First Magic by Raven Steele (ebook reader screen txt) 📖

And so my senior year at Highland High officially began.

May and I became even better friends, and at least a few times a week we hung out after school when we didn’t have basketball practice. I learned a lot about her. She’d been adopted from Italy when she was two and her adoptive mother was an artist, and quite a good one. The only problem with that was they often fluctuated between very rich or very poor. They’d moved to Bountiful four years ago so her mother could teach art classes at the community college.

As for May’s adoptive father, she hadn’t seen him in years. Her parents had separated when she was six. Last she heard, he was living in California working as a building contractor. Every once in a while, she would receive a letter from him. I could tell that she resented his absence.

Because of our growing friendship, I almost asked her about the lab fire incident, but whenever I tried to bring it up she quickly changed the subject. I figured when she was ready, she’d tell me and when that time came, I’d have to tell her why my hair never changed.

The thought of sharing my secret with someone felt both exciting and liberating. Exciting because my aunt had told me it was strictly forbidden, and for some reason I just didn’t feel like obeying her. And liberating because it sucked keeping this secret. I could talk to Jake about it, but he was a man and barely understood me as it was.

As for the book club with Matt, it turned out to be more than I expected, but in a good way. There were six of us that attended. In addition to Matt and May, there was Tracey, Anna, and Ryan. Everyone was so nice and friendly, and even Matt began to feel not so intense. So much so, that I let him help me with my math homework. Between him and Mr. Steele’s extra guidance, my grade in math had gone up.

But of all the new changes that had occurred, Christian was the one I couldn’t do without. He had become like my favorite pair of jeans. I didn’t mind wearing other pants, but whenever I wore them, I always found myself wishing I was wearing my perfect-in-every-way jeans. This was my Christian. We had become inseparable and even though we hadn’t officially declared ourselves a couple, I thought we were.

The moon was barely a sliver, looking more like an old lady’s painted-on eyebrow. I shouldn’t be out here. My body still felt weak. I hated feeling vulnerable, and it didn’t help that I was out in the woods in the middle of the night. But Christian had asked me to meet him, saying it was extremely important. Even if it wasn’t important, I still would’ve come simply because he asked.

I leapt to a fallen log and spun around slowly on one foot, completing an almost perfect pirouette. Any minute now I would see his handsome face with his kind, gentle eyes, and his wonderful mouth that was always turned up into an amused grin, showing his one, seemingly endless, dimple.

Peering up the dirt path, I hoped to see where it disappeared into the woods, but darkness hid the opening from me. No matter. I spun again and hopped to the ground. I knew I had only to follow the path up a small hill to be back at my favorite bench, tucked between two oak trees.

The bench overlooked a windy, babbling brook. I’d always loved the words “babbling brook”. The phrase made the water sound alive with a personality. That’s why I frequented the place. Babbling Brook had heard more than her fair share of my problems over the last year. She was the perfect friend. I was lucky the only words she knew were “gurgle”, “spray”, and the occasional “glurp” which, if I would’ve been able to translate into English, “glurp” was probably a curse word.

I lifted my arm and touched the silver knob on the side of my wristwatch. The yellow face with a black Batman symbol lit up. Five minutes past midnight. Christian was late.

I imagined his crooked smile and bashful blue eyes gazing at me when he finally arrived, apologizing. I would easily forgive him, and if I felt courageous enough, despite it not being a full moon, I’d throw my arms around him and plant a big, fat—

Something moved out of the corner of my eye. My head snapped to my left. “Christian?”

Silence echoed back.

I peered into the dark wondering if I’d imagined the movement. I took a step forward and again saw something dart into a tree not far away. Squinting my eyes, I tried to make sense of what I was looking at it. The dark form sat on a thick limb partially concealed by a tree branch. Occasionally, it would shift its weight. Whatever it was, it was large. An owl?

I stared at it, hitched breaths barely escaping my lungs. The forest had become deathly still—even crickets had lost their voice. Resisting the urge to run, I bravely yelled, “Shoo! Fly away bird!”

The shadow remained still. Watching me.

I’ll take care of this. I bent down and scooped up a small pebble. Moving my hand back in a pitching stance, I tossed the rock in the direction of the dark form. Instead of it flying away like I hoped, a long, shadowy-like arm snapped out and caught the rock midair.