We're back with another story!
This one we'll be writing on the odd days of August, 16 parts in total.
I guess there isn't much more to say than that.
So here goes.
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Rowan felt a bit peculiar.
She and her friends were sitting in a coffee shop, enjoying the last of their summer vacation, when suddenly an odd sensation ran through her. She paused. She stared in to her chocolate for a while, trying to figure out if there could be something weird in it.
"Rowan," her attention was snapped back into the present by Aksa's voice.
"Yeah?"
"You completely phased out there," her friend said.
"Uh, I'm feeling a little weird," Rowan admitted, "I think I'm going to go get myself a glass of water."
She looked around the table at the others, their faces showing half curiosity and half worry. She waved a hand to show them she was okay as she stood up and headed to the counter. She got her glass of water, sipped it and returned to the table.
"What kind of weird?" Aksa asked as she sat down.
"I don't know. Just weird," she said was sitting down and putting the glass on the table.
And then it happened. She accidentally kicked a chair leg hard as she was sitting down and knocked her glass of water over. Or rather, would have knocked it over, if her new magic powers hadn't stopped it. The glass stopped mid-fall, tilting just little enough that only a few drops of water were spilled. Everyone just stared at it for a few seconds. Rowan blinked. Then she felt herself do... something. She didn't know exactly what it was. It was like flexing a muscle to move a part of herself she never even knew she had. The glass pulled itself back into a steady stand in the table.
Everyone turned their stares from the glass to Rowan. All Rowan could do was keep staring at the glass. This lasted for maybe fifteen seconds before Rowan's brain started working again and she did the thing every sensible person does when confronted by something this unexpected and weird happening: she called her mom.
Her mom did not pick up. She called her dad.
"Rowan? You want a ride already?" her dad's voice answered.
"Please tell me you have some old great-aunt or something who has magic and no children," Rowan said, ignoring his question.
"Uh, no, not that I know of."
"Well I just stopped a glass from spilling water all over a table and then lifted it back up without ever touching it or moving."
There was a silence. She could almost hear him coming up with some explanation that wasn't someone in the family dying and passing on their magic to her.
"There could be someone on your mom's side who has magic. I wouldn't know, she doesn't really talk about them that much," he finally said.
"I tried calling mom first, she's not picking up," she told him.
"Okay. She's probably driving. She should be home any minute. You know what, I'll come pick you up now, if that's okay. So we can all talk about it together and figure out who you got the magic from. Or if it's something else," he added, not sounding at all like he thought it could be something else.
"Okay. I'll wait at the coffee shop parking lot." Rowan hung up the phone. "I'm sorry guys, I really need to go."
"Yeah, of course," Siina said and the others nodded.
"Just let us know what you find out," Aksa said. They knew just as well as Rowan she wasn't in a position to inherit any magic from anyone—it was the kind of thing one knew about their friends—but apparently had anyway.
Rowan nodded as she picked up her bag and headed out the door. Her dad showed up a short while later, and then they were on their way home. When they got home, her mom wasn't there.
"She should be home by now," her dad told her. He tried to call her mom to ask how long she'd be. She didn't pick up.
They spent half an hour wondering where she was and who it was Rowan had inherited the magic from, but neither had leads. Eventually his phone rang.
"It's your mom," he told her. "Hi, honey, just tried to call you and ask when you'll be home, there's something we need to... Oh. Hello." His face became tight "Yes. Yes. She had a...?" He breathed in, deep. "When was this? Okay. Yes. I understand. Goodbye," he hung up the phone and turned to Rowan, tears in his eyes. "It seems you inherited your powers from your mother."
All Rowan could do was stare.
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A topic for the day after tomorrow? Lies.
~matu
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