Magic Lessons Read Free Page B

mum was there, too, and she was as mad as Reason’s. It’d be much easier if they went together. Less foul, anyway. Ever since his sister, Cath, had moved to America, Tom hated visiting his mother.
    Tom missed his sister heaps, even though she was not well pleased with him. She didn’t buy his crook explanation for having suddenly arrived in New York City and then even more suddenly racking off, leaving his backpack behind. Both he and Dad’d spent hours on the phone with her since, but she didn’t believe a word they said, which was fair enough given that it was all a crock.
    Tom ached to tell Cathy about magic. He didn’t understand why Mere insisted she not know. Every time he asked Mere about it she’d say, That’s just part of being magic: sometimes you have to lie. But Cath could keep a secret, and not telling her was wrecking what was left of his family.
“A note’s better than nothing,” Jay-Tee said.
    “I guess,” he replied. “You don’t think she’s run away again?”
“Nah,” Jay-Tee said, mouth full of jam. “No way would she run anywhere without me.”
I’ve known her longer than you , Tom thought but didn’t say, even though he really, really wanted to. Then he realised that if he calculated the amount of time he’d spent with Reason rather than how long it’d been since they’d first met, Jay-Tee was the one who’d known Ree longer.
“She didn’t take anything. Reason would take something—”
“If she’d done a runner,” Tom finished for her. “Yeah, you’re right. She’ll be back.”
“ Done a runner ?” Jay-Tee pulled her you-talk-funny face. “That’s retarded. You talk even more spastic than Reason does.”
Tom fake-yawned. “When in Rome, Jay-Tee.” He poured some more Coke into his glass. They’d have to get rid of the bottle before Mere got home; she didn’t approve of soft drinks.
“It’s not Rome, Tom, it’s Sydney.”
“When in Sydney, then.”
“No way am I ever going to talk as spastic as you guys. Except for spewing . I’ll use that one.” Jay-Tee cleared her throat loudly. “ Maaate ,” she said in the worst attempt at an Australian accent Tom’d ever heard. “Mate, Mere’ll spew if you buy that Coke.”
He did not sound like that.
“ Spew doesn’t just mean getting angry , you know. It also means throw up . You know, as in: Jay-Tee ate so much jam it made her spew. Heaps.” He took another sip of his Coke, wondering if it tasted so ace because it wasn’t allowed.
“As if. I never puke. Anyway, moron, spew means throw up in America, too.”
“Come on, you never chunder? Even when you drink champagne? You said you and Reason drank that stuff all the time when you were in New York City.”
“But I never spewed.”
“Whatever.” Tom wished Reason would get back. Jay-Tee wouldn’t be so cranky if Ree were here. Even more, he wished it was time to start their magic lessons. Mere’d said they could start as soon as Ree woke from her epic sleep. Which she had yesterday, and then Mere’d said they were all still too tired and she’d begin the lessons today, after work.
He hadn’t had a proper lesson with Mere since Ree had shown up. Unless you counted the trick Mere’d done in New York City. She’d placed her hand on him, and then he’d started to feel awful, a burning sensation up his arm. He wasn’t in a hurry to do that again. Still, it’d helped them find Reason.
“Do you think we’ll really start today? Lessons, I mean.”
Tom nodded, startled. Could Jay-Tee read his mind? “That’s what Mere said.”
Jay-Tee snorted. “That’s what she said about yesterday, too.”
“We would’ve if you hadn’t kept falling asleep.”
“Me?” Jay-Tee said, glaring at him. “You were the one who kept yawning the whole time.” She waved his protest away. “What’s it like?”
“What’s what like?”
Jay-Tee rolled her eyes. “Magic lessons, doofus. What are Esmeralda’s lessons like?”
“Well . . .” Tom paused, overwhelmed