Hidden Magic

History

Shane pulled the car up on a small, deserted street. Rosie looked out the car window to see some small flats and a garage just a little more down the road. There was nothing fancy, everything just looked average.


A knock on the car door beside her made Rosie jump. She looked across and saw Shane standing there with an urgent expression on his face. Rosie felt her heartbeat quicken as she looked around for god knows what. For all she knew every supposedly mythical creature in the world could be lurking around. One was staring at her through the door.


Rosie hesitated before opening the car door and stepping out. She was caught between whether or not Shane was evil. I mean, witchcraft has a bad history, right? She thought. But on the other hand there were white witches too. Maybe Shane and Amber are them? When she looked up at Shane she was struck with an image of Lorraine. Could she really be good too? Rosie didn’t think so, but she followed Shane’s fast steps up the street and into one of flats.


Inside Rosie felt a pleasant feeling of warmth come over her. The winter air outside was especially wicked today, and in her haste she’d forgot to throw on a jacket. She shivered and Shane smiled kindly. “I keep it toasty in the mornings when I wake up. I’ll turn the heating back on again too.” He started to leave, but Rosie stopped him.


“Hey, wait,” she said, hoping what she was about to ask wasn’t touchy ground with him. “I’m just wondering, since your parents, um....died...why don’t you live with Lorraine and Amber? Unless you have any other family of course.”


Shane looked down at the floor uncomfortably and played with the keys in his hand. When he spoke his voice was quiet, filled with a sadness that made Rosie want to cry for him, “Yeah, they, um...died, a few years back. I guess Amber told you.” He looked up for a fraction of a second, and Rosie thought she saw hurt in those big, brown eyes. “I used to live at Lorraine’s, but when I turned sixteen last year I moved here. I don’t know. I guess I just wanted my own space.” Shane didn’t even look up or give Rosie a chance to reply before he headed briskly for a room off to his right.


Rosie sighed, deeply regretting having brought it up. She walked into a room to her left. It looked like the living room. It had a small, cable TV, and an X-Box with countless games towered in piles beside it. The room wasn’t exceptionally big, but she thought it looked cosy, painted in a deep chocolate brown and a dark wooden floor.


She sat down on the two-seated sofa directly opposite the TV. It was surprisingly comfortable for a leather sofa, and for Rosie leather sofas had always been a nightmare.


Rosie’s eye caught an out of place looking oak table in the far corner of the room. She shuffled to the edge of the sofa and tried to get a good luck at the items on the table. She spotted tons of schoolwork, and...Black bound books? They reminded her of the one Amber had, but there were so many more of them. Rosie noticed they didn’t have the same symbols either, some were stars kind of like Amber’s, but others were of crescent moons and complicated looking shapes.


She had the weirdest feeling to go trace her fingers all over the symbols, just like she had with the strange star on Amber’s book. It felt like a longing. Rosie shook her head, hoping it would stop the feelings, but it didn’t. So instead she jammed her eyes closed and waited for Shane to come into the room.


Shane came in carrying two cans of Coca Cola and a packet of chocolate chip cookies. When Rosie gave him a funny look, he said, “Comfort food, and we skipped lunch. I’m a guy; you don’t want to see me when I’m hungry.”


He flopped down on the sofa next to her and sprawled out in the way that only guy’s could sprawl. He took a handful of biscuits, and then threw one of the cans and the remaining packet at her.


Shane shrugged an apology when it hit Rosie with a little smack, and then turned the TV on with an old black remote.


Rosie popped the seal on the can and took a few grateful gulps of the sweetness. Unlike Shane she took only two biscuits, and was still eating her first one when Shane leaned over to grab more.


When she finished she moved around on the couch until she was fully facing Shane. He glanced out the corner of his eye at her movement, and then pretended he didn’t see anything.


Rosie sighed; she noticed it was something she did a lot lately. She gave him a slight inpatient nudge with her foot, and finally he turned to look at her. Rosie smiled smugly and said, “So, when are you going to tell me what the hell’s going on around here?”


“I thought you already knew?”


“I only know the stupid, vague details you and Amber tell me. I want the real truth, not some piece of crap you’ll say to shut me up for a while,” Rosie said sternly and raised her eyebrows for emphasis.


Shane chuckled and shuffled so he was mimicking her position. “Well, it’s kind of a long story...”


“I don’t care,” Rosie interrupted, “I just want the truth.”


“I know,” Shane said, meeting her eyes as an equal. “Okay, here we go. We’ve always lived in this town and me and Amber have always known about the history of pretty strong witchcraft in our family, and with that came knowledge of the vampires.” Shane stopped, giving her a chance to take it in.


When she nodded, he continued, “Me and Amber got our powers at about age fourteen...”


“Hey,” Rosie interrupted for the second time. She gave Shane an apologetic smile. “Isn’t that how old Amber was when her friend, you know, died?”


Shane nodded and carried on before she could speak again. “As soon as we got our powers, Amber’s family...well her Mum pushed her quite forcefully into the world of witchcraft. My family was a lot different. They didn’t want me to pursue it, not until I was old enough to make the choice for myself. I think they were waiting until I was about sixteen to begin any kind of training with me.” Shane smiled sadly, but he didn’t look away from her this time. “So, Amber trained. Sometimes me and Amber would do sneaky spells behind my parent’s back, but never anything major.”


“I’m sorry to keep bringing this up, but Amber’s friend, did she die because Amber didn’t know how to control it? Or was it because of the vampires?” Rosie was proud her voice didn’t quiver when she spoke the word Vampires.


“It was kind of both. Amber told her friend what she was and they went out...practicing. Vampire’s followed them.” Shane seemed lost in memories for a moment, but he seemed to regain present and carry on, “They attacked her friend. I mean, she should have known, rules are rules, no exposure. Like I said before, witchcraft comes with the knowledge of vampire’s mostly. So, Amber tried to protect her, but she was just fourteen and had only been practicing for about six months. She knew a lot, but it wasn’t enough to save her friend. She just did what she could, then more, making herself evoke too much power. It ended up her magic being combined with the vampires that was the end of her friend, Louise.”


Rosie nodded gravely. “Her name was Louise.”


Shane bit his lip, but nodded. “Don’t be worried. You have two even more badass witches...though I really insist because of my pride and sexuality you call me a warlock.” He winked. “It’ll never happen again.”


Rosie smiled but a thought hit her. “So, if your parent’s didn’t want you practicing before, why are you now?”


“Lorraine,” he said, and Rosie understood from what she’d witnessed herself and what Shane had said about how she’d treated Amber.


“Right,” she said. “I guess she’s power hungry.”


“She’s something,” Shane said, and they both laughed. Rosie thought it was nice to forget all the dangers for a moment and just laugh.


“Thanks, by the way, for saving me yesterday. I know if you hadn’t been there, Lorraine’s obvious death threat would have happened,” Rosie said with a smile.


He smiled back, clearly happy to be someone’s hero for the day. “No problem,” he said.


Rosie hated to push him back to the subject, but she knew she had to. She still didn’t know enough about the vampires.


Shane gave her an understanding look. “Hey, why don’t we get to the vampire’s subject when Amber gets here?”


Rosie looked at him, startled. “You called Amber?”


“Well, actually I texted her,” he said, and pulled a black phone out of his pocket and played catch for a few seconds with it. “She said she’d be here in about thirty minutes, and...” He looked at his phone again, “twenty-eight have passed.”


Rosie scowled at him. “I didn’t want her here. I’m not ready to talk to her yet.”


“I don’t care if you are, but, Rosie, you came to school today to talk to her and now you’re going to.” Shane gave her a sympathetic smile but ruined it with a shrug. “She needs to sort this out with you, and I think it’d be better someone you know telling you the news about the vampire’s. Isn’t this a lot to take in for you?”


Rosie sighed again. “Yes, it definitely is, but I need to know, Shane. It’s not about me anymore, it’s about Amy.”


“Well, you’ll still be doing something for Amy if you hear the facts from Amber,” Shane said reasonably.


When Rosie tried to speak more words of protest he very impolitely shoved a biscuit in his mouth and turned the TV up to deaf volumes.


She let out a frustrated groan but still sat there, waiting for Amber’s knock at the door with her heart beating crazily with anticipation.