Two things have happened that I’ll never be able to fully explain to anyone else. 

One, Scottie is up and walking around, checking out the place like she hasn’t been sick a day in her life. The other is that I’m about to get my first lesson in real magic.

It all happened so fast. I just told Bea everything about Anna and how I came to find this place. I’ve never seen anyone listen the way that woman does. I swear, she was listening with her eyes, ears, fingers and toes. Maybe even the length of her spine. She got it all on the first take, no explanations needed. Even Jake seemed to need no further information than what I gave. It’s like they trust me, already. Or maybe would just know if I wasn’t telling the truth. 

So when I was done talking, and Scottie was handed to me with a “That should do it,” Bea just stood up and said we should get on with seeing if I could learn magic.  Since it was gifted to me, she said, it wasn’t a sure thing I would take to it, or even want it.  Better find out sooner rather than later, she said. So here I am, ready and willing, even if my gut is swirling in fear. I mean, Anna’s little fire blowing into my palm was pretty intense, and she seems lot more refined than Bea. 

“Start with your posture,” the bent woman says, looking me over once again.  I’m not sure if she means for me to stand up straight, like one of my step-mothers always used to always say I should, or throw out my chest, like another of them nagged. I do a little of both, which only makes Jake laugh.

I shoot him a look that says “Oh thanks, you are SUCH a help.” He smiles back at me with an arresting set of perfect teeth.

“Pay attention!” she says, using some kind of twisted vine-like walking stick to move my left foot a little more left. “Feet shoulder width apart. Shoulders back. Knees slightly bent.”

I do as I’m told, but it’s more than a little weird having Jake watch.  Or rather, gawk. He’s looking at me like I’m some sort of combination of a goddess and lunch. Couldn’t we do this in private?

“Now, tilt your pelvis forward.  No, no. Tuck your butt in.” She puts one hand on the small of my back, and pushes forward, and the other on my belly to make sure it doesn’t move. The white lightning goes through me, making me shiver. “Now your spine is straight, so you’re in a grounded position.”

“For what?” I ask.

“To blow the tarnations out of anything you want,” she says, cackling.

It makes you wonder: Is Bea is a good witch or a bad witch?

“We’re not destroyers,” Bea says, as if reading my mind, which is more than a little spooky right there. “But we’re not to be pushed around, either. Say here Jake is bothering you, pestering you like a little brother.”

Jake growls, which makes Scottie perk up in concern.

“Or anyone else getting in your way. You want some power to get ‘em out of the way, right?”

“Sure,” I say, adding an “anyone else, I mean” to comfort Jake.  You can tell he really wants to impress me. I want to tell him he doesn’t have to work that hard.  He’s pretty impressive, just standing there without a shirt. Then again, it’s kind of nice to have a guy like that working for it.

“Now, start breathing up the earth,” Bea says, breathing deep to show me, “deep, from inside the soles of your feet. Just like if your arches were lungs, only the air you’re pulling in is energy. If you use your real breathing to keep the rhythm up at the same time, it’s easier to imagine.  And you’ve got to imagine it, or it won’t work.”

I try to imagine breathing through my feet without feeling totally stupid.  I look to Jake to see if Bea is just pulling one over on me, but he seems to think this is perfectly normal.

“Don’t get distracted or the energy will go all over the place,” my new teacher warns sternly, “and that is a true mess.You want it all to go directly into your belly.”

Without trying, I can almost see lines running from the center of my feet to my stomach, and the earth running up it.  I swear, I’ve never in my life imagined such a thing. It’s strange, like I know this stuff. Only, of course, I don’t.

“That’s right,” she says, though I don’t know how she could know if I’m doing it right or not. “Now, pull the magic in.”

“What magic?” I dare ask.

“Same one that makes seeds sprout in the dark of the earth. What makes gardens grow and fruit pop out of a tree? Isn’t that magic?”

“I’ve never thought about it that way,” I say honestly.

“Well, think about it that way,” she sends back with a snort.

Again I do as I’m told. Though truthfully, I don’t feel an ounce of magic. But I do see the lines. That has to be something.

“Okay, that’s enough for today,” she says, thumping her twisted stick on the ground three times.  Like that, the lines disappear from my imagination. I’m left with one part of me feeling like an utter fool for even attempting to carry magic around in my stomach, and another part more sure than ever these old ladies have some real game going on.   
 
“That’s all?” I say.

Bea laughs, and Jake too. “Just see for yourself if ‘that’s all’ the next time you get mad at someone. Do that often enough, fill up that belly, and you’ll find you are a real force to reckon with.”

“Is that how you healed Scottie? With the earth through your feet?”

“My dear child, it’s a lot more complicated than that.  The magic we carry takes years to learn and perfect. This is baby steps. We are just testing the waters, to see how much of what I teach you, combined with what Anna gave you, can do.”

“Yea, so I don’t get that part,” I say, feeling an ounce more bravery in my so-called belly. “What does it mean that Anna gave me her magic? I mean, she needs it herself, if she’s going to get out of there, right?”

Bea sighs, looking truly disheartened. “She won’t get out of there. Not so long as Helene is alive.”

“But why would her own daughter want her in a nursing home? I mean, that’s so cruel. So totally, utterly cruel.” 

I feel my heart grow heavy, then angry. I don’t know if it has anything to do with the thing we just did with my feet, but it feels powerful. Sort of like Bea felt powerful out on the beach.  Well, not nearly so strong, but still…

“Have you ever heard the term ‘dysfunctional family?’” Bea asks.

She’s kidding, right?

“I probably have the equivalent of a PhD in the topic,” I say, as dry as I possibly can.

“Then you understand how little things can become big things, even in normal situations, when a family isn’t right?”

“Sure.”

“So think of that, then add magic. Add layers and levels and lifetimes of deceit, betrayal, jealousy and power. Add countries and continents, mythologies and cultures, religions and rebellions and fortunes won and lost. Add everything else you can imagine to complicate a family.  Helene’s taken it upon herself to end it all in the name of what is right and proper. To set us all straight by ending the magic—as if that could happen! She thinks she is being heroic, virtuous, and crafty, all at once.  She’s got help, too, because we were stupid enough to teach her how to generate gold from lead, and that buys anything money can buy, including unscrupulous people to help you.”

Her words hit me hard, like this isn’t a game and I was an idiot to think otherwise.

“Anna is where she is, and must stay where she is, to protect the only ones capable of continuing the succession of magic. Jake here, and in just a few years, Michael, too. Now, I’ll bet your friend is losing his patience waiting for you,” she says, nodding toward the beach. 

I’d almost forgotten Rod is waiting.  Even if he isn’t getting ticked off, which I’m sure he is, I get that this is my polite invitation to be heading out. Not only can I take a hint, I think I want to. 

I’d ask about coming back, but I want to talk to Anna before I do. It would be good to know more about what I’m getting myself into here. A lot more.

“Well then, thank you,” I say, but Bea is already turned to walk into her house.  She lifts a hand to wave without turning back and I remember she’s an old lady. Old ladies often do things like that, probably to say that time is too short to waste on the obvious.

I scoop up Scottie, still amazed and beyond grateful that she’s fine. And then I remember I don’t know what made her sick.

“Wait… Mrs. Bayless… Bea?” I call after her.

“Don’t bother,” Jake says, looking like he’s going to join me in my short walk back to the beach. “She can’t hear.”

“Why? It’s not like that house can be very well insulted.”

“She’s deaf,” he says.  

“I don’t understand.”

“She doesn’t hear,” he says, mocking deafness with dramatic faux sign language.

“But we just had an hour of perfectly normal conversation.”

He shrugs. “That’s the magic. She can hear when she wants to. But she’s still deaf. Literally.”

“You do realize how entirely insane that sounds, right?”

He laughs. “I guess. I’m used to things like that here.”

I stop and turn to him. I can’t say I’m not aware of his strong scent, which is some kind of musty male wow. But I can attempt to pretend I’m not.  

“What, exactly, are you used to Jake? I mean, what’s going on out here? What, in the context of the ‘Bayless Family’ is magic?”

“I wondered when you were going to get around to asking me that, instead of her.”

He steps nearer to me, like he’s the one I should get close to.  I remember what Bea just said about family politics and step back.

“That doesn’t answer anything.” My step back is not far enough. I take another, but this only gives me a better look at his six-pack and strong chest gleaming in the sunlight. I wonder if he got those from that feet and belly thing? It would make it worth practicing.

“Anna’s my Great-Grandmother and Bea is my Great, Great Aunt. I’m here because I started learning magic when I was eleven, which everyone says is way too young, but what choice did we have?  You heard her. I’m the last one to have a chance to learn it.  Well, there’s Michael, but he can’t yet.”

“Who is Michael?”

“A long story,” he says, moving closer but offering no more detail. I get a weird feeling in my stomach about Michael.  Even weirder than Jake.

“Okay. But what is the magic?  I mean, what kind of magic? Are you like witches and warlocks, because I have to say, that would just be too weird.”

“It’s not like anything you think you know about. But are you sure you want to know more?” he asks.  I swear his voice dropped, making him sound about ten years older. “Because just knowing does stuff to you. And once it starts, you really can’t stop.”

It sure does do something to you, I think, staring at him like I’m the hungry animal now.

How obvious of me. 

Wait, no, I will not be suckered in just because he’s a hot guy and I’ve never had a boyfriend. This has to be more important than that. I have to go slow here. I have to consider. What was the question? 

“See,” he says, “you’re not ready.”

“How do you know?” I defend. Who is he to tell me…?

“Because I live it, Mayden. I live the magic. You get power, sure. But that doesn’t make things easier. Not even close to easier.”

His words really hit me. I just stare at him, wondering what that could mean. What could it mean that you live magic and have since you were eleven, and you’re one of the last in line?  I start walking again. I need some time to think about it, on my own. I need to get away.

“I will tell you this,” he says, touching my arm. Another white-hot jolt goes through me, just like Bea’s. My stomach stirs like galaxies disturbed by a foreign star. Again I get the sense I know this stuff, and these people, from sometime or some place, maybe a million years ago and a million miles away. It’s more than liking him because he’s so… whatever. I’m sure of that.

“Tell me,” I say.

“You can trust Bea completely, as far as good intentions go. But she’s not always herself, and when she’s not, she’s not reliable. Sometimes she’s even dangerous. And you never know when that will be.”

I nod, remembering Anna said coming here could be dangerous. “Good to know.”

“As far as Scottie goes? It’s the cook at your house.”

“Mrs. Hamilton? What about her?” Already I’m thinking how does he even know we have a cook?  How many people have cooks these days?

“Whoever does your cooking is poisoning her. Intentionally.”

“What?” I nearly yell. No way. Then again, Mrs. Hamilton always has hated Scottie getting underfoot…

“The magic lets you see things,” Jake explains. “I saw that you wanted to ask Bea about it. And before that, when she was doing the work on Scottie, I saw the cook. You can test me on this. In fact, you should. If you’re going to learn magic, the most important lesson is to learn who and what you can trust…and who and what you can’t.”