Real Magic — Finding It: Chapter 6

So far during this nocturnal excursion, being somewhere in Pennsylvania, left me with more questions than answers. I wondered how long I would stay if there really was any time constraint or any limitation at all. There had to be. After all, this was some magical thing and everything magical was an illusion, right?

“Are you thirsty or hungry?” Dawn asked.

“You mean — I can eat and drink here?”

“Why not?” Carlos asked.

“You shouldn’t if you’re not thirsty or hungry. But otherwise, there is no reason you can’t.”

I looked down, patting my stomach. It felt solid. Maybe I expected my hand to pass through it like I was a ghost or something.

Finally, I looked up, shaking my head. “I’m okay. I don’t need anything right now, other than answers.”

“I’m sure you have lots of questions,” Jen said.

“I don’t know where to begin.”

“At the beginning, of course.”

“How do I know when someone has magic inside of them?”

“That’s simple,” Jen said. “After centuries of interbreeding, there’s some witch and wolfcat in everyone. Even if it’s only a tiny bit and easily ignored. That’s the easy answer. But I assume you mean how can you tell when someone is like me or Dawn…or you.”

“Without asking,” Dawn added.

“Exactly.”

“I got this one, Jen,” Dawn said. “Okay Brent, turn toward me and close your eyes.”

“Okay.” I did as she said.

“What do you see?”

“There’s a bright bluish-green glow where you are.”

“That’s my aura. Now, look away from me.”

“Okay.”

“What do you see.”

“Nothing, really.” Then I turned toward where Jen was sitting. “Jen glows too, but she’s reddish-orange.”

Before I opened my eyes, the glow I was associating with her turned bright yellow, then green.

“Show off!” Dawn teased.

“So, wolfcats glow bluish-green, but witches can glow any color?”

“Usually witches are red, violet or some variant between,” Dawn said. “Jen’s just playing around.”

“We can make our auras appear to be any color we want. It has something to do with our current mood, but we can also conceal that if we need to, provided we know-how. There are some cloaking spells that suppress our auras from all but the most sensitive hunters.”

“Hunters?”

“Wolfcats recruited for their skills at sensing auras,” Dawn clarified. “They are called hunters. They usually search for the violet auras, what they wrongly assume are evil witches.”

“They aren’t evil,” Jen said. “But they prefer the darker aspects of their nature and that threatens those who seek to control us.”

“Wolfcats are easier to locate,” Dawn said. “We are usually blue or green or a blending of the two.”

“But not always,” Jen interjected. “In order to find a wolfcat, it helps to be a wolfcat — or have one helping you to locate them.”

“A wolfcat’s aura never changes during their lifetime. Whatever hue the aura, it is something we instinctively associate with that individual,” Dawn said. “There is a plethora of gradients between blue and green.”

“What color is my aura?” I asked.

“That’s one of the limitations of your being here. Your aura remains with your anchor,” Jen said.

“Your aura is a little darker than mine, as I recall, but still aquamarine,” Dawn said. “That’s a signal of balance in your nature, that you are not extreme blue or extreme green. Your aura is how I knew you were a wolfcat.”

Continuing to look around, I saw a smaller aura, golden. When I opened my eyes, a black cat was sleeping on the back of the sofa. “Animals have auras, too.”

“Of course, they do,” Jen said. “Ebony is my familiar, though.”

“A friendly spirit has taken residence in her cat.” Carlos further clarified.

“In Medieval times people believed the spirits of familiars were demonic.” Jen laughed.

“They aren’t. I can feel it’s…it’s natural, somehow,” I said. “The cat is neutral compared to us. It’s hard to explain. I mean — cats are independent by nature, so, that makes sense, I suppose. But your cat isn’t ordinary. There is another soul…someone who died?”

“Yes, a witch who passed on many years ago.” Jen smiled. “It’s wonderful. Your abilities are working well, even here.”

“I told you,” Dawn said. “The boy’s got some powerful gifts.”

“You were talking about me?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t we have a discussion about you?” Jen asked.

“She and I went out to lunch. It was just after you called me this morning.”

“And we talked about doing this for you.” Jen stood removing her robe, revealing a loose tee shirt and well-worn jeans with some thread-bare spots and frayed holes in them. After draping the robe over the back of a vacant chair, she reached up, and gently removed the wig she was wearing revealing her short-cropped, true strawberry-blond locks.

“Why the costume?”

“I had it leftover from Halloween. I forgot to return it so, I have to pay late charges anyway. I figured, why not use it one last time?”

“Looks good on her, doesn’t it?” Dawn asked.

“I wore a pointy hat, too. I know, it’s cliché, but sometimes you gotta play to your audience. The hat seemed a bit much for this situation, especially indoors.”

“But you are a witch?”

“Of course, I am. Everything I told you is true. My major may be history education, but my minor is theater. Why not put on a bit of a show? I hope you liked it.”

“So, how much of this whole thing was necessary?”

“What do you mean?” Jen asked.

“The circle of candles and all that. Does a witch need to be involved in some sort of ceremony for me to be able to come here… like I did?”

Dawn laughed. Jen shook her head. “Dawn’s amused because she predicted all the staging would confuse you.”

“Jen can be overly dramatic.”

“Who isn’t? But the simple answer to your question is no. Once you learn the trick of riding the invisible waves beneath the veils of the world, and you have established access to your inner magic, you can come and go pretty much as you please.”

“I’ll teach you. It’ll be fun.” Dawn winked.

Jen held up her hands, drawing my attention. “I always wanted to do my nails like this. Halloween was a good excuse. So, Brent, any other questions?”

I shook my head.

“I have one,” Dawn directed to me. “What has your Other told you about wolfcats?”

“I don’t know. He’d told me a lot, I guess. Like, he said we always heal fast.”

“That’s true,” Jen said. “Witches too, but not as fast as wolfcats.”

“He said that if I embraced my magic that my knee injury would heal 100%.”

“If not more,” Dawn confirmed.

“What do you mean?”

“Embracing your wolfcat magic, allowing it to flow freely, transforms you. Slightly at first, but gradually, you will become a different person. Like, I was always kinda skinny, as well as petite. My only prominent features were my big feet.” She stuck her leg out from beneath the table and rotated her foot in a circular motion for emphasis. “When I was little, my big feet made me look like I was wearing clown shoes.”

“My feet are too small,” I said.

“They’re the same size as mine — more or less.” Dawn directed toward Jen.

“Isn’t that interesting?”

“Once I embraced the magic inside of me, I began to develop muscles and curvy features.”

“I remember that. It took about two or three months, maybe a little more. Suddenly, all the guys in class were noticing Dawn, almost fighting over her.”

“I accused Jen of casting a spell on them… or me. I wanted to be popular, but it became ridiculous,” she said.

“The magic was real and that was all you, hon.” She leaned over and kissed her cheek, which surprised me a little.

“How about you?” Dawn asked.

“I’m already fairly strong — if that’s what you were asking.”

“Well, by allowing your inner wolfcat to emerge, you will become much stronger, and a whole lot faster. There are other benefits, too, like you’ll jump higher, see well in the dark — things like that,” Dawn said.

“You can do all that too?”

She nodded.

“So, when we were at school, I was leading you in the dark, but you could already see as well as I did?”

“I didn’t want you to know about me — not at that moment — because I wasn’t sure how aware you were of your own attributes.”

“Training you will not make you into anything you aren’t already, just enhance those things you already possess,” Jen continued. “In the past, you may have believed in luck, that fortunate things happened at the right time for you. All those instances were manifestations of your magic. It always takes care of you, rescuing you from danger and certain death. Training will focus on greater control.”

“And eventually, you’ll be able to do this.”

Before my eyes, Dawn’s hair grew longer, and tufts of fur appeared on her arms and cheeks as her snout elongated slightly while her canines protruded ever so slightly — strongly resembling a wolf. Then, just as slowly she grew long whiskers and her ears appeared less like a wolf and more like a cat. Her eyes were the same green as before but now more cat-like. When completed, she settled back in her chair and struck a more human balance somewhere between the two extremes that I found exotically captivating.

“But it’s easier to look human, maybe because I linger in the shape just to fit in.” In seconds she returned to the attractive young lady I knew.

“It takes months, even years of practice for morphing to become fluid, almost reflexive. Dawn has worked on it since she was twelve.”

“Occasionally, you may wake up in the image of a cat or a wolf. Or you may look more wolf-like than usual. But after a few minutes it always reverts to how you’re comfortable,” Dawn said.

“Your parents knew?”

Dawn shook her head. “That’s the sad part. The attributes usually skip generations. I’m not sure when they last appeared in my family. My grandparents were not. And as far as I know, neither were their parents.”

“It can be as embarrassing as going through puberty,” Carlos said.

Dawn smiled. “Yes, that’s true.”

“And the best part, after the process begins, you and I will converge and eventually merge as one.”

“I’m not sure I like that part.”

“You take the good with the bad. Besides, there are benefits to being me, even if it means I must also become you.”

I drew a deep breath, letting it out slowly. I’d made my decision, not that it seemed like I had much of a choice. “If I can get rid of that damned knee brace before wrestling season begins…”

Dawn reached down with both hands and touched my knee. Through my pajamas, I felt her hands growing warmer. Looking down, I confirmed my suspicions, that it was glowing brightly with the hue of her aura. “Not only do we heal fast, but we are also natural healers for others.”

“You mean you healed my knee?”

“No, I accelerated your own process. And since you are a wolfcat, it was already at work, just you have been resisting it.”

“How do I stop resisting it?”

“Let go of your fears. You aren’t losing control. You’re gaining it. You won’t lose yourself by discovering the fuller range of potentials. And soon you will be focused on your destination.”

“My destination?”

“What people wrongly call their destiny. Everyone has a destiny. It’s a process of continuing toward a destination. But in order to arrive, you must focus your direction upon a goal.”

“I think I understand that.”

“Great. The rest is easy — well, easier.”

I drew another deep breath, closing my eyes to concentrate. No longer could I feel Dawn’s hand on my knee, but where it was now remained warm and tingling. I sensed a change around me, the ambiance of the larger room compressed as I sat up in bed, opening my eyes to confirm what I already suspected. I’d returned home.

I turned to see what time it was. Staring in disbelief at the radium glow of the hands on my alarm clock. Where had the time gone? It was a little after 2 AM. It hadn’t seemed like I’d been away that long.

The business card was still in my hand. I brought it closer to my nose, sampling her perfume. Once more I closed my eyes and felt her presence.

“Goodnight, Brent.”

“Goodnight, Dawn.”

“Connected forever if that’s your desire,” Carlos said.

“Why wouldn’t we be?” I asked, but instantly I sensed the coldness of loss, the isolation from Dawn.

“Because you’re seventeen, things happen. The potential of the unexpected may change everything in the blink of an eye.”

I sighed as I confessed. “I could fall for her.”

“That wouldn’t be hard to do.”

“You like her, too.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t tell you, but the signs are there if you cared to see them.”

“You mean how affectionate Jen is toward her?”

“They’re a couple.”

I nodded.

“Not that there isn’t attraction between you and Dawn, though. It’s natural between wolfcats, but she likes both you and Jen.”

“What else am I overlooking?”

“They’re vigilantes, fancying themselves a crime-fighting duo.”

“Like… in the comic books.”

“Except they’re real-life superheroes, Brent. That’s what most vigilantes consider themselves.”

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