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mean that Lenore has a green aura?”
    “Not necessarily. Lenore’s aura isn’t the green of life. It is more of a brownish green…almost sick looking, like bile. It’s her spirit rotting from the inside out.”
    “Ew.” Bianca couldn’t imagine having something like that happen to her. She pictured fruit going bad. All covered in mold, wrinkled, and decomposed to the point where it was unrecognizable. She shuddered at the thought and tried to clear her mind, which was easier said than done. Bianca closed her eyes and tried to do what her mother suggested. For a long time nothing happened, until she started thinking about her father. No specific memories, just the man she remembered. Handsome, kind, always trying to make Bianca laugh. Then she felt a tingling in her fingertips.
    “That’s it!” Rose beamed.
    A smile bloomed on Bianca’s face when she heard the pride in Rose’s voice.
    “What are you thinking about?” Rose spoke a notch above a whisper.
    “Nothing,” Bianca lied.
    As soon as the lie passed her lips the feeling in her hands vanished, and the magic was gone. Bianca opened her eyes. Rose’s mouth turned into a thin line.
    “Don’t lie. Magic…at least good magic…doesn’t help liars,” Rose warned.
    “I’m sorry.” Bianca lowered her head in shame.
    “It’s okay. We’re here to learn, not judge one another. Wanna try again?”
    “Yeah,” Bianca whispered.
    The awkward moment passed, and they turned their attention back to Bianca’s training. She thought of her father once more. She remembered the time they had all gone to the aquarium together. She had been six years old, and at that time she’d wanted to be a marine biologist. She loved the water and stingrays. She thought they were odd and graceful. All she could see was his handsome face as he’d pointed to a stingray.
    “Did you know that stingrays are usually docile and curious? They sometimes brush their fins past any new object they come across,” David said.
    “Really?” Bianca replied.
    “Yep.” He nodded.
    “Cool.” She pressed her tiny hands on the cool glass.
    Bianca opened her eyes and watched in awe as both her hands glowed bright white.
    “Okay. Now direct it somewhere. Anywhere,” Rose instructed gently.
    Bianca looked around and threw her fireball towards a box of old papers. She honestly didn’t think that the box would catch fire. She didn’t think her magic was powerful enough to make something burst into flames. But that was exactly what happened.
    “Oh, crap,” Rose shouted. She ran upstairs, grabbed the fire extinguisher that was in the kitchen, then ran back to the basement, and put the fire out.
    “I’m so sorry,” Bianca said, rooted to the spot. She was shocked. She stared at her hands as though seeing them for the first time in her life.
    “No, no. That’s okay. You were great.” Rose wiped the sweat off her pale forehead.
    “Mom?”
    “Yes?”
    “When you asked me what I was thinking about earlier and I said nothing…”
    “Yeah?”
    “I was thinking about Daddy,” she admitted.
    “Oh.” Rose spoke so softly. Bianca wondered if she really heard her speak or if she had imagined it. Oh was such a small word, yet it filled the room.
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Don’t be. You’re not forbidden to think about him.”
    “But you always cry and get so sad when I mention him.”
    “I know. I’m so sorry for that. It’s just…it’s hard living without him. God…it’s been ten years, and I still can’t get used to it. He is the love of my life.”
    Bianca almost corrected her and said was. It was as though Rose were implying that David was still alive. But if he were alive, Bianca knew that her father would do everything in his power to come home to his family.
    Where is he? Why hasn’t he found a way to come back to us?
    She had been seven years old when her father had disappeared. The first year he was gone she’d cried nearly every day. With time she’d cried less and