Different.

Chapter 16: A Lesson in Magick

"Wait a minute, that's a thing? People can do that?" I asked incredulously, not bothering to hide my disturbed shock.

After all, could you imagine? Wandering through a maze with no end and no beginning, essentially living forever only to be tortured by your own thoughts, fears, and guilt? It would be enough to make even the strongest person break.

"Yes, people can." Alexander replied tersely, his tone strained. "And it's really not fun, trust me."

I opened my mouth to ask how it felt when it happened to him, and why in the hell it did, but he shot me down with a glare so sour it could've curdled milk straight from a cows udder.

So instead I asked, "How many different abilities are there exactly?"

He turned his eyes back to the road and let his face relax as he answered, "Theoretically an infinite amount. Two people may have the same abilities, but with slightly different boundaries to them, or slightly different forms through which they can be used, and when they reproduce it can show up differently in their child. Especially if they end up with another abled."

"You know all of this is really quite convoluted." I scoffed, twirling a lock of my hair around my fingertip. "The fairy tales didn't do this shit justice."

By now, the abandoned school that marked the entrance to Valerod was in sight, looking slightly less decrepit in the distance.

"Tell me something then?" I kicked my feet up onto the dashboard and leaned back into the worn seat. "How come there are so many people with shifting abilities? Me, Adam, you, Akshana? If there are hypothetically an infinite number of abilities, why does it not seem that way?"

Keeping one hand draped over the wheel, Alexander's other hand shot out and smacked my feet down irritably, though not overly so.

"Because" he enunciated, bringing his hand back to rest on the stick shift. "Shifting is the most common form of magick. Most people you'll meet who have magick, are shifters. Sort of like most people have brown eyes, and only a few have say, gray eyes. And I said theoretically not hypothetically. There is a difference you know."

"You're like an encyclopedia of metaphors aren't you?" Ignoring his haughty correction, I stopped playing with my hair to smirk over at him with an expression that I hoped was just the right amount of condescending.

Maybe it was immature of me, but he knew exactly how to push my buttons, and it seemed only fair if I did the same to him. I guessed that was how siblings must've felt, but I never had any so I wouldn't really know exactly.

"Are you always such a smart ass?" Though the question was snappy, he had a light heartedness to his tone.

"Only whenever I breathe," I replied sweetly, batting my lashes.

Suddenly, the car was pulled to a stop with a sudden jerk, making my body fly towards the windshield like a rag doll.

I expected that when I looked up I would've seen some lost little kid chasing a ball, or a stray dog hobbling away blindly, either of which would explain why stopping so suddenly was necessary, but the only thing that moved in the small lot next to the school was an abandoned plastic bag, drifting humbly in the wind like a tumbleweed.

When I looked back over at Alexander, there was a hint of a sly grin on his face that I only caught as he pulled himself from the drivers seat while mumbling quietly under his breath, "Good to know."

Then he let the door drift closed behind him, leaving me alone in the car with the keys still in the ignition and the engine still residually warm.