The Shadow Of Magic

Chapter 8

Eiran and Felix walked outside to find Lola kneeling over a patch of dirt and Annalise watching from behind her. "How's it going?"Eiran called to Lola, who looked at him and scowled.

"Be quiet. I need to concentrate."She said, turning back to the soil, closing her eyes and placing her hands over it. After a moment, bright green light came from the soil. She opened her eyes and pulled away, looking up at them.

"This soil has been touched by magic."She stated, looking at Felix and Annalise. "Is that bad?"She asked. "Well, I would consider it normal anywhere else but you said you were able to use it normally before. Once soil has been touched by magic you can usually only grow things with magic from it. Unless you slowly transition it to traditionally growing things but that would take years. Someone has been messing with the soil to make it usable."She continued to look at them, presumably looking for answers.

"No one with magic has been near this house for years."Felix glanced to his sister, clearly confused.

She looked just as confused as Felix and neither of them knew what to do. "Do you not know anyone who could have been using magic on the soil. Or more specifically someone with Earth magic who would want to help you?" Lola looked at them again, still on the ground.

"It seems my secret is out then." An old voice came from the house entrance. Felix and Annalise whipped their heads around in surprise.

Their father was standing there, smiling. It was him who had Earth magic. "I noticed the soil had been touched by magic when me and your mother moved here. I've been using magic on it for years but my magic got weak after she was killed." He explained, both in sign and with a small voice Eiran was barely able to understand.

"But if you had the magic to do this, why didn't you heal your hearing? Healers can heal anything even if you're on the brink of death."Lola questioned.

He didn't seemed phased by this and took a moment to speak. "Much like how your friend with every power doesn't know how to use Soul magic, I never learned to use healing." He said.

"Papa... This whole time..." Annalise stared at the ground, mumbling. "I'm so sorry Annie I just-" He reached out to her but she pulled away.

"Did Mom know? Did you ever tell her you were one of them?" Annalise kept her eyes on the ground, too upset to look anyone in the eye.

"Yes..she knew from the moment we met what I was. She never held it against me and since neither of you showed any signs of magic, we didn't feel the need to tell you." He confessed.

She didn't say anything but she ran into the house, leaving Felix with two people who were practically strangers and his father who had been lying to him his whole life.

Eiran felt really bad for Felix in the moment but decided to stay silent and not get involved in their family matters.

"Felix-"His father started but was quickly interrupted by yet another child. "I'm leaving with Eiran and Lola tomorrow. You can go buy your food seeing as you won't be killed like mom was."And with that he stormed off as well.

Eiran ran into in after her and was quickly followed by Lola. Eiran made it all of five steps into the house when he heard a loud slamming sound.

He saw Lola beside he and gave her a look before they both went to the separate bedrooms.

Eiran opened Felix's door to find him quickly gathering his things into a bag. "You packing already?" Eiran asked, trying to get his attention.

Felix stopped and looked at Eiran. He didn't notice before but how that Felix wasn't running around he could see it clear as day. He was bawling his eyes out.

"Oh Felix-"Eiran was cut off by Felix hugging him. "This feels familiar." Eiran remarked, chuckling. "Ya. I don't know what to do. I don't even care if he has magic or not I just- he-he lied. Our whole lives he has been lying to us. She was lying to us." Eiran could feel Felix holding onto him tighter.

Eiran had concluded two things within the past twenty-four hours. One: Felix saw him as a sort of life force almost. Like if everything went wrong, he would be there. And two: Eiran felt as if in only those twenty-four hours he had gotten to know Felix like he had known him his whole life.

"Do you want me to help you pack?" Eiran asked, pulling away to look at him. Felix looked up at him, puffy-eyed. "Ya. And if it's possible could we leave as soon as possible?" Felix asked, standing all the way up.

Eiran hadn't noticed until recently that although Felix looked older than him, he was also significantly shorter. Even standing fully up, Eiran's eyes were to the top of Felix's forehead.

"I'll ask Lola."Eiran stated, turning his attention to Felix's bag. "You sure you can fit everything you need in here?" He asked, looking back at Felix.

"Oh ya I don't need much. Most of what I'm taking is just clothes." He answered with a smile. "O-Okay." Eiran responded.

When they were finished packing, Eiran turned to Felix. "I'm going to go ask Lola if we could leave sooner." He stated, stepping towards the door. "Okay." Felix answered, still checking to see if he had everything.

Eiran walked across the dimly lit hallway to  Annalise's door that was slightly opened. He peeked through the crack to see Annalise crying with Lola sitting next to her, trying to comfort her.

Eiran chose to stay and listen a minute longer. All he heard were Annalise's sobs the she spoke. "Mom was killed by people with Earth magic. And on top of that they both lied to me and Felix. I don't understand how he can be so calm about this." She cried.

Lola stayed silent and just held her for a minute. "I understand. My mom was lying to me before she died too." She whispered, still holding Annalise.

Annalise sat up and looked at her. Eiran couldn't quite read her expression but he knew there was a mutual understanding between the two. "R-really?" She sniffed.

"She only lied because she thought that the truth would hurt me more. She died because my father was using magic on her as a punishment. Punishments for my actions. She died because she took my blame." Lola kept her eyes to the ground, a silent tear escaping her eye.

Eiran knew this story already but he still felt bad for her. He also sympathized with her because his parents were dead because of him as well.

He finally gathered the will power to push open the door. "Felix wanted to know when we could leave. He wants to be out of here as soon as possible." He said quietly, as to not shock them too much by him suddenly barging in.

"Oh um... Well"Lola looked to Annalise for an answer. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me just...just stay in touch okay?" Annalise's eyes welled up with tears again,.hugging her new found friend that she had to now let go of.

She pulled away from Lola and turned towards Eiran. "I'm sorry for the things I said to you. I can tell you care about us. All of us." She told him with a smile.

Eiran nodded and headed off back to Felix's room. When he arrived, Felix was done packing and was just waiting in his room for Eiran.

"You ready to go?" Eiran asked. Felix gave him a quick smile, picked up his bag, and followed Eiran and Lola out to their wagon.