REFLECTIONS OF YOU (Brighten Magic Academy Book 1) Read online

  Mother and Ms. Landsford were at Brother's side and I lowered my gaze to the blood that began to pool beneath him. I couldn't help him. I didn't save Brother!

  Tears began to well as I walked closer, ignoring the students that began running around, calling for help.

  Brother was on his back while Mother and Ms. Landsford were using some spells to try and heal him but deep within, I knew he wouldn't make it. He'd leave just like Father had.

  His head rolled to the side and I saw the stream of tears staining his face. His gold eyes locked onto my desperate ones and I wanted to run to his side, to give him one more hug, but I couldn't move any closer. I was afraid of the blood. More importantly, I was scared to accept that he would die and leave me and Mommy alone.

  "Brother," I whispered, my voice barely audible. He blinked and opened his mouth which was stained with blood that began to run down the side of his face to the ground.

  He mouthed something that I didn't understand and my chest grew hot. I looked down at the necklace and it glowed a bright gold before a third symbol appeared. It looked to be a heart in blue.

  I looked back to see him smile at me and his voice entered my mind.

  "I'm sorry Jewel. I don't think I can have my necklace back. Keep it safe for me and Father, okay?"

  Brother! No. No, don't leave me and Mommy. I'm sorry I couldn't make a stronger wind. I tried! I'll do better. Just don’t die.

  His eyes began to close but he continued to smile. "You did good, Jewel. Take care of Mommy for me. I love you."

  Gabriel... I love you too, Brother. Don't go! Fight. Please? We have to go see the magic show together!

  "I'm sorry," his weak voice whispered and just like that, the feeling of him in my mind faded.

  "Brother?" I whispered with trembling lips. I stared into his gold eyes that dulled and watched him take his final breath. His eyes remained open and all I could hear was Mother's agonized scream.

  I didn't move. I remained frozen as I watched people crowd around him, trying to wake him up, but his eyes remained open and his chest was still. I stared intently, as people whipped past me until I couldn't see Brother anymore as a crowd of adults surrounded him.

  I slowly looked up and the same orange haired boy was looking down from the balcony. Instead of looking shocked, he actually smiled. A wicked smile that made him look evil. He killed Brother! My brother. How dare he? He took my brother away from me. But he's happy. Happy that I would never see Brother again and neither would Mommy.

  As if he could feel my gaze, his eyes met mine and I narrowed my eyes at him. If he thought this was funny, maybe he should give it a try himself.

  I didn't know where Alice came from, but she flew straight into Orange Hair. He tried to hit her but she continued to slam into him over and over again. I saw the other boys try and help him but it was as if they couldn't get to him. Or maybe it was because I didn't want them to.

  Alice flew up and shot back into Orange Hair, but this time the force pushed him completely off the edge.

  "Jewel!"

  A boy appeared in front of me with gold eyes that reminded me of brother. He blocked my gaze, preventing me from seeing the tragic end of the person who killed my brother. My hearing returned and with it came multiple screams, then a loud thump as the boy hit the ground.

  "Logan," I whispered, breaking through my haze to finally see who was in front of me. He removed his hands and we both stared at the orange haired boy who was on the ground screaming in agonizing pain. I frowned, realizing someone had saved him. He didn’t deserve it, though. He took Brother from me.

  Logan cupped my head in his hands. "Jewel. Stop."

  "He took Brother. He killed him," I announced in a monotone voice, feeling devoid of any emotion other than the anger and hatred I felt for the boy who killed my brother. A woman knelt next to us and I slowly met her pink eyes.

  "Jewel, sweetheart. It's okay, come here." Logan's mother pulled me into her arms and lifted me up.

  "No. It's not okay! Brother! He killed Brother!" I screamed, trying to pull away. I would make him pay. I had to, for Brother. I began to cry, thrashing in Logan’s mother’s arms. Her arms tightened around me, making it impossible for me to escape.

  "Logan!" she screamed. I opened my eyes to stare as Logan walked towards the crowd that was beginning to form around Orange Hair. Logan’s mom carried me over there, trying to stop Logan but he got there first.

  "Logan Cross what are-" someone began, but Logan pointed at the orange haired boy at his feet.

  "MURDERER! HE KILLED JEWEL'S BROTHER! HE PUSHED HIM! I SAW IT!" he announced loudly for everyone to hear.

  "What?!" Similar exclamations were heard across the crowd of students and teachers.

  "Jewel. He pushed your brother?" Logan's mom asked me. I nodded.

  "HE KILLED BROTHER," I called out.

  A man came through the crowd with a stern expression on his face. He stared at Logan and me, looking between us for a full minute before nodding his head.

  "They speak TRUTH! Lark Huntly, you are under arrest."

  The crowd went hysterical and Logan took a final look at the boy, mumbling something before turning away, coming over towards me. Logan's mom lowered me and I ran to Logan. He opened his arms and hugged me tightly as I began to cry.

  "Brother!" I wailed in Logan's arms and didn't care about anything else around me.

  My brother was gone and I would always have to live with the regret of knowing I didn’t save him.

  FIFTEEN YEARS LATER...

  "Mom, I need to get ready," I announced, finishing the last of the dishes and placing them on the drying rack. I grabbed the pink towel to dry my hands and turned to face my mom who was reading the latest spell book at the table.

  "Already? Are you going to see that friend of yours?" She looked up to stare at me with her gold eyes and I gave her a small smile.

  "Logan, Mom. Remember? My childhood friend," I stressed, hoping she remembered Logan Cross. He'd been my friend for as long as I could remember and was dear to my heart.

  "It's hard to remember all your friends, Gabriel. You're popular at school," she dismissed, returning her eyes to her book. I sighed and my smile turned to a frown.

  "Mom," I spoke more sternly. She looked up at me, looking confused as to why I appeared upset.

  "Huh? Why do you look so sad all of sudden Jewel?"

  "You mistook me for Gabriel… again," I whispered.

  "Did I? You must have been hearing things. Don't you have to meet your friend Logan now? Go get ready." She brushed off the slip up and I shook my head, walking over to her. I gave her a kiss on the cheek then went to the fridge to get her a bottle of water for her medication.

  "Make sure you take your meds at nine o'clock before you sleep, Mother. I'll be home really late. Logan may come back with me, or I'll stay at his place. Okay?" I explained, walking back to the kitchen table to set her bottle of water down before reaching out for her medication organizer.

  "I remember, Gabriel. You don't have to remind me every day. Also, why would you have a sleepover with Logan? Are you gay, sweetheart?" she questioned, lifting her head to stare me questioningly.

  "Mom. I'm not… actually, never mind. I'm gonna be late." There was no point in arguing with her right now. Once her meds kicked in, hopefully they would help her distinguish what was reality again.

  I was ready to leave the kitchen when Mother stopped me, grabbing hold of my wrist. "Sweetheart, wait a moment," she requested and I turned to give her a small smile.

  "Yes, Mother?"

  "If you do like this Logan boy, you can always tell me. Even if you’re gay, I'll still love you," she reassured me and I had to smile at her relaxed expression.

  "Thanks, Mom. I'll keep that in mind. I'm going to get ready. I'll make sure to let you know when I'm about to head out, okay?"

  "Alright. I love you." She gave me a wide smile.

  "I love you too, Mom." I gave her another kiss on the cheek be
fore I turned and left to head upstairs to my room.

  When I reached the top step, I sighed. "Isn't it sad, Gabe? She really thinks I'm you," I whispered to my brother in heaven.

  His birthday was a few weeks away, and the anniversary of his death. The day I couldn't save him. Since that fateful day, my mother's mental health began to decline. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and I was warned due to the trauma of my brother's death and our similarities in looks, my mom might possibly confuse me with him.

  It hadn’t been bad during my high school days, but due to my athletic side and preference for sweatpants and t-shirts rather than pink dresses and makeup, it seemed to reinforce her delusion that I was indeed Gabriel. Even with how I dressed, everyone else thought I looked like a girl. I guess my brother's death was too much for my mom, especially after losing Father the year before, so couldn’t really blame her for constantly mistaking me for my brother.

  I ran my hands through my long brown hair. I realized I should get ready. Didn’t want to make Logan wait.

  I made my way down the hall towards my bedroom, unlocking the pink door with a quick dose of magic. I closed it behind me, locking it once more before I turned to face the woman sprawled out on my bed with a manga book in her hands.

  "Before you say anything, I suggest you at least start styling your hair. Logan loves when it has that hint of curl in it," she spoke up.

  I rolled my eyes but smiled at the purple-eyed female who sat up and crossed her legs. She was tall, standing at 6’0”, her height mostly due to her long legs. She had long silver hair with bangs and highlighted with a lavender purple. Her eyes were a darker shade of purple and her lips were always the perfect shade of red, making you wonder if she always wore lipstick, but I knew she didn't.

  "Alice, what did I say about reading my manga?" I demanded.

  "Well, I had nothing else to keep me busy while you cooked for Mom. Can't leave your poor, immaculate familiar alone with nothing to do. Before you even bring it up, I already read all three of those spell books Mother bought from the spell store yesterday," she said soothingly.

  Her voice always gave me the impression of someone extremely intelligent, but her looks gave off the impression she was the next top model for a Korean magazine.

  "I wasn't going to ask, but sure. I'll read them when I come home tonight." I strode over to my closet to find something to wear.

  "You're coming home? Hmph. Haven't you and Logan had sex yet?"

  I choked on my saliva and turned to glare at her. "Excuse me, Miss Familiar. Why are you encouraging me to have sex? Last time I checked you're younger than me. You shouldn’t be saying such things!" I stressed. She shrugged, looking unfazed as she got up and walked my way.

  "Firstly, I could be older than you and you would never know. I did exist before you were born and second, just admit you and Logan Cross are a thing and date already. It's agonizingly painful to watch," she huffed dramatically and I groaned.

  "Coming from my familiar, I don't know whether to be hurt or concerned by that. I need to find you a lover. Yes, I should create you a lover," I proposed and she laughed.

  "And make it so I’m stuck in my owl form all day? No thanks. I’m happy being a single lady and I love being in this form. I make all the girls jealous when I go to the mall," she boasted, flicking her long hair for extra emphasis.

  "Thank goodness you’re not a really girly-girl or I'd disown you," I commented, giving her a slow up and down look. We both laughed and she reached into the closet to pick one of my favorite red dresses.

  "Wear this one. It really compliments your tanned skin. You should have taken more of your Mother's looks. You'd be paler," she pointed out.

  "I have to admit, I would have loved to have her flawless skin. I thought the mother’s genetics were supposed to be stronger than the father’s," I mumbled.

  My Mother was of Korean descent while my Father was Caucasian. There weren't many interracial couples in our area, but because of both my parents’ strength and reputation, we hadn't had any problems with people judging us. I sadly didn't take many of her Korean features and unless asked, no one would know I was half Korean.

  Alice however, was the perfect representation, from her flawless skin to her perfect complexion and slim figure. The number of times she'd been asked to model while we shopped at the mall was mind boggling.

  "Oh please. After puberty hit you in the face, you got super hot in a flash. Remember the final year of school? Every guy was hitting on you like you were the last female on the planet. Didn't one guy ask you to have his babies?" Alice reminded and I groaned.

  "Oh ya, and then you attempted to pluck his eyes out. Ah, good memories." I chuckled, shaking my head.

  She handed me the dress and I checked the standing mirror in the corner of my room to see if it would be appropriate for our meet up.

  "Worth it. He really thought I would sit quietly on your shoulder for him while he tried to touch your hip like he was your man. Hmph. I really should have removed his eyes," Alice grumbled.

  I laughed. "You're too much for your own good." I really loved Alice's personality.

  "I'm only amazing because of you," she winked. I smiled back at her, before laying the dress on the bed. I went over to my black drawer, opening to retrieve a red strapless bra and matching panties. Since the dress was strapless, this bra would be perfect and matching panties were always fun.

  "I'll switch back to my owl form before you leave," Alice reassured me, sitting back on the bed. She crossed her legs yoga style and stretched.

  "You don't have to. My mana is more than enough to sustain you," I admitted, not even a bit winded. Mana was what we liked to term as energy needed to conduct magic. Higher mana you had, the easier it was to conduct spells.

  "That's because you're a PRODIGY! Your magic is endless," she declared with pride. I raised an eyebrow at her as I placed my bra and panties on the bed.

  "Uh huh. The prodigy that just wants to go to a normal school," I pointed out, pulling my shirt off and putting my bra on.

  Everyone had been calling me a prodigy since I could crawl, due to my high mana levels. Mana was essential for a magic user to conduct spells of high caliber. The more mana you had, the stronger your magic was. It also gave you a boost in stamina. Some people had low mana but had fast recovery speed, replenishing mana at a quick pace.

  In my case, I had all of the advantages: a large amount of mana inherited from both my mother and father, fast mana recovery from my mother, and high casting caliber from my father. Combined, I was a triple threat which was one of the reasons why Alice, my familiar, could stay in her human form as long as she pleased.

  She didn't like staying in it often simply because she loved to fly about our little town and steal jewels from our neighbor, but she was an awesome companion, especially when I needed fashion advice.

  Alice was quiet as I changed, eyeing me carefully. "Do you really not want to go to a magic school?" she questioned finally.

  I frowned. "Just reminds me of my brother," I whispered.

  "Jewel. You weren't the reason for his death," she reminded.

  "I know. It still doesn’t stop me from thinking about it whenever I do use magic," I replied, walking over to my vanity and plugging in the curling wand.

  "Then you're okay with not using your magic for good? You would be helpful to our community if you did use it," Alice acknowledged. I was silent as I combed my hair, letting her words sink in.

  We lived in a small town called Natala, which was the closest town to Brighten Magic Academy. Mother and Father moved here because of the convenience and the small town was filled with many of their friends and fellow mage warriors.

  Mage warriors were individuals who were sent out to different countries across the world in an effort to reduce crime and break up major organizations that used their magic for evil. We had a government and a Council in each major country, but mage warriors were a part of an international organization and it was e
xtremely difficult to become one.

  That's exactly what Father had been and everyone assumed because of my magic capabilities, I'd follow his lead. Too bad for all of them because I wasn't interested. I couldn't deny that I loved the feeling of using my magic, but each time I did, it was a reminder of how I failed Gabriel. After all these years, I still blamed myself for what happened that day. It didn't matter how many therapy sessions I went to or which psychiatrists I saw. My mind was set on the idea that it was my fault and I had to live with it.

  Alice sighed, realizing I wasn't going to answer her. "How's Mom?" she changed the subject.

  "Same. Mixed me up with Gabriel twice in one conversation," I revealed with a frown.

  Alice took a deep breath. "She's never going to recover, is she?"

  I glanced over at her, noticing her sad expression. "Hey. We never know. Maybe we'll figure out how to cure diseases with magic," I suggested.

  "You'd think we'd be able to do that by now. We can heal. I don’t get how healing diseases based on mental health and nerves are excluded from that equation," Alice muttered.

  "She'll get better. As long as she continues to take her meds and we just continue reminding her who I am, she'll come around. It seems at least when she sees how sad I am, she recalls who I am," I admitted.

  "I noticed that too. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Didn't Logan state his parents were working on something that should help?" she questioned, uncrossing her legs and hopping off the bed to come over to me.

  She reached out for the curling wand while I finished putting on my mascara. I gave her an appreciative smile in the mirror as she began to curl my hair.

  "Yes. He said they're on the clinical trial stage right now. Hopefully, they will start on humans soon and can enhance the treatment with magic to speed up the effects to heal the human brain," I replied.

  "Hmm. Hopefully it won’t be long then. Logan will keep us posted?" Alice asked.