A Tangle of Secrets

by R. G. Thomas

“Yeah, I picked up on that when I met him and his mother before Mr. Winslow brought me to the nurse’s office to get you.” His father glanced at him with a tight smile. “He’s a big guy. You weren’t tempted to use magic to defend yourself when he had you cornered in the hallway?”

  Thaddeus thought about the inner voice urging him to do it. “Oh, I was tempted. But I knew that I’d expose myself for sure if I did. Everyone was making a video of it. I’m sure it’s already all over the school. And Dixon’s suspicious of me as it is already.”

  “I wondered about that,” his father said. “He stared at me when I was talking to his mother.”

  “Sorry,” Thaddeus said.

  “You’ve been saying that, but I don’t think you really know what’s at stake.” His father turned into the parking lot of Superstitious Pizza and parked. He turned off the ignition, and they sat staring at the brick wall of the pizza place for a moment, the engine ticking as it cooled. “We have to be careful, Thaddeus. It’s not only Lucian and the Bearagon and Azzo Eberhard we have to beware of. It’s the people who live around us as well.” He looked over and said with a small smile, “The un-gifteds, as you have taken to calling them. We have to be careful not to reveal ourselves to them. They don’t know about us, and I’m afraid of what would happen if they were to ever find out.”

  “They’ll be scared, right?” Thaddeus asked.

  “Most likely. And fear is a great motivator. It can push people to do things they would normally never consider. Dangerous things. And the way Dixon was staring at me, I could tell he was afraid.”

  “Okay, I’ll try to remember that.”

  “We’ll continue to work on your skills, but you have to keep your power hidden.”

  “I understand.”

  “You’re like a superhero now. You have a secret that no one at your school can know about. Think about all those superhero movies we’ve watched over the years. People are afraid of what they don’t understand or what makes them uncomfortable. You need to keep that secret within our family and, by extension, the Rhododendrons.”

  “It hasn’t been easy for you, has it?” Thaddeus asked.

  His father shrugged. “Not always, no. But I had a great motivation to do the right thing.”

  “What was that?”

  “Keeping you alive.”

  Thaddeus was surprised at the hot sting of tears. He bit his lip and dropped his gaze to the leaves and small stones that littered the floor mat of the car. “Oh.”

  “I’ll be right back. You want the usual toppings?”

  “Yeah.”

  His father got out of the car, and Thaddeus heaved a sigh. A minor headache still thumped dully in the background of his mind, and his eye throbbed along in time. He had let his father down once again. After everything his father had given up to keep him safe, Thaddeus had, in the course of only a matter of weeks, possibly threatened the safety of his family by using magic against an un-gifted.

  Your dad wants you to practice, he said so himself. Why not start now?

  The voice was slyly encouraging. So much so, Thaddeus looked around the parking lot to make sure no one was around, then directed his attention to the pebbles between his feet. Focusing his thoughts, he used magic to lift five of the tiny stones and spun them around each other in the space between his legs. He kept the stones at the height of his knees, out of the line of sight of anyone passing by on the sidewalk who might happen to look his way.

  Good, now do more with it.

  As the stones revolved around a common point between his knees, Thaddeus set first one stone into rotation, then another, and then another, until all five were revolving and rotating. He’d created his own miniature solar system right there inside Celeste. A ball of sweat trickled down his temple from the exertion of keeping the pebbles in motion.

  His car door gave a squeal as it suddenly pulled open. Thaddeus jumped and, with his concentration broken, the stones dropped back onto the floor mat. He looked up to find his father standing beside him, a pizza box balanced on one hand and an angry expression on his face.

  “What the hell was that?” his father asked, then looked over his shoulder toward the sidewalk before turning back again and lowering his voice. “What the hell were you doing? After everything that happened today? After the conversation we just had on the way here?”

  “Dad, I’m sorry!” Thaddeus said. “No one saw. Look around, there’s no one even close to us.”

  “That’s not the point, Thaddeus.” He shook his head and handed over the pizza box. “Hold this.”

  Thaddeus’s stomach cramped as he accepted the box and set it on his lap, the heat from the pizza soaking through the bottom of the cardboard and into his thighs. He anxiously waited while his father walked around the back of the car to open the driver’s door—another squint-inducing squeal of hinges—and dropped into the seat.

  “Dad, no one saw me,” Thaddeus said. “I was only practicing, like you said. I wasn’t using my magic on anyone.”

  “You’re not hearing me,” his father responded in a quiet, even tone that made Thaddeus more nervous than if he’d been shouting. “You’re not to be using magic in public at all. Not just against or toward an un-gifted. The use of magic in public leaves us all open to discovery, and from there, who knows?” He waved a hand toward the windshield. “There could be security cameras on the side of the building, and one of them could be angled just right to capture footage of you sitting here making pebbles spin.” His father put the car in gear and backed out of the space.

  Thaddeus pressed his lips together as his father drove the short distance home. He was close to tears and had no idea what to say or do to make things right again. He’d really messed up. Not only had he used magic to torment Dixon, he’d used it in public, period. But what did his father expect of him? He’d developed an amazing new skill over the summer, how was he supposed to keep that hidden all the time? A thread of anger worked its way amid the guilt. This was a time when he should be celebrating his abilities, not hiding them. Why couldn’t his father see that?

  He’s afraid you’re going to be better at it than he is. You threaten him.

  They arrived at home, and the moment his father put the car in Park, Thaddeus pushed open his door and stepped out.

  “Thaddeus!” his father called after him. “We’re not finished talking about this.”

  “I am,” Thaddeus shouted back over his shoulder and went into the house through the side door.

  His mother sat at the kitchen table looking through the newspaper. She looked surprised to see Thaddeus as he set the pizza down on a counter, and he wondered if his father had avoided telling her he’d gotten in trouble at school. Yet another thing his father was hiding from someone.

  His lies are adding up.

  “You’re home early,” she said. “Did your father pick you up?” She noticed his eye and was out of her chair and standing before him in a flash. She turned his head back and forth as she inspected his face. “What happened? Who did this?”

  “I did pick him up,” his father said as he came into the kitchen behind him. “Thaddeus, please go take your bike and backpack out of the car.”

  “You didn’t tell her?” Thaddeus asked, pulling his chin from his mother’s grip and taking a step away. He knew the question would start something his father most likely wanted to avoid, and he felt a grim satisfaction in it.

  “Tell me what?” his mother asked as she looked between them. “What’s going on?”

  “All right,” his father said. “If you’re so bound and determined to have things out in the open, you explain.”

  Thaddeus shot his father a dirty look. He’d been outmaneuvered. He turned his attention to his mother, and the concern in her expression lowered the heat of his anger a bit. He took a breath and nervously shifted his weight.

  “Thaddeus?” she asked. “What happened?”

  “I got in trouble at school.”

  “What kind of trouble?”
/>
  “I got into a fight.”

  “With who?”

  “A bully,” Thaddeus said, hating the defensiveness he heard in his voice. “His name’s Dixon Praise, and he’s a stupid jock and a bully, and he threatened me on the first day of school.”

  “Your first day?” She looked at his father. “Did you know about that?”

  His father shook his head as he frowned. “No. I did not.”

  “What was this about?” his mother asked.

  Thaddeus took a breath and refused to look at his father. “I… tricked Dixon during lunch, and it made him mad.”

  “Tricked? What do you mean?”

  “I knocked a few of his fries off his plate,” Thaddeus said, then hesitated before finishing in a quieter voice, “using magic from across the room.”

  “Oh, Thaddeus.” His mother hung her head, and a fresh wave of remorse swamped him. She hadn’t been back with them a month and he’d already disappointed his mother. “Did he see you do it?”

  “No!” Thaddeus practically shouted.

  “Lower your voice,” his father snapped, his cold tone so unlike him it left Thaddeus momentarily stunned.

  “Sorry,” he said more quietly.

  “It’s all right,” his mother said. She looked to his father and back to Thaddeus. “Why don’t you take some pizza upstairs with you and let your father and I talk about this.”

  Thaddeus grabbed a plate and two slices of pizza. He practically ran up the steps to his room and closed the door behind him. Now that he was alone, he found he wasn’t very hungry, so he set the plate aside. He fell onto his back on his bed and stared at the ceiling as his eyes filled with tears.

  He was a new wizard learning to use the crazy amazing power inside him, but he couldn’t share it with anyone outside of his parents, Teofil, and Teofil’s family. He should have known better than to use his magic while waiting in the car for his father, but he hadn’t been able to resist, like what had happened in the cafeteria. Could he keep this power secret from everyone at school, including Andy, Marty, and Crystal? He wasn’t as tight-lipped as his father about these things, but he would need to learn to be if he was going to keep his family safe.

  You’re going to need to learn to lie like your father.

  A knock sounded on his door. Thaddeus sat up on his bed and took a moment to wipe the tears from his eyes before saying, “Come in.”

  Both his parents stepped into his room. Their expressions were tight, and Thaddeus knew he was in trouble.

  “We’ve talked about the situation,” his father said. “And we both feel we have no other choice but to hand out a punishment here at home as well as your school suspension.”

  “Yeah, I figured,” Thaddeus said.

  “You’re grounded to the confines of the house the rest of this week and through the weekend,” his mother said. “You’re not allowed to go out into the yard or over to see Teofil and the Rhododendrons.”

  Thaddeus was shocked. “That’s pretty harsh.”

  “Yes, it is,” his father said. “But you need to understand the severity of your actions. Now go get your bike and backpack out of the car, and then come back up to your room.”

  Thaddeus crossed his arms and gave his father a defiant look. “You just told me I’m confined to the house, and now you’re telling me to go outside?”

  “Do not talk back to your father that way,” his mother said, her tone sharp and anger flashing in her eyes. “You know the difference between us asking you to go outside for a chore and you going outside to visit.”

  Thaddeus clenched his jaw to avoid making another smart-aleck remark. Instead he pushed to his feet, stomped out of his room and down the stairs. Letting the screen door bang shut behind him, Thaddeus marched around his father’s car and wrangled his bike out of the trunk, trying not to tell himself that his ability to use magic would have made the task much easier. When the bike’s tires were finally on the ground, Thaddeus slung his backpack over one shoulder and pushed his bike to the backyard where he leaned it against the house.

  “Thaddeus!”

  He turned to see Teofil peering around the back corner of the privacy fence, gesturing for him to come nearer.

  “I can’t,” Thaddeus said, trying hard not to cry.

  Teofil stepped out from behind the fence, his brow furrowed as he frowned. “Why not?”

  “It’s a long story,” Thaddeus said.

  “Tell me.” Teofil trotted toward him but pulled up short as he noticed Thaddeus’s eye. “Oh, Flora, what happened?”

  “I got in a fight,” Thaddeus said. “So now I’m suspended from school for two days, and I’m also grounded.”

  Teofil stepped close and lightly ran the tip of his finger over the bruised skin around his eye. “What’s ‘grounded’ mean?”

  “It’s what happens when a teenager knows something is wrong, but he goes ahead and does it anyway,” Thaddeus’s father said, his sudden appearance making Teofil take a step back. “Thaddeus’s mother and I are punishing him by making him stay inside the house for a week.”

  “Wow, that’s pretty bad,” Teofil whispered.

  “Yeah, it is,” Thaddeus whispered back.

  “Come on, Thaddeus,” his father said. “Let’s go inside.”

  “I’ll see you next week,” Thaddeus said to Teofil.

  “I’ll send the fairies over with flowers,” Teofil said.

  “Please don’t do that, Teofil,” Thaddeus’s father said, his voice flat and stern. “Thaddeus needs to consider what he’s done, and you sending him flowers isn’t going to do that for him.”

  “Oh, okay. Sorry about that, Nathan.”

  “It’s all right. Please let your parents and brothers and sisters know they won’t see Thaddeus until next week.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Thaddeus watched Teofil walk slowly toward the back corner of the privacy fence around the Rhododendrons’ yard. A cold ache formed in the center of his chest when he thought about not being able to see Teofil or any of the Rhododendrons for the rest of the week. And then he remembered he and Teofil had talked about going on another trip this weekend based on one of Leopold’s journal entries, and the ache turned into a deeper pain.

  “All right, let’s go in.” His father waved for Thaddeus to walk ahead of him.

  Thaddeus looked after Teofil one last time. Then, adjusting the strap of his backpack over his shoulder, he walked to the side door and into the house.

  Chapter ELEVEN

  THE FIRST night of what Thaddeus had come to think of as his confinement felt as long as a week. His mind wasn’t settled enough to even try to figure out the school website and find his homework, so he paced the small space of his room and eventually ate the pizza cold. Early in the evening, he heard a knock on the side door and quiet voices. Moments later, his mother knocked on his bedroom door and waited for him to tell her it was all right to enter.

  “Teofil brought over some ointment Miriam made for your eye,” she said. “Come with me to the bathroom and we’ll apply it.”

  Thaddeus shuffled behind her into the bathroom. He sat on the edge of the tub while she sat on the lid of the toilet. The mixture was thick and dark and had a strong, almost foul odor. They exchanged a look, and then Thaddeus shrugged and leaned in as he looked up at the ceiling. He tried not to flinch as she dabbed the mixture around his eye. It felt cool and tingly, and he guessed he was already used to the odor because it didn’t seem as bad.

  “You know, I’ve been feeling pretty lousy about setting the bed on fire at night,” his mother said. “It’s hard to understand where a new ability leaves off and you begin. If you want to talk about things, I’d be happy to listen.”

  “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind,” Thaddeus muttered. He wasn’t in the mood to talk about what had happened. Not yet.

  “There, all set now.” She leaned back and smiled at him. “You’ve grown into a very handsome young man, Thaddeus.” Tears shimmered in her eyes, and s
he used the back of her hand to wipe them away. “I’m sorry. I’m trying to be happy about having time to get to know you now and not be bitter about all the years I lost because of…. Well, all the years I lost.”

  “I know,” he said and, not knowing what else to say, added, “thanks for putting that stuff around my eye. It feels better.”

  “Well, you be sure to thank Miriam when you see her next,” she said. “That woman really knows how to mix up a potion.” She sniffed at the small jar and wrinkled her nose. “I just wish they didn’t smell so bad.”

  Thaddeus grinned, and she grinned back.

  Once back in his room, he exchanged some text messages with Aisha and let her know what had happened. The last text he received from her pretty much summed up everything he was feeling.

  You know, for a young wizard in the suburbs, you sure get yourself into a whole lot of trouble.

  Around 10:00 p.m. a flickering light outside his window caught his attention. His heart thumped hard as he glanced over his shoulder at his closed bedroom door. If that was a fairy sent over by Teofil, it could mean trouble for the both of them.

  He turned off his desk lamp to cut the glare of light against the glass and hurried to the window, where he peered outside. A shadowy figure moved between the flowerbeds in the Rhododendron backyard, and, after another furtive glance toward his bedroom door, Thaddeus eased the window up and leaned outside.

  The figure stepped into a patch of moonlight and revealed itself as Teofil, tending to the flowers. He was humming quietly to the plants and not looking Thaddeus’s way at all. It was as if Teofil hadn’t been expecting Thaddeus to look out his window. If it hadn’t been Teofil or a fairy who had signaled to Thaddeus, then what had that light been about?

  “Hey,” a voice whispered from below his window, and Thaddeus barely suppressed a shout of surprise.

  “Who’s there?” Thaddeus whispered, his gaze bouncing from the heavy shadows along the side of his house, to Teofil working in his yard, to his closed bedroom door behind him.

  “It’s me,” the voice whispered, and then a thin figure stepped into the pale moonlight and smiled up at him. “It’s Andy. From school.”