Kait led Taylor to the mansion, toward where she had planned on stargazing. When they arrived, Taylor stared at the huge house. “So Lulikan really is the one paying for you to stay.”

Kait looked at Taylor. “You knew? Your sister had no clue.”

“Lulikan’s dad is a good friend of Dad’s. I remember him from when I was really young.”

“She didn’t mention that.”

“Yeah. Hailey hasn’t ever been interested in our parents’ past and work, so she probably just forgot.”

A row of trees surrounded the perimeter of the estate. Terainia’s citizens were enthralled with a ‘natural’ aesthetic, so it was rare to see a mansion built of brick and stone like the one in front of them, especially since earthquakes were common in the area.

They walked to the left of the mansion, where the garden was. A black metal fence surrounded it, so Kait pulled a key from her pocket to unlock its gate.

The garden itself was impressive, though not too large. A koi pond stood in the middle, with a few lily pads floating atop the water. Well-trimmed bushes lined the fence, and a path wound through the garden and around the pond. A variety of vibrantly colored flowers were planted along the path’s edge, and a bench overlooked the pond. The garden also connected to a small grassy hill, which curved up toward the tree line.

“Do you take care of this whole garden?”

“I just do basic maintenance, like feeding the fish and trimming the plants. Another person comes in every once in a while to take care of the advanced stuff, like choosing what to plant and dealing with the aesthetics.”

“That’s still really impressive.”

“No need to flatter me,” she said sincerely.

Kait led him to a door beside shelving filled with gardening tools.

“This is where I get the fish’s food.” She took a green plastic bag from the shelf and skipped to one of the benches, patting the seat next to her, and Taylor followed her to sit down.

The pond shone with the reflection of an almost full moon. Kait took a handful of brown grains from the bag and scattered them into the pond, placing the bag aside. “The fish love this stuff.” She stared intently at the pond, so Taylor did too.

A koi swam to the floating grains and pecked at the surface. Kait grabbed a stick from underneath the bench, then began walking around the perimeter of the pond, poking the water with it. “The fish know it’s lunch when I poke them, though this is more like a late-night dessert.”

Kait eventually returned to the bench as the fish rallied to the floating food.

“Alright, why don’t I cast a spell!”

“A spell? Sure, why not?”

Kait searched around the pond for a moment, then picked up a minuscule crystal a few feet from her. “This should do. For this spell to work, first, I need to feel relaxed, then I need a prism just like this to act as what we call a ‘focus.’” She presented the tiny crystal to Taylor. “Finally, I need the reflection of the moon, since that’s what I’m modifying.” She threw the crystal at the moon’s reflection in the water. As it splashed, a rainbow of colors spread out in a prismatic, dazzling aurora.

Taylor gazed in amazement, “Whoa. It would be cool if I could do magic like that, too.”

The light slowly lost its color and returned to normal. “Hasn’t magic been documented better in the last few years?” Kait asked. “Couldn’t you try and see if you have an affinity?”

“Not really…there are so many kinds of magic most people don’t even try to find what magic they can use.”

“They can use?” Kait noted Taylor’s wording. “You made it sound like everyone can use magic.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“Everyone can.”

“They can?! I thought only a few people could use magic at all!”

He nodded. “The running theory is that The Consciousness blesses everyone with the affinity for a few, but since there’s over a thousand, and it takes a costly ritual to learn if you have an affinity for any particular one…that may as well be the case.”

“That’s interesting. I thought there were only a few hundred types.” Kait scratched her head. “But you know, mages can test to see if other people have the same magic as them.”

“Right, Taila mentioned that a while back…” Taylor muttered. “Wait, but does that mean…”

Kait nodded. “Since you’re so enthusiastic, do you want me to check to see if you have an affinity for witchcraft?”

He shrugged. “Why not?”

“Okay…” Kait raised her thumb and pressed it against Taylor’s forehead. As she did, she idly asked, “Does your family have a history of affinities for witchcraft branch magic?” She then closed her eyes in concentration.

“Witchcraft branch?” he said without understanding. “Um…my family comes from a line of Fortune Readers. Is that what you mean?”

“That’s part of the witchcraft branch, yes. I was just asking because it would mean you are more likely to have an affinity for…” she trailed off as she opened her eyes and removed her thumb. “Nil.”

Taylor raised an eyebrow. “Nil?”

“Oh, sorry. It means ‘none’ in Terrenian. I meant that you don’t have an affinity for witchcraft. You might have an affinity for some other witchcraft branch magic, though.”

“How would I tell what’s a witchcraft branch magic?” he asked.

“Any magic that works with souls to any capacity would count. You could probably just look it up on the…” she struggled to find the right word, “…internet.”

“Got it. But wait, when you spoke Terrenian…” He paused, squinting his eyes. “…I just realized that it makes no sense. How do you know how to speak Terainian like me?”

Kait pointed to a custom wristband she always wore on her left arm. It had the whole Terainian alphabet weaved into it. “I enchanted this to translate for me. It was a really complicated spell to make.”

“Whoa,” Taylor said with awe. “You can do that? That’s possible?”

She nodded. “Of course. See?” She slid the armband off and began speaking very naturally, “Ais really util.” She slid it back onto her arm. “It’s really useful. If Terainian and Terrenian weren’t so similar, it would have taken me months to make. It turned out really well; it even translates wordplay like puns.”

“That’s…wow.” Taylor leaned back, smiling. “Just what else can you do? That’s some incredible magic just by itself. My aunt couldn’t do that in her dreams with fortune reading.”

“For one, I can do a lot more than that,” Kait bragged. She glanced at the pond and nodded once she’d confirmed that the koi had finished most of their food. “Follow me.” She stood and helped Taylor up as well. She returned the fish food to the shelf and picked up two towels from a plastic bin.

She handed one to Taylor. “Take this, I’ve got one last magic trick for the night!” Kait walked to the grassy hill, beckoning Taylor to follow.

Before she hit the tree line, Kait fell onto her back with her face toward the sky. Taylor did the same. “What’s the cloth about?”

“You’ll see. So…you know how the stars are so dim because the town is too bright, right? Since I learned that, I wondered if I could see the stars again if that was all I could see. Go ahead and blindfold yourself.”

“Whatever you say…” He nervously wrapped the blindfold around his eyes, then felt a finger press against the bridge of his nose. Slowly, his eyes adjusted to a new sight.

Everything was pitch black…except he could see the sky fully, the many stars of the galaxy shining brilliantly through the city’s light.

“Whoa…this is awesome,” Taylor said.

“Right?”

“Yeah.”

“But I’d honestly rather if we were quiet, so I can think a bit.”

“S-sure, I can be quiet.”

Kait looked at the starry sky, and yet…she felt nothing.

Some time later, she sat up, her blindfold falling to her lap.

I can’t…I can’t keep looking.

She remembered what they had said about stars when she was a child. Her family, her mentor…they weren’t up there. They were gone. Her friends…she put a hand over the necklace resting beneath her shirt. They weren’t there either.

No. She was alone in this world.

She felt cold.

Neither a smiling Taylor beside her nor anyone else saw as she held her head on her palms and began to silently cry.

It’s all over. You need to stop thinking about it. You need to get a hold of yourself.

She shivered, yet when the time came to leave, she wiped her tears and pretended the cold didn’t bother her.