Chapter 20
Moving Boxes
Cadarn watched them go, and Haylwen's questions faded as the office door closed behind them. He looked at his mother, and was about to say something, but stopped. She seemed confused, maybe angry, and was looking off into the distance. She suddenly turned to look at him and shook her head. “I can't do that to my baby,” she said, softly.
Cadarn never like being called “baby.” He knew she meant it as endearing, and it usually came after a comment about how cute he was when he was little, but he never liked it. “Why not? That was pretty cool, what Haylwen did.”
His mother's eyes suddenly flared into anger. “And was it cool what someone almost did through the computer? You think our rules about not using the phone or using internet without telling us was for fun? If I hadn't been there, you might have been lost, or taken, or...!”
“Are you always going to be there?” he shot back. As soon as he said it, he knew it came out wrong, but was sure it needed to be out. The warm glow from Haylwen's whatever it was had lingered for a while, but was gone now. He could feel the fear of whatever almost happened was back, only held in check by his new self, his adult outlook. The look in his mother's eyes went from surprised and hurt to resigned in a blink.
“No,” she said softly, “I am not always going to be there.” She looked at him for moment. “You are becoming... well, you are a young man. If we hadn’t… you might have been...well, there's nothing to do about that now, is there.” She stood up and settled her hands on her hips. “All right then.”
She put on her lecture tone, and Cadarn tried not to tune out. After the first word, he didn’t have to try.
“Magic,” she started, “is real. It is not mysterious. It is the energy that exists in all things, everywhere. It has always existed and will always exist. It flows, and we can align with those flows. It can neither be created nor destroyed, but certain people can access it, can use it.”
Cadarn was unimpressed so far. Thermodynamics, he thought.
“A person who uses magic is obviously called a magic user, or a mu, em-you.”
Moo cow, Cadarn thought. He tried not to smile.
“Mus are able to tune themselves to specific frequencies of energy, align with the Flows, as they are sometimes called, allow themselves to become part of that energy.”
Cadarn tried to fast forward. “Like complimentary resonance?”
His mother seemed startled. “What? Yes, exactly!” She seemed overly happy, Cadarn thought. It was a pretty basic concept. She sobered quickly.
“You learned that pretty easily,” his mother whispered.
“Yes,” he said, trying to be patient. “So how do I do something? Can you show me Haylwen’s thing?”
Cadarn sat back and waited. His mother looked away and tapped her lips, as if trying to remember something. Or maybe just decide something.
“Ok,” she said, “I guess we are a little short on time, and can jump ahead. This is just a test anyway, I have no idea how your sister, or you, could do this.” She paused, noticed Cadarn’s look. She set her lips. “Close your eyes.”
After he did, she continued. “Remember a specific time when you felt happy. Relive that moment, really feel how it was.”
Cadarn squeezed his eyes shut. Solbright's smile tempted him, but he shoved that down. Then came the image of what he thought of as The Test. It was not so long ago, Physics class, Mr. Graflo was the teacher. Everyone talked about how hard Mr. Graflo's tests were. Cadarn took it as a personal challenge. The first test he had studied like never before, and after he finished it he felt he had done well, though everyone else had complained about failing. When the tests were passed out the next day, he was one of the last to get his. He watched the others look at their score, and no one seemed happy. Mr. Graflo had placed Cadarn's test face down, like all the rest, but had given Cadarn a look that meant something. Cadarn had immediately stuffed his test into his bag, and hadn't looked at it until he gotten home. “A+ 100%.” All in red, just under his name. And then, in red scrawl, just barely legible, off to the side, it read, “First time for a perfect score on one of my tests. Congratulations. Now I need to make my tests harder.” He couldn’t tell his classmates but that made it better somehow. Cadarn had felt like he had conquered something, like his chest was filling and he was going to burst. He felt all of it again. In his mind, he could see the test in his hands. The paper, everything was glowing.
“Wow, excellent.” His mother's voice seemed to reinforce what he was feeling. “Immerse yourself in that feeling. Really lose yourself in it, and when you feel like humming or singing, just go ahead.”
Cadarn didn't feel like humming, but he did feel like shouting. So he did. He jumped up while yelling, “Cooawched!” and punching a fist in the air in triumph. He thought he was going to say “cool” or “awesome” or something, but it was all jumbled and “cooawched” came out instead. As he stood and punched, he opened his eyes. They widened as he watched as a couple of books on a bookshelf fall off and crash to the floor across from him. He looked at his mother. “Did I do that? That was awesome!”
She looked at him, dumbfounded. “Cumhachd. Where did you get cumhachd?”
As he shrugged, his father and sister came in. His father looked at the pile of books, and then at their mother. Neither looked happy.
Haylwen was the first to say anything. “What did you do? Can I see?”
Cadarn looked at their mother and father, who struggled for a bit, then shrugged. He closed his eyes, and tried to remember the feeling, and the way his mother said that word. After a moment, the feeling came back, stronger this time. He opened his eyes before yelling and punching, this time, and aimed his punch at a box across the room. “Cumhachd!” he yelled.
The box leaped up and flipped over, spilling books out in a tumbling heap.
“Wow, that was cool.” Haylwen said, eyes wide.
“You taught him that?” their father said. He didn't look happy.
“No!” their mother said. “I just...” the words got stuck in her throat. She just shook her head.
“She was just telling me to feel something, Dad,” Cadarn said. “Then she said to sing, but I felt like yelling. Did I do it wrong?”
Their father tried to say something, but stopped. After thinking for a moment, he said, “I was just surprised, Cadarn.” He looked back at their mother. “I guess that proves that?”
She took a deep breath and nodded. She straightened her shoulders, and put on her no-nonsense look. “I will set up a schedule and a syllabus. Can't have anyone getting behind in English or math.”
Cadarn and Haylwen groaned at the same time.
She gave them both a look, with one eyebrow raised, that sent both sets of their eyes scurrying for a hiding place.
“We'll need to talk about tutors,” she said. “I can find textbooks and workbooks...”
She was cut off by a banging at the front door. All four of them jumped.
“It’s just the movers,” their mother said. She led Cadarn and Haylwen out of the room, muttering, “They would have to be early, for once.” She threw a look at their father over her shoulder. “Honey, you can keep packing, I will be back in a second.” She sent Cadarn and Haylwen off as well. They took a couple of steps out of the office, but stopped to watch.
Their mother opened the door. Three burly men, two short and one a foot taller, stood there, all in matching green-gray coveralls. The taller one was behind the other two, with a large, lumpy nose, his head shaved bald. The other two could have been brothers, thick, dark hair and skin like roasted chipotle peppers. The one on the left had a large dolly with over-sized wheels. He said, “Rapid movers?”
“Yes, start with the living room here, and then go to the kids' rooms, there, down the hall,” their mother said. She backed up to let them in, pointing down the hall. The brothers came in and looked over the living room furniture. The taller one still stood outside.
Their mother looked at him for a moment in confusion. “Well, come on.”
He smiled without showing teeth and stepped inside. Haylwen, standing to the side, sucked in her breath and grabbed at her mother's hand. “Um… Mom… um… can I talk to you?”
“In a moment, dear.” She gently turned Haylwen toward Cadarn and gave them a pat. “If you are finished, go help your father in the office.” She turned back to the men and started giving them detailed directions about what boxes were what.
Haylwen grabbed Cadarn's hand and dragged him quickly into the office.
“What's your problem?” he asked, trying to get his hand free. He finally succeeded when she let go to open the door to the office, but she pushed him roughly inside before saying anything. “Hey!” he yelped.
Their father looked up from the box that he was filling. “What's up?”
“Dad, that shimmery man is going to do something,” Haylwen said.
“What? What man? What are you talking about?” Their father looked at Cadarn, who shrugged, still scowling.
“One of the moving men looks odd—he’s all shimmery, and he is going to do something... dark... to us.” Haylwen screwed up her face. “I don't know how to explain it. When I look at him it is like he is underwater, and then I just saw him, like, oozing dark. It smelled like burnt meat, you know?”
Cadarn was about to make fun of her, when their father dropped the book on the floor and quickly walked around the boxes. The look on their father's face was one that Cadarn had seen once before, but he couldn't remember where. It filled him with a sense of dread, and he stepped back quickly as his father passed by.
“Which man?” he asked Haylwen quietly, one hand on the doorknob.
“The tall one, with the shaved head.”
As their father opened the door, he gave them both a look. “Stay here.” Neither argued.
The office door closed, and Haylwen looked at Cadarn. “I have to see what is going on.”
Cadarn nodded.
They went to the door, and peeked out, around the short hall into the living room. Their mother was still talking to the two dark-haired men, just glancing at her father as he strode past. He stopped the tall man, who had several boxes in his giant arms.
Haylwen sucked in her breath.
“What?” Cadarn said.
“That box is oozing!” she whispered.
“What?” Cadarn said. “Which one?” He could barely see.
“It’s like smoke,” she whispered. “The shimmery man’s boxes, top one.”
Their father had to look up at the man to talk to him, and while they couldn't hear what he said, it made the man put down the boxes. The tall man crossed his arms and glowered.
Cadarn couldn’t see very well and tried to nudge Haylwen out of the way. She nudged back and he lost his balance and sat down with a thump behind the door.
“Ooo, Dad’s doing magic!” Haylwen whispered.
“What's going on?” Cadarn whispered. He struggled back up to try to peer around her.
“Shh!” Haylwen said.
“Let me see!” He came around the other side of the doorway and peered through the narrow opening.
He got there as the tall man backed out the door and their father closed the door behind him. Their father quickly turned to look at the other two men, who had stopped working to look at Mr. Rightad. He peered at the two brothers for a moment, then suddenly looked at the office door, scowling. Haylwen and Cadarn jumped back, and fell over each other in a heap.
“What is going on?” they heard their mother yell.
By the time they got untangled and stood up, their father was at the door to the den. “We will talk in a moment. For now, go sit there,” he said, pointing to the far wall, “and don't you dare move until I get back!” He waited until they had scrambled over to the far wall before closing the door with a bang.
Cadarn looked at Haylwen. “Told ya,” he said.
“If you hadn't looked, he wouldn't have caught us.” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“Dad can't use magic when you are watching. Or listening.”
“What?”
“If he did something with magic, and then you learned from that, he would be teaching you, and he can't teach you to use magic.” She had an annoying smug expression on her face. “He can only teach me.”
“Yeah? Well, Mom can only teach me, she can't teach you. She can't do magic when you are watching or listening, either.” He sat back, his face suddenly flat. He saw Haylwen's face slip into the same flat expression, the smug completely erased by the sadness. He kept talking, voicing what they were both thinking. “Both of them are magic users, but can't do magic when we are around. It’s our fault they can't do magic.”
Haylwen nodded, eyes starting to fill with tears.
Cadarn put his arm around his little sister. She started crying and somehow he knew it wasn't just the guilt. He wanted to ask what happened, but didn't want to at the same time. He looked up at his father's chair and thought for a moment about his parents being able to do magic. It seemed both completely unbelievable, and yet it explained so much about his weird family.
On a whim, he closed his eyes, and just listened to his feelings. If they were part of magic, maybe they could help his sister? He felt sad, and something special for his sister, this little kid that was part of his family. Proud, maybe, protective, too. He remembered the time they had been locked out of their house—one of their many moves, and their parents had forgotten to give them the new key. They were locked outside in the middle of winter and Haylwen was crying, convinced they were going to freeze to death. Cadarn remembered climbing up a tree to the roof and testing the windows until he found one that wasn't locked. He almost fell getting in and broke the screen. The hug and smile that Haylwen gave him when he proudly opened the door for her had him feeling like he was a hero. She drew a picture of him in a cape and gave it to him later, and he still kept it, somewhere. He held onto that feeling, and tried to have it grow, cover both he and Haylwen. A song crept into his head, and he started humming. Must be a lullaby, he thought. He kept his eyes closed, but could feel Haylwen calm immediately when the feeling flowed over her. He could help!
The door flew open with a bang, and his eyes popped open a second later. His father stood there, looking around the room, a frightened look on his face. “Cadarn, Haylwen? Where are you? ” He took a breath, then stopped suddenly.
“Yeah, Dad.” Cadarn could tell his father was unnerved, but couldn't see why.
His father spun, squinting. “Where are you?”
“Right here.” Cadarn looked at Haylwen, who apparently had fallen asleep. He looked back up to see his father yell out the door for their mother. “They’re in here!” Cadarn was surprised that Haylwen hadn't woken with the yelling.
When their mother came in the door in a rush, Cadarn could tell from the look on her face that he had done something magical, but had no idea. He had been subconsciously holding onto the feeling, and now it slipped with doubt and fear.
His father yelped and pointed at him. “Wow! That's great!”
Cadarn, thoroughly confused, let the feeling slip completely away with an effort. It seemed easier to hold onto it.
His father noticed Haylwen, who was just starting to stir sleepily. “Cadarn, that was incredible! How did you learn to do that?” He turned to their mother. “Did you teach him that? How?” She shook her head, and he turned back to Cadarn. “Did Haylwen help you do that?”
Cadarn felt both complimented and insulted. “No, it was just me. I just did what Mom told me, well, mostly.”
His father was grinning and stood a little taller. “That was...” his voice cut off, and he choked in his exuberance to try to talk around it. After a moment, he said, “interesting.”
His mother looked at his father sideways and said so softly Cadarn could barely hear it, something about email magic? Haylwen gave a big yawn at that moment, so it coul
d have been anything. His mother and father stepped into the corner of the office and asked for Cadarn and Haylwen to leave for a minute.
They both got up and walked out the door toward the living room. Haylwen stopped in front of Cadarn as he was just outside the doorway to the office, the door still ajar. She pointed at the pile of boxes sitting there and called over her shoulder. “Uh… Dad… there’s a box that is still... smoking,” She took a few slow steps toward it.
“What, sweetie?” Cadarn turned to look back into the office as their father and mother appeared in the office doorway.
“That box is leaking... something.” She pointed again, taking another slow step toward it.
Their mother and father exchanged a look and stepped out of the office together.
Haylwen took another slow step closer to the box, which suddenly burst open. Their parents stumbled forward, choking and fumbling. Cadarn saw Haylwen stumble back and sit down as something rose out of the box.
It started out like a cloud, but solidified as it grew. It had a rattlesnake head, but was bigger than a person’s face. Its fangs were as long as Cadarn's forearm, and its neck and shoulders were covered in feathers. It pulled itself out with immensely muscular arms. The box, though smaller than the creature, wasn’t even twitching as the creature struggled to squeeze out. Nevertheless, even as it worked, it had fixed its unblinking stare on Haylwen. She stood, dead-still, frozen.
Cadarn, realized what his parents were trying to do and failing. At the same instant, he knew what he had to do. He yelled, “Cumhachd!” punching with all his might at the creature. Nothing happened. The creature paused for a moment, fixing its glare on Cadarn for a moment. He could feel his body freeze. The creature then laughed, a hissing sound, before moving his gaze back to Haylwen and again resuming its climb out of the box. Cadarn looked at his parents, who were sputtering and choking on the floor. His father was turning purple, struggling against invisible shackles. He saw his mother scramble toward the kitchen and felt alone.
The creature, which had pulled itself out to its waist, leaned to reach toward Haylwen. As if triggered, the picture Haylwen drew of him with the cape jumped into his mind. He vividly recalled the feeling of protector that he had held onto in the office. Faster than thought, he called up the feeling of overcoming Graflo’s test and let it mix with the other feeling.
He took a breath and pushed the fear down as the creature got both hands on Haylwen. He called the feeling out of himself, and yelled, “Cumhachd!” throwing both fists at the beast.
The creature never saw it coming. Its head snapped back as if punched, and it dropped Haylwen. It shook itself, eyes slightly unfocused.
Cadarn, while somewhat surprised at his success, felt his confidence grow. He pushed down the twinge of guilt at hurting the creature. Trying to focus on feeling fully like a protector, a conqueror, he called the feelings even stronger, and felt his neck and shoulders tingle as he threw both fists at the creature again. “CUMHACHD!” he yelled.
The creature's snout was visibly crumpled by the impact, and its head snapped directly back before flipping to point up. Its arms went limp, and it started to slowly slide back into the box. Haylwen started, saw the creature only a few feet away, and scuttled back. Their mother came rushing out of the kitchen with a cleaver, and slowed to a halt when she saw the creature slowly sliding down into the box. Their father had rushed forward and picked up Haylwen to pull her back, but was still having trouble breathing.
The four of them slowly came together, and all watched as the creature slowly slid back down. No one moved when its fangs got hung up on the edge of the box. They all looked at it for a moment, then each other.
Finally, their father went over and carefully unhitched the fangs, allowing the creature to slip all the way down, out of sight. He closed the flaps of the box, and tried to pick it up. His face registered a momentary surprise at how light it was. He looked at their mother, who looked into the kitchen.
Cadarn had grabbed Haylwen's arm and was pulling her back to the office before his father even started talking.
“Kids,” he said, eyes fixed on the box in front of him, “get in the office and close the door behind you.”