by Alexis Batty
It’s time for bed; actually, it is past time for bed. These Spooks have kept me up past bedtime, again. I need to be rested. I’m not looking forward to hearing Jared bark commands at me. His voice is just so aggravating to me, and I'll admit I’m holding a grudge against him because of how he treated Doc. No one treats Doc like he is inferior. Doc is amazing.
I pick up my plate from the wide railing and go back inside my room. Distracted by the comfy bed earlier, I had failed to realize how amazing my room truly is. During the night, I’m sure each light will glow faintly and twinkle like stars. There would still be enough light to illuminate the entire room. A chaise lounge is against a wall. There are two doors on either side of it. One is probably the bathroom and the other the closet. Jared said that the house will even provide clothes for all sorts of occasions.
Ash arranged for security from his pack to watch the house, for most people that probably meant someone drove by every few hours. For Ash, it meant that there is someone on the property or next to it at all times. There is a list of a handful of people allowed to be on the security detail. No one else is allowed to even get a whiff of what is going on. He called the job a Code Beta whatever that means.
I told my parents they aren’t allowed to call me paranoid anymore. All I ever did was check every room in the house when no one is supposedly there. My searches never prove successful, but you never knew. Also, when driving through a grove of trees, I always end up going really fast. You know, just in case some crazed person jumps out at you with a knife or something to kill you. It’s considered a preemptive strike in my book. Those urban legends came from somewhere. I drifted off to dreamland thinking about being chased through the woods.
5
Bang! I fall out of bed with a gasp. My chest constricts as my heart beats out of control. Every muscle is tense and ready to move as I look around for what made the noise.
“Hurry up Short Stack. Training starts in ten minutes.” Jared pounds on my door.
I let out the breath I’ve been holding and groan. What a wonderful way to be woken up, nothing wrong with that method at all. I malevolently sneer in my head.
Ten minutes is exactly the right amount of time to do absolutely nothing. Not wanting to lose any of the little time I had, I bolt for the two mysterious doors looking for the bathroom. The door on the left is the closet. It’s bigger than my room back home.
“Binawalka, I’m not a clothes horse. I like really simple and comfortable clothes, this is too much.”
I shut the door and head for the bathroom afraid of what I’m going to find. If it was physically possible, my jaw would have hit the ground. It’s the most luxurious bathroom I have ever seen.
The bathtub is in the middle of the room with the same type of chandelier from the bedroom above it. It’s big enough for a couple of people and has jets in it. There is the same tile from downstairs on the floor. A fireplace is on the wall next to the tub. The double sink has a midnight blue stone countertop. The cabinets are shiny silver with midnight blue. There is a door directly across from the door to the bedroom which leads to the toilet.
“Wow. You don’t do anything small do you?”
I quickly go through my morning routine and go to the closet. Nothing has changed, except now the different drawers and sections have labels identifying what is in them and what occasion they are for. There is a drawer partially opened that’s labeled training. It contains black tank tops and black yoga pants.
“Color, Binawalka, I love colors in my wardrobe. Black is great but so is teal, purple, red, blues, and the occasional white. Fix it please.” I close the drawer and wait for the telltale tingle in my brain. There is a faint tingle and I smile opening the drawer. There’s still only black tank tops but the pants now had swirls of gray. Yay.
“Fine, I will trust that you have been eavesdropping on Jared, and these are what I need. But I’m warning you, if I could get away with color then you will be changing these,” I huff.
I dress quickly and bolt for the door. Ten minutes is up and Jared doesn’t seem like the kind of person that will take being late on the first day very well. Great.
“Good Grief!” I shriek as I jump back. I had opened the door and Ash was standing there with his arm raised in a fist.
“Sorry, here I made this for you.” Ash smiles as he rubs the back of his head with his hand. “I figured you would need something to eat since Jared was springing training on you.” Ash shrugs sheepishly. He hands me a breakfast burrito.
I can’t help but smile. “Thank you. Um, you don’t happen to know where training is supposed to be? It’s just Jared didn’t exactly give me any directions.”
Ash smiles as he answers, “He’s waiting downstairs for you. Apparently, the house didn’t include a training room, and you need to get it to make one.”
“Yes, there is, it’s behind the spiral staircase.” I pause confused by the sudden burst of knowledge. “I’m not sure how I knew that,” I said perplexed.
“Well, go show him, then he can’t yell at you for being late, chop, chop,” grinned Ash.
I shove the burrito into my mouth and run down the hall waving behind me. I probably look crazy, but I have never enjoyed being late. The stairs have morphed to include a slide next to them. Laughing, I sit down and slid to the bottom. Jared doesn’t look amused. He looks exasperated and irritated.
“You need to have the house create a training room. You are also ten minutes late,” Jared said pointedly.
Swallowing, “Actually, the training room is right this way, and if you had told me when we got here when training was I would have been five minutes early. Don’t blame the pupil for the teacher’s lack of communication.” I never let an authority figure blame me for their shortcomings. It just isn’t in my nature. “Are you coming or what?”
There is a button on one of the walls; it’s a crater on the full moon carving. The door releases from the latch and slides noiselessly into the wall. I step into the room. My eyes are instantly drawn to a book on a table.
It’s bound in beautiful blue leather that’s studded with white stones showing the different phases of the moons. It appears to have a faint glow. I want to touch it, but Jared grabs my arm.
“Don’t. I know the requirements for my family’s book but not yours. That’s something you will have to research in the different books here. If you haven’t met those requirements, the book could kill you. Don’t risk it.”
“What’s it for?”
“Each of the original eight families has a set of responsibilities and specific spells that they take care of. Each family’s power is derived from an element. Your family’s power comes from the shadows hence the moon, and mine comes from water. Our families are connected and balanced. Your family is the head of the Witches Council and is considered to be the wisest family,” answers Jared. “Come, we can go over all that later. You need to start learning magic to protect yourself.”
“Yeah sure ok.” It’s weird the book is calling to me. It’s like when you see a sign saying wet paint and you just have to reach out and touch it, but I have to focus on what Jared is telling me.
“First thing you have to learn is how to sense and channel the magic inside of you. If you can’t do that, you won’t be able to cast any spells. It is this ability that differentiates us from regular humans. Now sit down and focus your mind to look inside yourself to sense the flow of magic,” orders Jared.
I sit down unsure of how to sense the magic that is inside of me. There aren’t enough details for me to go off of. I don’t know what the magic is going to feel like, so how am I supposed to be able to focus on it?
“Jared, what does magic feel like? How will I know when I find it?” I ask while trying to focus.
“I can’t tell you what it will feel like, but you’ll know when you find it. Now focus,” roughly commands Jared.
Jared is a jerk, but he’s the only chance I have. He never asks for anything. It’s always a command or o
rder. His arms are always crossed and tensed. Other than the time back home and when he was talking about his mom, I have never seen anything other than an unimpressed almost annoyed look on his face. I would have thought that a water element family would be calm and cool, but he was more like a tempest about to unleash hell.
I take a deep breath and try to clear my head, but the book pops back in. It takes ten deep breaths to dislodge it from my thoughts. In college, I had a roommate who had been into meditation and made me do it with her. Today is the most I have ever been grateful for all those meditation hours. I focus on my breathing to clear my mind of errant thoughts.
With each breath, I focus on how it feels as my lungs fill with air. Warmth radiates from my lungs to my heart, then through the rest of my body. I have never felt this warmth spreading through me before. It has only ever been in my chest, but now I can feel my fingers tingling with it. It’s as if sparks of energy dance through my veins. I gasp.
“Good. Now try getting the magic to flow to only one hand. Focus all that magic into the palm of your hand. Control it. Make it do what you want,” directs Jared.
The sparks jump when I try to reach out to them mentally. It’s like I’m trying to catch a fish with chopsticks. This is going to be harder than just finding the magic. The sparks are wild and unpredictable. They don’t want to listen to me. It’s becoming harder to focus on them. The more I try, the more they slip away. I’m getting tired and hungry.
I roll my head to work out the kinks and let out an exasperated sigh. My body feels stiff and sore. I have no idea how long I have been sitting there trying to get control over my magic, but it feels like it’s been hours.
“I’m hungry,” I groan.
Jared chuckles, “Well it is almost dinner time for you. Your parents tried to get you to snap out of it for lunch, but you couldn’t be reached.”
“What?” I ask confused.
“You were about seven feet up in the air with magic sparking off your skin,” Jared shrugs. “We’ll try again tomorrow.” He walks over and holds his hand out to me. I can barely move my hand up. Jared has to help me walk to the kitchen.
My parents and Ash are sitting at the table playing with a deck of cards. Jared deposits me at the table. He brings me a Gatorade with a straw sticking out of the top. I watch as he sits down with a huge sandwich. There’s nothing I can do other than glare at him as he raises the sandwich up to his mouth. Just before the sandwich reaches Jared’s mouth, he sighs and puts it back on his plate.
“You know it isn’t my fault you can’t use your arms to eat. It isn’t my job to feed you like a baby. Someone else can do it. Now let me eat in peace,” growls Jared.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I snort.
Jared starts poking his sandwich, except he is forced to stop a few inches away. He even takes my Gatorade and places it on top of it. “I’m tired and hungry as well let me eat.”
“Why are you tired?” I grumble.
“I have been trying to help you get your magic under control. It wasn’t just you working on it. There is a reason witches start training at a young age. The older you get the stronger your magic gets. It’s normal for a witch from one of the original families to start training on their third birthday. You are in your twenties. You should be training the children in your family, except there are none. If you don’t get it under control soon, it may kill you. There is a great deal of power bubbling under your skin, far more than I expected there to be. So yeah I’m tired and hungry from trying to help you calm that electrical storm. Let me eat,” slowly whispers Jared.
Holding my breath, I gather the burst of anger and let it go on an exhale. Ash snatches my Gatorade before it has a chance to fall. He places it before me on his way to the kitchen.
I try to focus on the straw to take a drink, but it’s blurry. Squinting at it gives me a headache, and the room swims around me. A groan rushes out as I try to raise my hands to my head. I realize darkness is creeping up on me. No matter how hard I try to fight it, the darkness works its way from the edge of my vision inward.
In an instant, my strength fails me. I hear glass shatter, but it sounds far away. The world disappears with me in it. It’s nice.
I can hear voices. They sound like people I know, but I can’t bring myself to care about them. It’s hard to care when you are just a little atom floating in the ether.
Something is wrong with that thought. I’m not an atom, am I? No, I am something else. Why is it so warm? But there is nothing but darkness to answer my questions.
6
Every muscle aches and throbs. I groan as I try to sit up. It seems like I’ve been doing that quite a bit recently. I think back on yesterday’s events and groan again. There is no memory of crawling my way upstairs to bed, so the black ether must mean that I passed out, again.
A nice hot bath filled with Epsom salts is what my body needs. However, I’m going to have to settle for a shower. There is no way I am going to be able to get myself in or out of the bath on my own. My pride won’t let me call someone for help either. I am a grown woman for goodness sake.
The first step out of bed left me sprawling on the ground. Crawling is going to be the only way for me to get to the shower. What would have been a minute walk is now a several minute one.
I close my eyes. I can do this. There is no way I am going to spend any more time in bed or on the floor. I take a deep breath and prepare myself to start crawling. The carpet underneath me changes to tile. I look up, smiling when I see the shower head and a railing to pull myself up with. An hour in the shower and I am starting to feel closer to normal. I’m not anywhere near normal, but I’m closer. My muscles are still stiff, but I can move again.
The closet is not my friend. It’s almost completely empty. Wrapped in a towel, I glare at the only thing I can wear. It’s a dress. There’s nothing wrong with the dress, except I don’t wear dresses. No matter how hard I tried, I can’t get Binawalka to give me something else to wear. I’m stuck with either the towel or this thing.
Mirrors don’t usually like me, but I have to say as far as dresses go this one is comfortable and flattering. It’s made from a soft teal fabric except for the sleeves. They are made from a stiff silver fabric and almost look like plates of armor. My stomach growls and tells me to go eat. I didn’t get lunch or dinner last night. I’m starving.
It feels weird sneaking around my own house, but I didn’t want anyone seeing me in this dress. I’m going to grab breakfast and eat it in my room.
“Why are you sneaking around?” whispers Ash in my ear.
I scream. Ash presses his hands hard against his ears grimacing in severe pain. Serves him right the big jerk.
“Don’t do that!” I reprimand.
“Well, I wasn’t expecting you to scream so loud. I’m still curious why you’re sneaking around your own home.”
Embarrassed, I look down at my feet. It seems like a silly reason to be embarrassed. “Never mind,” I said as I turn heading towards the kitchen. Now that my cover is blown there’s no reason to sneak. I’ll just eat breakfast, and then go lock myself in my room till Binawalka sees it my way. I can’t train in this.
“How did it go yesterday?” ask Ash casually as he follows me.
I snort. “I have no control and too much magic. I’m going to blow up the world someday.”
“Fun,” said Ash dryly.
Cereal is my breakfast food of choice. It’s something I can make in my sleep, which is pretty standard for me when I first wake up. It doesn’t matter if my mornings start after the sun goes down or when it’s coming up, I hate waking up. If I could sleep past the waking up part, I would. Most people turn towards coffee, but it just makes me sick to my stomach.
I sit at the bar and nurse my cereal. The audible gasp from my parents sets my teeth on edge. Nothing so far has fazed them, but seeing me in a dress deserves a reaction from them. A hiss echoes in the silence that follows their gasp. Anger sparks ins
ide me. I can feel the magic jumping at my strong emotions.
“That’s enough Gwen! Get control of yourself before you do something you will regret,” warns Jared.
I focus on the mostly empty bowl of cereal in front of me. The milk is bubbling. It’s my fault. I reach my hand out to pick it up and put it in the sink only to watch it go flying across the room and smash against the wall. I never touched it.
The anger diffuses and leaves behind a residue of guilt. “I’m sorry,” I whisper. I’m not sure who I am apologizing to. It could have been my parents, Jared, Binawalka, or even the poor bowl. My forehead rests on the counter in front of me as I will myself to regain control. I really can hurt someone if I’m not careful. This sucks. I have never had to worry about hurting someone before at least not like this.
“Go change, and we’ll get back to work,” orders Jared.
“Yes Sir,” I whisper.
“Gwen, it’s o-” starts my Dad.
“No. It is not ok. Just stay away from me till I get this under control. What’s the point of having you two stay here if I put you in danger like that?” I interrupt.
There is no point if I end up accidentally killing them. I trudge upstairs praying that Binawalka is going to allow me to have comfortable clothes to train in. I didn’t think I can do it in this dress. Actually, I didn’t want to be in this dress a second longer.
My closet is once again filled with clothes. This time instead of the black and other dark colored clothes, there are vibrant colors everywhere. I open the drawer labeled training and pull out a pair of light gray sweatpants and a baby blue shirt. The moment I change my clothes, I feel my muscles and my mind relax. Hopefully, today will get better.
Jared is waiting in the training room. It’s time to get this magic inside me under control. “Should I just pick up from where we left off, or do you have any words of wisdom to help me figure this out?”