The Dragon's Cure - Shaun

Chapter 34

The chirping started softly, but grew louder as feet stomped towards the living room and back again. It had to be Chezlin, since Luke still had his giant tree trunk arms wrapped around Shaun.

A beep and then her voice washed over him like a soothing balm, calming his rage and clearing his vision.

"Shaun? I'm sorry for disturbing you, but is there any chance that you could come over? Only if you're not busy right now," Amanda asked.

"I am never too busy for you. Is everything okay? You sound really upset," Shaun said when he heard her breath shudder through the speaker of his phone.

"Yes, I just really need to talk to someone and Jenna is still at the house. My par- uhm, they said something that really upset me and... and I kinda... I just need to talk," Amanda stumbled over her words.

When she took another shuddering breath and he heard her sniffing, his hands closed into fists and said, "I'll be there in ten minutes. Five if I can get Charles to fly faster."

***

Ten minutes later, he slowly made his way to her open front door. His grip tightened around the doorframe as his eyes scanned the wreck that used to be Amanda's living room. Smashed tables; Dents in the walls and pieces of the lamps that made those dents laid where they fell; Books scattered haphazardly all over every surface in the living room. It looked as though there had been a fight, but he saw no blood or bodies.

When Shaun stepped through the open door, he heard sobbing. "Amanda!" he called out and saw a shadow against a wall through an archway.

"In the kitchen. Watch your step. I had a little temper tantrum before calling you."-She walked to the arch between the two rooms looking down at the floor.-"One good thing came from my little tantrum, the only good thing, really... I don't have to replace anything I broke."

Her outstretched hand formed an eight laying on its side and she mumbled a few words in latin. Pieces of furniture, lamps and plaster from the walls, started moving across the floor, searching out the other parts they belonged to, and up the walls to cover holes. Shaun's skin prickled as though he had a whole colony of ants crawling all over him.

In less than two minutes, her living room looked like she had only moved in a few days before. Shaun looked on in amazement and walked over to a beautiful lamp, shaped like a woman.

"It looks brand new," he said while running his fingers over the smooth head that, minutes before, had almost made it's way into her kitchen.

He turned to her when she didn't answer and saw her sad smile before she turned away, walking back into her kitchen. His skin itched again, right before a gust of wind blew the door closed. He shivered and then followed her to the kitchen.

Amanda stood in front of a basin with her arms crossed and then a click drew his attention to the kettle. It seemed to have turned itself on.

"I only have tinned coffee. If you prefer tea, I have some herbal stuff that Jenna likes," Amanda said.

While Shaun scanned the small, almost sterile kitchen, he said, "Coffee please. I only drink tea when I have to."

The white surfaces and tiled floor seemed to reflect the light as much as the metallic finish of the fridge and stove. While his attention was drawn to the stove that seemed as new as the day it had been installed, he heard the clinking of cups, but when he turned, Amanda still stood fixed to the same spot.

Two cups floated through the air towards an out of place picnic table in the centre of her modern kitchen and when Shaun raised an eyebrow, pointing at the cups, Amanda said, "I found that book we had to hide from my mother. It read like an instruction manual, without actual instructions, but somehow I am able to use the spells by thinking them.

"The weird part is that I have never been able to do anything without copying someone else. One of the ladies in Nana's coven would do something and... I don't know. It's almost like being at school and the teacher shows you how to do a math problem and then you understand it better than the textbook explained it."

"It could be that all you needed was to be shown how to do it a few times and now all you need is the spells. When we were younger, my mother used to show us how to do things and after a while, we developed our own way of making things happen. Like building the link. It just happened one day.

"I wanted to ask Luke something we had been busy with in class. I can't remember what it was, but I saw this rope or string forming in my mind. This image of Luke appeared and it looked like this rope tried attaching itself to this image. Suddenly I could hear and feel Luke. All his panic became mine and his thoughts flooded my head. It took us a few days to get used to it and develop a way to block each other out.

"I only built the link with Chezlin when he got a bit older. He had enough problems dealing with all the pain and emotions of everyone around him. Anyway, my point is that Mom had to teach us how to develop our powers and use our magic to get the best results," Shaun said.

Amanda avoided eye contact, still trying hard to seem strong. She merely nodded her head, but her shoulders relaxed along with the death grip she had around her waist.

The rich aroma of coffee filled the room as she poured the boiled water into the cups and stood stirring them. Her eyes seemed to shift around the room and her mouth opened once as though she wanted to say something, but decided against it.

Shaun eventually took her hands in his and turned her to face him. "Tell me what's bothering you. I can't help if I don't know where to begin. They clearly said something that distressed-"

"I'm supposed to get married in three days," she blurted out.

"Over my dead body! Not unless you're marrying me!" Shaun shouted.