Now You See Me

by Debbie Viguié

  Opal felt her cheeks flush scarlet. “No. Dad had that with me when I was like eleven.”

  “Good for him. Still, do we need to discuss it?”

  Opal took a deep breath. “Mal is adamant about waiting until after...”

  “After what?”

  “After marriage.”

  “That’s good. Last thing any girl needs is a pushy guy. If a guy pushes, makes it an issue, he doesn’t really respect you.”

  “No worries about that with Mal,” Opal said.

  “I’m glad to hear it. Saves us all a lot of grief.”

  “Of course, I think he’d be happy if we got married tomorrow,” Opal burst out, then wished she hadn’t.

  “That is the Magician in him. In his mind, heart, he’s already committed to you for life. Waiting, therefore, is illogical to him. If you need me to tell him to slow down, though, just say the word.”

  “No, I’m...managing,” Opal said.

  “Of course, you’re an Apprentice now. That automatically puts marriage on hold for you for a few years until you become a Magician. So, that will frustrate him to no end but take the pressure off you.”

  Opal hadn’t even thought about that. Hannah had told her, though, that magic users didn’t get married until they’d stopped being Apprentices. If I choose not to be an active magic user we could still get married now, the thought came to her.

  “Alcohol swabs.”

  “What?” Opal asked, startled.

  Tanya looked up. “Alcohol. I’m going to clean some of these wounds he’s got. It’ll sting so don’t be surprised if he wakes up suddenly.”

  “Oh, right,” Opal said, quickly handing Tanya the swabs.

  In the gymnasium Opal had been able to tell that Mal was bleeding from several small wounds. There were cuts and burns all over his arms, shoulders, and chest as it turned out. There was also a really nasty burn on his stomach. She wondered if that was where he’d gotten hit by lightning when first trying to teleport them out of the building.

  “These should heal up pretty fast once he’s gotten his strength back,” Tanya said.

  “When do you think that will be?” Opal asked.

  “Never,” Mal slurred, startling both of them. A few seconds later his eyes fluttered open. He still looked a bit glassy-eyed, but at least he was awake again. Opal sagged in relief, not having realized until just that moment how afraid she was that he wouldn’t.

  An hour later they were all three sitting in the living room. Opal and Mal, both now wearing dry clothes, were huddled together on the couch underneath a comforter. Aunt Tanya was sitting in a chair across from them. They were all sipping hot cocoa with tiny marshmallows in it.

  Mal was still shaking slightly, evidence of the toll the evening had taken on him. She just felt like she wanted to sleep for a week. She also was deeply grateful that she had gotten lucky with getting a very cool aunt. Aunt Tanya had finished bandaging Mal’s wounds before making them all the hot beverages.

  Now she was staring at them as Opal finished giving her the brief version of what had happened. She shook her head. “Well, no one can say you didn’t have a memorable evening.”

  Opal smiled wanly. “Not exactly the evening I was hoping for.”

  “I can imagine.”

  Mal had only spoken a couple of words. Those had been slurred almost beyond recognition. At least his lips were no longer blue. He had glared daggers when he finally understood that her opal had been stolen. He hadn’t been able to really comment yet, though.

  “Mal thinks someone is organizing the bad guys,” Opal said, too tired to even call things by their proper names.

  Tanya nodded. “Tricksters aren’t exactly known for playing nice with others. The fact that four of them joined forces to attack you makes that theory seem fairly plausible. There has to be some outside force motivating them to work together. And you need some training as soon as possible since they’re clearly not content to leave you alone.”

  Opal’s hand went up to the bandage. “I wish I knew why they wanted to steal my opal.”

  “Maybe to keep you from putting half your heart into it and giving it to Mal.”

  “Yeah, but that would mean they’d have to know I was a magic user and how could they know that?”

  “I don’t know. The necklace is old, but I’m not sure what value it could truly have to someone outside the family.”

  Opal went very still at her aunt’s words.

  Someone outside the family.

  Her thoughts flew to her mother. That made no sense, though. Except...the witch had mentioned her father when she attacked her in the hospital parking lot. Was this maybe not about her or the fact that she was Mal’s girlfriend but rather something to do with her mother?

  She shivered as dark thoughts slithered over each other, twisting and colliding in her brain. She closed her eyes. It was too much to deal with at the moment. Maybe when Mal was better he would have a different theory. She glanced at him. His eyelids were drooping and she could tell that he was struggling to stay awake.

  “How are we going to get him home without freaking out his father?” Opal asked.

  Tanya frowned and then got up. “Give me a second.”

  She headed off into the kitchen. A minute later Opal could hear her talking in low tones, but couldn’t actually hear what her aunt was saying. She finally stopped and returned. She took her seat with a weary sigh.

  “I called his father. I told him that you kids came back here after the dance and fell asleep watching a movie in the family room. I said I put a blanket over Mal and would send him home tomorrow.”

  “And he was okay with that?”

  “Frankly I think he was relieved. It’s probably one of the more boring calls he’s ever gotten,” Tanya said with a glance at Mal.

  “Thank you,” Opal said, barely suppressing a yawn.

  “I think it’s time we make it a reality. We all need the sleep,” Tanya said. “It’s been quite a night, for all of us, and you’ve got a big day tomorrow.”

  “What’s tomorrow?” Opal asked, yawning again.

  “Tomorrow you’re going to start to learn how to use your magic.”

  29

  “Here, your teacher works here?” Opal asked skeptically.

  It was late morning the next day. She’d wanted to sleep the weekend away, but Tanya had woken her up so she could go with Mal to meet the man who was going to train her.

  Mal apparently had gotten up in the morning, gone home, showered, changed, and come back before Tanya woke her. He was walking slow and looking tired but otherwise seemed much better than he had been the night before. Now they were standing outside a shop in the downtown Salem area on the pedestrian mall.

  “Yup,” Mal said. She could tell by the tightness in his voice that he must still be hurting from the night before.

  “A shop selling witch trial stuff to tourists?” she asked, surprised.

  Mal shrugged. “He can be as...eccentric...as he wants and no one can tell him otherwise.”

  “Kind of like your idea to hide in plain sight as a stage magician?” she asked.

  “Sort of.”

  Her phone buzzed and she pulled it out of her pocket. It was Hannah. She’d had to send the other girl half a dozen messages in the last hour assuring her that she was okay. She texted back then put it away.

  They walked into the shop. There was no one in there except a man behind a counter reading a book. He was wearing a purple robe with yellow moons and stars on it. He looked up as they came in and then closed the book and stood.

  “Mal! What brings you here?” the man asked jovially.

  “Winston Sage, I’d like you to meet Opal Grant. Opal, this is Winston, my mentor.”

  She found it impossible to determine Winston’s age just by looking at him. She would have placed him somewhere around thirty, but if he had been Mal’s teacher since Mal was young he had to be much older than that. His skin was smooth and ageless. What she had at f
irst assumed was silver hair was actually more platinum blonde.

  Winston took her hand and kissed the back of it. He let it go and smiled at her. “You must be the famous Opal, the one Mal has purposely told us so little about,” he said, with a sly glance at Mal.

  Mal flushed. “That’s not true,” he muttered.

  Winston smiled and clapped him on the back. “I’m teasing you, my boy. You always had a tough time with that.” He turned back to Opal. “He said you were beautiful, but his words did not do you justice.”

  “Thank you,” Opal said, pleased and at the same time a little uncomfortable with the attention.

  “So, what brings you to my humble shop?” he asked, waving his arms around at everything. “Can I sell you an antique candlestick, used to light the courthouse during the famous witch trials?”

  “Made last month in China,” Mal deadpanned.

  “Or perhaps a bloodstained letter written by one of the accused to her husband right before she was killed?”

  “Printed by Vistaprint last week,” Mal interjected.

  Winston stared at Mal over the tops of the glasses perched on the end of his nose. “My dear boy, not everything can be authentic.”

  “Ah, but that’s why we’re here. It turns out Opal is the genuine article.”

  Winston leaned closer, peering at her intently. “You don’t say.”

  “Yup, manifested less than a week ago.”

  Winston moved out from behind his counter and hastened his way to the front door. He locked it and flipped the sign in the window to denote that the store was closed.

  That done he walked over to them and put a hand on each of their backs. “Come, let’s go talk someplace a little more...appropriate.”

  Opal had no idea what Winston would consider appropriate but she allowed herself to be propelled along. In the back of the shop there was a door with a sign that read “No admittance” on it. Winston grabbed the doorknob for a second, hesitated, then turned it. She got the distinct impression that he had just used magic to unlock it.

  Behind the door was a steep set of stairs leading down into darkness. “Go on,” Winston said.

  Opal hesitated momentarily then grasped the railing and stepped down. The step ahead of her illuminated, surprising her. She stepped down on it and the light faded and then popped up on the step below. She walked all the way down with each step lighting up for her.

  When she reached the bottom she took a couple of steps, expecting more lights to come on. They didn’t. She was staring into the darkness. She couldn’t see anything, but had an impression of a vast space stretching out before her. Mal joined her and a moment later Winston, too.

  As soon as Winston stepped off the bottom step all the illumination was snuffed and they were in total darkness. She heard a clapping sound and suddenly the room filled with light. She blinked against the sudden brightness.

  The room was cavernous, as she had thought it was going to be. Wall sconces with torches that blazed unnaturally bright lined both walls. There were overhead chandeliers that looked like they could have come from the sixteen hundreds. Contrasted with the ancient and rustic lighting features were the bright blue mats placed strategically around the room. They looked like the ones they used for tumbling and gymnastics. Along the far wall was a long workbench covered with beakers and test tubes filled with brightly colored liquids. There were old fashioned wooden school desks with the attached chairs. A clear box stood at the far end of the room. And everywhere she looked she could see at least two fire extinguishers.

  “Have a lot of problems with fire?”

  “You’d be surprised my dear. Besides, better safe than sorry. If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that if something can accidentally be blown up by a new magic user, it will be blown up.” He smiled at her. “And, unless I’m very much mistaken, you look like it’s about time you blew something up.”

  She took a deep breath and looked around. This was her world now. She was a magic user. She was going to train with Mal and Winston. Mal had warned her it would be intense. The goal was to learn to control her newfound abilities as fast as possible before she started accidentally using them out there in the world.

  Mal smiled at her and it was full of tenderness and pride but also a touch of sorrow. “Welcome to your first day of training, Apprentice.”

  He turned and headed back toward the stairs.

  “Wait! Where are you going?” she asked, feeling herself begin to panic a bit.

  He turned. “I will help you, but I can’t be your teacher. I’ll pick you up later after you’re done today.”

  “Mal!” she shouted after him.

  He vanished up the stairs, though. Slowly she turned and stared at Winston.

  “I know you have a lot of questions, my dear, and a lot of fear. It will be okay. But, you should know this. You will never work harder in your life than you will when you are in this room,” he said solemnly.

  For a split second Opal thought about telling him that she was going to opt out of magic.

  “You’re not eighteen so you have no choice but to train,” he said.

  “Did you read my mind?”

  “No, just your expression. Now, shall we begin?”

  Five hours later Opal got into Mal’s car with a groan.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “I kind of hate you right now,” she said. She was stiff and sore all over and she was certain she’d never get the smell of smoke out of her hair this time.

  “He is one of the best teachers.”

  “Then I’d hate to see one of the worst. I thought magic training would be a lot more fun,” she said.

  “It’s like anything in the beginning, a lot of trial and error, but eventually it gets easier,” he said.

  “I hope so,” she said with a sigh as she leaned her head back.

  “In the meantime I know something we can do that is fun.”

  “If the next words out of your mouth don’t involve kissing, I’m not interested,” she said.

  “Kissing,” he said with a chuckle.

  “I’m listening.”

  “And working on our act for the talent show.”

  “Listening less.”

  “With a lot of kissing while we do that.”

  “And I’m all ears again.”

  “I figure tomorrow we could get some practice in. On both things.”

  She grimaced. “I have to be honest, the thought of going to the auditorium, given all that’s happened there and at school in general isn’t thrilling me.”

  “We can practice somewhere else.”

  “Like where?”

  “My room.”

  She turned and looked at him. “Okay, you really have my attention now,” she said with a grin.

  The next day she was relieved when Mal was the one to open the door after she rang the bell. She followed him upstairs and as soon as he closed the door she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him with abandon. There had been so much insanity the last couple of days she hadn’t really had a chance to do that.

  He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back. Electricity skittered across her skin and she felt completely and utterly alive.

  “So, I take it you’re not breaking up with me now that the dance is over?” he teased.

  “You are such an idiot,” she said as she kissed him again.

  “You know, we really should practice,” he said after a minute.

  “I thought that was what we were doing.”

  He shook his head at her and put a finger against her lips. “I think I’ve created a monster.”

  She smiled slyly at him. “Uh uh, don’t forget, you’re the monster. I’m your prey.”

  “You are indeed. At least, that’s what everyone else will think.”

  “So, what interesting things have you added to the act?”

  “Well, I was going to start by pulling something out of a hat.”

  “A rabbit?”

>   “No, you.”

  She blinked at him. “I’m pretty sure I won’t fit inside a hat.”

  “It’s not going to be a normal size hat,” he said. “Here, let me show you.”

  He crossed over to the wall. A black circle that looked like a hula-hoop was leaning against it. He picked it up, spun it around several times then threw it onto the ground. It suddenly turned into a giant top hat. She blinked in amazement.

  “Real magic?” she asked.

  “No, a trick,” he assured her. “There’s a trapdoor in the stage in the auditorium. You’ll come up through it behind the hat and then I’ll help you step out of it. At least, that’s how it will appear.”

  “Clever.”

  “You’ll be this beautiful vision, a dream turned flesh. You’ll be wearing a long, flowing white dress. I, of course, will be dressed in black looking as diabolical as possible.”

  “What, I’m the angel to your demon?” she asked with raised eyebrow.

  “Something like that, only you’re more the pure, innocent soul that I pursue and torment.”

  “Lovely. You’ll be playing to your strengths, I see.”

  “I thought you’d like that, and the audience should love it,” he said with a smirk.

  “So, what’s the next trick?” she asked as he picked the hat up and returned it to its hula hoop state and leaned it back against the wall.

  “You’re going to run from me, but everywhere you turn,” he snapped his fingers and suddenly he was standing right in front of her. “I’ll be there,” he purred.

  “A trick?” she asked.

  “No, real magic. However, on the stage it will be a trick, something we’ll do with mirrors,” he said.

  She nodded, feeling a little breathless. “So, I turn and run the other way.” She twisted, took two steps and Mal was standing again right in front of her, so close their bodies were practically touching. “How many times?” she breathed.

  “Once more,” he whispered.

  She turned, took three running steps, and once again he materialized in front of her. This time, though, he grabbed her waist.

  “And I’ll grab the edge of your dress and when you spin away from me it will come loose in my hand and then you’ll be in the white sequined leotard,” he said.