Without further ado, I focused my Telekinetic lasso on the lemonade glass I’d yet to pick up from the table and gently lifted it in the air. I moved it around the room as a perplexed family of three watched it glide with no one touching it, then I settled it back on the coffee table.
“I’m losing my mind, aren’t I?” Susan breathed. “Larry, did you put something in the lemonade?”
“Mom, no. She’s like me,” Micah interjected, then got down from her lap and came closer, looking up at me. “You’re like me.”
I nodded. “I am, Micah, and, unlike you, I never had anyone come tell me what I am or what I can do,” I replied, then gave Susan a warm smile. “Trust me, Mrs. Cranston. Micah is rare and precious, and if the government or any of the regular humans find out what he is, he’ll be in a lot of trouble. I suppose you know that, since you’ve been keeping his ability a secret, moving him from one school to another.”
Susan took a minute to answer. This was a strangely reassuring experience for both her and Larry. They were worried, still, but there was some kind of comfort found in knowing that their son wasn’t the only one. Had they not seen what he could do with their own eyes, they probably couldn’t have processed this situation without falling into hysteria.
“What’s a magical?” Micah asked.
“A witch—or a warlock, if it’s a boy. A magical has abilities that humans have only written about in fantasy books. That could be anything from manipulating the natural elements to incredible strength or the ability to talk to the dead, among other things. They’re also able to cast spells. Actual spells,” I said to him. “But you’re one of the good guys, trust me.”
He sighed, as if a great weight had been removed from his shoulders. Anguish quickly followed it. “Is that why I’m an orphan?”
“You’re not an orphan anymore, Micah. You’ve got Mr. and Mrs. Cranston now. You have parents, buddy,” Santana chimed in, following my lead.
Wade and Raffe were both baffled, watching the exchange with wide eyes.
“Yeah, but my real parents… are they magical, too?” Micah replied.
“Most likely, yes. At least one of them is. Magicals are never made, they’re always born. And there has to be a magical in the family for that to happen. Witch or warlock, or both,” I explained, then looked at Susan again. She was the matriarch of the family; I could tell from the way in which Larry quietly sought her gaze for comfort and approval before he spoke. “Mrs. Cranston, there are others like Micah, like us. We’re all part of the San Diego Coven. We stick together. We scour the city for young witches and warlocks who might’ve slipped through the cracks. Magicals like me and Micah. I was a foster kid, too. But I only recently found the coven, and it has changed my life.”
“So, what, you can teach him to control his powers?” Susan asked, genuinely curious.
“That and so much more. The coven trains and educates its magicals, as part of its pledge to protect and give them a purpose. We have safe facilities, with comfortable living spaces. They feed us, they teach us, they find us jobs and help us develop ourselves and our careers, no matter what we choose to do with our lives. They’ve helped me so much already, which is why I’m here talking to you,” I said.
“What’s the catch?” Larry cut in, eyeing us suspiciously. “There’s always a catch.”
“There is, Mr. and Mrs. Cranston,” Wade interrupted, standing up. “Micah needs to come with us for his own safety.”
“What? No!” Susan said.
“No way in hell!” Larry added.
“Maybe there’s another way,” I murmured, giving him a pleading look.
“What other way, Harley? Micah is in danger on his own, living among the humans like this! He can’t control his powers now, and it’ll be a while till he can,” Wade retorted. “Until then, do you really expect him to go to school and whatever? Seriously?”
“You’re not taking my son away from me!” Susan snapped, her lip quivering.
Micah was getting anxious, to the point where the glasses and pitcher started shaking on the table. This wasn’t an earthquake. This was little Micah losing control over his Telekinesis.
Dammit. I should’ve seen this coming.
“I don’t want to leave my mommy and daddy,” Micah moaned, his eyes filled with heartbreaking tears.
Wade’s rings lit up blue as he shook his head in disappointment. He was about to do something cruel and extreme because of the coven’s stupid regulations, but I wasn’t ready to give up just yet.
“Hold on!” I said, slipping between Micah and Wade. “Wade, listen to me! There has to be another way.”
Raffe sighed. “We have to keep the boy safe, and you know why.”
“What if he stays with his parents here but they transfer him to the coven’s school, huh?” I offered, mentally congratulating myself for this last-minute spark. “They’ll bring him to the coven every morning and pick him up once they finish work. That way, they spend evenings and weekends together, and Micah is monitored and educated properly, as per magical standards. You save up on your memory-deleting spells, and there will be one kid who won’t hate you with the fire of a thousand suns for tearing him away from his family!”
Silence settled over the living room. The glasses and pitcher stilled.
Susan, Larry, and Micah stared at us, then at each other for a while.
Wade was livid, and that annoyed the hell out of me. But I was getting different vibes from Raffe and Santana.
Raffe took a deep breath and crossed his arms. “You know, that doesn’t sound too crazy,” he whispered.
“Have you lost your mind, too?” Wade retorted, then raised an eyebrow at Larry. “You did put something in the lemonade, didn’t you?”
Raffe chuckled nervously, looking at Larry, who was utterly baffled. “He’s kidding. He’s just kidding.”
“He doesn’t look like he’s kidding,” Larry replied.
“Yeah, well, Wade doesn’t do basic social cues,” I cut in.
“Wade, Harley is on to something here,” Santana intervened, thankfully in my favor. “Micah doesn’t have to be in the coven 24/7 at this point. I could easily set something up here to alert us if anything goes wrong.”
“What could go wrong?” Susan asked.
“Like we said, Micah is young and not in full control of his powers,” I replied, just as Wade opened his mouth to reply. I gave him a wink. “Come on, dude. Work with me. Don’t be a jerk. Kids need to be with their families.”
“The coven is their family,” Wade answered.
“Screw you, Crowley!” I blurted. “It’s easy for you to say that. You grew up with parents! Kids like Micah and me aren’t always that lucky!”
The minute that followed was the quietest and most intense in my life. Technically speaking, I’d just screwed the pooch on coven regulations. The worst-case scenario saw Wade not giving a damn about my plea and wiping the Cranstons’ memories, then picking Micah up and hauling him back to the coven.
I didn’t want to bring Katherine Shipton’s name into the conversation. There was a less rational part of me that desperately wanted Micah to be happy and stay with his family. We could watch over them. Plus, we didn’t really know for sure that she was involved in any of this—not 100 percent yet, anyway. Stirring any kind of panic based on our hunches would’ve been unproductive, to say the least.
If we got any later confirmation that Katherine had her skeevy fingers dipped in this pie, I’d be the first one to show up here again and take Micah away. But, until then, the kid had every right to enjoy his family. At least for a little while longer.
Wade’s shoulders dropped in what felt like defeat.
“Santana, can you have eyes on the boy at all times?” he asked her. It took a surprising amount of effort to stop myself from jumping around with sheer, unadulterated joy. At the same time, I felt guilty. I’d just screwed up his entire operation—I had a history in this field.
“Yeah, I can fuse one of the Orishas to Micah’s energy signature,” Santana replied. “I’ll set some traps for potential magical intruders. It’ll at least keep them busy till the Cranstons get out or until coven security gets here.”
Wade exhaled as he looked at the Cranstons. “For the time being, Micah can stay with you,” he conceded, prompting the little boy to cheer and run into his mother’s arms. Susan picked him up, showering him with kisses. “But should there come a time that we require Micah to move into the coven, even if just temporarily, you both need to be okay with that. If that happens, it will be only for his personal safety. Believe it or not, we’re not too crazy about separating children from their families.”
Susan nodded enthusiastically. “Thank you!” she said, her eyes sparkling with relief.
“He will need to be at the Fleet Science Center, every day, from eight a.m. until six p.m.,” Wade continued, his tone flat and firm. “Under no circumstances will you attempt to flee. We will know, and we will find you. Is that clear?”
This time, all three Cranstons nodded vehemently, making me smile.
“We’ll be careful,” Larry said.
“Needless to say, you will keep the existence of magicals a secret,” Wade replied. “It’s bad enough I’ve got a nightmare of explaining over Micah to do now. The last thing we want is human attention.”
“We will have eyes and ears on you, wherever you go,” Raffe said, adding his share of grave warnings. I’d softened the Cranstons up too much and too fast. He and Wade were both trying to make up for that. “We will know if you tell anyone. Should you break this arrangement in any way, you will never see Micah again.”
“Jeez, dude,” I grumbled. They weren’t going to have eyes and ears on them wherever they went; that was just tough talk meant to intimidate. The magical alarms in the house were enough.