Max walked silently beside Caroline sending icy glares at consecutive intervals. Caroline had chosen to go to school by herself today and for the past week, he knew something was up but Caroline had only responded with her usual ‘nothing’ and maybe sometimes giving an explanation that even he found funny.

“Where were you the whole of last week?” He asked again this time standing in front of Caroline to restrict her movement.

“I already told you, I didn’t go anywhere. I was just going to school and back, I didn’t even go to the salon.” Caroline shrugged when finished talking and maneuvered her way past Max but he wasn’t having any of it.

“I met with Chris and we talked” Max slowly spoke after a minute of silent walking through the hallway.

“That’s great! Did anything unusual happen?”

“No but I wanted to talk to you and you kept saying you were busy” Max folded his arms and pouted.

Caroline didn’t think that the situation would turn out this bad. She had intended on keeping her magic a secret from everybody including Max but then they were so close that she couldn’t figure how to not tell him without ruining their friendship. Plus with all the mess in her room and the books on sorcery and ancient magic that she was able to secure from the local library, inviting Max over would instantly give her away.

“I’m really sorry, I promise I will make it up to you” She could only apologize at this point and figure out a way to tell Max without putting him in trouble. “Anyway how did it go with Chris?”

Max blushed deeply when he remembered his recent chat with Chris “Well I first of all apologized to him for being a dick and running away and he said it was ok. Oh I got my jacket back by the way” He said jumping excitedly in front of Caroline who only smiled.

“So are you guys dating now?” Caroline asked as they both walked into their classrooms

“Not yet”

“What do you mean not yet?” She paused in the middle of the classroom looking quizzically at Max

“I’ll tell you later” He replied with his face slightly somber which was back to a smile in less than a second.

****

Caroline paced back and forth in her room. Max was coming over and she didn’t know what to do. She wasn’t planning on telling him this soon. Even her mom didn’t know a thing about her room and all the magic details. She had managed to put up a camouflage spell which was surprisingly easy for her but Max was going to be in her room and not view it from outside or the door. She hadn’t even mastered summoning to call on Ellie when she needed her. Presently she could only meet Ellie when she slept which was not of much help now.

After a while of pondering she decided that there was no way around it and she would have to tell Max everything. She wasn’t really good at lying especially when it came to Max so she couldn’t bank on that.

Caroline was distracted from her thoughts when she heard her phone ring from a text message.

M: I’m at the door

She arranged the room the best way she could without it being an explosive mess of books and tools, she removed the camouflage spell and hurried to the front door to let Max in.

“Hey” Caroline breathlessly said as she stood by the door

“Uh hi” Max looked confused at Caroline who just smiled and shrugged “What took you so long?” He continued as he got into the house immediately walking towards the stairs that led to Caroline’s room.

“Nothing much” Caroline said behind him as she locked the front door before following him up the staircase. “How’s your mom? She added trying to think of the best way to explain the disaster in her room.

“She’s cool” Max replied absentmindedly but still noticed the slow paced Caroline behind him. “What are you doing there?”

Before Caroline could answer Max had opened the door to the room making her wince from the shock on Max’s face. He stared at a pile of books on the floor, another on her desk, more on her bed save for a small portion that was probably where she slept. The floor in the middle of the room had a very wide circular drawing with markings in scripted with paint; there were also more like that at the corners of the room. An extra table was also in the room which was occupied by plants of different kind, a small mortar and a pestle and a lot more he couldn’t figure out.

Max turned to Caroline pointing to the room with a half excited half horrid look. “What the hell Line?”