Threads

Chapter Thirteen- Part 1

Chapter Thirteen

Alexie Ambrose

            “Just a week or two longer, and then we should move.”  Alice set her tea cup down on the backroom desk. She and Azura were enchanting another case of Perfect Excuses potions, and keeping an ear open for the tinkle of the bell. The winter sun was streaming in bright through the windows, making Alice blink in sleepy irritation.  She yawned.

            “You don’t like New York?” Azura observed her yawning and stifled one of her own.

            “It’s not that I don’t like it. There’s too much going on. Everyone seems to know who I am, and Altair came back the other day and then there’s that Alexie Ambrose guy. I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want to meet him, and I’m thoroughly sick of hearing about him. After here and what happened in Egypt, I’d like somewhere peaceful.”

            Azura looked thoughtful.  “Altair is that man you ended up saving? He came back yesterday?”

            “He apologized.”

            Azura frowned. “Words can mean a lot. Or very little.”

            “Gabriel thinks he’s lying.”

            “And do you agree with him?”
            “I’m not sure. I don’t know why Altair came back. I wouldn’t have. I would be getting out of New York if I was him.”

            “Just be careful.”

            “I know. I don’t think he’ll come around again. He apologized, that’s all. I’m surprised he even bothered doing that.”

            Later, when the shop was slow, Azura showed her several new spells.  The first one taught her to move objects across the room, and she was soon efficient at lassoing the plastic cup they were using to practice with a length of thread.

“This is sort of rough. I mean, if there was water in this, I’d be spilling it everywhere. How do you make it steady?”

            “With practice and patience. It takes a long time.”

            “But I’m still using my hands. It doesn’t have the same effect. It looks way cooler to move something with your mind.”

            Azura laughed. “You may learn to manipulate the threads without your hands, but that won’t come for some time. It works for simple spells like shielding, but for something more intricate, where you have to create a pattern, you use your hands until you are very well trained.”

            “Oh,” Alice said, disappointed. “It seems so much more Witch-like to just make stuff happen when you walk by. That’s how they do it in the movies.”

            “If this was a movie it would have a better soundtrack.” Azura was referring to the pop song on the radio, which happened to be Alexie Ambrose, and Alice dissolved into giggles.

“No kidding.”

             After learning a few more spells - one of which delighted her with the ability to create and balance a small globe of light above her palm - Alice’s stomach embarrassed her with a loud, predatory rumble.  

“Oops, I think it’s time for food.”

            “Go ahead,” Azura said. “I’ll hold down the fort and go when you get back.”