Ordinary Magic (4 page)

Mom sat calmly on a faded wooden kitchen chair like a queen on her throne and waited until everything died down. When it did, she pointed to the space in front of her. I scrambled over. She took my hands. “Abby, look at me.” I looked at her. Her warm brown eyes were serious and steely. “We are not going to sell you to anyone.”

“Then what are you going to do with me?” My voice cracked.

“Oh, my baby,” Mom murmured, and she hugged me close and rocked me as if I were still a little girl. Dad pulled a chair over and tucked me on his lap, and he told me not to worry because he and Mom would always,
always
take care of me.

It was Alexa who finally answered my question. “You’re going to school.”

“I thought I wasn’t allowed to go to school,” I said, leaning into Dad.

“I don’t mean normal school.” She rolled her eyes and tilted her head at me. “Abby, what is my job?”

“I don’t know, you never say anything about it.”

“I do too.”

Olivia shook her head as Gil set out the food. “No, you don’t.”

“You always give us that line about how you’re under contract and you can’t give away any details, like you’re a secret agent or something,” Gil said, taking a seat. “I mean, we know you work for the king, which is really cool, right? And also something with education? That’s all you have ever said.”

“She means a school for ords,” Jeremy said, as if he couldn’t believe that he had to explain something so simple to us. Which is pretty much how he talks all the time.

We all stared at him, except for Alexa, who was grinning. “Are you serious?” I said.

Jeremy sighed and counted it off on his fingers. “It’s not that hard. Okay, we know she works for the king, in education, on something she’s never mentioned until now. Please, think with your brain muscles, people.”

Mom cleared her throat.

“Sorry,” Jeremy added.

A school for ords?
I turned to Alexa. “There’s a school for ords?”

“We’ve kept it pretty quiet,” she said. “Not everyone’s thrilled with the idea of educating ords. Or taking them off the market. But it’s a really nice place. Good kids. Small student body, but we’re working on that.”

A hundred questions pressed down on me. “And you’re going to get me in?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Just like that?”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “What’s this? You doubt me?”

“No.” I grinned. “Not really.”

Alexa looked at Mom and added, “She will have to apply like everyone else. Consider it a formality.”

There was something in the way she said it, as if it really were that simple, that made the tension seep out of the room. Smells rushed in on me, and we all seemed to remember at the same time that there was food not being eaten; platters started
getting passed around. I grabbed a bun out of the bowl before Olivia zapped it over to Dad. It was warm in my hands, and I knew when I pulled it apart it would be sweet and steaming.

“The school year’s almost over,” Alexa continued, sipping her coffee. “So there’s no good in rushing you in now. We do have kids during the summer, but that’s mainly because their families don’t want them back. I think it’d be best to have you start next school year, in the fall.”

“Where exactly, might I ask, is this school that we’re sending our baby sister to?” Jeremy asked, ignoring the eggs spooning themselves onto his plate.

“Rothermere,” Alexa said.

I stopped, a forkful of eggs halfway to my mouth. Mom and Dad glanced at each other.

“Ro—Rothermere?” Jeremy repeated. “But it’s a big city.”

“Can you pass the salt, Gil?” I asked.

“No. You don’t need any salt for those eggs,” Gil said.

“They’re bland,” I insisted.

“I cast those eggs perfectly,” Gil said, holding the salt prisoner. “Can’t expect an ord to know about fine cooking.”

“She’ll be perfectly safe,” Alexa said to Jeremy.

“But she’s
twelve.
You want to send our twelve-year-old sister to Rothermere?” he asked.

I gave Olivia one of those sweet, innocent smiles you perfect when you’re the baby of the family. “Can you pass the salt, Livvy?”

“Of course I will. Anything for you,” Olivia cooed.

Gil stabbed at his plate with his fork and muttered that Olivia was
so
making breakfast next week.

“She’s not going to be alone. It’s not like we’re going to give her a couple bucks and tell her to have a nice life.”

“Mom! Dad!” Jeremy looked to them for intervention. “You’re not serious.”

Olivia laughed. “You didn’t throw this much fuss when I went up there.”

“That’s because he likes Abby better than you,” Gil told her.

Which isn’t true. Not really. Jeremy’s just protective. I mean, they all are—that happens when you’re the baby of the family by
a lot
. Jeremy was the baby for five years before I came along, and I think he was getting a little sick of it. So when I showed up, he latched on to the big-brother role with a vengeance.

Just so you know, Rothermere’s not that big a deal. It’s not like I’d never been to the capital city. Actually, it’s one of the few places I have been, with Alexa living there and Olivia visiting all the time, too, for school. We made pretty regular trips, including a few special girls-only, shopping-sleepover weekends.

But Rothermere was still
Rothermere
, where the Royal Court was. Where King Steve lived and ruled and judged.

Of course, there’s more than just the court—though that’s enough. There are living trees that tangle up anything that strays too close, swallowing them in a knot of roots and branches. There are tame wyverns and wild dragons. There are Black Ladies or Red Ladies or White Ladies, who will devour you or give you gifts, depending on their mood. (Come to think
of it, most of the rumors I heard about Rothermere were about either stuff you could eat, or stuff that could eat you.) There are Svar bishops and Majid traders, and coffee shops on every corner, and noise and carpets and people everywhere, all the time.

“What about the bazaar people?” Jeremy retorted. “Didn’t you just tell us how certain people want to get their hands on ords? How valuable is she?”

“Not that bizarre,” Gil said. “If she’s worth something.”

“She’s worth a lot,” Alexa said.

“No, not ‘strange’ bizarre, I mean ‘festival’ bazaar, the festival auction people,” Jeremy sputtered.

Olivia let out a satisfied
mmmm.
“He’s so
cute
when he can’t talk.” Fuming, Jeremy chucked a roll at her head. She froze it halfway, then pushed it out of the way as she leaned over to pinch his cheeks. “And such a
sweetie
. How is it you don’t have a girlfriend?”

“
Mom!
”

“Olivia,” Mom said mildly, and Olivia flashed back into her seat.

“We’re talking about Abby here,” Jeremy continued.

“He has a point,” Alexa said.

“He does?” Olivia asked.

Gil slapped Jeremy on the back. “All right, way to go, first time.”

Alexa ignored them and addressed Mom and Dad. “You are going to want to keep an eye on her, whenever anybody new comes into town. Some people don’t take no for an answer.”

“If you don’t mind my asking,” Jeremy kept going, “what is the point of sending her to this school? I mean, what’s Abby going to learn there that she can’t learn here? That the Guild won’t be able to teach her?”

Gil started laughing. “‘What’s the
point
?’ Jeremy, you’re going to be the worst teacher ever.”

“That’s not what I’m saying!” Jeremy’s face was going red again. “I’m saying I don’t get what’s wrong with Abby staying here. With
us.
She could work for the Guild, as a job, and we could protect her. Alexa, of all people,
you
should know what their lives are like. What their life expectancy is.”

“Jeremy,” Mom said in a harsh voice.

“If you knew anything about ords, which you don’t because you live in this perfect little bubble,” Alexa said, her anger making the magic in the air sizzle and the room start to creak in toward her, “you would know that life expectancy is directly related to ord lifestyle. Of course they’re going to”—she glanced at me—“wear out young when they’re dragged all over the place, barely fed, and forced to jump through booby-trapped hoops every day of the year. That’s not what’s going to happen to Abby. I won’t let it.”

Jeremy wasn’t deterred. “She’s not going to be able to do anything on her own.”

“I’m right here,” I said.

“Exactly,” Alexa shot back, stabbing an angry finger on the table. “She needs to learn how to survive.”

Alexa leaned forward and spoke very clearly. “Abby won’t be
able to get an education anywhere else. What, are you going to talk Thorten into taking her? Teach her all your little sparkly tricks? I’m sure that will do her a lot of good. At this school Abby will be able to learn how to live without magic.” She put her elbows on the table and rubbed her eyes. “I never thought I’d have to give this speech to my own family. I didn’t mean it like that, Abby,” she added quickly. “It’s just frustrating hitting up against the same walls over and over again.”

“That’s just Jeremy,” Gil said. “He’s frustrating in general.” He reached over and whacked Jeremy on the back of the head.

Mom smiled at Dad. “Has she really been working there four years? When did we get so old?”

“You? Never.” Dad leaned in to kiss her. “You never get old,” he said, kissing her again. “You’re still as pretty as the day we met.”

Olivia rolled her eyes dramatically, and Gil covered his face with his hands, like we all do whenever Mom and Dad start making kissy faces at each other. “Do you have to start that again?” Gil demanded. “We don’t need another brother or sister. Wasn’t Abby enough of a surprise?”

Dad kissed Mom again—a dipping, smacking one that had us all groaning.

Alexa waited until the embarrassing display was over, then took a deep breath. “What Abby needs to learn,” she said, “is that being an ord doesn’t shut you off from life. It changes the way you go about it.”

Jeremy opened his mouth to start backup, but Mom cut him
off. “Enough. Your father and I will discuss all of our options and decide what is best for Abby. And you”—she turned to me—“hurry up and eat. You still have school today. Your
other
school.”

I never realized how many people said hello to me until that morning, when they didn’t. People shut up when I approached, and started talking again when I passed (
you’d never guess, the rest of her family is all fine
), as if their not being able to see me prevented me from hearing them.

I got to school right ahead of our teacher. Most of the other kids were talking in a big clump in the front of class. Billy Peterson also got Judged yesterday and things turned out a lot better for him. He was giving a play-by-play, and the other kids were caught up enough that I was able to sneak over to my seat.

A moment later the bell chimed and Mrs. Andrews appeared by her desk, all sunshine and violet petals. Everyone rushed to their places. I could tell when they noticed me because the whole room went quiet. Billy Peterson froze in the aisle when he saw me. He glanced at the teacher, then squeezed past me to his seat and shoved himself as far up against the wall as he could.

“Good morning, class. And how are we all today?” Mrs.
Andrews was a short woman with frizzy hair and the kind of singsongy voice that makes your ears bleed. “I hope we are all feeling very productive today. I understand congratulations are in order for William—”

Billy stuck his hand up in the air and waved it around until it almost popped out. “Mrs. Andrews? Abby Hale came to school today.”

Mrs. Andrews glanced over at me, blinked once, twice, then tilted her head to the side.

Billy Peterson raised his hand again. “Also, Mrs. Andrews? My parents sent in a note about that, just in case. They’d like you to change my seat.”

Mrs. Andrews skimmed the note. “Thank you, William, but I do not think that will be necessary.”

I stuck my tongue out at him.

“The ord will come here. Everyone else, it is time for your examination.”

I eased to my feet and headed up to the front, not believing what I had just heard. Mrs. Andrews vanished the textbooks from the desks, replacing them with test papers and pencils while I stood waiting. When the rest of the kids were working, she turned to me. “Ord—”

“It’s
Abby
.”

Mrs. Andrews blinked, and I noticed her knuckles clenched white on the desk. It had come out a lot stronger than I meant. “Er … yes, I think you should go home now. This is an important time for you, and your family needs to reflect on what next to do.”

“That’s all right. I’d rather be in school.”

“You have been through an ordeal. You need time to rest and reflect.”

“Not according to my parents,” I said.

“I am sure your parents would agree with me. I will put a note in your bag.”
A note to my parents?
I was being sent home with a note to my parents. “It will explain everything. I am sure they will decide what is best for you. Please clear out your things from your cubby before you leave.”

“I’m not coming back? Am I getting kicked out of school?” I asked.

Mrs. Andrews stood and mimed putting an arm around my shoulders. “Come along … child, I will help you gather your things.”

She didn’t help at all. She opened the portal and called out the cubbies, then stood there watching me as I got my lunch and cleared out my shelf of old papers. Before she sent away the portal, she pulled in the rest of the shelves around my now empty one until it folded out of existence.