My Sorcerer

Chapter 3

“Mom, I’m back, and you’ll never guess what happened at school today!” she said, skipping into the kitchen.

Her mother turned around, dishes bobbing up and down in the soapy water, her apron a little damp. “What’s happened?” she asked with a loving smile.

“I not only aced the exams but am going to be awarded a certificate and a gift card for having the highest GPA in my class!” she squealed joyfully.

“Oh! That’s wonderful, Cora. Congratulations!” She smiled at her daughter.

“Thanks, mom!” She smiled brightly back at her.

Suddenly, the kitchen darkened, and her father came storming in. He grabbed hold of her arm and dragged her into the living room without a word. “Dad, what’s going on?” Cora screamed frantically. He didn’t even look down at her. Instead, he threw a backpack at her, which felt as though it had already been packed. “Dad, I don’t understand,” she cried. “What’s wrong? What’s happening?”

“You know what you did,” he said sternly, his eyes narrowing as he looked at her. She shook her head hard, truly confused about what he was talking about. “Get out!” he bellowed.

She stared up at him, confused and wondering where her loving, kind, warm-hearted father had gone. “Please, daddy. Just tell me what is going on. I don’t understand,” she cried out to him, but he wouldn’t even look at her. “Please,” she continued to beg. She set the bag aside and stepped toward him, but he only stepped back, and when he could not, he pushed her away.

“You are no longer our daughter,” he declared. She looked over his shoulder to see her mother standing there with tears in her eyes.

“Mom, please,” she tried to plead with her, thinking that maybe her mom could help her. But instead, her mother stepped back and went back into the kitchen. She could hear the clanking and clattering of the dishes being washed. After hearing her mother simply go back to doing the dishes, she felt her heartbreak.

“What is happening? Why are my parents doing this?” she wondered. She broke away from her thoughts when her father stepped closer. He grabbed her arm again. “If you will not walk out on your own, then I will help you.” His grip tightened, and she screamed in pain.

“Dad, stop, please,” she wailed, but he had already dragged her to the front door, unlocked it, and was throwing her out. As she landed on the front lawn, the backpack was thrown, too. It nailed her in the back, and pain vibrated throughout her body. Before she could turn and plead one more time, the front door was slammed shut, with the click of the lock sounding.

She quickly scrambled to her feet and started pounding on the front door, begging her parents to open up and let her back in. Asking them to explain what was happening. She did this well into the evening, and as the sun set, she felt someone shaking her. She peered around, but there was no one near her. The more she was shaken, the more her vision began to blur, and darkness enveloped her. When she opened her eyes once again, she was in a room, not in the yard of her house anymore. There was a fire burning in the fireplace, and she was lying on a couch with a blanket covering her. When her vision cleared again, she saw a young man above her with a hand on either of her shoulders. He looked worried, but she couldn’t figure out why or who he was, or where she was. The last thing she remembered was her yard and a door being slammed in her face.

She blinked a few times before her vision completely cleared, and her memory followed. “What did you do to me?” she asked suddenly, feeling a rush of panic. She quickly jolted up, nearly knocking him over in the process.

“Well, you were about to leave, and I highly suggested against it, but you weren’t listening, so I may have put you to sleep,” he answered nervously, laughing, apparently trying to lighten the mood, but failing miserably at it.

“How?” she asked, feeling uneasy.

He cleared his throat, trying to figure out how to explain it to her. “Well, you seemed distressed, exhausted, famished, and dehydrated, so I thought it would be best to allow you to rest a while here. I have also prepared food and water on the table in my little kitchen if you would like to eat now,” he told her with a smile, trying to redirect her attention.

She glared at him, not missing the fact that he had avoided answering her questions. “I suggest you answer me,” she nearly growled.

He took a deep breath. “Well, I am not exactly human,” he started, “I’m a sorcerer,” he suddenly blurted out.

She stared at him, speechless for a few moments. “You mean like a wizard, like Harry Potter?” She looked at him blankly, clearly not taking him seriously.

“Well, no. Harry is firstly not real, and secondly, wizards need to study and learn many boring spells. However, some great wizards who have studied for many years can cast spells without speaking the spell. It’s always fun to meet one of them.” He mused for a moment. “No, I’m a sorcerer, which means I didn’t need to do all the studying they did. It comes naturally, so to speak.”

She looked at him with uncertainty. He was not joking. He was absolutely serious. “So like a warlock then?”

He sighed. Clearly, she was not the first person to compare him to both a wizard and a warlock. “No, they make packs or bonds with other magical creatures to gain their power. Usually, the creature is not friendly.” He shook his head as though the very thought of it was disgusting.

She stared at him, trying to figure out if she should take him seriously. “And if I don’t believe you?”

“I can show you.” He smiled. It seemed that he had not had company for some time.

“How so?”

“Well, what would make it so you would have to believe me?”

She thought about it for a minute before an idea struck her. “When I was kicked out of my home, my parents didn’t give me time to pack. I left something there that I would like to have back,” she began.

“And what would that be?”

She took a breath, trying to prepare herself for the inevitable pain of hearing that he can’t do it. “Well, more like two things, one was my diary and the second was my dog.” She figured, if he wasn’t really a sorcerer, he could disappear and return with just any dog to trick her, but a diary that was hers was going to be much harder.

He smiled at her, apparently happy that she was trusting him enough to get those things for her. “Just give me a moment. I’ll be right back!” he said as he snapped his fingers and disappeared.

She stared at the chair he had just been in, shocked that he had actually just disappeared. She had expected him to leave through the door. Suddenly, he popped back into the chair, but had nothing in hand. “So, in my excitement, I forgot to ask where your house is. I am a sorcerer, but I am not all-knowing.” He chuckled.

She stared at him. She couldn’t even form a coherent thought, let alone tell him where she lived. “Ummm, if it is easier, you can just let me peek into your memories, and then I can find your home that way,” he suggested with a reassuring smile.

She nodded her head in agreement, and he stepped forward. He knelt in front of her and put his hand on hers. She felt tingling go through her hand and halfway up her arms, and then as fast as the feeling came, it went. The man, or rather sorcerer, stood to his feet. “I’ve located your home. Please wait a moment. I will be back shortly,” he informed her, flashing a confident, handsome smile. Then, in the blink of an eye, he was gone.

She sat a moment, still absorbing all he had told her. Wizards, warlocks, and sorcerers were real. She let out a frustrated sigh. “How can they exist and we not know?” she pondered out loud as she stood up from the couch, deciding that she was hungry enough to venture over to the kitchen, which was a few feet behind the couch. She sat down and began to eat and drink the water and juice he had prepared.

She had only been seated for a few moments when he popped back in front of the couch. “Oh, you’re over there now,” he said, looking from the couch to the kitchen table.

Her excitement faded fast when she noticed he was empty-handed again. “Did you get lost?” she asked.

He looked at her, perplexed. “Lost? What do you mean? I very rarely get lost.” He started matter-of-factly.

“But you’ve come empty-handed,” she pointed out. A feeling of disappointment was creeping in. She knew she shouldn’t have trusted him, but he had seemed so confident.

He looked at her, surprised. “Oh, I’m not empty-handed.” He smirked. She looked curiously at him, thinking maybe they had a different definition of what the words empty-handed meant. “Ah, you are referring to not seeing what you had asked for.” He smiled. “But I was successful.”

“Show me,” she said, gritting her teeth, exasperated with him. He was either serious, and if so, he was an i***t, or he was joking, and if that was true, she wanted to wring his neck.

“You failed to mention the size of your dog,” he said with a chuckle.

“I didn’t think it mattered,” she responded. “Is that why she isn’t here?”