Pain rippled through my chest. As much as I resented Mother for trapping us here, she’d still taught me everything I knew. It was difficult to imagine living without her.
Courtney grabbed a lemon slice and stuffed it into her mouth. She didn’t say anything, and I didn’t expect her to. A thank-you would have been nice, though.
Bella slid along her couch so that she was closer and reached out for my hand. She even placed her book to the side.
I moved so that I could take the hand she offered and squeezed her fingers.
“I can’t believe she’s gone,” I said without thinking. I wasn’t sure if we wanted to reminisce so soon after Mother’s untimely demise. It felt good to say the words out loud, though, especially to my sisters.
Bella nodded, tears sliding down her face before she wiped them away. Her nose twitched. I knew she wasn’t comfortable with emotions, especially in front of other people. Even us.
Courtney kept eating from the table, ignoring the sticky emotions clogging the air.
I closed my eyes and let the moment wash over me. I still had my sisters. And despite the isolation, I’d had an incredible life. I—no, we—had been safe. We’d been loved. But we were on our own now. And we had to figure out what that meant to us. We had to figure out our next step.
I opened my eyes and offered Bella a quick smile to thank her for her support.
“So, what sort of house shall we build you?” I asked my sisters as I swallowed the lump in my throat.
Courtney took a sip of water and picked up another piece of chocolate cake. “I want a massive bedroom with no books, a huge stereo system, and a kick-ass fridge that refills with everything I want to eat,” she said, her words tumbling over each other with obvious enthusiasm.
I laughed. “You always wanted that fridge,” I said. “Ever since we were little.”
Courtney’s lips twisted up. “Yeah. And Mom always stopped me from creating one, but now that I have the power, I’m getting my fridge!”
I hung my head, letting my sister’s energy move through me as I envisioned the home they wanted. The wooden structure, the walls, the floors. The beds.
“No! Stop.” Bella grabbed my arm and I let go of the house I was creating, my eyes snapping open.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
Bella’s eyes were wide, stricken. “You can’t use your magic to build us a house,” she said, her voice shrill.
“Of course, I can,” I said, waving away her concern with a flick of my hand. “It will take precision and concentration, and most of my power, but of course I can do it.”
“You can’t,” she insisted.
“Why not?” I asked.
She wasn’t making sense. I was by far the most powerful of the three of us. If anyone was able to conjure something similar to what Mother had given us, it would be me.
Bella rolled her eyes as though I’d said something monumentally stupid, and sadness filled me. Instead of being annoyed with her as I expected to be, something shot through me, hitting me right in the gut.
God, I’m gonna miss her when I’m gone.
Because I still had every intention of leaving them behind and heading to the magic realm to look for our father.
“Because you’ll be in the magic realm, not here with us,” she said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. “If I’m right—and when am I ever wrong? —then you’ll be drained of at least half your magic if you’re concentrating on keeping our house up for us. And that’s assuming you can do it from that far away. Mother rarely left us at all, so it would have been much easier for her to keep up the façade with minimal effort. You, on the other hand…”
She didn’t need to finish her sentence. I already knew what she was going to say. I was not as powerful as Mother. I was not as steady or as capable. I knew Bella didn’t mean it in a rude, hurtful way. She was just stating the facts. As much as I hated to admit it, she was right.
I sat back and stared out at the empty field, disappointment swamping me. I wanted to help my sisters, but Bella made a good point. I didn’t know how far away the realm was, nor how far my magic would stretch if I did create a home. I couldn’t risk it.
Plus, if Mother’s sickness was linked to the drain on her magic that maintained our home, then I couldn’t possibly do everything.
Go to the magic realm and build my sisters a house. They were going to have to do it themselves.
“Okay…” I nodded my head, wrapping my finger with a lock of hair. “You’re probably right. And if it’s as dangerous as Mother says in the magical realm, perhaps I will need every stroke of magic I possess.”
I turned to my two little sisters, the women I loved most in this world. The only family I had left.
“Then it’s up to you two.” I gestured to the field. “Show me what you can do. Make me proud.”
Mother had taught us all magic. And as daughters of the High Warlock, and our powerful mother, our genetics had already destined us to be incredible witches. Because I was the oldest, Mother pushed me the hardest.
I didn’t know if it was because she felt it was my job as oldest to learn everything. Perhaps she thought she had more time to instruct Bella and Courtney. Whatever the reason, they were both capable but less skilled.
I should be the one doing this, but I couldn’t. Not if I was leaving.
Which meant they would be forced to learn the ins and outs of long-standing creation magic quickly. I was sure they knew some, but that might not be enough. And I refused to leave until I was convinced that they would be safe.
We’d never had to use our powers for anything more than the lessons our mother had taught us. But their time, it seemed, had come.
Courtney and Bella got to their feet with a shared grin and walked behind the couches. They looked excited at the prospect of creating something personal to them.
“You better get up, Ava. Those couches are gonna disappear and you’ll end up on your ass.” Courtney shot me a smirk that seemed to say she would be fine if I didn’t get up.
I jumped to my feet. I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of seeing such a thing.
“Yeah, well, let’s see how good you guys are at coordinating this,” I said, rubbing my hands together. I could feel my magic stir in me, as though it wanted to break free.
As much as I wanted to let even a little out just to find some sort of release, I couldn’t. It would put me at risk, and it would tell my sisters I didn’t trust them. That was the last thing I wanted to do.
Bella nodded and Courtney’s blue eyes gleamed with the challenge.
“Let’s do this,” Bella said.
I grinned at her. Bella was the one I was worried about. I wasn’t sure if she was willing to get her hands dirty, considering the way she always had her nose in a book.
“The floor is yours, ladies,” I said, sweeping my hands out and gesturing at the field in front of us.
Bella and Courtney raised their hands, pulses of energy and electric current coursing through the air. It tickled my neck, and the hairs on my skin stood straight up. It was as though I was coated in a blanket of warm, static electricity.
“Talk aloud guys. It’ll be easier for you,” I said, naturally guiding my sisters in their job. I hoped it didn’t come across as though I was telling them what to do. I didn’t want to be like Mother in that way.
“I think we should have one level, with four—no, five—rooms,” Bella said, her eyebrows raised and her eyes wide. I didn’t think I had ever heard her speak so quickly. “A bedroom each, a kitchen, a sitting room, and a bathroom. Oh, and a library.”
“Maybe you guys should do a bathroom for each of us,” I suggested. “One bathroom for three sisters doesn’t seem like a lot.”
“Especially with Courtney,” Bella said.
“Hey!” Courtney exclaimed, but her eyes twinkled with amusement.
The building began to materialize. A brick veneer with small windows. A nice, thatched roof. My sisters’ fingers moved in a deliberate, delicate manner, as though they were playing the keys of an invisible piano.
“Oh, no…bigger windows, I think.” Courtney frowned, flinging her hands around and changing the details of the outside.
“And a small garden,” Bella said, flicking her wrist and making peonies and roses sprout around the house. “Like Mother used to have, save that we can actually pick the flowers from this one. I want to be in the garden if the weather is perfect and I want to read a book outside surrounded by beauty.”
I rolled my eyes. Those details could be conjured up later. The structure was much more important. However, I could not blame them for adding the things they wanted. When a person had been muted for so long, sudden control was as addictive as a drug. I would not be the one to take that power away from my sisters.
“Now for the inside,” Bella said. Her fingers bent and the joints cracked, as though she was creating even faster than her mind could keep up with. She was as focused as she was when she read one of her books. “A huge library for me… in my bedroom! Why have a separate room?”
“And a fridge for me,” Courtney added. Her lips twitched up, as though she just remembered that she had the ability to create whatever she wanted, including a super-fridge for herself.
My sisters constructed their perfect house with white light and imagination. I watched in amazement as they did it all by themselves.
Mother would be proud.
I was so proud.
Knowing that they were capable of this level of magic made it easier for me to accept the fact that we would be separated soon. Because I knew they could take care of themselves and each other.
As the house settled and the magic around us began to dissipate, my sisters’ lips lifted into identical smiles of satisfaction.
“Good job,” I said, as the flowers continued to sprout around us, and a picket fence wove around the house.
Mother had always erected strong, magical guards around our home, and I would speak to Bella about creating them as well, before I left.
The house itself looked completely normal. More than that, it looked worn in, as though we had been there for a long time. It felt like a home.
Courtney charged forward first.
Bella had more self-control. Her movements towards the front door were jerky, as though she was trying to control her excitement to see the new house and was having a difficult time doing so.
I followed in their wake, suppressing a smile of amusement. My magic tingled in my veins, and my palms pulsated with stagnant energy. I wanted to help, to create, to strengthen. But I kept my hands to myself, holding them together behind my back as I walked through the small cottage.
I had to trust my sisters. And I did.
Then suddenly, I realized the problem. I felt left out. They were creating something I wasn’t going to be a part of.
You don’t have to go to the magical realm. You could stay here. Hell, you could put off going to the magical realm for a year if you wanted to, just to make sure your sisters were settled in. Until you’re sure they’re safe.
Bella and Courtney dashed through the single-story house, throwing details around with relish, adding to the house to really make it unique. Now when I looked, there were paintings, and rugs, and glasses, and vases of fresh flowers. My jaw dropped as I looked around the kitchen and main living area—the high ceiling, the smell of cinnamon in the air. This place was amazing.
We headed up the hallway and peeked into the bedrooms. I laughed as I glanced inside Courtney’s bedroom. Her bed was huge, with dark wood and red splashes of color. The bed coverings matched the curtains that hung on the walls. A huge purple fridge was plugged in the corner of the room, probably lined with soda and chocolate, just waiting for her to consume once we were gone and she could do what she wanted in peace.
Bella’s room was quaint—on one side of the room, anyway. With a small bed, and pink tones in every detail. On the other side of the room was half a library. Shelves upon shelves of magnificent books, all created by my beautiful bookworm of a sister.
Further down the hall, at the end, I realized that they’d created my room as well, with a regular bed and a regular window overlooking the small garden in the back. My body was at peace in the room. Though I wouldn’t be living in it just yet, I liked it. It felt like home.
When they were finally done, and Courtney had added more items to her fridge, I gathered both my sisters in for a huge hug.
“Well done,” I said, my voice filled with emotion. “You guys did an amazing job with this. Mother would be proud.” They both snuggled closer, appreciating the praise more than I’d realized they would. I sighed. “Make sure to remember not to trust anyone. Not even someone who says they know me. If I do send someone, I’ll give them my locket as a sign, okay?”
They nodded and hugged me tighter. When I stepped back, my heart hammered in my chest and my hands shook with nerves.
“It’s time for me to go,” I said. My voice quivered and I had to look at the walls surrounding us so I wouldn’t cry.
“You don’t want to stay even one night?” Bella asked, biting her lip. She looked up at me with big eyes. It was difficult for me to say no. I wasn’t sure how Mother had done it with such ease.
Courtney grinned. “I could build you a fridge for your room.”
Unshed tears tingled in my eyes, but I blinked them back. “I’d love to… but the sooner I work out a way to make all of these pieces fit together, the sooner we can get on with our lives,” I said. I breathed in deeply, trying to slow my erratic heart. “I love you. You know that, right? Both of you.”
I gripped their hands, sharing a final look. I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to stay and build a home with the two people who knew me the best.
But I couldn’t.
I needed to go to the magic realm. I needed to figure out who our father was and why he’d never been there for us, and maybe strengthen my own magic.
I gave my sisters one last look, one last watery smile, and squeezed their shoulders. If I didn’t leave now, I wouldn’t leave at all. Then I headed out the door and, with a single word, transported myself to the portal at the end of the field, and stepped through the cold void, into the nearest town.