The Unveiling - Modern Magic: Book 1

Chapter 10

A/N: Shorter chapter today, and you'll see why ;)

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Chapter 10 – April 17, 2019

I got very little sleep that night. The new revelations about James in connection with the events of the past week and a half kept swirling around my head. He believed Magi had murdered his parents, whose true death was a flooding-related car wreck. It was already very easy to assume James had survived the wreck due to one or both of his parents forming kinetic shields around him. That very simply explains the lack of damage of his section of the car and the lessened injuries. Parental instincts.

This meant one of two things: either James had no knowledge of the actual event that led to his parents' deaths, or he believes that Magi somehow took control of the path of a hurricane. The latter was extremely unlikely. He looked shocked when I threw a full kinetic burst at him. Someone surprised by that level of power would never assume a whole hurricane could be controlled in the same manner.

So he was being lied to. By who, and why? Was it this mystery adopter? Possibly the woman who rescued him in the alley? That might answer the 'who', but not the 'why'? These last questions plagued me the most through the night. Clearly whatever James was being told led him to have a deep-seated hatred of Magi. What was the purpose of that? To develop that kind of hatred in a young man has to be for some kind of reason.

I had woken up after nowhere near enough sleep, and now I looked over to my alarm clock, hoping I could get another hour or two before class. My hopes were dashed as it was only two minutes from going off. I just switched it off and rolled out of bed to get ready for the day.

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I was planning on calling Aki around my lunch time, 2pm, which is after her normal lunch rush at the shop. You can probably imagine the number of businessmen who forget important dates and sometimes literally run over to their wives' favorite flower shop at the last minute. This was the plan until I got a call around 1pm – Aki. I excused myself from the last part of my class, stepping out of the room.

"Aki, are you sure you're not psychic, because I was just about to call you about a last-minute order." I had a decent amount of practice at sounding nonchalant while working in specific phrases to tell her my true intent.

"Ah, Zane. That's very fortunate because we had an unusual bloom today, and I thought your mother would enjoy it. Perhaps you can stop by the shop this afternoon? I believe it would be best for you to deliver it as a surprise." Aki sounded like nothing other than a warm, somewhat enthusiastic shop-keeper speaking of her favorite customer. Her phrasing and choice of words sent red flags waving erratically in my mind.

"That sounds mysterious! I bet my mom will love it. I'll be sure to drop by after class, ok?"

"I will keep it ready for you. See you this afternoon." Aki hung up, a little less formal than usual. Most people probably would have ignored the change, but I knew it was just the icing on the cake of something very wrong.

'Unusual bloom' usually meant an unexpected customer. Only mentioning my mother once, instead changing to bring me up several times – meant this had nothing to do with my mother and more to do with me. 'Perhaps, stop by, afternoon' – meant don't you dare wait until later this afternoon. 'Surprise' – something very interesting was waiting for me at her shop. The one thing that kept me from full

panic-mode was that she never used the word 'urgent'. That would have meant a threat or trap. Because of all of this, I skipped my last class – and my lunch – and went straight to Aki's shop.

Traffic wasn't too terrible, just some remnants of the lunch hour rush, so I made pretty decent time. I parked in the partly filled parking lot and walked in. Just as always, there were a few men in suits looking at arrangements and speaking with the employees. One of the men behind the counter saw me and smiled. "Aki is waiting for you in the back." I returned his smile and thanked him, heading through the curtain.

Aki was in the back. The odd thing was she wasn't working. She seemed to be in deep thought just before looking up when I walked in. "Do not overreact." She locked eyes with me as she said this, making me start to worry again. I nodded, and she led me into their mud room between the shop and the greenhouse. Instead of heading through the only other door, Aki turned to a wall. Her eyes flickered from their deep obsidian black to ice blue. I was so distracted by seeing her second eye color for the first time, I barely noticed that she had sent a line of kinetic energy into the wall and flicked some sort of internal switch. The door swung open to a small room with three folding chairs set up in the middle; one was currently occupied.

By James.

I immediately threw a kinetic barrier up, large enough to completely separate the room between us. "Aki, that's him! That's the guy who's been attacking us!"

Aki grabbed my arm, staring at me. Her ice blue eyes intensified her already intense stare. "He came to us. He wants to talk. Things have changed, and you need to listen."

My focus faltered. I have always trusted Aki's judgment, but everything that happened over this last week was holding onto my mind. Then a quiet, penitent voice sounded from the other side of the room.

"Please. Hear me out. I can't even begin to say how sorry I am and how wrong I've been." The voice was the same as the alley, but the tone, the depth – that was all new. I looked at James; his silver-gray eyes looked back. Gone was the hatred, the confusion, and even the teenage angst. His memory was unlocked. James didn't move. His hands were clasped together, shoulders slumped forward. Nothing about him showed any threat or malice.

I dropped the barrier, still mildly concerned, but there was too much pushing me to believe them. Aki must have closed the secret door when I was so focused on James, because the room was once more closed off from the rest of the shop. Aki walked over and sat in one of the other two chairs, and I followed shortly after, coming face to face with James for the second time.

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A/N: What's that?  Another twist?  Why yes... yes it was.  I hope you enjoyed!  :)