Magic Touch

Chapter 36 - Realization

Kate stared at Mari for several minutes. She still couldn't believe that Mari had lied on behalf of her, and no less about being a witch. That was a big risk to take.

"You didn't have to lie for my sake," was the first thing that tumbled out of her mouth, courtesy of her jumbled thoughts.

"Lie? It wasn't a lie," Mari frowned.

It took Kate half a minute to process those words, along with their implications. The late hour and her general exhaustion played a part in that. Once her tired brain put the pieces together, her eyes went wide.

"You're a witch?" That was the last thing Kate had been expecting to hear. In hindsight, it made sense. It explained why Mari was better at keeping up with her than everyone else.

"You hadn't noticed?" Mari attempted to raise one eyebrow, but the other one tagged along. She didn't seem to realize it herself. "To be fair, I guess I'm pretty well protected behind my blue drape," she chuckled.

"Not to mention you're surrounded by complex machinery no normal person wants to look at," Kate added half-jokingly. "Wait, does that mean your metabolism-"

Mari raised a hand in a gesture prompting Kate to stop. "Is not magic. I'm not that fond of energy bars. Not to mention if safe diet spells were a thing I think magic would be a lot more accepted in the general population."

"You have a point," Kate conceded. On the other hand, that only served to confuse her even more. "But if it's not a lie, then why did you tell Rose? It could have ended terribly for you."

Mari shrugged. "If she wanted to ruin your life she would have done so already, not to mention it would be pointless for her to come to your house. I mean, you already broke up and everything. So I figured her motive would have to be something else."

"How are you able to be so confident?" Kate asked.

"Some people would say the correct term is reckless," Mari chuckled. "I trust in my gut feeling, I guess. It's just how I live my life." She gave a wave of her hand. "Clinical decisions obviously guided by theory as well, don't get the wrong idea." Mari paused and motioned to the landscape paintings on Kate's wall. "Ever considered changing up the decor? This place looks pretty drab."

"Not really. I'm not sure what I'd want to do," Kate explained. "It just being me and all that."

"You could change that pretty easily." Mari grinned impishly. "No pressure though."

Kate's gaze wandered to one of her potted plants. "I don't think that would be a good idea. I've gone avoiding proper relationships for so long... Sure, I've had the occasional date but I get too stressed out about people learning my secret. Then Rose came along. In spite of everything, I liked her. But we both know how that wound up. At this point I'm not sure if I even know how to be in a proper relationship."

Mari ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "Yeah, I can relate to that worry. You know, the biggest reason my marriage to Bron failed is that he was getting close to my secret. Hiding my magic at work? Sure, that's easy. But around the person you're closest to? The fact that he's stubborn and more perceptive than he lets on wasn't helping either."

"Bron is perceptive? I would never have guessed," Kate responded in full honesty.

Mari chuckled at first, then she burst into full-blown laughter. "I know, right?" She kept laughing, and before long Kate was laughing as well. They both kept going for several minutes before they were holding their stomachs and gasping for air.

"What was so funny again?" Kate asked.

"No idea," Mari chortled. "And I don't think it matters. I'd say we've had enough doom and gloom for the time being."

Kate wholeheartedly agreed with that. It was one at night, but Kate decided to whip up some food for both of them and Mari gladly accepted the offer. It was the first time Kate ever used her magic to cook in front of someone else, and it felt good. Mari even helped out with the seasoning, magically of course.

By the time they finished eating the clock had struck two, and Mari reasoned that she might as well spend the night at Kate's. Due to the lack of a proper guest room Mari got the couch while Kate stumbled into her own bedroom, where she fell asleep before she could even consider undressing.

It had been a long day.

When she woke up the next morning, Kate found herself lying across her bed at a weird angle that left some of her limbs partially hanging in the air. She was also fully clothed. Vague recollections of the previous night came to day, then the day preceding it. Slowly, all the pieces came back into focus and she remembered the full story, and Mari staying over.

She walked into the living room just in time to see Mari in a weird contortionist pose on the couch, stretching in the manner one would expect of a cat.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked.

"Decently," Mari responded as she shifted to stretch in a different direction. "My back is a bit stiff but it's nothing a few stretches won't solve."

"As far as I can tell your spine might as well be made of rubber," Kate joked.

The both of them had a good laugh and then they magicked breakfast which they ate together. As far as Kate was concerned, this meant that Mari had gone from friend-at-a-distance to actual friend, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

"You're a real lifesaver," Kate told Mari as they were about to leave the apartment for work. "I'm glad to have a friend like you."

"I know," Mari grinned.