Episode One Hundred and Fifty-Five: Magical Moments

“Magic!” Indigo circled back in my direction, which I knew even though I couldn’t see her. Somehow, I could feel it.

“Yep, this is weird.” Feeling where people were was just crazy.

Indigo shimmered into view as she landed on the lounger next to the Cat. Now both stared at me.

“You guys aren’t helping…”

“What feels different?” asked the Cat.

“I know where you guys are, even with my eyes closed.” Even with my eyes open, I could somehow sense them. Like I had another way to feel things. It felt like a light pressure inside my head, almost like a homing beacon or something.

“Your sensitivity to magic has increased.” The Cat stood up and padded closer, sniffing. “That’s a good thing, it’s a step forward in your journey.”

I focused on the bracelet and the stones within before sending a shield of golden magic into the air. It took nothing but the thought to send the small blast upward. It sparkled in the light before fading, but it sent a push of air out and my hair fluttered.

My eyes widened.

While I’d gotten good at that, I hadn’t been that good.

“I need to write this down…”

My journal appeared near the Cat and I quickly picked it up and started writing inside it. I needed to get my thoughts down and get this documented as soon as possible. I wanted to remember what I felt, to ask the Professor about it, and if they knew what was going on with me.

“What gifts had magic in them?” I asked, looking at the Cat. “I want to make a note…”

The Cat visibly hesitated and glanced away, staring across the rooftop deck.

I waited patiently.

Indigo chirped once, and the Cat sighed.

“The dust from your brother, Cerulean.”

My heart pounded in my chest as my world froze. That glitter bomb, I remembered it clearly. Golden sparkles floating in the light, making me giggle like crazy.

That was magic?

That was magic.

Cerulean knew about magic.

The bracelet weighed down my wrist, reminding me he’d gotten it for me as a gift. He’d been to the shop and stared at the Cat too long. His strange trips away from home as a mountain guide. 

He actually knew.

Before I even connected the dots, my phone appeared in my hand and I hit his name. It rang, then I got his voicemail.

“I am out on a tour until after the New Year. Please leave a message and I will get back to you once I’m able.”

I hung up.

“Sable…” The Cat nudged my knee. “Are you okay?”

Automatically, I picked him up and cuddled him in my arms.

“My brother knows about magic, and he got me magical gifts…”

Indigo chirped. “Does this mean I can meet him?”

Her question sidetracked me for a moment, but the Cat answered before I could.

“Sable needs a moment,” he said to Indigo.

Indigo’s eyes grew wide, and she raced to my side, climbing next to the Cat in my lap.

“Why didn’t he say anything when he visited the shop?” I asked.

“Sable, you’re smarter than this. He needed to be sure. You remember that girl whose grandmother passed away?”

I nodded. Those who didn’t know about magic were kept in the dark. I just didn’t really think about how someone would find others who also knew about magic. Cerulean had to make sure I already knew about magic before discussing it with me.

I let out a sigh and Indigo snuggled closer.

“Okay, once he’s back from his work trip, whatever it really is, I’ll ask him about magic…”

The Cat nodded.

“And I can meet him?” asked Indigo.

“I mean, if he knows magic is real it shouldn’t be a problem, right?” This time I glanced at the Cat.

“As long as he knows, things will be fine.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

Indigo whimpered.

“He knows.” The Cat’s words landed like a brick in a pond.

My whole body froze again, before I relaxed. 

Secrets. My brother was keeping secrets from me, yet he’d left hints for me to find and see if something came from them. First the bracelet. Then that call to make sure I was okay after I used it for the first time. His voice filled with concern, yet still not asking outright.

“What happens if you show magic to someone not magical?” This time I asked directly.

Indigo beat the Cat to the punch. Her voice came out quietly. “They forget. Sometimes they forget you.”

“What?”

“Magic protects itself,” explained the Cat. “It isn’t exact, so sometimes they forget other things as well. So you need to be careful. Very careful.”

“How do people usually go about these things then? In families like that girl’s?”

“Families with magical knowledge do testing, usually when kids are very young, to see if they have potential. Magical races don’t need to worry about that, of course, because awareness of magic is in their nature. Or, if non-magical people live on a magical world, where it is the norm, there aren’t issues. It’s only on worlds were magic isn’t a known thing that you need to worry.”

“He didn’t want me to forget our family… Oh heck, I could have forgotten him if he screwed up.”

Silence reigned on the rooftop for a moment before Indigo climbed off my lap and launched into the air, then back into the tub. 

“So, what now?” I asked. Quietly, my stomach fluttered in turmoil at the delay in getting a hold of Cerulean. It would be a few weeks before he’d be back in service. 

“Practice your magic, run the shop.” The Cat’s tail flickered in the air as he slowly crawled out of my lap. “You are the Shopkeeper.”

The Cat’s words settled my anxiety. What did this really change? I was already learning about my magic, and I had a job to do. 

An important job. 

I needed to run the shop and take care of Indigo, along with the Cat. Not that he’d be pleased with those thoughts. The fact that he was stuck here in this bookshop away from his lands and people still weighed on me. Yet, I didn’t know how to break whatever curse the fates had stuck him with.

He needed to make amends.

The only record I had about what that really meant was the book, and the Cat didn’t want me to touch it.

I leaned back in the lounger and tapped my fingers on the journal with my notes about my magic.

“What are you thinking?” asked the Cat.

I didn’t answer immediately, not wanting to worry him. “About magic, but it is my day off. I’ll meditate, but then I want to rest for a bit in the hot tub. I still gotta call the rest of my family and thank them for the gifts.”

The Cat nodded his head before standing. “I’m going to get some rest. Remember to practice.” 

“I’ll meditate and practice.”

“Me too,” added Indigo. “Dragon magic!”