For Love of the Cake Ch. 14 TG-GB

Chapter 14

Before I could formulate any kind of plan we were outside the gates of my childhood home. I stood at the call box outside the gate. Waiting to press the button knowing there were cameras on me and my friends. Someone was always watching. I was stalling. I stood there with my finger outstretched, hovering an inch from the button.

“Tom Wolfe says you can’t go home again,” said Tim.
“Shut up, Tim,” I responded.
“Well just get this over with,” said Yolanda. “What’s the worst that can happen? They call the cops and we are easily found by our pursuers.”
“That sounds pretty bad to me,” Natalie said.
“Just hit the damn button,” said Jessica.

I pressed the button and it buzzed.
“Hello,” a voice said. “We were wondering when you were going to press the button. What is it you want?”
“Tell your boss that Edgar has come home.”
I held my breath. Everyone held their breath. The gate opened.
“Should we take the car inside,” Jessica asked.
“Eh, why not,” I said shrugging.
We passed through the iron gates and beyond the brick walls.

“Well at least they let us in,” said Natalie trying to look on the bright side of things. “They could have just sent us away.”
“It might be easier to hide our bodies on the property,” Tim said cheerfully.
“They probably won’t kill us,” I said.
“It isn’t like they couldn’t over power us,” Yolanda said. “There are two of us that can’t even put up much of a fight. One is recovering from an intense magic spell. The other is an old woman. I also wouldn’t count on Tim being much of a challenge.”
“Thanks, grandma,” Tim said.
“Nobody is getting killed ok? We aren’t fighting either,” I said trying to dispel any further discussion of the topic.
“Ok everybody out,” said Jessica.
We stepped out into the drive way. I walked around the car. As I walked up the steps the door swung open. There stood my parents. It had been years since I had seen them. If anything they looked better than the last time I saw them.

“Hi, Mom, hi, Dad,” I smiled while waving. “It’s me, Edgar. There’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for why I don’t look like me.”

There was a long pause. No one moved. Even Tim knew he should keep shutting up.

“We know what happened. It isn’t like we aren’t kept informed,” my mother said.

Yolanda walked next to me and whispered in my ear, “Why didn’t you say you are descended from one of the most powerful families in the area.

“Ok they have a lot of money. I didn’t think it was relevant to my particular situation,” I said gesturing at my body.

“Your parents are two of the most powerful magic users in a 2000 mile radius and you didn’t think that might be relevant?”

“What?!”

“You didn’t know,” she asked me now using her regular volume. “How could you not know?”

“Really,” I looked over at my parents. “Are you really magic users,” I asked them.

“All of you might as well come inside,” said my father.

We crossed the threshold and were lead to the sitting room where my parents entertained guests. The house was for all intents and purposes unchanged. Same wall paper and same decorations hanging on the walls. Same carpets and same furniture. The only things that seem to have changed were the flowers in the vases.

We sat on the couches and chairs in the sitting room. Everything was properly awkward and uncomfortable. Not least of all because last time I was in this house I swore never to come back.

“First of all, to answer your question, yes, we are both magic users,” said my mother.
“Alright well, how come I was never let in on this? Shouldn’t I have noticed something,” I asked.

“Simply put, we used magic to make sure you didn’t find out. It wasn’t that hard. You didn’t have any magical powers but all of your siblings did so we had to train them. Usually we got you to leave the house for some reason or another. Sent you to the city or to your friends’ houses. We used magic to make it seem like your idea if it seemed like you were going to get in the way. Usually we didn’t have to though.”
“So why don’t I have any powers,” I asked.

“A random quirk in genetics,” Yolanda responded. “Tim’s mother, my daughter, has powers but Tim doesn’t. Though it is rare for one child to not have powers in a family where everyone else does but it isn’t unheard of.”

“Ah thank you Yolanda. How did an old timer like you ever get mixed up in this,” my father asked. “How did our son even find you?”

“Hey wait a second, before we fill you in, how about explaining why you two never bothered to let me know what was going on,” I asked

“Plausible deniability. If you were captured by our enemies you couldn’t reveal what you didn’t know. Those enemies are why we had you train all those years to fight,” said my father.

“Well I suppose that makes a certain kind of sense…If you cared more about yourselves than you did about me. I’m glad I left. I shouldn’t have come back,” I said. I got up to leave. Natalie got up right after me to follow.

“If you want to go, let’s go,” she said.

“Kid,” Yolanda said to me. “We’ve got nowhere else to go. We were lucky to make it off the island and we’re safe here. You might not like it but if we get out on the road right now as we are…it’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel for those bastards chasing you. And the rest of us would be collateral damage. Even their own family member here,” she continued, indicating Jessica. “The two of you can leave with them,” she said to Jessica and Tim. “But if they will have me I’m staying here.”

“Of course you can stay,” said my mother. “I’m sure there’s much a…senior magic user of good standing can teach us.” There was a light almost mocking tone in her voice as though she was talking about taking in an old, crippled animal.

“Don’t talk about her that way,” I snapped. “She’s actually been helpful. I’ve gotten just about nothing from the two of you.”

“It’s alright, kid, I can take it,” Yolanda said. “But if you walk out of here then you’re in for a world of trouble. They will track you down. And you will be lost. And so will anyone who goes with you.”
I knew she was right. I sighed and walked back to the couch and slumped down.

“So, what are we going to do then,” I asked.

No one seemed to have an answer.

Tim was less than thrilled with the entire situation. “Well, your family has been ever so delightful up to this point, how can we even avoid staying,” he asked sarcastically.

“You’ll keep a civil tongue in your head under my roof,” my father said.

“Yeah? Well you can take your civility and shove it, old man,” Tim responded. “I’ve already been bamboozled by these people once. They cast a spell on me and I want payback. I say we just charge them. Jessica here knows all of the secrets of her family, right? Why don’t we just take that knowledge and bust in there and force that old hag to change Edda back?”

“Ok, sure, if you want to die in a frontal assault be my guest,” my dad said.

“Alright, Tim, you’ve made your point,” Yolanda said. “Now, we’ve got a lot of smart people here. Let’s put our heads together and figure out how to get out of this.”

“Is there some kind of a secret way in we could use,” Natalie asked Jessica to begin the brainstorming.

“Yes, but it is always guarded,” she responded.

“What if there was some kind of distraction,” I asked. “Something nearby that might make them leave their posts.”

“They aren’t exactly the guards at Buckingham Palace. I imagine something might get them to leave,” said Jessica smiling.

“Ok, so that’s the first step,” Tim said. “I’m pretty sure I can handle that. Since I don’t have any powers or whatever taking on just regular people is probably my best bet.”

“I’m not so sure,” Yolanda said clearly worried. “I don’t want you to get hurt, boy.”

“Look, everyone else is risking everything. I can’t sit on the sidelines and watch.”

“Well if I lose my grandson then I will be losing everything.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t let you down and I won’t get shot…probably. That’s going to have to be good enough.”

Yolanda nodded grudgingly while looking him square in the eyes.

“We have a problem,” Natalie said. “We might be able to get inside, but then what? We don’t have anything that old lady wants. What’s to make her do what we want?” She looked at Jessica. “In fact I’d be willing to bet she’d be fine with killing almost all of us.”

“I don’t know about that…” said Jessica.

“Well shouldn’t the three of you have enough power to overcome anything she throws at us,” I asked.

“In theory, you’d think so,” said Yolanda. “But I’m still training Natalie, so she isn’t quite ready for a prolonged fight. She trained Jessica and that means she’s probably got some tricks up her sleeve that can take Jessica out of the fight. That just leaves me and I’m not sure I can take her alone.”

“Well shit…” I said.
“Exposure,” said my mother suddenly.

“What,” asked Tim.

“She’s afraid of exposure to the world at large of her powers,” she responded.

“How do you know that,” I asked.

“Because I’m afraid of it,” she said. “Almost all of us who have these powers are. We’ve built lives for ourselves and families. Exposure would take everything away from us. Either people would want magical solutions to their problems or we would be vilified. Maybe both.”

I thought about this.

“How far are you willing to go,” Yolanda asked me softly. More softly than I ever imagined she could. “If you bluff she might call it. If you decide you will not bluff…I can’t support you. I can’t risk exposure either.”

Without hesitation I said, “If it comes down to it, I won’t do it. I wouldn’t risk putting people like you and Natalie in danger like that. Even if it meant I couldn’t change back.”

She nodded. “That’s what I thought. You’re too soft. But you have a good heart and maybe that’ll be enough.”