A Little Touch of Magic | The Callers #1

Chapter Fourteen

I sniggered at the serious look on his face. Despite everything that had just happened, and was still going on, I laughed.

'What?' he asked, looking around at the others. 'Why is she laughing?'

'Probably because the "Call Cave" is the dumbest name for this place that any of us has heard,' the woman said, though I could see a smile forming.

'Well I think it's cool,' New Guy mumbled.

'You would, Connor,' Peter said, giving his shoulder a playful shove. 'You came up with it.'

I smiled as we shuffled further into the room. The door clunked behind us and Connor locked it from within, re-setting the security. I gazed around the large room with renewed interest. The Call Cave was a silly name for it; making it sound like something out of an old fashioned superhero comic. The room we were in was high-tech. There was an entire wall lined with computers and screens that flickered to life and showed video feeds from all over the mansion. On the other side of the room stood lockers, each with a name embossed into it. I spotted Connor and Peter's names on the first two, Helen and Martin were on the other two. A smaller locker, a slightly different shade of blue from the others, was propped at the end. It looked brand new and the name on it was Ilaina.

Connor watched me as I surveyed the rest of the room. A doorway led to a kitchen and there were two doors on the wall beside it; the pictures on it indicated they were toilets. There were even beds tucked away in one corner. It was well stocked with everything we would need to hide out while we figured out our next move.

'The secret bunker,' I said, sitting on one of the beds and bouncing to test it.

'Come again,' Connor asked, sitting on the bunk opposite me.

'It's better than what you came up with.' I grinned at him.

We turned as Mr Ravencroft groaned. Helen was working on his wounds but at least he was alive and making sounds, disgruntled as they were.

'Is he Martin?' I asked, glancing over to the lockers.

My smile slipped from my face at the dark look on Connor's.

'No,' he said, 'and it's best you don't bring him up.'

'But why is there a locker there for him? Who is he?' I pressed.

'It's not the time, Ilaina.'

I frowned but didn't say anything else. Years in the Home had taught me when it was best to stay quiet and listen. Helen was trying to soothe Mr Ravencroft as he grunted and grumbled, trying to sit up and push her away.

'We don't have time for this,' he muttered.

'Oh no, just go ahead and do your thing,' Helen retorted. 'I'll just let you bleed out and die.'

She crossed her arms and tapped her foot; I could tell she was hoping Mr Ravencroft would sigh and lie back down. He didn't though. He wandered over to the computers and started typing on a keyboard and clicking things on the screen as they popped up.

'This is a secure room but if they find us too easily, we'll be surrounded and never be able to leave,' Mr Ravencroft said. 'I need to attack them and drive them out so it's safe for us to leave.'

While the others argued and shouted over what the best decision was, I headed over to the lockers and tried the handle on the one with my name. It was open, and inside was treasure of the best kind.

New books, new clothes, a small bow and quiver of arrows, and there was even a locket hanging from the roof of the locker. It was a beautiful, silver half-moon with tiny blue gems inside it. I reached out and grazed it with my finger. As my skin touched the cool metal, a pulse shot through my body and a wave of energy shot out of the pendant and flew off in all directions. I turned to see if the others had noticed and they were all staring at me.

Even Mr Ravencroft had stopped his frantic typing.

'What did you just do?' Helen said, horror on her face.

***

I was locked in the bathroom. Apparently having children in the room doesn't let the adults talk openly. I sat in one of the stalls, my foot tapping against the door and creating a loud clunking noise. I'll admit that pouting was perhaps not the most mature thing to do but I was annoyed and the only way I could vent was pouting and foot tapping.

The more I tapped, the louder I got, and the louder the shouts on the other side of the door got, too. I knew I was getting to them, so I kept going. If they thought they could drag me into their world and away from my comfortable life at the Home and then exclude me from whatever important thing had just happened, they were wrong.

I started thumping louder, bouncing my foot along to a song Miss Haver used to sing to the little ones at night. It was soothing against the brewing storm on the other side of the door.

'If she doesn't stop that thumping, I'm going to rip her leg off!'

I jumped at Peter's raised tones. I paused, just long enough for them to think that I'd stopped.

Then I started again.

It only took a second for Peter to burst through the door.

'Ilaina! Please, stop,' he shouted.

'Are you ready to tell me what's going on?' I demanded, foot poised to bang again.

It was amusing, watching the emotions flit across his face. He settled for a warning glare as I moved my foot further away from the door, threatening to swing it.

'Tell me what's going on, or I will keep doing this until you all have headaches,' I warned.

I challenged Peter with a glare of my own and we were locked in a standoff. A shuddering cough made Peter turn and back away, revealing Mr Ravencroft standing in the open doorway.

'Oh, Ilaina, my dear,' he said, his voice raspy. 'You are your mother's child.'

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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