3: Laws and What Was Real
1100 Words
“What in the world were you thinking inviting a dark witch into the house?” shouted Oliver as soon as we closed the door to the study behind us.
“Dad, you’re making it sound as if she’s contagious or something,” retorted Stan with a lot of anger on his face.
“She’s a dark witch!” repeated Oliver and slammed his fist angrily on the table. Oh boy! There must be something I didn’t know about dark wizards ’cause I was sure I’d never seen Oliver as furious as he was in that moment.
“You talk about unity and the law of ‘oneness’, but all you white wizards really do is discriminate the dark wizards like a bunch of hypocrites,” said Stan as he looked at Oliver squarely in the face- Ohh! This will so end badly for everyone.
“Umm, maybe-”
“Don’t get in the middle of this, Troy!” Stan cut in again and gave me a really frightening death glare. “I get it that you’re the one that can do no wrong, the perfect son that I can never match up to. I already accepted that so no need to rub it in my face.”
He walked past me- brushing me none too gently in the process- and made for the door before Oliver stopped him. “Don’t you dare walk out on me Stan, I’m still talking to you,” he said.
“Well, I’m done listening, Dad,” he returned and walked out anyway; making sure to angrily slam the door close as he did.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure he didn’t mean any of those things, he’ll come around soon enough,” I said as I turned to look at a ‘Not so angry anymore but still not looking comfortable for me’ Oliver. “Besides, Yvette isn’t so bad when you get to know her.”
“That’s how they always seem,” he muttered and crashed heavily into the chair at the head of the table. Why do I have a feeling that his mood isn’t all because of the whole "Yvette's a dark witch" issue?
“Are you feeling okay?” I asked, taking a seat in the chair directly opposite his.
“It’s nothing to concern yourself with, just business stuff,” he replied; but his face told another story. Something was definitely up and if it got Oliver worried, then I was worried too.
Green is a really vibrant colour, I thought as I twirl the light on my fingertips. I sat staring deeply at the light and thinking about all the spells associated with the green colour when the study light suddenly switched on and I looked up to see Victoria standing at the door in a grey tank top and a really pretty pink pajama pants.
“You’re still awake,” she said, looking somewhat surprised although I suspected she already guessed that before coming down to the study.
“You’re still awake too,” I replied as I made the green light do some random spinning movements in the air before disappearing. “So, what is it that has the princess not sleeping?”
“Actually, I was,” she replied, “but I needed to get a cup of water.” She looked around as if the jug and cup are hiding somewhere on the bookshelf. Thing is, everyone knew that the kitchen and the study were in two completely opposite wings of the house- Gosh Vic! Lying, are we?
“You do know that the kitchen is nowhere in this area, right?” I pointed out to her before I got up and pulled her fully into the room; she did come to the study for a reason after all, didn’t she?
“If you’re any kind of a gentleman, Sanders, you would let me get away with that lie,” she said with a fake pout but got herself settled in one of the seats. “So, why are you awake?”
“Thinking,” I replied as I began to pace around; a question gnawing at me since the time Stan had insinuated something. “Tell me the truth, Vic, do you think Oliver favors me more than Stan?”
“No,” she replied immediately, “but even if he does, it’s understandable. Stan has had him all his life but you’re just getting to know each other. It’s only normal if he’s a bit lax with you.”
“Stan doesn’t seem to think that way,” I said and finally decided to take a seat; pacing was so tiring, I wondered why the hell people even did it.
“Don’t worry about it, Troy. Your brother has always been like that,” Vic replied. “It’s nothing but envy. But I’m sure he’ll come around eventually.” The both of us sat in silence after that as we enjoyed the peace of the night.
“Thank you Vic,” I whispered after a while.
“For what?”
“You know, for just being you.”
“Good night,” I said as we reached my bedroom door.
It had taken some really unrelenting pleading but Victoria had convinced me to let her walk me to my door instead of me walking her to hers as we did every night. “It’s good for the relationship,” she had said.
“Good night to you too,” she replied as we went in for a quick kiss which turned into a long one; that also happened every time.
“I think we have to go to bed now before we stop being reasonable,” I said, stopping to kiss her hand. And without waiting for her response, I bolted into my room before I start considering the inappropriate thoughts that were starting to form in my head. I was still trying to get myself back under control when I suddenly heard a knock on my door.
“Vic, what...” I trailed off as I opened the door to see Oliver. “Dad, is something wrong?”
He was still dressed in his shirt and pants from earlier in the day; and his hair was in disarray, I think from running his hands through it more times than normal. “Did I wake you?” he asked, shaking slightly on the spot like he was unsure of what he was doing.
“No, come in,” I replied and stepped back to give him enough space to enter.
He entered and started pacing around. Okay, this is starting to really unnerve me.
“Do you know why the magic schools haven't resumed as at now?” he asked all of a sudden.
Funny place to begin a conversation; but it was better than his previous pace about. “Because of a necessary renovation that the Council of Magic ordered,” I replied. At least, that’s what I’ve been told.
“Actually, that’s a lie,” he replied. “The thing is that the Council doesn’t want any of you back in the metapores before they’re sure.”
“Sure of what?”
He heaved a loud sigh before sitting down and giving me the news that I’d been dreading for a long time. “They think that there’s a possibility that Trichloris is still alive.”
- Writer
