Page 13 of To Teleport, or Not to Teleport?
I didn’t bother telling him that my things were in the same spot as they’d been Friday, before I’d teleported out of there. “Did you need something?”
A series of keys were pressed before Kenny pushed back from the computer. “I just wanted to come by and apologize for Friday. I tried doing it over the weekend, but you must have been out the two times I swung by.”
I leaned back onto my desk and wrapped my fingers over the lip of the top. “Apologize for?”
“I didn’t realize you were friends with McCune.”
Ah, he wasn’t sorry for what he’d said, only that I was affronted by his insults. He paused three feet from me, and I stopped myself from leaning farther back.
“Well, now you know. If there’s not anything else, I really need to get ready for my day.”
A moment passed, and I forced my body to remain relaxed, even if I wasn’t. Kenny gave me a short nod and turned when a student poked their head in.
“Thanks for the run, Ms. Sniffer!”
“Same time tomorrow, Mitchell,” I called back, even though the kid had disappeared from view.
Dropping my chin to my chest, I sighed. I was tempted to suck in a deep breath, but after the last vision of Kenny’s extracurricular activities, I wasn’t willing to risk it.
The rest of the day went by rather smoothly, if I ignored the fight I’d broken up on my way to lunch. Two young witches had filled the hall with smoke when their tempers arose over their mutual interest in a boy. Hormones at any age were a pain in the ass, but among the young magical population, they could lead to holes in the walls and curses that required hours of untangling. I didn’t have time for any of it. As it was, thoughts of Grayson had plagued any free thought I had.
Once I’d collected my personal belongings, I unlocked my phone and found fifteen missed texts from Cami.
Cami: Did you hear?
Cami: Was it one of your visions?
Cami: Is Gray okay? I haven’t had a second to check in on him.
Cami: Damn it, Aileen!?
Over time, the messages became more annoyed and riddled with creative strings of curses. My magic hummed in my veins, similar to how I’d felt when Kenny had trash-talked Grayson and when I’d been outside of Grayson’s shop.
Curious, I gave in to the worry Cami’s texts caused me, and when I blinked, I was no longer on school property. The problem was I was no longer in the center of town.
“Barnacles!” I muttered as I spun in a circle. “Where am—”
My gaze landed on a house tucked behind a few trees, a dirt path leading up to it. Searching the area around me once more, I realized I was on the edge of town. The magic deterring humans from staying too long stretched about half a mile to my left, which meant the town was either to my back or to my right. Goddess knew I wasn’t going toward the house. For it to be on this side of the magic, a magical being had to own it, and I had no intention of finding out who. Clearly they wanted privacy if they lived on the outskirts of town.
Slipping into the tree line, I slowly picked my way back toward town, or the direction I guessed it was. I debated calling Cami to come get me, but I decided against it. Learning to teleport was taking me nearly a lifetime longer than the average witch, and she would want details I wasn’t sure I had. I may have given into the feeling, but it still felt like a fluke.
I was theworstwitch.
Feeling something familiar, I stopped abruptly. I peered around and found myself alone, save for the birds flying around in the trees.
I’d only managed to teleport after giving into the worry Cami’s texts had caused. I supposed I sort of understood that, but I had no idea why I’d appeared in the middle of nowhere. Shaking out my arms at my sides, I envisioned my library.
“This isn’t working.” I groaned after a few tries. “Wait! This has to be tied to my emotions. Andnow,I’m talking to myself.Perfectlynormal.” I rolled my neck and released a sigh.
Recalling my worry, I focused on the cozy feeling my home library filled me with when I curled up with a good book. The familiar buzzing I’d felt before, like a low-frequency electrical pulse dancing along my skin, started on my scalp. Homing in on the feeling, I shut my eyes and willed it to run down my entire body, ignoring the slight fear I’d teleport only half of my body somewhere if I messed up.
When I didn’t hear Rita’s snarky voice or any change in sound, I opened my eyes.
“Holy Cow.” I found myself standing at the stairs leading up to the house I’d seen a hundred yards out.
“I did it again,” I whispered to myself. Only, I didn’t understand why my magic kept pulling me to the abandoned house. Wait, it wasn’t abandoned at all. The front porch had been recently stained, if not entirely replaced with fresh wood. Close up, I realized the two-story home was inviting and well cared for. Flower beds had been cleared, the dirt freshly turned and ready to accept whatever vegetation the owner decided to plant.
My curiosity urged me to go up the stairs and figure out why my magic kept pulling me there, but I knew that was how people died in horror movies. “No thank you,” I muttered as I stepped back and stumbled on one of the stones lining a walkway to the stairs. My bottom hit the ground, followed by my elbows. The house stared down at me, mocking my clumsiness and failure to teleport properly or at all. “Ugh!”
