Conflicted: Keegan's Chronicles (4 page)

“We’ll sort this out, Anna. I’m sorry and
you are right. You need someone to guide you in your
abilities.”

There was an awkward pause while the two of
them stared across the open album at each other.

“Mother, the real reason I wanted to talk to
you is because of Keegan.” Anna clasped her hands together on the
table and stared down at her chipped blue nail polish. “When you
brought her back, you took away her bond to her chosen.”

“I know, and there is nothing I can do about
that.”

She searched her mom’s face and said, “Are
you sure? If you can take something away, there must be away to
give it back?”

“Anna, I’m sorry. Dark magic is not known
for its kindness. The loss of her bond is a small price to pay for
her life. She will be fine.” Jennifer took a sip of her juice and
remained calm and collected.

“Sure, just like you are fine? Look how
great your marriage has worked out for you. Elves are the only ones
that have this secret way of finding their perfect match. Do you
think it’s fair to take away Keegan's chance at happiness?”

Her mom stared with intensity at her fingers
and avoided her daughter’s gaze. “Anna, I am unable to help her. I
wish I could.” She looked up; her soft brown eyes caught her
daughter’s. “However, there might be someone that can. The light
witch that took me in has since passed to the other side. She does
have a daughter, Magdelena, who happens to be an extremely powerful
witch. She might know of a spell that could reverse the damage I
caused to the bond.”

Anna breathed a little easier. She closed
her eyes and allowed herself a bit of hope that she could help her
best friend. Not only might she be able to help Keegan but she was
finally going to meet a light witch. Perhaps the woman would give
her the guidance she had ached for.

“Where does she live?”

Jennifer frowned. “Well, that is the tricky
part—I am not sure. It might take me a while to track her down. I
will make inquiries right away. Anna, don't get your hopes up. It’s
likely what I did is not reversible. Please don’t tell Keegan and
give her false hope. She needs to accept the fact that it may never
return. It would be cruel to make her think otherwise unless you
had concrete information.”

“I won’t say anything to Keegan.” Anna
looked over at her mom. “I’m glad this is all out in the open now.
I have so many questions, I don’t even know where to begin. I have
to say it’s kinda cool that my mom knows black magic.”

“As much as I’ve wanted you to think I’m
cool over the years, this is not the way I wanted it to happen.”
Her mother raised an eyebrow at her daughter. “Black magic can be
very dangerous, Anna.”

“I know, Mom. I don’t want to learn black
magic. I want to learn the ways of the light witch. I want you to
be proud of me.” Anna was kind of embarrassed to admit it.

“Honey, I have always been proud of
you.”

Anna smiled, relieved. She went on, “You
seem to be happier lately. Are you and dad doing better? I haven’t
heard you fight in a while.”

“No, actually, we are not. I just feel
better about myself and have realized I don’t need to be married to
be happy. Keegan’s mother gave me a healing and I feel like my old
self again. It’s such a wonderful feeling.” Jennifer reached across
the table to touch Anna’s hand. “Honey, there is something you need
to know.”

“What?”

“Your father and I will be filing for
divorce soon.”

Anna took her hand away from her mom’s and
crossed her arms across her chest, her heart pounded. “That sucks,
Mom.”

“I’m sorry, Anna. I have tried.”

“I know you have,” Anna sighed. She rested
her elbows on the table and put her face in her hands. “I’ve been
expecting you guys to divorce for years. I wish dad wasn’t such a
jerk to you.”

“It’s not really his fault. It’s not easy
for humans to be involved with the gifted.”

“That’s a lame excuse. Why do you stick up
for him all the time?” Anna looked up with a glare and let her
palms rest on the tabletop.

“He’s your father and I will always love
him,” Jennifer said. She shrugged. “Speaking of humans, any
progress with Xavier?”

“Nice job on the subject switch. There
hasn’t been any progress. He just doesn’t see me as anything more
than a friend. I think he’s interested in a cheerleader at school.”
Anna’s lower lip jutted out in a pout.

“I’m sorry, honey. I know you care about
him. Maybe you should start dating someone.”

“Sure, the guys are knocking down my door.”
Anna rolled her eyes at her mom.

“Why wouldn’t they be? You are beautiful,
intelligent and original.”

“It’s the last one. Not all guys are into
chicks that change their hair color at the drop of the hat and
don’t conform to society.” Anna pushed her recently dyed pink
fringe behind her ear.

“Well, it’s their loss.” Jennifer gave her a
beautiful grin.

“Of course, you aren’t biased or anything,”
Anna joked, taking a sip of her juice. It was some kind of grape
juice and it had gotten warm while they talked.

“Of course not. Do you want something to
eat?” Her mom stood and moved to the fridge, opened the door and
bent down to shuffle through its contents.

“Sure, what are you making?”

“How about a grilled cheese sandwich?”

“Ah, yeah! How could I turn that down?”

Jennifer was silent as she pulled out the
cheese, bread, and butter. She put the skillet on the burner and
turned it on and said, “Anna, I’m glad we had this talk. I hope
Magdelena can help her get the bond back. Keegan does deserve to be
happy. Although, I think she can find happiness without the
bond.”

“It’s worth looking into,” Anna replied. “I
feel kinda responsible since my mother is the one that broke the
bond.”

“Don’t forget I also saved her life.”

Anna watched her mom butter two slices of
bread and slice the cheese, before tossing the sandwich in the
skillet. She told her mother, “I can’t imagine life without Keegan.
It still doesn’t seem real that she died. It’s just so bizarre.
Thank you for bringing her back.”

“I’m glad I was able to help. Keegan is a
good girl.”

When her grilled cheese was done, Jennifer
placed it in front of her and they chatted about school while Anna
finished off the sandwich.

On the table at her elbow, her phone buzzed.
It was a text from Calvron.
Time to play.

“Thanks for the food and the talk mom. I’m
excited to meet Magdelena. I’m going to go hang out with the
guys.”

Jennifer waved her off. “All right, well
have fun, and I will let you know as soon as I hear anything. We’ll
talk more about this later.”

Anna grabbed her phone, ran up to her room
to change and replied to his text:
Can Keegan come?

Of course

K, see you soon

She sent a quick text to Keegan,
On my way over,
we’re going on an adventure
.

An adventure?
Keegan loved surprises.

She got up from the couch where she’d sat
and flipped through all the television channels and ran upstairs to
change.

Adventures usually required sneakers. Keegan
grabbed her Puma trail shoes and threw on a pair of jeans along
with a band tee. She picked out a hoodie too since she was always
cold. She didn’t bother with make-up.

She ran down the stairs and yelled to her
parents, “Going out with Anna!"

When she opened the door, Anna’s old, rusty
Buick pulled into the driveway. Keegan yanked open the door and
said, “Good timing!” She jumped in the car and excitedly asked “So,
where are we going?”

“Right now we are going to get Lauren, and
after that you will officially be invited into the club.” Anna had
her pink hair tucked under a lacy white beret and wore an electric
red cardigan sweater with black skinny jeans that had glittery
hearts on one leg. She signaled when she turned out of the long,
gravel driveway that led back to Keegan’s house and took a left
onto the main road.

Keegan glanced over at her profile. “What
club?”

“We call it the ABC club,” Anna flashed a
grin, “Amazingly Beautiful Creatures”.

They had a club and she wasn’t aware of it?
How could they keep
all these secrets from her?
Keegan’s anger built; she
noticed this happened a lot more lately. When she started to get
mad, her body felt colder. She tried to think happy thoughts right
away, which warmed her back up. Keegan reminded herself that at
least she was invited now, and she was curious to see what it was
all about. She didn’t respond, and instead turned to stare out the
window at the passing scenery.

Lauren was in her driveway when they
entered. She looked like a star as usual. Her Hollister sweater was
pale peach and form fitting and her khaki corduroys were perfectly
pressed over her leather slip-on shoes. She slid into the backseat
with a bright greeting.

They headed out of town down a windy,
two-lane road beneath a bright and clear autumn sky. In the
distance, Keegan watched the Appalachians draw nearer, a
never-ending sea of fiery, rolling hills. Every so often, her
family would pack a lunch and drive to the mountains to hike for
the day. The Appalachians always felt so magical and surreal,
standing like soldiers over their town.

Anna turned into a hidden drive in a grove
of trees and the car crunched down a long unpaved road for several
minutes. After some time, they pulled over into a large clearing,
and Keegan noticed Spencer’s truck along with Calvron's red
mustang. There were also several others that she didn’t
recognize.

They stumbled down the rocks of a small
hill. “Where are we going?” Keegan asked. Anna and Lauren just
laughed but didn’t answer. They came to the bottom where Keegan was
entranced to find a wooden door that stood on its own in the
grass.

“Keegan, open the door!” Lauren yelled and
shooed her toward the door with her hand.

Fascinated, Keegan peered around the wooden
frame. There was nothing but more grass and woods behind it. She
circled around it and then turned back to her friends with a
puzzled look on her face.

“Just open it,” Anna giggled.

Keegan grabbed the handle and yanked the
door open.

What she saw left her speechless.

It looked like a magical wonderland. It was
like she’d stepped onto the page of a make-believe land in a novel
or a movie. Yeah, that’s what it was like: walking into the movie
Avatar
.
Everything was bright and cheerful. The plants and the flowers were
lush and exotic, while the trees soared high over her head and the
distant patter of rain on the canopy met her ears.

Lauren put her hands on Keegan’s back and
gave her a shove. “Yeah, yeah it’s magical, just get in there.”

Anna stepped through with Keegan and nudged
her shoulder, “I told you Calvron was amazing.”

Keegan turned wide eyes to Anna, her mouth
open. “He did this?”

“Yep,” Anna nodded. Her incredible bright
green eyes surveyed the landscape. “He can create a whole alternate
world. We come here to play and be ourselves.” She gestured around
them.

Keegan looked closer to where Anna indicated
and could see there were several different magical creatures
already there with them. Of course, you couldn’t miss the three
huge, beautiful cats that sauntered their way. She laughed when
they rubbed up against her legs like they were pets and she could
have sworn the tiger was purring. That would, of course, be Donald.
She reached down and rubbed behind his ears, catching his big eyes
with her own while he leaned his soft face into her hands.

Keegan watched Spencer in his panther form.
His green eyes were shocking next to his black fur. And Sam, even
as a lion, was the most beautiful of the group. They nudged against
Lauren and Anna playfully, and tried to get them moving. “One
minute, let her take it all in, we don’t have to start right away,”
Lauren chuckled to Sam while she ran her hands through his lion’s
mane.

The big cats lay down and stretched out
lazily and Spencer and Sam batted at each other with their giant
paws. Lauren’s wings unfurled behind her and Keegan reached out to
touch one of the stars that danced around them, but her finger went
right through it.

She glanced over at Anna and thought,
Wow
. Both of
her best friends were so beautiful, there was no doubt about that.
Calvron’s magical land only seemed to enhance their beauty, just
like the flowers and the rest of their surroundings. Anna's eyes
were always a startling color of green, but they were even more so
here, almost a match for the vivid green color of the foliage. It
was as if she were staring into emerald jewels instead of eyes.
Everything about them was different. They almost looked like
animated versions of themselves, their eyes larger and skin
aglow.

Neither of them wore their regular clothes
any longer, either. Lauren wore a sparkly dress that fell in pretty
pink strips to her knees, while Anna wore a satin black sheath with
bell sleeves.

Keegan couldn't help but wonder what she
looked like. Too bad there wasn’t a mirror around. She looked down,
surprised to find that she wasn’t in her jeans and t-shirt anymore.
Her dress was an ankle length green affair with a form fitting
bodice and a flowing skirt. She smiled.

They looked awesome.

***

Donald wasn’t sure he could handle this.

Seeing Keegan always left him in awe of her
beauty, no matter where they happened to be. In this magical world
with her beauty enhanced to its fullest potential, being near her
was almost too much to bear.

He tried not to stare, but it was like he
could sense her everywhere. Whenever he turned to find her, he
couldn’t help but get lost in her, only shaking himself out of his
daydreams when he realized she was looking back. He battled with
himself not to watch her every move.