Funny Tragic Crazy Magic (Tragic Magic Book 1) (10 page)

The
sucky part about being a spy for the Grandmothers was that I was already doing
what they wanted me to do. I couldn’t fight against being Joe’s friend, and I
wasn’t going to teach him any runes. Most days, I almost forgot that underneath
the skin on my hand was a contract saying I would betray my best friend.

Things
did change between Joe and me, and it wasn’t Joe doing the changing. It was me.
I stopped caring about trying to make him like me. I stopped wearing the
transformation
runes when I was around him, and I always hung out in baggy tee shirts and
pajama bottoms.

I
even stopped noticing so much when Joe touched my arm or my leg. He was a
naturally touchy-feely type person, and I was the only one making a big deal
about it. There were things that I didn’t allow happen anymore, like lying down
together. We were just friends, for real. I was the one making that line, and I
held it closer to what my mom would have wanted than Joe did.

The
best thing, the thing that really changed the direction of everything, was that
I started hanging out with Meg again. That was the best thing I did.

Meg
and I were back, stronger than ever. I started being the friend she deserved,
not the lousy friend I had become that year. Actually calling her before she
called me, spending time at her house, and going to her swim meets. I was at
one of her swim meets about a week after meeting with the moms. Almost all my
friends were there, cheering Meg on as we did Julie and Chris when they
performed in the school musical. I think our hearts were definitely in the
right place, but it messed Meg up more than it helped her, with her stage
fright and everything.

Joe
was there, but he wasn’t sitting by me, he was sitting by… someone, I don’t
remember. I was sitting by Ryan, who was being unusually quiet. This made
sense, since I was being unusually loud. Julie and Chris sat on the bleacher
step behind me, their conversation echoed in that weird
sound-reflecting-on-water thing.

“So,
Larissa,” Ryan said, “Do you like…” His voice trailed off.

I
had a hard time hearing him over the reflected sound waves, the whistles, and
the tinny music that was playing over the loud speakers.

“What’d
you say?” I asked him.

“Nothing,”
he said, not looking at me.

It
was Meg’s turn up. I shouted at her as the swimmers lined up for the race,
“Yeah Meg!”

She
turned and waved at us, and then pulled at her swimsuit, trying to cover more
of her body. I guess bringing a bunch of guys to watch her in a swimsuit wasn’t
as supportive as I thought it would be.

“So…
how’s your little sister? Phoebe, right?” Ryan said. “She’s six, right?”

Ryan’s
voice echoed through the pool. Joe looked over at me.

I
looked down at my hands, “No, she’s still five.” At least for another week. Or
I guess, technically, forever.

“Did
she start Kindergarten?” Ryan asked.

The
idea of Fee in Kindergarten rocked through me. For a moment, I saw her finger
painting and making friends. I had met Meg in kindergarten. I wondered if some
little girl that would have been Fee’s best friend was now lonely without her.

Ryan
looked at me, still looking for an answer. The whistle blew, and Meg’s race
started. I stood up and yelled Meg’s name hoping that Ryan would move on and
talk about something else. Anything else. I glanced over at him, and he was
looking behind me with a “What do I do?” expression on his face. I turned to my
other side to see who he was talking to, and Joe was looking at him with an ‘I
don’t know’ shrug. And here I thought boys didn’t speak silently, the way girls
can. Joe glanced at me, saw I was looking at him, and turned back at the pool.

I
sat down and put both my elbows on my knees. Meg was a lap down, three swimmers
away from first place. Ryan leaned toward me again, but I didn’t look over at
him because I was lost in my thoughts. I will never understand boys. Not until
the day I die, I swear. He started to say something, but halfway through saying
my name he stood up and walked out a painted green door that lead out of the
spectator’s area.

I
turned back to the pool; Meg was in fourth place, behind another swimmer. “Go,
Meg!” I shouted hoping she would hear me and swim faster. Out of the corner of
my eye, I saw Joe stand up a little bit and spin subtly until he was facing the
green door. I cheered again, and behind me, I heard the sound of a metal door
close. I glanced back to see Joe had left the area as well.

Julie
and Chris were very involved in their conversation, and Cynthia and Rachel were
texting Emily, who was sick and couldn’t come. No one was looking at me. I
reached in my bag and pulled out my notebook. I smiled at all the new runes
that looked back at me. I flipped through the notebook, using the post it tabs
as a guide, to a collection of runes I called the sneaky section. There were
five runes in that section, including
invisibility
and
silence
.
The rune I was looking for was
eavesdropping
. I quickly memorized the
rune and walked to the wall, my notebook still in my hands. I leaned against
the wall nonchalantly so no one would think anything of it and then drew the
rune on the wall.

I
couldn’t walk through walls, Joe may have beaten me on that one, but I sure as
heck could listen through them. Joe and Ryan were speaking. Their voices
sounded somewhat flat compared to the echoing sounds at the side of the pool.

“You
asked about her sister?” That was Joe’s voice. He sounded angry. His voice
echoed through my side of the wall. I quickly drew the rune for
silence
on my hand next to the
eavesdropping
rune.

Ryan’s
voice was quieter, “What, I was being nice.”

“You
were being a…” Joe said. “Look, Larissa’s parents are divorced and her dad and
her sister live in California, so Riz never gets to see Fee and misses her like
crazy.”

“How
am I supposed to know that?”

“Well,
Ryan, you’re the one who likes her, so maybe you should try and find out
things. Especially colossal things like ‘don’t talk about her sister.’” Joe
shouted the last bit of that sentence.

There
was silence for a second. I bit my lip and looked around. No one was looking in
my direction.

“Well,
what can I talk to her about?” Ryan asked.

Joe
sighed. The
eavesdropping
rune was about halfway gone.

“Whatever
comes natural, I don’t know.”

“What
does she like?” Ryan asked.

“I
don’t know,” Joe said.

“Whatever,
man,” Ryan said. “You know her better than anyone does. What can I talk to her
about?”

There
was that sighing sound Joe sometimes made when he smiled.

“Um…
Riz likes really bad music, like Elton John and Paul Simon,” Joe said. “Simon
and Garfunkel. Ulgh. She hates scary movies, oh and… and movies that try to
make you cry. But she laughs so hard at Danny Kaye movies that she snorts
sometimes. She’s like… not from this era, you know what I mean? Oh, she loves
food, the unhealthier the better, oh and anything spicy. She can eat a jalapeño
pepper without crying which is a feat she beats me at every time. Um…” there
was a crackling sound as the rune began to fade. “…speaks Spanish, but doesn’t
like…” Silence, and then the words pounded through again. “Only speak English.
And… Dude, I don’t know.”

The
rune began to fade, and I started losing words.

“Crap,”
I whispered.

Ryan’s
voice cuts in. “This is good stuff, I can use this… What else?”

The
rune ended completely, the sound of the echoing pool rushed in my ears like
someone threw a bucket of water at me. The whistle blew and people started
standing up from the two rows of bleachers. I hurried and reapplied both runes,
and then stood in front of it, so no one walking past would see them.

On
the other side of the wall, I could hear people walking past Joe and Ryan. But
they must have moved closer to the wall, because their voices suddenly were a
decibel louder through the rune.

Ryan’s
voice was the first I heard. “Are you sure, man?”

“Dude,
I don’t get why people think we are more than friends,” Joe said. “I don’t like
her that way, she’s like my sister.”

I
wiped the runelight and walked up to the edge of the stands. Meg was standing
with the swim team, a bronze ribbon around her neck. She looked at me and
waved, and I smiled and waved back.

I
took a deep breath. I put my notebook back into my bag, put it on my back and
walked toward the front door. Cynthia and Rachel were right in front of me,
still texting Emily. I read over their shoulder their speculation that Julia
finally got the hint about Chris, and it was about time.

Apparently,
girls like Julia and me are a bit dense when we are hyper-focused on something.
Ryan liked me. Me? I didn’t know how I felt about that, except flattered
really. Kind of validated, if that makes sense. Was it disloyal to investigate
all your options if the person you love doesn’t love you back, at least not
more than as a sister?

As
a freaking sister?

I
walked through the open metal doors. Joe pulled on my sleeve. Ryan was leaning
against the other side of the wall.

I
smiled at both of them. “Hey guys,” I said, walking closer to them.

Cynthia
and Rachel moved past us down the stairs.

“You
missed it, Meg ended up in third,” I said.

“Awesome,”
Joe said. “Hey, I forgot my bag, I’ll be back in a minute.” He left the
hallway, gave Ryan a significant look, and ran his hands through his hair as if
he was worried about something.

“So
Larissa…” Ryan said. I turned to face him, analyzing his face for a second.
This is what it looks like when someone likes you.

I
smiled at him, “So Ryan…”

He
looked at the wall behind me, as if he didn’t really want to look me in the
eye. Avoiding eye contact. Sign number one. He started walking down the hall. I
went with him. “I just downloaded Duck Soup...”

“Marx
Brothers. Brilliant. That’s one of my favorites.”

Ryan
looked at me and smiled. His eyes were dark and he had longer eyelashes than I
do. The hallway was clear of people, we were the last ones there.

“So…
would you like to watch it with me?” he asked.

“Sure,”
I said, “that sounds fun.”

He
looked surprised. “I mean… with just me, like a date, kind of.”

“Alright.”
I didn’t pause before I spoke.

Ryan
smiled. “Really?”

I
tucked a strand of my hair behind my ears, and glanced to where Joe had walked
through the closed metal doors. I touched Ryan’s arm. “I’d like to go out with
you.”

“Tomorrow?”

I
nodded.

I
heard Joe’s footsteps behind me as I turned away from Ryan and started walking.
About a second later, I realized something. Tomorrow was Fee’s birthday.

Way
to pick `em, Ryan.

That
night Meg slept over. I told her my mom was out of town. We sat in the front
room drowning our troubles in Rocky Road. I, of course, had told her everything
that had happened. Meg moved from the ‘go for Joe’ camp to the ‘Ryan’s hot’
camp so quickly, I’m sure she knew Ryan liked me way before I did.

“You
knew,” I said.

Meg
smiled. “Riz, you are the only one who didn’t. Ryan’s liked you since like
third grade.”

“What?”
I said.

“He
took his sweet time about it,” she said, “but yeah, he has.”

This
made me feel, I don’t know, happy. Blind mostly, but happy. That was before I
used any runes, and had self-cut bangs. My estimation of Ryan went up.

Then
with no warning, Joe walked through the front door. I mean walked through the
actual front door with Meg sitting right there.

“Holy...”
Meg said, pulling herself up on the couch. Joe looked at me and neither of us
knew what to do.

 Meg
turned to me. “Did you just see…” She looked back at Joe. “Did you …” She put
her tiny hand over her face. “This is crazy.”

I
sighed, “You’re not crazy, Meg.”

I
pulled out my pinky finger for a pinky swear; Meg looked too shocked to know
what to do.

“You
won’t sell us out to the newspapers, now will you?” I asked.

Meg
put her hands on her lap and looked at me as if I just grew another head. “Us?”

Crap.
My words were caught in my throat. I tried to explain, but the Grandmother’s
hide
rune kept my words from spilling out.

“Megan.”
I put my hand on hers, and she pulled it close to her neck. “Moon Blossom.” Joe
started to move backward, and I pointed at him. “Stay.” There was no way he was
leaving me with this mess he created. “Look, I’m still me, still the girl
you’ve known forever. I may…” my words fought against me. I persisted anyway.
“also just…” I wanted to deny it, hide it, and lie. “kind of be…” But not to
Meg, not anymore, “a Witch.”

Saying
the words brought me a kind of freedom I hadn’t expected. I smiled, and
breathed deeply.

Meg
laughed once in disbelief.

“Okay,”
she said, and then pointed to Joe, “And what are you, a wizard?”

Joe
spoke finally, “we don’t actually know what men are called…”

“Mages,”
I said.

Joe
looked at me. “Really?”

“Yeah,
Giara told me,” I said.

Joe
smiled. “Mages. I like it. It’s got a historical vibe.”

“And
it’s not a fellowship,” I said, “it’s a society.”

“Society
of Mages…” he said.

“Are
you guys serious?” Meg yelled. I turned back to her.

“Meg,
what does that look like to you?” I asked, pointing to the
protection
rune above the front door.

“What,
that painting?” Meg asked. “Your mom painted it right?”

“You
can’t see it glow?” Joe asked.

“What?”
Meg looked confused.

“Like
this.”

I
pointed my finger against my hand and drew the
silence
rune. Meg watched
and coiled back when I reached for her hand and drew the triangle on hers. The
air went stagnant. Meg looked down at her hand.

“I’ve
wanted to tell you for such a long time,” I said. “I’m still the exact same
girl. I’m just not quite as untalented as you thought before.”

Meg
reached up and fingered the small gold cross she wore around her neck.

“It’s
not an evil thing, Meg,” I said, “I didn’t make a pact with the devil or sign
his book or anything crusablic. It’s just a natural hormonal imbalance. There
has been magic on the earth since there have been humans here.”

Meg
looked up. “What’s this,” she put her hand next to her face, the rune facing
me.

“That’s
a rune. It’s an ancient language of marks and dashes that if someone with
runelight does correctly, then something happens. Magic happens. This is a
silence
rune, just me and you are inside it, so no one outside it can hear us.”

“So,
Joe can’t hear us,” she said.

“Nope.”

“That’s
awesome,” she said.

I
smiled. That’s my Meg.

“So
that’s why you guys were always whispering and such good friends,” she said. “I
always thought you two seemed like members of some super secret club. I guess
you are. Are there a lot of you?”

“There
are probably a million or so people around the world, but since there are
several billion people in the world, yeah we are kind of rare,” I said.

“And
there are two in Plymouth,” she said. “And you two are the same age, and
basically the same person.”

“I
am not nearly as obnoxious as Joe is,” I said.

“No,”
she said, smiling, “but you’re close.” She cocked her head; her white blonde
hair fell over her shoulder. “Doesn’t that seem weird?”

I
sat back. “I never thought about that.”

She
continued, “I mean it’s either a miracle…”

“Or
else someone made it happen.” I finished. I turned to Joe.

“Hey!”
I shouted, and then felt like an idiot for a second as I wiped away the
runelight.

Meg
made an appreciative noise as the glittering light fell.

“Joe,”
I said.

“Oh,
you’re talking to me again,” he said. “Sorry, I’m still on the whole Mage
thing.”

“How
many Instincts and Runes do you think there are?” I asked.

“What,
in the whole world?” he asked in return.

“Yeah,”
I said.

“I
don’t know,” he said.

Very
helpful, Joe. “Come on, pattern boy, your whole life you’ve never met another
Witch besides me, so how rare do you think we are?”

“I’d
say…” He closed his eyes and thought for a second, “one in about four million
people.”

“And
there are two of us,” I said. “In Plymouth of all places, and we are almost
exactly the same age.”

“Yeah,”
he smiled. “It’s kind of like a miracle.”

“Or
else like a manipulation,” I said.

“Whoa,”
Joe said, sitting down on the couch next to me. I could tell Meg was taking in
how close Joe was sitting. “You know what, I wonder… When my mom got this job
we were both surprised, because she didn’t apply for it.”

“What?”
I said.

“Yeah,
she was applying for jobs in New Mexico, and we got this random letter and then
moved here about a week later.” Joe ran his fingers through his hair. “I think
you’re right. But what are they trying to manipulate us into doing?”

The
skin on my left hand started feeling warm. I looked down, and my other hand
rubbed against the lines under my skin that held my contract to the Grandmothers.

I
sighed. “I think I know.”