The Magic Within; Shadows of Two Worlds

Chapter 65 ~ Jamie

     We were planning on splitting up with Thomas and Chris on their own, since if they were caught with us, they would be in trouble. Although they would have to see through our disguises, as well as Bill's power. We were surprised when Arabella begged to come with us. "Please let me come," she said. "just once! I want to help make a difference." Ella and I shared a look. "It's too dangerous. We can't have random people getting involved in this, no offense. I just don't want it to take a turn for the worse," Ella explained. Arabella paused. "Well, the thing is, I'd say my power is pretty useful. I could conjure more charms so you don't have to risk going back to the magic world." I blinked, considering that. "She has a point," I muttered. Jamie, you know we can't. I don't want other people getting hurt! Ella spoke in my mind. The more people fighting for the cause, the more likely we will be to accomplish something. Every hybrid is going to get hurt if we fail. I reminded her. Ella didn't respond. She looked at the ground. "How old are you?" Arabella grinned. "25, therefore older than you." Ella, still slightly hesitant, said, "Alright. You can come with us- go with Thomas and Christopher. I think Chris has the Magic Locator right now. He's... probably more trustworthy than Thomas." I grinned. "Welcome to the Hybrid Freedom Advocates." Arabella's face brightened. "Thank you so much! I promise I won't fail you." She turned and walked over to where Thomas and Chris were talking. Meanwhile I turned to the other four. "We're growing fast," Lilly said, grinning. Amelia was smiling as well. Ella nodded and said, "Well then, let's get moving. There are hybrids to save."

~~~

     We were moving at a very fast pace. We had already given out five charms- and most were individuals. One person needed two, but the rest just wanted one. Four people, not including the one that would get it later, and it was only around twelve. We took a quick break to eat sandwiches Kathy had packed us, along with cookies as she insisted. Ella texted Thomas and told him to meet up with us, and a few minutes after we sat down at a picnic table, they showed up as well. Thomas was cheering. "We have nine charms gone! One person needed a ton!" Ella smirked. "Well, we gave charms to four individual people plus one extra," she bragged. "Not just one person needing a bunch." Thomas scoffed, but Chris chuckled. Arabella was grinning. "This is great. I love doing this." The three of them sat down at the table with us. "Do you want to join for real?" I asked. "Jamie!" Ella exclaimed. "You can't just say that. But yeah, I suppose if you'd like to... it would be a great help." Arabella grinned wider. "Of course. How do we keep in touch?" I paused, then responded, "I suppose we can give you our phone numbers, but we won't be staying in Delaware for too long." Ella nodded and took out her phone. "I'm not sure how we're going to do this, honestly. Even with Chris and Thomas. They have to go back to school. If you keep doing stuff for hybrids around here, and they did at Yale, that would be really helpful, but I doubt we'll see each other much... at least Thomas and Chris." Arabella nodded and we all exchanged phone numbers. We made a group chat called the HFA. Nobody had to know what it stood for. "By the way, I wanted to show you guys this cool trick my parents taught me," Arabella said. "I think it could be helpful." I tilted my head. "Yeah?" She paused. "Basically, you can make a connection with an inanimate object and be able to summon it at any time. It's kind of like conjuring, but anyone can do it." Ella's eyes widened. "That does sound really useful," she said. Arabella smiled. "What you do is you take an item... here, let's just do your phone." She pointed to Ella's phone. Ella picked it up. "One person can only have a connection to one item at a time if they aren't a conjurer, unfortunately, so if you use anything else you will feel the connection to the phone break. Just so you know," Arabella added "Anyways, close your eyes and pretend there's a string connecting you to the phone." Ella did so, and I picked up my phone to try as well. The others were murmuring and starting to do the same. I closed my eyes and imagined a string, as weird as it sounded. "Channel your energy through the string," Arabella instructed. I did so, and I felt as if it somehow clicked into place. I opened my eyes. "You should be able to tell if it worked." Ella was nodding along. "Now, go farther away and imagine that string again. Push more energy through it and your phone will appear." I immediately got up and ran to the other side of the park we were sitting at. I did as she told, and sure enough, my phone appeared in my hands. "That is so cool!" I exclaimed as I rushed back to the table. The others were trying it as well. "Honestly, everyone needs to know how to do that. It's very useful." Arabella grinned in an absolutely delighted way. Once we finished eating we continued to give out charms until the Magic Locator couldn't detect any more magic close to us. By the time we got back to the beach house, it was sunset. All of us were in high spirits as we jumped into the pool. It was a little too late for the ocean, but the pool was lit up with cool underwater lights, and was also heated. Ella was about to get in when Thomas came up to her and kissed her. Of course, being Thomas, he tripped and the two of them fell into the pool, still close to each other. They came up laughing. Ella formed her tail and flicked him with it. Amelia and Lilly were splashing each other playfully. Chris and I sat at the side of the pool, dipping our feet in. "It's been a great few days, despite everything," I said. He smiled softly and whispered, "You know, Jamie, when you were found by the Hybrid Hunters, and you had to run away from Yale, I was devastated. I wasn't sure what I was going to do without you. Our friend group didn't feel the same- all of us would sit and talk like we usually did, but we'd have moments of awkward silence whenever mentioning you four. Or Jake. Especially Jake. He sits on his own now, not even in the courtyard. I was afraid I'd never see you again. But now we're together again..." When his voice trailed off, I leaned my head on his shoulder. "I never thought I'd say this, but maybe Jake's betrayal had some good in it. The Hybrid Freedom Advocates never would have gone so far. We might not have even started dating..." We both stared at each other for a moment, and then a voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "Talk about the cheesy couple," Ella shouted. I scoffed, but I was grinning. "I've never said that about you and Thomas." She rolled her eyes. "You might as well have." I slid into the pool and splashed her. The two of us laughed and continued to "fight". Soon Thomas joined in, and then everyone else. Once it died down, I asked, "Well, do you guys want to go inside and watch a movie?" Everyone nodded in agreement. We got out of the pool and changed, then we sat in the living room, on the giant couch with the giant TV screen. Thomas is so lucky, I wanted to say, but then I remembered he was a hybrid, like the rest of us. In no way was his life easy. Thomas turned on a random movie that he claimed was amazing, but he fell asleep in an instant, Ella's head on his shoulder and his arm around her. Amelia and Lilly were in a similar position. I smiled and looked at Chris, then leaned my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. He leaned in, closer to me, and I fell into a deep and calming sleep.