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An Inkling of Magic - Chapter 13
Elspeth's face scrunched in confusion. “That they help you find interesting books to read and shush you for getting too loud?”
“I'm afraid, it's not the academic librarians to which Derek is referring, but a very different sort of librarian, though there are some overlaps,” Mrs. Hythe said, drawing Elspeth's attention when she broke her silence for the first time since Elspeth's broken plea.
“What other kind is there?” Elspeth asked, completely bewildered.
“Have you ever noticed, Elspeth, how the worlds created by some authors just feel so much more alive than others?” Mrs. Hythe asked.
She blinked a couple times as she starred blankly at her teacher, the change of question throwing her further into confusion.
“Yes, of course,” she replied offhandedly, “but that's to be expected with so many different writing styles or level of worldbuilding. How does any of this though relate to what I asked.”
Her teacher gave her small, enigmatic smile. “Everything, Elspeth. It has everything to do with it. You see, it's more than just different styles of writing. It's a gift, but not simply the sort of gift that relates to skill. It's a form of magic, the only form that naturally occurs in our world. At least that we know of anyway.”
Elspeth's mouth ran dry.
“Magic?” she squeaked, her eyes wide with disbelief of what her ears were hearing. Magic was something that everyone dreamed about at some stage of their life, but it didn't actually exist. Did it?
She let her eyes drift from Mrs. Hythe to Derek who had fallen very silent after their teacher had spoken up. She'd already accepted what her eyes told her about his true nature, was it really that hard to accept the possibility of magic existing on a human level? She eyed the pointed tips of his ears that were still just as visible as when she'd first been able to see them.
“Yes, my dear, magic,” Mrs. Hythe said when Elspeth turned her attention back to her. “Some author's are so gifted in the art of wordcraft and worldbuilding that they literally come alive. Not the actual characters themselves mind you, but the peoples and creatures, their magic systems.... there have even been some plants found that didn't originate in our world, but in the mind of an author.”
Around her, it was as if the world had exploded and Elspeth. With her head and heart pounding, Elspeth closed her eyes as she tried to calm down and make sense of everything. Taking deep breathes and slowly letting them out again, the roaring in hear ears began to subside and, when she opened her eyes, the blackness that had been threatening to take over had disappeared. She could feel Derek's eyes on her, but she chose to ignore them and plunged straight in with the first question that popped into her head.
“So Derek and the mngwa are just figments of some one's imagination?” she asked, paying no head to the indignant squawkings beside her as Derek loudly voice his objections over her wording.
“More like the product of as they are both no less real than you and I,” Mrs. Hythe explained.
“But why is it that I can see them, but others can't?”
“Others can see them – well, Derek at least, but not as he actually is unless he chooses to let them.”
Elspeth pinched the bridge of her nose. “This doesn't make any sense.”
This time it was Derek that came to her rescue. “It's like I told you before when we were running. Mr. Blake couldn't see the mngwa because it didn't want him too. It wasn't interested in him.”
“But I still don't understand why I could see it,” she said, still struggling to understand.
“Because, Elspeth, there is a flip side to the coin. A balance to the authors if you will,” Mrs. Hythe supplied when, once again, Derek's eyes darted over to her in some sort of deference.
“Librarians?” Elspeth asked, returning to what the beginning of this extraordinary conversation.
Mrs. Hythe smiled as she nodded.
“Yes, and, while those rare authors inadvertently bring their worlds to life inside ours, librarians are there to maintain order between them. We see what others cannot and are tasked with protecting them from our world and vice verse, and, you, Elspeth are a librarian,” she explained.
Elspeth was quiet as she tried to absorb all of this. She still didn't think she understood even half of it, but it wasn't really what she had just heard that bothered so much as it was the way Mrs. Hythe had said it – with complete confidence as if she'd known what she'd just said about Elspeth for a long time.
Elspeth wrapped her arms around her middle to disguise the way her hands tightened into fists.
“How long?” she asked, her tone completely deadpan.
It was Mrs. Hythe's turn to be confused, her brows drawing together as she tried to follow Elspeth's question. “I'm sorry, what?”
“How long?” she asked again, this time with a sharp edge to her quavering voice, and, though her eyes were trained on the English teacher sitting in front of her, from the corner of her eyes she could see Derek stiffen. Emboldened by this sign of understanding, she ploughed ahead. “How long have you known about me? About what I am?”
It took every ounce of restraint not to snap when she saw her sigh and avert her eyes from Elspeth, but, somehow, she managed to keep her silence and waited for Mrs. Hythe's reply.
“From before we ever actually met,” she said at last, her shoulders sagging with the guilt of what she was admitting.
Anger mixed with the pain of endless mockery and so many years believing herself to be losing her mind boiled up inside of her until she could no longer hold back the floodgates.
“You knew? This whole time you knew and you never told me any of this before? Never even thought to tell me? To explain that I wasn't a sandwich short of a picnic!” she yelled, coining a phrase she'd heard once or twice at the O'Rourke house, her voice getting ever louder as her fury at being left utterly in the dark only grew.
To her credit, Mrs. Hythe's response was with no small amount of sheepishness and regret. “Please, try to understand, Elspeth, there are rules –”
“I don't care about your so-called rules!” Elspeth screamed, her voice laced with pain.
She was beginning to hyperventilate when she felt a hand on her leg. Turning her head to the side, she saw Derek wearing much of the same expression, his eyes a swirling mess of faded greens.
“You knew also, didn't you?” she asked, her throat tightening a little from all the emotion that warred inside her.
To her surprise, he shook his head. “Not at first.” At her puzzled expression he continued. “It's true I could feel your magic, but authors and librarians feel the same to the fae. At first, because I never saw you without that journal of yours, I thought you might be an author – it's why I acted the way I did. It wasn't until just the other day when I caught a glimpse over your shoulder of one of your drawings and saw that you were drawing rather than writing that I began to think that, perhaps, I'd been mistaken. It also wasn't until the other day in Mr. Grimmlich's store that I realized that you really didn't know about any of this.”
“But why would that make any difference? And how could you not know that I was clueless about all this?” Elspeth asked.
He shrugged. “Authors are fairly despised among the fae. Librarians aren't exactly met favourably either, but there is much less animosity towards them.”
The fact that he only answered her first question didn't escape her notice, but Elspeth decided to file that away for later along with a myriad of other only partially answered questions.
“Wait,” she started to say before pausing to consider something. Baffled, she continued, “you exist because of an author, and yet you hate them?”
“The fae and their pride,” she heard Mrs. Hythe mutter under her breath with a huff.
Derek's eyes darkened as the turned them on her. “As I recall, you humans have your own Author that you've striven against. Is it really so surprising that we would do the same?”
Elspeth frowned. She supposed, in a way, that that made sense. How did the phrase go again? 'The apple doesn't fall far from the tree'? Vaguely aware of the mild arguing going on around her between Derek and Mrs. Hythe regarding the flaws of fae and mankind alike, Elspeth was almost completely lost in thought when the vibrating of her phone in her jeans pocket startled her out of it.
Her eyes widened and she frantically looked about for a clock. Though she knew there was one of her phone, fear of seeing her brother's message kept her from checking it. Not finding any, a cry of desperation was on the tip of her tongue when Derek spoke up.
“Your guard dog I presume?”
“I thought Kieran was the dog?” she asked, her eyes narrowed.
Derek replied without even missing a beat. “Kieran is the lapdog that faithfully follows you around and, although he may bark, it's your brother though that actually has the bite. A very small bite mind you, one more akin to a mosquito bite really, but a bite nonetheless.”
She couldn't help the loud bark of laughter that escaped her before shaking her head in dumbfounded amazement at his shameless insults of her brother and best friend. She didn't know if it was Derek just being Derek or if this was some sort of fae sense of superiority sneaking through. It wasn't until she caught the playful gleam in his eyes, which were, once again, their usual vivid green, that she realized he was only making sport at them.
“And, before you come completely unglued, it's not quite seven-thirty and we've been here for close to an hour,” he supplied before she could make any further remark.
With a fleeting gaze towards the door and back again at Derek and Mrs. Hythe, Elspeth chewed on her bottom lip. She was torn. On the one hand, she she was anxious to get home and praying that her brother wasn't so out of his mind with worry that he would be totally beyond reasoning with, but, on the other, she was consumed with a need to understand this part of herself that she'd been so convinced was nothing short of madness.
“Perhaps, it would be best if we continued this discussion after school tomorrow?” Mrs. Hythe offered, “I know we've only but scratched the surface of your questions, Elspeth, and, goodness knows we do owe you an explanation or two. Also, I must admit to having a few questions of my own for the two of you. Would you like a ride home, Elspeth?”
She opened her mouth to thank Mrs. Hythe and to accept her offer, but Derek beat her to answering.
“That won't be necessary. I'll see she gets home.”
Mrs. Hythe pursed her lips and studied the two of them before eventually giving him a slow nod. “I'll see you both tomorrow then.”
~...~...~...~...~...~
“I thought you said I wouldn't be walking home in the dark?” Elspeth asked, her eyes scanning the way that the sunset blazed which above the treetops had bathed everything in an eerie shades of red and purple from the way that it streamed through the trees in rivers of light.
“And you won't be.”
Annoyance flared as she whirled around to face him. “And how are we going to manage that? We walked here remember?”
The smile he gave her combined with the way that his eyes sparked with mischief made shivers run down her spine.
“I'm fae, remember? We don't always have to walk.”
“What do you –” she started to ask, but her words were cut short, swallowed up in a sharp yelp, when Derek placed a hand on her shoulder and, closing his eyes, the world began to dissolve around them as they were enveloped in a swirling glow of green and orange light that danced around them like flames.
~...~...~...~...~...~
When the flames of whatever weird magic Derek had just used died down, leaving her oddly bereft of their warmth and the way that they made her skin tingle, Elspeth found that they were standing at the edge of an open field.
“What just happened?” she asked breathlessly, her heart pounding in her chest from the fright Derek had just given her and the way that the green flames had tingled as they licked at her skin.
Squinting as she looked around, she was surprised when she recognized it as one of the fields she walked past everyday when she left for school and was only a block or two from her house.
“We teleported. I'd have gotten you closer, but I couldn't risk one of your siblings being about to see us,” Derek said calmly as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Wait, would they have been able to see it?” she asked as she turned to look at him, curious about how they could see the use of magic, yet not see the magical creatures that lived among them.
He nodded. “Yes. Because magic affects the very fabric of the world around us, they’d have been able to see it. It's the magical races and creatures that they can't see, or at least can't see as they truly are. Does that make sense?”
“Not really, at least not right now when my head is already overwhelmed and feeling like it could explode at any moment,” she confessed, her bluntness earning a soft chuckle from Derek.
His laughter faded though when he noticed how Elspeth was frowning and her brows were pinched as if deep in thought while she stared past him not really focusing on anything but whatever thought had captured her attention. “What?”
Her frowned deepened. “I was just wondering, if you could just poof us anywhere this whole time, then why on earth didn't you use it sooner? Like when we were being chased or, afterwards, when you, apparently needlessly, made us walk the whole way to Mrs. Hythe's home!”
Elspeth's eyes flashed with irritation as she turned them back on Derek and, what had started off as a quiet pondering was quickly turning into a tirade.
“Do you have any idea how much time that would have saved us! I wouldn't now be floundering for how exactly I'm to explain any of this to Farren. Because, how exactly do you explain to your family that you're late to coming home because a giant, mythological cat from Africa chased you across town and you had to go talk to someone who could tell you you didn't belong in a loony bin?”
Amused, Derek raised eyebrow at her when she finally stopped to catch her breath. “Are you finished?”
“Only... because... I'm out... of breath,” she said, panting hard. It was amazing how much energy yelling at someone consumed.
“For your information then, I didn't 'poof us' as you so eloquently put it, because I couldn't,” he explained, raising a hand to stop her when he saw the look in her eyes. “We were in plain sight of anyone who happened to pass by and you strongly objected to me even holding your hand to make us both move faster so the mngwa didn't get either of us. That's not exactly a conducive environment for something that requires a bit of concentration and that you hold still while I do so. Up until the moment you saw it, you also didn't even know the urgency of our situation and rules forbade me from enlightening you. And, afterwards, if you care to recall, I was busy seeing the insides of my eyelids after promptly losing consciousness from the energy it took to keep us ahead of it and then cast an illusion. Magic is energy and, ordinarily, it wouldn't have used as much except that I had to extend my abilities to also cover you.”
“How would that be so draining?” Elspeth asked, she could somewhat recall what she'd read in the book Mr. Grimmlich had given her about the fae and, if she remembered rightly, their speed was almost more of a physical trait than a magical one and illusion came as naturally as breathing. It was hard to believe either of these could have taken so much out of him, even with them being extended to her.
“You're a librarian, fae magic doesn't work the same way with you as with a regular human,” he explained.
A smirk tugged at her lips. “Like charm?” she asked.
Derek rolled his eyes at her reminder that she still hadn't forgotten their earlier conversation on the matter. “Yes, like charm. Librarians are practically impervious to it, but that's not just true of charm. Librarians are resistant to most forms of fae magic and it takes considerably more energy to overcome it.”
She supposed that made sense. Though, at this point, you could tell her almost anything and she'd believe it, her world having been flipped on its end.
“And after you woke from your beauty sleep?” she asked, suppressing the urge to groan at the look her, now regretful, word choice brought to Derek's face. He was all but grinning, his smirk was so wide, and his eyes had darkened just a touch, but still sparked as vibrantly as ever. The gold flecks in them had also grown more pronounced and seemed to dance like fireflies. To her surprise and immense relief though, he didn't remark on it.
“Mrs. Hythe's property is charmed to prevent unwanted visitors dropping by unannounced in all but the old-fashioned way,” Derek said at last, causing Elspeth to let out the breath she'd been holding in anticipation of whatever cocky remark had likely been on the tip of his tongue. “I can teleport off of it, but not to it.”
“She doesn't really like you very much does she,” Elspeth stated bluntly.
“She doesn't trust me.”
“Imagine that,” she said with mock surprise.
Derek raised one of his dark eyebrows. “Because I'm fae?”
“Because you're you,” she answered before pausing to add, “though I am curious as to just what it is that you did to get on her bad side so thoroughly.”
Derek shrugged. “I'm fae, she's a librarian, and a managing librarian at that.”
“A what?”
“Never mind, that's not important right now. The fact is, the fae are always regarded with some measure of suspicion from librarians,” he explained. “Add to that my Courtless status and dual reputation around town as the 'bad boy' and 'golden boy' rolled into one paradoxical bundle, and you have a librarian's worst nightmare.”
“Actually, I'm pretty sure a librarian's worst nightmare would be seeing a whole collection of books going up in smoke and not being able to stop it,” Elspeth said cheekily. “Seems a bit unfair though.”
Surprise showed on Derek's face and he, as he had all afternoon, he didn't even try to school it. “Why? You regard me with the same suspicion,” he pointed out.
Elspeth shook her head. “I don't trust you because of our history and your history of causing trouble at school and getting away with it while others took the fall, not just because you're fae or whatever it means to be 'Courtless.'”
“Fair enough,” Derek said, inclining his head in acceptance. “Though, despite your lack of trust, you haven't told Mrs. Hythe about me being at Mr. Grimmlich's store the day we discovered it had been broken into?”
Her eyes went wide before narrowing in suspicion. “How do you know that?”
Derek shrugged. “I've been following you remember? I saw the two of you leave Grimm & Barrett the other day. When Mrs. Hythe never cornered me afterwords I assumed you must have left my name out of it. Why?”
She hesitated before answering, not really sure of the reason herself. In the end though, she gave her honest answer. “I don't know. I thought about it, but I just couldn't do it. Other than not wanting to get into the matter of what we saw and still believing myself to be going mad, I really don't know why.”
A contemplative 'hmm' was all the response she got before his eyes left hers and stared at something beyond her shoulder. She was about to turn around and see what had caught his attention when he spoke again.
“And that would be my cue to leave before your brother makes another of his darling threats against my person.”
This time she did turn around and, even through the light was fading, she was able to recognize her brother's car coming towards them from the direction of town. It seemed he had made good on his threat to come looking for her after all.
“I'll see you tomorrow, Elspeth,” Derek said behind her, but his voice sounded different, almost like he was calling from across a distance.
It was then Elspeth noticed a faint warmth against her back and a light tingling sensation, but when she turned around he was already gone.
She stared at the place where, just half a moment before, Derek had been standing and the green and orange glow of his magic was fading. The faint imprint in the soft earth of a pair of footprints the only sign that there had ever been a person there. “I don't think I'll ever get used to that.”
She was still looking at Derek's foot prints, half-lost in thought, when she heard the sound of a gravel crunching beneath a vehicle as it slowed to a stop at the side of the road just by the field where Derek had dropped them.
“Elspeth? Where on earth have you been? I've been looking everywhere!” her brother's voice called to her from inside the car. He sounded exhausted and relieved at the same time, but it was the frantic edge to it that he tried to hide that made her feel the most guilty.
“Sorry, Farren,” Elspeth said when she'd shaken herself out of her own head.
She slogged her way to the car, her feet suddenly feeling like lead as everything that had happened over the past few hours hit her at once in a tsunami of tiredness. The adrenaline from the chase and subsequent emotional roller coaster of fear, confusion, and anger had vanished leaving behind only a feeling of overwhelming exhaustion. She must have looked worse than she felt because she'd hardly made it a few feet when Farren was out of the car and moving to open the passenger side door before coming and helping her to it. Her feet screaming as all the running and walking finally caught up with them, she eased herself into the car and mumbled what she hoped was an at least somewhat intelligible offer of thanks.
Her eyes were already closed when she heard Farren get in and start the car.
“Where have you been?” her brother asked, his voice soft as he repeated his question from before. Though, whether it was that he was speaking softly or because she was simply drifting off, Elspeth really couldn't tell. “I've been calling and texting you for hours and, when you didn't respond, I went out to find you.”
Elspeth winced. She never had sent the text she'd been typing in response to his first message. Derek had stopped her before she could hit the send button and, afterwards, she'd been so caught up with everything that it had completely slipped her mind, even when his latest text had alerted her to the time that had passed.
“Sorry,” she told him, “something...something came up and I had to go see one of my teachers. I guess I got so distracted that I forgot to tell you not to worry.”
It was true after all. She just didn't know how, or even if she could, tell what that something was that had come up. She hoped her feeble attempt at an explanation would be enough to satisfy him. Her hopes were dashed though when she heard him sigh. Even before he opened his mouth to say anything, she knew exactly what was coming.
“Elspeth, –” Farren started to say before Elspeth interrupted him.
“Please, Farren, not now?” she asked a little desperately, perhaps too desperately as she could practically hear the frown on his face her breathy plea had put there. “You promised to give me time. Remember?”
She heard him mutter under his breath as she felt the car turn down their driveway.
“Fine. For now, but, one of these days and soon mind you, Els, you owe me an explanation and I will expect it to be a lengthy one without anything left out. You hear me?” he told her and, though he tried to sound as gruff and serious as he could muster, by his return to calling her 'Els' she knew he would holster his question for at least a few more days. Perhaps by then she'd know what to tell him.