The Magic Maker

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 2

Present Day, Ithaca

The clock on the kitchen wall read a very early 5:37am. Emilia sighed. ‘There’s not much point going to bed now, is there?’

Seb, already in the process of peeling an orange, shook his head. ‘Nope. Feel like going for a run?’

Emilia sighed again. It had been an especially athletic mission for her and for once exercise wasn’t something she was looking forward to. ‘I guess we should do something with the time… except my energy levels are a bit depleted. Can we do some strength training instead?’

Seb popped several segments of orange into his mouth in one go and shrugged. ‘Sure.’

‘I’ll go and get changed.’

‘No need, Angel.’

Seb’s fingers fluttered so faintly Emilia almost missed it. But one second he was in a long tunic and loose pants, the next he was in gym shorts and t-shirt. Emilia felt an almost negligible movement against her skin and looked down – she was wearing black fitted leggings and a hot pink skin-tight scooped neck crop top that barely covered her goods.

She lifted a brow at Seb and crossed her arms over her chest, feigning indifference but really just trying to hide what he’d put on such blatant display. ‘Really?’

‘What?’ He tried for an innocent look, but couldn’t quite hold back a wicked grin. ‘It’s running gear and the top’s a bright colour, which you love.’

‘I didn’t realise you had lecherous tendencies,’ she said in disgust.

‘I’m a guy!’

Emilia wiggled her fingers suggestively. ‘Can you give me something more like what I usually wear, please? Because there’s no way I’m going to the gym dressed in this!’

‘Spoilsport!’ Seb muttered, but when she looked down again the crop top had been replaced with a running singlet in an attractive apple green. The leggings remained the same.

‘Much better.’ She grinned and grabbed her house keys off the key rack above the kitchen bench.

‘For you, maybe. I was rather enjoying the view,’ Seb murmured, heading towards the door as he shoved the last piece of orange in his mouth.

Emilia rolled her eyes and followed him out of the house. She chose not to rise to the bait – he enjoyed goading her and if she reacted it only gave him a win.

*

The collective exhalation of relief was nearly deafening when the Ancient Civilisations lecturer finally summed up and released the class. Emilia walked out of the lecture theatre and into the crowded corridor with Kelly, her study buddy, right behind her. They joined the stream of students making a beeline for the building’s exit. She was a morning person so afternoon lectures were never great, but they were even worse when she’d been up all night. She bit back a yawn and tried to pay attention to Kelly’s near-perfect impersonation of their exceptionally dull lecturer, who had failed to get even a flicker of interest from his dry dissertation on the relevance of Greek mythology in the modern age.

When she failed to get a laugh, Kelly looked sideways at Emilia. ‘How come you’re so tired anyway?’

Emilia swallowed back the sigh before it could escape her lips. The problem with making new friends was they became yet another person she had to lie to. ‘I was stressing about the English essay I’ve got due next week. I tossed and turned all night,’ she improvised.

Rolling her eyes dramatically, Kelly poked Emilia in the arm with her perfectly manicured index finger. ‘Girl, you have got to chill. All that stressing will give you grey hair!’

The momentum of the crowd took them out the doors and down the steps of the building into the fading Fall light. With the unerring instincts of a homing pigeon, Emilia spotted Seb sitting on the low brick wall on the other side of the quad, patiently waiting for her, dark shades covering his turquoise eyes. They were in their fourth week of the first semester and had fallen into a routine of sorts, which suited them both.

Following Emilia’s line of sight, Kelly smacked her lips together in appreciation. ‘That guy is all kinds of delicious! How you keep your hands to yourself around him is beyond me.’

‘What can I say, I’m immune,’ Emilia responded with a blatant lie.

‘Mmm, I can see how he wouldn’t be your type,’ Kelly mused, her finger tapping against her plump lower lip.

‘What do you mean?’

‘He’s got that whole brooding, dangerous, bad boy thing going and you’re just too good.’

Emilia threw back her head and laughed uproariously, her tiredness melting away.

‘What’s so funny?’ Kelly demanded.

‘Never mind.’ Emilia nodded in Seb’s direction. ‘Would you like me to introduce you?’

Kelly shook her head vigorously. ‘Not right now. My assets aren’t displayed to their full potential at the moment.’

Kelly was what might be called buxom, with boobs and booty aplenty. Usually she favoured deeply scooped necklines and tight pants, but this afternoon she was in sloppy tracksuit pants and a loose t-shirt. With her long, thick black hair and full lips, she was the kind of girl who caught a guy’s attention and she loved every second of that attention.

‘Another time then.’ Emilia smiled, wondering how Seb would handle Kelly with her wattage turned up high.

‘Bring him to the party on Friday,’ Kelly suggested, as she veered off towards the campus dorms.

‘Maybe,’ Emilia called after her, before crossing the quad towards where Seb still sat patiently waiting. He looked as tired as she felt.

Rising gracefully to his feet, he took her heavy book bag from her and threw it over one shoulder. ‘What was so funny?’

‘You actually,’ Emilia said with a cheeky grin.

Seb grunted and headed in the direction of the car park.

‘Since I can tell it’s nearly killing you not to know, I’ll tell you,’ Emilia teased, lengthening her stride to keep up with him. ‘Kelly is hugely impressed by your spectacular looks…’

‘And you think that’s funny?’ Seb glanced in her direction but she couldn’t read his eyes behind the dark glasses.

‘That’s not the funny bit. Her take on you is that you’re a dangerous, bad boy!’ Emilia laughed again at the thought. ‘As if!’

‘I am dangerous and probably bad too.’ He sounded mildly offended that she would doubt it.

‘Oh please! You forget I saw you cradling a baby protectively against your chest in the small hours of this morning.’ Emilia snorted. ‘You’re a big marshmallow.’

Seb gritted his teeth. ‘A marshmallow who could kill you with his little finger before you draw your next breath!’

Emilia shrugged, deeply unconcerned. ‘Sure. But you won’t. Because under your gruff exterior, you’re really quite fond of me.’

Seb ground to a halt and spun to face her. He ripped off his glasses so he could glare at her more effectively. ‘Does this look like the face of someone who is fond of you?’

‘Not at the moment, no. But once I whip up a batch of chocolate brownies, I’m sure you’ll remember why you like having me around.’ Emilia reached up and tweaked his nose, simply to annoy him a bit more. It served him right for trying to make her feel uncomfortable this morning. She sashayed into the car park, supremely pleased with herself.

‘Has anyone ever told you how infuriating you are?’ he growled, reluctantly following in her wake.

‘Only you,’ she called over her shoulder. ‘You should thank me; if I was nice all the time you might fall in love with me. And that would just be problematic since we have to work together.’

‘Fat chance of that happening!’ he muttered belligerently. He beeped open his SUV and climbed into the driver’s seat, slamming the door angrily behind him. Emilia scooted quickly around the bonnet and slid into the passenger seat as he revved the car. ‘And now I have to play your damn taxi driver!’

‘I’ve offered to drive many times – you’re the one who won’t let me,’ Emilia pointed out sweetly.

‘I don’t want to be seen in that ridiculous car of yours; it’s unmanly!’ His fingers tightened around the steering wheel as he nosed out of the car park. Emilia couldn’t help noticing his hands bore faint traces of paint and she wondered what he was working on at the moment. She thought about asking but figured he wasn’t in the mood to talk about his art right now.

‘Note to self: avoid you when you’ve missed a night’s sleep! You have zero sense of humour!’

‘Do you think we could carry out the rest of this trip in silence?’ he managed, the muscle in his jaw twitching aggressively as he sped onto the main road, smoothly inserting the SUV into the busy flow of traffic.

Emilia turned to look out the window, a small smile playing around her mouth. She shouldn’t goad him when he was tired, but she loved winding him up and he reacted so beautifully when exhaustion prevented him from cottoning on to what she was up to.

*

David was already in the kitchen when they arrived home, making an unconvincing attempt at pretending to start dinner. Judging by the state of his dishevelled hair and the reading glasses still perched on the end of his nose, he’d obviously hastily relocated from his study to the kitchen when he heard Seb’s vehicle pull up the drive. Emilia removed the box of processed macaroni and cheese from his hand and put it back in the pantry.

‘It’s okay, Dad. I’ll make a quick risotto.’ She turned to Seb, who had stomped into the house behind her but still hadn’t spoken since he’d asked for silence. ‘Are you staying for dinner?’

He looked back at the door and then at the ingredients she was already pulling out of the fridge. He started to turn towards the door and then abruptly sat down at the table with a heavy sigh. ‘Yeah.’

David frowned. ‘Is everything okay between you two?’

Emilia poured a small amount of oil into the wok and quickly began chopping onion and garlic while it warmed up. ‘Oh we’re good. Seb’s a little grumpy and has forgotten I give as good as I get.’ She winked at David over her shoulder. ‘Apparently, it’s okay for him to tease me about the running gear I prefer, but I’m not allowed to needle him about actually being a nice, decent guy. Apparently, it’s preferable for me to be afraid of him or at least acknowledge his badass reputation.’

Seb groaned and thrust his chair back. ‘I definitely need a coffee!’

Under David’s bemused gaze, he dropped a pod into the machine, slipped a cup under the nozzle and pressed the magic button. The aroma of coffee mingled with the scent of garlic and onion. He carried the mug over to where Emilia was now dicing a chicken breast and placed it beside the chopping board. He ruffled her hair as he ambled back to make his own coffee… and everything was good between them again.

David shook his head at their antics and took a seat at the table. ‘You two have the most… peculiar relationship.’

‘It’s her,’ Seb said with a relaxed grin, pointing over his shoulder at Emilia. ‘I don’t know why I worried about protecting her; it’s me who needs protection from her.’

‘I knew my girl would keep you on your toes,’ David commented proudly. ‘Now, tell me about the trip.’

Seb resumed his seat at the table and, while she continued to cook, Emilia let their conversation drift over her head as they discussed the success of the Bombay mission. Everyone was together and that was exactly how she liked it.