When Magic Flows

MOTIVATION PART II

I arrived at the Yule Ball place and was amazed. So many witches and warlocks to know. This could be a rich experience, and if I wasn’t a man in a mission, I could use the opportunity to make some shade deals and guarantee some months of full pockets for us. But this wasn’t the time or place for secondary business. First of all, I should have a first name and then, put a face to the name I had and create the opportunity to speak to her alone. 

Step number one done five minutes later when I crossed a teenage group of girls that were happily chatting about Allegra Scott and the dress that she would be wearing for the occasion. I didn’t really care when they noticed me passing and some of them turned their heads to keep looking at me, neither I cared about the gossip, but this was enough to give me her name, so it was useful all the same.

I felt her before I saw her, and the crowd’s gasp confirmed that she was in the room. The moment that I turned and saw her, the lights danced and I saw a face carved by angels. Her sincere smile touched all the people around her. She had the perfect shape and height and those beautiful hazel eyes were shining and radiating life. Little did I know that at the moment they locked on mine I could feel light invading my dark soul.

She started greeting people around her and soon she was surrounded by admirers and curious people and I got a little jealous. I knew that this wasn’t the right moment to get to her, but I didn’t want them to use her for what she had to offer. I knew that I was being ridiculous, but I didn’t care. Something inside me was affirming that somehow, she was mine and I would claim her in the first opportunity. I just needed to be careful. I didn’t want to scare her off. 

I sat down at a table and waited for dinner. If the food was good, I couldn’t tell you. I was so nervous that it felt as if it was cardboard. I wasn’t enjoying the fancy meal at all. All my energies were concentrated in talking to her at the first opportunity. I sat on the opposite side of the room from her but couldn’t take my eyes off her. If it was possible, I would have carved a hole down her back from the intensity of my look. 

After that tedious and long dinner, she was asked by a guy to dance and I felt my guts boiling. Who was this guy to get her attention like this? Would he steal her from the other people in the ball? They started dancing the opening ball song and I could see that at first, she was uncomfortable with him, and then she seemed to relax and finally she was enjoying herself. Something inside of me wanted to murder him and escape with her. I took a couple of breaths to calm myself down. I didn’t even know her and was so possessive like this. What was wrong with me?

A few moments later she started to dance with a middle-aged gentleman with whom she talked from the beginning to the end of the dance. She seemed so comfortable that he only could be her dad or a close relative. They did not have the same dynamics as she had with the guy in the first dance. He was paternal towards her and it made me calmer. But the night was passing, and I had to create the right opportunity.

I excused myself from the other invitees on the table and went to a corner to perform a small spell that would give me grace and feet lightness in my feet. I knew I was cheating a little bit but there was no way I wouldn’t be absolutely charming now. I had to have her by my side, and not just for my father, but for me. Even if she didn’t know it, she had cast a spell on me and had me in the palm of her hands. So, a little more confident thanks to the spell, I went to the dance floor and stood close to her, until the gentlemen who were dancing with her noted me and gave me the opportunity.

I thought that introducing myself would be a nice start: “Nicholas Graves. Nice to meet you.”

She didn’t seem to be paying attention to me at all. What now?

And then the lights danced and blinded me momentarily, but I could see that she was seeing me for real this time. Or better, her hazel eyes could see through me. I still don’t know if this made me uncomfortable or if this was good because with her I felt that I could be myself. I could feel the impact she was having on me and I was glad that I could have this kind of impact on her too. 

Come on, man! Do something! “Would you like to dance with me?” I finally asked her after what seemed to be a century for me. 

“Of course,” she told me accepting the hand I was offering her. 

If I could feel the air vibrating when she entered the same room I was, nothing could be compared to the sensation I had with our hands touching. She was magnificent. An unimaginable power emanated from her. I bet she wasn’t even aware of it yet. 

I felt her shivering under my touch, and I tried to disguise it for her sake, but deep down I was really happy to see that I could affect her the same way she was affecting me. Thank goodness that the spell worked, and we started to glide over the dancefloor graciously. I hope that she didn’t notice that I was trying to impress her. 

And then, I continued talking, first to fulfill the awkward silence and second to introduce my plea: “Ms. Scott, I was looking for the right moment to introduce myself and get to know you better. I have to confess that I have never seen a coven leader rise before so I was curious about how would you be, and so far I could see a strong young woman learning herself how to deal with all this situation, and I have to say: so far, you’re doing great. Congratulations!”

Maybe this ice-breaking conversation made her brave enough to challenge me a little: “Well, thank you, Mr. Graves. Did you get all those impressions just by observing me in the last couple of days?” Oh, man! This girl could speak her mind freely and I liked it. But a couple of days? Then she probably didn’t learn what I needed her to learn yet. 

If she could speak her mind, I tested the waters myself too: “I have to say that I’ve been observing you for a little while now, not just from last night. I was hoping that you would, at least, shed some of your light over me. It’s been a while since the wizards are talking about a star align that would generate an extremely powerful coven leader. She would be compassionate enough to help those who needed the guidance of light. I really hope that this one is you, but I believe that we need to wait to find out.”

   And then she answered me: “I don’t know about these wizards’ talks, but I definitely intend to be a compassionate leader. As I told last night, I intend to treat the coven as my family to cherish, love, and stand by.” She talked as if I was in her ceremony last night as if I was one member of her coven. She simply had no idea of who I was. 

She had a pure heart, and I couldn’t help but incentivize her: “This is good. Just promise me that you will always have this light in your heart, and you will never hear the voice of the darkness that tempts us all the time. Will you?” Oh, snap. I shouldn’t have mentioned about darkness temptation and everything. Maybe this wasn’t the right time or place to tell her that I was a grey warlock. Maybe I should prepare a fast escape, so I decided to guide her through the dancefloor to the edge of it, to the closest door in the room. 

I felt her stiffen in my arms as she continued: “I hope that the darkness never tempts me, but I will always try to stay steady in the light as long as I exist.” She told me this, with a lot of conviction in her voice. “But you’re not telling me a lot about you, sir. Why do you want me to be so firm in the light magic? Thinking about it now, I don’t remember seeing you around our coven. Are you a visitor in this ball?”

This was going south fast, and this was definitely not the right place for this conversation. Then I proposed to her: “I will tell you what you need to know now, but not here. Do you mind if we take a walk in the gardens?”

She deliberated a while and then she responded: “Fine, but we are not going further than the gardens, ok?”

I grabbed this opportunity the way I could, smiled, and took her hand as I drove her through the garden doors: “Of course, I would take any time that you may offer to me, anyway.”

It was cold outside, and I conjured a blanket to make her more comfortable, but I guess that she was too uneasy to notice my gesture. We sat on a gazebo bench and I started to tell her about my complicated situation:

“As I told you before, my name is Nicholas Graves. The security here measured my intentions when I got in here, but I must confess, I exchanged this invite for a complex bewitched token. All to get to know you. The reason I am here is that I heard other elders wizards talk about a sort of star alignment and how they think you are the promised leader that is been expected for generations, so I have to know you. I need light, Allegra. My family desperately needs your help.”

A few seconds later, I figured it out that pour my worst problem on her after just introduced myself wasn’t the best strategy ever: “But I just know the basics. My training has not even started!” she told me letting clear that I was asking too much of her at that moment.

I continued: “I know, we are not in mortal danger, not that I am aware of right now, but I needed to ask for your help for when you are prepared. Only a light priestess can save my family.” I told her not willing to show the urge in the case but worried enough to let her know that I needed her. 

She got even more suspicious: “If you need this kind of salvation, you’re probably not from my coven… Where are you from, Nicholas?” 

Oh, man! Is there any way that I could turn the things worse? I thought that I couldn't, so I decided to open the whole case to her: “My dad was expelled from his former coven when I was a baby. We have no coven to belong to, and this affected my whole life. You see, something happened in his life that changed him completely, and he harmed so many people around him that he was excommunicated from his own coven. He used to be a lieutenant in his time. Now there are just the two of us, our own coven.” I tried to laugh a little bit about it to lighten the mood, but it actually didn’t work. She looked at me with a mix of pity and worry in her eyes.

“Look, Nicholas, I want to help you, but I still don’t know-how. For now, I just can offer my shoulder and try to comprehend your situation. I’m sorry.” She offered. Well, this was something. A start, for sure.  

I had to seize the opportunity she was offering me: “I know, you’re about to start your training, but I could feel your power. You know that witches and warlocks can sense other magical creatures’ powers. I know you have the potential for it. Tonight, I just wanted you to know that I need, or better, I’m begging you to help us.” 

Now she looked genuinely worried: “What is really going on, Nicholas?”

It was time to give her a little more details: “First of all, you have to understand that my dad does not know I’m here. He is the one who most needs your help, but he might not want it. You see, years ago he got involved with dark magic. Are you familiar with the effects dark magic can have over a wizard?”

She made a face, which I was willing to ignore because she was interested enough to not leave me here after all I told her: “No, I was just taught to not get even close to it.”

Then I explained to her: “In a desperate act he resorted to dark magic years ago and was never able to get rid of it. Darkness started to destroy his soul and deteriorate his body, and now I am afraid that he could not hold on anymore. He is dying, Allegra, and he is my only family.”

 The perspective of losing him made me really sad, and I let her see how was all of this affecting me, but then she got worried about me in other aspects: “How about you? Do you have effects of dark magic on you?”

I’m not in mortal danger here. I have to make her focus on my dad’s problem first. I still believed that my time would come, but first him: “I live in a gray area, Allegra. I try to reach the light every moment of my life, but my dad’s darkness sometimes finds its ways to get to me. This is not the type of life that I want to live in forever, but the perspective of losing my only family is the main reason I’m here right now. Could you please learn everything that you can to help him to save his soul? He tells me that he has no soul left in him, but I can’t lose him, Allegra. I don’t know what else to do.”

After deliberating again for what seems an eternity, she finally told me: “Fine, I will help. I will learn what I can to save you and your father, but he probably will need to want to do it too, okay? I can’t promise you a lot right now, but I will help you in any way that I can.” I could not help the relief sight that came from me. I’ve got to accomplish my initial goal tonight. And she continued: “I will probably have to see you again for it, right? Could you please not observe me from far, from now on? I could get a little self-conscious.” And smiled that perfect white smile just to me. This has to be a good thing, but at this moment, I felt that this could be a good thing for me too. Obviously, my main intention was to get help for my dad, but what if I could be close to her in the process? Could this be a bad idea at all?

“Anything you want, my dear.” Finally, this conversation was getting lighter again. It was easy to talk to her, even if it was a hard subject, but I rather the light chatting right now. “Now, for a light conversation, you look beautiful tonight. I saw you from far, so I haven’t noticed a lot of you so far.” Liar. You were observing her like a hawk the whole night. I tried to make my best face saying this to her. 

“Thanks. You’re not bad yourself.” She responded, and my heart warmed a little bit.

Then I noticed that the ball music could be heard from the gazebo and I decided to try my luck one more time: “May I ask you for a second dance right here?”

And she responded again: “Sure. Let’s dance again. Who taught you to dance like this?”

There was no way I would admit what I did about my dancing: “Believe me or not, nobody.” This part at least was the truth. “My dad just told me that this would be an ability that I would like to learn for life and then I decided to observe it from movies and the internet. We live isolated from other covens, so I don’t have a lot of social interaction myself."

Then she told me: “You’re doing great so far. Congratulations!” She told me smiling. So, it worked. Good!

I smiled back and couldn’t help myself. Before I could realize, I was telling her about how captivating she was: “Your smiling is infectious. It is the most beautiful smile I have ever seen in my life. You are adorable. I don’t know if I am going too far, but as time passes, I want to get closer to you. Maybe you are working your own magic over me.”

I couldn’t explain why she made me feel this way. Being close to her made me feel like home as if everything was in its right place and I could finally feel complete. 

I started to look at her intensely. Then she admitted, “I don’t know why but I want to get closer too.” I couldn’t feel better than I felt at this moment. I knew that this was right, so I pulled her close and held her face. I needed to feel her lips on mine. I stood there for a couple of seconds and saw her facing me intensively. Then she closed her eyes, giving me the consent to get even closer. 

We kissed and time seemed to stop. There is no other way to explain this, but this was completely right. Literally like magic, she became my air, my home, my everything. I smelled her hair and it smelled like apple and cinnamon, my favorite scent on earth. 

This couldn’t be our first and last kiss. I would see her again. She would help me to save my dad, and then I would fight to be by her side, even if my background was considered doubtful for most of the people. I would be hers and she would be mine.