Convergence - The Last Science #2.1 - In Plain Sight

B2: Chapter 4 - Comes the Hero - V

  "I get why they wanted to talk about it," Hailey explained, "but god, it just sounded like they were going to be doing experiments and torturing them. I mean, what else is drawing energy out of an animal going to do to it?"

  "I don't know," Beverly replied, sitting with her back up against the chimney a few steps above Hailey.

  Hailey twisted around to look at her. "I thought you knew the whole book back to front."

  "The Grimoire never covered that specifically." She looked away wistfully into the night sky. "I read all about how you can move it between people, but you guys already figured that out. It never said you could use animals, but it never said you couldn't."

  "So the book didn't cover everything." Hailey lay back and watched the stars twinkling far above. Beverly blinked away, leaving Hailey alone to ponder the revelation for a minute. When she returned, Hailey spoke up again. "You think there might be more out there you don't know?"

  "I just kinda assumed there was." Beverly shrugged. "It's just one book and magic is so big. I never thought it could all be written in there."

  "But then maybe there isn't," Hailey said, half-wishing it were true. "Have you ever sensed anyone casting a spell that wasn't specifically in there?"

  Beverly took a minute to think before she answered. "Yes."

  Hailey waited, but she didn't continue. "Well, don't leave me in suspense here. What was it?"

  "...Your wings."

  "Huh?"

  "I have no idea how they work," Beverly said. She looked embarrassed. "I watched you two do the ritual but I had no clue what you were doing."

  Hailey raised an eyebrow. "You watched?"

  She glanced away. "I was keeping an eye on you."

  Hailey sighed. "It was a team effort. Jess designed it, but you'd have to ask her how it worked. She made the connections when we actually cast it. And, well..."

  "...Yeah." Beverly looked back at her, biting her lip slightly. "Hailey, why'd you agree to talk to me again?"

  Hailey shrugged, leaning back again to look up at the sky.

  "I did something horrible and unforgiveable to you."

  "More than just me," Hailey reminded her. "You messed with everyone's heads."

  "...So why? You don't even know who I am. Not... Not really. Not anymore."

  "A scared girl my age literally teleports into my bedroom and asks if she can stick around because she has nowhere else to go." She shrugged again. "I'm not gonna just kick her out."

  "I don't have to stay here. I can find another place."

  "One with an actual bed?" Hailey pointed out. "You're lucky Jess is never gonna use that room. Keep using it, unless you want to go the Rachel route and just take away your need to sleep?"

  Beverly shook her head firmly. "Making myself able to see everyone using magic was bad enough. I don't want to try to change my mind any more. It scares me."

  Hailey got to her feet, having spotted Jessica climbing into bed and turning off the lights one by one. "Bed time, then."

  "Good night, Hailey. See you again next week?"

  Hailey was about to reply, but something nagged at her mind. "What's stopping you from doing it again?"

  "Huh?"

  "Going into our heads. Messing with our minds. If you could do it before, why couldn't you do it again?"

  Beverly hesitated. "There's a kind of magic that none of you have been using. Only a couple people ever used it, actually. Rachel was the best at it."

  "I thought Rachel wasn't good at any magic."

  "She had the Mental affinity. It's not good for much, and she didn't have much talent in magic anyway, but she could use that one type really well. It let her cast a spell to see... connections. Relationships between people. They exist outside you, so I guess they aren't protected."

  "And these connections—"

  "Are what I broke," Beverly explained, looking down at the rooftop. "It was the hardest thing I've ever done, and I did it all wrong. It went too far. I ruined Alden's life."

  Hailey frowned. "But what's to say you don't do it again? Or what if someone else figures it out?"

  Beverly shook her head. "You'd need something incredibly powerful. I had to use an asteroid to do it."

  "You went out to an asteroid?"

  "I think? Or would it be a comet? I forget the difference. Either way... it's uhh... it's gone now."

  Hailey laughed weakly. "All right, I'm a little less worried now."

  "I'd never do it again," she added quietly. "It was the stupidest thing I've ever done."

  Hailey sighed. She stood up and walked up the roof to where Beverly sat against the chimney, taking a seat next to her instead of feet away. Beverly looked startled, but didn't pull away. Hailey put an arm around her gently, fully conscious that she was giving a one-armed hug to probably the most powerful person on the planet and beyond. "We've all done stupid stuff."

  Beverly shook her head more forcefully, but Hailey didn't let go. "I'm really sorry, Hailey."

  Hailey realized what she'd never said. She wasn't sure she meant it, but it felt right. It was what a hero would say. "I forgive you."

  A few tears dropped from Beverly's eyes. She shook her head once again, before vanishing in a tiny slip of the wind. Hailey waited, but after she didn't return for ten minutes, she gave up. As she climbed into bed and Jessica hugged her close, Hailey whispered, "See you later, BB."