Leesa, Rave and Bradley pushed themselves away from the table and headed for the door. Bradley grabbed a lightweight black sweatshirt from the clothes pole beside the door. Leesa took hers—a light blue zippered hoodie—as well, for appearances sake. Wearing nothing but a short-sleeved shirt on a cool day like this could attract attention.They stepped outside, and Bradley pulled the door closed behind them.Their mom was right; it was definitely a beautiful morning. The air was cool and crisp, with just a hint of a breeze out of the north, and the sun shone brightly in a blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds. The autumn foliage had not quite reached its peak yet, but there were plenty of bright colors adorning the neighborhood’s trees.Bradley got directly to the matter at hand.“Tell me, Sis,” he said as they headed down the walk with Leesa in the middle of her two favorite guys, “you didn’t know any of this before I went away, did you?”Leesa shook her head. “Of course not. None of
Rave lay stretched out beside Leesa on their sleeping mat, doing one of his favorite things—watching her sleep. His volkaane eyes easily pierced the darkness of their bedroom, allowing him to make out every detail of the face he loved looking at above all others. Caressing her with his eyes was almost as much fun as caressing her with his hands.She slept peacefully on her back, her lovely features soft and relaxed, her breathing slow and even. Her long blond hair fanned out across the pillow, framing her face in a soft, golden aura. Rave could watch her like this for hours, which he did almost every night. Some nights her sleep seemed troubled, and he wondered what dreams or thoughts might have invaded her sleep. If she didn’t mention a dream in the morning, however, he never asked—better that anything upsetting stay buried in her subconscious.Tonight was not one of those troubled nights. Leesa had fallen asleep quickly after a round of gentle lovemaking, and her features and breath
Two weeks later, it happened again.Leesa’s book had not shown her anything about the spiral energy pattern, despite many attempts by her to learn something. The magical tome usually seemed able to read her mind—no matter where Leesa opened the book when she was looking for a specific spell, the spell she sought would be there. Sometimes, when she wasn’t looking for anything specific, the book would present her with a new spell it either thought Leesa was ready for or that she needed.Now and then, though, the pages she opened to would be blank. Dominic had explained that empty pages could mean one of two things: either the spell did not exist, or the book did not think Leesa was ready yet for that particular magic. Leesa had no idea which one applied when she opened her book to a pair of blank pages the morning after the glowing green energy had swirled upward from her belly. She had no doubt that the magic existed—both she and Rave had witnessed it—but it was possible her baby posse
Judy's face lit up when she opened the door to see Leesa and Rave standing there.“Sweetheart! What a nice surprise.” Her eyes narrowed worriedly. “Nothing’s wrong, is it?”Leesa shook her head and smiled. “Nothing’s wrong, Mom. Can’t a girl visit her mother without something being wrong?”“Of course, of course. Come in.” Judy and Leesa shared a loving hug in the doorway before Judy stepped to the side so Leesa and Rave could enter.“Bradley!” Judy called. “We’ve got company.” She turned back to Leesa. “Your brother is studying in his room. I know he’ll be happy to see you.”Bradley came hurrying out of his room and enveloped Leesa in a warm embrace. “Hey, Pumpkin. To what do we owe the pleasure?” He nodded a greeting to Rave over his sister’s shoulder.Bradley released Leesa and backed up a step so he could see her face.Leesa decided there was no point in putting things off. “I wanted to talk to Mom. I’m going to tell her about that thing you and I talked about a couple of weeks ago
The baby's magic leaked outside of Leesa’s body twice more in the next three weeks. Both times were different from the first two incidents, as well as from each other. The first occurred early in the morning, just after Leesa had woken up but before she had gotten out of bed. She and Rave were lying next to each other talking when concentric rings of the familiar light green energy began emanating from Leesa’s stomach. The circles expanded in diameter as they floated up into the dimness before fading away. They reminded Leesa a little bit of the smoke rings a guy back at school used to blow when he was showing off. Leesa and Rave both touched the rings, and just like before, felt nothing but a little warmth for Leesa and a slight coolness for Rave.The second occurrence happened when Leesa was out in the woods with Rave practicing magic. This time was different from the previous three in more than just the form of the energy—and it was much more disturbing,
“My mom, Bradley and Cali will understand if I explain it to them,” she said after a moment. “Balin, too, of course. But what about Aunt Janet and Uncle Roger? Or Stacie and Caitlyn? How am I going to explain why I can’t give them a hug or stand too close to them? I may as well become a hermit.”Rave wanted nothing more than to give Leesa a hug right then, but wasn’t sure it would be safe.Leesa recognized the troubled look on his face immediately. She was pretty sure she knew what he was thinking.“This sucks. You and I can finally do anything we want physically, and now we have to worry even about merely touching? This bites worse than when we couldn’t kiss because your fire might have fried me.”Rave moved behind Leesa and circled his arms around her, embracing her from behind. He was careful to keep his arms away from her stomach, settling them just above her breasts instead.“So far,
Rave lowered Leesa to the ground at the edge of the woods not too far from her mom’s apartment complex. Holding hands, they walked the rest of the way as the sun disappeared from sight beyond the western horizon.At the front door, Leesa knocked twice and then twisted the doorknob. It wasn’t locked, so she pushed the door open and stepped inside.“Company,” she called in a sing-song tone.Bradley poked his head out from his room. “Pumpkin!”He strode across the living room to embrace Leesa, but she held out her hand to stop him.“No hugging,” she said. “At least not for now. And don’t get too close.”Bradley looked perplexed as he took a step back. “Okaaaaay…. I’m sure you must have a good reason why your big brother can’t give you a hug.”Leesa nodded. “I do.”“Mom’s in the shower,” Bradley said. “Is she expecting you? She didn’t say anything about you guys coming by for dinner.”“No. We didn’t know we were coming until a little while ago. Rave’s going to be leaving, but I’m going to
Leesa and Rave moved into a small, one-bedroom cottage Leesa found that very first night she searched the computer. The place was perfect. Less than two miles from her mom’s apartment, the house had originally served as servants’ quarters on a wealthy estate back in the early 1900’s. The property had long since been subdivided, and the white wooden bungalow was isolated from the rest of the property by a tall hedge that would keep outside eyes from seeing any accidental displays of their baby’s magic.Even better, the cottage’s grassy back yard bordered on a large swath of woods, allowing Rave to carry Leesa wherever they were going almost from the moment they stepped out the back door. Two tall oak trees on either side of the yard provided shade.Despite the white wood exterior badly needing a fresh coat of paint, Leesa and Rave decided to take the place almost as soon as they saw it. Leesa gave the owner, an elderly widower with a spry step and a warm smile, six months rent in cash