Someone was yelling and when I managed to pull myself up to a sitting position, Mum was bent over Tracy’s prone form on the other side of the room. “What have you done, Maddelyn?” She reached out a hand toward Tracy’s throat. “She better be alive.”

“What?”

Mum turned toward me and I shrunk back at the look in her eyes. Was that hatred, or disgust? Definitely anger. I didn’t understand what had happened. How did Tracy end up over there? Was it some kind of electrical thing? It was like an electrical appliance blew up in our faces, but there was nothing nearby. No burnt remains, although there were black marks on the carpet and the back of the lounge.

“Mum? What happened?”

“You could have killed her, you stupid child.”

“I didn’t do anything. There was a flash of light… I don’t…”

I had no idea how I was going to end that sentence. My mind was reeling.

“I don’t understand it,” she said. “It was like lightning coming from your hands or something, but that’s impossible.”

“Mum, you’re not making sense.”

“Get me a cloth to stop the bleeding.”

“She’s bleeding? Where?”

“Just get me a cloth!”

I scrambled up off the floor and rushed to the linen press, grabbed a towel and rushed back. My arms and legs were jelly. My heart racing.

Mum yanked it out of my hands and put one end to the back of Tracy’s head. There was a pool of blood seeping into the carpet. She must have hit her head on the wall, but I still couldn’t understand what had happened.

I wanted to ask Mum what was going on, but as I opened my mouth, Tracy asked the question for me.

Mum kept the towel in place. “She hit you pretty hard, but it looks like you only got a bump on the head. How are you feeling?”

She looked dazed. “Um, I think I’m okay.” She tried to sit up, but Mum told her to lie still for a bit longer. She attempted to smile. “I’m gonna have a headache for a while, I think.”

How could they be so casual about this? What was I missing?

Tracy looked past Mum and gave me a small smile. “Kay— uh, I was told that your magic was blocked, but I guess my source was wrong.”

Mum’s eyes snapped to Tracy with an unreadable expression.

Magic? What was she talking about? She must have hit her head hard. She was delusional.

I looked back to Tracy. “What?”

Something changed in her expression. “Oh. You didn’t know, did you?”

“Didn’t know what?”

She turned to Mum. “She doesn’t know what she is?”

Mum’s eyes widened. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh. I guess I’d better explain.” Tracy turned to me and winced in pain. “You possess magic, Maddie. You always have. You’ve probably never shown it until now.”

“What do you mean, I possess magic?”

“Exactly that. Magic exists and there are a small number of people in the world who have the power to wield it, but most people are oblivious. You have that power. I have that power. I’m lucky to be alive after you hit me with a blast of raw magic like that. I used a shield, otherwise my skin would be burnt where you hit me.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Burnt? What?

This was too much. The buzzing had died down and my body had cooled down, but I was lightheaded.

Now the buzzing increased tenfold. The room tilted to the side and the floor came up to meet me.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

My head was pounding even before I opened my eyes and a beige-coloured wall came into focus. It took a few seconds to recognise the wall and to remember that I was in my room at Waratah Estate. I was suddenly wide awake.

Why was my head pounding? Why did I feel like all the energy had been drained from my body? I struggled to remember what had happened before I went to sleep until the memories hit me.

I’d gone home. My own mother wouldn’t help me. Tracy had tried to take me back.

What had I done to Tracy? Was she alright? Guilt slammed into my gut, but I tried to push it away, telling myself that it couldn’t be my fault if I had no idea I could hurt her like that.

I pushed my blankets back and sat up, but my head pounded so much, I had to lie back down. Carefully.

What was wrong with me?

Panic crept in. I’d never felt like this before. In fact, I didn’t remember ever getting sick. Even after the accident, I seemed to heal quickly. The doctors and nurses often commented on it.

I raised a hand to my forehead and my arm felt so heavy. My body felt as if it was made of lead.

There was a light knock on the door and Anna-Marie entered cautiously. “You’re awake. That’s good.” She smiled warmly. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I’ve been hit by a truck.”

“Yes. That’s quite normal, but don’t worry. It doesn’t last. You’ll be back to normal in no time.”

Normal? I wasn’t normal. Far from it.

“What do you mean, it’s normal?”

Her eyebrows drew together. “You used a huge amount of magic and your body is depleted. It takes time for your strength and your magic to build back up again. Is this the first time you’ve used so much power?”

“Um… I didn’t even know I could… do that… I’m a little lost.”

“Oh. I see. We thought that might be the case.” She stepped closer. “So, you’ve never used magic before?”

“I didn’t know it existed.” I tried again to sit up, but Anna-Marie told me to stay put. My head pounded, so I did what I was told.

Trying to get up had been a dumb idea. The pounding had receded, but now it came back full force. I closed my eyes and took some deep breaths.

“Now, you probably have a lot of questions, but before we get into it, I think you should drink this.” She walked over to my bedside table and lifted a cup with a straw in it. “It might not taste the best, but it will do wonders for that headache.”

I rolled over and took the cup from her, cringing at the sour taste.

“Drink it all up. It really is good stuff.”

It took some effort to get it all down and I wondered why I was even drinking it, but before I was done, the pounding was already starting to ease.

She waited a while, then took the cup and asked if I felt any better.

“Yes. The pounding has stopped, but my head is still aching.”

She smiled as she sat on the chair that had been moved to my bedside. “Give it some more time.”

She had a slight accent that sounded Italian. It completed the package. Short. Dark, curly hair and long eyelashes. Curvy figure. Not too curvy. Friendly smile.

I didn’t know why I was suddenly thinking about this stuff. Maybe because my brain didn’t want to focus on what had been bothering me.

I had to ask, but I was afraid of the answer. “How is Tracy?”

“She’s fine now. Just a big bump on the head. The doctor told us she’d be okay, and she is.”

I still felt guilty, but also couldn’t believe what had happened.

“Anna-Marie, I don’t know what I did or how I did it.”

She put a hand on my arm. “It’s alright, darling. You must have gotten quite a shock.” She paused, then seemed to come to a decision. “I should probably start from the start. As you now know, magic is real. There is natural magic all around us all the time. Some parts of the world have concentrations of magic, and crystals and gemstones contain different qualities that can enhance or dampen or change the magic. They are used widely to help us wield magic for different purposes.”

I couldn’t stand to be lying down anymore. I had to get up. To my surprise — and immense relief — the headache was almost gone, so I slowly pushed myself up into a sitting position and I felt a lot better once I was vertical and Anna-Marie wasn’t looming above me.

All this couldn’t be real, though. It was like something out of a book or movie. Maybe I had finally become delusional after all this time.

A thought struck me and my stomach sank. What if I’d been delusional the whole time? What if all those strange things happening to me for years were all in my head? What if I couldn’t actually speak to ghosts? What if I really was crazy?