“You’ve confirmed that they’ve left the premises?” Gregory asked.

“Yes,” Walter said, closing the door behind him as they entered Gregory’s study.

“That was...” Gregory let out a long sigh and let himself sink into his chair. “Quick thinking.”

“Wait a minute,” Anastasia held out the maid uniform she changed out of. “This was Walter’s idea? I thought one of you asked him to…”

“Do not get the wrong idea, Ms. Harrow,” Walter said. “I simply considered the possibility that they would either search the house or call everyone together.”

“I wasn’t accusing you of anything weird,” Anastasia puffed her cheeks. “I’m just surprised you thought to do that.”

“I always prepare for the worst,” Walter said. “Now if I may, I must attend to the lock on the front gate. Apparently, our ‘guests’ did not open it… conventionally.”

“Alright then,” Gregory said. “Thank you.”

Walter gave them both a bow and took the clothes from Anastasia. Then, he left the room.

Anastasia stood silent, clenching her fists.

“Well that was… eventful,” Gregory moved like he was going to get out of his chair. “Are you alright?”

“Yes,” she tried to smile. “It’s just that…”

There was a knock at the door.

Gregory gave her a puzzled look. “Walter?”

The door knob turned, and the door cracked open. Sadie stood, hanging her head.

“Ana,” Sadie’s voice was quiet as she came inside.

“Sadie, are you okay?” Anastasia asked. After the investigators made their exit, Sadie stormed out of the dining room without saying anything. She looked like she might explode. It was the first time Anastasia had seen her that angry.

“I’m sorry… that you had to see that,” Sadie said. “Me acting that way, I mean.”

“Oh, no, don’t say that!” Anastasia waved her hands wildly in front of her as if she were trying to smack Sadie’s words from out of the air. “I really think… you had every right to say what you did.”

Sadie looked over at Gregory, but he stayed quiet. Judging by his eyes, Anastasia figured he was giving Sadie the ‘we’ll talk later’ look.

“It’s just… I didn’t want you to think that I only became Sadie Quasar because of my family’s money,” she still avoided eye contact. “I’m sorry. I’m being selfish.”

“You aren’t the one that should be apologizing,” Anastasia took a quick step forward and grabbed Sadie by the hands. She was shocked with her own boldness.

Sadie looked up at her with a similar amount of surprise. “Ana?”

“Those people… they shouldn’t have treated you that way,” she glanced at Gregory. “They shouldn’t have treated either of you that way. To be honest, I almost couldn’t keeping myself from saying something.”

Sadie looked at her sympathetically.

“As far as investigators go,” Gregory ran his fingers through his blonde hair. “He’s the worst of them. Not a man you want paying you a visit, regardless of if you’ve done anything wrong or not.”

Sadie grabbed the chairs in the corner of the room and moved them to the center of it. She sat down and motioned for Anastasia to do the same.

“Were they… from the association?” Anastasia asked.

“No, I’m afraid that the investigators from the association are still missing,” Gregory shook his head. “These were investigators from the government.”

“The government?” Anastasia felt her heart drop.

“Yes, from a division of the FBI that deals with magic related… incidents,” Gregory said.

“Well I can’t stand them,” Anastasia bit her bottom lip. “They treated you like they owned the place.”

“Make no mistake,” Gregory said. “While we may not be able to attend private schools or hold public office, we are very much able to have our property.”

“That jerk shouldn’t have even made it past the gate,” Sadie said. “Totally an abuse of power.”

“Knowing him, I’m sure he’ll find a way to justify his…” Gregory sighed. “Unconventional methods.”

“Didn’t you say that you don’t even get to be buried?” Anastasia interrupted them. “That they… dissect you when you… pass away?”

“Indeed.”

“With all your money, isn’t there some way that you can get things changed?” Anastasia asked. “I’m sure that if you talked with the right people…”

“Our father is a stubborn man, Anastasia,” Gregory said. “He refuses to give the government a single penny more than he’s required to through taxes.”

“What about the other families?”

“I’m afraid that the majority of magicians are not as well off as we are,” Gregory seemed to be choosing his words carefully. “Though for all I know, there may be some families that have struck secret agreements with politicians just as you say.”

“The association really wouldn’t like that,” Sadie said, pulling out her phone. “Sorry, I have to post on Clock Link. My agent will get on me if I don’t.”

“Has the association…” Anastasia lowered her voice. “Ever thought about killing to… get what they want?”

Gregory met her with a serious look.

“I just mean… if you all worked together,” Anastasia swallowed. “Wouldn’t you be able to get what you want… by force?”

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Gregory glanced over at Sadie, who was looking at her phone screen. After a moment, he finally spoke. “Anastasia, have you ever heard about the Salem witch trials before?”

She remembered Sadie saying something about that the day they met. “I mean, I’ve heard of them.”

“In 1692, twenty people were executed… After being accused of using magic,” Gregory stood up and walked to his bookshelf. “Not all of them were actually magicians, but the majority of them were.” He bent down and took a book off the bottom shelf, flipping through it.

“That’s awful,” Anastasia looked down in her lap. “Did they… do something wrong?”

“As far as we know, they did not,” Gregory stopped on a page and walked over to her. He held it out.

On the page was an illustration of four women. They were suspended in midair, ropes wrapped tightly around their necks. Anastasia couldn’t look at it for long.

“Can you guess how many of these people used their magic to escape?” Gregory pulled the book back and closed it with one hand.

“None,” Sadie said, still looking at her phone.

“None?” anger creeped into Anastasia’s voice. “Why didn’t they fight back?”

“There’s no way to know for certain,” Gregory said. “Perhaps it was because doing so would have only proved that they were exactly what their accusers said they were. That they were monsters.”

“Knowing when to use magic is just as important as knowing when not to use it, Ana,” Sadie added. “Oh god, I sound like daddy.”

“But they were murdered!” Anastasia looked back and forth at the two of them. “They could have easily killed anyone that got in their way.”

“Anastasia, do you remember when you apologized to Sadie and I?”

When she apologized? She stopped and think for a moment, and the memory came to the surface of her mind. “When I apologized for… thinking of magic as something I could use to help myself?”

“Yes,” Gregory moved his chair so that it was in front of hers. He sat down. “I didn’t say anything at the time, but you had no reason to feel embarrassed. In all honesty, most magicians don’t think much beyond what magic can do for them either. My family included.”

“Gregory!” Sadie snapped. “Daddy would disown you for saying something like that.”

“Well I suppose we’ll just have to keep it between us, won’t we?”

“You better not tell him I yelled at Nicolas then,” Sadie stuck out her tongue.

Anastasia tried to shrink away. She always hated seeing other people argue. It was worse when they were both her friends.

“In any case, while magic may be something that’s used for frivolous things now, it wasn’t always that way,” Gregory cleared his throat. “Magicians used to be people that spent their time helping people in their communities. The personal time was used to push the boundaries of what they thought was possible. It was a way of life.”

“Why did that change?” Anastasia asked.

“After word of the trials spread, the association formed, and with it came rules, restrictions, and traditions,” Gregory leaned forward. “We became recluse. We stopped looking and focused on what they already knew. Our way of life became stagnant.”

Sadie let out a loud snoring sound. “Ana, Gregory will talk about this forever if you don’t stop him.”

“I’m sorry I asked that,” Anastasia said, but quickly panicked. “Oh, not because I didn’t want to hear you. I just shouldn’t have asked about why you don’t use… violence.”

“If Sadie’s outburst doesn’t warrant an apology,” he smiled. “Then your honest question certainly doesn’t either”

“Hey!” Sadie whined. “Not a word to daddy, okay?”

“I’m only joking,” Gregory laughed. “I’m just happy to hear her care so deeply for our kind.”

There was a pleasant moment of silence between the three of them.

“So those people from the government…” Anastasia put her hand on her chin. “They weren’t magicians?”

“No, all the investigators from the government are human,” Sadie said, rocking back and forth in her seat.

“That woman,” Gregory suddenly spoke up. “I can’t put my finger on it but… something was off about her.”

“The one with the white hair?” Sadie asked.

“Yes. During all my years of briefing, I’ve never seen or heard of anyone like her,” Gregory locked eyes with Sadie. “And Nicolas said something about being able to know if we were hiding anyone in the house.”

“That’s right, he did say something about that,” Sadie said, putting away her phone.

“Is that really possible?” Anastasia rose her eyebrows. “Is there some way to feel mana in the air or something?”

“There shouldn’t be,” Gregory said. “But if there is… I can’t help but feel like that woman has something to do with it.”

“Could an abnormal do something like that?” Sadie asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine, I’m afraid.”

“I’m sorry,” Anastasia raised her hand like she was in school. “I’ve been meaning to ask but… what’s an abnormal?”

Gregory and Sadie looked at each other. They burst out laughing.

Anastasia practically curled up into a ball. “Did I… ask a stupid question?”

“We’re so dumb,” Sadie was still laughing. “You really need to stop us if we just start saying stuff you don’t understand. Especially me. Feel free to literally stop me midsentence, okay?”

“Okay,” Anastasia smiled.

“Abnormals are a little difficult to explain, but it would be best for you to just think of them as people with powers,” Gregory said, recomposing himself. “Unlike magic, their abilities typically center around the enhancement of their bodies.”

“Uh… enhancement?” Anastasia’s face flushed. “Like, uh… no, never mind.”

“Ana!” Sadie shouted, her face turning just as red as hers.

“Enhanced speed, for example,” Gregory said, seemingly oblivious. “Or an unusual amount of endurance.”

“S-Speed?” Anastasia stuttered. “En… Endurance?”

“Ana!” Sadie shrieked again, this time punching her in the arm. Anastasia practically fell out of her chair from the impact.

Gregory looked confused.

“I never knew you had such a dirty mind,” Sadie said.

“No! I didn’t… I just…” it felt like steam might start coming out of her ears. “Never mind. Just forget I said anything.”

“You’re dirty!”

Gregory looked hard at them. It still seemed like he didn’t understand how Anastasia misconstrued his words. He waited a moment, and then continued as if nothing had happened.

“Magicians traditionally believe that abnormals have nothing to do with magic,” he said. “The government isn’t so sure.”

“I’m sorry, I think I get it now,” Anastasia said. “But if they don’t have anything to do with magic, why would an abnormal be able to sense it?”

“Exactly,” Gregory reached into a drawer in his desk and pulled out a glass jar of tea leaves. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“That asshole was probably just trying to scare us,” Sadie crossed her arms. “We’re overthinking this.”

“Perhaps we are,” Gregory motioned with his hand and a teapot floated down from a shelf. At the same time, the faucet in the room flicked itself on. “Would you like some tea?”

“Yes please,” Anastasia smiled.

Gregory snapped his fingers and Lem appeared, floating just above his hand. She was jealous. Why was snapping fingers so easy for everyone else?

Lem quickly hurried over to where the teapot was being filled. Gregory flicked his hand, and the leaves flew from the jar into the tea strainer. Lem went at it, spitting flames underneath.

It wasn’t the first time Anastasia had seen it, but it made her heart flutter watching all of it done so seamlessly.

“Oh no!” Sadie jumped up from her chair. “I almost forgot!”

“W-What?”

“My autograph session,” Sadie danced around nervously in place. “I’m supposed to go to the venue to get things ready for Tuesday. I should have left five minutes ago!”

Without another word, Sadie ran out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

“…Well then,” Gregory said. “Let’s start your training again.”

“Okay,” Anastasia was more determined than ever. “Just tell me what I need to do.”

“I would still like you to continue…” Gregory seemed hesitant to go on. “Trying to make fire.”

“You got it,” she threw her fist into the air. “I’ll do it for as long as I have to.’

“I’m glad to see that you haven’t gotten discouraged.”

As she rubbed her hands together, she closed her eyes. She could hear the sound of Lem heating the tea. She could smell the scent of old books.

She felt a strange sensation well up in her palms.

“You’re doing it!” Gregory yelled, but his voice quickly changed to worry. “Wait… you may want to stop.”

She opened her eyes to see two huge fireballs surrounding her hands. She screamed, shaking them around.

“My books! My papers!” Gregory panicked.

He moved his hand like he was throwing an underhand baseball pitch, and a sphere of water smacked her right in the face, covering her whole body and knocking her to the floor. The fireballs disappeared.

“Oh my gosh, that was scary,” Anastasia huffed.

“I’m… sorry Anastasia,” Gregory seemed embarrassed. “I just didn’t want…”

“Wait a minute,” she jumped back on her feet. “I just did it! I made fire without snapping my fingers.”

“Yes, you did,” Gregory laughed.

Anastasia held her hands up in front of her. Amazingly, they weren’t burned. There was no pain, but they still tingled with the same strange sensation.

It was warmer than anything she had ever felt.