"Found out we had magic and left," Marie snapped. "Now get the hell out of my room."
16
Even a fraction of Marie's magic was enough to jumpstart my own healing, so by the end of the day, I was awake and eager to spar again. But Gavon wasn't having any of it, so we practiced summoning and transporting instead, and he sent me home early with a mug of healing potion. The next night was the same, a few hours of magical tutelage and a cup of healing potion. By the third night, I was back to sparking at the fingertips, so we sparred for half an hour before I threw in the towel.
To my complete surprise, Marie had been willing to heal me the next morning. Whatever had changed with her, she didn't tell me about it. But she'd taken to walking around the house with a smug superiority that even made Jeanie curious. Besides our five-minute healing sessions, Marie treated me exactly the same, and wasn't above leaving me stranded in the parking lot. But the joke was on her, as I was able to transport myself back home.
Gavon and I continued in this pattern, two or three days of non-sparring tutelage and one night of sparring. I didn't quite miss it, as long as I could spend a few hours picking Gavon's brain. He was so knowledgeable and patient, and on the odd chance he didn't know an answer to my question, he was able to summon a book from some unknown magical library. Usually, he gave the book to me afterwards, so I had begun to assemble my own collection. When the pile grew too large to fit under my bed, he showed me how to create a pocket to stick the books into, and then how to grow the size of my backpack so I could carry more books. When I complained that my backpack was too heavy, he showed me how to change its weight.
Unfortunately, I had to keep my magical progress a secret from Jeanie, and, by extension, Nicole. One time, I'd slipped up and summoned a jug of milk from the store in front of Nicole, and she'd lectured me about why I shouldn't just take things that weren't mine. Then I got another lecture from Jeanie about when and how to use magic. Ever since, I just didn't do any magic around them period.
So imagine my surprise when Jeanie dropped a bomb the Wednesday before Thanksgiving at breakfast.
"Gram's letting you come up tomorrow," she said with a satisfied smile.
If she'd thought this was welcome news, she was mistaken. It had been over a month since I'd grown into my magic, and not one of the mysterious magicals in Salem had come down to visit. As far as I was concerned, it was too little, too late.
"How generous of her."
"Lexie, don't start," Jeanie said. "You have to be on your best behavior up there. Please. For me."
I opened my mouth to argue that I didn't want to go, that Gram and her stupid magical people could stay up there, but then I noticed the dark circles under Jeanie's eyes. If it had taken her a whole six weeks to convince Gram that I was…whatever, good enough to come up to the compound, she must've really worked hard at it. It was the least I could do to just go up there and be a good kid.
But I wasn't doing it for Gram.
"Okay," I said. "I will."
Jeanie smiled and patted my hand. "And I promise you I'll find someone to help explain magic better than I can."
"Right, because I don't know anything about magic," I said slowly. That might be a problem. I wasn't a novice anymore; I could summon, conjure, and transport myself, although I was pretty sure Jeanie hadn't noticed any of that. She was definitely unaware that I could spar for almost a full hour, and had gone from simply flinging whatever came out of my hands to making split-second decisions on the type and ferocity of my magic.
"If everything goes well, you might be up there every weekend," Jeanie said excitedly, taking my plate. "Play your cards right, Lexie, and you'll get instruction from Gram herself."
"Hooray…"
Although I'd made a lot of progress in the past few weeks, I was still lightyears behind Gavon. Sparring with him was like trying to tap dance with Fred Astaire, although he had the good grace to be humble in his now almost daily ass-kicking.
"Excellent work, Alexis!" Gavon said as he deflected one of my attack spells and sent back two powerful ones of his own.
I held up my hands and envisioned a forcefield around myself. The spells bounced harmlessly off the edge of it.
"What is that?" Gavon asked, cocking his head to the side.
"I saw it in Star Trek," I said with a small shrug. "I wasn't sure it'd work but—" His spell tore clean through the forcefield and sent me flying back into the sand. I landed with an oomph, more pained by my butt than the spell.
"I'd stick with the classical defensive measures we've been working on," Gavon said, reaching a hand out to help me up. "They've worked for thousands of years."
"Fine," I snapped, taking his hand. I sent a spell through my hand to his. Sadly, it didn't as much as leave a mark on him.
"Nice try," Gavon said.
I glared at him, brushing myself off. Then, quickly, fired an attack spell, then another, and with a flourish, once more.
"Very good," Gavon said, deflecting them with ease. "Next time, try getting in two spells before you turn around."
"Wha?" I said, stopping for a moment. That was costly as I nearly missed a fast moving spell. "Time out. What?
"Your technique," Gavon said. "It's a tad showy for my taste, and doing all the spinning slows you down."
I frowned at him. "I thought you said it was all instinct?"
"It is," Gavon said. "And I'm improving your instincts."
"Ah hah—gack!" My body moved of its own accord, twisting out of the way of one of his spells. I stopped, gasping at myself and the feeling of having something else move me. "What just happened?"
"Ah, magical memory," Gavon said with a smile.
"What's that?"
"When you cast a spell, it leaves an imprint, the same way an experience leaves a memory in your mind. Quick and easy spells fade quickly while larger, more complex spells, such as fighting spells, leave a longer impression. When you spar," he cast a spell, "you are building your magical memory so you can rely on it in a match, versus thinking about it."
"Huh," I said, absorbing the concept in the split second between his magical parries. "So if I keep practicing, you're saying I'll get more of these memories, and it'll start taking over?"
"That's the idea."
"And what about healers? Do they have magical memories too?"
He shook his head. "Not to my knowledge."
"What kind of limits are there to healing?" I asked. "Marie's not getting as woozy as she used to, either. Can she grow stronger as a healer? Could she bring someone back from the dead? Could she cure cancer?"
"She can grow stronger, but her magic will mostly cure magical maladies," Gavon said, continuing to spar with me and not even breaking a sweat. "And, just like you, a healer with no practice can't do much of anything."
"But mostly, they're good for replenishing magic?"
"That, and I've read about healers who become skilled in wound repairs as well," Gavon said. "Mostly, healers were there to heal the warriors."
"It's almost like the yin and yang," I said. "A warrior loses magic, and a healer replenishes."
"You see," Gavon said. "You and your sister have no choice but to get along."
"Someone might want to tell her that." The familiar dizzy sensation washed over me, and I swayed on my feet but remained standing. "I think I need a minute. How long did we spar for?"
"Almost a full hour," he said, surveying me. "Are you all right?"
I considered my power. It was low, but not dangerously so. "I don't want to push it tonight. I've got a big day tomorrow, apparently."
"Oh?"
"We're headed up to my Gram's for Thanksgiving," I said, stretching my arms and rubbing my shoulder. "First time seeing the family since…well, since ever."
"You haven't seen them? That's surprising."
"You're telling me," I said. "First I find out I have magic then I find out I apparently have this huge family up in Massachusetts that I've never met. Cousins and aunts and uncles."
/>
He made a noise that sounded like annoyance.
"Hey, how would I transport myself there? Like, how do I get somewhere I've never been?" I was stalling, but I didn't like the idea of not seeing Gavon for a few days.
"You might not be able to transport into the compound. My guess is that it has some magical protections around it that prevent anyone from just showing up."
That made sense, I supposed.
"But the general technique is similar to summoning an object in an unknown location. The farther away the location is, the more magic is required. Let's practice step-by-step. I want you to transport yourself to the waterline."
I pursed my lips at him; I'd been transporting easily for weeks now.
"Just trust me on this," he said. "Do it."
I popped to the waterline then popped back to the seated position.
"And how did you do that?"
I sighed. "I sent my magic to the location I wanted to go then followed it."
"Very good. Now, I want you to send your magic to the oyster restaurant twenty miles from here."
"Where's that?"
"Ah-hah, not so smart now, are we?" Gavon said with a knowing smile. "Go find it."
I closed my eyes and released my magic, but it had nowhere to go. "I don't know how."
"So perhaps you should lay off the attitude, hm?" he said with a small chuckle. "Your magic is quite intelligent. Ask it to find the restaurant for you."
I breathed the query to the power humming in my veins then released it. I gasped as it shot away from me, disappearing into the darkness of my mind's eye. For a few breaths, I heard nothing…then a faint whisper of "Come to me." I let go of the grip on my physical body and the scent of seafood and fried potatoes filled my nose.
I stood in front of an oyster house I'd never seen before. My jaw dropped at my own talent; this opened so many doors for me.
Beaming, I transported myself back to Gavon.
"Well?"
"Found it!"
"You went all the way over there and didn't bring me anything back?"
I laughed and concentrated, sending my magic back to the restaurant to bring back a plate of raw oysters in rock salt.
Gavon's face lit up. "That's more like it," he said, taking the platter from my hands and placing it on the sand in front of us. "I haven't had oysters in years."
"Any reason?" I asked, slurping one down.
He smiled a little sadly. "Not since I lost my wife. She was a big fan."
I swallowed the first oyster in one gulp, and felt guilty that I knew absolutely nothing about the man who had been teaching me magic, other than his affinity for history and science. But then again, I had become quite nervous to ask him, afraid of what I would—or wouldn't—find out.
"So do you have a family?" I asked quietly. "Somewhere to go for Thanksgiving?"
His face warmed, and he chuckled. "I'll be fine. Why don't you hurry on home? I'll see you next week."
"You just want to eat all the oysters…"
He shrugged and slurped down another one. "Guilty?"
17
There was a nervous, excited energy in the house when I walked down to the kitchen the next morning. Even Jeanie looked happy for once, or perhaps it was because she wore her best dress and earrings. Nicole, too, wafted into the kitchen wearing her nicest clothes, pausing to press a kiss onto my forehead. The only other person who was lukewarm about the whole "Thanksgiving" thing was Marie, who sulked and rolled her eyes about having to be gone from her friends for a week.
"You can just transport back?" I asked her, but she glowered at me and told me I knew nothing about anything.
"Marie, take Nicole. Lexie and I will transport together. The location of the compound is Salem, Massachusetts," Jeanie said. Another trademark eye roll from Marie then she and Nicole were gone in a poof of white.
Crap. Jeanie didn't know that I knew how to transport. I offered a weak smile and wondered how I'd play this off.
"So there are a few steps to learning how to transport," Jeanie said. "First and foremost, the location—"
"Salem."
"Right, so now that you know the location, what I want you to do is to put your magic there."
"…Put my magic there?" All I could think of right then was how grateful I was that Gavon had been teaching me the finer points of magic, and not Jeanie.
"Yeah, just…"
"I think I got it," I said, saving her from having to struggle anymore. I closed my eyes and grabbed onto her magic as I used to do with Gavon's.
"W-what are you doing?" Jeanie replied, taking a step back.
"Following you?" I replied.
This was stupid. Jeanie might hurt herself teaching me how to do something I already knew. Besides, she'd find out soon enough.
"You know what? I'll just see you there."
With that, I released my magic and it flew faster than light across the plains and mountains and rivers until it landed on what it knew to be the front lawn of my grandmother's house, and then the rest of me followed it. I landed on brown, dead grass and a shot of extraordinarily cold air blew at me.
Obviously, I'd left my coat in Florida.
"Geez," I said, wrapping my arms around me and summoning my coat.
"Alexis Renee, how the hell did you know how to do that?" Jeanie said, appearing next to me.
"Do what?"
"Transport spell."
"I taught her," Marie said, standing on the front porch.
"You what?" Jeanie and I said at the same time.
Marie shrugged. "I got tired of having to drive her ass everywhere."
"Oh, is that Jeanie and the girls?" a voice called to my right. Out of the neighboring house, an old woman who looked similar to my grandmother poked her head out. Unlike Gram, who wore a mask of indifference, this woman was warm and inviting and put me at ease.
"Nina, these are the girls," Jeanie said, also growing a bit warmer with this new woman's presence.
"Nicole, you're all grown up, aren't you? And Marie! Spitting image of Mora, look at you. And—" When her eyes landed on me, they filled with tears and she covered her mouth. "Little Alexis. The last time I saw you, you were just a few hours old."
I stood awkwardly, glad that at least Marie was looking as nervous at the familiarity as I was. If this woman had been so worried about us, how come this was the first time I was ever seeing her face?
"Er…"
"Lexie, this is your great aunt, Nina," Jeanie said, saving me from asking the question. "She's Gram's sister."
"Jeanie, my love!" Nina said, moving from me to my aunt, who flustered and grimaced at the attention she'd been getting since she was probably my age. "What a fine job you've done with these girls. I just can't believe…and so powerful."
Nicole shifted nervously, but Nina was quick to tut.
"Even you, dear. That potion-making magic is pretty potent!" She laughed. "Look at me, alliterating like a fool."
I shared a glance with Marie, but she just looked bored. "This is so stupid. I'm going back to bed." And with that, she disappeared.
"Marie—" Jeanie began, but Nina cut her off.
"Oh, Jeanie, you know you were just as bad when you were eighteen. You and Mora, fighting like cats and dogs all the time!"
"Well, girl, you've grown into your magic, hm?"
Gram's voice echoed through the yard and pierced me. I straightened and nodded, unsure of why I felt like I needed to bow to her. She had appeared on her porch and was evaluating us against some yardstick we weren't aware of.
"Gram?" Nicole asked. "Is everything okay?"
"She's powerful," Gram said, looking me up and down. "Much more in control of her magic than the last time I saw her."
"I've been practicing," I murmured.
"Indeed."
"Marie said she's been teaching her," Nicole interjected, taking Gram's attention away from me.
"And you?" Gram asked her. "Your potion-making skills improved any
?"
Nicole's face turned bright red and she looked at the ground. "I haven't really…there's no need to…"
"She made a good healing potion!" I interjected, wanting to protect my sister as much as she protected me.
"Why did you need a healing potion?" Gram asked.
Nicole shot me a look that very plainly told me to keep my mouth shut. "Lexie was having some problems controlling her magic at first. But she's got a handle on it now."
I nodded.
"Mm." Suddenly I felt like I'd be safer in Florida. "And where is Marie?"
"She's…decided to go back to the house," Jeanie said. "I was going to go get her and bring her back—"
"I shall send for your niece," Gram said. Her fingernails glowed a pale green and the hairs on my arms stood up.
A second later, Marie appeared, surrounded by a green glow. She'd obviously been halfway to putting her pajamas back on, as she stood in a lacy white bra and short, bright green shorts.
"W…Gram!" she screamed, struggling against the magic holding her in place.
"When I call you, girl, you answer," Gram said to Marie. "I may not be your mother, but parental magic has strong bonds. You understand?"
Marie whimpered and glared at me as if I'd had something to do with her being plucked out of her bedroom half-dressed.
"Girl, I won't ask you again," Gram said. "You'll be without your magic for a month."
"Yes, ma'am," Marie murmured. Apparently, the threat of being magicless was the only thing to cow Marie's super-sized ego.
"Very well, hurry up and get clothed. You are needed here."
To my surprise, Marie nodded meekly then disappeared. A few moments later, she reappeared fully dressed with a bag in her hand, unable to look at anything but the ground.
"…Why don't we get settled and then we can catch up," Jeanie offered to Nina, who was watching the entire event unfold with pursed lips. I half-expected her to say something in our defense, but she remained silent and followed us as we entered Gram's house.
A roar of excitement greeted us before we were even past the threshold. My magic swirled and bumped against my skin, as if it knew that it was finally amongst a crowd of its peers. The faces were as familiar as their magic, although I'd never met a single one of them.
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