A Witch's Way

5) New Magic

Layla:

I stared at Matt.
And then stared some more. 

This isn't right. This can't be right. There surly can't be others like me.
I looked into his handsome face, he was smiling widely at me.

As I continued to stare at him with my mouth open, saying nothing, Matt's expression slowly changed. His smile slackened and the brightness in his eyes faded.

"Layla?" He asked uncertainly "Hello? Are you alright?" 

I continued staring at him.  Shock was etched onto my face and the air was caught in my throat. I mean I wanted to say something, I wanted to say quite a lot of things actually, most of them along the lines of 'are you crazy?' But somehow I knew he wasn't lying to me. My body was suddenly breathing in the relief of finally working out what had been nagging at the edge of my mind ever since our eyes first met.
I just needed a few seconds to breath and control myself. To take it in. Okay not seconds, I'm going to need hours.

Matt put his hands on either side of my face and stared intently into my eyes.

"Layla, breathe, it's okay, I know it's a bit of a shock." 

A bit of a shock! My mind screamed at him, and then regretted it, knowing he could read my mind...dammit....

Matt smiled again.

I let out a lungful of breath that I didn't realize I had been holding and the sudden motion left me a little lightheaded and I almost laughed at the situation. Layla! Focus! This is so not funny.

"Well, that depends, on how you look at it," he said.

I blinked and, with Matt's warm hands on my face and his bright green eyes staring into mine, slowly relaxed and was able to breathe normally again, I had to come up with a reasonable explanation to tell Matt what was happening because even though everything now made sense and he had proved he could read my mind, I still found it hard to come to terms with what he was telling me. That he could do magic.
I had lived so long without being able to tell anyone that I had magic gifts, and believing that I was alone, I found it hard to accept that this wasn't a problem any more. I just couldn't believe it. I couldn't.

"Oh please Layla! This was not at all how I pictured this scene playing out... I can do magic, I am just like you. There is so much I can tell you and teach you! And you can teach me and-"

Suddenly it was all too much.

"Stop!" I yelled and flung myself out of my chair. "This isn't real! I'm dreaming! Like the dream I had with my Mum. This can't be real!"

The truth was I couldn't let myself hope and then be faced with the disappointment later. What if it really was a dream? That I just wished that Matt knew the truth?

"Layla!" Matt yelled in frustration. He got up and strode over to where I was leaning against the window.

"Layla, listen to me! You are not dreaming! This is real!" 

I put my hands over my ears and closed my eyes not wanting to delve deeper into this dream. Maybe if I started humming I could tune him out and possibly wake up...The song 'Just a dream' by Nelly suddenly came into my head....

"Layla please! Didn't you feel it? The first time we looked at each other, like your body was trying to tell you something?"

I was thinking about her, thinking about me, thinking about us, what we gunna be, open my eyes, it was only just a dream...

"And the first time we touched? It was trying to tell you what I was, what I am! Magical beings feel drawn to each other, like being attached to an invisible cord."

So I travel back, down that road, will she come back, no one knows, I realise, it was only just a dream... Why can't I drown out his voice?

"Would you stop singing to yourself and listen to me?! Your body wants to be close to somebody like itself! Didn't you feel that?!" Matt grabbed my hands and pulled them from my ears.

"Layla, didn't you feel that?!" 

I didn't know what to say because I had indeed felt that, exactly like he described. It suddenly made sense why I had a feeling of connection to him...if all this was true...

Matt could see that I was wavering and took his chance. 
He squeezed my hands and said, "look, Layla, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you before, I just had to make sure that you weren't -" Matt stopped mid-sentence as if he had said too much and looked down. "I don't know what to do to make you believe me, but know this, I am telling you the truth!"

I sighed and looked into his eyes. His trusting eyes which were burning into mine spilling over with the truth. I knew then that I wanted to believe him and that I would believe him, no matter how much pain it caused if I found out this wasn't real. What else could I do? 

I nodded once.

Matt sighed in relief and grinned, pulling me into a hug.

"Layla, you don't know how long I have been waiting for you," he sighed.

"Matt you've only known me a couple of weeks, it's not that long a wait," I answered, although it was muffled by his shoulder and a little hoarse from my dry throat.

Matt laughed. "I meant before I knew you."

I pulled back and looked at him. "What do you mean?"

Matt  took my hand. (I will explain everything later. I promise.) he projected to me in his mind. 

"So, you're really a witch?" I said, smiling at his face.

Matt returned the smile and answered.

"Actually I'm a warlock. A male witch you could say. The word witch is used for females."

"Oh. Sorry," I said, realising that I may have just insulted him. Great way to start things off...

Matt laughed. "Don't worry, I forgive you, you're new to this after all. And by the way you really have to tune down on the mental voice, I could hear you a mile away."

I scowled at him "I'll try and keep it down."

Matt laughed again "Okay, how about we speed up this lesson, you can record it if you really want to, I know you do that a lot, and then bunk off the rest of school and get to know each other properly?"

I smiled at the idea of spending more time with him.

"Okay, and I think I won't record this lesson, French isn't that important."

Matt smirked and said "Do you know what 'ne parlons pas en ma lecon' means?"

I burst out laughing. When I had controlled myself I nodded.

"It means do not talk in my lesson," I added with a grin.

Matt grinned back "I think we may have broken that rule."

And with that we took our seats ready to play time again. 

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Hey :) 
Thanks for reading! Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter and are glad to know that Matt can do magic as well!
Agian I am sorry about this chapter being short, I just wanted this chapter to be about Layla's reaction to hearing that Matt was a warlock.
Please keep reading! :D