Chapter 39
Lucky looked at his brother in amusement. Man, don’t you know better than to read another man’s mind on his wedding day!
No, that’s not what I meant. He married my aunt, that’s just gross! Nikolas responded, a disgusted look on his face.
Lucky chuckled at his reaction. Okay, then what did you hear? ELQ is taking over Cassidine Industries or something?
No, it probably wouldn’t be the first time they’ve tried, anyway. This is even better. He was just thinking something about Alexis and Liz being witches!
“What!?” Lucky and Laura whispered loudly.
“Hey, Mom, what are you doing eavesdropping on us?” Lucky asked, slightly amused. She laughed and shook her head.
“I wasn’t, I just sort of overheard.”
Luke rolled his eyes. “Here we go again. I can’t take you three anywhere, can I? It’s a good thing Emily went to the ladies room, or else you would have just blown your cover!”
“Shut up Luke, this is important,” Laura said quickly, turning back to Nikolas. “Did you just say what I thought you said?” Alexis and Liz are witches?
“I don’t know, that’s what Ned was thinking, but now he’s just thinking about his food. Apparently, Cook could have done it better.”
“Okay, anyone care to fill in the mortal?” Luke asked, his patience wearing thin.
“Not yet,” Laura said. How could they be witches? Wouldn’t you know by now?
Not really. I mean, they’re not directly related enough for me to talk to them this way, but because they are family, I can’t read their minds. Funny how that works out, isn’t it?
Hilarious, Lucky responded sarcastically. “Hey, look, what are they doing?” He nodded towards the head table, and the rest of them turned as well.
~*~
“Honey?” Alexis whispered to Ned. “You aren’t mad at us for playing with you, are you?”
He smiled and shook his head. “No, it’s just kind of weird, that’s all. You better be careful, though. We’re in a pretty full room, someone might see you.”
“I know, don’t worry about us, we know what we’re doing.”
Liz leaned over Alexis. “Hey, you two keep whispering like this, and I’m going to think you’re talking about me!”
“That’s because we are,” Alexis teased. She laughed at the surprised look on Liz’s face and shook her head. “I’m just kidding. I was just making sure Ned was okay after our little tricks.”
“Oh, so is he?” Liz asked.
Ned cleared his throat, grabbing their attention. “I’m still here, you know. You can stop talking about me like I’m not!”
“Oh, sorry,” Liz said, chuckling. “So, are you okay about it?”
Ned shrugged, glancing out at the guests. “As okay as can be expected, after having food thrown in my lap.”
Alexis giggled. “Sorry about that. I couldn’t resist.”
Just then, the florescent light above their table flickered and went out, leaving their area of the room quite dim.
Liz frowned and looked up at it, then pointed to it, so that to the average onlooker, it would look as though she was merely pointing out that the light had died.
“We can’t have the bride and groom in the dark, now, can we?” she joked. The light flickered back to life, and she grinned proudly at Ned. “See, we’re handy to have around.”
“You didn’t just do that, did you?” he asked, looking up at the light in wonder.
“She has this thing with fire and lights,” Alexis explained. “With her around, you don’t need matches!”
“Uh-huh, sure,” he said suspiciously. “How do I know that wasn’t just a fluke?”
“Oh, so now you need more proof?” Alexis asked, amused. “All right, Mr. Skeptical, how about this one?” She picked up her water glass, letting some of it slosh out onto one of the candles that lined the edge of the table, thereby extinguishing the flame. “Okay, Liz, show him.”
Liz glanced quickly around the room to make sure no one was watching. For a second she thought Lucky and Nikolas had been looking at her, but when she looked back they appeared to be deep in conversation with Laura. Once she was sure no one was really watching, she leaned over and cupped her hand behind the candle to block it from everyone but Ned’s and Alexis’s view, then blew softly on the wick. Within seconds, a new flame was burning brightly. She pulled her hand away and sat back proudly. “Now do you believe us?”
“You make it pretty hard not to,” he answered, shaking his head in amazement.
~*~
Lucky and Nikolas had been watching Ned, Alexis and Liz in deep conversation, trying to figure out what was going on, when the light above the head table flickered out. A moment later, Liz looked up and pointed at it, and it flickered back on.
You don’t think...” Lucky said.
Nikolas shrugged, studying Ned. From what I can tell, that’s what they told him. She specializes in fire or something like that.
They continued to watch as Alexis picked up her water glass, accidentally spilling some onto a nearby candle, putting out the flame. She turned to Liz and said something. Liz then began to look around the room, so they looked away as quickly as possible, turning to Laura.
“Mom, tell us when she’s not looking anymore,” Lucky said.
“Okay, but then what if she sees me looking?” Laura asked, amused by the whole thing.
Luke groaned, looking around the room. “What happened to Emily? I need another mortal here.”
“Okay, she stopped,” Laura said, and they all turned their attention back to Liz. From where they were, all they could see was her hand covering the back of the candle while she leaned over to blow on it. To the average observer, it looked like she was just blowing out the candle, but they had already see the flame go out. The four of them watched as she removed her hand, revealing a new flame.
“Whoa,” Luke said. “Am I having acid flashbacks, or did she just light that candle without a match?”
Lucky grinned. “No flashbacks, Dad, that’s exactly what she did.”
“So you heard right after all,” Laura said, smiling at Nikolas. “They are witches.”
“Hold on a second! They?” Luke asked, lost again. “Who’s they?”
“Alexis and Liz. They’re witches,” Nikolas answered, as though it was the most normal thing in the world.
Luke groaned and put his head in his hands. “Oh, say it ain’t so! Two more Cassidines with magical powers? My nightmare is coming true, right in front of me!”
Laura chuckled and patted him on the back. “Hey, look on the bright side, at least Stefan is still mortal. Well, as far as we know....”
Luke lifted his head to glare at her. “Babe, you’re not helping!”
The other three laughed as Emily made her way back to the table. “Hey guys, sorry I was gone so long. The line was insane.” She quickly kissed Nikolas on the cheek, then sat down. “So, what did I miss?”
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