This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
“Ready?” I nodded over to Thomas, who held his wand tightly in his hand. His dark eyes shifted to the rattling door. I gulped. “On three.”
“One,” we both paused, hearing more intense rattling, “two…three.”
SLAM! One flick of our wrists and the lock turned. The door burst open, slamming open against the wall. Pages upon pages flew out of the attic, causing both of us to hold our hands up. Books toppled to the hallway floor from the stairs, reaching our toes and growing into a large pile.
“Immobilise!” I shouted, holding my hands up. The slightest charge of energy went from my body to the very tip of my wand, shooting sparks of blue into the air. Suddenly, the pages stopped in midair. The books paused their tumbling to the ground. Thomas looked over at me, sweat on his forehead.
“Renversee,” Thomas muttered, making the pages float back into the attic, the books lift back up to the very top of the stairs, and then we heard it. The distant giggling. In the center of the repairing mess, Andie and Isaac emerged, in a laughing fit.
“You should have seen your faces!” Isaac chuckled, putting a hand on Thomas’ shoulder. If there was any smile on Thomas’ face before, it was gone now. His lip twitched and he crossed his arms.
“We could have gotten injured,” I reminded them. Andie shook her head, nodding to my wand.
“Honey, you forget you’re a witch sometimes. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Just zap a little healing spell and any injuries are poof! Gone, done, fixed in the blink of an eye,” Andie said and snapped her fingers. Isaac smirked.
“Man, mortals have it so hard. They have to go to the hospital or the doctor to fix themselves,” he chimed in. Andie rolled her eyes.
“Gosh, and then there’s the cost. It’s cheaper to cut their arm off than to fix it,” Andie continued, walked past Thomas and I. Isaac followed her as they continued their discussion. Scoffing at them, I returned my attention over to Thomas, who had this peculiar look on his face as he stared at the attic door.
“How did I know that it was them that caused that ruckus?” He questioned, snickering as he turned back to the stairs, where Andie and Isaac had gone. I elbowed him in the rib cage.
“I knew it was them before we even messed with the door,” I admitted, thinking back to all the other pranks and tricks they’d played on us over the years. The floating pot of ice water in the kitchen. The invisible booby trap in the living room. The tree roots that scared the crap out of me in the backyard. The various other pranks they pulled in school that the administration couldn’t explain, but wound them up in all sorts of trouble by their parents.
“Now that that is fixed,” Thomas began, turning his back on the attic door, flicking his wrist to shut the door properly and lock it, “what should we do?”
“Why don’t we go practice? I want to work on my eleve charm with bigger objects,” I offered. Thomas nodded.
Descending his house’s giant staircase, I was reminded of our own house. The old wooden stairs, the antique decor, and the aroma of Grandma’s cooking that seemed to seep into the woodwork and beyond the kitchen. Except Thomas’ house was the modern equivalent.
Glass was the main material used, covering the outer walls and some of the interior walls. This pearl white paint covered the wooden interior walls and the staircase was this soft white. During the daytime, his house was so bright, there was almost no need for the lights to be turned on. Especially at sunrise, because most of his house faced the east.
Cracking open the old door to the basement, Thomas and I descended into the room. It was as silent as a mouse. No one else was down here, thank goodness. His parents had gone out on Perdita business, my mom was at home preparing for the week ahead, and his sister was out with her mortal boyfriend. Andie and Isaac, wherever they were causing problems, were not here luckily.
“Okay, what should we eleve today?” Thomas asked as we came to the practice room. The giant chalkboard was cleaned and new chalk had been put onto the tray at the bottom. The chairs, put away, left the space oddly empty, but the box of objects that we used to practice was in its place in the corner of the room, neatly stacked and motionless.
“We can start small and work our way up,” I said, whipping my wand out of my pocket, twirling it through the air. Eleve, I thought to myself. Pink sparks escaped the tip and a small teddy bear lifted from the box into the air. Thomas grinned.
“Let’s see who can lift the largest object,” he challenged. I narrowed my eyes, smirking as I set the teddy bear gently on the floor in the middle of the room.
“It’s on,” I whispered.
“Eleve,” Thomas chanted, lifting a small baseball into the air. It twirled around, did a little dance, and then found its place next to the teddy bear. I took the liberty of moving my wand in a square shape, closing my eyes. Boite de manifest. “Whoa! How did you do that?”
I opened my eyes and a replica box to the one in the corner sat next to the teddy bear and the baseball. I turned to Thomas.
“Grandma taught us this, like a year ago. Don’t you remember? You say the object you desire de manifest and voila, you have the object,” I told him. Thomas smirked.
“You will probably win this challenge,” he teased.
“Are you kidding? You’ve given up already?” Thomas shook his head, lifting a bowling ball out of the box, concentrating. I didn’t dare distract him. The bowling ball went into the box, rather effortlessly, and then he made eye contact with me.
“I haven’t given up. I just know you’re more gifted at these spells than I am,” Thomas admitted, his cheeks flushed as he did so. I felt heat rush to my own cheeks as I turned back to the box, finding a stack of books. Eleve.
Four books, neatly in a tall pile, lifted through the air, placing themselves into the box. Thomas lifted a brick out of the box, placing it next to the books and the bowling ball. We both turned to each other, puzzled.
“I guess we both win,” Thomas offered, holding his wand up. “Help me get the box back into the corner?”
“Eleve,” we said in unison. The box rose into the air without struggle, replacing itself next to the empty box. Thomas sighed, wiping away whatever sweat was left after dealing with the attic and the training we’d just done.
“I can’t believe school starts in a month,” I admitted, thinking back to the last year. To all the homework we’d done in mortal school, all the tests. Then missing eighth grade graduation. Oliver had lost his mind, but I didn’t blame him. I would have done the same thing in the middle of all that mess.
“It’s going to be great. Aren’t you excited? New school, new classes…it’s going to be awesome,” Thomas told me, eyeing me as he stood across from me. “How’s your mom feel about it?”
“She knows we have to go, but she’s also hesitant because she knows nothing about this stuff. It’s Dad’s area of expertise, unfortunately for her,” I reminded Thomas who nodded. “Your parents must be thrilled.”
“They are! Mom’s a little sad. The idea of both kids being gone makes her sad, but I can’t wait to go. It will be like one big adventure. At least we’ll be in the same place,” Thomas admitted shyly, blushing. I smiled.
“How’s Bridget?” Thomas squinted at me.
“I haven’t talked to her in weeks. We had a bit of a falling out. Why?” I swallowed, shaking my head. My heart raced in my chest. Because. I don’t know.
“Just curious,” I whispered. Thomas eyed me. I knew that look on his face. He was reading my mind. A small smirk spread across his face as he did. My stomach twisted and churned, knowing what he had heard.
“Come on,” Thomas urged me on, instinctively reaching for my hand. I didn’t shy away. He’d started doing it more recently, and I liked it. I’d never told him that. I didn’t have to. Not when he could read my thoughts. “Ice cream?”
“That sounds amazing,” I told Thomas, squeezing his hand. We both ascended the stairs, coming face to face with my cousins. Andie and Isaac stopped in their tracks when they noticed us.
“Oooooo! Thomas and Gen, sitting in a tree, K-I–”–Andie and Isaac’s song and dance stopped abruptly when I flicked my wand, hitting them both with a simple tickling spell that Mr. Nigari had taught me. Their little rhyme turned into an abundance of laughter.
Turning back to Thomas, he was beaming. I rolled my eyes, tugging him along to the door, but grinning as I did so.
“Come on, weirdo,” I teased, letting go of his hand and pulling open the door for the both of us. Thomas held the door for me as we exited the house, leaving behind the giggling and cries for help from Andie and Isaac to make the tickling stop. But I knew in a matter of minutes it would be gone.
All I wanted to do was go get ice cream and chat with Thomas, before the real world required us to put away our childish things and go back to school. And before Andie and Isaac pulled another trick on us, and we’d have to clean up after them, again.
