With that, Beth quieted down, which surprised Charlie. Charlie wasn't sure why, but wasn't going to press the issue. And while Charlie was happy that Beth wasn't as talkative as she had been, she couldn't help but think longingly on the subject of who it was that Beth had learned of both conversations from. The silence from both lasted until just before Charlie's house came into view.
"Hey, Charlie, would you be willing to help me with my math?" Beth asked. "I've heard that you're good with it."
Charlie couldn't think of a reason to refuse, so she merely shrugged. "I guess. It shouldn't be too big of a deal."
"And if you want, I can help you with your English homework," Beth offered.
"Let me guess, everyone knows how bad I am at English?" Charlie asked dryly.
"Yeah, at least for those who either have an interest in you or who just have a feel of the pulse on what's going on in the school," Beth replied, softly jabbing her elbow into Charlie's side.
Charlie chuckled a little, not really finding the humor in what Beth said or did but felt like she probably should. Not really because it's something she normally would do, but for some reason it felt to Charlie like Beth was expecting her to do so.
As Charlie reached her home, Beth followed her inside, where Charlie started to direct Beth upstairs to her room, when Cherie called out from the living room.
"Who's that with you?" Cherie said.
"This is Beth," Charlie called back, "We're going to work on homework together in my room."
"Why are you telling me this?" Cherie yelled. "You know I don't really care about what you do."
"I was telling you this so you can tell mom and dad if Beth is still here when they get back," Charlie replied.
Cherie didn't say anything more, instead continued on watching the TV. Beth followed Charlie as she continued up the stairs.
As they entered Charlie's room, Beth looked around. "This is you room?"
Charlie wasn't sure how to take Beth's tone. "Yeah?"
Beth looked around, not really touching anything or opening anything. When she finished, she returned to Charlie as she put her backpack on the floor by her desk. "So, why is your room so plain?" Beth asked. "I mean, even my younger sisters have posters of shows or boy bands they like."
"I like my room the way it is," Charlie replied defensively. "I don't have much need for posters, even if I had money for them."
"Oh yeah, you spend your allowance on your garden," Beth recalled. "So, should we start on your English homework or work on my math?"
"Let's get your homework done first," Charlie suggested. My parents are fine with the grades I get in English. They've gotten used to them."
"Okay, but I'll be sure to get your English grades to improve. Your parents will be thrilled with how you did. Especially with it becoming a regular thing," Beth assured Charlie.
They worked for a few hours on Beth's math homework, Charlie showing Beth how to work what she was having trouble with and while Beth was settled on that, Charlie worked a little on her own homework.
After Beth finally finished her math homework, she insisted that Charlie let her immediately help Charlie with her English homework. So, Charlie grudgingly put away her history homework and pulled out her English homework.
While they were going over the problems that Charlie was having, a knock disrupted the study session. Charlie got up from the desk and went to answer it, revealing her mother on the other side of the door, her eyes immediately going to Beth, who was still at Charlie's desk.
"Who is this Charlie?" her mother asked kindly, but her tone letting Charlie know that her answer would determine if she was in trouble or not.
"This is Beth. She's a friend of Tim," Charlie said, assuming that her connection with Tim would make Beth an acceptable connection for Charlie.
"Well, we're having dinner downstairs, Charlie," her mother said. Then to Beth, she added, "I'd invite you to dinner as well, but we didn't know to expect you tonight."
"That's okay, Mrs. Rivers," I probably should get home anyway."
Beth gathered her things and started to head out. As Beth passed Charlie's mother, she was stopped by a penetrating gaze. "What were both of you doing in there?"
"Mom," Charlie groaned. "We were just doing homework."
"I wasn't talking to you, Charlotte," her mother said, her tone deceptively kind.
"I offered to help Charlie with her English homework in exchange for help with my math homework," Beth replied calmly, as if she couldn't tell the danger she was in, which Charlie knew Beth was well aware of.
Charlie's mother nodded and didn't say any more as they all went downstairs where Beth left the house while Charlie followed her mother to the dining table.
Dinner was rather uneventful, other than Charlie's father being informed about Beth and Charlie working on homework together. The response he had made Charlie wish she wasn't hungry so she could just leave, with how embarrassed she felt.
It wasn't that big of a deal, was it? Charlie asked herself, trying to figure out what the big deal of her doing homework with another person was. After all, Cherie would have study sessions with others from time to time, so it wasn't that new of a concept. What made it even weirder for Charlie was that even Cherie seemed to look at Charlie differently now, as if Charlie was suddenly older just through having done homework with someone else.
When Charlie was done, she excused herself and took her plate to the sink, rinsed it off and started to make her way back to her room, when she heard her parents start to talk. Even though she knew eavesdropping wasn't polite and that she probably shouldn't be doing this, she couldn't help but feel like she should this time.
"So, who did Charlie have over to work on homework with?" her father asked.
"Beth," her mother replied.
"You mean that Beth?"
"Yes, Beth Howard," the tone her mother used contained so much venom that Charlie wondered what it was that gave her mother such negative feelings towards Beth.
"Was there anything going on?" her father asked.
"It doesn't appear there was other than both of them studying, but I don't like the idea of Beth being around Charlie," her mother said.
"You do realize all we have to go on with Beth Howard is what we've heard about her, right?" her father asked gently.
"Maybe, but I've heard enough about her from Tim's mother. She will be a bad influence on Charlie, I'm sure of it. I don't know what that girl has planned for Charlie, but I'll be damned if I don't do anything to stop it."
Charlie was shocked to hear her mother use such language. While Charlie had heard worse from others, including her grandparents, her mother always had taken care of the words she used, under the philosophy that the words you use give a representation of your character. So, hearing her mother use foul language was not something Charlie would expect to hear, even when eavesdropping.
"Be careful of what you do, Jackie. If you do succeed at separating Charlie from Beth, you could get Charlie to withdraw back into herself or create a rift between you and her. Even if Beth is planning on something that will hurt Charlie deeply, it might be better for us to not interfere and let Charlie get hurt. We will be there for her if she needs us and she'll learn something from the experience but preventing her from having that happen could have her distance herself from us, so that if she encounters a situation like that she wouldn't be as likely to come to us for help. Then there's also the possibility that Charlie could be a positive influence on Beth. After all, if someone is a troubled kid, parents whose children aren't troubled wouldn't like their children to be around that kid, fearing their children would be exposed to a negative influence while at the same time, their child could be a positive influence on the troubled child. In the end, we're going to have to start trusting Charlie to choose friends on her own. We may not like who she chooses but we need to respect her choice. After all, we agree that she would do well to have Tim as a friend and we both know that he's friends with Beth Howard. If Charlie hangs out with Beth, then she'll likely hang out with Tim. We just need to let this progress naturally and not get involved just because we're afraid of something that could happen," Charlie's father said.
Charlie started walking away as both her parents were quiet. She was afraid they'd finish talking and find her listening. She slowly went up the stairs, glad they didn't squeak, so she wouldn't make noise, alerting her parents that she hadn't gone upstairs when they likely thought she had.
When she got to the top, she picked up her pace to her room. In there, she flopped onto her bed, her head face-down on her pillow. Slowly, she took a deep breath.
What is it about Beth that mom doesn't like? Charlie wondered, not sure what was going on. It was almost like there was something that Beth had done in the past that Charlie's mother was holding against her. As Charlie mulled on it, she couldn't help but wonder about how deep her mother's dislike of Beth went. If it comes to it, will she force me to choose between her and Beth?
The more Charlie thought about it, the more uncertain she became. She could tell her mother didn't like Beth with the way that her mother reacted to her. Which Charlie didn't understand. She'd never seen her mother react like that to anyone, even the few times Charlie had seen her mother at her work, she was always compassionate with those she encountered, even if she had to deal with a dead-beat parent, which was always a pet peeve of hers.
As Charlie lifted her head from her pillow, she was shocked to find that she'd been crying silently. She put her hand to her cheek and could feel the tears that were dampening her cheeks.
Charlie got up from her bed and went out of her room to the bathroom. Once there, she used toilet paper to dry her eyes before she looked at herself in the mirror. Charlie couldn't figure out what was going on with herself. Why did the conflict with her mother and Beth upset her so much? About a week ago, Beth was just an annoyance to Charlie, so she couldn't understand what it was about her that Charlie didn't want to let go of.
Charlie stared at her face for several minutes before she tried smiling at herself. The look she saw in her face just looked like a girl who was miserable, but trying to act like they weren't. Charlie dropped the smile and shook her head before heading back to her room. Maybe she just needed to do something to get her mind off the whole problem with her mother and Beth.
As Charlie entered her room, she noticed the crystal on her desk. It was emitting a bright pink light, which made Charlie wonder if it was trying to get her attention. So, she sat at her desk and picked up the crystal.
What's up? She thought at the crystal.
–Why did it take you so long to come to me for direction on your magic?– the crystal replied, the impatience clear in Charlie's mind.
Sorry, I remember you telling me not to tell anyone about you, so I couldn't when Beth was here to work on homework with me, then I had to go to dinner with my family, then I learned of something that upset me. I can work with you now, I don't have anything else to deal with right now, though I do need to go back downstairs later to do the dishes.
–Fine. Is there anything you've thought of today that you were wondering about?– the crystal asked.
Does a focus have to be something physical? Could it be something else? Charlie inquired.
–It can be words, physical gestures or motions, music, or even through drawing. It merely needs to be something that allows you to take the magic from you and channel it to a pinpoint which gives the effect you're looking for. However, if you use any of those, the words, shape, sound, or gestures don't matter. It's whatever you have in mind that takes effect. Even if you call fire into existence, if you're thinking of ice, then ice will appear. That's how it is, but many creatures have taken it into their minds that certain words are required to be used to get an effect or certain motions need to be made. Except in few circumstances, that isn't the case.– the crystal said.
What are the few circumstances? Charlie asked.
–There are a handful of worlds that have different rules that allow you to access magic. It's not well understood why, but to each of those worlds, you have to learn what the rules are or you won't be able to access your magic very easily.–
I was wondering, would it be alright for me to at least tell Beth about you? I'm sure the others will want to know how I know so much about magic as well as how to unseal theirs that I'll at least need to tell them something, Charlie requested.
–I guess it should be fine. Keep in mind that the fewer people who know about a secret, the easier it is to keep. However, I agree that the situation you described would make it in fact harder to keep the secret if there wasn't anyone else who knew who could help. If you take me with you to school tomorrow, I'll let you show me to Beth as you explain about me when you're walking home. That way she can help cover for you when you unseal everyone's magic.–
So, what next? Charlie wondered.
–First we'll start with teaching you how to properly communicate with me. It will allow us to talk when you're not by me, but keep in mind that physical distance will make it harder for us to talk, just like with most when you talk with your others verbally. Then I'll explain what to do to unseal the magic of those in your herd.–
What do I have to do? Charlie asked eagerly, partially standing up from her desk.
–It's simple, but it'll probably take you a little bit to get used to. You do what you normally do when you're talking with me, in that you direct what thoughts you want to convey and pull on your magic at the same time. Once you have it down, you should be able to not only do it without thinking about it, but it'll help you with using your magic in other ways as well. Think of this as an exercise in being able to use your magic.– the crystal replied.
So, it's like riding a bike? Charlie asked, trying to do what the crystal directed, but knowing as soon as she tried that she missed the mark.
–I think I understand what you mean and while it's not the same, I think it might be as close to what it is that you can understand right now.– the crystal answered.
Charlie kept trying the rest of the evening before she needed to go to bed, even when she went back downstairs to take care of the dishes before returning to her desk in her room. As she stood back up to go to bed, she realized just how tired she was. Far more tired than she could ever remember feeling, except maybe when she'd gone to the business dinner at Heathcliff's. It seemed like she might have been this tired then, with what little she could remember about that night. She climbed into her bed after changing into her nightgown and turned the lights off before falling asleep, almost the moment her head touched her pillow.
_
Charlie turned to knock on the door to her room when it suddenly opened and was surprised to see herself, naked, coming out of the room. The other Charlie was an inch or two taller than Charlie, but otherwise was identical to her. The look that Charlie gave her confused Charlie, but instead of leaving, she found herself stepping forward, putting her hand on the other Charlie's cheek.
The other Charlie's eyes were pulling Charlie in and had a smile that was inviting and yet, creeped Charlie out completely. Charlie wanted to leave, but found her hand sliding down the other Charlie to rest on her chest. The other Charlie stepped forward, lowered her head to kiss Charlie on the lips before wrapping her arms around Charlie and lifted her up, their bodies pressed together. Which is when Charlie realized that she was naked as well.
As the kiss ended, the other Charlie said, "I see you couldn't hold back anymore either, Cherie."
Charlie's mind spun. She was dreaming that she was her sister and about to sleep with herself? A dream is the only thing that made sense to Charlie, especially with how nothing she was doing was having an effect with anything she wanted to do in regard to getting out of this situation.
Then Charlie heard herself say in Cherie's voice and the other Charlie set her on her bed, "I don't know why I held this in for so long."
Then Charlie felt their lips meet again and the other Charlie lay on top of Charlie. Then as the other Charlie's hand slid down her side, Charlie felt her eyes snap open.
She was still in her room, the alarm clock indicated it was around two in the morning. She could feel that she still had her nightgown and underwear on, which was an immense relief to her.