One Year Later

Fourteen year old Aurelia Hall is not just a normal teen. Why so? Because for the past year, she has been moonlighting as Lumen, the young sidekick to her aunt's superhero alter ego, Lumière. She has gained fame too in her own way and people somehow like her. This, for Aurelia, is kind of hard to believe but she's pretty happy with it. 

As far as her normal life is concerned, she's doing good. School is progressing surprisingly well and she's pretty sure she's one of the top students of her class. And the few friendships she has are nice, but the ones from her other job are the best. Donna Troy and Dick Grayson have unexpectedly (or expectedly, whatever is the correct word) become her best friends. Aurelia trusts them with all her heart. And besides, Robin, Wonder Girl and Lumen being best friends? How awesome is that? She likes to think it's pretty great.

Aurelia never thought she would ever admit it, but she quite likes this; putting bad people behind bars, helping people and using her powers freely. She's happy with who she is now, a sidekick; although there are times when she wants to be something more. But right now, she is perfectly content with doing what she does. Which, in the moment, is waiting for her aunt on a rooftop of a warehouse (on a school night) located near the outskirts of Ann Arbor as she busts an arms deal down below. 

She hears noises of guns being fired and sees the flashes of blue light (while her aunt's spell take form in only one major color, Aurelia's spells take form in red, gold, purple and pink). Aurelia knows this is an anomaly when it comes to spell casting but her aunt has always been pretty casual about it. The flashes finally die down and the scramble of noises stop. And then she hears her aunt's voice in her head. (Perks of being a Homo Magi? Telepathy)

"Come on down now," Clara says, her breathing heavy. "I need you to help me tie these guys up. They're struggling too much and I think I have used up a lot of energy today."

"Yeah, you sound like that." Aurelia breaks the telepathic link before she teleports inside the warehouse. The rusted iron roof is rectangular in shape, hanging nearly twenty feet above them. Abandoned cars are lying here and there, stored like they were in some sort of a garage. Broken glass is scattered all around the warehouse and seven men lie in the centre of the room, all with varying injuries and all struggling against the magical bindings they are tied up with. 

Clara stands next to them and next to her lies a pile of guns and three boxes, which Aurelia presumes contains the guns. She walks up to her aunt and presses a hand to her face, feeling the mask adorning it. She presses her fingers to its clasp around her ears and tightens it, before she looks towards the older woman. "So? What now?" 

"Like I said, tie these guys up. Then we hand over the weapons to the police and leave for home," Clara explains with a nonchalant shrug as she stares at the men, who all have a varying degree of injuries. Aurelia blinks before she points her hands towards the men, murmuring the spell. Bind. A simple but highly effective spell; her hands glow red as ropes emerge from nowhere to bind the men. They tighten around them till they are fully tied with no room to even struggle.

"Excellent spell work. 10 on 10," Clara raises her hand for a high five which Aurelia promptly obliges. They glance at the men together who are staring at them with intense hatred in their eyes. Aurelia cheekily grins at them before she turns to her aunt. 

"So what now?" She questions. "Do we have to wait for the police now? You know I have school right?"

"Be patient. The police will be here in a minute," Clara tells her. As Aurelia looks at her aunt, she can see the tiredness on her face. It is then she realises that her aunt must really have used a lot of her magic today. But since she is a pretty stubborn person, she will refuse to take any rest. (It's recklessness that comes with being a hero). Though Clara's intuition or sense of danger is freakishly accurate and like she had mentioned earlier, the police are there in a minute. An exact minute. 

The sirens from the police cars echo outside the building before they stop. Moments later the police storm inside, all guns blazing. Even the Chief of Police comes and as they see the magical duo, standing in full costume with the men tied up next to them, they pause. "Chief Caulder, here you go. The deal's been stopped and the men are all tied," Clara says, sounding slightly cheeky. "Do you need us for a report or can we go?"

Aurelia bits the inside of her cheeks to prevent herself from laughing. Sometimes her aunt can be really funny out of nowhere and those moments of cheek and sass are awesome to witness. Chief Caulder stares at them with a familiar expression of awe. "You can leave," He tells them with the same tone. "Thank you for your help."

Clara nods towards him and the other policemen. Then she grips Aurelia's shoulders and silently mutters the familiar spell. Aurelia feels the magic flow through her and she closes her eyes, letting it take her back home. Open Door. So damn useful. 

A Homo Magi doesn't dream normal dreams. Somehow, their dreams always revolve around magic or spells or any kind of incantation. Even if it is the happiest dream or the scariest nightmare, magic will have a part to play in it. Aurelia's dreams have been strange since she was a young child. And even in the present, they're no different. Clara has told her that these dreams can often have double meanings; that they can also serve as warnings for times to come and can even reveal some very ancient spells as well. How does this work? Aurelia doesn't know. (well...she does...magic.)

Tonight's (or yesterday's) dream has been strange and the only thing she can remember out of it is the face of a young girl with dyed blue hair, looking very distressed. She knows she needs to tell her aunt about this, but she doesn't want. Clara has a tendency to disregard her dreams; she doesn't really believe in this kind of magic. So Aurelia decides to keep her mouth shut. Thank god today is Saturday; she can finally relax without worrying about school.

She still lays on her bed, not wanting to get up. Weekends are supposed to be a day of laziness for her and she just wants to sleep the entire day today. But she knows her aunt is not going to allow that because the weekends also happen to be training days. She gets up and stretches her arms before she slowly walks out into the living room where her aunt is seated on the couch and is reading a newspaper. 

"Good morning," Aurelia greets as she sits down on the opposite couch. "Anything in the news today?" Uggh, Lia, you could have picked a better topic, but no. You had to ask this. 

"The usual crap; economy's weak, no jobs," Clara shrugs her shoulders. "Oh, and there was something about you in the paper today. People are fans of you, it seems."

"Nice," Aurelia nods. Out of nowhere, her mind flashes back to the dream where the dark haired girl says something similar. People seem to like you very much. Aurelia knows, somehow she knows, that this girl is going to be important. Maybe now, maybe years in the future. But this dark haired girl is important. 

"Why are you so distracted? What's wrong?" Clara questions. Aurelia looks back at her aunt and realises that she's already finished with the newspaper and is looking at her. Was she really that distracted? Huh?

"I...it's nothing," Aurelia replies as she sits up on the couch with her legs crossed. She looks down at her hands even though she can feel her aunt's narrowed eyes on her. "So what are we doing in today's training?"

"It's not nothing," Clara immediately says, ignoring Aurelia's last statement. "You have been acting really weirdly today. Did something happen or what?"

"Nothing happened. I just had a really weird dream."

"Again?" Clara's reaction makes her wince slightly. The tone of her voice especially when it comes to her dreams...it doesn't really sit well with the younger girl. 

"It's fine," Aurelia keeps a bright smile on her face. "I don't even remember most of it." I remember all of it. Vividly. 

Her aunt still has a suspicious look, but she doesn't say anything further. "Training...right, nothing practical today. You'll be reading a spell book today. Nothing else." 

"Oh, come on!" Aurelia groans. "Can't we do something practical today? I would love to perform a new spell."

"Aurelia Hall, the last time you performed a spell without practice, you nearly burned down the couch. So no. No performing spells today. Only. Reading."

Aurelia groans again. Clara chuckles lightly before she waves her hand over the coffee table, murmuring a silent spell. The book is bound in brown leather and is a thick old tome, the edges yellowed with age. What remains of the books original stitching is held by magic (in all probability) and the front of this book is blank, like most other spell books. 

"Seriously?" Aurelia likes reading spell books; but not very old and very thick spell books. Their language is boring and it takes her a long time to finish it. "Could this be anymore thicker?"

"Don't worry," Clara gets up and as she walks past Aurelia, she ruffles her hair. "I have a feeling you're going to like it." She stretches her arm and yawns. "I'm going to be in my room, if you need me."

'Like it my ass,' Aurelia thinks as she watches her aunt leaving. She looks at the book and sees the size again; feeling lazy, she decides to use a spell to levitate the book to her. Move. The book slowly floats into her arms and she touches it, she feels a slight tingle. "Huh, weird."

She opens the book and reads the words written on the first page. Her jaw almost hits the floor. The words are in Latin, but she knows the language and almost immediately she translates it. The Art of Summoning Animals: Familiars and the Phoenix

Oh, Aurelia sure as hell is going to like it. 

not that special a chapter, but you got a slight introduction to aurelia's magic and how it works. and the reason why the phoenix is highlighted is because of a very special reason, which will be revealed as the chapters come. 

also, did anyone catch that f.r.i.e.n.d.s reference in this chapter?

anyway, i hope you liked this chapter. please let me know what you thought in the comments below!