Twilit Mage

Chapter 23: Try Again

"Okay, okay, relax. Mercy, it's okay. Really!"

Mercury took a shaky breath and blinked the tears from her eyes, forcing her lips into a lopsided smile. Her throat was tight with a lump, her body shaking with the strain of trying and failing to create a simple illusion over and over and over again.

"Sorry," she said, unable to hide the slight crack in her voice. "I'm not trying hard enough...I should just–"

"Mercy," Raoul said again, his tone a little sharper this time. "It's fine. Calm down first...Here, want a candy bar? It's kinda crushed but I swear it's still good."

Mercury took a glance at the battered snack in Raoul's outstretched hand and swallowed again. "Thanks," she said. "But I think I'll save it up for...for when I actually..."

Her voice broke off, and more tears shot into her eyes. She tried to blink them away, but it didn't work. With an apologetic smile she lowered her head, letting her hair fall into her face as she hurriedly wiped at her eyes before any tears could fall from her lashes and roll down her cheeks.

But it wasn't quick enough. A moment later Raoul was at her side, an arm draped around her shoulders, the other hand pushing the candy bar back into her field of vision. "Hey," he said warmly. "Mercy, don't cry! Here, eat this, sit down...for me? I mean, I just kinda..." He ran a hand through his hair. "I don't like seeing you sad. Happy Mercy is my fave Mercy."

Mercury gave a muffled sob. How was he still so nice when even she was fed up with her own clumsiness, her weakness, her inability to do anything? Creating illusions was always so easy when she didn't mean to, so why couldn't she make up the tiniest one now? There wasn't even a shadow, a twinkle out of place. What in the world was she doing wrong over and over again?

But Raoul was still standing here, arm wrapped closely around her, gently patting her shoulder and leading her over to the nearest bench to sit down.

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong," Mercury admitted quietly, taking comfort in the arm around her shoulders, Raoul's warm body against her side. "It's always so easy when I'm not trying, and now...it's frustrating, you know?"

Raoul gave her a gentle look, his dark eyes sympathetic. "You can't make it happen when you want, huh."

She nodded. "It's like my power just does whatever it wants."

"Hmm..." Raoul stared into the distance, frowning and thinking. "Hey, when you use magic, can you like...feel it?"

Mercury blinked in confusion. Feel it...She thought back to all the times she had accidentally used magic, trying to remember if she had felt anything unusual. She had probably imagined some things, or felt very strongly...was that it? No, that couldn't be magic. Magic had to be something else. But what?

"I don't know," she admitted at last. "I don't think so."

Raoul's eyes popped open. "Really?" he asked. "You never felt that...that buzzy thing when the magic was like, super strong?"

"B...Buzzy...?"

There he went again with his strange explanations. As usual, Mercury had no idea what he was talking about. But she couldn't remember anything buzzing, no matter how hard she tried.

"No," she said awkwardly. "I think I didn't."

Raoul gaped at her, puzzled, then he bounced back in a minute. "Okay! Then we gotta find some other way...like, uh...I dunno..."

"Some other way to do what?"

They almost jumped off the bench. Standing behind them, grinning over their shoulders with her arms crossed, was none other than Bonnie.