Secret Magic, page 4
part #1 of Nobledark Academy Series
“We don’t restrict your visits home, Olivia,” she said warmly.
“Well, I haven’t made any visits home outside of our regularly scheduled breaks, so I wanted to check,” I said.
“As long as you inform staff that you’re going home, you are free to go whenever you like,” Madame Karathos said.
“That’s good to know. I’ll be going home this weekend, then,” I said, feeling some of my anxiety lesson. Only some. Part of me had hoped she’d tell me I couldn’t go.
“All right. If we don’t see you for class on Monday, we’ll go looking for you.”
“Okay,” I said.
“That wasn’t a joke, Olivia. We take your presence here seriously. Don’t miss class.” She gave me an intense look. “Was there anything else?”
I shook my head. “No. I’ll be back on Sunday.”
“Excellent. Enjoy your weekend, then.” She went back to the papers on her desk.
“Thank you,” I said, backing toward the door.
And that had been it. Although it was kind of scary that she said if I wasn’t back on Monday, they’d come looking for me. I put that aside for the time being. I had enough shit to worry about, I thought with a grin.
This week had also allowed me to relax a little. Both Jade and Thalia told me that I needed to take the stick out of my backside, and then no one would even look twice at me. I hated that the answer was so simple. What I really hated was that I was too caught up in my head to see it. They were right. I focused on my classes, and put the worry in a box, only to be taken out at night when I couldn’t sleep. I wanted no visitors from the dreamscape, no callbacks from Marbys. The worry about it was worse than anything, it seemed. The rest of the day, I forced it into the box. I found, though, that for the first time since I’d come to Nobledark, I was less rigid with some of the principles. My seemingly easy flexibility worried me. Hopefully, my parents could help with this.
What if they didn’t know, though? What if they’d adopted me and had no idea who I really was? I’d called my mom yesterday to let her know I was coming home.
“Olivia! How nice to hear from you, sweetie. I figured we wouldn’t hear from you for a while!”
“I wanted to come home this weekend, if that’s all right,” I said.
“Of course, sweetie. I can’t wait to see you.” There was a question in Mom’s voice.
“Okay. I’ll be leaving soon.”
“Great. Love you,” Mom said. She didn’t ask why.
“Love you, too,” I said, feeling uncomfortable. “See you later.” I ended the call. I didn’t know what to say to her. I still didn’t know what to say, or how I was going to bring this up.
The door to my room opened, and Thalia and Jade came in.
“Ready?” Jade asked.
“I am,” I said.
“We’ll walk you down,” Thalia said.
“You don’t have to,” I protested, but they ignored me, and walked back into the hallway, looking over their shoulders expectantly.
On the way to the portal room, I asked, “So what do you know about Matty Pearce?” I hoped I sounded casual.
They both turned to look at me.
Thalia said, “He’s hot. But he’s also really nice. I’ve seen him stand up for people who he thinks aren’t being treated fairly.”
“That is nice,” I said, thinking about it.
“Yeah, he plays rugby. You should come and watch a game. You know, if it didn’t get in the way of studying,” Jade added.
I laughed. “Is that a dig at my study habits?”
“Yes! Absolutely! You have no life, Olivia!” Thalia laughed.
“Maybe I’ll go with you, then. Since I think it’s time for me to have a life,” I said.
Jade stopped. “You are feeling bad, aren’t you? Should we stop at the school nurse?”
“Whatever,” I waved her away and kept walking.
They both caught up with me.
“Seriously, what is wrong? I think you’re sick,” Jade said.
“No, I’m just expanding my horizons,” I said. “What’s up with Levi?”
Her face softened at the mention of his name. Jade and Levi had been dating since before they’d come to Nobledark. “He’s fabulous. What else would he be?”
Thalia rolled her eyes.
I laughed. “You live enough for both of us.”
“No, I don’t. There’s more to life than books. And of everyone I know, you’re like a shoo-in for Judicial or whatever branch of Enforcement or the Concilium you want,” Jade said. “So maybe there’s some room to lighten up.”
“I’m going to try,” I said. I had to. Otherwise, I would go crazy. The last three weeks had taught me that, if nothing else.
“Name?” The portal guide at the door asked.
“Olivia Washington,” I said.
She consulted a clipboard. “You’re on here. Go on in.”
I turned to hug Jade and then Thalia. “I’ll see you in a couple of days,” I said.
“Good luck,” Jade said.
Then I walked into the portal room. It was like something you’d see in a science fiction movie in the human world. But it was the easiest way to travel, and it cut down on the time it took to get long distances. My parents lived in New York city, which was nearly one thousand miles away. They lived in a quiet building on Minetta Street near Greenwich Village, with a large deck off of the living room. My mom had a greenhouse, and an extensive raised garden along the deck. We’d lived there my entire life—they’d never leave it. I loved it.
Our portal spot was set in the greenhouse, as there were tall plants and small trees that covered most of what people, meaning all our non-magical neighbors, might see. I walked through from the school portal into the greenhouse, and then out onto the deck. “Mom?” I called out.
The door to the kitchen opened. Mom stood in the doorway. “Olivia!” She held her arms open, and I walked into them.
Immediately, the anxiety and nerves settled. It was always like this with my mom. I found that I was worried, because what if they knew about Iliana? What if they didn’t? Would they disown me? There were so many questions. But being in her arms calmed them all for a moment.
Mom pulled away. “I’m so glad you decided to come home.” She peered at me. “What’s wrong?”
“Where’s Dad?” I asked, walking into the living room.
“He’s in his office,” she said, gesturing toward the other side of the apartment. It was a two-room apartment, and they’d kept my room for me, even though I was at school most of the year. Dad had a weird bump out in the master bedroom, not quite a closet, but deep enough to put a desk and shelves. He’d put a screen around it and made it his office.
“Roger!” Mom called out. “Olivia’s home!”
A muffled response from the bedroom, and then Dad came out into the living room. “Sweetie,” he said, opening his arms to me just as Mom had. I hugged him, and I could feel the tears in my eyes. How could these people, Patricia and Roger Washington, not be my parents?
“Okay, what’s happened?” Dad asked.
“How do you know something’s happened?” I replied.
He frowned at me. “You love school. You are a complete nerd, love you though I do. You love the competitiveness, the drive, the way they push you. Your mom and I would have never lasted at that place,” he continued. “But we allowed you to apply and then go there because we knew you would. And now you’re home, and I can tell that you’ve been frowning a lot. So what’s happened?”
I sighed. “All right. I’ll just ask. Who is Iliana Karidias?”
The transformation of my parents was amazing. Dad’s mouth fell open, and Mom started to cry.
“Where did you hear that name?” Dad asked.
Sitting down on the couch, I said, “I heard it when I was in Hell. I got pulled there in the dreamscape, by a demon named Marbys, also sometimes known as Rafael. He wanted something I’d found. The Persephone’s Blood stone. A big, dark red jewel looking thing. When he took it from me, and put it together with two other stones, a woman appeared. She told me her name was Iliana Karidias.”
Mom took a deep breath, her hand on her chest. She looked down, and then she met my gaze. Her eyes glittered. Finally, she spoke. “And that you are her daughter,” Mom said, tears streaming down her face.
I nodded.
Mom and Dad sat down across from me, Dad putting his arm around Mom. “Olivia, come and sit with us.”
“Why?” I asked, feeling stubborn and angry.
“Because we’re a family. You meeting Iliana doesn’t change that.”
“What happened?” I asked quietly, not moving.
They looked at each other, a lifetime of conversation passing between them, and then Dad kissed Mom’s forehead. Together, they both turned to look at me.
Mom said, “I knew Iliana because I’d met her when I was traveling in Greece, the summer before I graduated.” Both Mom and Dad attended Wintersea Academy. “Gran wanted me to get out, to make sure that Roger was the one,” she patted Dad’s hand, “And she let me choose where I wanted to go. I loved all the Greek mythology, both in the human world and our world, so Greece it was. I was on a tiny beach in Capri. It wasn’t really a beach, but you could use ladders to go down to the water, and I was swimming in late afternoon. It was near the Blue Grotto, which is a famous cave in Capri.”
“The birthplace of the sirens,” I said. I’d looked up everything I could about sirens since meeting Iliana. Grotto Azzurra, or the Blue Grotto, was where they supposedly came from. I’d discovered all this for research purposes. That’s what I told myself, anyway.
Mom nodded. “And I saw this girl swimming out of the grotto. You’re not allowed to swim there. The tides are too tricky, and people can get killed. That doesn’t stop people from trying, however. But that day, there was no one around, other than the two of us. Which was odd. Anyway, as I watched her, she swam along the surface, and then I saw her dive into the water. And at the end of the dive, instead of legs, she had a tail.”
“I didn’t think sirens had tails, like mermaids,” I said.
“Sirens can be many things,” Dad said. “They can shift into half human, half fish, and some are able to shift into bird form. It depends.”
“On what?” I asked.
Mom waved her hand at both of us. “Don’t get stuck in the details, you guys. Seeing someone flip a tail made me wonder if I’d gotten too much sun, or had one too many drinks, but I swam after her. She swam to the same beach I’d been at, down below a restaurant on the cliff. And when she came out of the water, she had feet like anyone else,” Mom smiled suddenly. “I didn’t swim as fast as she did, but I used a little push to get me to the beach, and I caught up with her before she started up the stairs. She wasn’t happy,” Mom looked at Dad, and they both laughed. “Not even a little. But I pestered her, and she decided that hexing me wasn’t going to be required. That was the beginning of our friendship,” she said.
Dad sighed. “What you have to understand is that Iliana, as the only heir to the Karidias family, didn’t go to school. Not Darklight, not any school. There are three siren families that are not required to send their daughters to Darklight, or anywhere else, for that matter. The Karidias are one of them. They’ve got some kind of arrangement with the Concilium,” Dad said. “This isn’t something that’s widely known, Olivia. We only know because Iliana told us.”
I got up and walked to look out over the deck, too restless to sit still. “What does Iliana Karidias have to do with me?” I knew what they were going to say, but I wanted to hear them say it.
“You are her daughter,” Mom said again. “She came to us, when you were maybe three, or four months old?”
I turned around to see Mom taking Dad’s hand. Dad nodded. “If that,” he said.
“She was worried, and afraid. We hadn’t seen her much over the past year. The siren families are very tight knit, and they don’t encourage a lot of socialization,” Mom said. “She showed up at our door with you in her arms. To say that I was surprised is an understatement. I didn’t even know she was pregnant.”
“She asked us if we could look after you,” Dad said. “Patty asked her why she didn’t leave you with her parents, but Iliana shook her head and said it wasn’t safe.”
“Which made all the red flags go up,” Mom said. “But she said she’d only be gone a couple of days. She told us that she had to get something, some artifact, that would make you safe. Of course we said yes,” she smiled.
“Why didn’t she come back?”
Dad shrugged. “We didn’t know.”
“Why didn’t you get in touch with her family?” I asked.
“She was very specific. She said that no matter what, we were not to contact her family. I thought she understood the problems she was dealing with more than we did,” Mom said.
“So you just kept me?”
Mom nodded. “It’s what Iliana wanted. She said if it took her a little longer, not to worry. So we didn’t.” She shrugged. “We trusted her.”
“And you eventually adopted me?”
Dad nodded. “We did. She arranged everything. And we were so happy to be able to do it.”
“You never heard from her again?” I asked.
“We heard from her lawyer. That’s it,” Mom said. “I’ve never heard from her or seen her since the day she brought you to us.” She wiped at her eyes.
I sat back on the couch, feeling both sad and dissatisfied. “What did she tell you about my father?”
“She never told us anything, honey.” Mom reached across and took my hand. “I wish I could tell you more, but I can’t.”
“The box!” Dad got up.
“What?” I asked.
“She left you something,” Dad called over his shoulder.
“What is it?” I asked Mom.
“I don’t know,” she said. “You’ll see why in a minute.”
Dad came back out with a small box, made of shell. There was a shiny shell on the top, and a bright silver clasp below the shiny shell. He handed it to me.
“You never looked in it?” I asked.
They both shook their heads. “You have to use your blood to open it. Poke your finger with a pin, and then press it on the clasp,” Mom said.
“That’s seriously gross,” I said.
“Hey, don’t shoot the messenger,” Dad said.
Mom got up and brought me a thumbtack. I poked at my finger and squeezed it. A drop of bright red blood bubbled up. I pressed it against the silver clasp, and the clasp popped open.
“Both kind of cool and gross,” I said.
“Open it,” Mom said, leaning forward.
I slowly opened the box, not sure if I wanted to see what was in it. A small bag was the only thing in the box. I opened the bag, and a ring fell out. With it came the smell of the sea, which made no sense. But I felt like I was back at Montauk, where my parents took me every summer.
It was old looking, with a thick shank of gold. The decorative part was a red bead. The bead spun on the ring, and I could see that there was a carving in the bead. I held it up to get a better look, and I could see that the carving wasn’t modern—the woman-bird figure looked like something you’d see in a museum.
“May I?” Mom asked.
I handed it to her wordlessly.
She spun the ring, looking carefully at it. Dad leaned closer to her to get a look.
“This is an old version of a siren,” Dad said.
As if the truth—my truth—wasn’t clear enough.
Mom handed it back. “Put it on.”
I didn’t take the ring from her, shrinking back into the sofa. “Why?”
Chapter Six
“Because it’s yours. Iliana wanted you to have it. Go on,” Mom said, her voice more forceful than it normally was.
I reached for the ring and waited to see if it would zap me or something like that. Nothing happened. Feeling silly, I took it and slid it on my index finger on my right hand. The bead rolled as I moved it down my finger, and I could feel the engraving of the siren as the bead moved.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I could feel my anger, and all the stress of the last three weeks rising inside me like a tidal wave.
“Because we felt like there was no need to. Particularly once we realized that you were a competent witch. There was no reason to endanger you,” Mom said.
“My entire life has been a lie,” I said through gritted teeth. The ringing in my ears became a high-pitched whine.
“No, it has not. You’re our daughter. That will never change,” Dad said firmly. His cheeks reddened as his mouth tightened. “You are also the daughter of Iliana Karidias. I don’t know what happened to her, but she sacrificed a lot to make sure you were safe. Did it make our lives wonderful? Yes. Have we spent the last nineteen years wondering what the hell happened to her, someone that was our friend, someone we cared for? Yes. Have we been worried about what might happen to you? Absolutely. None of this has been wonderful for any of us, Olivia. Get out of your own way long enough to see that.”
Mom and I stared at him. This was not his normal manner of addressing problems.
“You didn’t want me?” I asked.
Dad rolled his eyes. “You’re smarter than that. Of course we wanted you. Even before we adopted you, we didn’t want to give you up. We love you. We always have. But it doesn’t change the fact that your mother was taken from you, from her life. And until this moment, we didn’t know what happened to her.” He rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. He looked tired.
I looked down, feeling tears well in my eyes. My throat hurt. I couldn’t speak. Then Mom sat down next to me. “We have loved you since the moment Iliana left you with us.”
“Why did she leave me?” I asked, my head still down.
Mom put her arm around me. “I don’t know, honey. I know that she was worried. In all the years I knew her, she was easy going, and didn’t get fussed over much.”
“She’s a hard ass now,” I said, remembering the steely determination I’d seen in Hell.
