Experimental Magic ✔

The Aftermath

"Right, well," Misty said with snark and disdain. "I'm going to venture to guess that you did most of this so I would say the assessment that she learned nothing is accurate."

"Don't be like that, Missie," Markos said.

Misty stared at him with her cheeks sucked in and arms crossed. Missie. God, she hated that. It was the name he called her when they were little. He was missing his front two teeth until he was nine and he couldn't enunciate the "t." Despite her telling him constantly not to call her that, he still insisted. Especially when they fought. He knew what he was doing. He was trying to bring her back to when she still loved him; tug at her heartstrings a little to gain some sympathy. But Misty could see right through it. Any sympathy she had for him had run out a long time ago.

"You need to leave," she said sternly.

"Shouldn't be hard seeing as you've been flickering in and out like crazy," Millie added for extra punch. "Getting a little weak, big bro?"

Markos nodded his head slowly as he looked down at the ground. It had been years since he had received a warm welcome from either Misty or Millie. No matter how much time passed, he never got used to it. It still stung just as much as they day he told Misty he was moving out to teach Exploratory Written Spells at Cabrera-Bellow. She threw a plate at his head and told him not to dare to come back. He never wanted it to be like this.

He lifted his head, only to look at Meadow.

"Sorry," he said to her. "I tried."

Just like that Markos was gone. Misty felt a sigh of relief while Meadow's heart sank. She didn't want him to go. The girls stood in silence, processing what had just happened for a few seconds before Misty decided to take back control of the situation.

"We should go home," she said as she held out her hands for her sisters to take.

Millie grabbed her hand right away, but Meadow hesitated. She just stared at Misty's outstretched hand with anger.

"Come on, Meadow," Misty snapped. "What are you gonna do? Stay out here by yourself all night?"

Meadow waited a few more seconds before she roughly and reluctantly grabbed Misty's hand. She knew she was right. Meadow couldn't do a transportation spell, at least not yet. She had no other way home.

"Thank you," Misty said before starting the spell.

As soon as the girls were back in their living room, Meadow stormed up to her room and slammed the door. She threw herself on her bed. She covered her face with her pillow, grunted in frustration and then threw the pillow against the wall. She thought if she gave Misty and Millie a taste of their own medicine, they would see that she was stronger and smarter than they gave her credit for. She had them. How could they deny that?

Maybe her mistake was getting Markos involved. They hated everything he did. He could save a litter of newborn puppies from a burning building and they would still find fault in it. Meadow groaned and tossed and turned on her side. Why did they have to be so...difficult. Nothing was ever good enough for them. Nothing.

The more she thought about it, the more upset she became. She was really starting to spiral when there was a sharp knock on her door that cut through her thoughts and brought her back to reality.

She didn't bother to turn and see who it was. She already knew it was Millie. Even though she sided with Misty 99% of the time, every once in awhile she felt the need to play peace maker.

"Don't bother," Meadow said to her.

Millie ignored her request and went right over and sat on the edge of her bed.

"Hey," she said.

Meadow didn't move a muscle.

"Hey," she said again, this time giving Meadow a hearty shake.

Meadow rolled her eyes, but flipped over to face Millie. She knew Millie wouldn't give up no matter how much she resisted. Might as well get it over with.

"What?"

"I just really don't know what you were expecting," Millie said. "You made us think we had watched you get murdered for crying out loud. What were you thinking would happen? That we'd jump for joy? It really wasn't a well thought out plan."

"Is this supposed to make me feel better?"

"I'm not trying to make you feel better," Millie said. "You really scared us."

"I thought maybe you'd be impressed by how real it felt," Meadow said. "That's what you guys wanted right? To mess with people's minds?"

"You don't do that to your sisters," Millie said. "We might be hard on you, but we never practice magic against you. Using magic against fellow witches is a code violation. If we were anyone else, you'd be reported to The Assembly and we'd be in serious trouble. They already have it out for us. They'd take any excuse to put us on ice like they did mom and dad. Do you understand?"

"Whatever," Meadow sighed as she threw herself back on her bed.

Angered by her attitude, Millie grabbed her sister's arm. Her grip was strong and her nails dug into Meadow's skin.

"I'm serious," Millie said. "Don't do that again."

"Okay," Meadow said, shaking off her sister.

Millie sighed. Meadow had always been defiant but it was getting to be a problem. She was almost 16 and nearly impossible to keep under control. She became bolder and more confident with every year that passed. Millie just prayed she wouldn't turn into their brother, but it was getting harder and harder to deny the similarities.

With nothing else that could be done in that moment, Millie stood up and walked out the door, closing it gently behind her.