Chapter Thirteen
Spence’s parents cast spells on Erica, the only non-magical person in the room, and made sure she forgot that anyone could do magic.
Kiara said to Mr. Graham while Mrs. Graham was casting a spell, “Can I see her phone a minute? I want to check something.”
He handed it over and Kiara found the photo then deleted it. She checked the text messages to make sure she hadn’t sent it to anyone or saved it anywhere, then gave the phone to Erica.
“Let’s get home,” Mr. Graham said. “It’s been a long night.”
They exchanged goodbyes as the three of them left. Mr. James let out a loud sigh when he came back into the room after seeing the Grahams out. “It has been a long night. Kiara, I think you’d better get home too.”
“No!” Spence said. “Just let her stay a little while longer.”
Mrs. James shook her head. “She needs to talk to her mom, and we have a few things to discuss as well.”
“It’s okay.” Kiara wrapped her arms around him. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He stood up as Kiara waved to his parents.
“And no sneaking into or out of windows tonight, okay?” Mrs. James said. “I sure do hope you two are using protection.”
Spence covered his face with his hands, and Kiara felt her cheeks go warm. They hurried to the door and stood outside on the porch, their arms wrapped around each other.
“This is insane,” he said. “I can’t let you just go home. Not like this. What are we going to do?”
“Enjoy our time together.” She was surprised at how resigned she sounded about the whole thing. But maybe, after coming so close to losing him, after all that had happened, after finding out about her mother and the town, maybe it was too much for her brain, and she’d feel something later. Maybe in a few hours she’d start to freak out over dying.
“I’m going to figure something out.” He looked at her with eyes frantic and wild. “There has to be a way.”
“It’s over, Spence. It’s okay. You’ll be okay.” She kissed him and hugged her arms around his neck so tight that his shoulder choked her.
“Don’t say that. I’m not going to lose you.”
She released her arms. “I do want to talk to my mom, though. I’ll text you later?”
“Okay. And I’ll see you first thing in the morning.”
“Sounds good.”
They kissed again and she walked away slowly, looking back at him several times. As she walked home Kiara made sure to notice everything around her. The way the stars twinkled in the sky, the way the trees smelled when she walked by them, the way her legs bent and moved her body forward. How much longer would she experience each of these things? How long did she have? A day? Two? She wanted to appreciate everything she could before she got too sick to enjoy it.
She paused to look up at her house before unlocking the door. She walked inside and locked the door behind her. Her mom sat in the living room, watching her. She motioned for Kiara to join her.
“Hey, kid,” she said when Kiara walked in.
“Hey.”
“I just talked to Spencer’s parents.”
“And?”
“Well, they told me the magical cat is out of the bag.”
“Yeah.” She let her bag fall to the floor with a thump. “You could have told me sooner.”
“No, I couldn’t. Mr. James said they explained all that.”
“I guess.” She slumped onto the sofa across from her mom.
“So now that you know and we can talk about it, do you have any questions?”
She swallowed and noticed that her throat hurt. Her eyelids drooped with exhaustion and she wanted to sleep. But this could be the last time she had a serious talk with her mom. Her last chance to get answers to any questions she might have. “How often did you use magic on me?”
“Oh, often enough. You’ll find that the children of magical parents are surprisingly well behaved.” She chuckled. “You’ll see when it’s your turn. Don’t be mad about it; we all do it. When your baby won’t sleep or your toddler is throwing a fit or your ten-year-old gets made fun of at school. You just want a way to make them feel better, and when all it takes is one spell there’s no reason not to use magic.”
Kiara nodded. If she’d lived long enough to have her own kids then she probably would have done the same. It seemed like a much easier way to parent. Would her and Spence have stayed together that long? Would they have had kids and grown old together? Tears came to her eyes at the thought and she just wanted to be alone to think and cry.
“I’m really tired, Mom. And I think I’m getting sick. Can we talk more tomorrow?”
“Sure.” Her mom walked over to hug her and feel her forehead. “You do feel warm. I’ll bring you something.”
Kiara trudged up to her bedroom and got into her pajamas, adding a sweatshirt to keep away the growing chills running through her. Her mom came up later with some medicine and water. She cast a spell over her, and it did make her feel a little bit better. But she knew even her mother’s more practiced and powerful magic wouldn’t last long against this curse.
“I do have one more question,” Kiara said as her mom pulled her blanket up to cover her. “Was Dad a wizard?”
“Yes, and that’s how he died. A powerful spell went wrong.”
“What kind of spell?”
“That’s not important.”
“Mom. What kind of spell?”
Her mom sat at the edge of her bed. “When you were little, you fell into the ocean from a fishing boat. He jumped in to save you. You were under for too long and he cast a spell to give you oxygen because you were so far under the surface. It pulled all the oxygen out of the water and surrounded you so you could breathe, like being inside a giant bubble of air. But it took that oxygen from anything close to you. Including your father. He was too far down to make it up in time, but since you were in a bubble you floated to the surface.”
“He suffocated himself to save me?”
“Basically, yes. I don’t think he realized what would happen, but he did it to save you, yes.”
Kiara stared at the wall, where the photo of her and her dad hung. She was a toddler in the photo. She didn’t remember the place it was taken or anything about her father at all. Maybe when she died he would be there—wherever it was she was going—and maybe she’d finally get to know him.
“Now you know why I never wanted to give you details about how he died. Saying he drowned was a much easier explanation. And technically, that is what happened.” Her mother kissed her forehead. “Get some rest.”
Kiara’s eyes closed quickly and she fell into a dreamless sleep.