”
“Unlucky.”
“I guess.”
“It would have been easier for you to have been taught as soon as you had shown any magical inclination.”
“Can’t argue with that,” I agreed. It would have been nice to grow up with others who shared my predilections. Maybe my childhood would have been a lot less lonely.
“Lesson is over for today.”
“But I haven’t done anything?” My voice inflected like I was asking him a question.
“You have shown me what you can’t do and told me what you can do. That’s enough. Take a break. David will come find you when he wants you.”
“What does David want me for?”
“He’ll teach you some learned magic. Book magic, if you like.”
“I didn’t think magic was like learning from books.” I tried not to mimic, but threw the words back at Evan all the same.
“The kind of magic I’m teaching you, no, but David’s kind is different.”
“Magic isn’t just,” I grappled for a word and settled, dully, on “magic?”
Evan shook his head. “Magic comes in many different shapes and forms. For many, it’s illusion. The ‘make a boat disappear, pull a rabbit out of a hat’ kind of magic. That’s not really even magic; it just looks like it. Humans like to call it magic anyway.” He held up a finger. “Then there’s learned magic. That’s comes from people with an inclination towards the magical but who have to learn to use it. They learn spells and incantations. They can mix up potions to cure ailments and influence people. Sometimes they have a core magic too; it runs a bit in their blood and that’s why they have a strong calling to magic. Then there’s us.” Evan raised another finger, paused, and raised another.
“What are we?” I whispered.
“We’re absolute magic. It’s in our blood and bones. It’s in every fibre of our being. It is what we are. You and I are different but the magic affects our bodies and our brains in a similar way so we can manipulate the universe to do our bidding.”
“Can everyone do the same things?”
“No, of course not. Like regular humans aren’t all great at sports or riding horses, or sailing boats.” Evan rested back in his chair and swung one long leg across the other. “Some can teleport, some have telekinesis, some are psychic, some can influence people or the weather or the air. Magic is different for all of us.”
“Is anyone both?”
“Yes, but usually the strengths lean way or the other.”
“Usually?”
“If someone has weaker magic, say the core magic within them, they could use learned magic to supplement their skills, making them stronger still.”
“Is that why David will be teaching me too?”
“We all thought it would be a good idea to expose you to some of the learned magic while you practised controlling your own magic. D
avid will be able to teach you the basics, things that can heal and protect you. Even if you never use it, you’ll at least have some understanding of that aspect of magic.”
“Okay.”
“Plus David has a great potion for a cold remedy, not that we get sick a lot.”
“A cold remedy?” It seemed a little absurd.
“He uses lemon and honey.”
“I hate to burst David’s bubble but Lemsip has already been invented.”
“Bet it doesn’t come with a spell to ward off infections though.”
“Will it turn me into a frog?” I asked facetiously.
“He’ll teach you that another time. I don’t recommend it.”
“What are you?” I asked, recalling that he had just said that we were different. I couldn’t see any difference, but maybe I didn’t know what I was looking for.
He looked me in the eyes and I felt my stomach do little flips as the silence hung in the air between us. I was about to prompt him when a knock at the door and a male voice announced David’s arrival.
I went to answer it but when I turned back to say goodbye to Evan, he had gone and I didn’t have a clue how he could have left the room without me seeing. Show off.
David’s lesson took place in the kitchen and also included Kitty, the sisters Christy and Clara, and the accident-prone teenage boy, Jared. First, he had them demonstrate some of the things they learned. There was a little potion that could make the room fill with smoke (Meg didn’t like that one, as she protested that night at dinner to a rueful David), powders that could heal a wound and another that could make a barrier around a person, like an invisible wall.
Illicit Magic Page 12
