An Odd Sort of Magic

Chapter Three

(Time lapse)

          It had been days since Jayan had seen a human face. She’d wandered the streets for what felt like a millennia, sleeping during the day, and avoiding people. She didn’t think she could bear to see someone. She felt as if her heart were torn in two, realizing what she had done to Catrina, Arianna, Drew, and everyone else. But she had come to a conclusion in the past few days of wandering. If she could just forget it all, she could live a normal life. Besides, she couldn’t keep scavenging the dumpsters. She had walked all the way from that horrible recruiting center to her hometown.   Now, she approached her doorway, and knocked softly. 

Her mother, a thin and gentle woman, answered the door. “Oh, Jayan,” she exclaimed, “you’re home awfully soon. Why aren’t you at boarding school?”

Jayan doubled over as if nauseous, the memories flooding back to her. They’d been hazy when she left, but now they were clear as a windowpane. She tried to ignore them, stood up and lied, “it closed. They sent all the kids home.”

“Well then,” her mother frowned, then blinked and said, “Come in, sweetie. We don’t want you catching cold out there.” She ushered a slightly sick looking Jayan into the house.  “It’s just about dinner time,” Jayan’s mother said, “I’ll get you something to eat. You look starving! Did they send you off without a meal? How silly of them.”

“If you don’t mind,” Jayan murmured, “I’m going to my room. I’m not hungry.” She trudged up the stairs and flopped onto her bed. She gave way to them now, the rush off memories, both hers and Vanessa’s.  She saw Ms. Shelling leading her to her room, and Ray finger painting on her arm, Arianna talking her head off about nothing in particular, Catrina ranting about her name, Drew asking her about her power, and Vanessa frowning at her coldly. And then there was that one memory she was so desperate to be rid of. That terrible story of how Ms. Shelling was cast out of the magic world, and how she was going to seek revenge, leading an army of misfit magic casters with Vanessa by her side to destroy her hated magic counterparts.

Jayan rolled over onto her side. She pushed at the memories, trying to force them out of her brain, but they wouldn’t budge. She didn’t know how much longer she would be tormented by these memories. I shouldn’t have left, she thought, I should have stayed and helped. The look on Vanessa’s face when she realized Jayan knew her mistress’s plan wasn’t anger, it was fear. Fear for herself, for the others, and maybe Jayan as well.

She looked up, and her mirror at the edge of her room caught her eye. She wasn’t vain, not in the slightest, and kept the mirror mostly hidden by a sheet of fabric. Now, she got up and strode over to it, pulling the cover off softly, with barely a sound. She looked at her reflection. A young girl with one green and one brown eye stared back.  She blinked, and so did the girl in the mirror. She put the cover back on, hating the mirror, and hating her eyes. They’d been the source of the trouble from the start.            

She pulled her suitcase onto her bed to unpack. As she riffled through clothes and such, a small, shiny object caught her eye. She reached for it hesitantly, as if afraid of getting burned.  It was a little seashell, coated in snow-like glitter. She picked it up. The shell was ice cold. A note, on a battered piece of paper stuck out of the shell’s opening. In a scrawling handwriting, it read:  

In case you’re needed.

Jayan gripped the cold seashell in one hand, and the bedpost in the other. This was clearly a gift from Vanessa. But how? Vanessa’s magic was limited to ice, and this was outside the realms of her abilities. But magic did work in strange ways, and Jayan was too shocked to really focus on quandaries she couldn’t answer. 

“Jayan, are you in there?” her father knocked on her door, and walked in just as Jayan stuffed the seashell out of sight under her pillow, “I heard you were home. Why did the school close?”

“Oh,” Jayan hadn’t expected to need to further her excuse, “um, there weren’t enough students, and the funding has been kind of low, so they ended up having to shut down. “ That sounded like a reasonable excuse.

“I see,” her father frowned, “well, they should have given us some notice. It’s quite rude to shut down a school without alerting the students or their families.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Jayan mumbled, “it wasn’t that great a school anyway. Dad, can you do me a favor? I’m really tired, and I’d like to get to sleep.”

“Sure sweetheart. Good night. I’ll see you in the morning,” he kissed Jayan’s forehead as she climbed under the covers. Then he left the exhausted girls room, and Jayan accepted the darkness hovering over her head. She was asleep within seconds.

Jayan dreamed of Catrina. The pale, narrow-eyed girl had been friendly, although a little distant. She appeared in Jayan’s dream, and then changed into a lion, which leapt with a vicious grace onto a body. The body, Jayan knew somehow, was a magic caster, a normal one. Then the lion changed into Vanessa calling, “come help us. We need you. Come help us.” Her voice faded away as Jayan’s conscious surged awake.

Jayan lay there, breathing deep, trying to calm herself. The curtains in her room were drawn, but darkness lay behind them. It was still night. Jayan’s nightmare had woken her up while it was still late. But the voice in her dream, the voice of Vanessa, now that had been real. It was still ringing in her ears. No, it was coming from under her pillow. The seashell was buzzing softly.

Jayan pressed it to her ear, and Vanessa’s voice grew loud, repeating over and over, “Come help us. We need you.” Then it said quietly, “You may be the only one who can help us.” Then it faded.

It may have been one of the corniest lines Jayan had ever heard, but it sounded sincere, and Jayan felt it deeply. She really wished she could help, but how could she get to help them? It had been far enough to walk home from that evil recruiting center, how could she walk back? But it hit her again, the despair in Vanessa’s voice. She needed help, and Jayan wasn’t going to be selfish enough to let a long walk stop her from giving it.

She repacked the bag she had lugged back and forth, this time placing the seashell in, wrapped up in a thin sweater. She closed the door to her room gently, tiptoed down the hall, and only paused when the stairs creaked. Once the front door was open, she was free. Outside, the cool air felt relaxing on Jayan’s tired face. She hiked toward the highway, resolving not to stop until she reached her final destination. This proved impossible.

As night turned into dawn, with the sun creeping over the trees, Jayan was so drained from lack of sleep that she had to rest. Pausing for only very short periods of time, Jayan continued her journey. She ignored the looks from the car drivers, and the little kids in the backseats pointing at her. At the sight of the town, she was flushed with relief.

It didn’t take her long at all to locate the house. It was easy once she found the bus station she’d used when she first came here. She only realized that snow had fallen here when she saw it coating that evil, witchy house’s roof, and clinging to the shutters. The chair on the porch was still rocking. 

“Now how do I get in?” she murmured. She couldn’t let Ms. Shelling see her. No, the front door was out of the question. And climbing in the windows, well, she didn’t know what would happen if she did that. The house’s magic worked in weird ways. She didn’t want to risk it. But maybe if there was a back door, that would work. She quickly circled around to the back of the house. The yard was lined with a picket fence, very easy to climb over. Yes, there was a back door. Jayan could see it. She walked forward, a little cautious. The door opened from the inside, and a girl she didn’t know stepped out.