Spark of Knowledge

by Jacie Douglass

  “Stop it,” I growl. “We shouldn’t be fighting with each other.”

  “You know I didn’t mean it like that,” Jared whispers. “I would never wish that on her. She didn’t deserve to go through it once, let alone have to relive it in her memories. Taking them away might have been the only kind thing they did for her.”

  Samil sighs and runs his hand through his hair. “I know you just miss the old Emily, but we need to accept the new one and be happy about it.”

  “I do accept the grown up Pixie! I just wish she remembered our summers together… “Jared sighs.

  “If you two are done,” I say giving them both a reproachful look, “can we focus on the video footage?” I pause the picture. “We’re all asleep now. But notice where she placed everyone.”

  “An elemental circle,” Samil acknowledges.

  “With you and her in the center,” I restart the footage.

  “Holy shit,” Jared breaths. “Is she glowing again?” Just like at the end of the ritual, Emmy was glowing a soft golden light that the camera managed to capture. Sebastian crawls up closer, until he’s able to rest his head on her stomach and his hands cover ours.

  “Do you think he was awake?” I ask them. “I mean, he was the farthest away from the group, and the only one to move.”

  “He had to be half asleep; there is no way he would have crawled on top of her like that without her permission. Not with that dress she was wearing,” Samil says. We fall silent as the golden glow starts to spread through the interconnected hands till all of us are glowing. First in gold, then transforming into other colors.

  Sebastian is a brilliant yellow that’s intertwined with bright orange and red flame like streaks.

  Jared is royal blue with other shades of blue flowing in and out of view.

  Clayton is a forest green with swirls of lighter greens and turquoise.

  Samil is silver with waves of violet and indigo.

  I’m a pale blue with cloud like spots.

  Emmy stays a constant gold.

  “It’s beautiful,” I whisper, leaning in to capture a still of the image.

  “Is this how our auras appear to her?” Jared mummers thoughtfully.

  “Our auras or our elements, the books weren’t clear on the difference.” Samil says, “Can you speed it up?”

  I increase the frame rate so we can still see everything without having to watch it real time. About two hours into the footage, the golden light around Emmy fades and then so do our auras. I switch it back to normal speed and grab another screen capture of us piled together. Without a direct comparison, I can’t be sure, but no one appeared to have moved for the entire two hours. Almost immediately after I grab the screen capture, we begin to stir and Emmy wakes up.

  “She really is some kind of magic battery now,” Jared says in awe. “I mean I know that’s what we thought based on the research, but actually seeing it… Wow.”

  Samil is back to being thoughtful. “I wonder if our blood oath is allowing her to share energy even after we sealed the magic,” Samil muses.

  “Well we didn’t specifically try to lock it inside her. We just made it so it couldn’t be used against her will.” I pitch in. We continue watching until everyone has left before hitting STOP.

  “We should get some sleep.” Samil finally says, getting up from the table and heading out of the kitchen.

  “Right,” Jared agrees. “We promised Mom and Dad that we’d do the inventory tomorrow in exchange for comping all of Emily’s security equipment. You coming, Ian?”

  “I’ll be up in a minute,” I reply, opening the two screen captures to compare them. Jared messes up my hair and dodges back when I swat him away.

  “Don’t stay up too late. Plenty of time to worry about magic tomorrow,” he says before taking off.

  Looking at the pictures side by side, it is clear none of us moved from the time the glow started until it finished. I close the aura photo and enlarge the after version. It’s perfect the way she fits with us. I’d forgotten how she always seemed to make us whole when we were together. No matter what it takes, I know I have to do everything in my power to protect her and keep her with us; we won’t survive losing her again. I set the photo as my background, a permanent reminder of what I’m working for. I hesitate for a moment, then share it with the others. Grabbing my laptop, I head up to bed.

  Samil

  ∞

  I’d tried to play it off to the twins, but hearing Emily call me Sammy again and then kiss my mood better, had shaken me to the core. I keep trying to maintain an emotional distance from her. But every time I turn around, she is sneaking around my walls. Just the way she listened to me while we cooked. Well, technically while I cooked. Giving me 100% of her attention. It was like standing in the sun.

  I leaned over the side of the bed and grabbed my backpack. Pulling out my books, I take out the old cloth doll hidden in the bottom. I’d been carrying it around, in my bag, since we found out Emily was back. Part of me thought I should return it to her; the other was reluctant to give it up.

  “Emily, what do you want for your birthday?” I ask looking over at her. She’s lying on the grass beside me, staring at the sky. I hear the guys shouting and laughing in the distance, still playing in the ocean; but Emily didn’t want to swim today and I’d rather spend the time with her, before she was gone again.

  “It’s silly,” Emily replies, biting her lip. She looks over at me with those big purply-blue eyes of her. Today they appeared more purple with her suntan and her hair bleached almost white from the sun.

  “Aww, nothing you like would ever be silly to us,” I tell her reaching out to hold her hand. “We’re your best friends, you can tell us anything.”

  “I want a baby doll,” she tells me with a shy smile. “But Father says I’m practically a lady and ladies don’t play with dolls.”

  “Pfft,” I blow a raspberry at her. “What do parents know? They are old stick-in-the-muds. You can play dolls with us as long as you want.” I tell her firmly. She squeals happily and I know what I have to get her before she goes.

  ∞

  “Happy early birthday Emily!” We shout and I drop my hand from her eyes. She gasps and looks around the fort. We’d decorated today just for her.

  Knowing she’d be gone again before her real birthday, we’d all pitched in to throw her a party. Sebastian had snuck out with some of the fancy desserts for the Grown-Up party his Mother was having this weekend. Clayton’s parents had taken me and him to the store and helped us pick out balloons and streamers in pinks and purples and blues. The twins brought a bunch of fancy flashlights to substitute for candles. And I’d managed to earn enough money doing extra work for my Dad on his boat to get her a present.

  “You guys are the best!” She cries, bouncing on her toes. “I can’t believe you did this all for me!” She gives each of us a hug before sitting down at our makeshift table. Clayton brings out the special birthday balloons he’d gotten for her and ties them to her chair.

  “So which do you want first? Cake or present?” Sebastian asks, eyeing the tiny cakes.

  “Ohhh…” She says looking around and each of us. “Present?” She grins. “You got me a present?”

  My heart is pounding out of my chest as I offer her the carefully wrapped gift. She smiles and slowly opens the wrapping paper, like it’s something to be savored. Her gleeful laugh as she sees the doll makes me let loose the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. She cradles the simple fabric baby doll in her arms, smoothing its light pink gown. “She’s perfect,” she smiles at me. “She’s the most blessed little girl in the whole world.” We’re all mesmerized by her simple joy at the gift.

  “Why is that?” Jared asks, always the first to want to know what’s going on in her head.

  “Because she has five Daddies to love her and take care of her,” she says with a radiant smile. “Her name is Summer.” Emily announces, and then holds out the doll for me. “She wants a k
iss from each of her Daddies.”

  I carefully take the doll and give her a kiss on the forehead before passing her on to Clayton. After each of us hold and kiss Summer, Emily happily reclaims her. She sits the doll in her lap and whispers to her, while the twins set up the flashlights for her to blow out.

  “Okie, Emmy,” Ian says, giving her a smile. “Time to blow out your special candles.”

  She squeals in delight as the special motion activated feature causes them to turn off and on as she leans in to blow them out. Finally satisfied that she’s blown out the “candles” correctly, she sits back and Sebastian brings over the tiny cakes he’d swiped. We let Emily pick her two favorites before we each take one. Emily pretends to feed one to Summer, and we settled around the table. It was nothing like the parties we normally had, no cake fights or water balloons. No screaming cousins or Adults telling us to behave. But it felt perfect for us and our Emily.

  As the party winds down and it’s almost time for Emily to sneak home, she approaches me with Summer in her arms.

  “Summer wants to stay with Daddy Sammy tonight,” she smiles at me, holding out the doll. I hesitate, tilting my head as I look at her.

  “Doesn’t Summer want to spend more time with her Mama?” I ask, but Emily’s already shaking her head, her eyes sad.

  “Father says being almost nine means I’m too old for dolls. But I know her Daddies will keep her safe for me and I’ll see her again when we’re all together. And Summer will get to spend time with her Daddies when I can’t be here.” She explains in that strangely grown up way she sometimes has. I reach out and take Summer, making sure to cradle her the same way I’d seen Emily do.

  “We’ll take the best care of Summer,” I tell her and the guys all chime in in agreement. She gives us a radiant smile.

  “And I have thank you gifts,” she says brightly. “Birthday kisses for each of you, for giving me the perfect birthday.” She leans in and brushes her lips against each of my cheeks. “Those are for my wonderful party.” Then she leans in and brushes her lips against my forehead and the tip of my nose. “And those are early birthday presents for you since I won’t be here for your party. I step aside; the others are already lined up behind me. After giving her birthday kisses to everyone, she gives one last kiss to the doll and whispers in its ear. She gives us a final wave and then disappears out the door to sneak home.

  Coming Soon

  ∞

  The third book in The Magic Catalyst Chronicles will be available August 2019.

  You can keep up to date on the next release by visiting either my Facebook page Jacie Douglass or my blog https://jaciedouglass.com/

  Acknowledgements

  I wanted to take a minute to thank you for reading my work and spending some of your time with Emily and the Guys. Through the process of telling their story, they have truly come to life in my head, and I hope you enjoy reading about their journey, as much as I enjoy writing it.

  While this has been a passion project for me for the last four months, I could not have done it without the support of my friends and family.

  Special thanks to:

  My Mom: For always reminding me that I can achieve anything I set my mind to.

  My Dad: For offering to be another pair of eyes and doing the first round of edits.

  My best friend Kris: Who read and did the second round of edits, even though it’s not her genre of choice.

  Fredrick and Alexis: For listening to my endless rants, about everything from the plot revisions Samil forced me to make, to the challenges of deciding on a title and cover. My brain surely would have exploded without their unwavering support and words of encouragement.

  My former co-workers at Cox Communication: For understanding and believing in me as I spent every break and lunch scribbling away on my rough draft.

  My friends at Pride Combat: For their humor, laughter and endless inspiration.

  Daniel Christy my high school English teacher: Whose wisdom and guidance during high school inspired me to keep writing.

  About the Author

  Jacie Douglass physically resides in Las Vegas aka Sin City (yes people really live there) but spends most of her time living in the worlds she’s created in her head. Having retired after 20 years in the Telecommunications industry, she’s currently focusing on sharing her crazy world with others. When she’s not writing, she spends her time reading and playing dress up with the local Renaissance Festival community.