Anna-Marie frowned. “Don’t look so worried. It’s not that bad. For those of us who can harness the magic around us, life can be wonderful.”

My breathing was shallow. It didn’t help that Johnny chose that exact moment to appear behind Anna-Marie. The worried look on his face disappeared when he saw me and he waved enthusiastically like a small child.

It was hard to not laugh at him.

Anna-Marie smiled warmly. “Take some deep breaths, darling. You’ll be okay.”

I had to ignore him. I concentrated on her face. “I’m still having trouble believing it.”

“Well, believe it. You released a large amount of raw magic the other night and—”

“The other night?”

“Oh. Yes. You’ve been asleep for two days.”

“What? How?” I could see Johnny nodding in my peripheral vision and I glanced at him.

“Like I told you, you released a huge amount of raw magic. It takes a lot out of you, especially the first time. You’ll have to be careful from now on. Don’t go using up so much energy at once.”

“How can I stop myself? I don’t even know what I did or how I did it.”

She put a hand on my arm and smiled again. “You’ll need some training to help you to control your emotions, which will help you control any uncontrolled bursts of power. Then we’ll train you to use your magic, which will give you more control. Then you’ll be fine. You’ll see.”

Fine? How can I be fine?

“How can I do it? — use magic, I mean.”

“There are a number of people on Earth who are what we call Descendants. It is said that some beings from another dimension entered our world centuries ago through magical portals. There is debate as to who or what they were. Some say they were witches and warlocks. Some say they were elves. Others say they were faeries — as in fae — not tiny fairies with wings. Whatever they were, over time, some of them fell in love with humans and chose to live among us and we are their descendants.”

Witches? Faeries? Elves? Really?

My mind reeled. This couldn’t be real. She was pulling my leg. She just pulled that story out of a book somewhere; a book of fairytales.

Johnny was staring at nothing as if deep in thought, then a smile crossed his features, but I found nothing amusing about this. I turned my attention back to Anna-Marie. “You must be joking.”

“No. I’m not.” She looked me in the eye. “You’re skeptical and that’s understandable. You’ll need a demonstration.”

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She looked around the room and nodded as if she’d made an important decision, then turned and made a sweeping motion with her hand. I gasped as the curtain slid across the rod to let the sunshine in.

She waved a hand at the cup that she’d put on my bedside table and the straw danced around inside it. Another wave and the cup lifted into the air and floated over to me.

“Open your hand,” she said.

I put my hand out, palm-up, and the cup gently landed on it. This was weird. This was amazing.

An image of a tall boy with dark hair holding a necklace above his head popped into my mind — the silver chain that was hanging from his pudgy fingers shining in the sunlight. He smirked as I demanded that he give it back, then he laughed and waved it close to my face before dancing out of reach. I wasn’t fast enough to grab it. I could hardly see it through my tears.

It was a silver chain with an amethyst pendant that was surrounded by blue and white gems. My mother had given it to me when I was five. I hadn’t taken it off in five years. The boy had ripped it from my neck and broken the chain.

My face heated and the warmth spread all over me. I had to get it back. I’d never felt so angry, so panicked. What if I couldn’t get it back?

I raised both arms as I screamed for him to give it to me and suddenly there was a flash of light and he was flying backwards. He hit the trunk of a tree in the park and slumped to the ground. I didn’t get to find out how badly he was hurt because the world faded to black.

I couldn’t believe it. Where did that memory come from? How could I have forgotten something so important? So unbelievable?

It didn’t make sense.

“Do you believe me now?”

I shook off thoughts of the boy and the necklace and looked from the cup to Anna-Marie’s face. “Yes.”

My brain couldn’t keep up. I’d always been told that there was no such thing as magic. Mum had always been so adamant about it and if I ever questioned her answer, she’d get angry. I’d never understood it, especially after the weird stuff that happened around me sometimes. Magic explained all of those strange occurrences.

And now this memory of me basically doing the same thing I’d just done to Tracey at age ten. I didn’t know what had happened straight after that, but I did remember moving away from that town not long after.

I pushed those thoughts away. I would have to try to make sense of them later. “So, what happens now?”

Before she could answer, Kellie burst into the room. “I heard she was— oh, Maddie! You’re finally awake! That’s great! How are you feeling? I hope you’re not too exhausted still. Dinner is ready and you’ve just got to come downstairs and have some. Tracy has cooked her signature roast lamb and baked veggies. You must be starving right now.” She turned to Anna-Marie. “Can she come to dinner?”

Both of them turned to me and Anna-Marie put a hand on my shoulder. “What do you say? Are you feeling well enough?”

“Yes. I’m starving.”

I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until Kellie mentioned food.

The smell of roast lamb and rosemary hit me before we reached the kitchen. It was heavenly.

I was apprehensive as we went in, but Tracy smiled when she saw me. “Hi, Maddie. How are you feeling?”

“Uh, a lot better now. Thank you.” I shifted my weight to the other foot. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I really didn’t mean it. I didn’t know I could do that.”

At least, I didn’t remember at the time that I’d actually done it before… This stuff was messing with my head.

“That’s okay. I understand.” She wiped her hands on her apron. “Now sit down and I’ll grab you some food.”

Relief flooded through me and I took my seat while my mouth watered with the scents of the lamb and baked potato.

Kaydan was at the table and just as we said hello to each other, Justina walked in and darkened the room.