The Second Heart (16 page)

“Sorry,” Meredith mumbled, pressing her lips
together into a line. Vi giggled softly beside her.

Eleanor waited until she was sure that there
would be silence before resuming. “The magician’s name was Aleric,
and he had been living at the court of Lord Ulrich d’Eresby when he
was dismissed after failing to save the Lady of the house during
childbirth. Perhaps being cast out made him snap--I don’t know.
Shortly after that, a rumor began to spread about magicians being
murdered in cold blood. Some magicians chose to disbelieve the
rumor, while others, wiser ones, went into hiding. After a time, it
became certain that the rumors were true, but by then it was too
late to do much about it. Aleric had become too powerful.”

Seeing that Meredith wouldn’t interrupt
again, Vi boldly asked, “But how?”

Eleanor cast her a wearied expression, but
answered her question. “There is a way to absorb magic from another
magician, which is brutal and vile. It takes a truly cold heart to
consider it.” She closed her eyes briefly, drawing a deep breath,
as if haunted by the images in her mind. At last she said, “Aleric
would cut out the other magician’s Second Heart. As the
still-beating organ died in his hands, he could absorb its power
into his own Second Heart.”

“That’s horrible,” Meredith exclaimed,
instinctively placing a protective hand over her abdomen.

Eleanor agreed, “It was a terrible way to
die.” She paused to take a steadying sip of her tea, looking
blankly into space. Then, collecting herself, she went on, “It was
in this way that Aleric was able to gather inside himself more
power than any one person should ever possess.”

“So then when he died, did all the magic just
die with him?” Vi asked, leaning forward in her seat.

“No, when a magician dies, the magic is given
back into the Earth for safekeeping until another magician
emerges.”

“Emerges?” Meredith asked, confused.

“Well, I don’t want to say born, because as I
said, the Second Heart usually comes in at around age eight. Or in
your case, later. You were not a magician last week, but this week
you are. You have emerged as a magician. Matured, grown, developed.
Call it what you will.”

Vi chimed in, “Wait, so then why haven’t any
magicians ‘emerged’ since this Aleric guy came on the scene?”

Understanding, Meredith said, “Because Aleric
didn’t die.”

Eleanor nodded, pleased that Meredith had
come to the correct conclusion. “Aleric used his power to
unnaturally prolong his own life for over a few thousand years.
He’s held the magic within himself, until now.”

“Oh my God. The fires. The rain. Everything.
That’s because the magic was going back into the Earth,” Vi said,
agape.

“Yes, and at such a high volume, it was bound
to make a splash,” Eleanor said with a dry smile.

“So what’s happening to me is connected to
all these natural disasters,” Meredith said to herself, allowing
the information to sink in. Then she asked, “So will other
magicians besides me be emerging, too?”

Eleanor nodded again. “I would imagine
so.”

Meredith’s eyes widened as her face paled.
“Dr. Wells told me that there was another patient in Phoenix that
she was going to go take care of. If she removes the Second Heart,
like she would have with me, then he’ll die!”

The corners of Eleanor’s mouth tightened as
she considered how to respond. The silence stretched on until
finally she uttered, “Yes.”

“But we have to help him!” Meredith
protested, standing up.

Eleanor’s face took on a look of profound
sadness as she said, “Sit back down and I’ll explain to you just
why we can’t do that.”

Siding with Meredith, Vi asked, “Can’t or
won’t?”

To Meredith, Eleanor said, “Next time, leave
your mouthy friend at home. Now
sit down
.”

Meredith reluctantly did as she was told. She
crossed her arms over her chest, frowning, as she slumped onto the
sofa.

“There is more of the story to tell, and I
would prefer not to be interrupted again,” Eleanor said brusquely.
She reminded Meredith of her strict, no-nonsense high school
science teacher. “Now, you may find this hard to believe, but
Aleric and I don’t exactly send each other Christmas cards every
year. So, I don’t know why, after all this time, the magic that
Aleric hoarded has been released.”

“Because he died, obviously,” Vi said.

Eleanor sent her a withering look. “This is a
man who had the cunning and the cruelty to kill hundreds of people
for his own gain, and then to use his abilities to live for
thousands of years in order to amass even more power still. And you
think he would just
die
?” She laughed without humor,
swirling her tea around in the mug she held in her hand.

Meredith scrutinized Eleanor’s face, feeling
as though the older woman was hiding something. “But you do think
something happened,” she pressed.

Eleanor watched the tea splash around in her
cup for a few moments before responding. “Immortality doesn’t
exist. Aleric’s been hanging around for a very, very long time now,
and his body might have failed him at last. All the magic in the
world would not be able to sustain him forever.”

“I thought you said he wouldn’t die,” Vi
asked earnestly.

“I said he wouldn’t
just
die. If you
had built up a legacy over countless years and felt yourself to be
dying at long last, what would you do?”

“He found a protégé,” Meredith surmised.
“Someone to take over and carry on his life’s work, whatever it
was.”

Vi nodded, impressed. “It’s what I would
do.”

“Good,” Eleanor said, satisfied. “So now you
understand why you must keep your newfound abilities an absolute
secret. If, indeed, there is a protégé, he or she will likely be
seeking to restore as much power to him- or herself as
possible.”

Meredith felt her heart sink as she
remembered the gaggle of reporters who were looking for her at the
hospital. “They’ll target anyone who went to the hospital with
stomach pains, won’t they?”

“That is the primary reason why I felt that I
should work at a hospital myself. I wanted to have immediate access
to anyone who might emerge as a magician,” Eleanor said.

“Oh my God, Dr. Sparling was hanging around
all evening, barely letting you out of her sight!” Vi gasped. “What
if she is the protégé?”

“Maybe,” Eleanor conceded. “At the very
least, I think it is likely that whoever it is will have people,
knowingly or not, keeping an eye out for any unusual medical
cases.”

Meredith was overcome with an acute sense of
exposure as she considered all the paperwork she filled out at the
hospital with her name and contact information on it. “What am I
supposed to do?” she asked miserably. “The hospital has all my
information. They even know where I go to school, because I have
student health insurance. If someone wants to find me, they won’t
have to look very hard.”

“I can help you there,” Eleanor said with a
smug smile. She nodded at her purse that rested on the counter in
the kitchen. Slowly, the handbag rose into the air and floated over
to where Eleanor sat on the sofa. She reached up and caught it in
her hands, setting it on her lap.

While the purse moved through the air,
Meredith felt something, almost as if the air had shifted in the
room. She and Vi watched in fascination, still unable to fully
believe what their eyes were telling them. Eleanor caught them
staring, and quipped to Vi, “It certainly can’t do any harm to
remind you what I can do. Perhaps it will quiet that incessantly
running mouth of yours.” She smiled to show that she was teasing,
and then to Meredith she said, “You can feel the magic, can’t
you?”

Meredith nodded slightly. “I think so. If
that’s what I felt. Almost like a breeze, but not. Something else.
It’s weird.”

“Your Second Heart gives you the sense that
allows you to feel it when someone uses magic. It’s almost like
sound. Bigger magic makes a bigger ‘sound’, and of course,
proximity plays a role as well. As you grow into your new
abilities, you’ll be able to recognize and better understand what
you are sensing.” She unzipped her purse and dug around inside. She
pulled out a bundle of folded up papers and tossed them to
Meredith.

Meredith recognized them as the papers she
had filled out at the hospital, her own handwriting staring up at
her from the top of the page. “You stole these?”

Eleanor rolled her eyes and didn’t answer.
Instead, she said, “Unfortunately, most of your information was
also inputted into our computer system as well, and that’s not as
easy to get rid of.”

“Can’t you just ‘magic’ it away?” Vi asked
flippantly.

“Do you have any idea how obnoxious you are?”
Eleanor returned with a shake of her head.

“Give it time, you’ll eventually find me
endearing.” Vi smiled brightly, completely unperturbed by Eleanor’s
obvious dislike.

Eleanor raised her eyebrows thoughtfully. “I
doubt that, but I’ve learned to never rule out even the most
unlikely of things.” Turning back to Meredith she said, “I was able
to delete your information from the nurse’s station. However, it is
still retrievable, if someone smarter than me cared to try. I don’t
know enough about computers to completely eradicate your data.”

Meredith’s eyebrows drew together slightly.
“Regardless of Vi’s tone, she did have a point. What about magic?
Can’t you use it to make the information go away for good?”

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. To
use magic, you must have a thorough knowledge of the inner-workings
of your subject. That is why, historically, magicians were also
great scholars. Otherwise, you’d be shooting blind, so to
speak.”

“Oh,” Meredith said, deflated. “Can’t you
just make the computer tech spill a cup of coffee on the mainframe
or something?”

Eleanor laughed heartily. “Oh dear, you watch
too many movies.” She wiped a tear from her eye and said more
seriously, “You need to operate on the assumption that people will
find out who you are. All I did was slow them down a bit.”

“So you think I should go into hiding or
something?” Meredith asked. She felt oddly detached from her
situation, as if it were some other Meredith whose life was in
danger. It couldn’t be her; she was just a normal girl who wanted
to take care of sick animals. That’s all.

Eleanor spoke carefully, understanding that
Meredith was taking a lot in. She didn’t want to overwhelm her, as
so much was at stake. “It might be wise for now, until we can
decide how to proceed. In addition, I am going to give you
something that you must promise to keep on you at all times.”

“What is it?” Vi asked, her eyes alight with
curiosity.

“You’ve got the patience of a teenaged boy on
prom night,” Eleanor said dryly. She set her purse aside and stood
up. “I’ll just go get it.”

While Eleanor was out of the room, Vi
regarded Meredith carefully. “How you holding up, kid?”

Meredith met her friend’s eyes, unsure how to
answer. “Half of me doesn’t believe it. The other half wants to run
for the hills.” She chuckled in an attempt to relieve the tension
that coiled up inside her, but the laugh didn’t reach her eyes. She
whispered, “I think Eleanor is keeping something from us.”

Vi’s gaze sharpened. “I got that vibe,
too.”

“What do you think it is?”

Eleanor returned to the room before Vi could
respond. She resumed her seat on the sofa opposite Meredith and Vi,
resting a small wooden box on her knee. She opened it, revealing a
silver necklace almost exactly like the one she wore around her own
neck. The red, acorn-sized stone glimmered softly in the lamplight
from inside the felt-lined box.

Eleanor kept her eyes on the necklace as she
lifted it gently from the box, allowing the stone to dangle in
front of Meredith and Vi. “This is a
thaelis
. It will hide
you from those who would try to find you via magical means.” She
lifted her eyes to meet Meredith’s, brows arched. “It wouldn’t do
you much good if you were to bump into each other on the street,
but at least now they can’t cheat.” She smiled and gently handed
the necklace to Meredith.

“Is that how you were able to find me and Vi
in the storm? With magic?” Meredith asked as she took the necklace.
It was heavier than she expected, and the red stone felt warm and
smooth in her hand.

“Yes.”

“Does the necklace you wear hide you from
Aleric?”

Eleanor considered how to answer the
question. “Yes,” she said after a pause. “Among other things. A
thaelis
is special in that it can be imbued with a variety
of different properties.”

Meredith stared at the red stone in the
necklace, feeling a power radiating from it. She wondered if Vi
would be able to feel anything at all, or if it was her Second
Heart that allowed her to do so, like it had with the purse.

“What makes something a
thaelis
? Does
it have to be a necklace? Or could it be like, a shoe or
something?” Vi asked curiously.

Without raising her eyes, Meredith answered,
“It’s the stone.”

“Yes, you can feel its power,” Eleanor
answered sagely. “The stone is the
thaelis
. It could be a
necklace, a bracelet, whatever. You could carry it in your pocket
if you dared, though I wouldn’t recommend it. These stones are very
rare and extremely valuable, and you don’t want to lose it. As long
as you have it on you, it will protect you.”

Meredith hesitated to put the necklace on.
“What else does it do? You said, ‘among other things’. I don’t care
what else yours does, because I figure that’s personal, but what
else does this one do?”

Eleanor looked surprised at the question.
“Well, uh,” she stammered, “I’m not sure if I could enumerate all
of its properties offhand, since it’s been around for a very long
while, but it will give you a measure of protection against
physical harm and sickness and things like that.”