Inherited Magic by Jennifer Mccullah

would not allow herself to believe it.
    “How can you say that?” 
    “He showed up out of nowhere and
Dru didn’t trust him. He’s also a skilled fighter, which is something they
teach at an early age. Also, they don’t just run around with people who don’t
belong to their group, it doesn’t work that way.”
    Allison’s face was hot. “My cat
didn’t like him and he’s a transfer student who knows how to fight, that’s your
reasoning? That makes him evil?”
    “Dru isn’t a regular cat, she’s a
familiar. She sought you out because she was drawn to your particular magic.
She can see people for who they really are, good or bad.”
    By this point, Vinnie was looking
back at them, and listening.
    “Is it so farfetched to think that
maybe, just maybe, he likes me?”
    “Of course not, under different
circumstances.”
    “After everything Ruby and Cain
told me, Adam does sound a little suspect,” Vinnie said from the living area.
    “Really? Thank you for that
opinion, but what do you have to do with any of this? You’re just here because
you don’t have anywhere else to be,” she said.
    “Allison!” Ruby said in a voice
that was thick with disappointment and reproach.
    Before anyone could say another
word, there was a loud popping noise and the RV began to swerve. Cain struggled
to guide it off the road and onto the shoulder. It came to a halt after a few
seconds.
    “It’s probably just a tire, I’ll go
check,” he said while opening the door.
    “I’ll come with you,” Allison said.
    She did not want to go for any
other reason than to escape the hurt expression on Vinnie’s face and the
piercing stare of her grandmother. Allison followed behind him, and as soon as
she stepped outside, she heard Cain mutter something.
    He turned to Allison, “Go back in
the RV right now.”
    He looked panicked, rushing her
back inside.
    “They’re here,” Cain said, holding
up the remnants of a steel tipped arrow.
    All the color drained from Ruby’s
face, and she began fumbling with her bag.
    “Shut and lock all the doors and
windows,” she said.
    Vinnie stood up and began locking
windows. Allison stood still for a minute, hoping Ruby was not doing what she
thought she was doing.
    “Now,” Ruby demanded of Allison,
who was the only one who had yet to move.
    Allison was not sure what this
would help, but she began checking windows just the same. Her insides squirmed,
and her heart quickened. Ruby pulled out that familiar bottle of milky liquid.
She began dabbing it on every window and every door.
    “What’s that going to do?” Allison
asked.
    Ruby ignored her question, and
instead began to repeat the words Allison had heard hundreds of times, “Protect
us, and keep us invisible to our enemies. Make this a barrier, a veil against
those who wish us harm.”
    Allison was exasperated. How was a
little water going to do anything to stop a group of grown men from attacking
them? Her annoyance must have shown on her face, because Cain spoke to her in a
calm voice.
    “Your grandmother, she knows what
she’s doing,” Cain said. “She may not possess the type of magic that you do and
your mother did, but no one understands this magic like she does. No one can
create spells and potions better than she can, and there is no better teacher
to show you how to use your gift.”
    “This is very important. No one is
to even crack a window or open any door leading to the outside. If you do, it
will break the protection and they will be able to see us.”
    “Are you sure this will work?”
Allison asked.
    “It will for a little while, but we
are going to have to find some way out of here.”
    “Can’t they just feel their way to
where they think the RV should be, even if they can’t see it?” Allison asked.
    “No. This cloaking potion creates a
veil, which allows us to hide in something like a separate dimension of space.
They cannot feel or enter this area, they cannot hear us or see us, even though
we can