Waiting for Magic Read Free

family for what we are? Or that Father’s overprotectiveness is ruining our chance of having any kind of life? We’re on lockdown, waiting for an attack that hasn’t come in more than four years. That’s not living.”
    “Yeah.” A tiny curve appeared at one side of his lips. “Besides that.”
    Could she hide from her best friend? Her brother? Technically, some cousin, but they’d all considered him family ever since the Parents took him in after his family died. What was the use of hiding? Maybe she ’d quit wondering every morning whether it was safe to go to her volunteer gig at the museum, even with her “escort” in tow, but that was just because they’d all gotten used to being prisoners of war. The whole thing could come to an end at any moment. She might as well tell him. Live for today and all.
    She looked back at her painting, feeling his presence behind her. The clouds needed to be darker to balance out the strong dark verticals of the pergola posts. A swirl of ominous threat, just like their lives. She stabbed her brush into black and mixed a charcoal, then curved a swipe that feathered into the lighter gray of the clouds. That was better. She always seemed to paint more cohesively with Devin around. He grounded her.
    “Earth calling Kee Tremaine,” Devin called, as though from a distance. “There’s a question hanging. It’s not polite to ignore people.”
    Case in point: grounding. Well, she could start with the obvious answer. “Autumn, I guess. Time passing.” But that was only part of the reason she was restive.
    “You’re only twenty-two, Kee,” he said softly.
    “Almost twenty-three. Old enough.”
    “Yeah.”
    “I keep waiting for lightning to strike. That’s how Father said it happened for him with Mother.” She turned to stare at Devin. “And Tris was obsessed with Maggie from day one. Drew saw Michael on TV, for goodness’ sake, and that was it for her.” She sighed. “But lightning never strikes me. I never even meet people now that I’ve graduated, except at the museum.”
    “Kemble is thirty-six, and he hasn’t found the One.”
    “Which is why I think it … it may pass some of us by. Maybe I’m never going to get it.”
    Devin stood up. “The only ones living at the Breakers who will never get magic are Mr. Nakamura and me. It’s in your genes, Kee. When you find the One with genes to match, you’ll fall in love and get the power, whatever it is. Destiny.” He shrugged and looked away.
    “That’s another thing,” she added darkly. “They each got a power that had to do with what they were good at.” She paused. Could she say this out loud? It was the other half of her pain. She took a breath. “What am I good at? My painting is competent, but not brilliant. ‘Not an auspicious talent.’ That’s what the review panel at UCLA said.” Something seemed to be sitting on her chest. “And what kind of a power would art be, anyway?”
    He chuckled. “First you’re afraid you’ll never find your soul mate and get a power. Now you’re afraid it won’t be a cool power.” He grabbed the brush out of her hand and set it on the little table that held her paint box. “Come in for lunch with me before I head back out.”
    When she looked mulish, he softened. “You can’t make it happen.”
    “I’m not good at being patient.”
    “No. So in the meantime, have fun. Be impulsive. You’re good at that. Go on a date.”
    “With paterfamilias requiring bodyguards everywhere we go?”
    “Tammy managed that prom for homeschooled kids and her date didn’t even know she had shadows. They’re discreet.”
    “ I’d know they were there,” Kee muttered. “I don’t know how you can be so patient with them trailing you all over UCLA.”
    Devin shrugged. “They’re nice guys.” He chuckled. “Not overly fond of oceanography when they attend lectures with me. I think they don’t like the math part.”
    “Or the botany part, or the computer modeling,