The Shadow Sisters

[E1] Chapter 30 - Hannah Cole

Hannah spun around. She was lost in the crowd as everyone went wild for the next song, You're Always my Everything. In the swirling mass, she glimpsed hundreds of costumed faces.

Eventually, though, all of that blurred spinning landed her back with the boy.

Callum regarded her with a cocky grin. He constantly had to brush strands of hair away from his eyes.

"You again," she said.

"Me again," he said after a boyish shrug. "I'm a stubborn one."

"Yeah, you're like a carpet stain."

He tossed his head back and laughed. The motion caused his hair to go everywhere.

Around her, things were frantic, until the song drew to a slow verse, then, as if under a spell, the crowd calmed.

Callum leaned in. "Can I ask you something strange?"

Hannah raised an eyebrow, suspicious. "Sure?"

"Do you believe in magic?"

Hannah stared at him, noting that his eyes were serious and devoid of all humour. She pondered the question before asking, "What do you mean?"

"Well we have science, right? Things that can all be rationally explained through the laws of physics, biology, and chemistry, right?"

"I guess."

"All I'm asking is if you believe there are things beyond all that, which defy such laws."

"It's a weird question to ask someone you just met."

"I happen to think it's the perfect question."

"Well, I suppose there must be something."

Judging by the way he crinkled his forehead, Callum was surprised by that, as if he'd prepared for an argument but was thrown off by her welcoming stance.

"I only mean, humans have always been proving previous generations wrong and ignorant, haven't we?" That was one lesson she'd taken away from her old physics teacher, Mrs Bernard, on one of the rare occasions she tuned into one of her long lectures. "All that we know is built on a foundation of misconception, broken hypothesises. So I believe that it would be very egotistical to think we're the generation to have it all figured out, that we'll never discover anything new or be proved wrong by the future."

"But is that the same thing as magic?"

"I don't know. I would think that magic is just something that adheres to laws we don't know about yet."

"That's... interesting."

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, see, I have a sort of feeling from you."

"A feeling?" she asked, concerned as to where this was going.

"It's like a sense, of which few are capable of perceiving. It sort of feels like a mixture of static and magnetism. You feel it in your skin, but there's also a deeper pull, a taste and a smell, but also something beyond all of that, wholly unique, in a way that's impossible to describe unless you've experienced it yourself."

"Are you saying you're drawn to me? That's a bit cheesy, isn't it?"

Callum chuckled. "I'm not speaking in metaphors. It's a literal physical sensation. It's telling me something about you right now, in fact."

"Oh, what does it tell you?"

"That you are very, very special."

Hannah snorted. "Well, you're a little bit forward, aren't you?"

"You think so?"

"Uh huh. If you're going to flirt, try going at it with a defter touch."

"When I'm flirting, don't worry, you won't know that it's happening. The charm will have swept you away long before you ever realise your feet have left the ground."

"Oh, really?"

"Have you ever heard the example of the frog in the heating water pot?"

Hannah shook her head.

"It's a good one." Callum glanced over his shoulder. As the song sped up, he leaned close, so he could be heard. "You don't get it right now, and that's okay. Things will become clear soon enough. But I fear that it's my solemn duty to warn you that you and your entire family are in mortal danger."

Hannah pulled away, angrily. "That is not funny."

Callum wore a distant, almost glazed expression. "Yes. It's still far too early for you. And yet, the feeling is strong. I can't fathom what you'll be capable of when... Well, you've only been in Willow Town for a little while. It'll grow. Right now, you're a plant that's finally found the right soil, the perfect conditions."

"How do you know that?"

"It's just a feel-"

"No, I mean, how do you know I've only been here for a little while? Have you been stalking me?"

"Listen, if there's any trouble, any at all, you won't have to find me. I'll know where to look for you."

"That's very valiant of you," she said sarcastically, "But I don't need your protection."

"You're wrong about that."

The crowd swelled around her and everything became a frenzy once again. When it settled, Callum was gone. Even after searching for him, there was no trace that he'd ever been there.

Soon, Hannah located her friends again.

Alex grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her to keep her from being toppled over by a large hairy man. "Hey, where did that cute boy go?"

"He wasn't that cute, was he?" Joe said.

"Yeah," Stick said. "He was sort of shabby looking if anything. I guess you could find that appealing."

"If you're into that sort of thing," Joe said.

"Well, I thought that he was very handsome. Not traditionally so, but there was something striking about him," Jasmine said. "I was actually hoping that he might have been coming over to talk to me. Sadly, he only had eyes for one."

Hannah looked to all of them, feeling a warmness rise into her neck and cheeks. "Well, you know what? I decided I didn't really like him."