Magic from the Heart Part 4

At exactly 6:00, Mona showed up at the Magic Express for dinner. Upon entering, she first apologized to Ace for overreacting on the phone and then met Angela in person for the first time. "My goodness, you're shorter than I thought."

"My growth spurt came early," the young lady joked. "As for you, you're prettier than I expected, Miss Malone. Your voice was very beautiful on the phone, and I know a beautiful voice goes with a beautiful person, inside and out."

"Thank you," Mona blushingly said. "You're as nice a person as you were on the phone. I seriously owe you an apology for thinking you were trying something else here. I'm really happy Ace is letting you stay here because you've had so much trouble since you arrived in town."

"Miss Malone, I've been thinking being here in the Magic Express may have been better off than getting the apartment. I have at least eight friends already, including three I met earlier at the DNA Club with Cosmo. That's a lot more friends than I've had my whole life."

"Did you have any growing up?"

"Yes, one very special friend." When Angela heard her stomach growl, she asked, "Um, shall we have dinner now?"

They all laughed and went to the converted living room where everything was set for dinner.

The first bite of the soup Mona ate was a hot one. "Wow! This chicken noodle soup is a lot more spicy than I've ever eaten."

"The ginger's the reason," Cosmo said happily. "That and the constant orange juice helped me to recover from the flu very quickly."

"Angela, I'm impressed. I've never met a gourmet cook who suddenly comes into town."

"As I told Mr. Cooper and Cosmo, I have a preference of fresh food over canned food."

Ace then added, "It's incredible how herbs and spices can sometimes be better medicine than what we'd find in a drugstore, especially in terms of side effects."

"I don't need to take anything that could affect my songwriting," said Mona.

Angela was a little surprised. "You're a songwriter, Miss Malone?"

"Yes, I write and sing my own songs."

"No wonder you have a beautiful voice. I've heard you on the radio, and didn't you win some kind of award a short time ago?"

"Oh," said Ace as he used his cloak to change the centerpiece of flowers into something else, "you mean this award?"

Angela noticed the golden piece and finally remembered what it was. "That's it. She won the Golden Voice Award for Best New Song, right?"

Everyone nodded to her being exactly right.

"I only have one question," Angela added. "Why does Mr. Cooper have it?"

Ace, Cosmo, and Mona suddenly became nervous in coming up with an answer.

Mona finally had something to say. "Ace has it because I gave it to him on the night I won. He made sure I got to the ceremony safely."

"Of course," Angela noted. "Now I remember the whole story from the newspaper. Someone wanted both you and Nesh Divine out of the competition. It was first thought to have been Demonia Deadly, but it turned out to be one of Nesh's associates who wanted her to win by default after Demonia got arrested."

Cosmo added, "All the while Ace did his part to protect Mona and got her to the ceremony where she won."

"Mona," Ace started, "would you like your award back now?"

"No, not yet," she replied. "When the time's right, then I'll ask for it."

"I have a deep appreciation of music," said Angela, taking ahold of the actual award. "On some days it soothes my soul while on others it can pump me up and make me excited. I have my mother's entire music collection on mini-discs."

"That's terrific," Mona said. "What does your collection contain?"

"All kinds of incredible music from the late 1980s through all of the 1990s, when Mom was growing up. She loves this time period because there were so many cool musical styles, from Whitney Houston to Britney Spears."

While she spoke, Ace thought, She should be saying loved, since her parents are no longer alive. I'm also sensing anxiety coming from her. On the surface she seems all right, but deep down she's very scared. Could the secret she has be the reason she's isolated herself, and now that she does have friends, is she frightened her secret will come out?

After everyone had finished dinner, Cosmo took Angela into the main computer room to show her how everything worked.

Angela's eyes glowed with excitement. "Oh, wow! I've seen some cool computers before but never like this, and it takes up the whole room?"

"Yeah," replied Cosmo. "From here you can get info on just about anything."

"Anything, huh? Okay, Angel, what is the longest interstate in the United States going east to west?"

"Interstate 10," the computer quickly answered. "It's the only cross-country road extending over 3,000 miles from Jacksonville, Florida, to Los Angeles, California. Would you like the names of the major cities on the route?"

"No thanks, Angel. You've gotten me convinced. I am so impressed with this computer system."

Cosmo laughed and then said, "She also makes sure the Express runs smoothly when we're on the road."

"Yeah, I read Mr. Cooper does some shows away from Electro City once in a while. I think it's cool to do that."

"Believe me, Ace loves to perform, and it shows every time."

Back in the living room, Ace and Mona had their own discussion about Angela's situation.

"Ace, I feel really bad for Angela. My father took her apartment away, and she has no idea she won't get it until she arrives. It's just not fair for someone who's kind and helpful not to get an apartment or to suffer any kind of bad luck like she's had since she came to Electro City. I feel it's partially my fault." She then put her face down in shame.

Ace rubbed his right hand on her left shoulder. "Why are you blaming yourself, Mona? You didn't buy out the apartment building. Besides, Angela doesn't even know your father was the person who bought the building."

"That's good to know." She took ahold of his hand. "Ace, you mustn't tell her Black Jack is my father. Angela's a sweet person, but the fact I'm the daughter of a crime boss may destroy my newfound friendship with her before it even starts."

"That fact hasn't ruined our friendship, but considering Angela's been in Electro City for less than two days, you may be right. Oh, boy, I have to keep your secret while I'm trying to learn hers."

"Wait a minute," said a surprised Mona. "Angela has a secret of her own?"

Ace nodded his head with his answer. "She has a really strange secret. I've been trying to figure out what it is, but in the process of learning, I've gained the abilities to tell what she's thinking and to sense her feelings."

"That's incredible, but how's that possible?"

"Ever since last night, when Angela and I shook hands, I've felt something weird in my mind. I can't explain this, but this morning I told Angela where the thermometer was even though she didn't say anything about it. Also, when I was on my way to pick her up from the grocery store, I had a thought about keeping a secret safe. Finally, this afternoon, while she was cooking, I could literally see her having a strong feeling in her heart."

"There's nothing unusual about seeing her with this."

"Mona, I was in the training room with Cosmo at the same time. I could see Angela in my mind."

"That is unusual."

"Yes, and I know right now, she's far more frightened than she's showing. She's afraid we're getting too close to learning the secret and that we may make her leave if we find out."

"The poor girl. This secret must be what's keeping her alone and preventing her from making that many friends. What could it be?"

"I don't know, Mona, I just don't know."

Hours later after Mona had gone home for the evening, everyone in the Magic Express were asleep. Ace was sleeping soundly while Zina lay on the ground near the footside of the bed.

Although the Magician usually had nothing to think about in his sleep, this night was far different. Why is Angela so scared to tell her secret? he thought. It must serve as some kind of shield for her, but why is it I'm the only one who can sense her thoughts and her feelings?

Later that night, Ace started seeing strange images in his mind. He could see a man on a metal ladder with an electrical wire lurking nearby. Seconds later, he saw a wild horse and someone trying to stop a runaway bull. The last image had a young woman floating in mid-air after falling on a steep mountain climb. He suddenly awakened from his sleep. Breathing heavily, he said, "What was that all about? This situation with Angela seems to grow stranger every minute. I just don't understand what a man on a ladder, a horse and a runaway bull, and a young lady falling off a mountain all have to do with her."

At that moment Angela, who had sleeping troubles already, started to suffer again with that feeling in her heart. "No, not again!" she silently screamed. "I've got to get this thing buried before it comes out!" Just like the afternoon, she struggled to hold back the problem. "Must . . . do something . . . to stop it."

At his end Ace could see everything happening to Angela in his mind. "She's going through it again," he said painfully, "and it doesn't look like she'll be able to fight it off this time."

Angela, though, had a surprise in mind. "Desperate times call for desperate measures," she whispered. She closed her eyes, placed her hands on her heart, and calmly said, "Strange power inside my heart, I don't know why you're trying to resurface now, but I can't let you. If either Mr. Cooper or Cosmo learn of this power, they will throw me out for sure. Now, return to the deep recesses of my heart, and do not surface again."

Ace could not believe the thoughts he had heard from his new friend. After the pain in his head subsided, he realized he nearly knew the whole truth. "She has some kind of power deep within her heart. I don't quite know what it is yet, but I can solve that when I meditate in the morning because I think those three images I saw earlier more than likely have a major connection to her secret."

Both Ace and Angela went back to sleep, with neither of them knowing the next day would be a major surprise in their lives.

The next morning, Angela slept very soundly in bed until she felt Zina licking her right hand, which hung over the side. "Good morning, Zina," she said to the panther. "You must be my official wake-up call."

Upon noticing the time on the clock, she knew she was late. "Oh, man, I'm supposed to make breakfast this morning."

She quickly jumped out of bed and ran towards the kitchen. When she got there, she noticed Ace and Cosmo each enjoying a bowl of cereal. "Oh, no, guys. I'm sorry for being late for breakfast. I had a lot of trouble sleeping last night."

"That's okay, Angela," Ace said, knowing she was telling the truth partially. "You did such a great cooking job yesterday, so we wanted to give you a break. I hope you're not upset about that."

"No, not at all, Mr. Cooper. Thank you, that's very kind of you."

"Well, I suggest you eat your breakfast now because Mona called about 10 minutes ago, and she's coming to pick you up to give you a first-class tour of Electro City."

Angela's jaw dropped. "A first-class tour? You mean I'll get a chance to see many of the unusual buildings?"

Cosmo asked, "Are the buildings that odd to you?"

Ace gave his apprentice a look of obviousness. "Cosmo, you have to remember where she's coming from. If we went to her hometown, we would find Mason City unusual because it's smaller than Electro City."

"Whoops, I forgot Angela had to make a serious transition from small city to major metropolitan area."

"Don't worry about that, Cosmo," said Angela. "You probably couldn't stand the farmlands, Main Street, or the few restaurants we have. No, I'm only kidding. To me being here is a cultural shock like it would be if you both went there."

Angel then popped into the kitchen. "Ace, Mona is already here."

"When Mona says she's going to be here, she really means it."

They all laughed as Mona came into the kitchen.

"Hey, guys," she said happily.

Angela suddenly discovered how late she was when she looked at her pajamas. "Oh, dear, I just got out of bed, and I haven't had breakfast yet."

"Take your time, Angela," Mona said. "I'm in no hurry today. I'm taking a songwriting break because I've been putting a little too much pressure on myself lately, and yesterday I took it out on Ace. Besides, you've proven to be a trustworthy person, and I want to show you around town as a token of friendship. Will you accept my offer?"

"Miss Malone, I accept your gracious offer, so I better eat breakfast and get ready." Some time later, as Angela was getting dressed for the "field trip" around the city, Mona explained what she would do with her for the day.

Ace then spoke about something very important. "Angela has proven to be a good friend, but I am very close to knowing exactly what her secret is." He then told about the three visions and hearing Angela hiding her strange power within her heart. "If I can expand on those visions by meditating, I may finally figure out her secret. The next part I'm going to say is this; Mona, I'll understand if you want to object."

"Don't keep us in suspense, Ace. What is it?"

"I want Angela to stay here at the Magic Express . . . permanently."

Cosmo and Mona both gasped at his announcement.

"Are you sure?" asked Cosmo.

"I'm absolutely positive."

Mona kissed Ace on the cheek and happily said, "You get no objection from me. That is so sweet of you to do that for her. We all have a great new friend, and more importantly, she now has a permanent home."

"Don't tell her yet, though. I want to give her a big surprise by all of us treating her to dinner at the Scorpio. I'll break the news to her there. Sound okay to you?"

Both Mona and Cosmo agreed and made sure Lt. Vega and Ms. LeSage would be in on this also.

"And Angela's secret?" Cosmo questioned.

Ace cautiously said, "With a little meditation, I'll know for sure what she's hiding. My only concern is how she'll react because she keeps thinking-" Once again he was interrupted by a sharp pain in his mind. "She's having another spell," he struggled to say.

Angela was brushing her hair in the bathroom when it came on again, even stronger this time. "I thought I had this problem under control last night." She closed her eyes and concentrated with all her might to stop it. "Why are you surfacing again? I told you to stay buried inside my heart. If any of my new friends find out about this, they'll force me out. Now go back, and don't come out again!"

Ace told Mona to go to the bathroom to check on Angela.

Angela's feeling disappeared just when Mona came in. Mona then asked, "Angela, are you all right?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, I just had a migrane headache, that's it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, positive. Just give me another few minutes, and I'll be ready to go."

"Okay, I'm just checking on you."

When Mona returned to the kitchen, Ace had his eyes closed. "Did she say she had a migrane headache?" he asked worriedly.

"Yes, she did."

Opening his eyes, he added, "Mona, whatever you do, don't tell Angela I nearly know her secret. I suspect the power she possesses may be magical in nature."

"Hey," Cosmo realized, "that's probably the reason you're the only person who could tell about her, because of your advanced level of magic."

"Right. I learned that sometimes a highly skilled magician can literally sense the abilities of one with a latent power, possibly in her case. Maybe when I check on those visions, I just might be right."

Minutes later, Mona and Angela hit the road for the field trip, and Cosmo went to the training room to check on the act while Ace went to his room to meditate and try to solve Angela's mystery.

Whenever Ace was in a state of meditation, he felt like being at complete peace and as one with the universe. Much of the magical skills he had would never be there if he did not work so hard for so many years and meditate every day. This time, however, his meditation skills would help him discover exactly what secret Angela was hiding, causing her to isolate herself from people.

With his eyes closed in complete concentration, Ace breathed deeply and very calmly said, "I must go into Angela's mind and learn more in those visions I saw last night."

Focusing on the first one, he saw the same man on a metal ladder but no electrical wire. This must be before the wire got too close, Ace thought. In his mind, he then saw a cute little girl with light brown hair. It's Angela, much younger, about seven years old.

The little girl smiled at the man on the ladder while he put another coat of paint on the side of a house. The day was very windy, but the gentleman was on a very steady ladder.

Suddenly, near a tree a power line snapped off from a pole. Angela saw the power line moving toward the ladder. "Daddy!" she whispered in fear. She became so scared she thought the situation was hopeless. "Oh, no, what can I do?"

She then felt something powerful within her heart. What's going on? she thought as she placed her hands to her heart. It's almost like . . . I'm being given a chance to save him!

Carefully thinking of what to do, the strange feeling went to her left hand. She knew her plan, so she extended her left arm skyward. The electrical wire stopped in mid-air, to her amazement. I did it, she thought. He's safe as long as I can keep that wire away from him.

Her father looked at her strangely. "Angela?"

"Hi, Daddy." She waved her hand as both a greeting and as a way to keep the wire from hitting the ladder.

He finished and came down the ladder. When he hugged his daughter, she let her arm down, causing the wire to hit the ladder.

They both looked at the ladder in total surprise. "What happened?" the father asked.

Angela quickly answered, "Oh, the power line must have snapped."

"Good thing I got off that ladder, then."

Ace said to himself, "She saved her father's life with her powers, but what about the other two visions?"

He then focused on the second of the three visions. "It's Angela again, but a little older this time."

The young lady was at a Midwestern ranch near some stables. To her left she saw a beautiful white horse, but it was in its own pen because it was wild. She walked toward it when she heard a loud crash behind her.

Quickly turning around, she saw a large bull running into the open range. Angela did not think anything of the bull until she remembered seeing a group of kids playing while on a horseback ride earlier that morning. Knowing those kids were still out there, she became very concerned. "How am I going to save those kids? They may be in the bull's path, and I can't catch up in time!"

Then, out of the blue, she felt something flowing in her heart. "It's that weird feeling, like I had four years ago."

She could not explain it, but that something told her to go to the wild horse. Angela opened the gate to the pen as the horse neighed crazily. She put her hands out and calmly said, "Take it easy, Moonlight. I just need to ask you an important favor." Close enough to touch Moonlight, Angela asked the filly if she could help, seeing she was the only animal fast enough to catch up with the bull.

After Moonlight nodded, Angela extended her right arm to levitate the nearby saddle onto the horse. When she discovered she could not reach the saddle's stirrups, she levitated herself onto the saddle.

Determined to rescue those children, Angela yelled, "Go, Moonlight! Go like the wind!"

The horse jumped over the pen and went as fast as possible to stop the bull and save the kids.

When they got to a point where they were ahead of the bull, Angela quickly jumped off Moonlight, put both arms out, and shouted, "Stop!"

The bull pulled up with about a foot to spare.

Angela stared into the bull's eyes and said, "Look, I can tell you've been spooked, but there's a group of kids playing less than a mile away from here. You were heading right for them, and I didn't want them to get hurt. Do you understand?"

After the bull nodded, Angela levitated back onto Moonlight and escorted the bull back to his hold on the ranch.

Seeing all this in his mind, Ace was completely amazed. "This is incredible! That's two down, and one to go." Going into focus on the last one, he could see Angela again, much older this time.

She walked on a path near a mountain. Enjoying a nature walk on her senior spring break vacation, she looked up to see someone climbing up the mountain. She stopped to look at the skilled climber and smiled because the climber was someone she knew. The climber was nearing the top of the mountain when she lost her hand grip. Angela heard the climber scream and turned to look up. "Ashley!" she yelled, fearing for her friend's safety.

Ashley was barely hanging on for dear life. "I can't keep the grip much longer!"

Angela was very worried. "That's my best friend up there. If she falls . . ." She was so scared for the life of her close friend, the weird feeling triggered in her heart, stronger than she ever had. Her instincts then took over. "No," she said as she closed her eyes. "She's more than my best friend. She's like a sister to me. I've known her since the first grade, and I can't let anything happen to her."

Ashley's grip finally gave out, and she started to fall toward the ground. She closed her eyes as she knew what would happen. I'm sorry, Angie, she thought.

"I have to save her!" Angela yelled as she could feel the power going to her hands. Extending her arms upward and stretching her hands as fully as possible, she somehow stopped her friend's high-speed death descent at the midpoint of the mountain!

Ashley opened her eyes and noticed something a little strange. "What's going on here? Why did I stop falling?" As she started a much slower descent, she turned around and looked at the ground. "Angie?" she asked, noticing her friend glowing in an aura of light blue.

When Ashley landed safely on the ground, Angela quickly ran up to her. "Are you okay?"

Ashley hugged her tightly and replied, "Are you kidding? Angie, you saved my life! How can I ever thank you?"

"You don't have to, not after all those times you've stood up for me. On the other hand, I think we need to keep this incident to ourselves."

"I agree. If our parents ever found out what just happened, well, never mind that." Ashley then wanted to know something. "My only question is how were you able to stop my fall in mid-air?"

Angela put her head down and said, "I'll tell you the truth, but what you're about to hear must never be told to anyone else. Promise?"

"It's a promise, little sister. Now, what is it?"

Placing her right hand on her heart, Angela started to glow again. "I don't know how I can explain this, but I have this power within my heart. It only comes to light when I know or see someone for whom I care in immediate danger."

"Just like I was. Does anyone else know about this?"

"No, you're the first person I've told. I can trust you, but if anyone else knew about it, they would think of me as a freak, or they could try to take advantage of me. That's why I don't have that many friends."

Ace finally opened his eyes, seeing enough to finally know everything. He smiled and said, "That's it. Now I know exactly what she's hiding and why."

Cosmo was in the training room working on the proper lighting sequence for Friday's show when Ace entered. Seeing the ear-to-ear smile on his face, Cosmo knew what happened. "Did you get everything, bro?"

"Yes, I did. You're not going to believe this, but Angela possesses magical powers of her very own." "You've gotta be kidding, dude!"

"No, Cosmo, it's the truth, but she's been hiding her powers out of fear of what others may think."

"How did she get magical powers?"

"I'm not sure. She's never had the years of hard work and meditation, so the only possibility is…she may have been born with her magic."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"Tonight, after the dinner, I'm going to talk to her about it as calmly as possible because I'm worried how her reaction will be when I tell her the truth."

"The old saying is the truth hurts. I just hope she can take it okay."

"So do I, Cosmo," Ace said as he closed his eyes again, "for I can sense her fear of us not taking her secret so well. The one thought giving me the most concern is this: She thinks we're going to make her leave."

"You mean she thinks we're gonna throw her out?"

Opening his eyes, Ace answered, "Exactly."