The Magician

Chapter 9

Jennifer was walking with a box of homemade biscuits in her hands. It was a Saturday afternoon, the second day of October. The weather was pretty cold and chilly, but the sun was out, fighting against the cold and chilliness.

At a turn, Jennifer stopped and thought for a moment, wondering where to go. She then turned right and continued walking. After some more walking, and a bit more walking, finally she arrived where she was headed to. It was the old mansion that she and Chandra explored earlier; where Alejandro lived. She was there to visit him.

Jennifer knocked. After a moment, the door was opened by Camila. "Hi Jennifer!" She greeted her warmly. Her brown hair was braided and her hazel brown eyes - that looked just like her brother's - were looking really bright in the sunlight.

- Hi! I was...

- Hello!

Someone else appeared behind Camila. He was slightly taller than her. Jennifer didn't recognize him immediately and just looked at him without saying anything.

- A... are you okay?

That's when Jennifer finally recognized him. It was Alejandro, but not in his magician suit. He was wearing normal jeans and T-shirt with a casual jacket on. He looked younger in that outfit. Jennifer finally snapped out of it. "Oh hi! I... I didn't recognize you..." she tried to chuckle but it probably turned out pretty weird. Alejandro flinched and smiled in a playful way. "What, I'm not gonna be wearing that suit 24/7 now will I?" Jennifer forced a nervous laugh.

"That's exactly what I thought you would do"

"Anyway um..." She brought the box of biscuits forward. "These are for you guys! I made them this morning." Camila took them with a big smile. "Aw that's so sweet of you! Why don't you come on in and we can share them while having a chat and a cup of tea?"

- I'd love to but...

- Great! I'll get the tea ready! You lead her in Al and make sure she's comfortable.

Alejandro wanted to say something but she left before he or Jennifer could speak. There was a moment of silence and then Alejandro looked at Jennifer with slightly raised eyebrows. "Guess you're coming in!"

- I... sure yeah why not!

They walked in and sat down on a couch as Camila showed up with a tray that had three cups of tea and a plate of Jennifer's biscuits on it. She placed the tray on the table and sat down.

"So, what's the purpose of your visit?" Alejandro asked. His voice wasn't serious or angry, but it startled Jennifer. "Uh..." She wasn't sure how to answer that. Don't people do it to stay in touch? "Well... it'd been a couple of weeks since we last saw each other..."

"Two weeks!" He interrupted. Jennifer paused for a moment, again not sure what to do. Then decided to continue. "Two weeks yeah. And I just... erm... wanted to know how you're doing."

- Oh, that's nice!

Jennifer faked a half smile which went away quickly. Was he not used to having guests around?

A few uneasy moments went by as no one said anything. Finally Camila spoke up. "Hey do you wanna see my perfume collection? The ones I've made!" Happy to finally have something to do, Jennifer accepted the offer gladly.

The two of them went a bit further into the living room behind where they were sitting. There were two big glass buffets and on their shelves were multiple perfume bottles lined up, each labeled and in different colors.

- There are some other ones too, but these are the official ones that I sell. Feel free to have a look but be careful! The glass can be slippery.

Jennifer had never seen or smelled perfumes like that before. They were unique ones such as freshly cut grass, wet soil after rain, pages of an old book, cake while it's in the oven and many more. And they actually smelled like the thing that they were labeled as. They even felt like it!

- Wow! These are so magical!

Camila smiled with pride and crossed her arms.

- Hey, can I buy one?

- Of course! Which one do you want?

Jennifer pointed to one of the bottles. The label read 'Page of an Old Book'. "That one please."

Soon, the bottle was placed in a bag and handed to Jennifer. They then got back to the couch where Alejandro was sitting alone, holding his cup of tea. "By the way," Alejandro said once he saw them coming. "The Asian Bazaar will be here soon." Camila sat on the arm of the couch rather than the couch itself. "Oh yeah! Have you been there, Jennifer?"

- Yeah, my mum goes there every year. Sometimes I go with her.

- Well it's a ...

Camila didn't get to finish. Alejandro suddenly dropped his cup and stood with a yelp. Him standing up startled the girls and they stood up as well. "What happened?!?" Camila asked with a nervous voice.

- I... it burned my hand....

- What?

- I was warming up the cup and it... it burned me!

Warming up the cup? What did he mean? Jennifer was really confused. She looked at Camila to maybe get some answers but the older girl wasn't looking at her. "It's okay." She said, "We'll clean it up."

- Um... I should probably get going.

Alejandro looked at Jennifer. "Oh, well thanks for the biscuits! And sorry for the uhm..." He gestured towards the area around himself. "Things that happened!" He finished with a polite smile.

- No worries, see ya later!

Camila walked Jennifer to the door. Once Jennifer was gone, she came back to his younger brother with her arms crossed.

- What was that about??

- I told you! I was warming up the cup and it got so hot that it almost burned my hand! It never happened before! ... Something's wrong...

Camila sighed. "I'll get some paper towels." Frustrated that his own sister didn't believe him, Alejandro slumped on the couch and started playing with his deck of cards. Cardistry was something that eased his mind.

Camila dried up the tea on the floor and threw away the broken cup. "Okay, all done. I'm going upstairs. If you need me, I'm in my room." Alejandro didn't answer.

If Camila stayed a second longer, she would've seen the small flame on one of the cards in his brother's hand.