Witch in Hiding (#1 in the Witches Trilogy) (EDITING)

Nine: In Aqua Veritas

Rae's parents are out on another of their business trips, so she's got the entire house to herself. It's a huge McMansion, but her parents seem to have redone it in good taste—it looks fantastic, and the pool out back is where Rae invites me over for a much needed chill session.

I've been swimming in competitions since I was eight, so the water's no stranger, but Rae gets it in her head that instead of lazing around like usual, we should actually do laps.

She turns out to be a good swimmer. Even when I get there, she's swimming strongly up and down the pool, in a calm, collected breast stroke. I get in and make my way over to her, matching her surprisingly fast pace until we come to the end and she rests for a while, treading water. "Your house is insane," I tell her.

She laughs. "It's okay."

"Okay, rich kid," I say incredulously.

She flushes and grins. "I didn't know you could swim so well."

"Rae, I've swum for school teams. You're pretty good too."

She shrugs. "Been swimming since I was young. My family... they were pretty into it."

It's the first time I've heard something about her background and I try to be careful not to let her clam up again. "So you're a natural?"

"Little bit." She says. Then her expression becomes guarded again. She seems to realise she's said too much and looks away. "Never mind."

"But you like to swim?" I press on.

"Yeah, I guess." She smiles faintly. "The water brings back good memories. Running around the track? Not so much."

I laugh. "I feel you. What about, like, game? Tennis?" I ask jokingly.

Rae laughs too. "I don't know about tennis. Shooting, maybe." I remember her and her Nerf guns and giggle.

"With Nerf guns?"

"With real ones, obviously." Rae smiles and splashes water at me. "It'd be so much cooler."

"Some paintball, maybe."

"Absolutely."

She pretends to tap her lips in mock consideration. "I think I'd like... surfing."

"Okay, one time I tried that, and I got knocked flat onto my butt a kazillion times. Never again, thank you. Of course, my sister was a natural..."

"Ah, the elusive Vera." She props her elbows up on the side of the pool. "How is she?"

I shrug. "Being a genius, as usual. Having fun out there, living her life, getting scholarships. Making Mom proud. Leaving a family legacy. Etc, etc." I snort. "Thank god you're an only kid."

The smile on her face flattens. "Yeah... thank god."

"Sorry... should I not have said that?" The house is gorgeous, and Rae's cheery and put together, but there's a definite loneliness hanging over the estate. Can't be very fun to live here basically alone. At least arguing with Ver is human interaction. Rae's just got her paint and canvases.

She waves it aside. "It's nothing. Now, do you want to swim?" She points at the other end of the pool. "Freestyle, race you there."

I grin. "It's on." We take off, streaking down the pool side by side. We're even until about midway, when she suddenly puts on an extra burst of speed and pulls up a clear first. She pushes hair out of her face, watching me as I come up. "How were you so fast at the end?" I ask her.

She shrugs, grinning. "Hidden talent?" But she shifts the swim shirt she's wearing over her shoulder, a little uncomfortable. "Race you again?"

"You'll probably beat me, but yeah, sure." We go off again, but this time I keep my eyes fully on her, and I realise that as she speeds up, there's a faint glow emitting from somewhere on her back. I confront her when I meet her on the other side.

"Are you using magic to win?" I ask her accusingly, keeping my voice down. "Channelling wind to make you go faster, or something?"

"What?" She says, stricken. "What makes you think that?"

"A glow when you were swimming just now."

She freezes momentarily. "Are you sure? I would have noticed it."

"I'm sure."

Her eyebrows furrow. "I didn't use magic, Vinni. I think maybe you imagined the glow." She glances at the water, then glances at the house. "Actually, I think you might need to go. I'm expecting someone; I forgot. Rain check?" She hoists herself out of the pool. "Pun intended," she grins.

"Yeah, definitely. Or, like, invite me over. Someone's got to live in this house." I towel off. "But no lesson today?"

"Oh!" She lights up. "Hang on." She dashes into the house and comes back out with a notebook. "Here, I wrote some stuff down for you. Just read that."

I start reading as I walk out. Rae has scribbled notes about various magic types, different creatures. Then I come to a drawing. It obviously isn't meant to be there, something Rae maybe sketched when she was bored in class, a loose sheet tucked in the obscure middle-end pages.

The piece is beautifully rendered, done in pencil, but a fantastic lifelike thing. Rae has sketched a small boy, with a lock of hair that falls over his eyes, and a slight smile. Just beside it, she's written two words: for you.

For me? She drew this for me? It's amazing, but... why? I tilt my head slightly. She probably meant to tear it out but forgot about it. I figure I might as well return it to her, and turn around. She's still by the pool, drying off, and she looks up when I approach. "What's wrong?"

"I-um-I was looking through the notebook, and I found this drawing..."

Rae inhales sharply. "Drawing?" She says tightly.

"Of a boy... it says for you..."

"That's mine."

"Yeah, I know." I hold it out.

She practically snatches it back. "Thanks." She folds it up so small it fits in her clenched fist. "It's a draft of a commissioned piece I'm doing."

"It's really good."

"I could do one for you if you want."

I try and imagine giving an art piece to someone for their birthday. My mom, maybe. "Maybe." We stand there awkwardly for a brief second. "I'll, uh, get going."

She waves me off cheerfully, but at the same time, I get the distinct feeling that she's hiding something.