Witchy women
part 2
Lucy was sitting against the wall under the window with a black panther head in her lap. She scratched at the chin and jaw exposed to her. “Mags, your bonsai are anchoring the four corners of a shield keeping ill intent from entering our home.”
“Individually, I understand those words. But all together like that, not so much.” She motioned to her cat. “Not that Bagheera being a real leopard isn’t awesome, but this means I can’t have a nap with a purring cat on my belly.”
That was apparently the wrong thing to say. Two seconds later, Maggie was buried under an overeager panther who wanted to prove her wrong. Alex, who Maggie had been leaning against, managed to avoid most of the tackle. Maggie wrapped her arms around the big cat and sighed as loud purring filled the room.
“Why isn’t all of this freaking you out?” Alex asked as Lucy rejoined them on the couch.
“I’m used to you two doing magic stuff. I didn’t think-”
Lucy’s jaw dropped. “Wait. What? You’ve known?”
“I’m a detective, Lane.” She shifted so she could see more than Alex’s knee and the left side of Bagheera’s head. “You put runes on everything, there are crystals everywhere, and you’re always adding herbs and such we can’t taste to food.”
“And it doesn’t bother you?” Lucy asked as she sat down, careful with her voice and motions.
“I looked into it a little since it didn’t seem like something you wanted to talk about. I never got the feeling you wanted to hurt any of us, so I figured I’d leave you to it.”
Alex frowned. “Is that what those etch marks are on my helmets?”
“Yes,” both Maggie and Lucy said at the same time. Lucy continued, “Half of them are so you don’t forget said helmets.”
Alex rolled her eyes and looked down at Maggie. “And you’re not mad I tend to hurt people?”
Maggie shook her head. “You’re protecting yourself, us, and Kara. I’ve never seen you use it on anyone who wasn’t actively trying to hurt us. Took me a little bit longer to notice your magic. You’re really good at being subtle.”
“I’ve had to be if I wanted to watch a Kryptonian trip over a flat surface.”
“What is it you do?” Lucy asked, having noticed nothing of Alex’s magic.
Alex flicked a finger at the pile of magazines on one end of the coffee table. The collection fell over, spreading all over the wood. “Kara saw a magic show two months after her arrival. She couldn’t figure out some of the tricks, and I insisted magic was real because I was kind of a dick to her at first. She finally told me to prove it or shut up and, well, I did? By shoving her out of a tree?”
“The two of you make me glad I’m an only child,” Maggie muttered.
“I still don’t understand how you’ve noticed our stuff but not yours,” Lucy said. “You’ve shielded this place, any alien who means no harm trusts you, and you have better situational awareness than me, Alex, and J’onn combined.”
“I’m not doing anything on purpose,” Maggie said, still confused but now lost in thought.
“Magic is intent,” Alex said. “I haven’t been calling what I do ‘magic,’ but that’s how I started and that’s what I’ve read. What people call ‘real magic’ is the intention to do something and having the willpower to see it done. You might not have set out to shield our home, but you probably wanted us to feel and be as safe as possible. You don’t force or coerce aliens to trust you; you’re honest with them and they learn quickly you aren’t going to lead them wrong.”
Maggie’s fingers ran over Bagheera’s back. “In high school, I just wanted everyone to leave me alone. If I had to work with someone, a handful could be mean. But the bullies never came after me.”
Lucy squeezed Maggie’s ankle, the only part available to her that wasn’t under a panther. Alex combed her fingers through Maggie’s hair.
“Maybe your magic is subtle,” Lucy said. “Not to say everything you do is magic-“
“Oh, but it is.”
Lucy rolled her eyes. “But you went out into an invasion with only James as backup. You’re very good at what you do, but even he had bruises and cracked ribs. You didn’t have a scratch on you.”
They lounged in the quiet, contemplating the new information.
“What does this mean?” Maggie asked. “For us?”
Alex shrugged. “Does it have to mean anything? We’re not hurting each other. Though I have a feeling someone is gonna be asking me to knock things off higher shelves from now on.”
Lucy raised an eyebrow. “Maybe if you didn’t put them up there, to begin with-”
Maggie locked eyes with Bagheera as her girlfriends started up their oldest argument. The panther rolled his eyes and Maggie started cackling. When Lucy and Alex looked at them, they could have sworn Bagheera was smirking.
Alex poked the cat on the forehead. “You realize I expect you to stop pissing over the edge of the litter box now, right?”
