Feeding Frenzy (Watty Award Winner)

A New Kind of Magic: Chapter Fifty

"Guilty?" Tonya remembered sucking the life force out of Waldock.

Her Aunt shrugged. "Don't worry. You meant no harm." She turned to her sister. "I'll take the blame for everything. Tonya didn't know what she was doing."

"The Court will accuse her of apprenticing with you. You've been flaunting the rules for years with your so-called herbal cures. No one will believe a word you say."

"Leave her defence to me. I promise Tonya will remain a perfect 'white hat,' like her parents."

Dad put a protective arm around Tonya's shoulders. "The best thing you can do is leave her alone."

Tonya stepped free. "Don't I get a say?" She was tired of being 'protected.'

"Of course," said Mom. She put her hands on Tonya's shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "What you do is up to you, but while you decide come to Toronto and forget all this unpleasantness. You need rest."

She was exhausted. Tonya's mind's eye instinctively opened on its own. Dad, Aunt Helene, and Mom were suddenly transformed into points of light in space. The trees outside were green dots of energy surrounding her Aunt's flimsy walls of gyprock and aluminum. Her mother's delicious energy pulsated as it rushed out through her fingertips and into Tonya's shoulders.

Mom recoiled. "Stop!"

"You did this!" Mom rushed at Aunt Helene so fast Tonya thought she would hit her. "You corrupted her."

"She was born with that ability."

The sisters faced each other, hands on hips, chins jutting, cheeks flushed, each the reverse image of the other.

"I'm on your side," said Aunt Helene, "but we couldn't let Waldock win."

"Liar! You abandoned the anti-magic faction the minute you went out with him. Stay away from Tonya or they'll find her guilty by association."

"You should be grateful to Aunt Helene for stopping Waldock," said Tonya.

"She sent us to Australia where we couldn't protect you," said Dad.

"What could you have done without magic?" said Tonya.

Aunt Helene smiled at her. "I knew you wouldn't let us down."

"They'll charge you with practising magic," said Dad.

"Everybody uses magic! This is Loon Lake," said Tonya.

"Not the non-magic faction, and sanctions are severe." Mom moved in cautiously and, without touching her, brushed a strand of hair off Tonya's face.

"If you leave there's no coming back," said her Aunt. "Don't go," she said to her sister.

"You must be tired," Mom said to Tonya. "I'll help you pack. We have to get back to Toronto before they realize you're up and about."

Tonya looked from her smiling parents to Aunt Helene, who looked down at her clasped hands.

"I can do it myself." Her parents shouldn't make her choose between them and Aunt Helene.

Back in the bedroom, it took moments to stuff her things into the backpack but she took her time making the bed. Through the skimpy wall she could hear them hissing accusations at each other. They stopped when she came back.

"I'm going for a walk, by myself." She was happy to see her parents but running away felt wrong. Tonya had helped save the town and that should count for something. At one time she would've given everything to leave Loon Lake and go to university in the big city. She wanted to meet new people who didn't think of her as 'that chubby girl who reads too many books.' A few months ago, Toronto would have represented adventure and a chance to figure out who she could be. How ironic that by the time her protective parents allowed her to live there, Loon Lake and its magic had proven much more exciting.