Discovery

by E A Foley

  Iris stepped to the back of their group with Violet and sent half her mind to discuss the issue with her in private. That obvious?

  Yup! Wanna talk about it?

  Nope. Just gotta figure something out. This new knowledge about there being other magic users kind of changes everything.

  No, it doesn’t. I didn’t think we could be the only ones. I mean, I hoped, but it doesn’t make sense that we’re the only seven people who can do this in the world.

  Iris didn’t respond.

  Perhaps this was that person’s way of saying, ‘Hey, I’m in the park too.’ Or something along those lines.

  Something is right.

  You should let it go, let it go, Violet sang and grinned. There’s nothing we can do about it now. Besides, we’re in Disneyland. Let’s have fun!

  Iris nodded. Violet bumped shoulders with her and left the Gallery as they stepped up to cars. A drive was the precise thing Iris needed. Even if it was on a track. Violet was right, there was nothing she could do now, but it got Iris wondering if she should reconsider magic. Were there risks that outweighed the benefits? What if the guy had been inclined to fight? At minimum, Iris needed to work out methods for self-defense. She decided the first thing she was going to try when she had a moment alone was offensive and defensive strategies.

  The rest of the holiday weekend flew by. Iris didn’t search out the guy, but the tickling sensation cropped up on several occasions. When it intensified, she’d catch a glimpse of the man glaring at her from somewhere nearby. Her guard was up the whole time. She scanned crowds, assessed anyone who paid too much attention to them and was exhausted from staying constantly prepared to draw in power the whole weekend. The best thing was that Morrigan’s door finished forming and Iris gave her a quick lesson on drawing in and releasing power while they sat in the hotel room Sunday night. The rest of the girls helped her move small objects on their drive home Monday evening. Iris was too tired. Thoughts of whether or not she should keep using magic kept cropping up.

  “Hey Iris, want a hand?” Cirrus called to her Tuesday morning. He jogged to catch up and grabbed her horn from her before she could respond.

  “Uh, sure, I guess.” She didn’t have the energy to fight with him.

  “Sounds like you guys had a pretty awesome weekend. And possibly an unwanted visitor?”

  “Yes to both.”

  “So next time you’ll invite me, right? It makes more sense to have a guy with you and—"

  “Excuse me? Just because I’m small and a chick doesn’t mean I can’t handle myself,” Iris snapped. “Not to mention, Morrigan was there. Don’t underestimate her black belt status or ability to turn anything into a bo or bokken. Besides, the guy was nowhere near as strong as me. He just had more guts than I did and was crazy.”

  “Wait!” Cirrus stopped Iris with his free hand. “What do you mean he was crazy? Did you talk to the guy?”

  Iris blushed. It was the only confirmation Cirrus needed.

  “Iris!” He stared at her for several long moments. “You didn’t tell anyone, did you?”

  “No. And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t either.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because it’s a nonissue. They all know there are other magic users out there. Why does it matter if this guy sought me out? I was fine. He wasn’t threatening, and if he had been, I could have protected myself and everyone else.”

  Cirrus released Iris’s arm. They started walking toward campus once more. “I believe you. Anyway, when Violet told me about the random gust of wind, it got me thinking more about doorways. Specifically about if you can create a doorway to any location. You know, if you needed to choose flight over fight?”

  “We talked about that one as well. It’s not a bad idea. I have to think about it more, though. I haven’t had a chance to work it out yet. We can give it a shot this afternoon. Sound good? Oh, and did Vi tell you about Morrigan?”

  Cirrus nodded. “I think we need to find a larger venue. My house is starting to feel a little cramped.

  “Agreed. Perhaps a doorway will lead us to an island oasis we can use for practices.”

  “Perhaps.” Cirrus was skeptical, but they didn’t exactly have any other options.

  Chapter 19

  Iris’s mind was focused on creating doorways to unknown locations as she left campus, so she didn’t notice Cirrus until he took her horn from her for the second time that day.

  “Holy shit! You scared me. Umm, thanks, I think? Is something the matter?”

  “Sorry I scared you, and no. Check this out.”

  Iris waited for something, anything, to happen and was about to ask what he was on about when she felt Cirrus open himself to the power flowing beneath the Earth and expel the tiniest stream of power she’d ever felt him release. Following the trickle of magic, she looked to the hand Cirrus held her horn in and realized he wasn’t bearing any of its weight. Instead, he was levitating her instrument alongside him and had his hand wrapped around its handle as a facade.

  “Huh. That’s actually really cool. You do know we’re surrounded by people, though, and we recently had an incident at Disneyland, right?”

  “Yeah, I know. But, see,” he lowered his voice. “We can do magic around people and they’ll never know.”

  Iris looked around. He was right. Not one of their classmates were paying them even the slightest bit of attention. She’d never felt any other magic users on campus, so perhaps it was harmless. She also realized that what little she’d once had in common with the mob of students was gone. She wouldn’t go so far as to say they were beneath her notice, but it was close. She didn’t care where they went to college or what jobs they got or anything she’d previously judged her own life by. Her world had been turned upside down in more ways than one. It hit Iris for the first time—hard—that her life would never be the same.

  Some of what she was thinking must have shown on her face because Cirrus spoke up again. “You wanna talk about something?”

  “I dunno,” Iris sighed. “I just realized I can’t relate to any of our fellow Pacific schoolmates anymore.”

  “Wait, you thought you could relate to them at all?” Rozlynd asked from behind her. “Hey Cirrus, can you show me how to do that?” She added in a much softer voice. “By the way, didn’t you say we shouldn’t do this around other people? I mean, I could feel someone using magic half the campus away and I followed it like a homing beacon back to you two.”

  “Didn’t think about that one,” Cirrus mused and released the power he was holding before his arm was ready to accept the full weight of Iris’s horn.

  Iris watched as her very expensive instrument almost hit the pavement. She cringed. “I think I’ll take that back now.” She removed her horn from Cirrus’s grasp. “You were able to follow the power he was using?”

  “Yeah. I didn’t know I could do that. I was heading to my car when I felt this tingling sensation at the back of my neck. I concentrated on it and pulled a little power into my being without realizing it. Then I could tell someone was using magic and I followed this, well for lack of a better word, trail to you two. Once I got close enough I could tell it was Cirrus. There’s a different quality to his powers than yours.”

  “I’ve noticed that too. Everyone’s powers feel different to me. Like we all have a personal signature. We’ll have to try homing in on each other’s powers at training this week. Though, I’m not sure where we’re going to do that. We almost need a secluded island or glade at this point. Cirrus, you’re right. Seven of us at your place is a bit much.”

  “Agreed,” Rozlynd added. “Okay, I’m heading back to my car. I’m sure Zarina and Morrigan are waiting for me already. See you two in a few.”

  “See you in a few!” Iris and Cirrus waved at her.

  “Perhaps you can teach me how to move something smaller than your French horn case while we wait for them to arrive?”

  “Sure thing. I’ll break you of your inability to move
that picture frame if it kills you.”

  “You mean ‘if it kills me,’ as in you, the teacher, right?”

  “Nope. I mean you.”

  “Is something the matter with you?”

  “Nope. Just coming out of my shell, I think.”

  “Keep doing it.” Cirrus grinned at her.

  They arrived at Cirrus’s place fifteen minutes later and Iris got straight to breaking Cirrus of his block against moving small objects.

  “Again! Now, not in five minutes. You’re not trying hard enough. No. That’s too much power. Take in less originally. There! That’s enough. Perfect, now form the request and release—no, slower. Better!”

  The picture frame drifted from where it lived on his desk to Cirrus’s outstretched hands where he sat on his bed.

  “See, you had no excuse,” Iris smiled at him. “All you needed to do was quit your bitching and do it. That was perfect, by the way.”

  “You’re only saying that to be nice. I know you could feel the wobbling and adjustments I made as if you were the one doing them,” he countered.

  “So what? You think I don’t have to make adjustments in the amount of power I’m using or that I don’t stumble occasionally with my requests and such? You should’ve seen the way my couch moved until I got the hang of it. All that matters is that you managed the request and have completed the task once.

  “I’m pretty sure half the process is forming the correct request and the other half is confidence in your ability to complete it,” Iris continued. “Now that you’ve moved the picture frame once, it should get easier. Especially because you knew how to adjust your request and the amount of power you were releasing. Your body has a memory of what it took to be successful, so you should be good to go from now on.”

  “Should being the operative word, right?”

  “Whatever. If you can’t do it again, then you’re not trying hard enough.”

  “Now you sound like my soccer coach. Where did that come from?”

  “Are you going to keep stalling by asking stupid questions, or are you going to give it another shot?”

  “I’ll give it another shot. Geez. Calm down. I think I liked the timid Iris better,” he attempted to add in an undertone.

  Iris’s eyes flared at the insult. “Well, she’s gone, so you better get used to this one.” Iris wasn’t sure what had gotten into her, but she was pretty sure this change came about because of the man at Disneyland. She needed to prepare her friends and herself for the unknown. It put a lot of pressure on her shoulders.

  Once the other three girls arrived, they went straight into working on doorways. It bypassed some of the basics for Morrigan, but Iris felt it was vital to their continued survival in the new world they were entering. Luckily, Morrigan picked up on doorways in a flash. Iris wondered if it was because she’d dreamt about them.

  It was while Iris watched Aerianna’s doorway form that she felt magic being used somewhere close by, but not close enough for it to be one of her friends. Remembering that Violet and Morrigan were still upstairs, Iris ignored the thought until she looked back to the kitchen and saw Violet entering it through the third doorway she’d formed that afternoon. Iris was even more puzzled when Morrigan stuck her head through after Violet.

  Iris closed her eyes and felt for the power each one of her friends was using. She could see Aerianna’s doorway and feel the formations of Cirrus and Zarina’s doorways. Rozlynd, Morrigan, and Violet were holding onto but not using any power whatsoever. It still felt like there was something else in the vicinity.

  Deciding to investigate, Iris pulled a little more power into herself. It enhanced her ability to sense all the magic being used around her. She rose from her seated position on the floor and wandered toward the extra source of power she felt. The sensation led her to the front door, where she paused, hand resting on the doorknob. Her heart pounded as a sickly sensation grew in the pit of her stomach. Should she open the door and see if anyone was outside or should she leave it alone and keep this to herself?

  Closing her eyes, she concentrated on the person’s location and felt as though she was being led outside. Without leaving her spot in the front entry, Iris drew in more power and followed the person’s aura down the street. It disappeared. The person must have stopped using magic.

  Iris bit her lower lip as she tried to make up her mind; tell her friends or don’t tell her friends. She didn’t want to alarm anyone, but she knew nothing about this person. There was a slight familiarity about the magic user, but it came with a bit of disdain.

  What do I do? Iris asked herself in consternation. She chewed on her lower lip. Do I tell them and hope they don’t freak out or do I keep it to myself and hope this other person decides to leave us alone since there are seven of us and only one of them?

  She continued to stand at the front door, hand lightly resting on the doorknob, until someone called her name from the other room. Iris flinched away from the door. Her teeth released her lower lip from their confines. She wouldn’t say anything. Not today, at least. There was no point in making them nervous or getting their guard up over something she may have imagined. If she hadn’t shared about the person in Disneyland who had physically approached her, there was no way she was going to share something that may not have even existed.

  Chapter 20

  Taking a few calming breaths, Iris walked to the hall bathroom, flushed the toilet as if she’d used it, and splashed some cold water on her face. She dried her face and hands on the provided towel. Looked in the mirror to make sure no signs of trepidation showed on her face. Amber eyes stared back at her. Iris tried to swallow the lump in her throat. She failed and wandered back into the living room as she attempted to convince herself nothing was wrong.

  “Someone call my name?” She asked from the hallway. Iris leaned against the wall at the entrance to the living room, keeping her distance so no one would notice her eye color. She took deep, measured breaths as she tried to convince herself that there was nothing to worry about.

  “Yeah, but we figured it out, so never mind,” Violet answered.

  In an attempt to distract herself from the fact that there was a magic user close by, Iris asked Morrigan to relate her dreams about doorways while the others continued practicing.

  “Basically, I was walking around, and then I’d think of a location and walk through a door to it. Sometimes I looked at a map first. Nothing too detailed.”

  “So if I pulled up a map on my phone, do you think you could open a doorway to a place on it?”

  “Probably. It’d have to be a place you know so that you can check my work.”

  “No problem. How about here?” Iris showed Morrigan a map of Silver Lake East in the El Dorado National Forest.

  “Okay.” Morrigan cocked her head to the left, looked at the map once more, drew in and released power. Her wolf-carved door appeared in the middle of the living room. “Should be there. Open it up.”

  Iris did as suggested. A gust of cold air rushed into Cirrus’s living room.

  “What the hell? Close the door!” Cirrus yelled as snow blew onto the area rug.

  “Right. It’s winter. Forgot about that one. Let me see here . . .” She went back to her phone to search out another, less frigid location.

  “Iris?”

  She ignored Cirrus. “Try here,” she told Morrigan.

  “Hang on a moment,” Cirrus tried to plead with the pair.

  It was too late. Morrigan—who had already refilled with power—released it and her door of black palm materialized, bringing its wolf carving to life once more. Iris opened the door. Pale desert sands met her eyes. It looked like the Anza Borrego desert, but was it? She took a step through the door and looked around. The surrounding hills had the correct decaying look about them with their fingers of fishers cascading downward in V-like patterns.

  “How do I know it’s the right spot?” She asked Morrigan, who shrugged.

  “You should probably come bac
k in now,” Zarina cautioned.

  “Yeah, what if there are people nearby?” Rozlynd asked.

  Iris didn’t listen. She needed to know if she was in the correct place. If Morrigan could truly open doors to anywhere in the world, then perhaps they could locate a deserted island or field to practice in.

  A familiar noise caught Iris’s ear.

  “Shit! Iris, inside. Now!” Cirrus hissed.

  Iris moved a few steps farther away. She peered around the door frame and saw a recognizable patch of palm trees and a small stream that kept the area in its vicinity green. An arm pulled her back inside and Morrigan’s door winked out. Iris smiled. She nodded to Morrigan who nodded back.

  “You all gotta go. Quick, out the garage!” Cirrus called from the front room. “My brother’s home.”

  Iris wondered, not for the first time, whether school was really worth it anymore. What could she possibly need with a high school diploma when she could, in essence, teleport to another location? She could make millions transporting people across the world in seconds—or she could wind up a science experiment and spend the rest of her life locked in some basement laboratory with tubes and wires connected to her body. Maybe homework and school were still important.

  As February turned abruptly into March, the only way Iris could keep her mind on track was through images of herself that reminded her of actors in comas on TV shows about hospitals—locked up, knocked out, and connected by dozens of tubes to monitors and scientific devices. She was probably being overdramatic, but the increase in movies and shows about people with special abilities running from governments and individuals who wanted to use the person’s abilities could not be a coincidence. It put her on her guard. So did the magic user’s statement from Disneyland about not wanting to draw attention.

  Iris pushed her friends during lessons. Gone was the supportive environment. It’d been replaced with a training regime that demanded and expected progress every day. It was proving effective. Her friends were not only learning more skills but also increasing their strength. On the side, she had everyone looking into deserted islands or wilderness areas so they could practice more destructive spells without destroying Cirrus’s house.