Of Magic And Monsters

7. Of Truth and Lies

Chapter Seven

Of Truth and Lies

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"You're a nervous wreck."

"Shut up and give me a cookie." A hard, crumbly cookie laded on my head. I ignored the crumbs in my hair and immediately started nibbling on it. I'd closed the curtains for the glass doors. Kase, the snoopy son of a gun, hadn't moved from his spot on the couch behind me. I, on the other hand, migrated in front of the doors, where I sat cross-legged on the ground and peeked behind the curtains every now and then.

Behind me, something clangs against the floor a few times. In my peripheral, I saw Kase looming above me with arms in crutches.

I let the curtain fall back down. By then, the sun cast an orange glow over the forest. "You know," I started with a mouthful of dessert. "Humans have invented prosthetics. Why don't you try those?"

"I have sensitive skin," he replied. "Any metal shoved up against my leg for long periods of time makes it break out in a rash. One time, I got sick for a whole week. You know what that means? No school. It was awesome."

"Any other alternatives?"

"Nope." Kase stood there for a few moments, and all I could hear from him was the crunching of the cookies. Finally, he blew out a sigh. "That spell you cast on me sucked."

That stole my attention. I glared up at the boy. "Excuse me? I saved your life."

Kase shrugged. "Only because even a little cut could make me bleed for hours. That injury I got would've healed in two seconds if I were a normal werewolf. That spell you used on me was bare minimum and it made you sick."

I glared at him, though he wasn't looking down at me. "You talk a lot for a species who knows nothing about magic."

Finally, he glanced down at me. "I do a lot of reading. So, I've come to the conclusion that you are not a magic-user."

Crumbs spread everywhere when I sprung up from my seat. I pointed my finger down at his smug smile. "Listen here, kid, I very much am 100% magic-user. Saying otherwise is very specist."

His eyebrows furrowed. "Specist?"

"Yeah. You know, like racist, but for different species."

"It's not a word."

"Okay. Not the point. All you need to know is that I am a magic user and any nitpicking you do is offensive and angers me greatly."

Kase stared at me with lips pressed in a thin line. After a while, he simply shrugged and limped back to the couch. "Okay. Doesn't bother me any. Well, it will bother mom and dad when the full moon comes and you can't do the spell."

The little shit. "Have they been talking to you about that? They don't think I can do it?"

Kase plopped back in his seat. He pulled something out of a knapsack that had been tossed to the side. He held a small gaming device in his hands and booted it up. "They think you can do it. I think you're an imposter."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Well, you'd be wrong."

Kase lifted one shoulder as his thumbs began moving the gaming device stick things. "Sure. Prove me wrong then."

"Excuse me?"

"Prove me wrong. There's a bunch of candles in the room. Light all of them at once."

I blinked. "I don't need to prove you anything. What the hell are you still doing here, anyway?"

"Hiding, remember? And, you know, I think you're hiding too."