for?” she asked, finally done with her tour.
“He hasn’t laid out all the details yet.” I didn’t even know the details and I’d committed. Before, I’d felt more tricked. Now I was in this, and I wasn’t even sure what this truly was. I should’ve asked some more questions, but with Rabbit right beside me, smiling away…
Yeah, it was done now.
“So then…you’re not really a Whimsy witch?” she asked.
“Turns out I’m not.” Most witches would’ve been thrilled to say they weren’t a Whimsy, and yet I was finding it hard to get the words out.
She sat on the bed staring at me. “What are you?”
“I don’t know.” Boy, was that the truth. I had no idea. I had magic, but it never worked right. Jasper called me evil. Nothing seemed to be going according to anyone’s plan, least of all mine. Yeah, I was a big question mark at this point.
“But you really sent that newsflash?” She was staring at me like she was seeing me for the first time.
“I did.” The way she said “that newsflash” made me wonder what had gone off. I might’ve asked if she wasn’t staring at me like one of the witches at the factory who were cruel to her. “But it doesn’t mean anything. We’re still friends.”
“Are you sure?”
“I don’t care how much magic you have. You’re my friend.”
She nodded but still appeared to fear I’d wake up tomorrow and tell her all bets were off.
I glanced at the clock, also identical to mine, beside her bed. “I’ve got to get downstairs, but I’ll come hang out as soon as I’m done, okay?”
At that point, I’d reassure her another ten times if needed. Right now, I had to go keep Hawk from kicking us both out.
I walked into the back room and something flew at me. I caught it, and the gem blazed in my hand. I’d begun leaving my necklace upstairs before practice after the last time I’d had to dig around in chipped porcelain to find it.
The same fiery rainbow of light shot out of it, like my fingertips were an electrical outlet.
“You’re going to get calls soon,” Hawk said, sitting on the couch and looking over at me. “When they do, I want you to go. But it’s best if you can smother some of your magic. You need to learn to hold it in for at least a minute or so, at the bare minimum, so when they touch you, you don’t broadcast how strong you are.”
“Why can’t I wear my necklace?” I asked, tossing the gem back to him. He didn’t catch it, letting it drop to the couch beside him, robbing me of an opportunity to see what his magic did to it, which was surely not accidental.
“The person you’re most likely to hear from is Raydam. If you were to say I had any opposition in Xest, he would be the ringleader of them. If you wear the necklace, he’ll sense something off the moment he touches you, as I did. Considering the talk, he’ll know there’s something more.”
I thought back to the first time I’d had skin-to-skin contact with Hawk, the day outside the factory.
“How did you sense it?” I asked, wondering if I’d get an honest answer out of him, or any answer at all.
He waved his hand to the other couch. I took the opportunity, hoping he was going to share, because as I remembered again, I was in this. It would be good to know as much as I could.
“The stronger the magic in a person, the more they can sense it in others. Raydam is one of the strongest warlocks in Xest.”
Why was it that everything I found out ended up being bad? Couldn’t I stumble upon good information every now and then? “Is he stronger than you?”
He smiled. “Not important at the moment.”
The one thing I did know? The man before me might’ve had more secrets than all of Xest, and he guarded them fiercely. In a world of magic and oddities, most worn like badges, what was he keeping so undercover? Asking him was a waste of time, and maybe it wasn’t any of my business. But some things definitely were.
I crossed my legs and rested my arm on the back of the couch, trying my best to look nonchalant. “What exactly is it that you think I can do for you?” I grinned in a warm and friendly way.
He grinned back. “I told you. I don’t know yet.