Discovery of Magick (Dark Light Academy Book 1)

by Tabatha Stephenson

  Chapter 34

  I sent George with a note asking for Joanna and Felicia to be in the car, explaining why. She came back a few hours later with an affirmative reply. Jacob and the girls had scored permission from Hargreaves to portal here to fetch me back, my grandmother agreeing to pay the tolls. I had no idea that there even were tolls involved in portaling between worlds, but it made sense. The portals had to be maintained, which meant someone, somewhere, was powering them, and they needed recompense for their hard work. I dreaded the thought of how exhausting such work must be, knowing magick always had some kind of cost to the caster as well, often physical and always mental. Small magics might not have a noticeable effect, but larger ones could make you tired. It was why being able to mesh magickal auras was such a big deal, and a locii to focus and magnify a triad’s blended magicks an even bigger one as it spread the load, for less individual mental and physical expense.

  Aunt Tillie must have told Uncle Joe as soon as he came in from work, because the first thing he said to me when I came out of my room for dinner was, “You sure about this, honey?”

  At least he didn’t appear to be upset with me, but I was beginning to grasp that no one in my family had been quite as they appeared. Still, I’d take it at face value, for now, seeing as it made for less strife before I left. “Yeah. You guys got me into the best school to give me an excellent chance to discover where my talents lie and get to make use of them. I can’t let other people ruin that for me.”

  He nodded. “That’s a very mature way to look at it. Know you can always come back or change schools if things get too rough for you.”

  I gave him a hug. This was the uncle of my childhood, the one who always encouraged me and told me stupid dad jokes when I was down. “I’ll keep that in mind,” I promised him.

  “See that you do,” he said gruffly, giving me a quick squeeze back before standing back., uncomfortable as always with all the touchy-feely.

  Dinner was a quiet affair. I ate quickly, excusing myself with the excuse that I needed to go pack. Aunt Tillie had brought up my job, and I told her the story I’d given Sally when I quit. Aunt Tillie ignored me for the rest of the meal after that. Once back in my room, I looked at the list she left on my dresser.

  There was a list of five names under the heading “Tutors” and three under “Schools.”I packed that in my bag in case any of those names became relevant later. I also packed all of my clothes, bathing suit included. I wouldn’t need it at school, probably, but I did not intend to come back here except maybe for a short visit. Uncle Joe came and wordlessly knocked on my door, showing me that he left two suitcases there for me to use. He didn’t even wait for me to answer, I only knew it was him as I spotted him returning to the living room, Aunt Tillie’s impatient voice letting him know the commercial break was over, and she’d paused the TV.

  I decided to take one last, long soak in the bathtub, seeing as we only had showers at school. That turned out to be a mistake, as once I was relaxed, my brain started whispering doubts in my head. Not about the guys, but school and everything else. I even found myself obsessing how terrible it would be if Sally couldn’t find a replacement soon enough or if they turned out to be horrible. I began to envision someone who’d come in late all the time or stole from the cash register or the tip jar, like the one before me had. I knew I was being stupid, so I pulled the plug, disappointed in myself for not even being able to allow myself this one small luxury.

  I went straight to bed, where the sight of my packed belongings stared at me mockingly. I rolled onto my back.

  “It’s the right thing,” I whispered to myself. “And it’s not weird to have gotten all hot and bothered for Charles.” And Brent, too, but he still felt a little unapproachable to me. He was always so reserved around me. “But he was trying to give you space, same as Charles. We’re going to get to know each other much better now, become even closer. Do some proper dates and stuff, one on one,” I promised myself. “When we have the time, seeing as I have more catching up to do.”

  I felt myself getting hot, thinking about doing that catching up. Catching up meant more study time, and study time meant magick practice, which meant kissing and touching. My hand drifted down, and I slipped it under the waistband of my pajama shorts and panties. I began to stroke myself, imagining it was Laurent touching me. My other hand slid up under my shirt, becoming Brent’s hand in my mind as it toyed with a nipple. We were all kissing and touching, and now Charles’ fingers were dipping inside, under Laurent’s as he teased my clit.

  Yes, please, need more…Somebody fuck me!

  My world shattered into stars.

  Chapter 35

  I woke up bright and early to Aunt Tillie knocking on my door. “Your friends are here. I told them they have to wait for you to eat breakfast first. You need a bowl of cereal in you at the very least.”

  “We can get drive-thru,” I told her.

  She made a tsking sound at that. Uncle Joe looked at her and said, “She’s eager to see them again. It’s been a while for her.” Which, as far as they knew, was true, but it made me realize they weren’t the only ones keeping secrets now, so was I. He gave me a small smile and reached into his pocket, taking out his wallet. He passed me thirty dollars. “There, now you can get something for everybody. I’ll help them load your stuff in the car.”

  “Go on, then,” she told me. “Make sure your friend drives safely. No speeding or cutting off other cars on the way to the portal!”

  I laughed. “Jacob is a good driver, but I’ll pass the message.”

  She nodded and pattered off into the kitchen. “I need to make your uncle’s breakfast at the very least. He likes his bacon and eggs.”

  I left her to it, going out to greet my friends after first grabbing one of the suitcases. Seeing as I only had two suitcases and a couple of small carrier bags full of stuff, it didn’t take long to load the car. Aunt Tillie came out as I was buckling myself in, George sitting on the seat between Felicia and me.

  “I didn’t think you’d want to leave your favorite mug behind.”

  I took it from her. She was right, I would have missed my bamboo pink flamingo travel mug. I could feel it was warm. “You filled it?”

  “I did,” she replied. “There’s more in the pot if anyone else has a travel mug for me to put it in.”

  They didn’t, and we said a quick good-bye. Rounding the corner, Jacob said, “I thought we’d never get out of there. The guys will be wondering where we are?”

  “That only took about twenty minutes,” I protested.

  “Yeah, twenty minutes that they’ve been waiting for us to bring you to them.”

  I was about to counter that there was no way they could have expected us that quick when Jacob turned into the parking lot of a nearby strip mall.

  “They’re here!” I shouted in excitement as I spotted who was in the car parked next to us, causing George to hiss at me in annoyance. “Sorry, kitty baby, I didn’t mean to be so loud.”

  “I think you busted my eardrum,” Felicia joked.

  “What’s that? I can’t hear,” Jacob deadpanned. I ignored them, practically jumping out of the car in my haste.

  “I wasn’t expecting to see you guys!” I said.

  They all got out of the car. I reached for Laurent, angling my head up for a kiss, brushing my lips against his as he bent his head down. He kissed me back, putting his arms around me, holding me tightly as if afraid I’d make a break for it. I felt it then, his magickal aura reaching for mine. I opened myself, letting mine dance and intertwine with his. My pink and his blue made lavender, not that I had to worry about any of the humans who might see us here noticing that as it would be invisible to them.

  I felt two more brushes against my aura, recognizing the touch of my other two men. Laurent and I broke our kiss as we both sent tendrils out towards them, too, pulling them in. The lavender deepened to purple, with swirls of pinks, blues, and lavenders mixed in as we caressed each othe
r with our magick. Charles and Brent moved to come stand by us, and we rearranged our arms to embrace each other physically to match what we were doing mentally. I relaxed fully, then. This is what I’d been missing. This was coming home, not being in any particular place except with them. This was home this was my family.

  “They wanted to come and try to talk you into coming back to us,” Jacob confessed, “In case you were going to say you weren’t because you changed your mind.”

  I kissed each of my men on the cheek.

  “That’ll do for now,” Brent said, looking serious.

  “I’m coming back,” I assured them.

  “To us?” Charles asked. “Not just to school? Not changing your mind?”

  “Yes, if that’s what you all want, I’m yours. You know, only Laurent ever asked me to be his girl and go out with him.”

  Charles laid his head on my shoulder and cried. I held him, bending my head to his, whispering my apologies to him, telling him I should have never left them without a word. That I had let my hurt make me forget that we’d all been in it together, us against the rest of the world. I looked up and spied Brent standing with his hands on Laurent’s upper arms, their foreheads touching.

  “Thank you for convincing us it wasn’t hopeless. If we hadn’t gone looking for her ourselves, we wouldn’t be here today.”

  Charles sniffled, lifting his head from my shoulder. Spying the intimate moment I’m watching, he reached up with his hands, cupped my face, and kissed me soundly.

  “Somebody’s not waiting,” I heard Laurent say.

  “I’m next!” Brent said, making me laugh.

  I raised an eyebrow at them. “Still only Laurent who’s asked me.”

  “But, we gave you bonding gifts!” Brent protested.

  “Still never asked. It was our folks who told us we were going to do the whole formal bonding thing for sure.”

  Charles looked stricken. “Will you?”

  “Will what?” I teased.

  “Bond with us?” he asked.

  “Ask me properly,” I replied, still joking, only for all three of them to go down on one knee.

  “We talked about this earlier, a few days ago, about what we’d like to do if you agreed to come back to us,” Brent replied, pulling out a small velvet box. He opened it, and I gasped at the ring I spied inside, a gorgeous antique-looking ring set with an amethyst the same color as our combined magicks. “Will you be ours, to have and to hold, with all that we are, until we are no more?”

  Tears pricked my eyes.

  “Say yes,” Felicia urged in a loud whisper.

  I nodded, too overcome to speak. The Trio stood up, and Charles reached for my left hand as Laurent took the ring from the box Brent still held and slid it onto my finger. It was now official, we were together again and would be bonded in all ways.

  A flash caused us to turn our heads to look back at our friends who were watching us from their car.

  “I took a picture,” Joanna said from the front passenger seat. I’ll send it to you.”

  “Thanks,” I said.

  “You should totally post that on Witchagram, Lydia’s head will explode!” Felicia added, giggling.

  “Mreowwwwww,” George complained.

  “I think someone wants us to get going,” Charles said.

  George wasn’t the only one. I scooped her from the back seat and placed her in Brent’s car.

  “We’ll bring your stuff, seeing as we are all going to the same place,” Jacob said.

  “Thanks,” I replied, climbing into the front passenger seat of Brent’s car. “Let’s go!”

  Chapter 36

  Turned out that the guys coming along to fetch me back wasn’t the only surprise. As the six of us trooped up to my dorm room carrying my bags and George, we were surprised to see Rina and Lisette waiting for us in the common area at the top of the stairs.

  “Welcome back,” Lisette said, dropping a curtsey.

  “Oh, please don’t do that,” I said. “Friends, remember?”

  She gave me an uncertain looking smile. “I’ll try to.”

  Ouch. I hadn’t just ducked out on the guys, I’d done it to her and the rest of my friends, too. I still had some serious making up to do yet.

  “Great to have you back,” Rina smiled. “Boy, Lydia is going to be pissed.” She looked quite happy at the prospect.

  “They aren’t friends anymore, not in the least,” Laurent informed me.

  “Hell no, we’re not. After what I heard she said to you about her and Laurie. Ugh! As if!” The words dripped with venom.

  “I’m glad to be back, too,” I told her.

  “Okay, well, we’d best get moving. We have to get back. Your grandmother is paying for Lisette to attend, too.”

  “It’s so I can keep a closer eye on you,” Lisette said. “But what I said before is still true. I’m loyal only to you.”

  “And I promise to be the same to you. I was a bad friend, not telling you I was going. I’m sorry.”

  She looked surprised by my declaration. “I forgive you,” she said, her smile now lighting up her face. Yep, I needed to take the time to show her how much I valued her friendship, hers and everyone else’s.

  They walked off together, their close proximity to each other, and the way they bantered going down the stairs, telling me exactly who Rina’s new best friend was. I smiled at that, pleased both with the fact that Lisette had at least one other friend here now and that Rina had a much kinder best friend than she had before. Lisette getting to attend classes was great, too. I hoped this meant she got to stay until she graduated, giving her more choices in life.

  We continued on to my room. Standing before it, I invoked the charm that unlocked the door. Turning the handle, I stopped in the doorway, surprised at what I saw in the room. Gone were the two twin-sized beds and the narrow cot. The room had been completely rearranged with one very familiar extra-large bed that I had last seen in our rooms at Grandmother’s taking center stage. Two double-width dressers and upright wardrobes hugged the walls. The two small desks and bookshelves had been replaced with one tall bookcase and no desks or chairs. I could see an envelope sitting on top of the bedspread, so I walked over to see what was in it. It was a letter from my grandmother, penned in a spidery hand.

  Dear Tuesday,

  I am aware that this is probably a case of too little, too late, but I had to try. First, I wish to convey how very sorry I am for being so pushy and trying to arrange your life for you. I was devastated when your mother took off with you and never recovered when the news of your parents passing reached me. For years, I had been of the misapprehension that you had perished with them. When news of your arrival here reached me, I snatched at the chance to have a piece of your mother back. The revelation of your powers further terrified me, causing me to seek out the boys’ parents to cement your safety with theirs. I was wrong to do so in the manner that I did. I hope that someday you will be able to find it in your heart to forgive me for it.

  Your headmistress contacted me to let me know that you were returning to the school. Rest assured that all your bills will continue to be paid.

  When the jeweler sent along his felicitations regarding your bonding betrothal being back on, I contacted him immediately to ask what he meant. He informed me that your boys had purchased an antique ring to give you as a human-style engagement ring. I hope I have not overstepped again, but I had observed that the four of you seemed very happy together while here in my home. I hoped to give you back some of that happiness by gifting you these from your rooms, so that you can recapture some of the joy you all found for yourselves while here.

  Mistress Haversham agreed to turn your bedroom into a suite for you all, to give you more time to bond one on one in privacy. Unfortunately, I was informed there was no room for desks as well, but I was assured there were study areas provided on your floor that you could use. If what I have done doesn’t meet with your approval, you may have Lisette contact me,
and I will have the furnishings removed, and you can arrange which rooms you all do or do not inhabit.

  I promise this the last time I will meddle in your personal affairs other than to pay the bills for your schooling and upkeep as they arise.

  Love from a very foolish old witch

  I looked around the room in awe. While we had been angry at being taken from school and held there, we had enjoyed the little bubble we had to ourselves during our times alone. The bed did indeed have some especially fond memories attached to it, though I didn’t remember seeing the dressers and wardrobes, and the bookcase was new to me, too.

  “All these were in our old rooms at Grandmother’s?” I asked, turning around. Our friends looked surprised, but the Royal Trio most suspiciously didn’t.

  “Yeah,” Charles replied. “The dressers and two wardrobes are from our old dressing room as it had been designed for only one person’s use. It was pretty crammed, which is why we often got changed one at a time or in the bathroom.”

  Well, that answered that question. I’d never looked inside their dressing room, not having had a reason to.

  ““You know about this?” I pressed, waving my hand about.

  “Not until just now,” Joanna said, Jacob and Felicia nodding in agreement. George stalked over to the bed and began washing her back leg while perched in the middle of it, holding it high in the air and showing us her butt. Lovely.

  “You okay with this?” Laurent asked, a look of worry crossing his face suddenly.

  I held up the hand with my ring on. “Too late,” I cackled. “I am now triple engaged to the three of you!”

  “Triple engaged?” Brent asked, looking puzzled.

  “Yep, we were officially magickal bond betrothed at that party and then engaged for our true love there in that parking lot,” I smirked. “And both of those were after we got these.” I held up my forearm to show off the bracelet tattoo.