by Simon Archer
“Jack is loose down there,” she blurted out. “He knows about us.” She twisted her hands and waited for a response.
“Good,” I said. “Let’s go fill him in on the rest of the day, in that case. Saves me a trip to the office.” Vila’s mouth fell open.
“Umm…?” was all she could get out.
“The woman in blue told me,” I said, laughing. Her face didn’t change, however.
“Who is the woman in blue?” Andi asked.
“She’s someone from…” I stopped my explanation. “You know what, let’s go see Jack because he needs to know who she is, too.”
I pushed past Vila and started down the stairs. The girls trailed behind me.
“Has this not been the weirdest freakin’ day of your genie-existence?” Andi asked Vila.
“Times ten,” Vila answered her, dead serious. I smiled to myself as we made our way to the kitchen. The kitchen was empty, however.
“Jack?” I called out.
“In here!” I heard his voice from the other side of the foyer. The girls and I walked across to the living room. Jack was sitting on the floor with a box in front of him.
“Chester! Oh, Jack, how is he doing?” Andi ran to him.
“Is that his name?” Jack asked. “I’ve just been calling him ‘Little Guy.’”
“Yeah, Chester is his name. He fell out of his nest in the backyard,” Vila confirmed as she sat next to Jack and Andi on the floor.
“There was some food in the pipette, so I fed him. He seemed hungry,” Jack informed the girls.
“That was very sweet of you, Jack,” Vila cooed. I walked over to the couch and sat down, dumbfounded. For a man who supposedly just found out about magic, Jack didn’t seem to be phased at all. So much so, that I wondered if he had forgotten somehow. Or, maybe it was too much for him, and he shut a part of his memory down. I was positive there was no way he could be that calm and know at the same time. Andi glanced up at me and started giggling.
“We felt the same way when he walked in on us talking about getting rid of him so we could do a spell,” she said cheerily.
“What?” I asked.
“Yeah, Jack here is lacking any sort of ‘what the hell?’ response to weirdness, apparently,” Vila added with a smile. She winked at Jack, who finally looked over at me. He stood up and came to sit on the other side of the couch with me.
“I figure it’s like this,” he started. “Who am I to determine what can exist, and what can’t?” He leaned back on the cushion and took a deep breath. He let it out and shrugged.
“I guess I can see that,” I said slowly. Then I looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “But really? Nothing? No ‘you people are freakin’ insane,’ or ‘have you people lost your marbles’? Nothing?”
“Nah,” he replied without hesitation. “Not worth the wasted energy!”
I was nothing short of dumbfounded. I had accidentally knocked myself out when I discovered magic. Then it scared the crap out of me, twice, once for each genie, before I could bring myself to wrap my head around it. How Jack could be so nonchalant about it was a true mystery.
“Okay, then,” I said, shrugging my shoulders back at him. “I guess there’s that!”
“Actually,” Jack piped up. “Chester and I had a lot of time to chat, and something came to mind.” He looked over at the girls and winked mischievously.
“What’s that?” I asked, shaking my head at his apparent familiarity with the ugly box-bird.
“I’m just going to assume that the woman in blue who showed up in both our dreams is all mixed up in this somehow. Yes?” he asked casually.
I felt, more than saw, Andi and Vila’s heads whip my direction. I peered out of the side of my eyes at them and waited for the interrogation I knew was inevitable.
“You two saw the same girl in the same dream?” Andi huffed. “And you didn’t tell us?” Her lips pouted out, and her eyebrow popped up.
“Wait… back up. What dream?” Vila asked, her voice climbing in pitch with each word. Jack smiled and crossed his arms as though he was about to enjoy a comedy.
“I’ve been having this dream for a while,” I said calmly in hopes of diffusing the girls’ barrage.
“Oh!” Andi hollered out. “So, same girl, same dream, more than once?”
“Not exactly,” I said. “I’ve been having the same dream. Jack’s were different, and he only saw her a couple of times.”
“Bennett Alex Anders! You’d think by now you’d know--”
“I do know! Well... I know now!” I cut her off. “You have to remember, I’ve only been introduced to how magic worked a year ago. You’ve had centuries to figure it out!” I purposefully whined at them just a little bit, knowing they would do anything to keep me from being unhappy. My little ploy worked perfectly.
“Andi, he’s right,” Vila chimed in. “Even I learned something new about magic today.” Andi’s attention switched from me to Vila instantaneously.
“You did?” Andi tipped her head, confused. “I’ve been with you all day. How did you stumble across something new?” Just like that, my unintended indiscretion was forgotten.
“I used your memory spell to visit one of your memories, instead of mine, right?” Vila prodded.
“Yeah, you mentioned something about that, but then we had to--”
“Well,” Vila interrupted her. “I saw Gisele while I was there.” Both Andi and I sucked in our breath.
“Gisele?” I asked to be certain I’d heard her correctly. She gazed over at me, unseeingly. She was already picturing whatever experience she’d had earlier.
“Yes. She pulled me from Andi’s memory into one of my own. The two of us were back in the slave quarters we lived in as humans,” she started explaining. “But she could talk to me. It was like we were both visiting the same memory, but she’d controlled the fact that we were both there.” She reached out and took Andi’s hands in her own. “She’s been visiting my memories the same way I visited yours. She’s kept track of my entire life. I’d never used memory magic before. She had been waiting for the day I did to see me in real-time.” Andi stared at Vila for a long minute before she was able to speak.
“She could talk to you like she was really there?” Andi whispered. No doubt, she was instantly wondering if her mother could do the same thing.
“She could,” Vila answered softly.
“Do you think…?” Andy trailed off. Vila knew what she wanted to ask.
“I don’t know if you can talk to your mom or not,” Vila whispered. “Gisele was a witch her whole life. She already knew how to use the magic. Did your mom know about magic before she saw your uncle use the coin when he’d taken her prisoner?” Andi lowered her head.
“I don’t think so, but I’m not certain. My mother only came to visit me on the farm occasionally throughout my childhood, remember? My parents had to hide me because I was the only heir to the throne. We never talked about magic, though.” Andi sulked for a second but then perked up, excitement on her face. “Do you think Gisele would know of a way?”
Vila smiled at her and reached her arms out. The two girls hugged tightly.
“I’ll ask her the second I see her again,” Vila whispered in Andi’s ear. That was enough of a ‘yes’ in Andi’s mind to put her in an ecstatic mood. They separated, and Andi jumped up off the floor.
“How soon can we find out?” she chirped. Vila giggled at her excitement.
“Let’s get Bennett patched up and bring Jack up to speed on a few things, and then we’ll figure out a plan,” Vila told her.
“Yes!” Andi hollered. She skipped towards the foyer with a brilliant smile on her face.
“Where are you off to?” Vila giggled.
“To get the first aid kit, of course!” she disappeared, off to the kitchen to retrieve the needed materials to dress my head wound. I shot Vila a grin and nodded at her.
“Busy day while I was away?” I knew they were using magic to try to find me, but I’
d had no idea it was to the level Vila had described.
“Well, unscheduled disappearances tend to cause chaos around here,” Vila joked. “Right, Jack?” She got up off the floor and sat on the couch between Jack and me.
“Looks that way,” Jack answered. “So, about that woman in blue…?”
“Oh!” I chuckled at the ease in which our conversation had been sidetracked. “Her name is…” I realized that although I had asked the woman who she was, she’d never answered me. “Actually, I still don’t know her name. She only said that she was connected to good intentions aided by magic. People who fall into that category are who she appears to.”
“Not to sound rude, but how does that connect her to you? Or me?” Jack asked. “To clarify, I know you have good intentions as a human, and magic in your life, but how does one ‘aide’ the other, in your case?” I knew he wasn’t trying to be offensive, but appreciated his effort to ensure my understanding of that. A thought came to me that hadn’t crossed my mind before that moment, and I mentally face-palmed myself.
“Jack, you know that Andi and Vila can use magic, yes?” I said. He nodded his head at me. “They can’t just use magic. They are magic. They are genies, and therefore they grant wishes. Last year, I wished to be able to improve upon the lives of the people I interacted with. The good intentions behind that wish were what mixed intention with magic and made the woman and blue connect to me.”
I sat back and waited, positive that the information would elicit a stronger reaction from Jack than he’d shown up to that point. He tipped his head to the side and looked up to the corner of the room behind me while taking in what I’d said.
“Okay, that makes sense,” he said, looking back to me. “But, how does that connect her to me?” My mouth dropped open once again. I glanced at Vila and shook my head.
“Is this guy for real?” I said, astonished. She chuckled and looked over to Jack, slapping him on the leg.
“He is!” she said happily. “And quite the joy to have in the fold!” Jack smiled back at her.
“Bennett, I may have the typical house, and family, and job, but that doesn’t mean I have the typically closed mind that so many do,” he explained. “I’d rather spend my time learning about magic that very clearly is real than spend any time questioning that it is so. I’ve always believed in taking what’s in front of me and rolling with it!”
“If only I’d had your frame of mind a year ago!” I told him. “I was scared shitless by all this!”
“You are also just under half my age,” he laughed. I nodded and laughed myself. The man was full of really good points.
“Well, back to your question, I have no idea how the woman in blue is connected to you. What I do know is that she trusts you,” I told him. “She as much as pointed that fact out specifically.”
“That’ll have to be good enough for now, in that case,” Jack replied. “If you find out more, be sure to let me know.” He was so casual and relaxed that I still wasn’t certain he wasn’t just in shock over the whole subject. Just then, Andi bounced back in the room with the first aid kit, and Vila stood to help her fix up my head.
“After we get done here, how about a drink?” Andi suggested, giggling. Jack and I looked at each other, and both started nodding our heads.
“To hell with eating, today calls for a toast,” I joked. Jack continued nodding in agreement.
“One quick question,” he finally spoke. “I have a very perceptive wife. I’m not in the habit of keeping things from her. Hell, she’d probably analyze some dream I wrote in that journal she makes me keep and figure all this out. How many rules would I break by being truthful with her?” His face had turned deeply serious. It was the first concern any of us had seen from him.
“You say she analyzes dreams?” Vila asked for confirmation.
“Yes,” Jack replied. “She’s pretty spot on a lot of the time. Or, at least I think so. She’s how I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt that Bennett would get the coding completed in record time. That is why I had no problem telling Sven and Asher to wait a couple of extra days.”
“Is her tendency to be open-minded as significantly developed as yours?” Andi asked.
“One-hundred percent, yes,” he answered without hesitation. The girls were behind me, cleaning my wound, but that didn’t stop me from feeling them looking at each other in that silent communication way they tended to do.
“How about this,” Vila started. “We are going to plant a dream or two for you. You will write them in your journal. Have her analyze them and let us know what she says. If she is as perceptive as you say, she’ll grow closer to actually asking you about magic soon enough. Then, bring her to us.”
“That I can do,” Jack agreed. “Can you do it relatively quickly?”
“Absolutely,” Andi piped up. “In fact, we’ll toss a dream or two her way, too. That way, she’ll be excited to learn more instead of just being baptized by necessity, so to speak.”
“Perfect, thank you.” Jack stood up and stretched. “Hey, Anders. How about I get started on those drinks while these ladies work hard to put your skull back together? Where’s your booze?”
“In the cabinet under the island in the kitchen,” I answered immediately. I wholeheartedly agreed with his plan. He promptly went to pour us some drinks just as Vila secured a bandage that she used gauze to wrap around my forehead to keep in place.
“That should do it,” she chimed. She and Andi came to sit on the couch with me.
“Thank you, ladies. I can only imagine I look like a war movie extra right about now,” I joked.
“Nah, more like you forgot that Halloween is in October, not July,” Andi laughed.
“Hey, there’s something about all this that I haven’t figured out yet,” I started after something from my history wish visions flashed through my mind. “What the hell is remnant magic?” Andi glanced at Vila.
“You want to take this one?” Andi asked her.
“Sure!” Vila replied. She turned to me and put her hand on my leg. “Now, this is going to be super complicated. Are you ready?” Her face was so deathly serious that I considered tabling the question for a later time. Instead, I figured, with all the other bombs dropped that day, now would be as good a time as any.
“Okay,” she said. “When significant magic is used, a tiny bit of it will transfer to an item that is either directly connected to it or very nearby.” She lowered her head and furrowed her brow, changing her face from serious to concerned.
“And?” I urged her to continue, waiting for the part I needed to handle.
“That’s it. Are you okay?” she asked. She could only hold her concerned ruse for a few seconds before busting out in laughter. Andi joined in, and the two of them fell off the couch. I lowered my head and chuckled. I should’ve seen that coming.
“You think that’s funny, do you?” I scolded sarcastically. I dropped down on the floor and started tickling both of them.
“Stop! Stop!” they called out between laughs. They rolled around, trying to get away until Jack returned with our drinks.
“Hey now!” he called out. “Watch Chester’s box!”
We stopped to look at him, and all four of us busted up. When the laughter finally died down, we pulled recliners from the other side of the room near to the couch. The four of us spent the better part of the afternoon filling each other in on the details of the day, and in Jack’s case, magic in general. By the time Jack decided to go home, he and I were both buzzed, so we called him a cab. I walked him to the door and opened it for him.
“See you at the office tomorrow,” I told him as we shook hands.
“Oh, hell, no, you won’t!” he laughed. “I forgot to tell you I made other plans for us.”
“What other plans? And, who is ‘us’?” I inquired.
“Me and the wife, the girls, you, and Lottie are flying to Barbados tomorrow afternoon. You’ll need to get packed, so don’t bother with the office,” he told me
as though it was a normal schedule alteration.
“Barbados? As in the country?” I needed to make sure there wasn’t a hotel, or retreat, or park named Barbados because having a trip to a Caribbean destination planned for me wasn’t something I could wrap my mind around off the cuff.
“Yep, the country. I told you about this,” he replied.
“Not to be disagreeable, but you most certainly did not tell me we were going to Barbados tomorrow!” I responded.
“Well, maybe not all the details, or other people, but I did tell you, remember? If you made the program work, I’d send you to Barbados…?” he said nonchalantly. I had forgotten he’d said that, most likely because I thought he was simply dramatic.
“Yeah, my apologies, you did mention something about it. I didn’t think you were serious, though!” I laughed.
“Kinda like that time I showed you an amazing office that you didn’t believe I was giving to you along with your promotion?” he joked. “You really should start believing in the good stuff a little more, Anders.” He turned and walked out to his waiting cab, laughing at his own joke all the way to the curb. His cab pulled away while I took a moment to let the idea of the trip sink in. Excitement bubbled up in my chest, and I slammed the door shut. I turned and ran for the living room.
“Andi! Vila! Time to pack!”
25
One place I’d never been before was on a beach, and from where I was reclining on the coast of the Caribbean Sea, I’d been missing out. It was the most beautiful place I’d ever been to. The sand was white instead of tan, as I had expected. The sun made it sparkle so brightly that it appeared to have diamonds strewn throughout. It stretched for miles in both directions and was bordered by the most vibrant teal blue waters. As the water spread away from the beach, it grew darker until it looked like a midnight sky blanketed in a silver halo. I’d heard that the beach was breathtaking but hadn’t believed it until seeing it firsthand.
I was lying in a slat-wood beach chair that sat low to the ground, just above the sand. Our group had a circle of the same type of chairs set up under a tall umbrella. Each chair had a small table with thin steel legs pushed deep into the ground to keep it steady. We’d decided to travel away from the resort we were staying in, so we had a large cooler full of snacks, drinks, and water, sitting nearby. Jack had hired one of the bellhops from the resort to tend to our every need while we lounged around, doing whatever we felt like doing.