The Prophecy

Chapter Three

The next day I went to the Library to begin my training. This was something out of the movies I’d never seen this many books in a private collection in my life. I remembered that Uncle Arthur was a professor maybe that’s where they all came from. Watching Callen was fascinating. I got to see many forms of earth magic that reminded me of my mother and it was starting to be a comfort instead of a trigger. Being next to him gave me a true sense of calm I’d never in my life experienced. He rotated pebbles in the air with ease, shifted soil with a flick of his finger, he helped a potted ivy grow to more than half it’s size. I watched his eyes focus and his hands twisting towards the table. Slowly but surely the vines moved outward, tiny sprouts popping left and right as new sections grew and twisted along the wood grain. I found myself mesmerized by him completely. This came to him as easy as breathing or walking. When he was satisfied with the new size of his plant he dropped his hands and it stopped, he turned to face me and his mother and smiled at us waiting for us to give him a pat on the back “Wow… that was amazing. It all comes so easy to you. What are you planning on doing for your presentation at your ceremony Callen?” I asked. 

He gave me smile and nudged me with his shoulder playfully, “It’s a surprise.” His momma laughed and waved her hand in the air. 

“Keep your secrets baby I know what ever it is it will blow all our minds. But enough about you you’ve shown off enough it’s time we focus on Echo for a while.” My stomach turned with anxiety, I I found myself feeling so comfortable here in this room with them, now I had to ruin it and see the damn pity on their faces when they watched me flail and flounder. I went to stand in the center of the room and waited. “Go ahead sugar, show us something, anything. I need to get an idea of your skill level so I can decide the best way to help you move forward. What ever form of magic comes the most natural let it loose we will go from there.” She smiled sweetly but I could see it ended in more of a wince. I took a deep breath and thought a moment and realized none of the elements came to mind first, when I truly concentrated on it I felt the pull of all four. I knew this was my inability to keep my mind focused like my mom always said and I started getting frustrated. Eyes still closed I kept remembering how upset momma used to get with me during my lessons, I started to hear her voice.

“Echo Diana Delaney, stop getting so upset. This right here is why you can’t get a handle on this baby girl.”

As she left my memory heat began radiating from my fingertips, I felt a breeze brush my hair across my face. I opened my eyes and lifted my hand palm up out in front of me, I scrunched my eyebrows and saw a spark, quickly I closed my hand into a fist and opened it again and a candle on the table next to my Aunts hand grew like a blow torch and scared her enough that she almost fell from her seat. But just as fast as it grew it snuffed out leaving nothing but a puff of smoke. “Goddamn it! See? That’s what always happens! I concentrate, doesn’t matter what I attempt it starts well and then BAM. I can feel the connection to my magic and suddenly it feels like someone snaps a cord in my head and I lose it and I don’t even know WHY. Momma said I needed to concentrate more but no matter how many times I told her I was she just said I needed more practice it’s like she wasn’t even listening.” I wrapped my arms around myself and fell into a pile if my own self pity on the floor. I knew I was being immature but you try as hard as I do to do something everyone around you can do with such ease and tell me how mature you are.

Callen came to sit beside me and rubbed small circles on my back to comfort me, “Don’t worry Echo we will help you.” I looked up and saw Marg staring at me but really right through me. Callen followed my gaze, “I know that look momma what is it?” 

“I need to go talk to your father, both of you stay here ok? I’ll be back in a hot minute keep practicing. Why don’t you help her try some earth magic baby until I get back.” She left the room and shut the door behind her without another word. 

“I’m sorry.” I said hanging my head low. He was so kind, I felt at home when I was near him, this was so embarrassing. 

“Why don’t you tell me a little more about why you think you can’t get a hang of this and we will go from there, here let me help you up.” He stood in front of me and held out both is hands, as I took them I felt a jolt run from my fingertips to through my entire body. From the way his eyes grew in shock he felt it too, “Echo?” He tightened his grip and started to pull me closer. We couldn’t take our eyes off of each other.

“Mmm-hmm?” Was all I could muster, I felt my lips doing something that over the last month or so no longer felt natural, I was smiling. As I did this he pulled me even closer, and rested one hand on my wast and the other moved up to cup my cheek. Instinctually I leaned into his hand and my eyes closed. 

“Wh-what is this?” He whispered. 

“I…don’t know.” I muttered back, I opened my eyes to stare back into his and off to my left something caught my attention. “What the?” The ivy on the table that Callen had been practicing on earlier was… it was… “It’s growing!” He turned his head to see what I was talking about and as sure as we lived and breathed that plant had grown 10 times it sized, it’s vines slowly but obviously making its way down the sides of the table, over books, around the arms of the chairs. 

“Ok you two Arth- OH! Whats going on?” Instinctually Callen and I dropped each other and stepped back as Aunt Marg re-entered the room. “Baby Who did this??” She walked up to the table and inspected the potted ivy she had left no longer than 10 minutes ago but now looked like something out of Jumanji. “Callen? Echo? Someone talk to me.” Her eyes were wide and I couldn’t tell if it was out of fear, concern, or pure fascination.

“We don’t know.” We said at the exact same time.

“What do ya’ll mean you don’t know?” She raised an eyebrow at us “I wasn’t born yesterday this is some high level magic Callen honey were you showing her what you prepared for your ceremony? I’m hurt sweet pea you said you didn’t want to show anyone until it was time?”

“Momma I swear it was… it happened when..” He looked from his mothers face to the plant back to me and fell silent. 

“Ok.” I said, “But you’re not gonna believe us.” 

“Try me.” She said and folded her arms over her chest. 

We both began to explain, much to our discomfort how we felt drawn to one another after a single touch and while Callen repeatedly tried to tell his mother it wasn’t s****l, it was like we had no control over our own bodies and we hadn’t even realized we were standing there like that for almost 10 minutes and we had only noticed the plant a moment before she came back. It took her a few minutes to process, and we both squirmed uncomfortably in the silence until she finally stood up and began pacing around the two of us “So the moment you touched the magic was activated, and it was more than likely Callens magic since he’s an earth witch… but you couldn’t be an amplifier you can barely… unless…” she grabbed my hand and pulled me out the door. “We have to go tell your uncle about this I have another idea.”

I sat there in Arthurs office while he and his wife ran circles around the room, pulling out this book and that, muttering to one another before flying to another shelf then shaking their heads and the cycle continued. It was Arthur that finally stopped dead in his tracks, whirled around and said, “Of course!!! Margret!” 

“What? What is it?” She rushed to his side.

“Don’t you remember? Years ago, Annette called and told you about what happened when Echo was a toddler, and she said she would lift it once she came of age? What if she didn’t?” Aunt marg looked over at me, eyes wide with understanding.

“Oh goddess… She wouldn’t have left it in place all this time Arthur? Do you really think?”

“What?” I said, “”what are you talking about?” I stood up, “Left what in place? What did my mother do? Someone answer me!!!”

Marg and Arthur came to my side, lead me to a chair and sat me down. “Sweet pea,” she began to stroke my hair in what I assume was an attempt to comfort me, but in reality my nerves were on high alert, “When you were barely able to walk something happened.” She looked at Arthur, he nodded and she continued, “Your momma was doing chores if I remember correctly, and the fire alarm went off in the kitchen… she and your daddy rushed to the smoke to see what was happening and found you alone in your fathers study, you were standing next to the fire place and you were using your powers to manipulate the flames. They had jumped from the hearth and caught the curtains on fire. You didn’t answer them when they screamed for you to get away. You scared them so badly they decided to bind your powers until you turned 16, your momma said she would undo the spell before you knew she’d done it. Honey she did it to protect you.”

I sat there in the leather chair trying to wrap my head around what she was saying. “So… so my mother is the reason I’ve always felt like I wasn’t good at anything…” 

“No no no hon don’t think that way she never meant to hurt you don’t you dare think…”

I stood up furious, “None of you know how this feels!! Every time I tried to practice my magic something was wrong, I KNEW something was wrong!!! She knew! She knew the whole time! She made me believe it was my fault! That I wasn’t doing enough! THAT I WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH!” Tears welling in my eyes I pushed them away and ran from the room, up the stairs to my bedroom and threw myself on the bed. I sobbed into my pillow, screamed and held it tight to my face until my vision blurred and my throat was sore. I drifted off to sleep, exhausted with a headache and a stuffed up nose. I woke later to the sound of my door opening. “Ms Loretta.” 

“We didn’t want to wake you, I decided to bring your supper upstairs in case you slept right through the night, from what I heard you’ve had a day darlin.” She brought over a small table next to my bed, a floating tray over my head set down for me to eat. 

“I’m not really hungry.” The idea of eating anything made me feel ill. 

“You do what ever you’re gonna do I’m going to leave this right here either way you eat it or you don’t” she sat down on the bed next to me wiping her hands on her apron, “I knew your momma you don’t forget that. And if Annette did this she had a damn good reason sugar. You be mad, you be mad all you need but when you’re done you remember she loved you more than anything there ever was and I believe by the Goddess there’s more to this than you think. You just sit tight and everything that was meant to be will come to light you just watch.” She placed her hand on my knee and stood to leave, before she closed the door she turned around and said, “I see greatness in you Echo. And I’m rarely wrong.” She smiled and closed the door. I listened to her footsteps fade and I got up to go to the bathroom. I looked into the mirror and saw I boarded the hot mess express. This just wouldn’t do, I tied up my hair and began to wash up. I came back to my bed face buried in a towel when I heard a knock at the door. 

Ms. Loretta probably forgot something, I walked over to open the door, “Thank you but I do-“ It wasn’t Ms. Loretta. “Athen what are you doing here?”