whenever I get mad, I have to worry about causing a freaking hurricane? You don’t call that freakish?”
“No, I’d call it extraordinary. You were meant for greater things,” says Colton. His eyes tell me that he is being sincere.
“Potato, Patato.”
David clears his throat and says, “But, hey on a brighter note, I think your cut has healed. You can’t even tell that over an hour ago, you were being held against your will with a dagger to your neck.”
I reach up and touch my neck. The skin is smooth and doesn’t sting as I touch it. “I thought Claire said it would heal overnight.”
“Well, you keep surprising us today. It looks like you heal quicker than most mages.”
“There’s another thing for the list,” I say under my breath. Colton glares at me, but I ignore him.
“So, can you guys give me a tour of the house? I don’t want to repeat what happened this morning.”
David laughs, “Sure, come on.” I get up and adjust my clothes, pushing my jeans down. I notice that Colton hasn’t moved from the couch. He has turned the page back and is looking at the flames again.
“Are you coming?”
Without looking at me, he replies, “No, you go ahead; I have to go talk to Aunt Claire.”
Nodding, I walk out of the room and follow after David, who is patiently waiting for me at the end of the hallway.
“Follow me, oh tiny one.”
“You’ve got to stop making jokes about my height, André the giant.”
Laughing, he wraps his arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer beside him, and says, “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
“You know Casablanca? That’s my favorite movie!”
“Who doesn’t know Casablanca? It’s a classic,” he says. “Ok, this house was built to confuse intruders. Claire added an enchantment to make it even more confusing. I already told you that though.” We walk up the stairs and into the hallway with the guest bedrooms. “The guest rooms are on the right side of the hallway. Colton’s room and mine are on the left side a little away from yours. The trick is you have to know what room you want to go to. There’s a training room, an entertainment room, a couple of guest bedrooms, a library, the kitchen and living room, a music— ”
“You have a library?”
“Ah, something sparked your interest. Yes. We have a library. Think about the library. Since you don’t know what it looks like yet, think about a room of books. Lots of books, shelves upon shelves of them. The haze should start to dissipate. You should feel a pull in your gut, telling you which way to go. Do you feel anything?”
I think about the library and after a couple of seconds, I feel a tingle in my stomach. I feel like I am on a roller coaster and have just gone down the first giant drop. I scrunch my nose up; it feels weird. “I don’t really like this feeling.”
David laughs at my reaction. “You get used to it. Now, which way is the pull telling you to go?”
Walking down the hallway, I notice that the pull gets stronger the closer I get to the room. I feel like there are a thousand butterflies in my stomach, pushing against my skin, trying to break free. After many twists and turns, I stop in front of two large doors. Golden doorknobs decorate each door. David lets go of me and walks to the door. Before opening the door, he turns towards me and says, “Close your eyes.”
“Why?”
“Just do it.” I automatically think of my favorite Disney movie when I was younger, Beauty and the Beast. Only in this scenario, I am surrounded by beauties and I feel like the beast.
I listen to him and hear two doors being pushed open. A small gust of air blows strands of hair into my face. I feel hands wrap around each of my wrists and David slowly pulls me into the room. After taking a couple of steps, he lets go of my hands and walks behind me, placing his arms on my shoulders.
“Can I open my eyes now?”
“Yes, go ahead.”
I open my eyes and gasp in delight. I take a few more steps further into the room and look around. The library has two levels. The bottom level looks to hold more modern books. Two rounded wooden staircases with heavily ornamented banisters align the right and left walls leading up to the second floors. The second