I could tell from the smell in the air that Mom was nervous. The honey and mint was a dead giveaway. I woke up with a yawn and when I stepped out of my room I could smell the pistachios. At least nothing was burning.

The kitchen was a mess that only Mom could make. Mixing bowls and egg shells and somehow there was a bit of flour on the ceiling. There were reasons she wasn't typically allowed in the kitchen by herself. But magic made clean up easier, I supposed.

Despite the chaos, there was a plate of pancakes that was very clean.

"Good morning," I greeted. Still mostly asleep.

She had a grin that was trying and failing to hide the anxiety that fueled the rare urge to make breakfast.

"Hey!"

Really. It was all the effort she was putting in that was giving her away. Dad was standing back. Letting this mess unfold so Mom can work out whatever is freaking her out. One of his favorite mugs in his hand. Black with brightly colored molecules of water and sugar.

He silently held out a mug of green tea to me. It was in my favorite mug. White with quotes from Frankenstein written in black all over it.

I took it with a raised eyebrow as I tried to decipher which one of Mom's moods was in charge and fueling the burst of strange behavior.

Then I remembered. Right. Mom was going to start finally teaching me magic. She'd been stalling after I cracked the curse. It was a good day for it, the pain wasn't very sharp. I was getting used to the warmth in my veins but it was comforting.

I took a sip of tea. Unsweetened, thankfully.

"Today's the day, huh?" I commented as Mom flipped another pancake.

Her hair sparked with little bits of yellow light. Yeah, she was nervous about this.

She was more scared than I was. And she was the one who was supposed to know what she was doing. She was the teacher here. I was the one who could explode if this goes badly.

This must mean more to her than I thought.

Dad smiled as she plated the last of the pancakes she'd made.

She'd wanted to teach me when I was five. That was the age I should have started showing signs of magic. If I wasn't cursed I'd have been practicing spells for years now. But maybe now I could finally attempt to close the gap between me and my peers. Or at least make the distance smaller.

I was ready to do whatever it took.

(*********)

We had a small shed in the backyard. Mom spent the most time in there out of the three of us. We stored gardening equipment, shovels, hammers, a bag of charcoal, and an iron poker.

Mom was sitting on the wooden floor. Behind her was a circle of runes on the wall. It glowed very faintly, only truly noticeable when the door was closed.

Mom had also customized the shed to her tastes. Which meant the outside had a white background with long bright green vines up about halfway up the walls dotted with little yellow flowers. The inside was a greyish brown wood with red tulips and blue roses painted on the floorboards.

I was sitting across from her. My legs crossed and my hands resting in my lap. A mirror of Mom's posture. Between us was just three feet of empty space.

She hadn't said anything since we sat down. We'd been sitting in silence and listening to the swaying of leaves in the wind. Any longer and I was going to start counting flowers.

"It just occurred to me we'll have to do this all out of order," Mom said.

"I'm putting my fate in your hands here."

She chuckled, "My baby has such faith in me." She took a deep breath and something in her posture shifted. Less relaxed and straighter. Like someone had pulled a string on the top of her head.

It reminded me a lot of Vivian's usual posture.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"How aware are you of the flow of magic in your body?" She even adapted her tone to match. Was it for my comfort, or hers?

"Very aware," I explained.

"Explain it. In detail."

I took a breath. "It's…warm. Like there's freshly brewed tea in my veins. Except where the curse is. That place feels cold."

"When does it feel like this?"

"All the time? It hasn't stopped."

Mom's face went concerningly stiff. Her poker face when she was hiding all emotions. How bad was this? Then after a moment of silent and her blank face, she spoke. "Your mana veins have been running so dry for so long…"

"Like…how deserts are prone to flooding?"

"You shouldn't be that aware of them all the time. Only when you're casting or in times of heightened production."

"Is that bad?"

"It's only been like this since the eleventh?"

"Yeah. I couldn't feel anything before that."

She hummed once. "Hold out your hands."

I did, they couldn't reach her but I don't think that was the goal.

"I want you to see if you can move the warm feeling to the very tips of your fingers. Not leaving your body, just feeling and moving the energy."

I took a very deep breath closed my eyes. I focused on the center of the feeling of my magic. A space just behind my heart but in front of my spine. I exhaled and tried to imagine it moving along the blood vessels and towards my fingers.

The movement felt sluggish. Like molasses being pushed through tubes. I could feel my heart beat faster as it moved through my chest, to my shoulder, and into my arm. Once it started to pass my elbow I felt a spike of sharp pain. I gasped from the shock and my concentration snapped. The warmth died down and a wave of exhaustion hit me like a bucket of cold water.

Sharp agonizing pain spiked through my left wrist. It didn't fade and made me grit my teeth and clench my fists. It took several seconds for me to be able to breathe again.

"Serafina?" Mom called, I realized there was a hand against my forehead. It felt cool, which I knew was a bad sign since Mom's hands were never cold.

I grumbled at her. Just to let her know I was okay.

"What happened?" She was fussing again.

"I think I hit the curse," I said after a few breaths.

Mom sighed. "Does it hurt?"

Of course it did. "Yeah."

"Do you want to call it for today?"

"No." We'd just gotten started. And she'd stalled enough.

She didn't speak for a moment. "Stubborn. But if you're sure. You felt it move?"

"I did."

She nodded, "So. Hitting the curse is bad. Can you try that again while avoiding it?"

It was worth trying. I took another deep breath. I needed to try. I wanted to try. "Tips of my fingers?"

"Yep."

I inhaled slowly, and on the exhale I tried to force the feeling to the right side of my body. It was even slower than the first try. Glacial in its pace and barely there. It took many slow breaths of Mom watching me silently. Through my heart, past my shoulder, along my elbow and into my hand.

"Keep it there. Count to five."

I closed my eyes. "One. Two. Three. Four. Five."

"Okay. Release it."

I dropped my concentration on purpose. A chill ran through my entire body. I shivered, the shed wasn't this cold when we started.

"We're done for today. Good progress though. Knowing how to move energy to wherever needs healing is the first step. Healing another person is more complicated."

It didn't feel like that much progress.

I heard the wood creak. The sound of footsteps instead of a conscious room.

"Come on, up we go. We'll have hot chocolate."

I was almost too tired to move. My eyes slowly opened to see a hand being held out to me. I grabbed it and hoisted myself up and tried to not visibly sway on my feet.

"I know I wasn't doing this after only a few months of practicing magic."

"You were what, six?"

"Irrelevant details."

"Starting late but going faster?"

"Isn't there a saying about spending time sharpening your axe before cutting down the tree?"

"I think so."

"Your axe is just…extra sharp."

It didn't seem like enough though. I needed to get better faster.

Mom sighed, "There's nothing wrong with taking your time. I'd rather you be ready with spells you can rely on. For whatever it is you wanted the self-healing for."

Uh oh.

"I just wanted it because I thought I couldn't use magic without getting hurt."

"There's a lot worse spells to start with."

She didn't look as convinced of that as I wanted. It was hard when it was true. For the most part. I wasn't scared of whoever had Death's Echo. But the Wraith was a more pressing danger. Red wasn't the only one whose blood it's spilled. It was a more pressing concern to me.

"If there was something worrying you, tell us. Okay?"

"Of course."

I needed to not think about Red and the Wraith around them. The balance was precarious enough without freaking them out even more.

I gripped my left wrist around the curse. It was even cold to the touch. The skin was rough from the scars. I swayed on my feet just a little.

I hated how much something so small and so easy for everyone else exhausted me.

"You know," Mom said as she stepped out of the shed. "I'm amazed by your progress."

I hid both my hands in my pockets. I could see my breath coming out in ghostly wisps around me. Mom's breath was in thicker clouds around her as she walked on the small path back to the house. The snow was shallower there than the piles on other parts of the yard.

Mom was the one who kept the snow in check. How much was with magic and how much was with the shovels in the shed I wasn't fully sure. She didn't like using magic outside of the house, but she wasn't above using it if she was confident she wouldn't get caught.

What was the difference between painting a brick for fun and covering up a rune or two that could prevent snow from sticking?

The bricks were painted purple, red, and blue. I'd never thought about the colors of our pathway bricks before. But…I wondered now. Mom had kept parts of her family closer than I ever realized.

The house was always warm. Though how much that was the heater and how much was Mom's magic stretching out I couldn't really tell.

The kitchen was still kind of a mess.

"Do you want help with that?" I asked as we passed the counter. I wasn't going to clean the flour on the ceiling, but I could do dishes.

Mom laughed, "Maybe in a bit. You look like you're going to fall over. You're almost as pale as the snow. Go rest. Mother's orders."

"Are those like Doctor's orders?"

"Exactly the same but easier to enforce," she said with a smile that told me I had no choice.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.