Part II
This is so cool! Fi thought. While the adults were in the den and the boys wreaking havoc on the twins' PlayStation upstairs, Fi sat curled up on the couch skimming the pages of her magic book. Her magic book. Her magic book. She let her hand fall down one of the pages, feeling the texture on her finger tips. "My magic book," she whispered.
She couldn't get over saying that.
This new development gave her so many more questions. With the twins upstairs fighting for control of their gaming system, Fi finally had time to consider them.
At first, she'd just been thrilled at the idea that her maternal name was inexplicably written down in an old spell book. Her grandmother had always told her stories about her great-grandmother, who she was named for – how grandmother Fiona was reputed to be a practicing witch, her most powerful asset her psychic ability. That had intrigued Fi, as she'd noticed her own mother's struggle with it. Molly denied "Love is Broken" for the premonition it truly was.
And there were other incidents over the years, of course, gone unnoticed by most and ignored by Molly herself. Even at a young age Fi wondered how Molly knew to call up school before they'd called to inform her that ten-year-old Jack had the flu. Or how Molly arrived at the park right as twelve-year-old Fi crashed on her bike. When asking about it one day, Fi was told that it was "mother's intuition, nothing more."
Like Fi believed that for a second.
But then her mind had shifted focus when what Aunt Melinda had said registered. Your dad dropped it off years ago…
What was her father doing with a magic book?
Maybe he got it from Grandma Fiona, Fi thought. It wasn't unreasonable…maybe her mom and dad were visiting, and he took interest in it? But why? Most normal people didn't think to own spell books. Even she knew that.
Then a thought occurred to Fi. What if…what if more than one side of her family had the gift? What if her dad needed the spell book for something and borrowed it? But then why would he give it to Aunt Melinda instead of returning it to its rightful owner…
The questions were swirling around in Fi's brain so fast she was almost dizzy. She needed answers…somehow. Her talent for researching kicked in as she went down the list of possible sources. Molly was out of the question. Except maybe as a last resort. She knew that her mom was scared by the quests for paranormal information Fiona went on. Either scared or frustrated, Fi wasn't sure which. At any rate, it was worth trying to find another route rather than cause her mother more stress than usual.
There was her maternal grandmother. But, Fi reasoned, that was a long shot. There was a chance that Grandma Fiona didn't tell Grandma Kathleen why she'd given the Book to her father (if in fact that was what happened. Fi knew there were dozens of other possibilities, but right then she'd stick to the most likely). While Grandma Kathleen had shown psychic ability over the years, unlike her mother, she wasn't a practicing witch. Which would leave little reason for Grandma Fiona to tell her that the Book had changed hands.
So, by process of elimination…Aunt Melinda was her only shot. Fiona considered that option with a sideways glance in the direction of the den, where her aunt had gone. Her aunt might not know where Rick got the Book from, but maybe he'd told her why he'd dropped it off. Surely Aunt Melinda must've had some questions when her only brother shows up at her doorstep with a spell book in hand, Fiona thought with a wry smile. Who knows, maybe he even sat down and told her where he got it. Or why he needed it.
Her first instinct was to run into the den, begging Aunt Melinda to answer her questions. But since she knew her mom was also there and would probably put a stop to it by accusing Fi of "annoying" Aunt Melinda with "ridiculous" questions, Fi decided to go through the magic book for the moment
While looking at some spells, she noticed the title of one said, "To Convert Text to Another Tongue." Fi guessed that the spell was meant to change the Gaelic words to some other language, probably used when the book was passed to an owner of a different country or something like that. Figuring out where to put "English" in the spell, Fi concentrated as she chanted the words.
Once she was done, she closed the book and placed it on the coffee table, just in case there was an explosion of magic. But the book only glowed a soft blue – the only indication that her spell had any effect. When the light faded she grabbed the book and opened it.
Sure enough, every word was English.
"Very cool," Fi whispered. Even though the book gave her more questions to be answered, she now knew that she had some serious power. Which would be handy when she had to face her next paranormal enemy.
She then heard the noise of chatter and footsteps as the adults came back into the kitchen. For some reason she was struck with fear at the thought of them finding out what she'd just done and childishly threw the book back onto the couch. "Hey! Where'd you all go?"
The four stared back at Fi as if she'd just accused them of a crime. Recovering first, Irene stuttered, "U-uh, Melinda wanted to show us something…"
"Yeah! Her, ah, new TV," Ned added, equally flustered.
When Melinda and Molly nodded in agreement, Fi shrugged and said, "Cool! Can I see?"
"No! I mean…it's not really a new one. Their old one broke and she just replaced it with the same model," Molly explained.
Fi paused, noting the surprised looks the other adults gave her mother. They really think I'm that ignorant? Fi thought. They were obviously talking about something they didn't want me to hear. But what? However, for the sake of getting Aunt Melinda to cooperate and answer her questions, Fi decided to let the incident slide. "Oh, well, then I guess I'll have to see it later. Aunt Melinda, can I talk to you about something?"
"What is it, Fi?" Melinda asked.
"About the…" Fi hesitated, realizing it might not be wise to bring up the subject in front of the others. Instead, she let her gaze drop to the book on the couch so her aunt would get the message. "About something."
Melinda got the message and let out a soft "oh." Fi wrinkled her brow in confusion while she watched her aunt go through an internal struggle. It seemed to Fi that her aunt wanted to talk, but for some reason was being held back. "Oh, Fi, I…" Melinda trailed off, sharing a look with Molly. Fi became both angry and confused when she noted that her mother seemed to be warning her aunt against saying anything. Looking back at Fi, Melinda sighed and said, "I don't think that would be the best idea, honey. I'm sorry."
"Fine," Fi snapped, indicating that she was absolutely not "fine" with the situation. Not wanting to be around them any longer, she stomped towards the stairs. "I'm going to see what everybody's doing."
While the others went off to finish their coffee, Melinda pulled Fi over before the teen could make it up the stairs. When Fi leaned down, Melinda whispered, "But if I were to help you, I'd say…I honestly don't know anything about the 'something.' I…wasn't told anything about the 'something.'"
Fi let the words sink in, then gave her aunt a grateful, if somewhat disappointed, smile. "Thanks, Aunt Melinda."
