Awakened Magic

Chapter Two

 "I'm a what, now?" I cried out, "If you guys think this is some kind of a sick joke-"

"I know this is shocking, sweetheart, but go to the dining room with your brother and he will explain it all to you." my Mum said, encouragingly.

Jake practically dragged me into the room and dropped me onto a chair.

"Okay, this is going to be a bit overwhelming but listen to me carefully and with an open mind, okay?"

Taking my silent nod as confirmation, he began to speak:

"Like I told you before, you are a witch. Our whole family is. And, before you ask, no. It's not the Halloween version of witches who have crooked noses, flying brooms and a pointy hat."

"Obviously, don't you think I would have noticed if I had turned into an old hag overnight?" I retorted, sarcastically. Man, I was taking this surprisingly well.

"Ha ha. Don't interrupt me this time." I rolled my eyes at that.

After a warning glare, he continued, "The gist of what you have read in the fairy tales and watched in Disney movies are quite true. We have magical powers but each and every witch possesses a unique talent."

"What do you mean?" I couldn't help but disobey his previous statement.

Fortunately, he looked past that and said, "Well, for example, I can create an alternative reality for someone-it's temporary and they believe whatever they see is real."

I gaped at him. "What's mine?"

"I don't know. A witch's individual power takes a while to materialise, so we have to wait to see what it is."

"How are you a witch? I thought only women were witches?" Disney cannot have lied to me.

"Boys can too, if they have a magical heritage. Like me."

"Uh-huh, uh-huh. Right." I nodded like an imbecile.

I sat through his explanation with a sense of calm I didn't even know I possessed, though it was probably because it was so surreal that I could not actually digest anything he was saying. For the most part, I felt like I was watching this part of my life as an outsider, like it was a movie.

"Come with me, I want to show you the attic." I looked at him weirdly as that was an odd request but then I thought the night could not possibly get any weirder.

And, as cliché as it sounds, it did.

When we reached the attic, he pointed his finger at the door. Sparks flew around the tip of his finger and the door opened, slowly. I gawked at him and he pulled me in through the doorway, as if this is something that happened all the time.

Come to think of it, I've actually never been to the attic. I've always thought the attic was just where we kept all our junks. But, it was actually very clean, no spider webs. Thank God for that! When we entered the room, the first thing I saw were the number of high metal bookshelves all lined across the wall. The whole room had these bookshelves, like wallpaper. You can't actually see the wall. The second thing I noticed was how big the room was. It was the size of a basketball court. Lush red carpet hugged the floor and an extravagant chandelier hung from the ceiling, though the light coming from it was dim. Most of the room's light came from the curved sconces that were embedded throughout the room. And in the centre of the room, there was a big ivory-coloured couch with an oval-shaped coffee table. Around the couch were carefully laid out seating spaces and tables-it was a library in my own attic. Jake explained to me that the attic is the magic room and it has all of our witchy materials. That is why I never knew about the family secret because the room can only be opened with a spell and my parents did everything to hide it from me.