Prologue
7 Years ago...
Running down the stairs at dangerous speeds, skipping a few steps too, Axle was about to explode with excitement at his discovery before even showing his parents. He found them both sitting on the sofa in the living room further into their home near the backyard.
He didn’t even get a word out, just a few short whimpers of pure excitement, before waving his little arms around in front of him and imagining what he saw up in his room just a few seconds ago. Immediately several, differently shaped blobs of what seemed to be made out of multi-colored paint appeared in front of young Axle, just suspended in midair. Then the blobs started floating around Axle in a circle as each one bobbed up and down like horses in a carousel.
Finally able to show his parents, Axle declared in the most excited voice he ever made in his life, “Mommy, Daddy look at me! I’m MAGIC. I made them with my mind. I’m super cool now, like Daddy, am I?”
He couldn’t understand the looks that his parents gave him. His father’s face was a mix of excitement and deep worry. His mother’s face was... devastated.
She looked terrified as if her own son had turned into a monster and he was talking in roars and growls. To little Axle, both of his parents were surprised and concerned for him. He looked back at them and his expressions of happiness and excitement slowly turned to fear, confusion and guilt.
Guilt.
He felt guilty for showing his parents that he discovered he was magic, like it was the wrong thing to do. Like it was one of the most horrible and unspeakable things to do ever in the entire world.
Axle’s mother stormed out of the living room and into the kitchen. His father placed his hands on the boy’s shoulders. “Can you go upstairs please, Axle? I just need to calm mommy down. I’ll be right back to talk to you about this.” He then stood up and went after his wife.
Axle went up the stairs at the complete opposite speed he descended from it a while ago, probably feeling depressed for the first time in his life. He did something wrong, but he couldn’t understand what he did exactly to make his mom that upset. He reached the top of the stairs but didn’t go to his room. His dad just said ‘upstairs’. Axle tried his hardest to listen in on the conversation downstairs, something he lived to regret much later on.
His parents were practically shouting their conversation.
“Tell me, what are we going to do? Now that he has what you have?”
“Calm down Zia, we’ll still be safe. I’ll teach him to stay hidden and keep his ability a secret. No one has to know. We’ll be very carefu--”
“And what if he slipped!? Or if Axle talks about it at school? What then!”
“Then I’ll think of something, okay? I’ll make sure he’s the safest child on the planet. He’ll even be safer than you with the spell I cast for you.”
“That’s not enough! They’ll come for him, then they’ll come for you next. You’ll both be taken from me. And then I will be all alone when they find out I’m no one special in the fantastical world you come from.”
“Don’t you dare start throwing insults! You don’t know the lengths I’ve gone just so you’d feel safe! Just so Axle would be safe! If there was a way to take what he has now, then I’d do it. Because keeping thi--”
Axle couldn’t keep listening any longer. His dad was already shouting, something he rarely did, so he knew it was gonna get serious. He ran to his room and shut the door quietly. He jumped into his bed and whimpered. He had a feeling something bad was going to happen that night. Something that he could’ve prevented if he just kept it a secret.
That night, Axle softly cried himself to sleep. Hoping and blindly believing that everything would be alright in the morning. That all the problems tonight would disappear like the chills he got when he woke up every morning.
The next morning, Axle woke up and he shuddered from head to toe. Something was very wrong. He quickly got out of bed and went downstairs to the living room. He found his father there on the couch where he sat the night before with subtle tears coming out of his eyes, holding a small half torn piece of paper.
Axle ran to him and sat on his lap. His father hid the paper from him and crumpled it into his pocket. “Axle,” his father said with a brokenhearted sounding voice, “Looks like it’s just you and me now buddy. Don’t worry, we’ll still be safe and happy. I promise you.”
Somehow, Axle understood what his father meant and started crying. First softly, then he was bawling, and hiccuping in between. His father held him close and soothed him. “I know, Axle. I know.”
