Jewel: The Beginning

CHAPTER 4: Six Years Later…at the Party

JEWEL POV

A couple of weeks had passed since Halloween, we laid low, not going out for anything but groceries and to the courts to have our last names changed, as an extra precaution, by the request of the MPA. So, my new life had begun; I went from Jewel Bronwyn Rowena to Jewel Bronwyn Talbot. I told Glenn to unregister me from the wizarding school and that I would continue to go to a normal school until I graduated like a normal person. Irina went back to school, and the twins started three years after I turned eleven, and there was extra protection around them. I also inherited a lot of money from my parents and requested that some of the money was to be used for me to have training in fencing, martial arts, archery, firearms; the works. I excelled at these things, even going beyond the level my teachers went. I tried to suppress what magic I had in me, but sometimes it went loose; but I think the magic in me has given me more strength and ability to learn and excel at these things.

My hope is that I will defeat this man, Cecil Carey, without any magic, and let those who are trying to continue my parent’s work continue the legacy. I hope that my skills in all that I am learning will give me some sort of advantage over this man.

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It is now six years later, in June, and Irina is having a massive graduation party for her and some of her friends. All of her friends from school, from who knows where they are all from, are coming to our house. Luckily, it is large, especially with the backyard. As long as they don’t go under the willow tree where I go to meditate, read, or whatever else, isn’t disturbed, nothing bad will happen to them.

It was noon, and Irina walked in the door with her boyfriend, Robert, with another boy following behind. I hug Irina and say hi to Robert. I know so much about him from Irina gushing over this boy. Personally, there seemed to be nothing extraordinary about him, but who knows, maybe he’s good at his magic, and that’s why she likes him. She told me that she had a crush on another boy, Brayden, but he never showed interest in anyone, “so, I think he’s gay,” she said. That surprised me. I never thought of a person going to that kind of school being gay, but after all, Dumbledore was gay, so why not?

Irina, holding hands with Robert, introduces me to the other boy. “Jewelie, this is Brayden. He’s Robert’s best friend and is the best in our year. I thought you two would like to meet and get to know each other some. Well, Robert and I got to finish putting up the decorations, so we’ll catch up with you later.” I look at him. He is beautiful. Naturally tanned skin, brown hair, and the most brilliant green eyes. This is a very simple description, but the words won’t come out right in my head as I look at this boy. Any girl would want to be with him, but maybe he wouldn’t show interest in me like he did with the other girls. I didn’t know any magic or anything that would impress him. Oh well.

“Hi,” he said. I looked at him and saw that he was looking at me strangely, but it wasn’t a bad strange, it was flattering. “I’m Brayden Kamali. Irina has told me all about you. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Anyway, do you guys need help setting up?” That’s when Aunt Abbey walked into the room, “Oh! Hello Brayden! Actually, Glenn is wondering if you could help finish grilling up the steaks. We’ve heard so much about a special marinade with a special fire, and wondered if you could help him out.”

“Certainly Mrs. Talbot”

“Oh, just call me Abbey. Thank you, Glenn is outside. Jewel, can you help me with the snacks?”

In about two hours, everyone showed up, and the party was already thriving. However, I knew that I would also be a major topic in Irina’s friend’s discussion. I guess I was rumored to be a really powerful witch and that I wasted my talents in mere Shwaga arts and have ruined my life. I didn’t care. I didn’t even care when I heard Irina talk behind my back, “Ever since Briana and Will died, she has refused to do anything with magic,” she told her mousy looking friend, Elsie, “She didn’t even know that she had magic until that night. And ever since, she has done everything she could so she can kill that guy without using magic. Psh, like how could she ever do that with a sword and fancy kicks is beyond me. WHATEVER!” I, too, have thought of that, but I just wanted to prove a point to him.

The party continued, and I was enjoying myself. I was amused by seeing everyone playing tricks on others with the local magical joke shop’s trinkets. I even tried one of the candies given, or rather tricked. I was outside near my willow when Brayden grabbed my shoulders; I jumped a little. “Whoa, it’s cool. It’s just me,” he smoothly says, “I found this butterscotch chew at the store, and Irie told me that you love them, so I thought I’d give them to you. Want one?” I grab one. I chewed it and swallowed. Then something that wasn’t right started to happen. I felt something starting to fly around in my stomach, like butterflies. But the sensation didn’t stop; it moved up my throat and continued until I had to open my mouth, and saw butterscotch colored butterflies fly out of my mouth and fluttered into my billowing.e funny thing was, I did feel butterflies when I was around him, fearing that I would say the wrong things around him.

I walked under the tree and looked at the butterflies. I looked at them for a few minutes before sitting, back to the outside of the tree. I rip out some grass and start playing with it, just not wanting to be surrounded by all the people for a while. After a while, I hear a voice say, “Knock, knock.” I turned my head; it was the person I hoped would come and also hoped wouldn’t come—Brayden. Why I was so interested in him was beyond me. He was a much easier person to handle that used magic. He hasn’t tried to flaunt it around like everyone else. That candy wasn’t his own after all, just from the joke shop. He only used magic to help Glenn because he was asked.

“Can I join you? I want to avoid others right now. Irina has been trying to pester me into doing one of her favorite tricks, but I don’t want to.” I nodded my head. He walks over, and sits down with his back against the trunk of the tree, and pats a spot next to him. I go and join him. “Thanks,” he says. I smile at him weakly and look at the grass and keep playing with it. I was nervous around him. Looking at him I knew wasn’t going to help. We sat quietly for a little bit. I could feel a breeze, I shutter unexpectedly. It’s June after all, and here, you never know what the weather will be doing next. I here movement behind me and I feel something touch me. I react naturally, which is to block whatever is coming after me and incapacitate whoever it is. I turn around as I see I broke Brayden’s wrist and see a hoodie falling to the ground.

“Oh crap,” I mutter to myself. “I immediately let go and spout out, “I’m sorry! Are you hurt? Sorry, reflexes from all of those classes and…” Then he puts his hand on the shoulder to stop me. I look down and see that it’s the one I just broke. I look up to see if he’s in pain. But he’s not. I look again and see that it doesn’t look broken anymore.

I naturally asked, “How did you do that?”

He looks at me and shows his wand to me. Oh. Duh, Jewel. He’s a wizard. I look at it and just voice, “Oh.” I keep looking at his wand, curious what it looks like. Despite the fact that my parents would’ve had them, I obviously never saw them. Irina and the twins have them, but Abbey and Glenn always made sure they never had them out in front of me. So basically, I was looking at my first real wand, not just a mock-up of wands from the Harry Potter movies or anything.

He was starting to put it away but I stopped him, “wait.” He stops, confused. “Can I look at that?” He smiles largely and hands it over. I smiled back; that smile was infectious. I look at it and look at its beauty. I was looking at the intricate designs. I then remembered back to Harry Potter and asked, “What’s it made of?”

I look up briefly and see him smile. He grabs his hoodie, puts it on my shoulders and pulls me a little closer as he answers, “Willow and dragon heartstring. You want to know how long it is too?” I look at him and laugh, seeing him smirk. “Haven’t seen a wand before?” he asks. I look and a see that he’s a lot closer than I realized. My heart was fluttering so fast as I was shaking my head. He stretches and puts his arm around me while saying, “Well, then I’m honored.”

Smooth. The classic stretch trick. Well, it’s not like I didn’t mind. An incredibly hot guy willingly putting his harm around me. Granted I knew like…well, I only know his name, Irina thought he’s gay, and he went to her school and they graduated together. Thanks Irina. If she were around I’d stick my tongue at her. I look at his right hand, still in disbelief that he could heal it that quick. I mean, it just all happened so fast, I didn’t even see him pull out his wand. So I ask again, “How did you do that?”

He laughs again, making me feel embarrassed. He says, “Sorry. I’m just amazed that you’re asking! I just said a spell to heal broken bones. It’s an Emendo spell. Depending on where it’s broken, you give a different body parts. I surprised it worked, I’ve never done it before.” I could feel myself giving him an annoyed REALLY? look.

Then he said, “People say that I’m the best in our year. I guess they say that because of my grades, as if to try to prove a point. But in all honesty, I just do my best because of my mom wanted me to have good grades. I just use if it is more convenient at the time. I don’t care for all that transfiguring or star reading stuff.” Well, that made me like him more again. He doesn’t really care for magic. I still didn’t trust him. You try trusting people with magic after those kind of people kill your parents.

It’s quiet for a little bit and then he asks, “So, what’s your story? I hear stuff from Irina, but let’s be honest, things are better for the actual person than second-hand. I think she’s biased anyway.” I was quiet. I didn’t know what to say, or if I could say anything. He wants my story? What? Her version wasn’t good enough? What? He wanted to know about my parents…

“Here,” he says, pulling me into his lap and letting me cry into his chest as he hugs me. I clutch onto his shirt, praying to God that my make-up won’t mess up from this. I’m not an extraordinary looking girl. I know I’m decent looking, a lot like my mother; long medium brown hair with natural burgundy lowlights, blue eyes, average height with a strong body from all my training, I only managed to get the facial structure of my father. I hope everyone will not come here like they’re suppose to, the family knows at least to not come here when I’m here; if they can’t find me they just assume I’m here anyway.

I cried for a while, surprised with him handling this so well. We don’t even know each other, yet I feel like I should know him. But that doesn’t seem right either, since I have avoided anything with magic as much as possible. But when I saw him today for the first time, I had a feeling for him like I had never had for anyone else before. I’ve had two boyfriends before, and it never felt like anything like this. Maybe this is just a normal teenage crush, and I just don’t realize it’s just like any other crush. He has an unfair advantage. He knows all about me because of Irina, but I hardly know anything about him. I felt like I needed to be with him, though, but I shouldn’t. Maybe that thing people call fate is trying to tell me something, but I don’t know what it’s trying to tell me. All I know is that I can’t have anything to do with him. I need to kill Cecil Carey, and he will ruin what I’ve been trying to do if I try to have anything with Brayden.

After a few minutes, I stop crying. We release each other and move my head enough to look at his eyes. I opened my mouth, ready to apologize. Since I was looking at his eyes, I didn’t see what his lips were doing. I feel something reach my lips, cutting me off. He releases the kiss slowly and moves away a little. When I didn’t do anything, he breathes and comes back in. He cradles my head in his hand and moves my head closer to his. It starts off slowly, and it starts building, like someone just started lighting the dynamite, and it’s trying to reach the stick. I wanted it to go on, my heart, my body, they wanted this to go on; but my mind was stronger.

I manage to move my head out of his cradle and breathed, “No.” I catch my breath and look up at him. He was looking at me, with a puzzled look in his eyes. It takes a moment before he speaks, “I’m sorry. It’s just…it somehow seemed appropriate. Apparently, I was wrong. But I also thought there was something…something between us. But I guess I was wrong.”

I was elated that he felt something between us. I could tell Irina that he isn’t gay. But I was saddened that he did feel something. “Brayden,” I spoke, “it’s not that I don’t feel something between us. You’re great. But I just can’t. We can’t have anything going on between us.”

“Why not?”

“When…when they died, and I found out everything, I vowed that I would do everything I could to destroy that man. But I vowed not to do anything with magic with that. I admit, it is hard with having my cousins around, but I never have stepped foot near that school, and they are hardly around, which makes it easier. But I must defeat without magic. I want to prove to him that his pure magic thing, not having Shwaganers in his life, is the wrong way to go. Frankly, your magical influence in my life will defeat my purpose of that vow. Brayden, it seems my very essence wants to be with you, but my purpose is stronger than that. If none of this had happened. If what happened had never happened, I know that we would be together already, for who knows how long. I want to be with you. But if I am…if we were to be together, it would have to wait until Cecil Carey is defeated.”

I wasn’t looking at him when I was speaking, feeling that it would be harder if I was. I made the mistake of looking up after I spoke, though. I looked only for his eyes, and that’s all I needed to see. His beautiful, green eyes were not brilliant, but pierced with pain, as if he were shot. He also had a determined look in his eyes, like he was trying to find a way around my words. In all honesty, I wouldn’t mind if he found a way, I felt so gravitated to him that it felt like my whole being revolved around him.

He wasn’t looking at me, though; he was looking down to the left of us. I followed his gaze, that’s when I noticed that our left hands were twined together, didn’t notice that before. I was wearing my ring on my hand. I noticed he was wearing a ring on his hand, too. I looked at it and had to double check myself. I don’t believe it.