Reckless Magic (2 page)

“
I know,” she replied with
determination.

“
Annie, wait. Please know,”
his voice broke with emotion, “please know what they mean to
me.”

“
I know that too,” Angelica
did know, but it was with a sadder determination that she
responded.

The man watched his friend carefully
load the child back into the black sedan. Their departure was
bittersweet, tearing at his determination to keep these children
alive under any circumstance and his unwillingness to ever have to
be separated from them again.

If this plan, this plan of survival
born in the midnight hours were to work, his resolve would have to
be strong. Magic swirled around him, as he watched her twin brother
be driven away to safety, not knowing when the next time the
siblings would meet.

He looked down at the little girl,
wrapped in pink and sleeping again and smiled. There was hope again
for his people. There was something worth living for, worth
fighting for. And she was the key to it all. She just didn’t know
it yet.

1.

“
Well, here we go,” I said
quietly to myself. I took a big breath and stepped out of the car.
I gave a tentative wave to Aunt Syl and watched her drive away. She
waved back enthusiastically. I felt anything but
encouraged.

I had to go to school right? I didn't
have a choice. I was pretty sure it was against the law not to
go….. I tried to think of other reasons to suspend the inevitable
but came up empty handed. Social suicide… I was well on my
way.

I cringed inwardly, knowing I looked
like a hot mess. I could feel my tan skin, turning translucent with
nerves, and my unruly dark hair, tangled and wild as I stood too
long in the wind. It whipped around my face in the hot, humid
breeze, partially blocking the impending view from sight. I brushed
my hair out of my face, but it refused to obey and with another
gust of unbearably hot August air I was forced to walk forward to
maintain my sight.

I felt sick and nauseous; I was
practically on the verge of puking. I closed my eyes for several
seconds and then opened them again, hoping I’d be someplace else,
any place else. But I was right where I was supposed to be: staring
up at my new school. The tall, ominous buildings clustering
together, stared back. Their dark, red brick laughed at me
silently, daring me to run away. The central bell tower, with its
golden bell, and low musical chimes taunted me, mocked
me.

Ok, maybe I was being a little over
dramatic, but school had never really been my, um, thing. It could
have been because I was a complete social spaz. Or it could have
been because this was my fourth school in two years. Either way, I
seemed to always have trouble adjusting to teenage
normalcy.

Kingsley Preparatory Academy was a
last resort of sorts. Well, really, it was the last prep school
that would take me; God forbid I went to public school. The niece
and only surviving relative of my aunt the doctor, I was destined
for a higher education.

If only I could have gone six months
without getting expelled. Kingsley was the last prep school in
Omaha that had given me a chance and that was only after a very
large donation from my aunt and a promise from me that I wouldn’t
burn it to the ground. Although I harbored no ill will for the
school itself, I was not sure if I could keep my
promise.

Not that I would burn it down on
purpose, but that kind of stuff just sort of happened to me. I
mean, the burning down of schools, the flooding of schools, and the
infestation of huge, tropical insects of schools…. all kind of fall
into the category of been there, done that. It's not like I ever
did it on purpose, it all just sort of happened.

So after another big breath, I began
my death march to the top of the hill and the large, brass, double
doors that led into the Administration Building. The doors slammed
shut behind me, making me nearly jump out of my skin. The lobby was
dimly lit and it took a while for my eyes to adjust from the bright
sunlight outside.

Kingsley was immaculate; beautiful
marble floors and elaborate lighting sconces filled the lobby. An
intricate, crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling and gave the
room a soft glow that reminded me of dusk rather than 8:00 am.
Plush, crimson divans lined the lobby, and oil paintings of elderly
people adorned the walls. I reminded myself that this was a school
building and not the sitting room to an expensive Victorian
home.

I forced my feet forward and adjusted
my back pack straps. I stopped to fidget with my uniform, afraid to
make the wrong first impression. The front counter, located
directly on the other side of the lobby was made from a beautiful
wood, probably mahogany, that expanded the width of the room and
stood to my elbows. I walked the rest of the way tentatively, as
this was like no other school building I had ever been in. And I'd
had my fair share of experience.

An elderly woman, with snow white hair
and small framed glasses, sat behind a smaller desk made from the
same wood as the counter that partitioned us. Her posture was
perfect and her legs crossed properly, as she focused typing at her
computer. A name plate that read “Mrs. Truance” decorated her desk,
facing me. She glanced my direction from the top of her spectacles
and gave a small sigh.

“
You must be Eden Matthews,”
she declared more as a statement than question.

“
Yes, I am,” I choked
out.

“
Welcome to Kingsley,” she
said tersely. Mrs. Truance stood up gracefully and walked over to
me with several sheets of paper in her hand. “Here is your class
list and map of the campus. It can be quite confusing, so please
ask for help if you get lost.”

“
Thank you, I will,” I tried
to smile, but she had already turned away and headed back to her
desk. So instead, I looked down at my class list and found my first
hour of torture to be English.

I shuffled through the papers until I
found a map of the campus. Junior AP English was located in the
English and Arts Building, which appeared to be two buildings east
of this one.

“
Please hurry Kiran. I don’t
want you to be late on our first day,” a curious accent and heavy
footsteps made me turn to see two figures walk through the brass
double doors I had just come in. The brilliant sunshine illuminated
the lobby and I was blinded for a moment as the doors slammed for a
second time and my eyes took a moment to adjust again.

“
Stop worrying; I’m royalty
for god’s sake,” the second voice had a strong, aristocratic
English accent and sounded irritated. As they walked closer I could
see that they were dressed in the Kingsley uniform, and close to my
age.

I noticed the boy who spoke first
right away because he resembled a giant. He was at least 6’5 and
very muscular. He was good looking with olive skin and dark hair.
Maybe his accent was Italian or Spanish? He looked a bit rough,
like he had been in a fight or two, but also leaned toward the
other one in a strange way, almost like he was bowing slightly.
Although his eyes were a bit far apart, they were deep brown, with
glints of gold, and said something about him, but I couldn’t define
their feature.

As I watched the two boys walk closer
I eventually noticed the second one, who had been almost
overshadowed by his friend until he was nearly five feet away. My
mouth dropped open as I looked at him. He was the most beautiful
thing I had ever seen.

Not usually the type to objectify men,
or even notice them at all, my reaction was almost as shocking as
his beauty. He had thick, dirty blonde hair that was unkempt in a
way that said movie star. He ran his fingers through it slowly,
moving it away from his forehead and I could swear it happened in
slow motion. He had clear deep eyes, a color that was almost
indefinable. They reminded me of the ocean, aqua at first, but the
closer he got the darker they appeared and then suddenly they were
turquoise and shining. A straight nose, and perfect, full, but
masculine lips completed his face. I hardly noticed anything else
as I stared stunned and bemused into his eyes; eyes that happened
to be staring back into mine.

“
Excuse me, Ms. Matthews;
you are going to be late for class if you don’t get going. Can you
read the map, or are you already lost?” the stern voice of the
secretary pulled me out of my stupor.

“
Um, no, I can read,” I
said, sheepishly, still unable to take my eyes off of the
mysterious boy staring back.

“
Of course you can read,”
she said sharper, snapping my entranced mind back to reality. “Now,
get to class.”

This time I obeyed, although
hesitantly. I was thankful for my long hair, and let it fall in
front of my face, hoping to hide my mortification. I could feel my
usually tan cheeks burning with shame. As I started to walk past
the eyes that had captured my attention so humiliatingly, I began
to have the strangest, but not so unfamiliar feeling.

My skin started to tingle as if I were
being shocked a million times and my insides began to grow warmer
and warmer until I felt like all of my major organs were made from
the sun, at the same time my blood began to warm and then quickly
heat to what felt like a strong boil. I picked up my pace and
nearly ran out of the double brass doors into the fresh air, trying
to catch my breath.

It was only the end of August, so the
sun was still hot and the humidity, already overwhelming, despite
the early morning hour. I pressed my face against the cool brick of
the building, gasping for air and mentally calming my
insides.

I realized that I looked ridiculous,
but the physical changes that had just begun to occur in my body
were usually a sign of pending destruction. Although I had never
been sure of why my body suddenly felt like a giant microwave, I
could always be sure that it would end in a great travesty. I
pressed my face closer to the brick, allowing the shade of the
building to cool me, calming the electrical impulses tingling
beneath my skin.

I was officially humiliated by my
erratic behavior. I was sure I left those inside completely amused
and confused. I was just thankful I was able to stop the electrical
build up in time.

The first time I felt the electric
pulses underneath my skin I thought they were bugs. In the middle
of second semester of my freshman year I thought I had been
attacked by a swarm of insects. During gym class, I began to freak
out, feeling the creepy-crawly sensation of the electricity
building slowly inside of me. I remembered my gym teacher rushing
over to my side and then nothing, supposedly I passed out. But not
before screaming something about bugs being everywhere. When I
finally woke up, I was outside in an ambulance, surrounded by
hazmat guys. Apparently my school had become completely infested
with tropical insects, the really big kind. Unfortunately, I had
implicated myself in what the school board assumed to be a terrible
prank and I was respectfully asked to leave.

After pleading a pitiful case to the
next school, I was allowed to begin my sophomore year on the
condition of absolutely no shenanigans. I lasted all the way
through the year until during finals week I felt the electrical
sensation again. This time I tried to contain myself and get it
under control, wishing only to wash the feeling off. Again I must
have blacked out because I woke up to find myself inside another
ambulance, the school having flooded spontaneously. Their school
board did not ask so nicely for me to leave; but Aunt Syl did force
them to give me passing grades by threat of a lawsuit, since there
was really no substantial evidence I caused the flood.

Last week, the beginning of my junior
year, I started my third prep school, only to experience what felt
like my blood beginning to boil. I had been told it was my last
chance to finish high school. Unfortunately for them, no one would
be finishing anything at that school, since I magically burned it
to the ground.

I couldn’t explain what happened to
me, I just knew better than to mess around. The powers in charge of
Kingsley must have been brave souls to have allowed me entrance
into their prestigious prep school; or had taken out an extremely
large insurance policy.

I was just glad I was able to stop it
that time. I had never felt the impulses react so strongly. More
than a sweeping feeling of unconsciousness, the electrical impulses
had felt alive, as if they were reacting to something. Who knows
what would have happened had I let them continue…. possibly the
Apocalypse? I had no idea why those things happened to me, or what
exactly they were. I just knew that I was always the one
responsible for something catastrophic. And I was really hoping to
avoid closing this school down for good.

I turned around, so that my back was
to the wall and slid down slowly to the ground and closed my eyes.
I was completely unconcerned with being late to class after all of
that; I had bigger things to worry about. Like making sure there
was still a class to go to.

I compelled my nerves to calm down,
and started to slowly relax. I forced my muscles to loosen up,
mentally unflexing them. My relaxation only lasted a second though
as the Administration Building doors burst open. The two boys, from
before, exited the building in mid-conversation.