group.
‘So are you all … ?’ I stopped, not sure how to put it. They understood. Simon just nodded, but Abe closed his hand into a fist, then blew into his fingers as they unfurled. As he did, a handful of snow gusted out from between his fingers. The snowflakes fluttered towards me on his breath and one perfect crystal landed on the smooth table top. Before I could blink it had melted.
A shiver ran through me. It was the first piece of magic – real magic – that I had seen. The first thing that couldn’t be dismissed as freaky coincidence, bad luck, or just plain weird. As Abe wiped his hand on his jeans and grinned, I knew; I’d crossed some invisible line. There was no going back now.
‘Show-off!’ Emmaline muttered under her breath.
‘It’s generally,’ Sienna said sternly, ‘considered unethical to expend power unnecessarily or affect the world more than we need to.’ She raised her eyebrows reprovingly and Abe touched his forelock in a mockingly deferential way.
‘As always, I’m happy to stand corrected by my dear sister-in-law. So, are we going to jabber all night at the poor girl, or actually let her see some magic?’
‘More than that,’ Maya said, with a touch of grimness to her voice. ‘She’s going to do some magic. If I’m right about Anna then she’ll be doing most of the work.’
While Maya, Sienna, Simon and Abe cleared the decks for action, I took Emmaline aside.
‘Emmaline, what do they expect of me? I Specght don’t know what to do!’
‘Don’t worry.’ Her habitually acidic tone was softened slightly. ‘Ma knows that. She’ll lead you. You just have to trust her.’
‘Emmaline,’ Maya called from the other side of the room, ‘could you open the windows?’
Emmaline threw them wide and Maya looked at each of the others in turn.
‘Well, are we ready?’
They nodded and moved to form a circle in the centre of the room. I nodded myself, but couldn’t stop my doubts creeping into my face.
‘Anna.’ Maya drew me into the circle beside her and looked at me, her dark eyes liquid and unreadable. ‘I can’t really explain how this will work so will you trust me and lend me your strength when I ask?’
I had no idea what she meant but I nodded again. I did trust Maya. I couldn’t put my finger on why, but I did.
‘Thank you,’ she said, and closed her eyes. The others followed suit – so I shut mine too.
For what seemed like a long time there was nothing. I felt like a fool standing there in Maya’s kitchen with my hands dangling by my side, the clock ticking loudly over the cooker. I still couldn’t shake a suspicion that I’d open my eyes and find them all holding their sides, cackling with laughter, unable to believe the gullibility of the girl from London. Certainly two weeks ago I’d have snorted, shouldered my rucksack and left the room after the first ten seconds.
But I’d seen too much to be completely sceptical. So I stood, shifting from one foot to the other and feeling more than faintly ridiculous, and waited, and waited.
After a while I became aware of a pressure, like a stress headache, a pushing, grinding sort of feeling at the base of my neck, in my temples and jaw. I put a hand up to massage the feeling and Maya took my other. She spoke very quietly. ‘Anna, relax and let me in.’
It felt so, so wrong to open up my mind to a complete stranger, lower all my defences. But I closed my eyes tighter, consciously forcing the tense muscles in my neck and shoulders to relax. Suddenly there was a humming, a thrumming, a whirling buzz – and the magic flooded in.
I staggered with the force of it; it was like a river rushing through my mind, a whirlpool threatening to sweep me into its vortex. A feeling of huge power welled inside me – I felt the presence of the others, glowing with their own light: Sienna’s golden aura, Emmaline’s garnet red, Abe’s dark brilliance, like onyx, each pulling me into the current of their will. For a
‘So are you all … ?’ I stopped, not sure how to put it. They understood. Simon just nodded, but Abe closed his hand into a fist, then blew into his fingers as they unfurled. As he did, a handful of snow gusted out from between his fingers. The snowflakes fluttered towards me on his breath and one perfect crystal landed on the smooth table top. Before I could blink it had melted.
A shiver ran through me. It was the first piece of magic – real magic – that I had seen. The first thing that couldn’t be dismissed as freaky coincidence, bad luck, or just plain weird. As Abe wiped his hand on his jeans and grinned, I knew; I’d crossed some invisible line. There was no going back now.
‘Show-off!’ Emmaline muttered under her breath.
‘It’s generally,’ Sienna said sternly, ‘considered unethical to expend power unnecessarily or affect the world more than we need to.’ She raised her eyebrows reprovingly and Abe touched his forelock in a mockingly deferential way.
‘As always, I’m happy to stand corrected by my dear sister-in-law. So, are we going to jabber all night at the poor girl, or actually let her see some magic?’
‘More than that,’ Maya said, with a touch of grimness to her voice. ‘She’s going to do some magic. If I’m right about Anna then she’ll be doing most of the work.’
While Maya, Sienna, Simon and Abe cleared the decks for action, I took Emmaline aside.
‘Emmaline, what do they expect of me? I Specght don’t know what to do!’
‘Don’t worry.’ Her habitually acidic tone was softened slightly. ‘Ma knows that. She’ll lead you. You just have to trust her.’
‘Emmaline,’ Maya called from the other side of the room, ‘could you open the windows?’
Emmaline threw them wide and Maya looked at each of the others in turn.
‘Well, are we ready?’
They nodded and moved to form a circle in the centre of the room. I nodded myself, but couldn’t stop my doubts creeping into my face.
‘Anna.’ Maya drew me into the circle beside her and looked at me, her dark eyes liquid and unreadable. ‘I can’t really explain how this will work so will you trust me and lend me your strength when I ask?’
I had no idea what she meant but I nodded again. I did trust Maya. I couldn’t put my finger on why, but I did.
‘Thank you,’ she said, and closed her eyes. The others followed suit – so I shut mine too.
For what seemed like a long time there was nothing. I felt like a fool standing there in Maya’s kitchen with my hands dangling by my side, the clock ticking loudly over the cooker. I still couldn’t shake a suspicion that I’d open my eyes and find them all holding their sides, cackling with laughter, unable to believe the gullibility of the girl from London. Certainly two weeks ago I’d have snorted, shouldered my rucksack and left the room after the first ten seconds.
But I’d seen too much to be completely sceptical. So I stood, shifting from one foot to the other and feeling more than faintly ridiculous, and waited, and waited.
After a while I became aware of a pressure, like a stress headache, a pushing, grinding sort of feeling at the base of my neck, in my temples and jaw. I put a hand up to massage the feeling and Maya took my other. She spoke very quietly. ‘Anna, relax and let me in.’
It felt so, so wrong to open up my mind to a complete stranger, lower all my defences. But I closed my eyes tighter, consciously forcing the tense muscles in my neck and shoulders to relax. Suddenly there was a humming, a thrumming, a whirling buzz – and the magic flooded in.
I staggered with the force of it; it was like a river rushing through my mind, a whirlpool threatening to sweep me into its vortex. A feeling of huge power welled inside me – I felt the presence of the others, glowing with their own light: Sienna’s golden aura, Emmaline’s garnet red, Abe’s dark brilliance, like onyx, each pulling me into the current of their will. For a
Similar Books
