SIX

 

If I thought I would get any time to acclimate myself to my new home I was wrong. My first lessons started with a rude awakening from several thumps on my door as Kitty called to me, giving me a scant few minutes to drag on jeans and a strappy top before scampering down the stairs. I had just enough time to grab a muffin and the last of the coffee and stuff them down my throat just as Evan appeared in the kitchen doorway.

“We’ll head into the library,” he muttered, signalling that I was to follow, without greeting anyone else.

Behind his retreating back, Kitty pulled a face and I stifled a giggle as I scrambled after him.

I’d passed the library several times since my brief tour but never paused to look inside so I was surprised to find it not at all stuffy. Instead, the room was large and airy, every wall covered with white shelves holding hundreds of books. Some were old and well-thumbed with creased spines, others newer purchases; all of them covering a myriad of subjects. There were some easy chairs and side tables with lamps spread around. It was a lovely room.

“I hadn’t thought magic would be all about book learning,” I said, scanning the spines for familiar titles.

“It isn’t. In fact, ignore the books entirely.” Evan waved a hand dismissively at the groaning shelves. “Unless you want to pick up something to read later in your free time.”

“So, how do I learn?” I frowned.

“It’s not like a class, Stella. I don’t give you a textbook that we work through. You’ll learn as we go along and we’ll adapt as appropriate. Show me what you can do.”

“What do you mean?”

“You must be able to do something.” Evan paused and waited for me to jump in; then, exasperated, prompted me with a flick of his hand and raised eyebrows, “Something magic?”

I took a deep breath and thought about being somewhere else. I closed my eyes and waited. I waited for the tingling and crackling in the air and the powerful burst of energy that signified me flitting out of the world. After a minute, when the feeling didn’t come, I opened my eyes and looked around. I was still in the library and Evan was looking perplexed. I felt like I had just lied on my résumé and been called on it in an interview. I heaved a sigh of disappointment. This was not going to be easy.

“One of two things happened there,” said Evan and I looked at him hopefully. “You either went and came back so fast that I didn’t notice or, nothing happened.”

I rolled my eyes petulantly. His sarcasm was so funny. Not.

“Try again.”

I tried again… and again, for the next thirty minutes. I tried with my eyes open and with my eyes closed. I tried holding my breath and I tried breathing deeply. I tried until I gave myself a headache. Evan stood in front of me, his arms folded across his chest, the entire time.

“Okay. Let’s leave that a while.”

“I’ve never really focused on doing it before. It just seemed to happen,” I practically tripped over my tongue to explain, feeling a little like I had just failed a test. Maybe I wouldn’t get my witch hat now? I guessed I would get over that.

“Tell me about the times you’ve moved before.” Evan signalled to a chair and we sat facing each other. I rested my chin on my hands and my elbows on my knees as I thought about it.

“I think it happened more often when I was younger. My foster parents were always saying that I was a really fast runner when they couldn’t work out how I had gotten past them, but I think I must have just moved myself. When I was a teenager, if I ended up some place different, I just thought I hadn’t remembered. You know, like walking along thinking about something else and you look up and think, hey, how did I get here?” I looked to Evan to see if he understood and he nodded so I continued. “When I was older, it really only happened when I panicked and that’s when I knew I was different and it wasn’t just because I wasn’t paying attention. There was a fire once and I should have been trapped, but I moved myself outside. And one time with my boss, well, a bookcase tipped over and I should have been under it too but I wasn’t. Then, last week, when I was being chased?” I gulped and fought the panic that clamoured in my ribcage. “He had me by the throat and I just vanished.”

“I...” Well, yeah, I thought, wondering why the idea made me feel so glum. I knew it had been me but the idea of being able to do that kind of stuff at will? It excited and frightened me all at the same time.

“It’s called telekinesis. Instead of moving yourself, teleportation if you like, telekinesis means you can move objects with your mind.”

I thought about it. There had been a lot of unexplained things happening around me that couldn’t be put down to coincidence. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. “Well, maybe, but I’ve never really tried. I guess it might be that.” I looked up at him to see how he was taking it. A normal person would be laughing at me by now. Evan’s thoughtful face was refreshing. He didn’t think I was nuts.

Evan looked around and I followed his eyes as they ran over the laden bookcases. He grinned for a moment and I was caught so off guard by the lovely line of his mouth that I almost missed him say, “Perhaps we shouldn’t be in smashing distance of a bookshelf right now.”

I smirked at him and barely stopped myself from rolling my eyes. It was an unpleasant habit and hardly one to bring out the best in people.

“We’ll try it out some other time. So lately, you’ve only moved when you’ve panicked?”

I nodded.

“Well that’s something,” Evan decided, his voice strong. He nodded and I thought some of the hostility seemed to have gone from his face.

“And Étoile held on to me once and moved me.” I recalled her grabbing me and moving me from my flat to the airport. “She did it at will.”

“She’s been taught from birth.”

“Lucky.”

“You’ve really not been taught anything? At all?” Evan was searching my face like there was some sort of clue waiting there for him to discover.

“Can’t argue with that,” I agreed. It would have been nice to grow up with others who shared my predilections. Maybe my childhood would have been a lot less lonely.

“Lesson is over for today.”

“But I haven’t done anything?” My voice inflected like I was asking him a question.

“You have shown me what you can’t do and told me what you can do. That’s enough. Take a break. David will come find you when he wants you.”

Evan shook his head. “Magic comes in many different shapes and forms. For many, it’s illusion. The ‘make a boat disappear, pull a rabbit out of a hat’ kind of magic. That’s not really even magic; it just looks like it. Humans like to call it magic anyway.” He held up a finger. “Then there’s learned magic. That’s comes from people with an inclination towards the magical but who have to learn to use it. They learn spells and incantations. They can mix up potions to cure ailments and influence people. Sometimes they have a core magic too; it runs a bit in their blood and that’s why they have a strong calling to magic. Then there’s us.” Evan raised another finger, paused, and raised another.

“What are we?” I whispered.

“We’re absolute magic. It’s in our blood and bones. It’s in every fibre of our being. It is what we are. You and I are different but the magic affects our bodies and our brains in a similar way so we can manipulate the universe to do our bidding.”

“Can everyone do the same things?”

“No, of course not. Like regular humans aren’t all great at sports or riding horses, or sailing boats.” Evan rested back in his chair and swung one long leg across the other. “Some can teleport, some have telekinesis, some are psychic, some can influence people or the weather or the air. Magic is different for all of us.”

“If someone has weaker magic, say the core magic within them, they could use learned magic to supplement their skills, making them stronger still.”

“Is that why David will be teaching me too?”

“We all thought it would be a good idea to expose you to some of the learned magic while you practised controlling your own magic. David will be able to teach you the basics, things that can heal and protect you. Even if you never use it, you’ll at least have some understanding of that aspect of magic.”

“What are you?” I asked, recalling that he had just said that we were different. I couldn’t see any difference, but maybe I didn’t know what I was looking for.

He looked me in the eyes and I felt my stomach do little flips as the silence hung in the air between us. I was about to prompt him when a knock at the door and a male voice announced David’s arrival.

I went to answer it but when I turned back to say goodbye to Evan, he had gone and I didn’t have a clue how he could have left the room without me seeing. Show off.

David’s lesson took place in the kitchen and also included Kitty, the sisters Christy and Clara, and the accident-prone teenage boy, Jared. First, he had them demonstrate some of the things they learned. There was a little potion that could make the room fill with smoke (Meg didn’t like that one, as she protested that night at dinner to a rueful David), powders that could heal a wound and another that could make a barrier around a person, like an invisible wall.

Just when I was beginning to wonder if his lessons were not going much further than household products and science experiments, David made it rain. In the kitchen. Then he produced a rainbow that splintered into glorious stars, which danced across the ceiling. I didn’t know what the point of it was, but it was pretty and I gazed at the display in awestruck wonder.

After the demonstration (that had served to intrigue me), David moved on to spells.

“Will I have to rhyme?” I asked as we sat around the table, pencils and paper in front of us. Kitty winked at me. She realised I knew the answer to that one.

“Of course not. This isn’t English literature,” David sniffed and I wondered just how many times he had been asked that same question. “Spells are just words. Simple. It’s the magic in you that transforms them into power and action. They need to be heartfelt and they need to be indicative of what it is that you want to do.

“Sometimes a spell is accompanied by a potion to give it more power. The potions are like baking a cake. You mix together the right stuff, and the right thing happens. You get a cake. Forget an ingredient and it just won’t work. The cake won’t rise properly or it won’t taste right.” He looked at each of us to see if we understood his analogy and we nodded in turn. “Good. Here’s your task.”

David spelled out to us – puns aside – what he wanted us to do and instructed us to make a simple spell that would illuminate our surroundings. I guessed it would come in handy if a fuse blew, at least.

Christy and Clara were naturals, racing to raise their hands at almost the exact same time before I even put pencil to paper. Kitty rolled her eyes and I guessed this happened almost every lesson. While they proudly said their spells and lit up the space around them with a strange glow, I leaned into Kitty.

“Magic skipped a generation with me. By the time my family realised what I could do, the grandparents, who everyone thought were just crazy had passed. There was no one to teach me,” she whispered.

Jared was next to perform his spell. I hoped he couldn’t see David wince as the last line came to a close, then sigh with relief as nothing broke. Three orbs of light hovered in front of Jared’s head and he dismissed them with a click of his fingers.

“Kitty?”

Kitty shrugged her shoulders and focused. Even with my limited knowledge, I realised she had redirected sunlight with her mind, rather than create a light from incanted magic. Still, she said she could manipulate the weather, perhaps the sunlight counted as part of that.

“Not quite. Stella?”

I thought for a moment and ignored the doodles I had scrawled on my paper, then said, while trying not to feel completely ridiculous, “I want to see what I cannot see. I want the light to find itself from my bright mind.” And I was rewarded with a faint orb of light, which made up for feeling like a complete idiot.

David smiled with pleasure. “And not even written down. A good first attempt, Stella.”

When we broke for lunch, I was glad to sit next to Étoile, eating grilled cheese sandwiches as the conversation reached a heavy hubbub. Evan was the only one missing and I wondered where he was, before wondering why I was wondering.

The next two hours were apparently earmarked as free time, which allowed me to lounge in my room before taking a walk. Instead of staying in the gardens, I passed through them to the steps that led down to the beach. On the bottom step, I held onto the railing so I could slide off my shoes with one hand. I tied the laces together and hung them over my shoulder.

I walked across the sand, pale golden and a little gritty, and down by the shore so I could wiggle my toes in the soft swirls of surf rolling in. The water stretched to infinity beyond me; to the left it curled around a promontory and I lost sight of the sand. The hillside swept up further down. I could see birds swooping into the trees some distance away, their calls echoing on the wind.

To my right, the sand stretched on for a few miles. The hillside was lower here and grassy, rather than tree-lined. I wondered why no one had built out here. Surely this land, with its far-reaching views, would be a prime development zone. There wasn’t much to explore so after a while of gazing out to sea, wondering how many thousands of miles away my former home was, and if I was even looking in the right direction, I turned back and went to sit on the steps.

When Étoile landed next to me in a flash of electricity, I leapt from my perch and had to stoop to pick up my shoes, which had fallen to the sand.

“Sorry,” she said, but the sentiment didn’t quite carry to her face. “I’m sent to bring you in.”

“Should you be using magic outdoors?” I grimaced in case she thought I was chastising her since I had no place to do that.

“Generally speaking, no, but who’s to see here?” Without taking offence, Étoile swept her arms to the uninhabited land to the left and right of us.

“How come this is the only house out here?”

Étoile shrugged. “I wouldn’t know.” She reached for my hands and held them in her own. “Ready?”

I nodded. The air crackled and I just remembered to draw a breath as the gritty sand was replaced by the feeling of soft carpet. She winked at me like we had shared some little secret before walking out of the library.

Evan had been working on a laptop but pulled the lid closed when we appeared.

“Same again?” I asked, not exactly thrilled at the prospect of failure again. I wasn’t even buoyed by Étoile’s teleportation. That had been her, not me, I reminded myself.

“Let’s try telekinesis this time. Take a seat.” Evan tucked his laptop into his bag, then stood and walked the few paces to the bookshelves. He plucked a book off the middle shelf and tossed it on the table in front of us where it landed with a thud. I took a seat and bent to pull on my shoes and tie up the laces as I waited.

“You’re going to try and move it,” he said, nodding at the book, after contemplating me for a moment. I tried not to shrivel into a ball under his scrutiny.

I sighed. There was clearly no point in arguing. I looked at the book. It was a slim hardback and appeared to be a novel, though I couldn’t make out the print upside down. “How do I do this?”

“You have to tap into the magic inside you.” Evan placed a hand over his heart and tapped his fingers. “You have to believe that you can do it.”

“I still don’t understand.”

“You don’t have to, Stella. Just try. Focus on the book. Feel it, feel your mind reach for it.”

I stared at it for long minutes that stretched on. I felt like the weight of the task was pressing down on me. It was hardly the carefree, blink-of-an-eye magic that Étoile had demonstrated to me several times. I wondered if I would ever have such control or if I was just a one-stunt dud. A depressing thought. Maybe they wouldn’t want me if I couldn’t stump up the goods. Where would that leave me? I sighed. I seemed to be spending a lot of time sighing lately. It wasn’t healthy.

“What are you thinking about, Stella? It doesn’t seem like the task.” Evan sounded frustrated. Like I wasn’t!

I surprised myself by answering coherently. “I’m wondering if I’m a dud.”

It was Evan’s turn to surprise me and his face cracked into an effortless smile as he chuckled over my concerns. His eyes wrinkled at the edges with laughter lines and his mouth was broad with perfectly pink lips. He really did have a lovely face when he smiled. What was I thinking?

He said slowly, “You are, categorically, not a dud. You just need to learn.”

“Not a dud,” I repeated like a moron. My eyes settled on the book again and I felt myself fix on it with a strange sort of longing as I tuned in to the rise and fall of my lungs. Hell, I wanted the damn thing to move and, at last, it did, wriggling just a few short millimetres to the left.

I looked up at Evan with the most enormous smile on my face and then bewilderment as I realised the natural light had dimmed. I must have focused on the book for much longer than I thought. But I had done it.

“So, not a dud.” Evan smiled at me, an easy smile this time, but not one of a proud teacher. He seemed to be assessing me and I returned his gaze without a quiver. A shudder ran through me and I was the first to turn away even though I would have been quite content to continue appraising him. On the sly, anyway.

“We’ll start again tomorrow.”

And just like that, Evan was gone, before I even remembered that I still wanted to ask the question of what he was.

 

~

 

The week progressed in the same way. I took a lesson with Evan first, my frustration rising as the time passed without event; then a lesson with David which was more enjoyable because I could make little things happen. Following the little orb of light I created from my first spell, there was a protection spell and other little things that were enjoyable to do. Then it was lunch and free time. Once I went back to the beach and walked out my frustration of simply not knowing anything - the council, what I had to learn, my future - they were all enigmas to me. Another time, I snoozed on my bed. A couple of times I unwrapped the headphones of my MP3 player and listened to music as I curled on the window seat, my head leant against the pane.

The evenings were spent in a cycle of the same things; cards in the kitchen after dinner or watching a movie in the living room. Sometimes I let Kitty braid my hair and we talked about girly things that were as far removed from our life of magic as could be.

Some evenings I spent in the library, curled up with Marc talking about books we’d read and our lives. It was pleasant and relaxing and I could feel myself growing attached to both of them in a way that I had never felt attached to anyone before.

Maybe it was because we weren’t part of a ready-made group like Étoile and Seren, or Christy and Clara who kept largely to themselves. Kitty and Marc seemed so open and lively that I enjoyed being around them no end. I still noticed that Kitty and Marc were scrupulously polite around each other and thought that one day I would have to ask what their deal was.

Even David and Jared seemed to have teamed up, somewhat incongruously. Once, during one of our evenings crowded around a film, I snuck glances at Evan like I could figure him out if I got just one more look. Sometimes I felt his eyes on me too but only once or twice did our eyes meet, making me colour under his gaze.

By the end of the second week, I was fed up and my nerves were frayed. I hadn’t teleported even an inch – not even accidentally – and the objects Evan set before me stayed just where they were, despite the minor triumph I’d had on my first day.

So I was grumpy and fed up when it was suggested that afternoon that we go out to a local bar for dinner. If I could have worked out who came up with the original suggestion, I would have gladly hugged them for giving me something fun to look forward too.

Evan had even waved me away that morning, brushing off the thought of a Friday afternoon lesson in favour of reading in the big sitting room, rather than putting up with another fruitless lesson with yours truly, not that he said that in so many words.

By early evening, we had all gravitated towards the living room and I found myself perched on the furthest sofa from the door, half turned away from Evan, with Étoile between us and Kitty crouched on the floor, painting her toenails a bronze shade. My feelings of frustration seemed to be having company. Everyone had the dull expressions of the overworked and underplayed.

Even David, normally so enthusiastic and chilled, was flagging and had snapped at everyone in today’s lesson. He kept rubbing the long scar across his face like it was bothering him and I wondered why he didn’t just ask Étoile to heal him. Clara and Christy were still ignoring him after the lesson in which he had been brusque and short. Marc had been flicking through the DVDs without much interest while Jared undertook some kind of monologue at him that seemed to include a lot of enthusiastic waving of his hands and the occasional nod from Marc.

According to Kitty, who was chattering as she swept the brush over her toes, the bar had a real live band playing that night and served the best steak in town. I wondered if she had ever been there, before my arrival, of course, and guessed she must have; but I didn’t ask as the idea would have laid upon eagerly by our little group of civilization-starved people.

“What should I wear?” I asked Kitty quietly. She had tucked away her nail polish in a little bag and grasped my hands to pull me upstairs in a playful way that made me laugh. She was bubbling over with enthusiasm at the idea of going out.

As she pulled me along behind her, I glanced over my shoulder and caught not Marc’s eyes but Evan’s. He had remained on the sofa, his big arm resting on the side, a thumb marking the page of his book. He smiled at me and my heart did that stupid flutter thing. A smile crept onto my face before Kitty swept me away again, bounding up the stairs two at a time, so fast I could barely keep up.

“Jeans,” she pronounced, flicking through the hangers in my closet, a pout forming on her Cupid’s mouth. “And more jeans. And, ooh, t-shirts. Sexy.” The last word came out with a little snort.

“It’s not like I’ve had much time for shopping,” I replied with a shrug. Truth be told, my wardrobe was not exactly exciting to me either. Thanks to my parents, I had a nice stash of cash that had been squirreled away for years accruing interest but I’d had no time to spend any. Plus, as I reminded myself, the money should be spent on something useful and there might come a day when I really needed it. I wasn’t a particularly frivolous person and had never really indulged myself. I bought serviceable all-weather clothes, not going out stuff.

“Wait here. You can wear something of mine.” Kitty darted out of the room and across the landing to hers. I could hear her footsteps padding none too delicately around her room and then back again. She held up three hangers. There was a slinky, blue jersey with a v-neck, a strappy, green top with a crystal motif and a white Grecian top with one sleeve and a gathered bodice. “Try them on,” Kitty urged and she looked so excited about the idea of dressing me that I could hardly say no.

I slipped out of my shirt so I stood in my jeans and bra and shrugged on the blue, catching sight of the plunging neckline in the mirror and whipping it off, just as fast. “Not me,” I pronounced, shaking my head at the strappy, green top next. I pulled on the white top and Kitty reached forward to arrange the hem.

“You could wear it with your skinny jeans and those cute flats of yours and it will look pretty, but not dressy.” She spun me around so I was in front of the long mirror. Behind me, she tugged my hair out of its ponytail and ran her fingers through it so it fanned over my shoulders in waves. She had trimmed the singed ends for me and it looked healthy again. “We could curl it just a little, so it looks natural, you know. Or maybe put in a couple of plaits, hippy style.” Kitty twisted my hair in her hands so it curled slightly. “I can do your makeup. What do you think?”

“I think where were you when I was a teenager and needed someone to sort me out?” I laughed but I couldn’t take my eyes off myself. I looked tall and strong and the top made me want to stand a little straighter. I had firm breasts and a slim waist and arms that were toned but not frighteningly muscular and hair (a true golden brown) that framed cream skin. I looked pretty, I relished with pride and wondered if I was about to shed a tear. Get a grip. It was like I had never seen myself look halfway decent before.

“Well, now,” said Kitty, slipping her arm about my waist and giving me a squeeze. “You would think you’d never put on something pretty before.”

“I haven’t,” I admitted. “I’m a jeans and tee girl. I wore regular, dowdy, boring things to my regular, dowdy, boring jobs. I don’t... I didn’t... go out much.” It surprised me a bit how ready I was to talk about my life in the past tense and I was chagrined to admit just how uninteresting it had been. Maybe that would change. I hoped it would. Everyone deserved a fresh start, especially when someone was trying to kill them. I shook the thought from my head. I didn’t want to be reminded of that now.

“Life is one hundred percent different for you,” replied Kitty, her hands on my shoulders as she spoke to my reflection. “Why don’t you let yourself be a few percent different too? Try out something different.”

I gasped in feigned outrage and went to wriggle out of Kitty’s white top, tying a bathrobe about me instead as I pulled off my jeans and tossed them in the basket. “I can’t believe you would suggest such a thing. Besides,” I shrugged as I knotted the belt. “I do need the lessons.” And I kind of liked being around Evan but I didn’t say that out loud.

Kitty cocked an eyebrow. “We could just mention it’s Saturday tomorrow and we all deserve the time off.” She turned to fiddle with something on my dresser and added after a moment, “He is rather nice to look at.”

I rolled my eyes. She could be so sly. “It’s not that. Well, it is that a bit. He is good looking. Very.” I was in danger of getting sidetracked and shrugged off the thought. “Most of all, I like what he’s teaching me. I’ve never had anyone teach me before. I’ve never been able to control anything; I still can’t make myself do what I want to do, but I’ve noticed that I haven’t caused accidents, so I am more focused. If I’m cross, I don’t accidentally hurt someone. You have no idea what a relief that is.”

“I can guess. It’s not been easy for any of us, but most have had family around to teach us from birth the right way to use our gifts. Well, not that my family was great, but at least they had something of a clue and they did get me help when I needed it.”

“Do you really see it as a gift?”

“If by ‘it’ you mean the various things we can do, the telepathy, the telekinesis, the zapping and everything else, then yes, it is an absolute gift and even when it’s been tough, I wouldn’t be who I am without it, without this world of ours.”

“You’re happy?” I didn’t know if I was asking a question or making a statement.

“Just like any other regular girl.” Kitty gathered up the rejected tops and took the white one from me to hang on a hanger on my closet handle. “I have to go get changed too. Remember skinny jeans, cream flats. Totally cute. I’ll come back and do your hair in twenty, ‘kay?”

“Thank you, Kitty.”

“My pleasure.”

I calculated that I would have enough time to shower and wash my hair in those few minutes if I hurried, and I hurry I did, scrubbing and sluicing water and shampoo through my hair until I felt squeaky clean. I towelled off and rubbed cream into my skin from the little flowered bottle that had been left in the basket by the sink. I put on new underwear and a bra without straps, seeing as the one-shouldered look would be difficult to pull off with a regular bra, and slipped on the skinny jeans Kitty had pointed out, then shimmied on her white top. The flats were at the bottom of the closet and I slipped them on as I looked at myself again in the mirror and indulged myself with a twirl.

Who would have thought that not only was the lonely girl from London actually getting ready for a night out, but that she looked pretty damn good too? I smiled and the mirror me smiled back.

Kitty knocked before slipping inside. She was wielding a hot hair wand and a square metal box with a handle, which she set on my dresser and popped open to reveal tubes and pots and square trays of colour. Apparently makeup was serious business for Kitty.

“I’ll dry your hair first.” Kitty directed me to sit on the chair, which she put in front of the mirror and stood behind me with the hairdryer as she brushed and steamed my hair dry. When it was straight, she teased soft waves into it that fell around my face in an oh-so-casual way. I would have to ask her how to do stuff like that. She fiddled in her case. “You’re lucky you have great skin so we’ll just put a little shadow and a slick of mascara, the barest lip gloss, just a touch of extra colour on your cheeks. Nothing too much, just a little extra.”

“Thank you so much.”

“Oh, pah. You know I like doing this stuff.” Kitty waved my thanks away as she closed my eyes with her finger and swept on the shadow in neat strokes, directing me to look up so she could brush on the mascara. She deposited the wand back in the tube and laid it carefully in its place before plucking out a soft tube of pale pink gloss. “I’ll just squeeze a little on your lips then you need to rub it around, okay?” She mimicked mashing her lips together and I copied her to move the gloss around.

“Actually, I wanted to do hair and makeup, maybe do some styling, as a job but this magic stuff took priority.” She didn’t seem too upset about her strange change of a career, if I could call it that.

Kitty stood back to admire her handiwork. She grinned. “Well, it’s not like the canvas was a bad one to start with but you do look pretty good to me. You’re going to knock someone’s socks off tonight.”

“I don’t think I could knock anyone’s socks off,” I replied, wondering if she meant Marc, whom I’d surprised myself by not thinking about all day. He had spent the last couple of days with his phone almost glued to his ear but never shared what he was doing. He seemed cagey when I’d asked.

“Sure you can,” said Kitty sliding onto the bench by the dresser and checking out her own perfect makeup with a long, considered look. She twisted to face me. “You really have no idea how pretty you are, do you?”

“I think you are the nicest person,” I grinned. “And a great confidence booster.”

Kitty snorted. She stood and tiptoed in a circle. “Enough about you, how do I look?”

“Sensational.” And, of course, she did. She had changed into white shorts, cut to just above the knee, with a tan leather belt and a pale brown vest. She’d swung a long gold chain round her neck and knotted it near the end. She wore white Chucks and looked the picture of preppy chic. “But we should get going.”

“After you,” Kitty turned the handle and pulled the door towards her as I darted out. If only I’d looked first, I wouldn’t have ended up barrelling into Evan and stumbling backwards, because there was no way a body bound with muscles like his was going to give way.

My cheeks burned as I ricocheted back into my room. “I’m sorry, I didn’t look.”

“No damage,” he shrugged, like he barely noticed. “After you.”

Kitty danced out behind me. I smiled apologetically at Evan as Kitty grabbed my hand and tugged me after her, not giving him an inch to pass.

Half our little party were waiting already. Marc was leaning against the hallway, wearing his usual jeans and an open-necked shirt. Étoile was standing straight like a slightly bored, albeit very well dressed, statue. She was wearing a floor-length dress in a cotton print with a tan belt cinching it in at the waist. Seren was wearing the same dress in a different colour. Both smiled at me and rolled their eyes slightly at Kitty’s illimitable enthusiasm.

Evan stepped down next and slipped past us to walk to the kitchen and back again, Jared and David in tow. Within minutes, the hallway was positively crowded and we shuffled out with a wave from Meg who mentioned something about going for an evening stroll. I didn’t miss the look Étoile and Seren exchanged at that.

Kitty hooked her arm through mine. “The bar isn’t far so we’ll just walk over.”

“Do you guys go there often?” I realised this was my first time off the property since my arrival. No wonder I was feeling antsy.

“Now and again, when we’re in town.” She stifled a laugh and leaned in to whisper. “The locals think we’re a yoga retreat. That could be believable, but what do you think Evan does here? He’s not exactly the Rising Sun type of guy is he?”

I snuck a glance over my shoulder and looked at Evan, deep in conversation with David. I had to agree with Kitty. I couldn’t imagine him lycra-clad, bending and stretching. Oh ... maybe I could. Hmm. I turned my face away quickly when he looked up.

The bar, like Kitty said, wasn’t far and it took us less than twenty minutes to walk there. It was a wooden building with double doors to the front and “Rusty’s” in big painted letters on a sign over the top.

The few patrons barely glanced in our direction as we entered the bar. Thankfully, it was still early and largely empty so we could spread out across one of the larger tables while the band tuned up on the small stage at the other side of the bar.

There was a menu that Étoile picked up, seeming almost amused by the choice of fast food, which was basic but relatively cheap. At least, I thought it was with my limited fiscal knowledge. Seren found a waitress with a cocktail menu, which she regarded with the same curiosity as her sister before smiling at the waitress and ordering, rather unexpectedly (to me at least) a beer.

The waitress stayed for the rest of us to add our orders. I was one of two to get ID’d, after it was established that Jared could stay but not drink. I was grateful I’d stuffed my driver’s licence in my pocket before we left along with some dollar bills. I’d been practising telling the notes apart, like a tourist.

“You can’t be too careful,” the waitress said, comparing my picture to my face. She had a soft rounded face and hair straight from the eighties. “We can get fined big time and a few of those would finish us off, so I check out all you pretty young things now.”

“I’m just glad I don’t look as worn out as my friends here,” I quipped and was rewarded with a shower of beer mats hurled from every direction. I tossed them on the table in good humour and when Evan caught my eye, he was laughing too. This catching eyes thing was starting to get far too regular. Marc, however, couldn’t have looked more sour and scowled at me. What the hell had I done to him? I turned away and lost myself in the chatter of ordering food.

Less than an hour later, our plates pushed aside and the baskets of fries nearly devoured, second round of drinks on the table, and the band were in full swing. They played a mix of covers and a few of their own songs, which, though not well written, were played and received enthusiastically. They seemed to be pretty popular in the neighbourhood. I had drained my second wine by the time they took their encore bows in front of the rapturous little crowd and left the stage to take up a corner at the bar to receive their adulation in state.

The jukebox kicked in with a country song that the older regulars clearly knew, judging by the sing-a-long going on in one corner.

“Are you having fun?” Evan slid into the empty chair next to me. Christy and Clara had been on the dance floor, bouncing to the music as soon as they finished eating, leaving the seats around me free.

“I’m no recluse,” Evan laughed, “I do go out but I’m a little short of time right now. So, I go out when I can. Let my hair down.” He ran a hand through his short crop to demonstrate and I smiled.

“Actually, nothing much. I didn’t bring a lot here with me and I haven’t really found time to get a library ticket,” I joked. “So, I’ve been watching TV with the others when it’s on in the evening and sometimes I just daydream a bit when I want to be quiet. I have an MP3 player and sometimes I walk on the beach.”

“I would appreciate it. Funny ones though, please. There’s enough tragedy in the world without me having to read it for entertainment.” I thought this was the first time we had had a conversation that didn’t revolve around magic; perhaps he was warming to me. Interesting.

I tipped my head to one side and listened to what was playing. Johnny Cash was booming out and I knew the song so I nodded and Evan surprised me by taking my hand in his own large one and leading me to the dance floor by the stage. As we got there, Cash clicked off and a slow, Iron and Wine song started up. Evan wasn’t remotely phased and though I had half a mind to go sit down again, my cheeks beet red, that would have looked silly. Besides, I liked dancing and I couldn’t object to being on a dance floor with the type of guy who made girls’ hearts melt. Wow. Talk about over thinking things.

Evan put his hand about my waist and, though we were stiff for the first few bars, as soon as I forgot about the rest of the room and lost myself in the rhythm, I felt comfortable with him. Evan was a nice dancer. Though clearly taller than anyone in the room and muscular – I could feel his shoulders ripple under my palms as he moved – he held the beat and moved without any awkwardness. I wondered if he had always been this way or if he had once been a gangly, uncoordinated youth who had learned to be graceful.

Heat emanated from him as the second song – another slow one – clicked on. I rested my head against his chest, purely for a moment but Evan circled his arms around me a little tighter and held me there, swaying with me in time to the music. I didn’t want to move so I left my head like that and sighed. I felt a little burst of happiness at being held by Evan and tried to swallow it down. My head swam with the thoughts I’d had the first time I met him. Oh, hell.

“Tired?” he whispered, his breath tickling my hair.

“No. Warm.” I wasn’t sure I could trust myself to say anything else.

“No! I was thinking you’re kind of small and I could tuck you up and ...” Evan trailed off and I stifled a giggle. He exhaled and I could feel the reassuring thud-thud of his heart in his chest against my ear. “I don’t have cold feet,” he murmured and for a moment I wondered what he was talking about.

“I’ll take your word for it.”

“I hate to interrupt,” said Étoile from behind my back as Evan loosened his arms slightly, almost regretfully, I thought. “But we’re going to head back. Are you coming or are you going to stand here and hug?”

“We’re dancing,” I replied.

“You have to move to dance.” Étoile was amused. “You are hugging.”

Evan’s arms relaxed and I stepped away from him, feeling my cheeks flush as I let my arms drop to my sides. What had gotten into us?

“Besides,” Étoile continued in her off hand way. “The jukebox seems to be stuck on slow stuff. Marc kicked it, several times actually, but apparently that didn’t fix anything.” She raised an eyebrow and looked squarely at Evan who shrugged and faced her down.

“I guess I’ll head back too,” I said, waving at Kitty who was lingering by the door.

“We’ll all go,” agreed Evan following me, before sidling to the front and holding the door open for us.

Kitty had already skipped ahead to where Marc was waiting outside, leaning against the railings, his hands thrust into his pockets. He turned and followed her without a look at me. Étoile was herding the girls and Jared like a mother hen, all feather-light until one of them strayed and she had to nip them back into order.

I stepped off the porch after them and shivered. The evening had turned cold and the heat of the bar rushed back inside the closed doors. The jukebox had clicked over to something more up tempo and the heavy beat drifted through the doors.

“Did you bring a jacket?” Evan asked, stepping onto the ground beside me. I rather thought he was counting heads as much as he was checking I was fine.

I shook my head. “Didn’t think to.”

“Here. Take mine.” Evan draped his jacket over my shoulders before I could refuse, but once it was on, I was grateful to escape the nip in the air.

“I grew up in foster care for pretty much as long as I can remember. Mostly nice people but I wasn’t theirs and I wasn’t the easiest kid to look after.” I didn’t elaborate about the long string of “accidents.” I’d mentioned some to Evan already. “After I left school, I worked in a series of temp jobs. I had a little place that I rented, nothing great.”

“You leave a lot of friends behind?” We started to amble after the others, but didn’t try and shorten the distance between.

I paused. “No.” Hell, I hadn’t left anybody behind. I didn’t know if that was depressing or lucky. I wondered if my temp manager was wondering where I was.

“You had to leave pretty quickly, I hear.”

I wondered how much Evan knew, if the Bartholomews or Étoile had briefed him, but I answered his not-quite-a-question anyway, with a flick of my hand. “Étoile just swept in one night and swept me out. Pretty much in the nick of time, as they say. I was being chased. They were probably going to kill me.” I shrugged, nonchalantly I thought, like it hadn’t mattered that I was terrified at being chased by a gang of thugs who wanted to hunt me down and burn me alive at the stake.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Evan draped his arm casually round my shoulder and rubbed my arm through his jacket as if it were a completely natural thing to do. I leaned into his warmth, but held my hands, slightly awkwardly, in front of me. My comfort at being so close to him was starting to make me question myself; I wondered if I was enjoying his touch a little too much. There could have been rules against this sort of thing for all I knew. “I like who I am and I like the people I’m with, for the most part, but I wouldn’t wish fear and pain on anyone. It just seems to be part of the supernatural world.”

“I see what you mean,” I said, though I wasn’t feeling terrific about the last bit of that. “I like the people we are too, and no, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone either.”

We didn’t speak again but a few minutes later we turned onto the driveway. The porch light was on and the door had been left ajar. We must have dawdled to have lagged so far behind the rest of our group. Stepping onto the porch, I slipped off Evana lis jacket and handed it back to him with a thanks.

“Any time,” he replied.

“See you tomorrow.”

“Bright and early.” He wasn’t making a move to leave, I noted. I couldn’t help stare into his eyes, my heart speeding up a fraction as I realised with a rush that I didn’t want this to end. I wanted Evan near me, maybe even closer than when he held me while we danced. I wondered if he could hear the little thuds my heart was booming.

“Kitty hoped to get you horribly drunk so we could all have a lie-in,” I blurted. Sheesh. What a doofus! And to think I’d been doing so well. I stared at my shoes.

Once again, Evan surprised me by laughing and his face was easy and worry-free. “I wondered why she kept refilling my glass. Have a lie-in. You deserve one.”

It was my turn to be surprised. “Really?”

“Stella, I know this past couple of weeks seems like a whole lot of nothing but you have been learning, even if you don’t realise it.”

“And I was thinking you loathed me.”

“Definitely not.” Evan leaned forward and I caught my breath as I turned my chin up to look at him. He looked so far into my eyes I felt like I was melting into pools of... yum. I didn’t know what I expected. No, I did. I knew exactly what I was waiting for but instead, he kissed me lightly on the cheek and went inside. I was rooted to the spot for a moment and, by the time I followed him in, he was gone, so I scampered up the stairs. Kitty was coming out of my room with her makeup box and tongs and she waggled her fingers in a goodnight gesture as she faked a yawn. I knew I should have asked if Marc had gone to bed, but I didn’t. He stormed off and hadn’t bothered to say goodnight; but then, I’d dawdled with Evan and, well ... I’d just have to see him tomorrow.

I brushed my teeth quickly and changed into my pyjamas. I had just pulled back the covers when there was a faint knock at the door. I tugged it open but there was no one there, and no one on the landing. Just as I wondered if I was imagining it, the little pile of books at my feet caught my eye and I stooped down to pick them up. Four well-thumbed mysteries, their covers creased with age, and sitting on top was an iPod with headphones wrapped around it.

I smiled and kicked the door shut, setting the bundle on my table next to the posy of flowers I’d picked a couple of days ago from the garden. The roses had bloomed, soft white petals clustered loosely about each other. An idea pinged into my head.

I plucked one of the white roses from the vase and sat on my bed, twisting the stem between my fingertips. White roses meant friendship, right?

Focusing on the flower and where I wanted it to be, I lulled myself into concentration and sent it vanishing into the ether before I even really thought about what I was doing.

From down the hall, I was sure I heard Evan laugh and that took my mind away from the thought that something had been watching us, out there in the half-light of nightfall.