the elephant in the room; Alfie & Eliza
“Now concentrate on that energy flow.”
Unnoticed, Eliza dropped her hands to her side, drawing in a shaky breath. They were out on the school grounds for their practical magic class, learning how to repair broken cell phones, a precursor to working on a car. Electrical magic was tricky. There had been two explosions already, one producing a momentary fire ball. No one had been hurt but it’d been close enough to send Eliza spiraling. Every spell she attempted carried that old distinctive smell of burning flesh; the magic felt as dirty as it had back in the beginning.
It was tainted, all of it. The other girls were just fixing phones, playing with currents but Eliza couldn’t help imagine all the horrible possibilities of having command of electrical systems. The things her aunt would demand she do.
Today, she could barely pretend not to be terrified.
It didn’t help that there was an audience. Out in the open as they were, many of the Dumfries boys were watching, some more covertly than others. For whatever reason, none of the professors had shooed them away.
As Ms. Kilmer walked by, Eliza forced herself to focus back on the circuit board. Senses attuned, she began whispering the spell to redirect the current. The shift happened quickly, easily, the current leaping to obey her. She dropped the phone, shivers racking up her spine, disgust at herself twisting her face. She did not want it.
Wiping her hands, near frantically against her skirt, as if that could fix anything, she paused. Even in her panic, she could recognize the heavy weight of someone’s eyes on her. Turning slowly, she looked over the gathered Dumfries boys. It was impossible to say which had been watching her in particular or what he may have seen.
Eliza bent and picked the phone back up. Act normal. She stood staring at it, thoughts elsewhere, until Ms. Kilmer finally announced the end of class.