Luminescence (Luminescence Trilogy)

by J. L. Weil

  Taking a deep breath, I sucked it up and took a giant gulp. Getting it down my throat was another matter entirely. I’ve always had a sensitive gag reflex. Embarrassing me further was not an option, so I forced it down and was pleased when it went smoothly.

  “There you go dear,” Lily coaxed. “Lie back down for an hour or so and you will start to feel the effects.” She smoothed the hair that stuck to my face unflatteringly.

  “What time is it? Will I be able to get home soon?” It occurred to me that my aunt probably didn’t know I was missing and if I could keep it that way – even better. I didn’t want her stressing about me anymore than necessarily, especially with all the responsibility she shouldered from owning her own business. The last thing she needed was to think she had some out-of-control teen on her hands. I’d been a model one so far.

  “It’s a little past one p.m. I think we’ll be able to sneak you home before morning,” she said winking.

  I smiled as best as I could in return and relaxed more deeply on the pillows. She patted my cheek before leaving. Sophie replaced her at my bedside.

  “Hey there,” she said.

  “Hey yourself,” I managed.

  A tear slipped from the side of her eye, she wiped it away with the back of her hand. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m crying… You really scared me tonight. When Gavin brought you inside –” Her voice stumbled on her tears.

  “Sophie, I’m fine.” I grabbed her hand. “I’m just a little weak and my mind is fuzzy, stop worrying.”

  “I know. You’re just the only real friend I have here,” she said squeezing my hand.

  “I’m glad were friends.” And it was true. I might not be the most popular or the friendliest, but I was close to the friends I had and was lucky to have Sophie as one of them.

  True to Lily’s words I started feeling better. Magic can hurt but it can also heal – quickly. Sophie lent me a change of clothes; the warm sweats made me feel like me again or as close as I could come to being normal. She gave me a long hug.

  Gavin drove me home in his mom’s car sometime in the wee hours of the morning. I felt better but was still so tired after the long night this was turning out to be. The picture of my own familiar bed sounded like heaven. I studied Gavin at the wheel and didn’t know what I would have done if he hadn’t been there tonight, if wasn’t here for this huge transformation my life was undergoing. I felt more connected to him then ever.

  “About tonight –” I started before he cut me off.

  “Don’t say anything. This wasn’t your fault.”

  “But it is,” I insisted.

  “Bri you are different, I’ve never met a witch like you. There is something about your energy and tonight I felt that same substance or whatever it is in Morgana.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I don’t know… yet. What I do know is that you need to rest. We can talk about this all later,” he said as we pulled into my driveway. The sun was barely beginning to rise behind the house, framing the yard in a halo.

  “Fine,” I huffed. “I’m not dropping this.”

  He raised his eyebrow, knowing very well that this wasn’t the last he’d hear of this conversation. “I never thought you were.”

  “How are we getting in?” I asked, yawning.

  He smirked. “I got this.”

  Like I ever doubted him, when it came to breaking the rules Gavin knew how to work it. I didn’t ask what spell he was weaving, I really didn’t want to know, just as long as my aunt didn’t find out and wasn’t hurt.

  Walking into my bedroom was therapeutic in ways I never thought possible. Collapsing on the bed, Gavin came over beside me and tucked me in. He brushed the hair from my face and pressed a light kiss on my forehead. “See you tomorrow. Sweet dreams Bri,” he whispered and a sparkling tingle of magic spread over my body.

  Chapter 28

  I GOT TO STAY HOME from school the next two days even though I was feeling much better. My aunt was hovering and beside herself over the fact that I was sick again. It wasn’t like me; I was usually very healthy and had been as a child. These last few weeks with everything going on put me on her radar, not a place I liked to be. But there was no way I could tell her what really happened, or that Gavin was a witch, let alone that I was a witch. I was too afraid to lose her.

  Gavin was at my door the moment my aunt left for the shop on the second day. He checked on me yesterday just like he said, though I spent more than half the day catching up on sleep, we never had a chance to really talk. Which was a blessing in disguise, because the more I had the chance to think over those nights events, the clearer I was that I had actually professed to loving him. He hadn’t brought it up and I wasn’t about to. I knew in my heart that I loved him, but I wasn’t yet ready to vocalize that love (except of course unless I was threatened with death). So doing the mature decision I decided to ignore whatever I said or think I said. The events were still a little fuzzy.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked opening the door. Fireflies frolicked at the sight of him, an indicator I was on the mend.

  “Checking up on you.” He looked me up from head-to-toe and it had anything but an unhealthy affect on me. I’d say my body was pretty much healed.

  My cheeks flushed and I cleared my throat. “Aren’t you supposed to be in first period?”

  “You’re more important.”

  Flattered as I was, he needed to go to school, yet it didn’t stop me from smiling. “That’s crap. Go to school. I can’t have you failing.”

  He smirked, toying with his hoop. “I won’t, nothing a little magic can’t fix.”

  I gave him a stern look.

  “It’s only one day Bri. I promise not to miss another day this…” he paused reconsidering what he was going to say. “Till winter break. Satisfied?”

  “I guess.” There was a meow from under his jacket. “Why are you meowing?”

  He grinned and pulled out a fluffy black kitten. “Every witch needs a cat,” he said, holding out a wriggling bundle of fur.

  I couldn’t help the cooing and ahhing, this was after all the cutest kitten on the planet. I took the kitten from Gavin and holding him over my head I looked into his sweet baby eyes. “You are absolutely adorable.” My heart tumbled for this itty-bitty little guy. I never owned a pet before and I am sure we both in for a ride. I snuggled him into my arms and buried my face in his dark fur.

  “I talked to your aunt first and she said it was okay. I have a trunk full of stuff for him,” he said watching me with amusement.

  “He’s perfect, but why the gift?”

  “I told you, every witch needs one.” His sapphire eyes sparkled. “Now… what are we going to name him?”

  I was a little leery about his motives for giving me a gift.

  “I was thinking Merlin,” he suggested.

  I scrunched me nose. “To obvious.”

  “You might be right, Gandalf?”

  “That was a great movie,” I said smiling “but I’m thinking something original.” Petting his tiny head, I noticed a small white crescent shape on the back of his neck, the only white spot on him. “Lunar.”

  “Lunar,” he said testing it out. Lunar let out the tiniest meow. “I guess he likes it.” He scratched the top of his furry head and purred on contact. The sounded vibrated though his little body. “Oh I forgot. You’re aunt asked me to pick up your homework assignments for you.”

  “And how did you manage that if you didn’t go to school?”

  “Do you really want to know?” His grin said that I defiantly didn’t want to know and no doubt involved a spell with some form of deception.

  I shook my head. “No, but I wished you’d spell it all finished.”

  “Already did.”

  “Gavin…” I groaned, giving him a look of steel.


  “What? Your aunt just said to pick it up. She didn’t say anything about you actually having to do it. Look, I was worried about and you’re recovering. I didn’t want you stressing and laboring over school work. You can’t fault me for that.”

  I groaned. “You are impossible.”

  “So my parents tell me,” he said, but not like he really was offended by it. “How are you feeling,” he asked the mood changing in his eyes. Concern replaced the light banter.

  Sitting on the couch I placed the kitten in my lap. “I’m fine. Stop asking.” I stroked Lunar’s back as he tried to attack my fingers with his baby paws.

  He sat down next to me, the couch sinking with his weight. “You look much better,” he said.

  “I am,” I insisted. “In fact I’m going back to school tomorrow. Oh tell your mom I said thank you again. What she did for me saved me a lot of trouble.”

  “She was glad to do it, but you know Bri that you are going to have to tell your aunt sometime,” he stressed. Another topic I wasn’t comfortable yet dealing with. At the rate my list of uncomfortable topics was growing, I was going to swimming over my head in problems.

  I shifted my eyes back down to a wiggling Lunar. “I know,” I admitted softly.

  “When you’re ready… I’ll be there to help you.”

  Lifting my eyes back to his I replied, “Thanks, it means a lot having you here.”

  “You mean a lot to me,” he admitted in that husky tone. My heart swelled, thumping wildly.

  We hung the rest of the day on the couch watching TV and just relaxing. He left right around the time school was due out. I walked him to the door.

  He trailed a finger along me cheek, lifting my chin with his finger. His touch was soft and electric. I leaned into his caress, my eyes sparkling with out-of-control awareness. I was afraid to think about kissing him, who knew if I would accidently spell him, but none of the stopped my body from moving closer to his. My mind or magic had little control over that. He bit on his silver hoop as his head lowered fraction by fraction to mine. I held my breath as I waited impatiently for his lips.

  Lunar meowed between the two us, breaking the spell and I internally moaned in inanely at the lost kiss. He was smashed between us, looking up at me with those baby blue eyes.

  “I’m picking you up in the morning for school tomorrow,” he said in a gruff voice.

  I hoped he was as affected and would suffer as much as I would without those few minutes of bliss that I would indubitable be thinking about. There was an aggressive part of me that just wanted to grab ahold of him and lay one right on that silver hoop teasing me.

  Swallowing the lump in my throat, I nodded my head. “Bye.”

  Closing the door wistfully behind, I plopped myself down on the couch. I knew everyone was worried about my health. After two days I was going stir crazy. Deciding I needed to get out of the house, I thought a small trip to Riverfront Farmers Market for dinner tonight would be nice. My aunt was having one of the other girls close so she could be home early to supposedly take care of me. She was really worried.

  There was still plenty of time left in the day to get there, shop around and make it back to start dinner before my aunt was due home. I loved the farmers market in Wilmington and the idea was too much to resist. They had more than just the average fresh produce. There were vendors for just about everything from jewelry, arts, crafts to musical entertainment and every kind fruit, vegetable and herb you could imagine. Plus the fresh air would do me good.

  I twirled the moonstone and amethyst necklace at my neck rolling the idea in my head and petted Lunar with the other hand. He was curled up next to me taking a nap feeling pretty smug. Decision was easy, I had to get out from this house and I’d deal with any backlash later.

  Picking up a protesting Lunar I placed him on my bed near where his food and litter sat in my bathroom. With him being so tiny I was afraid to let him wander the house by himself and I was tempted to bring the troublemaker with me; he was going to be a handful.

  After shutting him in my room I grabbed my keys and headed for Wilmington.

  The drive was easy and one I’ve done a million times before. During the trip, Tori and Austin had each sent me a text on their way home asking how I was doing. I missed them and was ready to get back to my normal routine. When I got to Wilmington the sun was shining, the sky was crystal blue and I soaked up the rays after be cooped up in my house. Strolling leisurely from vendor to vendor looking at all the merchandise my mind wandered. I had a deep reflection mood going and I wanted to just enjoy the drama free day – lose myself in the crowds and my own head.

  My world might never be the same. Who I am has changed. Magic was a part of my life and I needed to find a way to conquer the power inside before it destroyed me or hurt someone I loved. Unearthing answers to questions of the past and the future seemed like my best hope at figuring out what was happening to me.

  I don’t know where Gavin and I stood or why he was reluctant to take what we have further. But I know my heart and what I feel for him won’t diminish, something twined us together like vines to a trellis. How could it when my entire being was bursting with love for him. My only hope was that he will someday return that love.

  I hadn’t decided what to tell my two best friends about my new found magical powers. I don’t even know if I should. This would be a gigantic secret to hide from them and I don’t know how long I’d be able to keep up the charade. I could always spell them – not really.

  It was impossible to believe all that has happened and my senior year had barely begun. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing after high school let alone next week. Winter was coming upon us as the last few days of fall started to fade.

  Fingering the intricate design on a hand woven bracelet, I looked up and caught a flash of sandy hair reminding me of Lukas. Squinting I tried to see his face, because the similarities were frighteningly familiar and I’ve had enough fright lately. The boy angled his face towards me, grinning at the girl behind the table. Lacking Lukas’s lustrous smile, I breathed again, my eyes deceiving me.

  Deciding I’d had enough of fresh air for the day, I sped up my shopping and headed directly to the produce. Picking through a stack of cumbers I selected a few and moved on to the green and yellow peppers. Rifling in the peppers I was saturated with an acquainted energy. Lifting my violet eyes over the stack of vegetables, I searched for the source. Difficult with the number of people about, plus I really didn’t know what I was looking for.

  Then across the booth from where I stood, emerald eyes smiled at me from over the fresh produce stand. This time I knew I wasn’t dreaming and my eyes weren’t deceiving me.

  “Lukas?”

  To be continued…

  ###

  Connect with Me Online:

  My Blog: http://jlweil.blogspot.com/

  Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/JLWeil

  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/jenniferlweil

  Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5831854.J_L_Weil