The Other Side: A Second Chance

I shuddered heavily as the pleasure of the spell radiated through my body, sending wave after wave of jitters over me. I felt as if I had just downed an entire liter of espresso. I was shaking so much that I felt like I would kick my boots off. So much so that I let out a pleased sigh as I finally shook the last quivers out of me and took a couple of deep breaths.

I looked to my mother, who was still looking at the tent hanging off the Scycora tree, in shock. In the distance, I heard shouting and breaking sticks, and I jolted and looked to see Father, Isa, and Varis running back into the camp, rifle in hand.

"What's happening?!" Father shouted as he dead-sprinted towards us.

Isa darted past Father, her body hunched forward like a predator pursuing prey, just before reaching us; however, she twisted her feet, planted her heels into the dirt, and skidded to a stop a few feet before us.

"What happened here? Why was there an explosion?" She asked just as Father reached us, panting and looking at the mess. Realizing nothing was actually wrong, he took a deep breath and shook his head.

Varis ran up behind him, his worried face changing to one of shock when he saw the tent hanging off the tree. "Whoa! Did you do that, Luna?" He asked.

My father pinched the bridge of his nose. "Cailynn, what were you teaching her?" He asked as he gestured to the tent with an open palm.

Mother spun around and threw her hands up. "Nothing like this!" She threw both her hands towards the tent as if presenting it. "I am teaching her a simple mote spell, nothing crazy. It was only supposed to put out the fire!"

Shit, that felt so cool. I sighed and shook my head. But maybe I overdid it? Was it the pleasurable feeling? Did that distract me too much?

I looked up at my bickering parents and tugged on the hem of my mother's polo. My mother held her breath and glanced down at me.

"Did I do bad?" I asked her, and everyone around me softened and cooed.

Mother shook her head and knelt down. "No, sweetie, you actually did… too good." She sighed.

Isa stepped past us and walked towards the hanging tent, her eyes squinting as she examined it. "If this was a mote, I am curious to see how well she performs whispers." Isa turned back to us, her left hand on her hip.

Mother stood back up, her hands now on my shoulders. She looked to Isa. "I'm sure she can perform them wonderfully." She smiled and looked down at me. "We just need to teach you how to control the strength." She giggled softly.

"My coffee canteen was in that tent…" Father moped and sighed as he shrugged his shoulders.

"It's probably still in there!" Varis said. "I can climb up and go get it!"

"No need for that," Isa said with a wave of her hand as she began to walk towards the tent.

"I can try bringing it down." Mother offered as Isa leapt off the ground, which seemed like six feet, and latched onto a hanging branch before effortlessly yanking herself up it. My eyes widened as the serelli scaled up each branch with the ease of a gymnast until reaching the large branch that held the tent.

Rather than yanking the canvas off the branch, Isa pulled out from her robes what looked to be a large knife similar to that of a bowie and began to hack at the branch. After about half a minute of this, I squeaked as the branch buckled and snapped before dropping itself and the tent to the ground with a heavy thud!

Father winced and sighed. "The canteen is probably smashed now…" he sighed.

"Why didn't you say anything then?" Mother hissed.

"It's not every day you get to see a pretty Serelli leap around like—" My mother gasped and bopped him over the head.

"You disgust me sometimes!" She growled and glared daggers at him. "Next time, I'll have Luna blast you into that tree if you joke like that again!"

Father yelped and laughed as he clutched the spot on his head and said, "I was kidding, I was kidding!" he blushed. "You look adorable when you're mad."

"Okay, this is getting weird!" I butted in, causing Mother's anger to break, and she giggled.

"Yes, yes, it is!" She agreed and rubbed the top of my head as Varis ran over to help Isa pull the tent off the branch.

After some time had passed, the tent itself was unfortunately unsalvageable, at least not out here in the field. Massive tears and gouges from being thrown into the tree by yours truly had severely, in layman's terms, fucked it up.

Father was confident he could repair it, but he'll need his tools and left-over canvas at home. Though there was another unfortunate casualty of war, the beans were unfortunately scattered.

The force of my projection caused the lid in the canister to fly off, and the powdered dust that was the bean of God has been forsaken. My father was truly broken when he lifted the flap and saw the loss. He was upset, and I was too. Though I didn't show it, I was crying with him on the inside.

If only I'd known, I wouldn't have blown so hard!

There were only a small handful of days left in our trip, and without the liquid caffeine boost, my father was adamant that we'd perish. Not to mention, he, Mother, and Isa would have to share a tent. Though it was not verbally spoken, I could see on all three of their faces that none of them were looking forward to it.

While the adult children cried about their lost coffee and having to share cuddle time with a third party, I went off with Varis, who was excited to tell me about the hunting trip.

"So, like, Father gave me his gun, right? The big rifle!" Varis said as he and I went over to the edge of the tree line, at which point I chose to go no further.

I'd learned my lesson going out there.

"Yeah?" I nodded and motioned for him to continue.

"He calls it his 'baby' a lot and that it's a 'K-12 Lambert', whatever that means!" Varis climbed onto a fallen log and began to balance on it as he walked.

K-12 Lambert, like kindergarten to 12th grade? Funny way of remembering it, I guess.

"It's super fun to shoot, Luna! It's much stronger than Father's cycler!" Varis said as he mocked holding the revolver in both hands.

"I bet! I remember Papa shooting at the wolves last night," I mumbled as I rubbed my arms. A cool wind began to pick up as the afternoon sun began to dip into the evening.

Varis stopped balancing on the log and turned to face me, his face twisting slightly in an expression I couldn't quite make out before he composed himself.

"Why did you walk out there?" He asked, his tone shifting to that of a surprisingly mature one.

I said nothing for a moment and shrugged. "I don't know; I actually don't."

Even now, just thinking about it, I can't recall what it is. I just felt this compulsion to go.

I looked up at Varis, and I could tell by his expression that he wasn't convinced. I bit my lower lip and shrugged again. "I don't know what you want me to say, Varis; I told you everything."

Varis clenched his fist and sighed.

Oh no, I can see it. His childish rage.

"It's not fair!" He huffed, hopped off the log, and sat on it.

I recoiled a bit. "Excuse me?"

He threw an arm up in the air in my direction. "You're like a hero in those books Momma reads us!" He frowned. "You had a crazy vision and then fought monsters, and now you have cool magic powers! It's not fair!"

One after the other, his words felt like fists to my face, and I stepped back and shook my head in disbelief.

What the fuck is he saying? Does he think I like this? Or enjoy this? The magic sure, I like that, but the nightmare, almost… I stopped myself, brought a hand up to my face, and took a deep breath. He's just a boy. I told myself. A dumb little kid who doesn't know better.

I calmed myself before having an outburst. Honestly, I can relate to this. I thought.

Growing up in my old life. I was a sheltered kid; I hardly went outside, and my family was constantly moving. Eighteen times in one year, we moved across the tristate area. I was around seven years old. I hadn't learned how to keep a stable friendship; I couldn't.

Yet my older brothers, both of whom were about six or ten years older than me, were used to this and could pick up friends or girlfriends at the snap of a finger. Yet the friends they chose weren't always the best. Almost every night, I'd hear stories from them about how they and the boys got caught up in a crazy police chase while they rode their bikes through the backwoods and aisles. Or how they'd encounter one of the local high school gangs and get into an intense brawl, or how they'd try a fancy drug.

Yet here I was, at home. Playing a video game or listening to my mother watch her gospel TV. I was either too young to go outside, or the places we moved to had no one my age. Besides, I barely knew how to interact with kids, and because of this, I began to become jealous.

Why were my brothers always the ones to get into crazy, dangerous situations? I'd see my brothers come home riddled with bruises and injuries, like the time my middle brother got bashed with a rock and taken to the ER. Part of me was jealous. They always had these crazy, cool stories, and Mom and Dad always paid attention to the crazy stuff they did.

Maybe that's it.

Being the youngest, my mother always told me not to be like them. My father always threatened the belt if he caught me doing stuff they did. They always hovered around me. Yet when my brothers began to act up, they went away. Started focusing on them.

I bit my lower lip and looked at Varis, who was sulking. "I'm sorry," I said softly.

Varis blinked and looked at me as I sniffled and wiped my eyes. "I never asked for this," I said as tears began to well up. "I'm sorry, I'm not trying to take them away." I took a deep breath, but I couldn't help but feel the emotions in me running wild.

Fuck these child-like feelings! I whimpered.

Varis looked at me, his green and blue eyes widening as a sudden look of guilt washed over him. "I-I… No, Luna, I'm sorry." He got up and walked over to me. "I just felt grumpy."

I shook my head and hiccupped softly as I wiped my eyes. "No… I shouldn't have left yesterday. I-I was feeling selfish."

He draped his arm around me and pulled me into a hug. "You're not a fish," Varis said, and I couldn't help but hiccup and laugh.

I can't tell if he's being dumb or trying to make me laugh.

I sniffed and took a deep breath. "You're cool." I said softly into his chest.

I felt Varis shift and look down at me. "Nah, I'm not… You're smart and can do magic now, and you fought a monster!"

"Fighting monsters doesn't make you cool." I smacked his chest, and he snorted.

"Not true!" He lightly grabbed my hand, which just hit him. "You said I was to be the strong one for you, yet… I think you might be stronger than me."

"Not true." I spoke. "You're better with Papa's guns, and you're taller than me and much stronger."

Varis huffed and smiled, and he puffed his chest out and said, "Well, I am all of those things." He smirked; he definitely has Mom and Dad's ego.

"But what I mean is that you're like… brave!" Varis said as he let go of me.

I snorted and shook my head. "I-I'm not brave!"

"Shut up, I'm saying nice stuff to you," Varis said, and I recoiled back as if I were being sucker punched. "That was mean of me before to say what I said. Yet part of it was true. Sister, you are very brave. I agree with Father that it was silly of you to go out alone, but despite being in danger, you didn't give up."

In a rare moment of self-reflection, my brother took a deep breath, looked over at our parents, and said, "If I were in your shoes… I don't think I would've made it. I get very scared a lot." He looked at me, his ears flopping to the side of his head.

What's he talking about? Varis is always a bundle of energy and a goofball.

"Ever since Momma and Papa said you'd be going away, I've been scared. I was afraid when last night we heard screaming and the wolves. I knew you were in trouble, but I froze up." He sniffed. "I know Soza wouldn't let me go, but she didn't have to try. I just tensed up, and I couldn't move. And I was scared; I was jealous because if it was me out there, I know you wouldn't hesitate."

I stepped back and wrapped my arms around him. "Shush, you're going to make me cry!" I spoke. "And it's okay; it was scary. I wouldn't want you to be out there."

Varis took a deep breath and calmed himself. "I-I know."

"Tell me about the hunting trip," I said, trying to change the topic as the two of us regained ourselves.

We both stepped apart and sat down on the log, and Varis looked forward and wiped his eyes. He looked immensely embarrassed now.

"I-It was nothing…" He said it softly. "We didn't get that far; Father wanted to hunt some jabbers." Little rabbit-like creatures. "But we didn't find anything. And that big boom you made, father said, most likely scared everything off."

It was my turn to have my ears flatten, and I sighed, "I'm sorry. I have no idea why the spell came out the way it did."

Varis shrugged. "It's okay. What was it like?" He looked at me, and we shared eye contact before a silly thought came to me.

"Wanna try it?" I asked him.

My brother stared at me with a blank look. I could feel the gears in his head turning before suddenly his eyes lit up. "Heck yeah!" He beamed, his childish excitement returning.

I smiled and motioned for him to scoot closer. "Okay, I'm not going to demonstrate, just in case I blow a big hole in the ground but listen closely."

My brother nodded as I began to give him the crash course variant of what my mother told me.

"So, like, there's a magic well inside me full of this ether stuff, and I just need to say some funny words to get it out?" He clarified.

I shrugged and said, "Close enough. Don't forget the hand signs too."

Varis nodded as I showed him the "OK" hand gesture and explained how he needed to blow through it.

He nodded, and the two of us stood up off the log, I glanced around and pointed to a low, hanging branch. "Let's see if we can push that," I said as my brother nodded.

Turning to face the branch, Varis raised his hand to his lips in a gesture and closed his eyes.

"Remember to take deep breaths; don't think about anything except what you want. You'll feel all fuzzy and weird down below, and the warmth will spread throughout. But don't pay attention to it and try to focus." I explained.

Varis nodded, and after a few deep breaths, he began to utter the words. "Breathe the breath of Okren, Tempest's sovereign might, whispering through leaves and roaring through heights. By his grace, let the winds respond to my call—Gust!"

Varis blew into his hand, and my eyes widened as a surge of wind flew forth from the opening in his fingers and battered the branch above. It groaned and swung violently as it thrashed about, and as quickly as it started, it relaxed as the wind dissipated.

A moment of silence fell over us as Varis shivered and trembled. I could see goosebumps running along his arm, and his face was faintly pale, though his eyes were wide with shock. I stared with awe as I processed what had just happened.

He did it; the goof actually pulled it off. Not as strong as what I did earlier, but still more intense than what my mother demonstrated!

I shook my head, brought myself back to reality, and shouted, "You did it!"

"I-I did!" Varis yelled as he threw his arms up. "I actually did it!"

I ran over and hugged him before immediately regretting it as he crushed my spine with his arms and lifted me off the ground.

"Gyak! Vaaaris!" I squealed.

"What's going on over there?" Our father called out as he began to walk towards us. "What did I say about wrestling your sister, boy?"

Varis let go of me and said, "We're not wrestling!"

"We aren't!" I backed him up. "I was teaching him magic!"

Father stopped. "Excuse me?"

"Yeah!" Varis pumped his fist and pointed to the tree branch. "Luna showed me how to do what she did!"

Father looked at us for a few moments, his face a bit stern, and I couldn't help but feel a sinking sense of dread. Was I not supposed to do this?

Yet he didn't say anything; he turned around and shouted, "Cailynn, Isa, can you come here for a second?"

Mother and Isa, who were folding up the tent, nodded and stood. After dusting themselves off, they walked over to us, and Father turned to me.

"Tell them what you told me."

I suddenly felt on the spot, and I began to quiver a little.

"You're not in trouble." Father assured me and smiled.

Thanks, asshole; you should've said that out the gate!

I gulped and nodded. "I taught Varis the spell you just taught me," I said, looking at Mother's widened eyes.

Varis nodded. "Yeah! She explained it so easily. See, I'll do it again!" He turned and gestured toward the branch.

Taking a breath, he began to recite the words and shouted, "Gust!" Once more, a torrent of air shot forth and battered the branch!

Mother gasped and smiled widely as Father nodded approvingly, yet as quickly as the amazement came, it was replaced by shock as Varis shuddered and stumbled back a bit.

Being right beside him, I reached out with my little arms and caught him just in time. "Whoa…" Varis grumbled and grasped the side of his head. "I-I feel funny."

I blinked and said, "Is everything okay?" I looked up at my mother, who sighed.

"Spell fatigue," Mother said as she stepped on over and helped me prop him up. "Nothing to be worried about."

"That's good," Varis mumbled, shaking his head.

Mother nodded. "Yep, it happens when novices cast too many spells too quickly. Even if you have deep wells, you're tapping into the magic for the first time. Like a muscle, it needs to be trained."

"Oh, thank God," I said out loud and took a deep breath. "I thought I did something bad."

"Oh, you did," Father said, crossing his arms, and his stern face returned. I gulped. He wagged his finger at me. "Magic practice is prohibited unless your mother is around. Do you hear me?"

"Wh-why?" I whined, and Varis whimpered too.

"Sweetie, what if you blew our house down?" Mother asked me.

Smugly, I puffed my chest. "We build a new one!"

My father rolled his eyes. "No jokes. We're serious, Luna. Your mother is trained in well… training people." He shrugged. "It's for your brother's and yours safety. Do you understand?"

I sighed and deflated. "Okay…" He stepped over and placed his hand on my head.

"You're doing great, kid." He smiled down at me before looking at everyone else. "We have a handful of days left here. Soza showed me on the map that there's a river near here; why don't we all go there and fish?'

My mother's head turned to Father, and she nodded. "Oh, that'll be perfect for some water magic training." Mother said, and both I and a tired Varis perked up.

"Oh, that sounds nice!" I beamed fishing by a mountain river with some magic lessons.

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