The Legacy: The Weight of Magic, Episode 2 Page 4

  I tiptoed to the mirror on the closet door. I gasped again. My long brown hair was all messed up, my make up all over my face.

  Did I cry or something? I thought with frustration. I pulled the edge of my sleeve down into my palm, clutched it, and wiped at the black spots under my eyes. Then I brushed my hair with my fingers and picked up my shoes. Holding one in each hand and trying to move quietly, I went to the hallway and then down the stairs.

  When I reached the bottom, I took a few more steps and peeked into the kitchen at the end of the hallway. Nathan leaned at the counter, looking into a newspaper in his hands.

  “Coffee is ready,” he said, still reading.

  Was it in the newspaper that I was coming down? I glared at him. I took a few more steps and glanced farther into the kitchen.

  “Did you sleep well?” Nathan put down the paper and smiled to me.

  “Is Mr.—” I started whispering.

  “Alan is at work,” he said, pushing his hands into his pockets.

  That news lifted the weight from my lungs, and I got my voice back.

  “Nathan, you’re an ass,” I shouted, throwing at him one of my shoes. His arm jerked up, covering his chest. The shoe rebounded and fell on the stove. “Why am I still here?” I shouted again, throwing the second shoe. But he turned his palm toward it, and halfway, the shoe nosedived to the floor.

  “What did you want me to do?” he said, chuckling. “Take you home so your Gran could kill me for getting you drunk? And since I would come back to life, she would have the pleasure of killing me a second time for driving drunk with her granddaughter in the car.”

  “So what? It’s better if she kills me? In case you forgot, I won’t rise up again like you.”

  “Relax,” he said, still chuckling. “She knows you stayed here. I told her we talked, you got upset, and your magic started shooting out of you. So I gave you a soporific potion and put you to sleep.”

  “Let’s hope she doesn’t figure out the name of that potion,” I snapped. “Take me home. I need to wash off my shame and go to school.”

  “I’m glad you don’t have more shoes.” He cleared his throat. “Because, you know, it’s eleven a.m.”

  “What? Why didn’t you wake me?” I spread my hands, then dropped them down. “You’re unbelievable.”

  Nathan grabbed me around the waist and sat me on the counter.

  “Sit,” he raised his finger.

  “What now?” I rolled my eyes.

  He picked up my shoes and put them on my feet.

  “Here,” he said, filling a mug with coffee. He handed me the mug, then walked to the table and came back with two ancient, leather bound books that looked like the ones I had seen in Mr. Lancaster’s hands in Gran’s bookstore.

  Nathan put both of them into my lap.

  “This one is Henry’s son’s journal,” he said, opening the one on the top.

  My jaw dropped. “Really?” I put away my mug.

  “I asked Vincent if I could look at them one more time a couple of days before . . . They’re yours, of course. And you should keep them safe.”

  I nodded, turning the pages.

  “One page is missing.” I frowned, running my fingers over the remains of the old, yellow paper.

  “Yeah.” Nathan sighed. “It’s been ripped out.” He put the second journal on top of the first. “This one is Joseph’s.” He opened it. “And here’s another missing page.”

  “Did Dad know who did this, and why?”

  “He said it was always like that. We assumed that the one from Henry’s son’s journal was—”

  “The map,” I said.

  “Yes. But I wish we knew what was on this one.”

  “I would like to look through them, but they’re too important, and I’m afraid to take them home yet.” I closed the journal and ran my hand over the cover. “Could you hold on to this for a while longer? It will be much safer here.”

  “Sure,” said Nathan. He glanced at me, and I saw a mixture of relief and delight on his face.

  Looking back at him, I pressed my lips together and stretched them into a smile. Of course I trust you, you dumbass.

  9

  After Nathan drove me home, I called Gran and told her I was back and I was fine. Then I texted to Connie, I overslept, replying to her dozen messages about where I was, and what happened, and why the hell I wasn’t answering.

  After a warm, refreshing shower, I went to the kitchen. The last thing I had eaten was some salad the day before at the Grill, and my stomach wasn’t happy about that. I opened the fridge and pulled everything out of it I needed to make a big, fat sandwich. While making it, I got three more messages from Connie.

  With my sandwich and a glass of orange juice, I settled on the couch. I grabbed my phone and answered Connie’s last question about my plans for today.

  Finally start watching The Umbrella Academy.

  I sent the message and turned on the TV. Ten minutes later, with my plate and glass empty and my head heavy, I dropped onto the cushion.

  “Well,” I heard a voice say, “I see you binged three episodes.”

  I opened my eyes, and looked up.

  “Connie?”

  “Sorry to interrupt,” she said, picking up the controller and pressing pause. “But I don’t like spoilers.”

  “I fell asleep,” I moaned, turning on my back. “Damn hangover.” I heaved myself up and leaned on the cushions.

  “What?” Connie dropped down at the other end of the couch. “You got drunk?” She frowned. “I thought you said you two needed to talk, come up with a plan.”

  “We did. We talked, and it was intense. There was a lot to take in, and Nathan offered a drink to relax. But then . . .” I paused, staring at her.

  “Then what?” Connie asked, staring back.

  “Then I woke up in his bed,” I mumbled.

  Connie’s eyebrows jumped up, and she opened her mouth. For a few seconds I waited for the words to come out, but they never did.

  “Connie, nothing happened.” I grinned. “You can close your mouth now and take a breath.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course I’m sure. We’re just friends. He would never do such a thing.”

  “Thank God.” She released a sigh of relief. “But please, stop with this we’re friends crap. He’s not a be friends with type of guy. He’s a have sex with type of guy. I just didn’t want it to happen when you were unconscious.”

  “You’re right. He is very attractive, and it’s easy to fall for him, but to him . . . Maybe to him it’s the opposite. Maybe to him I’m just a be friends with type. Who knows what his type is? And maybe he’s been in love, or still is, with someone else. And to him I’m a fulfill the mission with type.”

  “Come on. Have you seen you?” Connie rolled her eyes. “Everyone wants one of you, and you know that. Sometimes I wish I was a lesbian just so I could have sex with you.”

  “Oh, for God’s sake, Connie,” I chortled. “You need to shut up now.”

  “Did you find out how old he is?”

  “He’s twenty-two,” I said, teasing her.

  “That old, huh?” she said, nodding dramatically.

  “I’m not trying to hide his age. My head is still too heavy to do the math.”

  Connie picked up the bag she’d dropped on the floor and pulled out her calculator.

  “Tell me what you know,” she said, looking at me like a puppy who finally managed to pull the bone from under the couch.

  “Okay. In 1889 he was twenty.”

  “We don’t need this for that,” she said, putting back the calculator. Then she squinted for a second, and gasped. “Holy . . . When is his birthday? We’ll need a lot of champagne for this one.”

  “Why?” I threw her a suspicious look.

  “He’s a hundred and fifty. That’s a big one.”

  “You know,” I sighed, “I don’t feel it. When I look at him, I see a twenty-two-year-old guy.”


  “I know,” said Connie, becoming serious.

  “You know what? Enough about me. And him. Let’s talk about you. You’ve been lying to me, Connie.”

  “About what?”

  “About Logan. You’ve been seeing him all this time.”

  “Yeah.” She shrugged. “But we haven’t gone on any dates, if that’s what you mean.”

  “No? Do you think he would like to?”

  “I don’t know. I feel good in his company. Yesterday, after you and Nathan left, he asked me to go for a walk.”

  “And?”

  “And, I don’t know. I like him a lot, and it scares me. Nathan is a human, but Logan. . . . He’s a vampire, Nicky.”

  “Yeah.” I heaved a sigh. “And just in case, be careful, okay?”

  “I am. I still carry your Gran’s potion and the stake with me. But I know he’s not dangerous. I can feel it.”

  My phone lit up with a notification. It was a message from Nathan.

  Are you still alive?

  Smiling, I shook my head and sent him an emoji of a face sticking out its tongue.

  “Well,” I said, looking back at Connie. “We’re young and beautiful, and there is still the rest of the world, which is full of young, handsome guys. And some of them are even smart and nice.”

  “Yep.” Connie beamed. “And all we need is a strong fishing rod with big hooks.”

  We both laughed.

  The front door opened, and I heard Gran’s voice.

  “Nicky? Are you home?”

  “I’m here,” I replied.

  “Connie, hi,” said Gran, walking into the living room.

  “Hi, Mrs. Callahan.”

  “I’m glad you two are here.” She run an examining look over me, then said, “I’ve invited Brian, Sam, and Kate for dinner tonight. Connie, would you like to join us?”

  “Thanks, Mrs. Callahan, I would love to.”

  “Good. Then get your butts up. I’ll need some help to make it in time.”

  10

  “Hi, Nicky,” said Brian, showing up in the doorway with a bottle of wine in his hand.

  “Hi, Mr. . . .”

  “Call me Brian.” He smiled.

  “Hi, Brian.” I returned the smile.

  “This is for Bree,” he said, lifting the bottle.

  “She’s in the kitchen. Please, come in.”

  “Hi,” said Sam and Kate, coming in one after another.

  “I’m glad you guys came.”

  Kate followed Brian to the kitchen while Sam lingered behind, waiting for me to close the door.

  “You didn’t come to school today,” he said, looking concerned. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I just . . .” Reason, come up with some reason. “My alarm didn’t . . .” Lame, lame. “I had a headac . . . I overslept.” For God’s sake, he’s not your teacher.

  “I’m glad you’re okay,” Sam chuckled. “But you’re coming tomorrow, right?”

  “Right.” I nodded.

  During dinner my guilty conscious, and the fact that Brian had said he wanted to talk to me about something, kept me on my toes. Whatever Brian expected to hear from me wasn’t there yet, and I was glad no one at the table talked about witches, or magic, or the mission. Gran asked Sam and Kate about school, I asked Brian how he liked River Stones so far, and Connie started a conversation about New Orleans and said maybe we should all visit it together in March during Mardi Gras.

  After dinner, however, while we were having coffee in the backyard, Brian followed me to the kitchen when I went to get some milk.

  “Nicky, I called Nathan, and he said he talked to you yesterday. That he filled you in, not with everything, but with the main story.”

  “Yes, he did.” I sighed. “But there’s so much I still don’t know. And it’s all so intense. After everything that happened . . .” My heart squeezed, stopping my breath. “I need a little more time to wrap my head around it.”

  “Don’t worry,” he smiled sadly. “I’m not here to rush you. You suffered a great loss. And this mission . . . it’s a hell of a burden. Your father didn’t want to drop it on you. He hoped to finish it himself so you could live a normal, happy life.” He put his hand on my shoulder. “I just want you to know that if you need any help, we’re all here for you.”

  “Thank you,” I said quietly.

  He went back, and a moment later Connie appeared. I blinked and realized I stood in the same position, still holding my milk.

  “Here,” said Connie, taking the milk jar out of my hands. She put it on the table, and then pulled me closer and locked her arms around my neck.

  After everyone left, Gran poured herself a glass of wine and went to the backyard. I stood in the kitchen for a moment, thinking, before following her.

  “I thought you were going to bed.” She glanced up at me.

  I sank into the chair beside her, and for a moment we just sat looking at the inky sky sprinkled with stars, listening to the silence, deep in our thoughts.

  “Gran,” I said after a long moment. “Nathan said Dad left a message for me.” I held my breath.

  “He did,” she said quietly.

  “Where is it?”

  “Not today, honey. First, I need to make sure Nathan told you everything you should know. Otherwise it will be hard to understand the message. You’ll be able to access it only once, and it will require your full attention. Also.” She glanced at me sideways and smirked. “It’s better if we wait until Nathan’s potion gets out of your system completely,” she said with heavy irony.

  Damn it.

  “How did you . . . did he tell—”

  “He didn’t have to. Nathan doesn’t do potions. That’s the only potion he could’ve used, and of course he knows I know.”

  “Gran, I’m sorry. Don’t blame him. It’s not entirely his fault.”

  “I’m not blaming anyone. I know why he did it, and I hope it helped.” She took a deep breath. “Nicky, you’re nearly eighteen, and I’m not going to control your every step. Life is hard, and spontaneous actions and some mistakes are unavoidable. But you’re a smart girl, and I trust you to figure out right and wrong by yourself. I’ll help you as much as I can and give you advice when you come asking for it.”

  My chest hurt again, and my eyes prickled.

  “I love you, Gran.”

  “I love you, too, honey.” She squeezed my hand.

  I lay in bed and looked at the photo on my nightstand of me with my mom and dad. Then I pulled myself up and picked up the frame.

  “I’m taking it one step at a time,” I said, running my finger over their images. “But I promise, I’ll do everything I can to finish the mission, to make you proud. I miss you guys."

  I put the frame down, wiped the wetness from my cheeks, and turned off the light.

  11

  Next day at school, Sam didn’t leave my side for a minute. First he thanked me for the nice time he had the previous evening, then he talked about classes. Then, when we went to the cafeteria together with Connie and Kate, he started telling stories about New Orleans, his friends, and their bar. When I noticed that during the whole day he didn’t speak a word about magic or the mission, I started suspecting Brian had put him up to this.

  Why would Brian do that? To keep me distracted? No. Sam had suffered the same loss I did and was going through the same feelings. Then maybe to keep him distracted? Or for the mutual destruction?

  But when at the end of the day he looked at me with his glittering blue eyes and asked about my plans for the evening, I suspected a different motive, which I was sure Brian had nothing to do with.

  “I don’t know yet,” I said, taken aback. “Nathan was going to teach me how to control my magic.” I spat out the first thing that came to my mind.

  “Well,” he said, “in that case, maybe I could join you. I’m good at magic too, you know.”

  “Yeah. That would be great,” I said, hoping Nathan would agree to put his signature under thi
s plan I just made up for the three of us.

  We reached the parking lot, and Connie and Kate, who were walking before us, stopped and looked back.

  “Keep me posted,” said Sam, and he and Kate headed to their car.

  “Well,” Connie chortled, “he knows how to keep a girl busy.”

  “This isn’t funny.” I glared at her.

  “Yep, here comes another one,” she said, looking across the parking lot over my shoulder.

  I turned around and saw Jess walking toward us.

  “Wait for me. This won’t take long,” I said to Connie as she headed to her car.

  “Hi,” said Jess, smiling. “It was hard to catch you alone today. How are you? I didn’t see you at school yesterday.”

  Thank God I didn’t have to lie to Jess about the reason of my absence.

  “I got drunk and overslept.” I shook my head. “Don’t ask.”

  “You? Got drunk?” He laughed. “I would have liked to see that. Every time I asked you to drink something strong, you wrinkled your nose and made a funny face.”

  “I know. There's a first time for everything, right?”

  “Right,” he said, still grinning.

  “Hi,” said Leia, appearing out of nowhere.

  “Hi.” I looked around. “Where’s Dave?”

  “He went home. His dad has planned the whole day for him. So it’s just the two of us.” She wrapped her hands around Jess’s arm and leaned to his side. “We’re going to the Grill.”

  I raised my eyebrows at Jess. He looked uncomfortable.

  “You wanna come?” he asked.

  I opened my mouth, but before I could say anything, a car stopped right behind me. I looked back to see Nathan and Logan getting out. Logan waved his hand at me, then headed toward Connie, who leaned against the hood of her car while she waited for me, her phone in hand.

  Nathan approached us and put his hand around my waist.

  “Hi,” he said to Leia and Jess.

  “Hi,” said Jess. “Nice car.” He nodded toward Nathan’s car. All I knew about it was that it was blue.

  “Thanks. I like it too.”

  “’69 Mustang?” Jess narrowed his eyes.