by Dani Corlee
"Just take care of yourself and Aurora." Samia kissed Kim goodbye and went away while Kim entered the Magic Club with a loud sigh.
CHAPTER 21
Kim knocked at Isidora's door and peeped in. She smiled at the scene she found in front of her. Isidora sat on her chair with Hylee and Ravyn clustering around her, with brushes and makeup, while she was trying to get rid of them.
"Stop it!" Isidora cried. "I don't want all this stuff on my face. I will look like a clown."
"You are a star, Grandma, and need a proper look. You want to show everyone you are a modern woman, don't you?" Hylee replied, keeping on softening the eyeshadow. "Stay still!" she added with a frown, trying to remove some eyeshadow which was now dangerously near Isidora's eyebrows. "My goodness! How am I suppose to put you a perfect eyeliner if you keep on fidgeting?"
Holding a pink powder puff, Ravyn approached Isidora and tapped it to one side of her face, while Hylee was still working on the other side. A light cloud was released by the puff and flew around. Isidora started coughing and moved her head, and Hylee shrieked looking at the line she had just made, which reshaped her grandmother's eye in a different way from the other.
"Sorry, I think you are busy right now." Kim stepped inside the room, holding the handle of the door which was still open, ready to go away. "Shall I come back later?"
Hylee and Ravyn stopped their work and turned to greet her, thus offering her a clear view of Isidora. Kim held back her laughter with difficulty. Isidora was always very classy and her makeup was always properly made, barely visible but bringing out her noble facial features. Now, instead, her cheeks were covered by two dark pink, round spots. The eyes looked different from each other giving the impression someone had just punched her. Her lips had been narrowed by a dark lipstick. The overall look was horrible.
She looks like an old witch! The thought hit Kim's mind unexpectedly and at this point she could not help a wide grin, which she tried to hide with her hand.
"What?" Isidora asked, trying to push away her grandchildren. She looked for a mirror, took it, and looked at her reflection. She held her breath. "Oh, my dear!" she shouted with a frown and looked at the girls. With a snap of her fingers the makeup disappeared, and Isidora looked her usual classy self.
"You both go away!" she said, accompanying her order with a gesture of her hand.
"But I need to..." Hylee protested.
"Go!" she repeated. A simple wave and she made them disappear.
"Have a seat, my dear," she told Kim, who coughed trying to hide her hilarity. She was pretty sure the image of Isidora dolled up that way wouldn’t leave her mind easily.
"The general meeting will be held in half an hour. We need to advise all the communities about the news. I have already outlined the new situation to the masters, and now we need to discuss the other witches’ arrival and introduce the new Queen."
"No," Kim said. She was sitting still, her face not showing any emotion now.
"Sorry?" Isidora asked, frowning and leaning over the desk.
"You are not going to show Aurora off and introduce her. I won't allow it." Now Kim's hands were slightly shaking and beads of sweat were forming on her forehead. Contradicting anyone had always been difficult for her. And to contradict Isidora was something which had never crossed her mind. A witch. A master. One of the most powerful witches in the world. But now they were talking about her daughter and she felt like a lioness. She had thought a lot about it the night before. She didn't know what she was going to say. She didn't even know what was best for Aurora. But now showing her teeth was as natural for her as it had always been to obey.
Isidora stared at her, wide-eyed. "But, my dear, you must understand the importance of the..."
"I do understand it and I don't care." Kim cut it short, the adrenaline rushing through her body, but her voice slightly trembling. "You can tell the other masters the whole story and tell them Aurora will be the queen, but you aren't going to show her and most of all you aren't going to treat her any differently than before. Aurora is four years old and I want her to have as a normal life as our new condition allows her. No more than that." Kim took a deep breath.
"You cannot stop us, can you?" Isidora asked patronizingly.
"I cannot, but I can make it very hard for you." Kim couldn't believe her own words.
Isidora nodded and relaxed her body. "I understand. I'm a mother too. But you cannot command us to consider Aurora like anybody else. She is not. She wasn't even before, really. Let's say we will treat her as the best student at school and try to make the most of her. Without pressure and without demanding too much because she is so young. We'll see to it, later. Do you think you can accept this?"
Kim relaxed too. "Yes," she said. "She will still study at the Magic Club and will meet with Magnolia. When and if she wants. But I'll be present at her lessons and when she meets the other girl. And any eventual decision for her future will be taken only by me." Again she breathed deeply, feeling like a big load on her heart had finally disappeared. She felt she wasn't going to be as obedient and docile anymore. Facing Isidora had been easier than she had feared.
"There's only one thing I couldn't understand. I thought Catarina was allied with the witches of the other side of the moon. I thought you felt she might be evil. Instead, I saw she was here with all your closest friends and relatives during Dolly's explanation."
"It's quite personal, but I ..." Isidora muttered.
"I'm sorry. I didn't intend to violate your privacy." Kim's cheeks flushed despite of her new-found self-esteem.
"No, I think I can tell you. It's a secret I've held for so long. I never told it to anyone and I might feel better after. You remember Jacqueline Chassey, don't you?"
Kim nodded.
"Norman, her eldest son, and I had a romance, long ago, during our college years. I was in the first year and he was going to graduate, when we met. He was as handsome as a god and very popular. As soon as I saw him, I desperately fell in love with him. Afterwards I came to know it was the same for him. We were young and didn't care about our different social status, his family being the richest not only in the town but in the whole region. Maybe in the whole country. But his mother... oh, his mother did, and when she came to know he was dating me, she did everything she could to separate us, without success. It wasn't merely a matter of money; after all, I was from a wealthy family. The fact is, she wanted her son to marry a witch." She laughed bitterly. "Go figure! She wanted a witch as a daughter-in-law to start again a witch progeny, and she believed I couldn't be one. Did she tell me?" Isidora shook her head vehemently. "No. I could have proved to her I was a witch and that I could give her son witch babies. Instead she didn't want to talk to me and only let me know I wasn't enough for her son. She offered me money through an intermediary and called me stupid when I didn't accept it. I hadn't revealed to Norman that I was a witch. I wanted to, but I never had the opportunity. After all, it isn't something you can say to somebody that lightly and I came to know about his witch ancestors only later."
Kim closed her mouth, realizing she was staring at Isidora, not even daring to blink.
"To cut a long story short, Norman was offered—I should say he was obliged to accept—a sabbatical year in Europe and after that his studies at the Cambridge University. As I said he was very handsome, rich, and extremely fascinating. Regardless of the love he declared for me, he was soon diverted by European beauties. He started calling me and being available for me less and less until I didn't hear from him anymore. My life went on with a broken heart until I met my husband. He was nice and lovely." Isidora sighed. "I loved him and we spent a nice life together. But he wasn't Norman."
More and more speechless, Kim stared at Isidora, not knowing what to say. Then she realized that Isidora hadn't answered her question.
"What has Catarina got to do with it?" she asked.
"When he was in Paris I asked my sister to follow him and let me know his movements and gallant ren
dezvous. She was there to study French, you see. Therefore I know for sure what happened. Among the various girls he dated in that period, and I want to believe he was just trying to forget me, he met a French one with whom he had a longer romance, all the others being not much more than a one-night stand. It was my sister's fault. She had asked a friend she met in Paris to follow him and when he saw her, well, you can imagine. Then he left for England and never came to know that the girl got pregnant. I happened to have news about her, from time to time. What he didn't know was that my sister's friend was a witch. That woman gave birth to a girl and I lost all trace of her. Then this girl grew and she also gave birth to a girl. Like her mother, she was a single mom and died young because of an accident. The little girl, just a toddler, was taken by the French social welfare, because she hadn't any relatives.
She was quite a difficult girl—nobody had ever taught her she was a witch and she couldn't control her powers—and she went from a family to another, until I came to know about her story. I did my best to bring her here, where she belongs. She knows I wanted her here and she feels grateful but at the same time she feels there's something else in me. I cannot deny I feel love and hate at the same time for her. I cannot help it. She's the progeny of my first, never forgotten, love." Isidora looked at Kim and shrugged. "Now you know why I had never revealed this story to anyone."
"Yes, I understand. Don't worry. I will never mention it to anyone."
"Oh, don't worry." Isidora laughed and gesticulated in the air. "You couldn't even if you wanted to, because I just made a spell which won't allow you to tell it to anyone!"
A light knock at the door interrupted their chat. Hylee peeped inside with a pout, pretending she was still offended for what happened before.
"Granny, Ravyn asked me to let you know everything is ready downstairs. The connection with all the other communities will be established in few minutes."
"Thanks, my dear." Isidora replied with a smile, her previous fit of rage with her grandchildren forgotten. "I'm coming."
CHAPTER 22
Kim looked at her hands and tried to mimic her teacher. Lilac was really nice and patient.
The teacher's hands danced in the air. It was a fascinating dance which hypnotized her.
Okay, she thought. I can do it. She breathed deeply and tried to concentrate. Her neck was aching because of the tension and she loosened her muscles. Suddenly her movements became easier and more fluid, and she was able to make the same wonderful swirl in the air as Lilac.
Glitters appeared at each movement. They were shining and twinkling like a star. The teacher slowed her gestures and then stopped as graciously as she started.
"Well done, Kim. Well done. You've improved a lot. With a little more exercise you'll be able to do it quicker, in a blink of an eye, and soon after you will do it so fast that nobody will notice anything, just a quick movement as if you are adjusting a lock of hair."
Kim smiled. She was trying to do her best, and compliments by her teachers were always welcomed because they increased her self-esteem and her wanting to improve. While she had been a very shy queen, believing she had to prove her abilities, thus putting too many expectations on herself and feeling too much anxiety, now she felt relaxed and eager to enjoy her new adventure.
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