Rika raced into the kitchen, Ahisu only a few steps behind. She slid to a halt on the tile inside, eyes locked onto her brother’s pale face. Connor eyes were wide as they stared at the window, his back pressed against the oven while a faint tremor ran through his body. He turned to look at her. “Rika,” he said. “What the hell have they done to me?”
She looked around, but saw nothing out the ordinary. She moved over to her brother, putting a hand on his arm, and said “What’s wrong?”
He gulped then glared at Ahisu and the grinning face of Shetton just visible over the mage’s shoulder. “I don’t know how, but they’re making me see things.”
Ahisu frowned. “What things?”
Connor pointed at the window. “It moved!”
Rika looked where he indicated, seeing the same single paned window with white trim that’d always been there. Even the potted ivy and miniature Zen garden had been there for years. She turned her gaze towards her brother again. “How’d the window move?”
“Not the window,” he said, jabbing his finger forward again. “The plant. Its vines moved!”
Now Rika was frowning too. She glanced at Ahisu, who was studying her brother, than at Shetton, who was laughing silently, then back at Connor. “How? What were you doing when it moved?”
His mouth worked for a moment before he jerked his chin towards the sink and the pot just inside it. “I was making dinner. I’d just put the pot down and was looking for the strainer, when the plant moved.”
“That is exactly what happened?” Ahisu asked, dark eyes watching Connor intently.
“Yes!”
“Could you make it move again?” Rika said.
“I didn’t make it move in the first place!” Connor snapped, only a touch of colour back in his face. “I was looking for the strainer in the bottom cupboards when it touched me, and when I turned around, its vines were moving!”
“How were they moving?”
“What does it matter?”
Rika shrugged. “Well, the more information we have, the more likely we are to figure out what happened.”
Connor’s face and neck slowly turned red as his mouth opened. A moment later, he shut it. He took several deep breaths and said, in a much quieter voice, “I had my head in one of the cupboards. I was muttering about where you’d put the strainer this time, Riks. The plant touched me and I looked up. The vines were flicking up and out when I saw them. Then I shouted, they stopped moving, and you came in. That’s it.”
“You spoke to it,” Ahisu said, shifting his staff into the crook of his arm.
A muscle in Connor’s cheek jumped, but his reply was calm, if strained. “No. I was muttering to myself. I do that sometimes.”
Ahisu’s words seemed to echo in Rika’s mind, bringing forth one of her earlier memories. The whole thing was soft-edged and full of pastel colours, but still undeniably a memory. As it played out in her mind, her eyes found her brother. “Do you remember Mr. Paws?”
“Mr….The cat? The one we used to feed when we were kids?”
Rika nodded. “You used to talk to him all the time. You used to tell me what he was saying, like you could understand him. I always thought it was a dream.”
Connor rolled his eyes. “I was a kid, Riks. I used to pretend I could talk to all sorts of animals. I used to imagine whole conversations between me and them, but it was only a game I played.”
“Animation,” Ahisu hissed.
Both Rika and Connor stared at him. “What?” she asked.
Shay’s laughter broke through, making it impossible for the mage to reply. “It took you long enough. I was beginning to think you were going to actually have to swallow your pride and ask me.”
Ahisu glared at the demon. Rika frowned again. “I don’t understand.”
The mage met her gaze. “His magic is Animation. Anything living.”
“I do not have magic,” Connor said, crossing his arms over his chest.
Shetton chuckled. “You could see me without me allowing it, mortal. You have magic.”
Rika blinked, then grinned. “That’s wonderful!” she said before looking at her brother. You can join our lessons! I’m jealous you already know what kind of magic you have.”
“Inanimation,” Ahisu said.
“What?”
“In bloodlines, magic often stays in the same family. If he,” he said, jerkin his staff towards Connor. “Is Animation, you must be Inanimation. It would explain your abilities.”
For a second, Rika could only stand there, her mind gone white with shock. Then, like she’d been stuck in the microwave at high, her paralysis melted. “My magic? We know what kind of magic I have?” she asked, dancing over to Ahisu. “For real?”
He nodded, making Rika’s face split into a grin. While Connor watched with disgust and Shay with unconcealed amusement, she hugged Ahisu tightly, laughing. “I’m finally, finally, a real mage!”
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ФэнтезиRika has finally gotten home and is all set to put the events of the past months behind her. That is until Ahisu arrives with an offer she can't refuse. Now she's helping him recruit others and plan a rebellion. He plans to turn the country into a h...
