Jacob stared at the leaf in his hands and thought of the flight that it had once made. Wishing that it could fly like that forever, he imaged that there was no earth for the leaves to fall upon. Instead, they would swirl and dance on the air for all time.
The leaves on the ground stirred and rustled around him. They wanted to obey his will. He looked over at the sound and they settled once again. He shrugged, not sure what it was that he'd heard. But he didn't see anything now.
He returned his focus to the bright leaf in his hand. He wasn't sure what the allure was, but it was difficult for him to look away. The bright red gleamed with the thin film of water on it. The veins in the leaf marked out darker lines that traced out the leaf's life force. Just like the the lines in his own body.
The other leaves could hear his call and they rose up from the ground. They wanted to dance for him. Would he release them? This time he did not look to the sounds that were around him. His whole mind had fallen into the vast microcosm in his hands.
With the air still, the leaves swirled around him and flashed their colors. They glimmered from yellow to orange to red. The browns faded out and they were vibrant again. The glorious fall was renewed and they could hold onto it forever!
"Jacob, it's time for dinner!" his mother called from the back porch.
Jacob's gaze flicked up from the leaf to where his mother stood on the porch with her hand now covering her mouth. The leaves fluttered back down to the ground as he got up. Dropping the leaf, he ran.
"Coming mother!"
She shook her head. She didn't know what she had just seen, but it couldn't mean that he had magic. There must have been a stray wind. But the nagging voice in her head could not dismiss it. There had been too many strange things happening around Jacob. Other people would soon notice it too. What then?
Once he'd climbed the porch stairs, she wrapped her arms around him and embraced him fiercely. She would protect him. She had to. Nothing would happen to him. It couldn't be that way.
"Mom?" Jacob looked up at her. "Why are you crying?"
She chuckled. "I just love you so much."
All this happens around him and he never noticed. Never knows that it isn't the way things are for everyone. It was the way that the world has always been for him. Magic was in his blood as it had been in his father's, but he could not suppress it. How had her husband learned to do it? There was no way that she could teach him that art when she herself had never known the whispers of Gaia.
Jacob pulled back from her and smiled.
"What's for dinner?" He moved into the house; skipping and laughing.
She sighed and followed him. The world is so beautiful and wonderful in his eyes. There were voices that speak to him that she would never hear. But he is unaware of the forces in this world that would destroy him.
The dishes clattered as he set the table for the two of them. She brought the pot from the stove and set it on a pot holder that he had set in the center of the table. He always put their place settings next to each other rather then across the table from each other. It was one of the many strange things that he'd done since he was very little.
Ladling out the hot soup into the bowls, she thought about her husband. They were so much a like; father and son...
The dogs barked and she looked out the window. There were strangers coming up the drive in a small black car. She went to the porch, giving her son a gesture to remain at the table. He obeyed her and continued to eat; blowing gently on the soup. She watched the car pull in and stop.
A tall man in a black suit got out from the passenger side and a stocky woman got out from the driver's side. They stood next to the car a moment before they moved towards her.
The man's hair was long and swayed around his thin frame. His brown skin was so dark that it almost appeared to be black. His eyes were an impossibly rich green. His appearance made her think of freshly tilled earth and falling leaves. His movements were quick, but fluid.
The woman was significantly shorter then the man she walked with. She was round. Her skin was pale to the point of looking as though she were ill. It made Jacob's mother think of the people she had seen who had bled to death. The woman's hair was cropped short and was as pale as her skin. Even the blue of her eyes appeared faded. She looked used up.
"I have come about Jacob," the man said as he reached the porch.
"Well, my husband died several years ago," she said. They really got to the point, she thought.
"No. I mean his son." The man adjusted the knot of his black tie as though it were irritating his skin.
"And what business would you have with a child? Who are you?" She wrung her hands into her apron as though she were drying them.
"I am Kamaitachi, I was a friend of the boy's father," he said.
"Then why have I never met you before now?" she put a hand on her hip and glared at him. Stabbing pains churned in her stomach. Who are these people?
"There is much that your husband kept from you," the woman said.
"Amaterasu, please" Kamaitachi whispered.
"We don't have long. We cannot waste time playing games with his mother," Amaterasu said.
The rear passenger door opened and another man stepped out of the car. No, he looked like a boy. Maybe 18 or 19 years old. Both Kamaitachi and Amaterasu turned to look at the young man. Neither said anything, but both stepped aside and made room for him to step up onto the porch in front of Jacob's mother.
His skin was white, but did not look sickly the way that Amaterasu's did. It had a hint of rose color to it that made him seem like a porcelain doll. He took Jacob's mother's hand in his long thin fingers and pressed his pale lips to the back of it.
"Heather," he whispered. "Forgive them. They are eager to be of assistance, but they often forget courtesy."
Heather blushed. He was charming. She imagined for a moment that there were small sparks of light that swirled around his face and shoulders. He straightened up and he was not much taller then Heather. Rather short for a man.
"My name is Dipak. I come from Enaid. I am here because young Jacob's magic has wakened. If he is not protected, he will be killed. Those in Enaid owe your husband a great deal and we have come to repay that debt."
Heather again put her hand over her mouth and gasped softly.
"Please," she whispered. "I can't -"
Jacob took his mother's hand and smiled up at her and Dipak.
"You knew my dad?" Jacob asked.
"Yes, I did."
Dipak crouched down in front of the boy and ruffled his hair. Again, Heather imagined that she saw sparks; winking in and out around Dipak's hand.
"I would like you to come with me," Dipak said.
"No," Heather said. She clasped her son's hand tightly.
Wow, I love the way you express the magic. I am curious to read what happens next. Thank you for sharing
Thank you! I really appreciate you reading my work! :D