Later that day, Josiah had eaten most of the cookies that Gloria had baked - he had felt really hungry after the small portions of food he'd been fed at the school, and once he'd tried one cookie he couldn't help eating more - they were so delicious.
"It is a great compliment to me that you are enjoying those cookies so much. I hope that you'll have some room remaining for lunch in one hour," said Gloria, grinning at the boy as he finished the second-to-last cookie.
"I didn't mean to eat so many, I'm really sorry, Ma'am," said Josiah guiltily - she must think he was a pig. He left the last cookie on the baking tray - he'd really meant to leave two, so that the grown-ups could have one each.
"It's okay, Josiah. Eat as much as you like, dear. You'll get plenty of exercise while you live here, so you won't put on too much weight. And please, call me Gloria. There's no need to address me so formally."
"I'm not accustomed to calling adults by their Christian names."
"You seem to know a lot of words; do you read?" asked Terrence, not failing to notice that Josiah spoke well for an eight-year-old.
"I love reading. I had access to the school's library and read through all the books there, and then I read anything I could get hold of," said Josiah with a smile. No-one had paid so much attention to him before. Except for when his real father did - but that was mostly to inflict pain upon him.
"I don't suppose you know much of your family's history," assumed Terrence. The boy didn't look as though he knew of his heritage.
"Only that my mother was deliberately pushed down the stairs by my father for no apparent reason, and ever since then, he had abused my younger sister, Hannah and me. When we were both old enough, he placed us in boarding schools where we were out of his way. Hannah had to go to a special school because of her problems."
"I suspected you were unaware of the truth," said Terrence, taking a deep breath before he began his startling revelation. "There is a reason why your father became that way. He learned of your mother's special gifts and was scared of what she could do that he couldn't. He was worried that she would hurt him if he commanded her anymore - he always wanted to be the head of the family and felt everyone should obey him. He stopped loving her as soon as he knew what she was capable of, so wouldn't have cried at her loss. When she had gone, he became aware that he would have to be your sole parent and he didn't love you two like he had done anymore, because you were children of -" Terrence broke off from what he was about to say - how could he tell Josiah the truth about his mother? It was one thing to expose the boy to his orbing power, but quite another to reveal that the boy had magical powers of his own.
"The children of what?" asked Josiah impatiently, his full attention on Mr. Potter.
"Your mother was a witch with REAL magical powers. She came from a whole line of witches. You have one of her powers, Josiah."
"I do? If I had known, perhaps it would've helped me at the school." Josiah believed everything that Terrence said. The tone of the man's voice throughout had conveyed that Josiah should trust his words. The boy had always thought there was something different about him, but he'd never been sure what.
"I don't doubt that," said Terrence, "but there was no-one to help you discover your destiny. There aren't any other witches here besides myself, Gloria and you...yet."
"Yet?" asked Josiah. "Do you mean that there will be more witches here in the future?" Josiah had never disbelieved that magic was a very real force in the world and everything Terrence said confirmed that it was real, just like the boy had thought.
"Yes, son. My wife can see the future and has seen more witches in this town. She usually only has visions of good people we are meant to save, called 'innocents'. That's the main purpose of good witches - to save others from evil. The Elders, who are high-ranking angels in Heaven, have told us that we are to rescue the future witches as children, besides non-magical ones - Gloria will receive premonitions to help us locate them when the time comes to rescue each one."
"So I am the first of several magical children you are to save? And if they can't go back to their families, you can take them in as well?"
"Once I and Gloria are gone," began Terrence, "this place and its people will be vulnerable to evil unless more witches are put in our place. As we do not have any heirs, it is very fortunate that there are some magical children who can take our place, once they are saved. The Elders have recently told us, through an angelic messenger, that there will be a few magical children who could stay with us, as fate will cause them to loose their homes and families. We won't know anything about these other children until the right times come for us to know more."
Terrence paused to give Josiah a chance to take in the information, before telling him more. "I already have some notes about your family in our magical book simply known as The Book. I have now acquired some more knowledge which I must add before I forget. Come with me and you will be able to see the most important article in this whole house," invited Terrence, holding his hand out to the boy.
Josiah smiled and excitedly took his new father's hand, looking forward to seeing a real magic book.
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Terrence showed Josiah around their special magic room and then showed him The Book, talking him through some of the sections contained in it. "You are welcome to come up here any time you like and browse through The Book - there is a great deal of knowledge to acquire from books, as you have already learned - but no other book contains the information included in here. Each generation of Potters have added to this book and as we have no children you will be the first of a new generation to add to this."
Josiah suddenly remembered his sister. "Can we visit Hannah soon? I haven't seen her since the day Father sent her away, because visiting her wasn't something my boarding school allowed."
"Our visit won't be until tomorrow I'm afraid," said Terrence, with regret in his voice. "We have to discover your power first. Unfortunately, Gloria hasn't received any premonitions in which you use your power, so we have no prior knowledge of your special gift." Terrence somehow knew that Josiah's power hadn't been magically bound before his mother had died, so it was there to use once the boy knew how.
Josiah stood patiently, ready to try to discover what magical power he had which he'd never known about.
"Focus on an object and concentrate. There are several magical powers which can affect objects and it may be one of those."
Josiah stared at a fairly big candle that stood unlit in its holder on an ancient dresser. He concentrated only on the object. At first nothing seemed to happen, but then the object began to float upward slowly.
"Keep focused on the object, Josiah," instructed Terrence gently.
The candle floated higher. Josiah was suddenly distracted when a skinny black cat walked up the attic stairs and rubbed itself against the boy's legs. The candle fell to the floor.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that to happen," apologized the boy, upset that he had allowed himself to become distracted from his task.
"You're just lucky that wasn't a demon," said Terrence with a grin. "He would've picked himself up and have thrown a fireball at you by now."
"A fireball?"
"Demons have the power to create balls of fire which they can throw at their enemies. You don't want to be on the receiving end of one, believe me." Terrence rubbed his arm, remembering when a fireball in a previous attack had just skimmed by it, singeing a small amount of his skin.
"Is this your cat?" asked Josiah curiously. "I thought only bad witches had cats."
"This is indeed our cat and she's called Grace. She is our 'familiar' - a witch's pet which protects its owner from evil. Unfortunately, she doesn't always succeed in stopping the demons from attacking us - but I think she stops demons from attacking while we are asleep."
"Hello Grace, I'm pleased to meet you." Josiah tickled the cat under the chin and the cat meowed.
"She likes you, otherwise she'd scratch you for doing that to her," informed Terrence.
"I'm relieved," said Josiah, wishing he'd been more cautious about stroking the unfamiliar pet. He stroked the cat from the back of its neck down to its tail, then repeated the action.
"Don't worry; I have a healing power from my Whitelighter father. I can heal minor injuries such as scratches if you get hurt."
"That's a useful power to have. I will be more careful in future and try not to become distracted so easily."
Terrence smiled at the boy - he was young and was likely to make more mistakes in future, but with Terrence's help he wouldn't suffer from his errors. "There is a lot for you to learn. There will be more innocents to rescue soon, so I don't know how much time there is to teach you before then. I can tell you that your power is going to come in very handy. At the moment you can only move small objects, but it will grow and you will be able to throw demons away from yourself and others once you have become more experienced."
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Josiah settled in happily, living with the Potters, and they visited Hannah once a month. Terrence soon learned what Hannah's magic power was - to summon and control objects with her thoughts. Terrence bound the girl's magic, as it was clear that she wasn't sound enough of mind to ever be able to use any magic responsibly; it was because of her cruel father, whose constant abuse had badly affected Hannah's mind as a young girl.
Josiah waited for the day when he would be given a magical brother or sister - he hoped he wouldn't be too old when he got one, and he also hoped that the sibling would be younger so he could help take care of them.
To be continued in Part 3: The Second Son.