Just a Little Magic Ch. 01

It was spacious, and very lavishly decorated. Top quality everything.

Lillian invited me to sit down, and offered me something to drink. I asked for water.

Janine sat down next to me - well, three feet away, but close enough that I caught a whiff of her perfume. Lillian returned with my water, and sat opposite us.

- "Pete," said Janine, "before we go any further, I should explain to you that Lillian is a seeress. She can see the future."

What now?

- "You mean ... like a psychic?"

Janine frowned. "No. For real."

- "Slow down, Janine." said Lillian. "He's not going to be able to make that leap of faith until I can prove it to him."

She smiled at me. "Do you believe in magic, Pete?" she asked.

- "Yes."

How could I not? I'd seen what Janine had done. More important, I'd actually done it myself. I'd moved a playing card almost an inch - with nothing but my mind. I know: it wasn't building the Hoover Dam, but it wasn't supposed to be possible. And yet I'd done it.

- "There are many schools of magic." said Lillian. "Very different talents. Janine is very skilled at psychokinetics - moving things and manipulating matter with her mind. But she has also dabbled in other schools, such as mind-reading. Does that explain how she knew which card you'd chosen, and then was able to flip it over?"

I blushed all over. Yes, that explained everything perfectly. But if Janine could read my mind, then she knew that I was in awe of her beautiful face, and more than intrigued by her legs. While I was listening to Lillian, there was still a small part of my mind trying to imagine what Janine looked like naked.

I'd already masturbated several times, just thinking about Janine. Did she know that? Could she really read my mind?

- "Yes." said Janine. There was that look again: the hooded eyes, the quarter smile.

I thought that I was about to die of embarrassment. But there was nowhere for me to hide. Lillian leaned forward.

- "Will you let me earn your trust, Pete?"

- "Umm ..."

- "On Thursday, you have a math test."

How did she know that? Okay - maybe she knew someone at my school. That wasn't so hard to figure out.

"But you don't need to study." she continued. "Because someone is going to pull the fire alarm halfway through your test."

- "What? Who?" And then I got suspicious. "Are you going to do it?"

Lillian laughed. "No. But you've had a rash of false alarms lately, haven't you?"

That was true. Some idiot - or group of idiots - had been pulling the alarm at least once a week. They didn't realize how scary that was for the physically challenged students and their teachers (we had a special class for kids with cerebral palsy, autism, Down syndrome).

We also had a popular teacher, Mr. Wales, who was in a wheelchair. When the alarm went off, he wasn't allowed to get into the elevator (he taught on the 2nd floor). Instead, he had to go to a specially-designated room, so that firefighters would know where he was.

How the fuck they were going to carry a 250 pound quadriplegic down a ladder was beyond me. I bet poor Mr. Wales shit his pants every time that alarm went off. What if it was real this time?

- "Was it you?" I said.

Lillian shook her head. "No, Pete. I wouldn't do something like that. But I know who's been doing it."

- "You do?"

- "After the next false alarm - on Thursday - you and your fellow students will find out that Rick Harmon and Jesse Swedler have been behind the false alarms."

- "What? How could you -?"

- "Just listen to her." snapped Janine.

- "Easy." said Lillian. She glared at her daughter for a bare moment. Then she looked me in the eyes.

"Trust me, Pete. I know. Just as I know that Rick is in your math class, and just as I know that your school administrators are sick and tired of these pranks."

"Do you have any idea how much money it costs - not to mention how much trouble and disruption is caused - when there's a false alarm? Firefighters and police are automatically dispatched. They have to show up."

"Jesse Swedler is going to pull the alarm on Thursday, to get his friend Rick out of that test. And he's going to be caught, because the Principal has put blue dye into the fire alarms. Anyone who pulls it is going to be covered in blue dye."

"When the police are called in, Jesse will fold. He'll implicate his friend Rick, who has also pulled the alarm 5 or 6 times."

"They're also going to catch Jesse because they're going to move one of the security cameras from its position in front of your chemistry class, to eliminate a blind spot."

I didn't know how to answer. That was ... a very detailed prediction. I knew Rick Harmon - well, enough to know that he never studied. He and Jesse Swedler were just the type of assholes who would do something like this. Still ... how could Lillian make such an accurate prediction?

- "How can you be so sure?"

Lillian smiled again.

- "Magic." she said.

"Now, if you warn Jesse that he'll be caught, he won't do it. But then you'll know that he is the one who's been doing it."

"My recommendation is that you do nothing, Pete. Well ... you could study - you'll have that test the following Tuesday. After that, perhaps we could get together again."

"It was really nice to meet you." she said.

- Keep practicing." said Janine, as she escorted me to the door.

***

I couldn't help it: I told Sammy.

I was feeling a bit guilty, for not telling him everything about Janine. But for the fire alarms ... these were people he knew.

- "No way!" said Sammy.

- "You can't tell anyone!"

- "Puh-lease. You're the blabbermouth. I can keep a secret."

- "Can you?"

- "Duh." Sammy rolled his eyes. "Wait a sec - you have another secret?"

I moved a card for him. It was still less than an inch, but Sammy's eyes just about bugged out of his head.

***

Everything Lillian had predicted came true. Jesse Swedler got caught. He ratted out his friend, Ricky Harmon. They were both suspended for a month.

***

"Now," said Lillian, "you're halfway to believing me." I was back in her luxurious apartment, a week after the events she'd predicted.

- "I believe you."

- "Halfway."

She was right. A part of me still wondered if she was a friend of our Principal, or if she somehow had access to inside information - maybe the school secretary was her sister, or something. I just ... I didn't quite believe that she could see the future.

Lillian handed me an envelope.

- "Please don't open this. I want you to leave our building. Go outside. Decide whether you want to turn left, or right. It's your choice."

"Speak to the first person you meet. Or not. Eventually, you're going to speak to someone. Once you do - open the envelope."

"Will you do that for me?" she said.

- "Okay."

Janine ushered me out again. I went down the elevator, feeling a little bit like Alice going down the rabbit hole. What on earth was I getting myself into?

The fire alarm stuff could have been inside knowledge. That would look like magic, if you were outside the loop - wouldn't it?

I was already more than halfway convinced. Janine had blown my mind, and since then, I'd freaked myself out by actually moving a playing card.

But seeing the future? That was some serious shit. I had to raise the bar for Lillian here.

Who should I speak to first? A random stranger? My Mom?

I was walking down the sidewalk, watching a complete stranger coming towards me. That could be a plant. I avoided eye contact, and went by him without a word.

Two more blocks down the street. I suddenly swerved into a convenience store. I could buy a pack of gum, and speak to the clerk. Or not. But Lillian might have guessed that I would do something like this.

I changed my mind right away. Going anywhere, near their apartment building, was unwise. I got on the bus.

That gave me a moment to realize that Janine knew my neighbourhood quite well. They could easily guess what I might do - what I might do - even if I myself had no idea.

I got off the bus one stop before where I should have.

Totally paranoid, now, I walked down the street. Then I entered the second convenience store I came to.

The cashier was a big Asian guy. I picked out a pack of gum, and paid with cash.

- "Nice day." I said - completely on impulse.

- "Yeah. Not bad." he said.

I went outside, and opened the pack of gum. I popped a piece in my mouth, and started chewing. Only then did I open the envelope Lillian had given me.

You will say: Nice day.

He will answer: Yeah. Not bad.

(His name is Lee.)

I stood on the sidewalk for a while, idly chewing my gum while my brain flipped upside down. How was this even possible?

I marched back into the convenience store.

- "Excuse me." I said. "Is your name Lee?"

His eyes went wide.

- "Do I know you?"

***

I told Sammy.

- "Holy shit, Batman." he said.

***

"You can see the future." I said. I was back with Lillian and Janine, in their apartment.

- "Yes." said Lillian. "It takes time, and it's physically exhausting. There simply aren't enough hours in the day. Besides, I don't see everything; I'm really only able to look through the eyes of a single person. It's also much more difficult with someone who isn't related to me by blood."

- "Can you ... change the future?"

- "Of course. If I saw that you were going to be hit by a car on your way home, I could keep talking to you for an extra minute. You and that car would never end up in the same place at the same time."

- "Isn't it ... dangerous?" I asked. "Aren't there, like, repercussions when you change things?"

Lillian smiled. "Well, it wouldn't hurt you or the driver of the car. I suppose you could guess at possible ramifications ... like if you were a bad person, and by keeping you alive I allowed you to hurt others. But that's a bit of a stretch, don't you think?"

"It's more likely that you would go on to do something good. But I couldn't allow a loved one to come to harm if there was a way that I could prevent it."

- "What about other people's loved ones?"

- "I can't save the whole world, Pete. If I followed ... I don't know - your math teacher, say. I could watch her for a day. And nothing bad would happen to her. Meanwhile, hundreds of other are killed in car crashes - but I didn't know about them in advance."

"Let me give you an example: imagine that Janine was going on a trip. I look into her future, and see her getting on a plane. And then that plane crashes, killing everyone on board."

"I could easily persuade Janine to change her travel plans. She would instantly believe me. But if I tried to contact the airline, to warn them ... what do you think would happen?"

I had to think about that for a moment. "They'd think you were a crackpot."

- "Exactly. But when it did crash - what then?"

Wow. I hadn't thought it through that far. "They'd call the police."

- "They would think that I was some kind of terrorist." said Janine. "I would be questioned, possibly even arrested. They would certainly investigate everything about me. Our lives would become a nightmare."

I could see her dilemma. If they thought she was crazy, they'd lock her up. If, by some miracle, they believed her - or if she proved to them that she could see the future - she'd be even worse off.

They would try to use her. My 18 year-old brain ran through all of the superhero and spy movies I'd ever seen.

Espionage, or counter-espionage, or something like that. They'd never risk losing so valuable an asset. She'd be virtually a prisoner.

- "I'm sorry." I said. "I didn't understand."

- "Thank you." said Lillian. "Now, if you're ready ... we can come to the question of why you're here with us. The reason why we began sending you birthday gifts."

I took a deep breath. "Yes, please."

- "We need to change the future, Pete." she said. "We need to protect Janine. Because if we don't, she's going to be raped on the 3rd of January, 2029. And nine months later, she'll die shortly after giving birth."

*****