A Little Touch of Magic | The Callers #1

Chapter Nine

At the end of my second week in Ravencroft Manor, I knew the layout no more than I knew Mr Ravencroft himself. The entire house was a mystery to me, still, and I was less sure I wanted to discover its secrets as the days went on. After overhearing Mr Ravencroft and Peter talking about me, I had stayed as far away from them as I possibly could without making them suspicious. I studied the books in the library, explored the rooms and the garden, ate politely when they called for dinner and always excused myself before leaving. I made small improvements to keep them happy but still kept my distance.

I wasn't ready to find out exactly why I had been adopted and brought to the Manor.

That was a revelation that would wait for another day.

For the moment, I tried to get my faerie friends to talk to me as much as possible - which proved incredibly difficult - and kept myself occupied.

Then Mr Ravencroft found me one afternoon while I was drawing in the dust on the floor of an old bedroom with white sheets covering the furniture.

'I see you found my Maria's room,' he said from the doorway.

I jumped and stood up quickly, feeling like I'd been caught doing something naughty. He chuckled and waved a hand absentmindedly.

'No need to fear, my girl,' he said. 'This home is yours as much as mine now.'

I nodded but shuffled my feet anyway. 'Who was Maria?'

'Ah, Maria,' he said, lost in a dream. 'She was the love of my life. A beautiful woman with a bright soul and a spark that could never be dimmed. We were married for forty years and lived quite happily during that time here at the Manor.'

He pulled the sheet off a chair and motioned for me to sit. I did so, my curiosity piqued over this woman who he had loved.

'We had a family, settled down, tried to hide away from the world so we could live in peace,' Mr Ravencroft continued, 'but things don't always go the way we plan them.'

He fell into silence and I waited for him to say more. He just shook his head and looked around the room again.

'It's been a long time since anyone has been in this room, but I'm glad you found it,' he finally said. 'What were you drawing?'

He moved to look at the drawing and I rushed to cover it. 'It's nothing, just a doodle,' I said in a rush.

I didn't want him to see the drawing. It was of my faerie friends and I was scared of what he might say to me. He knew something about them. He knew something and I didn't want to find out what.

In all the time that I had known my friends, no one else had known about them. They were my secret to keep and protect and having this man around made me feel on edge, wary that he was going to hurt them in some way.

Mr Ravencroft gave me a searching look, watching my face carefully before he sighed and sank into the chair I had vacated. 'I think it's time I pushed up our talk,' he said. 'Illaina, my dear, there are some things that you should know.'

'Like what?' I said, rubbing my foot across the floor to destroy the drawing I had made.

'Well, let's start with your gifts, shall we?'

'My gifts?'

'Yes, particularly the one where you can summon faeries to you at will.'

I stared at him, willing myself to stay in the room and not run as far away as possible and hide in a small nook somewhere within the giant mansion - somewhere he would never find me - because I couldn't have this conversation. Talking about the faeries with someone who was not them was wrong. It felt wrong.

'I won't do it,' I said, crossing my arms.

He smiled at me and leaned back in the chair. 'Won't do what?'

'I won't talk about them. Or anything.'

'Well, in mentioning them you've already confirmed what I suspected, which is that they do exist.'

I stared at him, horrified at my mistake. I took a step away from him then; I didn't care anymore, I needed to get as far away from him as possible.

'Illaina, my dear, let me ease your mind,' Mr Ravencroft said when I'd taken another step.

I paused and watched him. He closed his eyes and muttered something under his breath. I recognised the tone of the chant, the rhythm of it; it was the same one I used to summon my friends to me. I stopped moving away from him and watched with more interest - could he also summon faeries?

I waited for the little balls of light to fill the room, to dance and sway and bounce around, but they didn't. The room remained as it was, just myself and Mr Ravencroft.

Finally, he opened his eyes and looked at me again. 'Your powers are extraordinary ones, I've never seen the like before, but they're not unique.'

He waved to the window and I walked over to see what he was pointing at. On the other side of the glass was more kinds of birds than I'd ever seen. Large and small, brown and white, still and flitting around. I gasped and took a few steps back as they started to peck at the glass, almost like they wanted to get inside.

'My little friends are the birds, always have been,' Mr Ravencroft said. 'Yours is of a different breed, but much the same. Creatures with wings.'

'I don't understand,' I said, turning back to face him.

'My dear, Illaina,' Mr Ravencroft said, 'have you never wondered why you were different from the other children? Why they didn't talk about faeries or magic in the way that you probably did before you decided to hide them away? You are of a special breed and it's one to be celebrated.'

He paused, rubbing his hands over the top of his cane, thinking on his next words.

'But there is also great danger in being able to summon creatures to you. There are those that work against us,' he said, fixing his gaze firmly on me, 'and right now, they want you.'

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Hello! Thank you for reading this chapter of A Little Touch of Magic. I plan to update this story every Thursday so be sure to add it to your Reading List so you don't forget to check for updates! If you've enjoyed reading this story, please do take a moment to vote and comment and I'll make sure to respond to any comments received.

Thank you so much again for reading. I hope you have a lovely day :)

-Heather