Reckless Magic (18 page)

“
But why can’t I speak on my
own behalf?” I felt obstinate; those men tried to kill my
friends.

“
Haven’t you been through
enough? Besides the trial will take place in Romania.”

“
Romania?” I blurted out,
much louder than I had intended. “What does Romania have to do with
what happened here… in Nebraska? Isn’t there something about
jurisdiction or international law or something?” I was now
completely confused. Surely a Romanian court system could care less
about what happened to a bunch of teenagers in the middle of
America.

“
They will not be tried by a
Romanian court system,” Principal Saint once again answered the
questions in my head and I was sure now that he was reading my
thoughts. “We have our own judicial system and they will answer to
us. Like I said, their fate I’m sure will be much worse than any
human justice system is prepared to give them, trust me,” Principal
Saint looked down at his shoes and shook his head slightly as if
ashamed.

“
Ok, I have no idea what you
are talking about,” I looked at Aunt Syl, hoping she would shed
some light on this bewildering conversation. “You are really
starting to freak me out.”

“
It’s alright Eden. You need
to start trusting me,” he approached the bed and pulled my desk
chair closer so that he could sit near me. My aunt stood up and
crossed the room to look out my window. My throat began to close in
nervous anticipation. “Sylvia would you make us some tea? This
might be harder than I had imagined." Aunt Syl left the room
silently and obeyed.

“
How do you know what’s been
happening to me? How do you know what I’m thinking? What do you
mean by our justice system?” my questions tumbled out quickly and
all at once. Principal Saint obviously knew much more about what
has been happening to me than I did.

“
What has been happening to
you is completely normal,” when I rolled my eyes he continued,
“Well it’s completely expected anyways. It’s completely expected
for someone in your position,” he clarified. “You see Eden, you are
special, very special.”
“If by special you mean crazy and this is some sort of weird
intervention then just let me know where you are sending me and get
on with it!” I couldn’t hold back my tears this time; they came in
waves of choking sobs. All of my fears and anxiety finally
manifested themselves in a very real manner. The strange things
that had been happening to me and the inexplicable things I was
responsible for were not normal, but more than that, they were
scary.

“
You are not a crazy,”
Principal Saint replied a little disdainfully, but even more
impatiently. “You did the only thing that anyone would expect you
to do and that was to protect yourself and your friends. From what
I’ve heard it was a very dangerous situation; you are lucky to be
alive,” he said this with finality, as though this should be
enough. “And I will say it again, you are not crazy. You drained
those men of their magic; it was not a pretty task, but a necessary
one,” he paused to let his words sink in. “I’m sure the magnitude
of force you used on those men felt like murder, it probably felt
worse to them, but Talbott was able to revive them. They are in
custody now and soon we will find out what their exact purpose was.
Then we will know why they attacked you children…. although I am
sure I already have a reason in mind.”

“
Drained them of their
magic? What are you talking about?” I asked, highly irritated. I
thought I was the crazy one? My emotions were at a level I had
never experienced before and I felt as if I were on the verge of a
breakdown; maybe I’d been on the verge for a while and this was
finally the breaking point I’d been waiting for.

“
Yes Eden, magic. I am sure
you are aware that you are different from other humans, that you
possess a set of skills that appear…. super-human. We have all been
a witness to your erratic and unexplainable behavior; and after
last night you can no longer deny it to yourself. I had hoped that
somehow through your experiences you would become aware of what
your powers are capable of and see that others around you possess
the same set of skills. However, I see now how stubborn and
self-absorbed you can be and can wait no longer. If something were
to happen like this again, you need to be aware of what you are
capable of,” he was a stern man, and I didn’t know whether to feel
offended, shocked, or like a fool. This had to be some type of
joke.

“
This is not a joke,” he
said louder, and with more conviction. “Open your eyes, Eden,” he
shook his head and I knew he was frustrated with me.

“
Amory, please, she’s just a
child,” my aunt entered the room again carrying a tray of hot tea.
She handed me a steaming cup and I took it from her gratefully.
“This is new to her, she’s never been around anything your people
can do until now; of course she’s going to deny it, to her it
doesn’t make sense,” she walked over to hand Principal Saint his
cup of tea, but turned back to address me soothingly, “It didn’t
make sense to me either the first time I saw what your people could
do,” Aunt Syl sat back down with me on the bed and put an arm
across my shoulders. I knew that I should feel comforted by her
gesture, but my mind was still reeling.

“
What are you talking
about?” I asked, my head spinning.

“
Eden, I am not your real
aunt,” Aunt Syl began. And Principal Saint gave a small chuckle.
“You were given to me at a very young age after your parents had
disappeared, I never knew them; I have always told you that, and
that has always been true. But you see, we’re different, you are
extremely special and I am only human,” she smiled at me and
something stirred deep inside my soul, something that told me I
should listen closer.

“
You keep saying that I’m
special, that I’m different, that I’m not crazy, but what does that
mean?” I demanded; it was my turn to become impatient.

“
Like I said earlier, you
possess a set of skills that make you more than human, that make
you different,” Principal Saint rejoined the
conversation.

“
If you’re talking about how
I am able to burn down school buildings, or create tidal waves, or
make things explode, then yes, I suppose I do possess a certain set
of skills; but the last thing I wanted was for any of that to
happen,” I folded my arms across my chest and shook my head. I was
relieved in a sense that someone would finally be able to tell me
what had been happening to me; but even more, I was angry that they
felt the need to wait this long.

“
Well, I suppose that’s part
of it. But a better example would be what happened last night,”
Principal Saint’s tone had softened. “You see all of the things
that happened before, when your school flooded, or burned down, or
you made a trash can explode in the theater, oh yes, we know about
that, those were all manifestations of your magic. Eden, you have
refused to use your powers, you continue to ignore their very
existence. Because of that, the magic builds up inside of you and
forces you to use it in less than ideal situations. Last night when
you finally used your magic, instead of letting it explode
meaninglessly, you saw what it could finally do; what you could
finally do.”

“
You’re saying all of the
terrible things I have caused could have been avoided if I had been
using my magic all along?” I cringed as I used the word “magic;” as
if it were a real thing. “All of this could have been avoided if we
would have just had this conversation a long time ago?” I was
livid. I thought about the three schools I closed down before
Kingsley and winced, knowing it could all have been
prevented.

“
You’re right dear,” Aunt
Syl rubbed my back gently, in an attempt to soothe my boiling
anger. “We had no idea those things would happen though. And we
certainly never expected them to keep happening. You see, you are
the first of your kind to ever be raised apart. We knew the magic
would manifest eventually, we planned to deal with it when the time
came. When it did appear however, it was so much stronger then we
could ever have anticipated. We weren’t quite sure what to do, and
we definitely weren’t sure if it was safe to integrate you into
your kind. Finally we made the decision to send you to Kingsley,
but it was a last resort, and even then you were in such strong
denial. Magic was happening all around you, people were constantly
reading your thoughts and you still refused to see the truth about
who you are. We were not sure how to approach the
subject.”

“
Why would you talk to me at
all, when you could just send a group of dangerous men to try to
kill me? I understood that message loud and clear!” I said
sarcastically. I knew that I should be asking other questions, more
important questions, more realistic questions, but I couldn’t get
over the fact that all of this time I could have avoided destroying
everything I touched.

“
Please don’t be angry Eden;
we had no idea that would happen,” Aunt Syl looked as if she was
going to cry and I instantly regretted my outburst.

“
She’s right child,”
Principal Saint glanced at the doorway and then back at me. “I
don’t believe those men ever meant you harm. And I would never have
let you go on that trip had I known that you would be involved. We
assume that they were after Kiran and Kiran alone; you,
unfortunately for your attackers, were there to teach them a
lesson.” He half grunted a laugh and gave me a wink. “Eden, in my
wildest dreams, I never imagined your magic would manifest so
powerfully. At this point I am unsure what you are even capable of;
but I do know that you are very, very powerful. It is time that you
learned how to use your magic, not just for your sake, but for
Kingsley’s sake as well,” his grin had turned a bit
mischievous.

“
So what am I then, some
sort of witch?” I asked, still not losing my sarcastic edge, but
softening my tone a little.

“
Yes, I think that you are a
witch,” I almost laughed, but realized that Principal Saint was
completely serious. “Moreover though, you are an Immortal,” he said
the word with a deep reverence, and I knew instantly, that this
word…. “Immortal” meant something greater than I may have been able
to comprehend.

“
Immortal?” I asked in a
whispered breath.

“
Yes, an Immortal. We are
your people, you’re kind. You are not human as you have been
raised, you are an Immortal,” every time he said the word an
electric pulse surged through my veins and I was struck with the
same reverence that Principal Saint spoke with.

“
So I am a witch that lives
forever?” a small part of me began to believe him.

“
Well, the real sense of the
word Immortal was taken from us a long time ago, but yes, you
possess the attributes in which describe a witch. The way you are
able to control or create events and circumstances with your
thoughts, the powers that you possess, all point to witch-like
attributes. Or as our people call your kind: the Lamia. It is just
another term for witch though,” he gave me a genial smile. I found
myself slightly out of breath, my head spinning. I could hardly
understand his words, but the harder part to understand was that I
actually did believe him.

“
The term Immortal today,
really describes a set of four distinct super-human races,”
Principal Saint continued. “Immortal is a way of life set apart
from ordinary human life. We have our own justice system, our own
monarchy, our own schools and our own belief system. You are a part
of us, as much as we are a part of you. As a witch you occupy a
specific purpose for our people and it is important that you
investigate who you are and what you are capable of. It is also
important that you no longer identify yourself as a human, but
learn our laws, and standards. I believe if you do, you will
finally come to terms with who you are. You will finally find your
destiny,” something stirred inside of me and the electricity or
magic or whatever began to rush through my veins. For the first
time in my entire life I realized that I had just been told the
truth.

18.

“
So last night was, um,
normal for someone like me? I mean someone like us? I mean um…. an
Immortal?” I got confused saying the word out loud. Principal Saint
had basically just relayed the impossible to me. If what he said
was true, then I was not human, or like he explained I was more
than human, I was a witch, or what he called an “Immortal.” The
enormity of what that meant began to sink in as my blood pumped
charged and furiously throughout my body.

“
Yes, well kind of. The
extra energy or electricity as you call it you feel in your blood
and unexplainable phenomena that you seem to be responsible for are
parts of what it means to be an Immortal. When you move something
just by thinking about it, or create something from nothing, these
are all part of your….. powers. Each Immortal is different and
unique. We usually classify ourselves into four different
categories, but your powers manifested a little stronger than what
should be normal for someone your age, someone who did not even
know what she was capable of.”

I was trying to take what Principal
Saint said as truth, but it was difficult. Everything I held to be
true about my life, about me, about the world in general was not
true. I was something different; something I assumed only existed
in comic books and action movies. My mind was having trouble
wrapping itself around the enormity of Principal Saint’s story; yet
at the same time my inner being seemed to believe him without any
hesitation. I had a thousand questions that needed to be
answered.