Spellbound Pt. 01

Thanks to WAA01 for the edits.

******

Imagine, if you will, a parallel world just like ours, yet so unlike ours. Where science is now the mainstay of our world. Magic, or more precisely magjols, have been the main stay of this similar Earth since man had learned how to harness it. Like ours this Earth has had wars committed in the name of some god, atrocities committed at the hands of soldiers who were following orders of their leaders to cleanse the gene pool of those who didn't a have single trace of magjols in their bodies. However, as the ages passed, and enlightenment came to the world of man, wars have become a thing of the past. In their place duels between representatives of quarreling nations have taken the world by storm. While the system isn't perfect, it had led to a lasting peace, of sorts, for the past five hundred years.

"You cheating bitch!" His father's voice thundered through their home. His pale blue eyes glanced over to the two siblings cowering in his room. He's known for a while, how he knew he couldn't say it was just a feeling he got when he looked at them, that they were not his siblings.

"Keep your voice down the children will hear you!" His mother hissed.

"I don't give a flying fuck if those two brats of yours know their mother is a cheating slut!" They all heard the smack that resounded loudly in their home.

"I understand you're angry with me Jason, but you don't need to call me or the children names just to make yourself feel better."

"The fuck you say, this is my house, I'll call those whinny little brats any damn thing I want. Don't like it there's the fucking door!"

"Fine! I thought we could be civil about this, I guess I should have known better."

"What and allow you just to walk all over me! Go fuck yourself Amanda, you're pussy isn't that great."

"Very well if this is how you want to do things. We'll see you in court. A commoner like you has no chance of winning against nobility like my Edward." His anger burned in his veins at what he was hearing. He was at the age where his magic was beginning to manifest itself, like it was that day, as the knickknacks he had gathered in his child-like innocence dotting his room began to shake violently. "He thought you might do this so Edward already talked a judge into giving me temporary custody of Adam."

"You are not talking my son from me so you can whore yourself out to this... asshat!" Again, Adam heard the slap, and still it didn't phase him. He was in agreement with his father. He wasn't going to go with her just so she could do whatever it was she did with this Edward.

"Get it through your head, Jason, as tiny as that brain is of yours, you can't stop me. If you try you'll find yourself in jail. Do you want that?! Huh! Do you ever want to see Adam again? Fight me on this and you will never see him again! Am I clear!" Amanda screamed out at the top of her lungs. "Just face it Jason, I don't love you anymore. Just sign the papers, get on with your life, this isn't as world ending as you're making it out to be," she said, in that condescending voice of hers that Adam knew so well.

"Nah, just nine years wasted on a cheating slut when I should have married Mandy, at least she's truthful, unlike the bitch I'm staring at!" Jason spat.

"Please," rolling her eyes, "I saved you from a life of misery," Amanda said, waving off the statement. "Now this kind constable will keep an eye on you while I fetch the children's things." An evil light played along her eyes enjoying the rage she saw in Jason's eyes.

"You better take every last scrap of their crap with you if you don't I'll burn it all. And you better believe your so-called beloved Edward," Jason sneered at the name, "isn't going to like the press when they learn that a so-called noble can't even take care of his own bastard children. If you thought you were sneaky about it, you're dead wrong."

"And all they'll see is a hurt, angry man whose wife got tired of living a commoners life when a noble one is the one she desires," Amanda said, from over her shoulder.

"I curse you Amanda, I curse you so everyone will know your true self," Jason growled his magjols shimmered in his eyes as he silently cast the curse on his soon-to-be ex-wife.

"Oh no! A curse! Whatever am I to do?!" Amanda taunted as she walked down the hallway to her eldest son's room. Knowing how her other, better, children would always find their way to his room whenever she or Jason raised their voices, which had grown in frequency over the past few months. She was a little annoyed that her news wasn't hurting Jason like she thought it would have. He had to have known about her and Edward before she told him she was leaving him. She would have thought he would be happy since she wasn't asking anything from him not even child support. She knew she could talk Adam into permanently staying with her... or so she thought until she saw the look in her son's eyes. A look of sheer hate within their depths. "Jill go help your brother pack, we're going to go live with daddy," Amanda said sweetly, looking down at the two children she had with Edward.

"Yea! Daddy!" A three-year-old Jill said happily, before taking her fraternal twin by the hand and leading him to his room.

"Adam..."

"I hate you," Adam seethed angrily, or as furiously as a six-year-old could.

"You must have heard that fight," softening her tone, "I understand you must right now, but this is for the best. Edward can give you everything your father can't," Amanda said, in a motherly voice.

"Except he isn't my Dad!" Adam shouted out.

"Don't say that, give Edward a chance, you'll see. The life of a noble is better than... this," Amanda said, gesturing around the room.

"I'm not going!"

"You are, so the sooner you pack the sooner I'll show you your new home," Amanda said, trying to sound upbeat about it. Sighing loudly when Adam grew stubborn, "Pack," she said forcibly, "enough for two weeks, Edward will get you better, more status fitting clothes later. And no crying!" Amanda barked when she noted her son's quivering eyes. "Get it done! Or you can wear nothing!" she growled stomping out of Adam's room to check on her more important children.

"Don't worry Adam, I'll have you home soon," Jason whispered into his son's ear as he held a weeping Adam close.

"Come on, Adam," yanking her son out of his father's grasp, "we're leaving, you've already made us late," Amanda grumbled dragging Adam behind her while he screamed out for his father. "You're making this tougher than it needs to be," she huffed, pushing Adam into the back of the car Edward had sent with her.

Adam pressed his tiny face against the glass of the window. Yearning for his father to save him. He had no wish to go live with his mother. Even being so young he had seen both sides of his mother, her public face and her private one. He knew he was only a prop for his mother to make herself look good. That's all she ever really cared about. His father, while strict, Adam knew his father loved him, unlike his mother.

"Really, Adam?! It's not like you won't see your father again," Amanda sighed rolling her eyes at Adam's childish display. Arching an eyebrow when she felt something surge in her son when Adam glared at her. "I guess it is time to have him tested. Won't it be great if Adam tests well and studies under Edward," she giggled into her mind. "He'll see, this will be good for us," Amanda said to herself.

In truth, it did not go well for Amanda or Edward the moment Adam was forced to move into that manor of Edward's. Adam was difficult on the best of days, and others he wasn't controllable, or controllable enough, for the nanny's Edward hired to look after the children. However, that all changed a month into his exile from his home. Due to the class structure of the world around him, nobles and royalty could pretty much get away with murder so long as nothing pointed directly at them. Those who knew Jason knew he wasn't suicidal as the papers had reported. Nonetheless, they all suspected that Amanda and her future new husband had a hand in it. What of Adam? He knew first hand they had a hand in his father's death given how he had overheard them laughing about it one night. And so began the coldest of the silent wars known to mankind.

"Adam, what's the meaning of this?!" Amanda hissed standing in a room that was meant for the servant's living quarters. Noting how all his belongings, minus the items she and Edward had gotten him since moving in, were displayed around the room. "This isn't your room, yours is upstairs beside your brother."

"He's not my brother," Adam spoke coldly, from his sitting position on the floor a rudimentary book of magic open across his lap. "And why do you care where I sleep. You're not here anyway," he uttered factually, knowing the number of times he's seen his mother since moving in could be counted on one hand, with fingers left over.

"Adam, I expect everything packed up and back in that room before dinner, am I clear?!" Amanda said, in an authoritative voice.

"If I don't." Adam replied combatively.

"Adam, I know you're mad about your father's death..." A chill ran up her spine as those pale blue eyes of his shot up to her.

"I hate you; Dad is dead because of you. I wish it was you!" Adam yelled loudly for all the household staff to hear.

"Adam, son, you don't mean that," Amanda spoke thinking it was just her son's grief talking; proving just how little she knew her own child. Looking behind her when she felt a hand on her shoulder. A smile rose the corner of her lips, knowing she had made the right choice in divorcing Jason as her eyes fell on Edward.

"If he wants to stay here that's fine, he is, after all, a commoner's son. He doesn't know what refinement is," Edward said, putting on airs. "Give him time, the children are looking for you." Amanda nodded and started to hum as she walked up the stairs to the ground floor. "Listen you common rat, I don't care where you sleep, you could sleep in the gutter for all I care, yet you're mother insisted I take you in. So either get on board or I'll send you away where they teach real men manners," Edward said, with contempt.

"Go ahead. I don't want live here anyway," Adam uttered in defiance.

"Be careful of what you wish, boy," Edward sneered as he peered down at Adam.

"So if I wished you dead, would it come true?" Adam asked, with a wicked smirk.

It wasn't more than a month later that Adam found himself being shipped off to some boarding school he'd never heard of. As he looked out at the surrounding ocean some few hundred feet below them as he stepped out onto the landing of the floating island that housed the school for high class children. He knew he just traded one prison for another. Then again, he wouldn't have to look at the people who had caused his father's death.

"Maybe a year here will teach you that our home isn't so bad," Amanda said, in a disapproving voice causing her son to turn to look at her.

"Yes, your home. You destroyed mine, and this place will be ten times better than living with you. So don't patronize me, you killed everything I loved, I hope you choke on it." With that Adam left his stunned and shocked mother behind to start a life that didn't include, or involve her.

During the breaks, he would contact his grandparents to see if he could stay with them during the interlude. Both sets were furious at his mother; his father's parents hated his mother's guts with a passion; while his grandparents on his mother's side were very disappointed in how she had handled things. Yet in order to see their other grandchildren they spoke very little about the event that lead to his father's death. So in order to keep from running into his mother's other children, Adam never saw them as his siblings, he would stay with his father's parents. If he couldn't, he would make sure they wouldn't be around before staying with his other grandparents. When neither one was free, Adam would stay at the school doing whatever just to have a reason to be on the grounds during breaks. However, there were times when he was forced to return to that manor. How he hated each and every time. As Adam was forced to do so twelve years later on his final spring break where those in his class would seek out colleges or private mentors to advance their magical learning. Which Adam was about to start in two weeks, hence his dreaded need to return home since he was no longer a student there.

His mother had learned over the years that it was wise not to bother to show up to pick him up. Adam had nothing he wanted to say to her. Whether this hurt his mother or not he really didn't care. His eyes flickered up and to the left noting the runes that powered the contraption as the driver dealt with the high winds that hammered the floating island.

"Good morning, Master Adam," the driver greeted as Adam slid into the rear seat.

"Adam, just Adam, I'm not those snotty nobles," Adam stated for the hundredth time.

"Your mother can't wait to see you," the man said, ignoring Adam's remark.

"Uh-huh, I'm sure she waiting on pins and needles," Adam said, sarcastically.

His pale blue eyes stared out the windows watching how those with wealth flew by in their expensive cars that took the place of the old fashion brooms. While they were still in use, in the poorer parts of the world, most, if they had the money that is, opted for the rune infused cars that were invented over a hundred years ago. Adam preferred the broom over the runed cars. He could never feel the flow of magjols around him when he was in one of the things like he could when he practiced, and subsequently, mastered his father's broom which his grandparents had saved from his father's teenage years.

Glancing down at the city of his birth after a few hours of flying. Noting how the commoner area of the city had grown since he'd been away while the tier where the nobles and royals lived hadn't changed much. Loathing filled his heart as they drew near to Edward's estate. His eyes ran over the servants who had gathered once he had opened the car door. His fingers wrapped around his bookbag, the sound of the fabric sliding along the leather seat filled his ears as he stepped out of the car. He hated how his mother forced them to stand out there every time he returned. Speaking warmly to them as he passed them; it wasn't their fault that they couldn't disobey his mother's orders, after all they were just like him: commoners. Then the coldness of the air set in as his gaze fell upon the woman who ruined his life -- his mother.

"It's good to see you well, Adam," Amanda spoke in a warm tone. Her green eyes ran over her son's body noting how he looked so much like Jason, also noting that same disgust in his eyes when he looked at her.

"Surprised that some noble hasn't put a dagger in my back?" Adam retorted. While the servants were wise enough not to voice their shock at his words, it wasn't hard for Adam to tell, after all, speaking to a noble so blatantly had ended many lives. He didn't care if he went to the chopping block for it, he wasn't about to have them stifle his voice.

"I see your tongue is as sharp as ever," Amanda uttered narrowing her eyes.

"Mom, why must we deal with this common... thing?" Edward Jr. asked, in that snobby voice that Adam has dealt with for the past twelve years.

"He's your brother, it's not his fault he was born to the wrong man," Amanda said, cutting her eldest son down while comforting her youngest one.

"You and I have a difference of opinion on what's the right, or wrong, man," Adam sneered as he walked past them towards the servant's entrance.

Shaking her head in dismay at the sight of her foolish son. She knew Edward could do such good things for Adam if he would just let him. It would seem to her that her son learned nothing while at that high class school. "Come junior, let's go back inside," Amanda said, turning her son towards the entrance.

"Two weeks," Adam groaned once the door to the servant's quarters he always used, when he was forced to be there, closed. A smile lifted the corners of his lips at the welcome notes that the staff had left for him. Then a devious grin took it's place as he noted his father's broom tucked into the corner. Tossing his bag onto the bed, grabbing the broom, making sure the coast was clear before making a mad dash for the servant's entrance. Adam howled in joy as he took to the air to head to the one place that felt like home in the past twelve years.

Amanda stared dumbfoundedly at the empty room after she had come to check on Adam in the room she had had her servants prepare for him only to find it unused and unoccupied, quite like the room she was currently standing in, "Where's my son?" Amanda demanded once one of the many servants walked past the room.

"I don't know madam; I haven't seen him since his arrival."

"I see," Amanda muttered, her eyes darted to and fro knowing there were only two places she could think of that he would be at. "If he returns at a reasonable time, tell him I wish to speak with him," she stated before walking off. "What are you doing you ungrateful child?" Amanda seethed low so no one could hear. She knew Edward wanted to see him as soon as Adam got settled in, to talk about his future. A future where she hoped Adam was wise enough to see that could only be achieved with Edward's help.

******

The next day...

"Where the hell have you been!" Amanda shouted as she stood in the doorway of the bedroom her son had taken. "Why are you flying a broom! You could kill yourself! We have drivers to take you wherever you want!"

"No, you, have drivers to take you where you want. I'm just a commoner, getting by with what I have," Adam said, his thumb tapped the shaft of his broom. "As to where I was, that's private."

"I'm your mother?!"

"Since when?" Adam shot back. "A loving mother would listen to her son when he tells her he hates it here. A loving mother wouldn't laugh with her douchey lover about the death of his father. No. That's not you at all, now is it?" he asked, with a pointed look, noting his mother's wide eyes.

"I did this for us!" Amanda stated trying for the hundredth thousandth time to make her son see.

"No, you destroyed my life for you, all for you. It's always been about you, and what you want. I was the last thing on your mind when you ruined my father," Adam said, darkly.

"I see," the mask of civility slipped showing her son the materialistic, vain woman Amanda had become since his time away, "you're going to give this all up?" Amanda asked, with a pointed look. Knowing no one was foolish enough to pass up the chance to get out from the overbearing work that awaited those born to the common life.

"In a heartbeat."

"Then everything I've done for you..."

"Was for naught."

"Then why even bother coming back here?" Amanda asked, confused.

"To tell you goodbye. The moment I'm gone, it's the last time you'll ever see me," Adam said, factually. That was his plan anyway, he couldn't say what will happen years down the road.

"Then why wait? If you hate it here so much why not leave?"

"To piss you and that pompous douche you married off to no end," Adam said, evilly.

"You're right I should have left you with your father," Amanda sneered in disgust at what her son just told her. "If that low born life is what you want, go! Don't let me stop you, Gods forbid I try to give you a better life..."

"Never asked you to, I was quite content with the low born life, as you call it, before you had my father murdered," Adam said, narrowing his eyes hatefully.

"I did not have Jason killed!" Amanda seethed in rage. "So stop fucking saying it!" Getting within an inch of Adam's nose, her anger burned in her green eyes at the audacity of what her son was giving up. She was offering Adam an easy life yet he constantly threw it back in her face.