Ruby rushed to her side. “Stupid girl.” She checked Felicity’s vital signs and laid her in the coma position. “I told you…” She put one hand on Felicity’s chest and the other on her forehead and closed her eyes. “Stupid girl.”

I could see that Ruby was healing her, but what was going on? What had she done? Everyone watched in silence as Ruby said some words under her breath and pulled a crystal from her pocket and held it to Felicity’s chest for a long while. Eventually, Ruby put both hands on her face.

A girl on the other side of the room from me wept quietly. The others looked dazed.

Ruby finally stopped and opened her eyes and looked around. “This is what happens when you don’t listen to me,” she seethed. “Felicity wanted to impress me. Wanted to best Kellie, the best in the class. She did something stupid and now she will have to live with her mistake.”

She took her hands away from Felicity’s face and I stared in horror. Gasps sounded around the room and the girl who’d been crying screamed. Felicity looked like she’d aged forty years. Her hair was greying in places and her face was wrinkled. What had she done to cause this?

Ruby shook her head. “I tried my best to reverse the effects, but it’s too late.” She stood up as Felicity came to. “I warned you all not to mess with dark magic, and yet you do not listen.” She turned to me. “Dark magic takes more energy than light magic. It drains your magic fast, then starts on your very essence. Felicity has just learnt the hard way that without some type of magical power source for backup, or if you don’t know what you’re doing, the dark magic will take your life from you.”

Oh, my God. She was going to stay like this? She looked twice as old as Mum. This was so not good.

Felicity opened her eyes slowly and looked around. “What happened? Why is everyone staring?”

Ruby leaned down close to her and whispered something I couldn’t hear.

Felicity gasped. “No! I don’t believe you. You’re lying!”

The girl who’d screamed stepped forward. “It’s true, Felicity. You look… old.”

Felicity struggled to her feet and demanded a mirror and staggered out of the room with a group of girls following her.

Ruby followed, but turned back to us. “Don’t do anything. Don’t touch anything till I get back.”

She left instructions with Malcolm and left.

I had a million questions. What was dark magic? How did it do that to her face? How do I make sure it doesn’t happen to me?

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

Blake took me to the same restaurant as before. Angel’s Restaurant. He was trying his best, but was only succeeding at making me feel uncomfortable.

“How is your meal? Is it okay? Do you want something more to drink?”

I resisted the urge to sigh. I resisted the urge to tell him to stop fussing.

This time I’d gone for a steak dinner with some roasted vegetables. No burgers in sight. “It’s great. Really. It’s fine. I don’t need anything more.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

It was like he was trying too hard to impress me and I wished he would relax and be himself. How could you get to know someone if they were busy trying to be someone they’re not?

He’d picked me up from my lesson in a sleek, older-model Porsche, which looked amazing except for the fact that it was brown. Why would you paint such a stylish car brown?

Way to ruin a nice ride.

I’d told Blake what had happened with Felicity and he had gone pale, but didn’t really say too much. Maybe he’d been imagining how he’d feel if it had happened to him. I’d been imagining that. Over and over again. My brain couldn’t comprehend suddenly looking that old at eighteen. I shuddered.

He’d fussed over me non-stop since we arrived. It was nice at first, but I wasn’t used to it and I wasn’t sure if I liked it or hated it. This would take some getting used to.

We talked about a few different things, but I couldn’t get the image of Felicity lying on the floor out of my mind. How would she explain that to her parents? How could she even begin to explain it to a Normal?

Movement caught my eye and when I looked over, the ghost waiter was heading over and he was looking straight at me.

I quickly looked away. Oh, no.

“So, are you coming to the church on Sunday?”

“Um, I don’t know.” I hadn’t even thought about it. “Maybe.”

The ghost was getting closer.

He walked up and stood behind Blake and I tried my best not to look.

“Hello, Mademoiselle. How are we today?”

Don’t look. Don’t look.

Blake was oblivious. “If you can’t make it on Sunday, I think they’re still doing another extra meeting on Monday evening. There’s a lot going on at the moment.”

I nodded, trying to follow what he was saying.

The ghost leaned forward. “A romantic dinner, yes? I am Sebastian, at your service. Shall I serenade you?”

My eyes snapped to his face, then I looked back at Blake.

Oh, my God. He’s serious.

“I shall try my best.” He cleared his throat and started to sing.

The heat crept up my neck and into my cheeks and I wanted to hide under the seat, but why did I feel embarrassed? No one else could see or hear him.

I cleared my throat. I kept my eyes averted as he moved around Blake and came closer to me.

This was not good. How could I ignore him?

Blake had a funny look on his face. “You heard about that missing girl, didn’t you?”

“Uh, yeah. Sophia or something?”

“Yeah. Sophie. They still haven’t found her.”

That made me sad.

The fact that the waiter was a really good singer made me sad. He could have gotten out of his mundane job if he had put that voice to use.

Sebastian stopped suddenly. “What’s wrong? You don’t like my song? Oh… I get it. You don’t want Lover Boy to know you’re a Descendant with an extra ability. I get it. Mum’s the word. I’ll get out of your hair. I’m gone now. Goodbye. Au revoir.”

He vanished and I gasped.

Blake leaned forward. “Maddie? Are you okay?”

“Uh, yeah. Sorry. I was thinking about Felicity again. And Sophie. Sorry.”

“Okay. But there’s nothing you can do for Felicity.”

“I know. It just freaks me out, that’s all. I didn’t even know there was dark magic and light magic. I have so much to learn.”

“Yes. You’ll learn in time. Don’t worry.”

I opened my mouth, but didn’t really know what to say. I thought maybe he could explain some things to me, but apparently, the conversation was over.

Blake finished off his meal and dabbed at his mouth delicately with his serviette. It made me all too aware of the fact that I hadn’t grown up with money like he had. I felt like a fish out of water in this place sitting opposite a guy who was wearing designer-label clothing and probably paid more for his cologne than I paid for my whole outfit, plus some.

He must have seen the discomfort in my face. “Was everything okay with your meal?”

I nodded and tried to smile. “Yes. It’s fine. I’m fine. Thank you for inviting me.”

He returned the smile. “That’s okay. You’re worth it. I—”

“Blake? What the hell? What are you doing with her?”