Chapter Four

Max woke up to the usual smell of his mother's baking. She was making his favorite, chocolate

cake. It was Saturday, training day but he wanted to sleep more. The whole week had been new

to him, new school, new neighbors, the strange dreams, and then his powers had almost erupted

in front of the whole class. The whole week had been like he had spent two years in a stretch.

Then there was the new feeling that came on him the day he saw Liz, his stomach had tightened

and it wouldn't stop tightening whenever she came around. Max had told himself it was just one

of his powers reacting to having an opposite sex that close to him, so he tried to avoid her in

school or on the bus, but she wouldn't stop talking about everything. Whenever he wanted to act

cruel and totally ignore her, he'd think of how brown her eyes were and how difficult it still was

for him to decide if they are deep brown or black. He snapped himself out of whatever dream he

might have gone into again. Something stranger than he stomach tightening around Liz was

happening and he needed to get to the root of it. He thought of the story the magical bunnies had

told him, he was the connection between the two rivalry forces and his parents had kept that

much from him. Then Uncle David had had those crazy nightmares for days.

He got out of bed and found his Bunnies still sound asleep. He wouldn't blame them; they don't

have so many jobs to be done around. If he were a Bunny, he'd just eat and sleep every waking

day. It was Saturday; he needed to do his Landry before his martial arts practice. Breakfast was

faster than he ever thought, he prayed for days like that every time. Uncle David had woken his

parents up, the nightmares wouldn't stop and he had told them he felt someone was following

him. He had heard all the conversation from his room.

Just before noon, He heard chatters coming from the living room; it had to be his parents and the

new neighbors. He wanted to use his magical sensor hearing to listen to the conversation before

he joined them. Then he heard the Liz's Mom's laughter then he decided not to. Betty's laughter

made him wander if he was in the right house, fifteen years of his life and he couldn't remember

a day when his parents had said something so funny to laugh as hard as Betty did. But he had

met Betty few times and he knew she chuckled at every single statement Max didn't think was

funny, sometimes he'd laughed or grinned with Betty whenever she laughed. Uncle David was

always sad. After his ex wife left him for a wealthy banker, he had gone into depression. Max

decided not to sit directly opposite Liz, to avoid stealing gazes at her. Then his heart missed a

beat when his mother suggested that he showed Liz his room.

"Did you grow up here?" Liz asked.

"Yes, I did". Max replied.

"I grew up in Arizona, then we moved to Oklahoma after I lost my Dad" Liz's smile brightened.

"I'm so sorry about your Dad". Max said.

"It is okay" she smiled the more. "We'll all die one day". She watched to see the look on Max's

face. "I was kidding"

"Why did you move from Oklahoma?" Max needed to change the subject.

"My mom grew up in West Texas; she always talked about how peaceful this place is and she

wouldn't stop talking about the beautiful the landscapes". Liz giggled "She wanted us to take

some years off the busy world. Truth is, she wanted to forget about my father". Max nodded.

"You have Bunnies!" Max watched Liz's eyes lit up when she saw his bunnies in their little

house near his reading table. "Oh My God! They are colored Bunnie's. Where did you get red

and blue Bunnies from? OMG, they are so cute"

"Of course they are". Max was glad the Bunnies took her mind off her dead father. "You will

have to ask my parents"

"Oh, they are sleeping. Can I wake them?" Max nodded, she patted their heads instead "Do they

have names?" Liz laughed out when red flapped his ear at her touch.

"I named them after their colors, even though they didn't like the idea". Max realized that he had

said too much.

"Who didn't like the idea?" Liz frowned.

"My parents, they thought it was lame". Max was surprised at how easy the lies slipped out of his

mouth.

"Old people". She rolled her eyes.

Betty called Liz's name, it was time to leave. "I had a nice time here" Liz said. "I'd love to come

back to play with the Bunnies. That's if you don't mind". She waited for Max to tell her he didn't

mind, but instead he said nothing. This time, he wasn't lost in her eyes, he got lost while deciding

which perfume she had on. "Max, you don't want me to come here again?"

"No! I mean, I don't mind" Max recovered.

They all watched Liz and her mother leave the front door after the numerous goodbyes. "That's a

nice girl there". A moment later and he realized he was supposed to say something to that. "Yes,

she is nice". Max decided to get his curiosity away. "Do you feel the magical aura around Liz?"

He asked his parents

"No honey, do you?" Dorothy asked.

"Yes, I do" Max replied.

"Tell us exactly how it felt" Mike said in a deep toned voice.

"My stomach kept tightening and I got lost in her eyes while trying to read her mind".

"Oh honey, it's nothing magical". Dorothy's eyes widened.

Mike laughed out loud. "What your mother meant is that you like her"

Dorothy slightly hit Mike on his shoulders. "That's how you feel when you are attracted to a

beautiful girl like Liz"

"Oh!" Mike walked into his room.

"Let's meet up for your training" Mike said just before Max went into his room. "And we will

talk about that butterfly in your tummy later". Mike laughed harder this time.

*******************

Max was getting to the last phase of his martial arts training. The Pretencis's magical technique.

His father had told him only one person had successfully done the technique in the history of

magic. "Max, you have to focus, you don't know what you are capable of doing". Max couldn't

get himself to get to the middle of this magical technique before he'd lost his concentration.

"Imagine someone you care so much about was in trouble and you are meant to save them.

Anybody, Me, your mother, David, Liz". He saw the deep brown eyes flashed through his eyes;

he heard her easy laughter too. In his mind, a shadow was chasing Liz and he was left with the

choice of using the Pretencis' technique. The only thing he remembered was his father's voice

echoing "Control it Max, control your powers!" When he opened his eyes, his parents and the

Bunnies were staring at him. "What happened?" He asked. "You passed out honey, you will be

fine". He knew he would be fine, but he needed to know why he passed out. "

His mother helped him get up; the News' headline was about possible earthquake in West Texas.

"West Texas might experience an earthquake soon. The walls shook terribly as---" The

newscaster was saying before Mike put off the television.

"Did I cause that?" Max couldn't hide the fear in his face

"I shouldn't have allowed you to try that technique; I mean no one in this generation has ever

tried it before". Mike rubbed off the sweat on his face. "I shouldn't have allowed you to try it, I

thought you were ready"

Max started to cough. "Ready for what? To connecting the two forces?"

He watched the surprise on his parents faces. "How did you--" Mike asked.

"The Bunnies!" Max replied.

"Oh! The talking Bunnies, what did they tell you?" Dorothy asked.

"Everything" Max replied.

*********************

"Someone just tried the Pretencis technique". Sam said. "No one has tried it in ages"

"I know! You didn't have to tell me" Danny snapped.

"Do you think it's the boy? He is not old enough to try such great magic".

"The boy has two total bloods in him, he can do anything!" Danny snapped once more. "Take

Birdie with you, Get me the boy! Take out anyone on the way".

"Including Mike?" Sam asked once more. "Your son?"

"He ceased to be my son the very day he betrayed the cause, the day he rebelled against the

Magoons!" Danny frowned "Do I have to remind you what your brother did?"

"No, you don't" Sam motioned to leave.

Danny stopped him. "Sam? No mistakes". Sam gave a nod

"One Kingdom is about to bow to another". He laughed mysteriously "And the party is about to

start"