June Summerfield

Chapter 20

June stood in a large empty room, with no windows and only one door. The room itself was made out of stone, and the door a heavy metal. She was alone except for one other person. Someone who wore mismatched socks and a leather jacket. Her trainer, Pondor.

“Okay, so we’re going to start small,” he explained. “I want you to lift this apple off the ground.” he placed an apple in the center of the room.

“How?” June demanded. She’d never done magic before, how was she supposed to just know how to do this?

“Use your brainwaves, man.” It had only been a few minutes, and June was over this entire situation. “Just like, imagine the apple lifting, and put some power behind it.” His voice sounded like he was high off his ass, but she went along and played their little game.

This guy sounds dumber than a bag of gravel. June thought to herself as she took what little advice he gave her and gave it a try. She focused all her attention on the apple and put as much emotion and what she thought was power behind it, imagining it lifting into the air.

Instead, it exploded.

“Well,” Pondor started after the smoke had cleared and they both gathered the fact that they didn’t die, “That was close. But I think you used a little too much emotion. When you do magic, you don’t want your emotions to take over. If they do, stuff like that can happen pretty easily.” he went to explain as he grabbed another object, this time a small pocket knife that he had clipped to his jeans. “Here, try lifting this.” he placed it on the floor and they both moved as far back as possible as June tried again.

After about forty-five minutes of strong concentration, she was finally able to get the knife to lift off the ground and hover. Her heart felt like it was going to explode as the knife came clattering to the ground.

“I lifted it!” she yelled, her voice echoing off the bare walls.

“Hell yeah, you did, up top.” Pondor held his hand up but June just went over to the knife, not noticing Pondor’s existence.

They continued practicing for hours until June’s head felt like it might explode.

“Hey, good job today, you made a lot of progress. Same time tomorrow, okay?” he called out as they went their separate ways.

Once June got into Hunter’s room, she told him how it went and how she could now lift objects easily and even turn food into poison, just with her head. Once she was finished, she collapsed on the bed. “I’m exhausted.” her voice was muffled by the pillow.

“Too tired to go for a swim?” Hunter asked, catching June off guard.

“Swim? Where could we go swimming?” she sat up, looking at him.

“There’s a lake not far from the village. I figured we could go tonight if you want. I’ll use a protection spell so we’ll be safe.”

“That sounds like a date.” June felt her heart flutter at the idea, but then she was overtaken by anxiety.

“Only if you want it to be.”

“I don’t have a swimsuit.”

“I had one delivered, it’s in the chair by the fire.”

June got up and walked over to the fireplace, looking for a simple one-piece. Instead, she found a beautiful navy blue bikini, decorated with diamonds along the straps and waistband. It seemed to be revealing but somehow still modest.

“You want me to wear this?” she picked it up with shaking hands, not sure she had the confidence for it.

“You’ll look great. If you’re really worried about it, it’ll be dark and we’ll be in water.” June sat it back down, feeling anxious about this not-date. “Stop being so anxious all the time, it drives me crazy.” Hunter casually called out as he walked over to look out the window.

“How did you know I was anxious?” she demanded.

“I’m a vampire who can do magic and you really think I can’t feel your emotions? One of my powers is to heal you physically and emotionally.” he said it so casually, like June should have already known this.

June’s mouth fell slightly open as she realized that that meant he had felt all of her emotions, not just the anxiety.

“Yeah, that’s why I say some of the things I say, my love.” he smirked as he felt her heart rate spike for a second. “Just like that.” he turned around smiling, finding June’s face to be beet red. “Don’t worry about it, okay? It’s not a big deal.” he tried reassuring her and calming down her embarrassment.

It wasn’t long before it was time to go on their not-date. They changed into their swimsuits and put casual clothes over them to be more modest until they got to the lake. They rode a horse down through the village and out into the outskirts. There wasn’t anything nearby, but you could still see lights from the village only minutes away.

“Are you ready?” Hunter asked as he helped June off the horse.

“What if someone sees us?” she’d never gone night swimming before and was fairly scared of it. “Or what if something drags me underwater?” she whispered, causing Hunter to laugh.

“I told you, protection spell. But even without it, nothing is going to drag you underwater. If someone sees us, big deal, we’re not doing anything wrong. I technically own this land anyway.” June forgot that he was the king after all.

“Fine.” she said as they slowly began taking off the clothes they wore over the swimsuits. Once they were done, Hunter turned around to grab June’s hand and saw her standing there awkwardly hugging her waist and looking down at the ground.

“Come on, it’s alright.” he held out his hand with a gentle tone, and despite June’s insane level of anxiety, she slowly took it and followed him into the cool water.

“Normally, you can’t do this this time of year because the water’s too cold.” Hunter explained as they made their way deeper into the water. “But I’m also using a warming spell to keep it pleasant.” he smiled at June as he slowly brought her into the deepest part of the lake.

They swam around and joked and splashed each other for hours, just enjoying their time away from everything. The stars and moon brought just enough light, but it was still dark enough to keep them hidden.

“June, I have a question.” Hunter finally threw out there as he went to float on his back.

“What now?” she playfully rolled her eyes as she slowly floated around him.

“You and I both know I like you. And you and I both know you like me.”

“What are you saying?”

“Will you be my girlfriend, June?”