Magic is not everything

CHAPTER 5

Kate recounts

Fifteen years ago...

The sun's rays came in through the glass window announcing a new day that was about to begin when I looked better through the window I have the feeling that this day announces hope and joy contrary to what I felt now in my soul. After Rafe's death, I tried to be as happy as possible in front of my family, only now we were together again, I couldn't ruin everything now, not when we had slowly returned to normal.
Suddenly I feel nausea invade my mouth and I run to the bathroom where I lean against the edge of the sink and vomit freely after I finish I wash my face and get out of the bathroom then I lie back in bed hoping to recover, I did not want to worry my parents or siblings, not about something so petty that I thought was going to pass.
I decide to go downstairs to the kitchen, although I didn't really have much appetite for the breakfast, just the thought of eating made me sick again. In the kitchen I see a table full of all kinds of pancakes with chocolate or fruit, orange juice, eggs and toast. It wasn't until I saw them that my stomach turned upside down.
"Are you okay, Kate? "
My father's voice made me pay attention to him, he was sitting at the table and waiting for me to join, I take a seat next to him.
" Where's the rest?" I ask changing the subject.
Dad puts orange juice in his glass.
"Your mother went to wake Michal and Emma."
At that moment, they also appear almost running when they see what we have for the breakfast, and Emma takes her place next to my father after hugging him. Smiling. It was a real joy for me that Emma had managed to adjust to her new life and it was clear that the wound in her soul since Gabriel's death had begun to heal with patience and love. I wonder if there was anyone to help me with my wound? Everyone had started eating, only I was the one playing with the food on my plate.
" Aren't you hungry Kate? " Mom asked. When he said it, the rest began to pay more attention to me.
" No, I'm not very hungry."
Mom and Dad seemed skeptical.
" Well, I don't think you're hungry like you eat yesterday," Emma said.
I look at her curiously.
" What's wrong with what I did yesterday? I was hungry.
Michael scratched the nape and tried to say:
" No offense Kate, but yesterday you ate like...well...
" It's as if you were afraid that the food would disappear from your sight if you didn't eat it faster."
My mother was going to contradict her, but my father had spoken before her:
" I tend to agree with Emma this time."
Michael rolled his eyes.
" Honestly, bad choice."
Emma glared at him and was about to reply, but Abraham entered the kitchen, interrupting us.
" Excuse me for the inconvenience, but three children came here saying they were friends with Miss Kate."
My family looked at me in surprise.
Friends? What friends did I have? My unspoken question got answered when three children, a girl, and two boys burst into the kitchen. They were...
" Kate!" Jake, Beetles and Abigail say in unison, coming towards me almost knocking me off the chair when they wanted to take me in their arms.
It couldn't be them, I mean they were the same ones I had known and in 1899 they were just children, but I don't understand how they weren't supposed to be old until now, I knew they were all wizards, but I didn't know they were so strong so as to keep them young.
" How come you're young?" Then I say trying to fix my mistake." No offense."
Abigail just shrugged.
" Don't do anything. But I honestly want some explanations and Jake and Beetles promised to give them to me when we find you." So, she puts her hand on top of the other and looks sharply at her companions. " I'm waiting for an explanation."
"I'd like an explanation, too." Emma said from her corner.
Abigail looked at her just like Jake and Beetles at Emma, ​​as if now realizing the other people in the room.
"Are you Mrs. and Mr. Wibberly?" Beetles asked, looking at her mother and father.
Mom and Dad look better at the two boys.
"Don't you remember us?" Jake asked. " We are the ones who helped you go to Loris. "
Dad seemed to have recovered from the shock, his voice cleared and he continued:
" Of course we remember you and are grateful for your help, but we don't understand what's going on."
Beetles opened his mouth to begin his story, but there was a loud knock on the front door. Abraham, whom I remembered still in the kitchen, went to the door and then returned, followed by a gentleman in a black suit. His straight stature inspired confidence and toughness his gray eyes scanned the kitchen trying to memorize the details. He just greets us politely and nods. Abraham had quietly left the kitchen, realizing that this was no longer his business.
" Who are you? "
Mom looks at Emma with a warning look, but she doesn't keep them.
" That's what I might ask you," said the mysterious man.
My father had risen from the table and walked over to him, holding out his hand.
" I apologize for the inhospitable reception only today and a morning full of surprises apparently. My name is Richard Wibberly."
The man shook his father's hand firmly and briefly, his gesture seemed so familiar to me.
" My name is Derek. Derek Burke."
When I hear his name, my mind tries not to go crazy. And his answer echoed in my head, Derek Burke. I look at the three children next to me who are just as shocked, they know nothing about this man.
"Wait a minute," Jake said, recovering in shock, " Derek Burke ... like Henrietta Burke."
Derek Burke looked surprised.
"Do you know my sister?" Beetles almost screamed.
" Mrs. Burke is your sister ?!" Mr. Burke didn't seem bothered by his tone. " Actually, my twin sister." I could swear at that moment that Abigail's face had fallen.
"I think you should tell us from the beginning, Mr. Burke, and we, too, will tell you what we know, please," said my father, pointing to an empty chair by the table. Mr. Burke had taken his seat, but to no avail.
"As far as I can tell, you haven't been notified of anything about me, but it's something typical of Pym. He doesn't always say anything about him. He's so secretive about everything about him."
" What has Dr. Pym got to do with you?" Michael asked for the first time. Mr. Derek said simply:
" Pym and I are good friends, I met him a long time ago, plus he is my brother-in-law, he just married Herietta and..."
" Mrs. Burke is married to Dr. Pym...wait," said Jake, "who is Dr. Pym and why was Kate petrified when she heard?" Jake was now looking at my shocked face.
" Don't let me finish, not only are the two of them married, but they also have a son, Rafe." Everyone was looking at him and I could tell by their looks that they were thinking the same thing as me. Then comes the confirmation.
" Rafe who became the tenth Magnus the Terrible and Pym and Henrietta had to protect him from this fate, as my sister died a long time ago and I was in a coma all this time remained Pym duty to carry that promise to the end, " then look around, " and apparently he managed I not see Screechers or Imps or an evil wizard, the world seems to be fine, so tell me where Pym and my nephew have many to talk to them. " He got to his feet, probably going to Dr. Pym's office, trying to find him. My mother had intervened.
" I'm afraid you won't find him here."
He looked at her in surprise.
" I kind of doubt that I cast a spell to find the last place he is and I came this far, you can't tell me I'm a
forgetful wizard, well, probably except for Pym, all I hope is like my nephew not to have inherited this from him, even though it was like when he was little he was always ditzy, now I think they've both matured. "
He turned to continue on his way when my father stopped him.
" I'm afraid you won't find any of them." Mr. Derek had begun to look at us more closely, as if the unspoken answer read on our faces.
" He's dead. They are both." It wasn't a question, it was a certainty.
" How come Rafe is your nephew... Well, Dr. Pym's son and Mrs. Henrietta's?" Michael asked curiously.
Mr. Burke shrugged bored.
" I clarified this with you earlier, it's simple. " I think I'm dreaming. Someone wake me up. That couldn't be true. Rafe, son of Mrs. Burke and Dr. Pym. I knew from Mrs. Burke that she had abandoned her son to hide her magical nature, but I didn't think she was referring to Rafe.
"What about Rafe's mother?" Jake had asked. " Do you know, he said to Abigail, Beetles and me, who died when he was six? "
" That had been a good friend of Henrietta's who had agreed to take care of Rafe because we all thought she would be safe this way without knowing who he was and his fate, believing that this was how we would prevent him from becoming Magnus the Terrible , protected from his true nature." The same words were said by Mrs. Burke before she died. " Now how about you tell me all your stories."
We had all been silent, no one knew how to start, so Michael had been the one to tell our whole story. Surprisingly, he didn't miss the slightest detail, Jake, Beetles, and Abigail next to me widened their eyes at every word from Michael, and I honestly could understand them. When my brother came to Rafe's sacrifice for me, he told me I could leave, but I nodded. When he had finished saying, he took a large sip of water.
" You're the Keeper of Atlas and you didn't tell us? And Rafe is the tenth Magns the Terrible? Is that why Scruggs said Rafe was going to be the most powerful wizard in the world? " Abigail asked.
"Well, that explains a lot of things," Beetles said. I tried to look at their faces better to see an emotion, Abigail and Beetles if he had something seemed to mask it, but with Jake it looked different.
" Jake? " When he turned to face me to see his eyes swimming in tears. "It's a lie, isn't it? I mean, the last one seems...Rafe isn't dead? " What was I going to tell him now? How was I supposed to tell him? But I didn't even have to tell him because my face sent him the message and then he threw himself into my arms and asked to be taken to Rafe's grave.
Arriving at Rafe's grave, Jake ran there, breaking free of my hand, Abigail and the Beatles followed him. When they arrive, I see Jake digging with his hands in the ground, shouting at Rafe, and Beetles and Abigail try to stop him. That moment I saw in front of my eyes the moment when Rafe had lost everyone he loved, when Michael had lost Emma and felt guilty for not keeping his promise, Emma who had suffered after Gabriel's death. Jake was now exactly like they had lost Rafe who had been part of the family he had built, a brother, a friend. And he had lost everything, I had run next to him and held him tightly in my arms and I didn't care that his fists were full of earth and Beetles and Abigail had taken me in their arms too. I wanted to tell him that I was sorry it was my fault and even if it weren't for me he might have lived now. Mr. Derek walked over to us and made Jake drop the clumps of earth from his hands. He listened to him without even protesting, I had been like this for a few minutes or maybe a few hours, I don't know, I had long lost the notion of time. All this time my family had been standing behind us and they had looked at the whole scene in embarrassment, but I knew that at that moment they had understood. On the way back to the mansion, Derek Burke and I are behind the others, and for the first time that day, he addresses me directly:
" What was between you and my nephew. It is the most beautiful thing that has ever existed. "
I thought for a moment about his words. Referring to Rafe as his nephew... with this thought I had not gotten used to or in connection with the others, on the other hand I had not thought of the love between me and Rafe as something beautiful maybe tragically yes, but beautiful never. I thanked him for the wonderful words.
Dinner was held quietly, just Miss Sallow, saying that today Her Royal Highnesses had not eaten the breakfast and that her food might not have risen to the standards of Versailles delicacies, but we might as well have beheaded her by guillotine if we did not like dinner. Abigail and Beetles began to smile at the cook's jokes, only Jake was the one who didn't even smile. I was beginning to worry more and more that he was not at all characteristic of him, and when I saw him I had imagined Emma, ​​they had both lost two friends who were the only family they had known beyond blood ties.
Abigail and Beetles had been the ones to tell us how Rafe had appeared to them in a dream telling them to find me and wake up all three young with this prayer in mind and the indication that I should be in Cambridge Falls. All three said they felt their magical power was stronger. Michael had begun to understand that Rafe had used the Chronicle to rejuvenate them, but he did not understand why Rafe had their help.
" Because, obviously, Rafe needs us, and we as Savages need to help him," Jake said stubbornly, speaking for the first time. Abigail had briefly explained to my family about the New York gang that Mrs. Burke had set up for children endowed with magic who were abused by normal people and Mrs. Burke's noble goal of correcting it at the time.
" I'm sorry we didn't realize your connection to our daughter during our time on the ship."
" It's all right, Mr. Wibberly. The truth is, neither Jake nor I realized we could tell you at that moment." Dad nodded gratefully for the deal.
"And what is this secret purpose for which Rafe sent you here?" Emma asked, talking and looking at Jake, who said confidently.
"Something top secret you shouldn't find out."
" Seriously? "
" Yes. And I'm more than sure he wants us to finish the job."
"And which would be the job?" Michael is interested. Jake was as sure as ever.
" Let's take care of Kate, of course." Emma almost drowned when she drank the glass of water and wondering with three children her age she could take care of me and not the other way around.
" Jake we can't know for sure. Rafe did not give us details."
He just shrugged.
" Then we'll wait for the next dream so he doesn't go into details." I got up from the table after everything that is happening today, I don't think I could take much information with me, I needed rest.
" Where are you going Kate? " Mom asked. " You didn't eat anything today. "
" I'm not hungry, " I say as the camera starts spinning with me feeling like I've received and my legs feel like rubber, then my body gives way and I'm about to fall when two strong arms catch me before impact before to close my eyes I see Mr. Burke's face. "It's okay," he said, "I caught you." Then nothing.