Pure Magic (Ballad of the Seer, Book One)

Chapter 20 - The Truth About Jack

Lily spent the rest of the weekend pondering the words of the oracle. Duncan was finally convinced of her authenticity after hearing what Madame Zoya told Lily. "I knew about oracles, but I never expected to find one at a school carnival." he told her.

At school on Monday, Lily saw Sebastian standing next to with Veronica at her locker. There was no trace of the flirtatious smile that he always put on whenever she saw him. In fact, after locking eyes with her for a moment he quickly looked away, almost afraid. She wondered why. She hadn't been a real threat to him. The worst thing she'd done to him—that he knew about—was pull his hair. That was hardly enough to garner such a look of fear.

Lily turned away, about to head to her next class, and bumped into a solid wall that turned out to be Jack. He grabbed her arms before she could fall, barely fazed. So, maybe it wasn't her that Sebastian was afraid of after all. She wondered if Sebastian knew whatever secret Jack was keeping locked away somewhere not even she could get to.

For the most part, Jack was an average seventeen-year-old boy. But occasionally he would do something to spark her curiosity.

One day, she was standing in front of him in the lunch line and accidently knocked her bottle of water off of her tray. In the blink of an eye, Jack, who was studying the food, paying her no attention, was holding the bottle toward her. She didn't even see him grab it.

After that, she started paying very close attention to him, studying his behavior and his actions. Lily was glad of the distraction from her dread about the day "he" would arrive.

So, on the days when Duncan had work, she sat in the stands to watch Jack on the football field. He had always been a good player, but lately he was in a whole other league from the others. He ran the fastest, threw the farthest, and took hits better than anyone—he got tackled by Tyler Delgado and got up unscathed, while Tyler ended up with a dislocated shoulder. His skill was more than impressive, it was inhuman.

After a week of watching Jack, Lily had no more answers than she had when she began, only a lot more questions. Not knowing how he was doing this was driving her crazy. She wanted so desperately to figure out his secret. She would've asked him, but she was afraid he would start asking questions of his own. Like how she did the things that she did.

She finally decided to just drop it, as a matter of self-interest.

-

The streets were slick with the rain that had been falling for over an hour. Nothing was visible in the night beyond the downpour, and Dianna was taking the curves way too fast.

Lily had spent the evening with Dianna and Hilary, since Duncan had a shift at Express-O. Now, she sat in the passenger seat, on the way home. She stared out the window at the darkness, too tired to yell at her friend for being so reckless.

Lily's eyelids felt so heavy. She yawned several times. The only thing keeping her awake was Dianna singing along to the radio at the top of her lungs. She wasn't a bad singer—quite the opposite—just loud.

Lily closed her eyes for just a moment. When she opened them again she gasped as the headlights flashed across something lying the road. "Dianna look out." Lily yelled.

Dianna turned the wheel trying to avoid the large thing in the road. She slammed on the brakes. The car skidded across the wet pavement. Dianna pulled the emergency brake to stop them, but that backfired. Dianna screamed as the wheels locked up and the car flipped into the air.

Lily threw out both her hands and concentrated with all of her energy trying to hold the car in the air. Her hands trembled and her head ached from the effort. She gritted her teeth and grunted. She held it for as long as she could manage. There was a slight bouncing when the car dropped onto the tires, firmly in the ground. Both girls breathed a sigh of relief.