Illicit Magic (21 page)

It felt like I stood there forever when Kitty came over and slipped her arm around me. If she had been a bit taller, I would have rested my head on her shoulder. Instead, she put another arm around my front, linked her hands together and hugged me. I breathed deeply, more puzzled than ever.

EIGHT

Kitty unlinked her hands and turned me around so that she could take me by the shoulders and look at me with her beautiful almond eyes. “Are you okay?” she asked.

I nodded, mute.

“Marc can be an idiot. Rash and foolish and sometimes he really doesn’t know what he wants. It’s not a reflection on you.” Kitty kept her hands on my shoulders but without pressure. “I’m going to tell you some things that you might not want to hear and some things that you don’t know yet. You’ll probably wonder why, but I have to tell you these things because I want to be your friend and I want you to be mine. If I don’t tell you these things and we talk about Marc, and you find these things out later, you’ll wonder if I’ve been malicious. I want you to know that I’m not like that and I don’t want to interfere where I’m not wanted.”

“Okay,” I agreed, curious. She had been friendly to me since my arrival and I wondered what it was that was important enough to make her look so solemn.

Kitty smiled, nodded, and took her hands off my shoulders. She slipped her arm through mine, patted my hand and led me off down the beach, away from the party. The first thing she said should have shocked me.

“I know I said Marc and I grew up together, but what I didn’t say was that we were once together-together too. It seems like a long time ago now. We were quite young and it lasted for several years. We were getting to grips with the things we, well, I could do and we naturally drifted towards each other. He was very handsome and charming even then.” Kitty smiled to herself but didn’t look at me. “I loved him very, very much and thought he loved me too. We broke up two, no, three years ago.”

“Why did you break up?”

“He had a roving eye,” Kitty said simply. “We both had to follow different paths. I had to learn to get my talents under control and Marc needed to learn other things, like how to defend our kind. I think he also had some problems dealing with his lack of magic. I thought faithfulness was implicit, even though we were so young. Perhaps we were too young. I don’t think his parents ever thought I was quite good enough either. Anyway, regardless of the reasons, Marc slept with other women and I found out the hard way.”

“I’m sorry. Did he break up with you?”

Kitty laughed and I was startled. “No. No. I broke it off with him. He was very upset and said he would change, but I’d had enough. I think he genuinely meant to change, but the damage was already done. I loved him for a long time and he tried to prove himself to me for a long time afterwards. I’ll grant him that. It was very hard and so awful and, to be perfectly honest, we’re still not too happy with each other.”

I absorbed this information. It made sense. They were civil to each other but never alone together. “Why are you telling me?”

“So that you understand why Marc is how he is. So you can make your decisions wisely.”

I nodded and understood that Kitty was implying that she didn’t want me to get hurt as she had. I would have my eyes wide open if I wanted to pursue Marc. Thing is, I wasn’t sure I wanted to in a romantic way. I wanted him to be my friend. As far as trees went, Kitty was barking up the wrong one. Clarity hit me like a ten tonne truck and I embraced it like an old friend.

“After we split up, and Marc gave up trying to win me back, he started seeing other people but never really dated. You’re the first girl he’s been interested in for a very long time and he told me that he cares for you a lot. Don’t be startled, we don’t discuss you. That would be too weird, but he mentioned one night how much he cares for you.” Kitty squeezed my hand. “However, Marc is still Marc and can still be a dumbass. A jealous one, too. You get that, right?”

I nodded, feeling more confused than ever. “I think so.”

“Marc isn’t the easiest person when it comes to relationships. I don’t know what he wants. I’m not entirely sure he knows what he wants.” Kitty shrugged her shoulders. “But if you’re hanging around wishing and waiting for him to sort himself out, and I’m not saying you are, well, that isn’t right or fair to you or him. I don’t want him to mess you about since you’re a bright and beautiful girl who deserves honesty and love and faithfulness.”

“We’re not together,” I blurted out. “I knew Marc liked me, I guess, and I like him too, but nothing’s happened. Just now, he was acting like an ass and then he warned me off Evan.”

We stopped walking and Kitty gave me a sympathetic look. We altered our course slightly and headed down to the water edge. Kitty tiptoed in the water and waited for me, the waves lapping over her feet. “It’s warm,” she said, and after a moment added, “sort of.”

I slipped off my sandals one at a time and followed her in. The lukewarm sea felt delicious against my skin. We stood there for a while looking out at the horizon and I let the peacefulness of the scenery wash over me and calm my insides until I got to the point where I no longer harboured vaguely violent thoughts towards Marc anymore.

Kitty held my hand as we walked back towards our beach and I felt relaxed, strolling through the shallows with the girl that I knew was honestly my friend.

“That’s Marc for you,” she said. “He doesn’t know what he wants, but he wants to make sure you’ll still be around when he makes up his mind. I’m sorry if you’re hurting.”

“I’m confused. I thought we were friends and maybe there might have been something.” It felt weird to be spilling about Marc to his ex; I just had to remind myself that Kitty was my friend too. “But he just snapped. He asked me why I was flirting with Evan and got all cross; then told me I could do whatever I wanted and he would soon be gone for a while. I don’t quite know what to make of it.”

“Were you flirting with Evan?”

“No. I don’t know. Maybe.” I sighed.
Of course, I was flirting with him
, but there was no way I was going to tell Kitty that Evan made my heart flutter like a million butterflies awakening every time I saw him. “We’ve been spending a lot of time together. Well, we have to, he’s my teacher, but I do like him. What did he mean about Evan not being like us? I keep getting hints and I don’t know what it means. And if Marc is so interested, why doesn’t he just make a move?”

“You could go ask Marc,” Kitty suggested. “Go up to the house. Everyone else is down here.”

Ahead of us, our patch of beach was back in view. Someone had strung up a volleyball net and a game was starting up. The ball sailed through the air and I saw Seren leap up to smack it back over the net. She hadn’t struck me as the athletic type but I revised my opinion when I saw her long, lean limbs.

Kitty was right. I probably should talk to him.
I didn’t want Marc to leave with any bad blood between us but I wasn’t sure what I was going to say.

“I think I’ll do that.” I paused to give Kitty a hug, which was part of the new making-friends me, and she reciprocated warmly before giving me a push towards the steps. It took me a few minutes to climb the steps and cross the garden.

I entered the house through the screened back door and called for Marc. He didn’t answer so I went up to my room. In the weeks before he left, we’d spent quite a few evenings talking in here, curled up on the window seat, as it was a bit more quiet than in his room downstairs. He’d taken to leaving some things too; a sweater, a book or two. Everything was gone. I sat on the bed and looked around. Not one scrap of Marc was left, he may well have never been in my room.

I went back out to the hallway and walked down the stairs to Marc’s room. He wasn’t there either, but the things he had left in my room had been recklessly tossed onto the dresser, so I backtracked to the hall.

Opening the front door, I ducked around the side of the building where the cars were kept – Marc’s Prius was gone. To have vanished so fast, he must have already been packed, ready to go, when he caught up with me on the beach. At least, that solved the problem of what I would say to him. Apparently, it would be nothing at all. It was probably a good thing considering the way I was feeling. At least, I wouldn’t say something that I might regret later.

Back in the house, I shut the front door with a thud and rested against it for a moment. I took the stairs two at a time and went into my room to pick up a shawl.
I’d probably need it if the night turned cold later.
Then it occurred to me that the other girls might need something too so I gathered up an armful and tossed them into a straw bag that was lounging empty on the landing.
At least, I had an excuse for coming back to the house,
I thought as I left via the back door.

I puzzled the whole scenario over in my head again.
Sure, Marc and I had been getting close but neither one of us had made any move and he had no right to think that he had some kind of say over whom I spoke to
. I felt myself getting angrier as I ran down the steps.

“Hey!” Seren called as I stepped onto the beach. “Where’d ya go?”

I held up the bag. “I thought we might get cold later, so I went to fetch some shawls from the house.”

“You are sweetness, personified,” grinned Seren, making room for me on the big towel on which she lay spread-eagled. Kitty waved to me from the makeshift pitch and Étoile tossed the volleyball towards me. I dropped the bag and caught the ball without hesitation, to Étoile’s delight.

Seren laughed, “I think you’ve just been conscripted which is a good thing because the girls are losing.” She waved her scorecard at me.

I slipped out of my sandals again and tossed the ball back. “I’m in!”

The game went on for a couple of hours. Kitty, Étoile and I versus Evan, Jared and Clara – we were the stay hards. From time to time, David or Seren joined in and dropped out – mostly they seemed happy to stick with each other’s company and I wondered if there weren’t some budding romance there. I watched Kitty’s lithe body leap through the air to smash the ball back and we hugged and high fived as she scored another point for the team.

When it came to Evan’s turn to serve, he stretched his long, muscular body to whack the ball over to our side. I was sure I wasn’t the only one admiring his thick biceps, broad shoulders, bare chest and strong legs. The ball had gone to Kitty’s side so she hit it back to Evan. They parried until the ball fell on our side and Evan stretched again. As he caught my eye and held my gaze, I realised I hadn’t looked at anyone else and wondered if his stretching was for my benefit.
Yum.

“Close your mouth,” whispered Étoile, bumping me gently and I laughed as I looked away. When I turned back, Evan grinned at me, then I had to race to bash the ball that was hurtling towards me and him and he laughed as he smashed it back with ease.

While we played, the sun started going down and the sky faded to dusky blue. David and Seren had been gathering driftwood for a little firepit Jared had dug where a newly ignited fire burned. He and David were poking it with sticks to the amusement of Seren who was singing “me man, make fire” until she was scooped up by Jared, who ran her around as though she were a victory prize. After a couple of rounds, she was tossed unceremoniously onto the pitch still clutching her scorecard. She scrambled to her feet and called time, waving her hands for us all to stop whilst we clamoured for the result.

“Much as it pains me to say this,” she gasped, brushing the sand from her body. “The boys are the winners.”

A whoop went up from the boys with “false” cries from the girls.

“I propose a swim, because I’m hot and sticky and the sea will cool us down before we eat.” This was met with unanimous approval but Seren didn’t wait to hear it as she grabbed Kitty’s hand and they ran into the sea before you could say “go.” Again, I admired Kitty’s lithe, unselfconscious body in the red two-piece.

I was still wearing my sundress, so I carefully unbuttoned it from the top to the skirt and slipped it off. Fortunately, I’d already put on the white bikini and the straps had stayed taut. I went to hang it over the net so I would find it after the swim and discovered Evan still standing there.

I mistakenly thought he’d headed to the shoreline already but he had, quite obviously, watched me as I slowly unbuttoned my dress in front of him.

“I didn’t know you were there,” I mumbled. I fought to keep my cool as I saw his chest heave while he scanned my almost naked body. He didn’t say anything. “I’ve never swum in the sea before,” I admitted to fill the silence and Evan held out his hand.

“I’ll take care of you.”

I hesitated, then laid my hand in his as he pulled me into the sea after him until we were up to our hips. It wasn’t warm but not unbearably cold so far out so I pushed off and swam tentative strokes. Ahead of me, Evan swung his arms into more powerful strokes then his legs flipped into the air and he disappeared. I treaded water for a moment, moving myself in a circle to see where he was, then, as suddenly as he disappeared, he surfaced, just inches in front of me.

Sea water trickled down his face and he brushed it away with a hand. I was close enough that everyone else seemed to disappear, and it was just the two of us, treading water. I was glad he couldn’t hear my heart quickening its pace. He reached out and brushed my damp hair behind my ears, his fingers grazing my cheeks and not moving. I was close enough to lean in and kiss him. In the mere second the idea crossed my mind, my lips parted in anticipation; he splashed me with water and I laughed before he slid back under the water.

He reappeared next to Jared and they jostled, trying to dunk each other and splashing water at Kitty, making her laugh, before racing each other through the waves.

Étoile had swum over and was treading water next to me, mouthing, “hot, hot, hot” which made me laugh and we swam together before heading to shore. Kitty was waiting for us with towels. Étoile grabbed one and another for Seren.