“I doubt I have the answers,” Graham said.
“But you got rid of some books,” I said. “You must have looked at them.”
“I didn’t understand most of it.”
“Why did you burn some and bury others?”
He was silent for a long moment. “I guess you won’t think I’m crazy when I say this, but I felt that some of the books were…dark. And some of the books were important.”
“I need to see them.”
“They weren’t written in a language I knew,” he said. “Latin, maybe.”
“That’s okay. I’m not too bad with magical Latin.”
“You’re definitely an interesting woman,” he said, with the beginnings of a smile, but it faded quickly back into those haughtily lowered eyelids and lips determined to give me nothing. “And yeah, I didn’t take all the photos. Not the ones with the…other family and Grandpa’s friends. They had a little gang called the Sons of Pandora and I always felt they were up to no good. They were the reason I started thinking he was ex-mob.”
“Sons of Pandora? Like Pandora’s box?”
“I assume.”
“So do you know what they were trying to open?”
“I never thought it could be literal until this moment,” Graham said, glancing at his phone. He was getting some texts, and he shifted in his seat uncomfortably.
“Girlfriend?” I teased.
“No! I was supposed to be at a fundraiser. If any of this ‘wizard’ stuff gets out, you know…I’m going to be a laughingstock and lose my fucking job. Excuse my language.”
I was rustling up his inner demon (and Italian warlock?) now, and I shouldn’t enjoy that as much as I did. I bet he tried so hard not to get caught cursing in the course of his political career. “Oh, it won’t,” I said. “None of us want that to get out, trust me. I don’t want mundanes up in my business.”
“‘Mundanes’? That’s rude.”
“Sorry, it’s just…I mean, what do you call non-magical humans? Nothing comes off well.”
“How do you stay hidden from humans? How would we not know about this?”
“Well, the magical community has a hardcore pact on not sharing with humans. That’s one thing Ethereals and Sinistrals agree on. Those are the two main factions. Well, and also Wyrd, who are the faeries.”
“Great,” he said. “There’s lingo. I’m guessing Ethereals are the white witches and Sinistrals are the black witches.”
“Yep! It’s really pretty simple. There are three magical realms, other planes of existence where magic comes from. Etherium is basically good, and the high spirits are there are like angels and gods, while the low spirits are helpful things like the sort of creatures who give blessings and favors. Sinistral is more like…chaotic. The vampires and werewolves and demons are all Sinistral. Wyrd is neutral and it was conquered by the fae centuries ago but it’s a very weak realm now because the faeries made a very controversial decision to stop dealing with humans entirely. They were trying to protect themselves but it almost killed them.” I glanced at him, as I felt like maybe this was not as simple as I thought when I tried to explain it, or maybe he would just think this sounded stupid, but he was listening carefully. His head was slightly tilted at me, his face intent. Yeah, I could definitely see how his political career would do well. Handsome and a good listener? Who could resist that?
“Because,” I continued after getting briefly derailed by his careful gaze, “the thing about magic is that it actually requires humans to believe in it or it will weaken and die.”
“So you have to stay hidden but also you need the clueless mundane rubes to believe in you?” he said, with clear sarcasm.
“Well…they used to believe. But they also used to be less of a threat. The withdrawal started with the witch burnings and now technology is as powerful as magic so obviously…we have to be careful. However, magical beings have found new ways of gaining power by becoming rock stars or supermodels or going into—uh—positions of power or whatever.”
“Like politics.”
“Sometimes.”
“How does that give a magical being power?”
“Well, you know that rapturous feeling you get in a crowd when you’re all excited to see someone perform or speak? The crowd starts to believe that they’re experiencing something magical. That feeds the magic realms and keeps them alive.”
“And do I benefit from that?”
“Of course. The more people admire you and believe you’re the answer to their problems…” (Or get hot for you on internet forums…) “…the more you will develop abilities that you might not even realize.”
“Hmm. And my grandfather was…a dark wizard, wasn’t he?”
“Yeah. But…” I didn’t even know how to easily explain the complications of wizard politics to him, although I guess if anyone understood, it was him. “Some Sinistrals are just born into that realm and they’re really not bad. Etherium is guarded by strict rules. It’s like the gated community of the wizards these days.”
He kneaded his forehead. “Well, this is a lot to process. So what about you? This is actually your job as a witch? Flipping houses like on TV? What do you get out of it?”
“I’m not really out to get more power. Just to make a living.” It also seemed like too much to explain to him now that wizards were human, so they didn’t actually have to feed on humans. That was something demons and ethereal beings needed to do, mainly. If the magical worlds died entirely, all of wizards would just become mundanes. But demons and ethereals would presumably be wiped off the face of the earth. If I told him that, I would have to break it to him that he was actually a demon. And specifically, a sex demon. “It’s just fun. Wizard houses have a special set of problems. And wizards have different concerns as a buyer. Electricity makes magical folk sick, and the simpler our technology is, the better. They don’t trust human systems much either. That’s why your grandfather’s house is so Amish.
