Magic Tunnel
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The magic tunnel was exactly like I remembered. Dark, with only the barest hint of a glow from the magical field running through it, and completely empty except for a single chair on its far side.
I stepped up to it and pulled my wand out of my back pocket so I wouldn’t be tempted to teleport myself inside by accident. “All right, let’s do this,” I muttered as I placed one hand on the stone table that marked the center of the circle, and pointed my wand at the wall opposite me.
With an echoing boom, the magic burst into being around us — light glowed all along the edges of the tunnel we were standing in, which had no walls or ceiling but seemed to go straight off forever — and then disappeared again just as quickly when the spell faded away. It left behind a clear space of emptiness within the magic tunnel itself.
“Okay,” I said after studying my surroundings for long enough to make sure nothing was coming out of nowhere to attack me. The place felt safe enough without the glowing field, though not particularly comfortable. “You know what? Maybe this isn’t such a great idea.”
Luna looked over her shoulder at me with a raised eyebrow. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“No,” I admitted grudgingly. “But now there are too many people who have seen me use magic against you guys before.”
She shrugged easily. “There aren’t too many people. There are three: you, me, and Kelsie.” She glanced down at my wristwatch. “And Kelsie won’t tell anybody anything about it until we can talk privately. So why don’t we just try this?”
I hesitated, considering that, and she smiled at me. “Come on, it’ll be fun. Do you want to know something really strange? We’re both wearing the same thing right now.”
That caught my attention. I stared at Luna curiously as she reached across the table to lay a hand lightly on my wrist. My skin prickled slightly under the touch of her fingers and I looked down. The bracelet I wore was glowing blue-white again as if a tiny part of it was also burning hot under the skin and giving off some sort of heat.
I took hold of Luna’s wrist lightly with my other hand to stop her from pulling away because I’d never met anyone else who could see what the bracelet did, although I wasn’t even sure if it would work on another mage. But the sensation passed almost instantly; whatever the bracelet was doing, it was over before I noticed it.
Luna gave me a curious look, still holding my wrist and turning her head toward me so that our eyes were locked together. When I didn’t answer right away, she frowned slightly but then leaned forward and kissed me lightly on the mouth.
It surprised me more than a little and I found myself returning the gesture, which seemed to delight her. She laughed softly and then stood back up straight, leaving me staring at her lips in confusion while she grinned widely. Then she grabbed my hands and led me to where I knew she wanted me to sit down.
The room was big enough to fit four chairs, two in each corner. They were plain wooden things, nothing special. Luna put herself between them, sitting in the chair nearest mine so that we faced each other directly. As I sat down next to her, I saw that we weren’t alone anymore.
The air filled with the smell of incense, and suddenly Kelsie was standing right behind Luna and me. A moment later the rest of her friends appeared as well: Rachelle and Jessamine in front of us, Kelli and Cassie next to them. And then the others began to appear as well, appearing out of thin air, or perhaps out of the wall itself, until there were ten or so of them surrounding us. All of them turned their attention to me immediately upon my arrival.
They all seemed to think I should be impressed with them. “Welcome to the magic club,” said Jessamine cheerfully. Her dark hair was loose, tied loosely at the base of her neck with a piece of bright yellow fabric in a style reminiscent of the sixties when hippies roamed the countryside and tried to bring peace and love to the world.
Rachelle was wearing a red dress in the same style and color scheme, as most of the rest of the girls. Only Kelli was dressed in jeans, a white T-shirt, and a flannel jacket.
Jessamine’s eyes twinkled and her smile made it impossible to resist answering her greeting. “Yeah,” I replied, “it’s nice to be here.”
Rachelle nodded eagerly. “Good, ’cause we’ve been waiting a long time to meet you.”
“Uh, thanks,” I mumbled, looking around at the group in bewilderment. It wasn’t hard to understand why they thought they should be welcoming me, however. I had come there expecting to find only Luna and a handful of her closest friends, and instead, I found that I was walking into one of the biggest, weirdest, most secretive covens I’d ever heard about. That was unbelief…
Wait. Coven? Was that even the right word?
Kelsie spoke up then to clear things up. “We’re not a coven.”
Rachelle snorted in derision. “Of course, you’re not! You’re a bunch of freaks!”
As if that weren’t bad enough, Kelsie shot back quickly, “Freak is an insult, you ignorant slut!”
Her voice rang out sharply, and for a second everyone in the room froze in surprise. Rachelle didn’t say anything immediately afterward, though; after a few moments, she seemed to lose interest in making a scene. She glared at Kelsie angrily instead, and her friends were all watching the confrontation curiously.
I looked at Kelsie apologetically, feeling as much like a fool as anyone in the room. “Sorry,” I told her, meaning it more than I usually meant any apology I offered to someone else. “You just got the wrong idea from what happened with your sister.”
She smiled and touched my cheek gently. “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart, we know you didn’t mean anything by it. You’ve probably never even seen another witch before.”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Well then,” she said with a shrug, “you’ll be used to being called freak eventually.”
Everyone chuckled, except Rachelle, who rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath.
A short while later, I noticed that a pair of girls were coming toward me on the far side of the room, carrying two small tables between them. Rachelle walked over to join them, leaving Kelsie and the rest of the group to continue their conversation among themselves.
When the two girls came near us, they set the tables down carefully between us and then stood back, allowing us to take control. The table was already piled high with a wide array of food. There was no silverware or plates, but the contents were all clearly edible. It looked almost like the kind of buffet line that would be available at a wedding reception.
I started digging in without hesitation, taking care not to eat too much too quickly. Most of the stuff was unfamiliar and spicy, so it took some getting used to eating with my fingers. Soon, though, I was shoveling down whatever was in sight.
By the time Luna arrived to take her own seat opposite me, I’d eaten several large sandwiches, a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs, and maybe half a dozen chocolate eclairs.
Luna laughed and put her arm around my shoulder. “You certainly don’t waste any time, do you?”
I blushed at her joke and shrugged sheepishly. “Not really. You’re the first person I met who could help me get away from this place.”
“Really?” she asked skeptically. “Then how did you get here without anyone seeing you?”
There was a brief pause before I answered. “It wasn’t easy,” I admitted, “but I managed.”
The corners of her mouth curved upward in amusement. “So you’re not exactly a beginner when it comes to dealing with magic.”
“Actually,” I continued, “the thing is, I’m not even sure what type of witchcraft I practice yet. Maybe it’s not a witch’s job to decide what kind of magic she practices.”
“Maybe, but if you haven’t figured it out by now, I don’t think we can help you there. What about the other stuff? Like the way you were talking to Rachelle.”
“I guess you could call that intuition.”
“But that isn’t the only thing you’ve done today. We heard Rachelle saying some pretty nasty things about your family, and you seem to have taken it personally. But you also saved one of our guests’ lives by throwing her off Rachelle.”
She smiled approvingly. “That part is new for me.”
Luna nodded seriously. “Exactly.”
For some reason, I felt uncomfortable telling her about the visions I’d been having lately—my encounters with Lillian, for instance. I couldn’t see myself explaining them to someone who was so different from me; she didn’t share the same background, for starters. Then again, I supposed we had more in common than I’d initially thought.
“So why don’t we start with the vision thing?” I suggested. “If you want to hear what I have to say.”
She grinned mischievously. “Sounds good to me. And besides, what better way to find out whether we should trust each other?”
I shrugged uncomfortably, but she was right: I didn’t have any choice but to give it a try. So we both settled down at the table and I began to talk.
“When I saw Lillian last night,” I said quietly, “I found a book full of photographs of people from the past. It was like I was reading her diary or something; every picture showed someone she’d loved and lost. She wrote these poems about each photo, and it all sounded very tragic.”
Kelsie and the others exchanged knowing glances and I could tell they were trying hard to stay still and calm.
“At the end of each poem, she mentioned the name of whoever it was,” I continued, “and then gave a hint as to how I might recognize them.”
Rachelle cleared her throat and I noticed everyone else staring at her. “Did you read the book, too, Rachelle?” I asked innocently.
Her cheeks turned pink. “Yes, I did. Actually, I helped her write those poems.”
My heart sank, and suddenly I remembered Rachelle asking me why I’d chosen her to be my partner for the initiation. Was she just making fun of me? “You lied to me!”
“No,” she insisted. “What I said was true. The poems are beautiful.”
“They’re sad,” I muttered, although I knew I wasn’t convincing anyone. “And now I’ve got to figure out which photograph represents someone who died because of her.”
Suddenly, I stopped talking and realized how ridiculous everything sounded. “Look,” I explained, “there are some questions I need to ask you guys about this place, okay? About what happened to us, and what I’m going to need to do next.”
A look of confusion flashed across Kelsie’s face. “Sure, if you want to know anything,” she replied uncertainly.
Rachelle was the first to speak. “Why don’t we take a break after dinner? We can continue tonight if you want.”
“I don’t mind,” I told her, “as long as we start with the most important thing.”
I could feel Luna’s eyes on me; she seemed interested to hear whatever I had to say. But Kelsie shook her head in annoyance.
“Don’t be so stubborn, Raven. You’re being way too suspicious.”
I glared at her angrily and tried to keep the anger out of my voice. “This is serious, okay? Don’t forget that I was almost murdered today.”
“We understand,” Rachelle assured me, “and we promise to explain everything once we’ve eaten. In fact…”
I waited anxiously for her to finish.
“…in honor of your new friend, and in recognition of our new partnership, we’re having a celebratory feast.”
The End