Just a Little Magic Ch. 15

JUST A LITTLE MAGIC Chapter 15

From the very beginning?

- "That could take a while." I said.

Nobody smiled. This was an official hearing - a Commission of Inquiry. My fate obviously depended on what I was going to tell them. I didn't even think of trying to lie.

"On my 13th birthday, a package was delivered at my door, anonymously ..."

I did as they asked. I told everything: the subsequent deliveries, always on my birthday, my growing interest in magic, and my first clumsy attempts to perform magic tricks.

My 18th birthday, when Janine showed up in person. How my life changed completely on that day. Her revelation that Bill wasn't my father.

- "Speaking of which - where is my real father? Is it really Robert Clifford? Is he still alive?"

Eileen cleared her throat. "Robert Clifford is your biological father. He lives in Florida, with his 2nd wife. He plays golf every day."

- "Lillian told me that he was an Archmage. Far too powerful for her and Janine to oppose."

- "He's a retired insurance salesman." said Eileen. "He has talent, but ... he's no Archmage."

I was stunned. My real father, to me, had been the bogeyman all along - the great villain - even though I'd never seen him. I'd been expecting something like Darth Vader, or Lord Voldemort ... instead, he was an insurance salesman?

Somehow, Janine and Lillian found out that my Mom had a powerful aversion to magic. Her family had forced her to marry an abusive asshole, just because their union would combine two talented bloodlines. Mom had resolved never to tell me about magic, to protect me. Or was it to protect herself?

Had Lillian simply read Mom's mind, before choosing me as their pawn? Then she and Janine had concocted a tale to bring me on board, portraying my birth father as some kind of demon, evil incarnate. They'd convinced me that I should never, ever look him up - and then they'd thrown on a spell forbidding me from seeking him out, just for good measure.

- "Are you ready to go on?" asked Eileen.

I picked up my story. Janine and Lillian had taught me to use magic - I remembered Eileen's comment about me riding a bike with training wheels, and Anna comparing me to a lamp with the dimmer switch on.

All of this I had to confess in front of my best friend, and the woman I loved. I felt about two inches tall.

Then I had to tell them about my reward for diligently practicing my nascent magic skills: Janine had been my Prom date. My first sexual experience. The focus of my existence, if I had to be honest - and I was.

Poor Sophie had to listen to me relate how I'd been completely bewitched by a strikingly beautiful woman, who'd effortlessly seduced me.

- "Who else was at the Prom with you?" asked Anna.

- "I'm guessing that you already know." I said. "Sammy was there. His date - Penny - was provided by Janine and Lillian."

- "Thank you." said Eileen. "Go on."

The next bits were difficult. I was sure that Sophie didn't want to hear about the one-night stands Janine had encouraged me to pursue. Or had I really needed any serious encouragement?

Yes ... I remembered: I wanted Janine, and only Janine - but she pushed me to go out and practice seducing women. Dana, the very first. Eva, Janine's poker-playing friend. Daisy, my bounce-back, which Janine organized (and filmed - without my knowledge) after the painful breakup with Michelle.

Gina, Melissa and Laila. I surprised myself a little by remembering their names. Brooke and the astonishing Candice, who spent several days with me before admitting that she was cheating on her boyfriend. For some reason I remembered her puffy nipples.

Helene and Ginette. That crazy night in the hotel room, when Sammy and I, together ... while Janine watched ...

- "I'm sorry, Sophie." I said.

- "You hadn't even met Sophie, at that point." said Anna. "Carry on."

Poker. Using my mind-reading skills to cheat. I was completely embarrassed, but none of my inquisitors seemed at all fazed by my admission.

Our first shows. My growth and progress with my mind-reading skills.

Danielle.

I backed up my story, and told about how I'd re-encountered Michelle. I had a momentary qualm: hadn't I made Sophie suffer enough? And wasn't there worse to come?

But they'd asked for the truth. And the truth was - after my obsession with Janine - that Michelle was the first girl I'd fallen in love with. I was already sexually active, but I'd held back, to honour her wishes ... and Janine had torpedoed that relationship.

Michelle was ... what I might have been.

Then I'd met Danielle - my first experience with the power of serendipity. We were well-suited, in so many ways. I'd been faithful to her, continually finding ways to keep Janine from discovering that I wasn't having sex with multiple women - or any woman, except Danielle.

The shock of her breaking up with me - for reasons I wasn't to learn for several years. I didn't even dare to look at Sophie while I was telling this part of my story.

Professional success. Penn and Teller.

And then that most amazing day, when Sammy and Trish had come together, and I'd met Sophie.

Now I could look at her. She knew how much that day had meant to me. One person on my tribunal, at least, knew that I wasn't lying.

The list. Lillian and Janine had finally told me the nuts and bolts of their plan. The names of the 'women in question', and their locations.

I had to look at Sammy, at this point. He'd known that some of our tour schedules back then made no sense. Now he knew why. It hadn't been my doing, really - but by that point, I was so enmeshed in Lillian and Janine's plot that I would have defended anything they suggested.

Now I had to address the reality of what I'd done. I'd seduced 9 women - and it would have been 11, if Elodie from Brussels hadn't been gay, and Esther from Johannesburg hadn't been opposed to extra-marital sex.

Truth be told, I felt that I should have been confessing to all 12 of the women on 'the list' (except for Janine). I had to look Sophie in the eye as I explained what the plan entailed: seduce, and then impregnate. Against their will.

Lillian and Janine might have cast the spells, but I was their willing accomplice. I got to fuck my way around the world, and enjoy the charms of many more women.

How had I managed to reconcile what I was doing with what I felt for Sophie?

Maybe I hadn't ... I'd tried to tell her. Honestly - I had, only to fall violently ill. The fact that she'd nursed me, babied me ... didn't make me feel any better.

I told my listeners that I'd proposed marriage to Esther.

That hit home. Sophie gasped aloud. She didn't say anything. She didn't have to: I could see the pain in her eyes.

Whatever illusions about me she'd cherished were being shattered. I was a liar, a cheat, a charlatan Casanova ... I couldn't help myself. I felt the tears come to my eyes, as I finally felt what I'd known (or should have known) all along: I'd hurt the one person I loved, above all others.

Whatever penalty, whatever punishment they decreed for me ... I deserved it.

- "Tell us about Atlanta." said Rodney.

- "Atlanta?"

- "When you went to impregnate Breanna."

***

I don't know how long the questioning went on. At several points, they backtracked to ask about something we'd already covered, or to seek additional details. It didn't occur to me at the time, but they were probably doing this in order to make sure that I wasn't lying, or skewing my account to make myself look better.

As if there was anything that could possibly make me look better.

- "Do you have any questions for us?" said Eileen.

I did.

- "If the story Lillian told me about my father was all a lie ... how did she really find the 12 women?"

- "Matchmakers. She pretended to be your mother, asking on your behalf. Matchmakers keep records of births to parents with talent. That way, those who want to keep magic in their bloodlines can find suitable mates. It's not at all unusual to inquire about people born on specific dates, for astrological compatibility."

- "You mean - astrology is real?"

- "For mages it is."

- "Anything else you want to know?" asked Anna.

- "Yes." I was afraid to ask, though. "I once asked Lillian ... what we were going to do if one of the woman in question - one of the 12 - had a boyfriend, or if they were married. She assured me that they were all single. But she was wrong about Elodie, wasn't she? Was that another lie?"

Anna looked at me very sternly.

- "Breanna had a boyfriend; Lillian put a spell on him to make him leave her. Tamara's husband left her without warning, for the same reason."

- "Irene's fiancé?"

- "Yes." said Anna. "He was caught in bed with another woman, a local tramp. Ri's boyfriend left her, too. Lillian confessed that she'd engineered all of those breakups."

Sophie had closed her eyes, and turned her head away. I couldn't blame her; I didn't want to look at myself, either.

I knew how Irene's confidence had been shaken by her boyfriend's betrayal, and how traumatized Tamara still was, when I first met her, because of her husband's desertion.

There was nothing I could say to excuse such a horrible thing. 'I didn't know' sounded hollow and pathetic, even to my own ears. I'd known - I was just too stupid to see what was right in front of my own eyes.

- "Anything else you want to know?" said Anna.

- "Yes ... is there any way I could do something to ... to make up for what I did?"

- "That's a very interesting question ..." said Rodney. He glanced at Eileen.

- "We'll let you know." said Anna. She stood up.

- "Wait - can I ask one more question?"

Rodney nodded.

"What happens to Janine and Lillian?" I asked.

I wasn't about to intercede on their behalf. I just didn't know if witches had prisons, or how they punished transgressors. Truth be told, I was more worried that Janine and Lillian might try to take revenge some day.

I wasn't afraid for myself, really. But I was concerned that they might go after my parents, or Sammy and his family, or Sophie ... or any of the other women.

- "That's none of your business." said Anna, rather sharply.

- "He has a right to know, Anna." said Rodney. He turned to me.

"Lillian and Janine have been subjected to powerful geasa. It seemed fitting that they should have done to them what they did to others."

"Their wealth has been confiscated. From now on, 50% of their earnings will be donated to worthy charities. They cannot do any harm to the women on their list - or to their families. That prohibition has been extended to include you and Sammy, and your families."

"They are also barred from ever using magic again."

***

My own fate was decided late the following day.

- "Peter," said Rodney, "you were among Janine and Lillian's victims. In one sense, you were their first victim."

"Fortunately for everyone concerned, they made a serious miscalculation when they chose you to be their tool. They expected that you could easily be swayed to become a rake - a notorious seducer of women, who reveled in promiscuity for its own sake."

"They thought that you would be the proverbial kid in a candy shop, gorging yourself on the sweets, satisfying your lusts at every opportunity."

"They never expected you to be a serial monogamist. That, it turns out, was probably the key element that weakened their hold over you. Had you not already been doubting their word, you might never have noticed the full moon while you were with Breanna in Atlanta."

"We find that you were more sinned against than sinner."

I realized that I'd been holding my breath. I let it out with an audible sigh.

"That being said ..." continued Rodney. "You were an accomplice in the seduction of 11 innocent women. You deceived them, and knowingly participated in the plot against them."

"You asked, the other day, what you could do to atone for your acts. That speaks in your favour - but that is also your punishment."

"You must apologize to the women you've harmed - and make restitution."

***

You might think that I got off lightly. I certainly thought so - at first.

The Truth and Apology Commission (as I began to think of it) was a little more complicated than I'd anticipated. I wasn't going to be allowed to make my apologies in private.

Aunt Anna and Eileen were going with me, so that they could remove the spells and enchantments Lillian had cast on the 11 women. They were expecting two spells in particular - geasa, again.

#1 You love Peter. He's hot. You want to have sex with him.

#2 You want a baby. You want Peter's baby.

It would be embarrassing enough to have Anna and Eileen around when I talked to the 11 women in question.

It was even worse when I learned that Sophie was coming with us.

- "WHAT?"

- "You don't want me along?"

- "No - it isn't that ... it's ..." I didn't want her to witness my shame.

- "I know what you did, Pete. You admitted it to all of us."

- "Sophie ..."

- "Tell me the truth." she said. "How do you feel about me?"

There it was.

The one question I'd been dreading - not because I didn't know the answer. I did. But would she believe me? If the roles were reversed, would I believe her?

Tell the truth. Live with the consequences.

- "I love you, Sophie. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I will always regret that Janine wrecked my relationship with Danielle - I was very happy with her."

"But if that hadn't happened, you and I would never have met. I mean ... we would have met, but ... there wouldn't have been anything between us."

"I know that I've hurt you. I have no idea how you feel. I have no defence. I was stupid, and susceptible. I'm ... so ashamed ... I don't know what to say ..."

Sophie reached out, and took my hand.

- "It's not about what you say, Pete. It's about what you do."

Sophie didn't have enough holidays to take the time off. Instead, she asked for a leave of absence. She was already so valuable to her employers that they didn't dare to risk losing her. Leave was granted.

***

Lillian and Janine's entire wealth had been confiscated. I was surprised to learn that they'd had over $2.4 million dollars in the bank.

- "How did they have so much money?" I vividly remembered working my ass off, at poker tournaments and magic shows, to build up a 'war chest' - when Lillian and Janine already had ten times more than I could provide.

- "Lottery winnings." said Eileen.

I could only shake my head. That was exactly what I'd suggested, when my mentors had said that we needed money. They'd fobbed me off with silly explanations - which I'd accepted without question.

- "What a maroon." I said - describing myself. Was it the spells on me - or was I just that stupid?

- "That money is ours to dispense." said Anna. "Actually - it's yours. You will be the one to decide how much we give to each of the 11 women."

- "Twelve." I said.

- "I don't want any of that." said Sophie.

- "It's not up to you." I said. She frowned at me, but she let it pass.

***

# 7 Ashley Chicago

She was more than a little alarmed to find me on her doorstep. I'd called Ashley, to warn her that I was coming - but I'd neglected to mention that I was bringing three other women with me.

Ashley was surprised. Then worried.

- "Pete - what's going on?"

I handed her two six packs of her favourite beer (she had appalling taste in beer).

- "We have to talk, Ashley."

It wasn't easy. I felt like a rat ... no, that's not quite correct. I felt like a piece of fecal matter as I began to explain to Ashley why we'd met.

Her face fell, early in the telling, and I could see that she was shrinking, visibly wilting as I told her why - and how - I'd seduced her.

The fact of the matter was simple: Ashley hadn't needed a spell on her to fuck me. She would've done it for the price of a couple of drinks, or for a few kind words. That realization hit her hard - like a punch in the guts.

- "Magic?"

- "It's real, Ashley." I said. "You yourself come from a magical bloodline. That's why you were targeted."

Ashley was shaken.

- "You mean - there was a spell on you? To make you like me?"

- "No." said Eileen. "The spell was on you: to make you fall in love with him."

- "We're here to remove those spells." said Eileen.

- "You can do that?" asked Ashley.

- "That's why we came."

Aunt Anna insisted that I be present, to assist - even though all I did was sit there and watch. It was worse than I'd expected.

'Pete is hot' was one spell. 'You want to fuck him' was another. 'You love him' was a third. Then there was 'You want a baby', and 'You want Peter's baby'.

It was awful for Ashley, to learn that she'd been magically raped. It was pretty bad for me, too, because Sophie was sitting right beside me, quietly watching and listening.

Ashley hadn't expected the pain. But instead of being angry, she was ... disappointed.

- "I thought you liked me."

- "I do." I told her. "I didn't expect to - but I do. You're a really nice person, Ashley."

- "Is that why you didn't fuck Lindsay?"

- "Lindsay?" asked Aunt Anna.

- "My friend. She offered, but Pete turned her down."

- "I was only here for you, Ashley." I said.

I was all too aware of Sophie sitting next to me.

- "Fuck." said Ashley. "I was a complete idiot."

- "No - I'm the complete idiot." I told her. "Janine and Lillian played me - just as they did to you. But I genuinely like you, Ashley.

- "Because I have big tits, and I let you fuck me?"

- "No. You know there's more to you than that."

It took several hours - and quite a few beers - to convince Ashley that I'd truly liked her, regardless of the fact that she'd been so willing to fuck me.

- "Would you really have gotten me pregnant?"

- "Yes. I thought that I had to. To ... to save your life." It sounded so stupid, so ludicrous now. I heard myself saying it - yet I could barely remember how completely I had believed everything Janine and Lillian had told me.

Ashley seemed to be having trouble reconciling two things: I'd come after her with the express purpose of seducing her against her will - and yet I'd treated her better than any of the guys she'd ever been with.

She was even more confused when I handed her a cheque for $100,000.

- "What is this - a payoff?" asked Ashley.

- "More like compensation, or restitution." I said. "The money was Lillian and Janine's, so it only seems fair that you get some of it, to ... make up, in some way, for what they did to you." I didn't tell her that Eileen and Anna had left the amount up to me.

- "So what happens now?"

- "Now?"

- "Will I see you again?" she asked.

- "Ashley ... Sophie was my girlfriend - before I met you. I don't know what we are now, because I did the same thing to her that I did to you, but ..."

- "I get it." Ashley gave Sophie a long, appraising look. Then she turned back to me. "If it doesn't work out, though ... you have my number."

***

Sophie had a question for her Aunt. She asked it in front of me.

- "What if Ashley starts to tell people that magic is real?"

- "Who would believe her?" said Anna. "Even if they did - what's one more conspiracy theory among the thousands? 'Witches are among us?' - please ..."

***

#1 Breanna Atlanta

- "You took advantage of me?"

Once the spells on her had been removed, Breanna was seriously annoyed.

"How could you do such a thing?"

- "I was under spells, too." I said. "I thought that I ... had to, to save you."

- "Yeah, right! You snaked me into bed out of the goodness of your heart. I'm going to the cops - I'm going to sue your ass off!"

Aunt Anna calmly asked Breanna what she was going to charge me with. Then she reminded her that she had no proof of any wrongdoing on my part.