Conflicted: Keegan's Chronicles (11 page)

“I’m too nervous to eat,” Anna replied,
yanking the shirt over her tank top.

Narrowing her eyes, her mother said, “I’ll
get you a granola bar and some OJ.”

Anna was so nervous she could hardly sit
still on the drive. Her mom had plugged the address into the GPS so
she wouldn’t get lost, so she was able to arrive promptly and with
a minimal of effort.

Anna pulled up to the house and put the car
in Park, and stared.
You have to be kidding me.

There was a mini-van parked in the driveway
and a white picket fence, complete with flowers, surrounding a two
story ranch home. It was not at all what Anna had expected. She
thought it would be some cool hidden house off the beaten path,
maybe bats in the attic and cobwebs on the front porch.

Not Suzie Homemaker in the suburbs.

One last look in the mirror and she jumped
out and headed for the door with her stomach in knots.

She rang the doorbell.

A stereotypical soccer mom answered. The
woman had short, wavy dull brown hair, and a plain face. Her nose
was slightly too large, her lips were thin, and her eyes were too
close together. She did have a beautiful smile that somehow
smoothed over the flaws. She was even in soccer mom clothes: a
matching pink velour jumpsuit.

“You must be Anna,” she said with a lovely
smile. Please, come in.” She held the door open to allow Anna to
pass through.

Anna knew she was staring at the light witch
but she couldn’t help it. It was so far from what she’d thought
that she couldn’t wrap her head around it.

Magdalena laughed as she closed the door
behind Anna. “You look surprised. Not quite what you expected?”

“Umm, I’m not sure what I expected, but
you’re right. I am a little surprised.”

“Were you expected something more along the
lines of this?” Magdalena snapped her fingers and was replaced
instantly by a beautiful woman with long dark hair, perfectly
proportioned face, and a smile that could light up the room. She
still looked similar to the woman that opened the door, just a
beautiful version. She was wearing a long flowing black robe, with
purple and gold cords hanging off her neck.

“Yes, I expected you to look exactly like
that.” Anna’s cheeks flushed a deep red.

“It’s okay, Anna. I have just toned myself
down to blend better with the humans. When I am home and the doors
are locked this is how I look in my true form. Let’s go into the
den.”

Anna followed her into the den, looking
around the immaculate house still in awe by what had
transpired.

Magdalena’s home was pretty normal. Her
walls were painted in warm earth tones and her furniture was a
mish-mash of well-worn antiques. Beautiful nature paintings adorned
the walls, lit by the overabundance of natural light that came
through the windows. It was pretty and serene. She still had a flat
screen television in front of the couch and a laptop on a corner
desk.

Magdalena gestured for Anna to sit at the
large wooden table as they passed through a swinging door into the
kitchen. “Would you like something to drink? I have iced tea and
sodas.”

“Iced tea would be great.”

The light witch drifted to the refrigerator
on silent feet, pulling out a pitcher of dark tea. She filled a
glass and sat it before Anna with a plate of cookies.

“Anna, I would like you to show me what you
can do with magic,” she finally said as she took a seat across from
Anna and looked at her expectantly.

“Um, okay. I can’t do much. I haven’t been
trained.” She opened her palms and smiled as the flames appeared.
Surely that would impress Magdalena.

“What else can you do?”

“That’s it.” Anna shrugged.

Magdalena’s mouth pursed as she studied her.
“What do you mean, that is it?”

“That’s all I can do.” Embarrassed, Anna
looked away, taking a sip of her tea. It was some kind of fruity
tea and it was delicious.

“How did you learn to conjure the fire?”
Magdalena inquired, sitting forward with her elbows on the
table.

“I’m not sure. I saw a witch on TV do it so
I figured I’d give it a try. It took about a dozen times till I
could finally get it to work.”

“What were you thinking when the flames came
out?”

“Well, for a while I tried chanting
fire fire come
alive
. That didn’t work. I tried screaming and jumping
around but that didn’t work either. Eventually, I gave up and sat
on my bed to read. I figured I’d give it one more go, so I closed
my eyes, took some deep breaths and relaxed my mind. I visualized
the fire and there it was. It was quite amazing if I do say so
myself.”

“Anna, you have so much to learn,” Magdalena
sighed, rubbing her forehead. “I wish I had met you years ago.”

“You’re not the only one.” Anna mumbled
under her breath.

The light witch stood abruptly and held up a
finger before walking out of the room. Anna drank the rest of her
tea while she waited, gazing around the kitchen. What little wall
space that wasn’t covered by white cabinets was pale purple. A
small window over the sink looked out over rolling hills and a pair
of glass double doors opened out into a small backyard.

When Magdalena returned a moment later, she
had a satchel in one hand. Pulling out a notebook and pen, she
opened both and said, “I’m going to give you some exercises, but
first I want to know something. Is there anything in particular you
would like to learn or study?”

“Actually, there is,” Anna said, rotating
her empty glass absently on the table. “I’m not sure if my mom told
you that she brought my friend back to life by using black
magic?”

“Yes, she mentioned that when we spoke.”
Magdalena’s face was empty of emotion.

“Well, my friend, Keegan, is an elf. I was
kinda hoping you could teach me how to get back the bond she had
with her chosen. The black magic seems to have broken it.”

“I see.” Magdalena nodded and made a note in
her notebook before looking up at Anna. “I am going to tell you
right now. I will not help you get your friend’s bond back. I will
teach you the way of the witch, if you are willing to follow my
instructions and really want to learn.”

Anna tried to compose herself though the
anger filled her. “Why won’t you teach me about the bond?”

“Because, that is not the right reason to
learn the way of the witch, especially the way of the light witch.”
Magdalena put her palms flat on the table. “I don’t teach or
practice dark magic, and any kind of spell dealing with dark magic
is far out of your grasp right now, anyway. You will start from the
beginning. The first thing you need to understand about magic is
there are certain rules you must follow. One of those is that you
mustn’t interfere with the free will of others. Sometimes you just
need to let life take its course.”

“Fine.” Anna answered shortly, peeved at the
change in plans but determined to see her training through. She
couldn’t understand why everyone was making such a big deal about
it. Was it so horrible that she wanted to help her friend? “So I
guess you won’t tell me how I can win over Xavier, my best friend
I’ve been crushing on forever?”

“Anna, you need to take this serious.”

“I was just kidding,” Anna sighed. “What do
you want me to do first?”

“The most important part of your training,”
Magdalena told her, gesturing for Anna to follow her to the living
room. “We’ll be keeping a Book of Shadows.”

“I get my own Book of Shadows? Like on
Charmed? Cool!”

“This isn’t a game, Anna, or a television
show. A Book of Shadows is like a witch’s diary.” She gestured at a
small bookcase near her computer desk. It was full of small
journals, some of them with cracked and broken bindings while some
looked shiny and new. “In it, you record your thoughts, feelings,
poetry, successes and failures in spellwork, and anything else for
which you need it. Consider it a journal of your magic.”

“Are these all yours?”

Magdalena nodded. “All of them except this
corner of the top shelf. These are blank. I want you to pick one
that speaks to you.”

“To keep?” Anna looked up at her,
puzzled.

She laughed. “Yes, to keep. You must start
using it right away.”

Anna stepped forward, kneeling to run her
fingers across the spines of the empty notebooks. She slid a few
out to see their covers. “They’re so plain.”

“The inside is what matters, Anna. You’ll
find that to hold true across all aspects of life.” Magdalena gave
her a beautiful smile, the kind that reached and crinkled her eyes.
“A simple Book of Shadows isn’t ostentatious. A witch should never
draw attention to herself.”

There was one book, a thick black
leather-bound to which she kept returning. It seemed to hum beneath
her fingertips. She pulled it from between the other books, held it
in both her hands and smiled.

“This one. Though, I really expected it to
look different.”

Magdalena shook her head, amused. “Oh, Anna.
You have so far to go. Let’s talk about what you need to do first,
okay? Bring your journal.”

They headed back to the kitchen table, where
Magdalena handed her a pen. “I have two things for you to do over
the next week, and you have to promise to remember to do them.”

Anna nodded, opened her journal and put the
day’s date in big block letters at the top of the first page.

“Every day for the next 7 days, I want you
to experience the sunrise and sunset.”

“Um, what?”

“In the morning, you are to get up before
sunrise and find a spot outside where you can easily see the sun
crest over the horizon. Stay until it is fully risen, marking down
in your Book of Shadows every sensation and every thought you have
while you observe. Consider all five of your senses and write down
every thought, no matter how mundane.”

“Okay.” Anna drew out the word, confused,
but made a note in her journal.

“Then, you will do the same each evening
with the sunset. Seven sunrises and seven sunsets. I expect you to
have many pages of notes to go over with me when we meet a week
from today. You can begin with the sunset tonight.”

“That’s it?”

“That is it, for now. Believe me, Anna, your
journey has only just begun.”

Keegan came down the stairs in her pajamas
and yawned. Her mom was typing away on the computer at the kitchen
table, her ever present mug of tea at her elbow. Her mother glanced
up and gave her a brief smile. “We’re going to Italy next
week.”

“What? I thought we were going to Sri
Lanka.” Keegan opened the refrigerator, hanging on the door as she
searched for something to drink.

“It’s too unstable there right now. We
haven’t been on a cruise in a while. You know that’s your brother’s
favorite and it’s his turn to choose.”

“Well, Italy sounds cool. When are we
leaving?”

“Thursday since you have some time off from
school for the holidays.”

Keegan suddenly got an idea as she grabbed
the orange juice and closed the door. She carefully avoided her
mom’s eyes as she grabbed a cup from the cabinet and said, “Can
Donald come with us?”

“Of course not,” Emerald answered sharply.
“Have you lost your mind, Keegan?”

“Why not? You let Rourk go away with
us.”

“That was under different circumstances.
Besides Rourk is your chosen, not just some boy you’re dating. You
are not eighteen yet.” Her mother went back to typing on her
computer, dismissing Keegan.

“You are being so unfair, Mom. He could stay
in Thaddeus’s room. It’s not like we’re doing anything.”

“I said no, Keegan, don’t ask again.”

Keegan was getting cold as a familiar anger
began coursing through her veins. “He’s not just some boy,
Mother.”

“He’s no different from the countless others
you have dated.”

Keegan glared at her mother. “Donald is
important to me. You need to accept it.” She crossed her hands over
her chest and rubbed her arms, her body becoming increasingly
colder.

“He’s not going, so just forget you brought
it up.”

“You are such a hypocrite…” Keegan started,
only to stop speaking as she stared, her mouth gaping open. Her
mother was frozen to the computer like a huge block of ice. “Mom,
Mom! I’m sorry!”

Keegan ran to the stairs and yelled,
“Thaddeus, help me!”

Something in her panicked voice must have
gotten through to him because he ran down and almost stumbled over
his own feet as he slid to a stop next to Keegan and his mother.
“Damn it, Keegan. I told you to keep your anger in check. What were
you fighting about?”

“She won’t let Donald come on vacation with
us.”

“Imagine that. She doesn’t want her teenage
daughter to go to another country with her new boyfriend. Shame on
her. Such bad parenting skills.”

His sarcasm struck her painfully, and she
started crying. “Thaddeus, what is wrong with me? I feel like some
kind of freak. Our mother is frozen and I don’t know how to get her
unfrozen.”

Thaddeus stared at his mom for a few
moments. “What did you do last time?”

“Donald helped me. He just told me stories
about myself to make me feel better.”

“Any story I could think of right now would
not make you happy.” Thaddeus gave her a dirty look. “Call
Donald.”

Keegan was skeptical but she picked up the
phone and dialed his number. She filled him in on what had taken
place, and he laughed.

“I’m glad you want me to go with you,”
Donald said, “but your mother is right. That is asking too much
from her.”

“You don’t want to go?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, of course I would love
to go. But we are still in high school and taking your boyfriend on
vacation with you isn’t something most parents would approve of. To
be honest, I don’t even think my parents would allow me to go.” He
paused. “How long are you going to be gone for?”