Hidden Magic

Mysterious Looks

“Wow,” Rosie said as she walked into Amber’s big bedroom. “It’s beautiful in here.”


Amber’s bedroom was decorated in a lovely midnight blue, with light blue features brightening it. It reminds me of water in here, she thought, and then her eyes looked over to the wall opposite Amber’s bed. It had a feature wall showing a gorgeous waterfall on a sunny day. Wow. Amber had various objects around the room. Rosie’s eye caught a swimming dolphin decoration on her desk.


“Fan of the colour blue, Amber?” Rosie grinned.


Amber returned her grin with an even wider one. “Just a bit. I love the water, the sky, and the creatures of the water.”


“Wow,” Rosie said again, and sat down on the edge of Amber’s bed, which was guess what colour? Blue. “I wish I could have my room personalized like this.”


“Why don’t you?”


“Laziness,” Rosie joked. Amber laughed and rolled her eyes playfully. “I want my room to be purple. I love that colour.”


“Purple, hey?” Amber asked. “You know, they say that’s the colour of spirit, positive energy, peace, healing, and immense courage. Is amethyst your birth stone by any chance?”


“Uh, yeah. It is actually.” Rosie gave Amber a confused look. “How come you know so much about this? I’ve never thought really. I’m not really a big believer in anything to do with star signs, or psychics and mystics.”


“I don’t know... I just saw it once,” Amber said quickly, and shrugged, looking like she was trying hard to look nonchalant. “It’s all just fiction anyway.”


“Yeah,” Rosie agreed, brushing her usual strange behaviour off. “So, what do you want to do? Cram for that big math test Friday? I am so not looking forward to that...”


Her voice trailed off at the sound of a woman’s voice calling from downstairs. “I’m home, Amber! It’s take-out for dinner tonight.”


Right then Rosie felt her stomach tighten, and she suddenly felt a wretched sickness in the pit of her stomach. She gripped her stomach. It felt like someone had punched her...forcefully.


“That’s my mum,” Amber said. Her voice wavered and she wasn’t looking at Rosie. She just stared at the door as she spoke the words, “Hope you like Chinese food.”


“I sure do.” Rosie tried to ignore the sudden discomfort as she followed Amber out of the door and down the brown carpeted stairs. Amber’s mum was stood by the coffee table in the small, slightly old fashioned looking living room, putting two boxes of Chinese food on the table.


“Hey, Mum,” Amber said as Rosie stood beside her. “This is Rosie, a friend from school.”


Amber and her mum’s eyes met briefly for a moment. There seemed to be a kind of tenseness fill the room. But it disappeared as Amber’s mum smiled and said sweetly, “Hello Rosie. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”


Rosie could see the similarities between Amber and her mother. They both had the same glossy black hair, and oval face shape, and they also sounded vaguely similar. But her mum didn’t have Amber’s deep blue eyes though. Hers were a dirty hazel-green colour.


“Nice to meet you, Miss Fenty.” Rosie was careful not to say ‘Mrs’. She didn’t want to upset her.


“Call me Lorraine, dear,” she said warmly. “Since Amber neglected to tell me you were coming over, I haven’t got enough food. So I’m afraid you’ll have to share.”


“That’s fine.” Rosie smiled politely. She wasn’t as good at this as Amber had been with her mum. She always felt awkward around strangers.


Lorraine returned her smile, but there was something bizarre about it that Rosie couldn’t quite put her finger on. “Where are you from? You have a different accent from the folks around here.”


“I’m from London.” Rosie felt a stab of homesickness in her stomach. Or maybe that was just the sickness she’d felt before, and was still feeling.


“London. Wow, the big city.”


“We didn’t live very near the city centre though. We lived in a smaller town on the outskirts.”


“How lovely, dear. Well, welcome to Lakeside.” Lorraine sat down on the sofa and folded her hands on her lap. She looked up at Rosie with an interested smile. “May I ask what brought you here?”


Rosie hesitated before saying, “Family issues.”


“What kind?” Amber’s mum prompted eagerly.


She was beginning to feel a little more uncomfortable, if that was possible. But she didn’t get the chance to worry, because then Amber kindly stepped in.


“You know, Mum, you can ask Rosie these questions another time. We’re just going to take our food upstairs and get started on our maths revision. Big test soon.” They exchanged a grave stare, and Rosie stiffened at how intense it was. Then Amber bowed her head and turned away.


She silently wondered what was up with the two of them as she followed Amber upstairs.





The sick feeling stayed in her stomach for the entire time they were doing their maths revision. Eventually, Rosie put the book down and took a few, agonizing deep breaths.


“You okay?” Amber asked, looking up from her textbook. Her expression turned from bored to concerned.


“I don’t know,” Rosie admitted. “I feel kind of sick.”


Amber frowned. “Do you want me to take you home?”


“No, I’ll be fine.” Amber didn’t look convinced, but she shrugged anyway, and her eyes returned to her book.


Amber had been quiet ever since the meeting with Lorraine. Between the pain, Rosie had been juggling whether to say anything or not. Finally she settled with confronting her about it.


“Your mum doesn’t like me very much, does she?”


Amber looked up, her expression puzzled. “Of course she does. Why would you think that?”


“It’s just it got kind of intense, and she asked me a lot of questions, that’s all...”


“My mum’s just nosy,” Amber said sternly. “And she is always intense. It’s just how she works.”


“Why?”


“Now who’s asking all the questions?” Amber shook her head and did her signature eye roll. “Just leave it alone, Rosie.”


“I was only trying to help...”


Amber cut her off with a cold and bitter snap, “Well, you can’t.”


The words cut into Rosie like a sharp knife. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.” The pain in her stomach increased. Rosie gasped in pain.


“Rosie!” Amber shuffled over to her. “What’s the matter?” Her voice was now filled with panic, and her expression was caring and worried. “Ro?”


“I’m okay,” she breathed, leaning back against the bed frame. “Don’t worry. I’m fine.”


“That is not the definition of fine,” Amber said earnestly. “What’s the matter with you?”


“I don’t know. It just hurts, okay?”


“Are you worked up?” Amber asked, looking her right in the eyes.


“About what?” She asked, confused.


Amber was still staring right into her eyes, and Rosie couldn’t help but start to feel more than a little uncomfortable. “What are you doing?”


“Nothing.” Amber looked away. Her voice sounded guilty when she spoke again. “I think you should go home now.”


“Okay,” Rosie agreed. Amber’s strangeness was really starting to get to her, and now she just wanted to be at home, all snuggled up in her fluffy pyjamas.


Amber went downstairs to talk to her mum. Meanwhile Rosie tried to ignore the sharp pains that threatened at her stomach and looked around Amber’s room. She knew it was nosy, but she couldn’t help it. The room was so fascinating. Rosie came across a black leather bound book, marked with a complicated looking star. She traced her index finger across the cover and around the outline of the star. It was really weird, yet so enticing. It reminded her of what she imagined a mark to be like.


She was about to open the book when Amber came back through the bedroom door. Rosie pretended to have been looking at the pretty blue dolphin again.


“Mum can’t take you home because the cars got a flat. It’s booked in for the garage tomorrow morning,” Amber said, walking towards her.


“Do you want me to call my mum then?” Rosie asked, and checked her watch. It was just after seven. Mum and Amy would be eating dinner right about now.


“No, that’s okay. Shane should be here to come get you in about five minutes.”


“Shane?” Rosie felt her heartbeat quicken at the mention of his name. “He can drive?”


“Yeah. He’s seventeen. He passed his test a few weeks ago.”


“Oh, cool,” Rosie tried to hide her excitement as she sat back down on the bed. She nearly forgot about how sick she was feeling.


A few minutes later there was a knock at the front door, and she and Amber went downstairs.


“Hey,” Shane said as he walked through the door. “I hear I’m on taxi service today. Who’s going to tip me?”


“Not me.” Lorraine’s voice called from the living room.


Shane smiled. It was a handsome smile, filled with lovely humour and happiness. Rosie felt like she could just stare at that smile forever...


Rosie snapped herself out of her daydream, and forced her eyes away from his mouth. She looked up into his face and he smiled one of his breathtaking smiles her way.


“Where to?” He asked.


“Six, park road,” Rosie answered, trying not to get tongue tied whilst his attention was all focused on her.


Before looking away, Shane’s delicious, chocolate eyes lingered on hers for just a moment. “Okay then. You coming Amber?”


“No. I have to talk to my Mum.” The two of them shared a look. Rosie rolled her eyes in frustration behind their backs. She was getting really tired of people exchanging mysterious looks in front of her.


Shane gave Amber a confused-looking frown, before turning back to Rosie. His expression wasn’t as effortlessly smiley as before. It looked a little sad and forced when he tried to smile this time.


“Okay, let’s go,” Shane said, and led her out the door.