The Elven Threat

Secrets and magic training

When they reached the park the others were already there sitting on the swing set, just chatting.

    Mary and Matt made their way up to them.

    "Hey May!" Bethany greeted her, "what did you want to tell us?"

    Mary got all excited and held out her hand. She focused on it, reaching deep into herself for that magic knot, and watched as a small drop of liquid formed in her palm.

    "I can do magic!" she breathed. Then she dropped her hand and leaned over breathing heavily. She looked up at everyone's faces. Everyone's eyes were wide with shock.

    "So it's true! Magic really does exist," Bethany said.

    "Yeah," Mary said, breathlessly.

    "Wow," Paul declared, "How did it happen?"

    "Exactly how Matt said it would," she glanced up at Matt, "There was an energy... What's wrong Matt?"

    Matt's eyes were looking right at her. He looked scared, but also disappointed. He grabbed her hand a pulled her away from the group. Leaning in he rasped in a whisper, "You aren't supposed to tell them. My mom told me to keep it a secret, and so I haven't spoken of it these last couple of days, you weren't supposed to do that."

    Mary backed up and whipped her hand out of his hold. "And not tell my friends? You sound just like my mother!" her voice was shrill. "I get this one cool thing, and my best friends can't even know about it? What's the point of friends if you can't share everything with them? I trust them! They won't tell anyone!"

    "Mary... that's not what I..." Matt's head sunk down and he looked at the ground. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."

    "Yeah, well..." she turned to the other three in a huff. "You can't tell a single soul, okay?" she didn't wait for a response before she turned and stubbornly stomped away.

    Paul walked up and put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "What happened?" He asked.

    Matt didn't respond, but turned on the spot and said, "I'm heading home. See you guys later."

    "O-okay."

    As Matt walked away, Paul rejoined Bethany and Wendy on the swing set. "I hope everything's okay with them." He said to the girls. They nodded in agreement.

***

Mary huffed as she walked back home. Why did Matt do that? Mary scowled and shoved her hands in her pockets. She kicked a rock as hard as she could and watched it bounce across the sidewalk.

    Her sour mood lasted all that day, and her little sister's plea to play with her did not help one bit. She ended up locking herself in her room and crying. Finally, after mindlessly watching videos on her phone for hours, she exited the room and ran into her dad.

    "Hey, Mary," he said, "I got you all signed up for magic class, it'll happen in an elf's home right after school on Monday, I've got the address here." He held up his phone, then noticed the tearstains on his daughter's face. "Hey, what's with that face?"

    Mary took a deep breath. "Matt and I had a fight," she grumbled.

    "Oh? About what?" he asked.

    "Nothing," she mumbled, "it was something dumb."

    Her dad wrapped his arm around her head and pulled her into an awkward hug.

    "Dad, stop it!" she said, pushing back against his stomach and pulling her head away.

    He chuckled. "Well, if it was about nothing, don't you think you should make up?"

    Mary's shoulders sagged and she said, "Okay, Dad." Turning right back around, she walked into her room and picked up her phone. She pulled up her texts and saw that there was one from Matt.

    "Sorry again," it read, "I didn't mean to make you mad."

    She let out a deep breath and typed back, "it's okay," then, "I'm sorry that I got so mad."

    Bing came the reply: "Hey, it's okay," another text followed it: "I assume you'll be in the magic class then, too?"

    "Yeah, my dad just registered me for it."

    "When do you start?"

    "Monday, right after school."

    "Me, too!"

    "Cool, maybe we'll see each other."

    "I hope so."

    Mary felt her cheeks grow hot. She set her phone down and buried her face in her hands. She typed back, "See you at school," and dropped the phone back on the desk and left the room.

    When Mary came back to her room at the end of the day, she saw he had responded with, "See you!"

    She clutched the phone to her chest and sighed. She wanted Monday to come quickly.