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The Onion Patch- NaNoWriMo Day 10

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Disclaimer: I am posting this novel as I write it, during NaNoWriMo. As such, it is being shared without any editing, save for the occasional typo when I am able to catch them as I write. It is not a final draft and should not be viewed as such. I only want to offer others the opportunity to get a taste of my experience this month.

Today's Word Count: 2545
Total Word Count: 28,939


Five heads nodded solemnly, including my own. After all, if they couldn't trust us, who would they ever be able to trust?
Aliyah watched our responses in silence, and turned to Jordyn. "Do you want to start, or should I?"
Jordyn swallowed. "I can. Be ready to take over, though." She shifted to sit up straighter, as if bracing herself. "Well, you guys all know that the two of us are twins. Our story really goes back to the day we were born. There were some complications with the pregnancy, and our mother was very weak and sick when she gave birth to us. The healer had told our parents all along that there was a possibility of her not surviving the childbirth. They did everything they could to keep her safe, but it was still an uphill struggle. When Aliyah was born first, and both she and our mother looked healthy, they all thought things might be able to shape up okay, after all. But then, when I was born, something happened. I don't know exactly what happened, but everything went wrong. I was born small and weak, but alive, and my mother died in the process.
"Our father had always loved our mother very much, and the pain of losing her was so much that he just kind of snapped. He came to the conclusion that her death was my fault, and that if I weren't alive she would still be here. He favored Aliyah immensely- she always looked so much like our mother had, he told us.  He would pamper her and coddle her and make sure she always had more than enough food to eat. Meanwhile, he would give me extra chores and call me 'the mistake' when he thought we weren't listening and barely keep me fed enough to survive. He would always tell us both he loved us every night before bed, but I can see now that was never really true. Back then, though, I didn't know any better. I thought that he just loved us in different ways."
She took a deep breath, then motioned for Aliyah to take over. It was incredible, really- despite everything she said, there hadn't been a shred of resentment in her voice, either toward her father or toward Aliyah. It spoke volumes for her character.
Aliyah was another matter entirely. Her voice had a hard edge to it as she spoke, telling her side of the story. Maybe Jordyn didn't blame Aliyah for what had happened, but Aliyah certainly did. "It was worse when Jordyn wasn't around. Dad would whisper to me that he loved me more, and that Jordyn should have never been born. He'd tell me I was his favorite, and one day I was going to grow up to be just like Mom, but I wasn't going to let some parasite suck the life from me like Jordyn had. I didn't tell her that he was saying all this for years. I loved her too much to add that to her pain. I just always did my best to make things easier for her and show her that even if Dad didn't love her, I always would. I used to sneak her some of the extra food he would give me, and help her with chores when Dad wasn't paying attention. When things eventually got really bad and I decided I had to tell her all the things he had said about her, it was one of the hardest days of my life. We were up all night that night, just crying and holding onto each other and making promises that no matter what, we'd always stay together and look after one another.
"It was later that same year that we started school. Dad had wanted to send me to Geshem Primary School for years. He knew it was a great school and wanted the best he could give me. But he wasn't planning on letting Jordyn go to school at all, and I wasn't about to let that happen. I told him to his face that I was never going to go to Geshem unless Jordyn was coming with me. He finally gave in, but said that Jordyn would have to pay her own expenses if she wanted to come along. We were only seven years old at the time, but we both started going around and doing any odd jobs people would let us do. We would stay after school and clean chalkboards or sweep classrooms or whatever else the teachers would let us do. A lot of them were very confused about us- how could one sister have plenty of money to afford schooling when the other was scrambling just to make ends meet? By the end of the first year, a lot of them had decided we must be the children of a particularly nasty divorce, living with separate parents but still feeling our own special sense of connection. We let them believe whatever they wanted to believe, as long as they'd still let us keep working."
Jordyn took over again then. "When we turned ten, and some of the other kids our age started to manifest magical ability, our father got really excited. He always was so certain that Aliyah was going to be a powerful, talented wizard, because powerful, talented wizards got all the privilege and there was nothing he could possibly want more for his precious daughter who reminded him so much of Mom. He kept prompting her to try and levitate things or heal minor cuts, and she would try as hard as she could, but nothing would ever happen. So then he'd just tell her it was okay, and she'd do better next time, and that she was going to make him proud. All the while, I was busy cleaning tables at the bar to make any money I could, dodging thrown beer glasses and thrown punches.
"One day at the bar, I wasn't fast enough to duck, and I was sure I was going to end up disfigured or worse as a beer mug flew straight at my face. But somehow, at the last second, the mug stopped in midair, and then set itself gently on the table next to me. I still got a face full of beer, but I was used to that, and anything was better than glass shards in my eyes. I was shocked. I had no idea what had happened, or even why or how. I only knew that something had changed, and that I needed to know what. I asked some of the other people working at the bar if they had done something, but nobody else had even seen it all happen, and the other employees had no idea what might have caused such a strange occurrence. It was my boss that finally pulled me to the side and explained to me what the most likely cause had been. She told me I was right about the age where kids started showing signs of magical talent. I knew that, of course, but I had never given it much thought beyond the idea that someday soon Aliyah would probably start showing the gift. There was no way I could possibly be magically gifted, I thought. But now there I was, being told by my boss that I probably did have the gift, and that it was showing up, and suddenly there was something in my life that might actually make things go right for me.
"I started practicing on my own, trying to strengthen my control and my power. It turned out I could lift things pretty easily and move them around. It was just small stuff at first- books and pencils and things like that- but eventually I got to the point where I could even float Aliyah around the room, and that was when I decided I was ready. I thought maybe if I showed our father that I had magical ability, it would be a cause for him to care about me again- that if I could do something of worth, he'd start to love me. So that evening, I went into the living room with Aliyah and asked our father to let me show him something. Then I started moving things around. It was clear that I was the one who was doing it- nobody could have doubted that. But- but..."
She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. She was looking down at her knees, unable to meet anybody's eyes. Aliyah wrapped her arm around Jordyn's shoulder, then continued for her, her voice low and solemn.
"He didn't take to it well. He had been so determined that I was going to be the one with magical talent, so determined that I was going to make a name for myself and not Jordyn, that seeing her prove all his plans wrong made him angry. Dad had always been fairly verbally abusive toward Jordyn, but that was the first time he hit her. Taking care of her black eye that night, I vowed I would do everything in my power to make sure it would be the last.
"Jordyn and I made a hard decision that night. I wanted so badly for her to have this one thing for herself, just one bright point in her life to look forward to. But Dad would have made that impossible, and his actions that night had made that clear. So we decided that there was only one way to go about things. We didn't want to run away or anything, because we both loved going to school at Geshem so much and didn't want to lose our friends there. Instead, we decided to lie. If Dad wanted to believe I was the one with the magical talent, we would make it look like I was the one with the magical talent. Jordyn would work her magic, we would make it look like I was the one casting the spells, and we would both be able to live in peace again.
"It took us several months to get the technique down. We practiced in secret, when nobody was around to watch. Eventually, it got to the point where it felt more natural when Jordyn was channeling her magic through me than when she wasn't, and I could control it fairly well on my own without her active help. And that's when we went to our father again.
"The story we told him was basically the truth in reverse. We claimed that Jordyn's magic the other time had been me channeling my power though her as a sort of prank, and that the reason I hadn't used any magic since then was because I had been worried of his reaction after how he'd reacted to Jordyn. It worked perfectly- he believed every word of it, and was thrilled that I was showing magical talent. He never noticed how every time I did any sort of magic, it left Jordyn weary and weak- never noticed or never cared, one of the two. It didn't matter- to him, this was the best thing that could have happened for me. We were able to get a good scholarship for me to enter the wizarding studies program at Geshem, and that meant that for the first time, Dad was actually willing to pay some of Jordyn's tuition costs. I think he had started to realize that if she was in school, she wasn't 'burdening' him or whatever, and so he would pay for some of her schooling just to get rid of her for the year. These days, Jordyn's able to make up the remainder by selling what she crochets and sews. It doesn't make any of this screwed-up situation right, but it does make it easier at least.
"And we've basically been operating the same way ever since. I'm the one learning how to use magic to make a difference in the world, and everyone's always telling me how great of a talent I have, and how I'm the strongest wizard anyone has ever seen my age, but none of it's really me. Sure, I'm the one who's actually controlling it all, but the power isn't me at all. Every ounce of it is Jordyn channeling her own raw power through me. Without her, I'm about as powerless as a wet match. But I'm the one getting all the praise, and she's the one who spends day after day weak and weary to keep me at the peak of my ability. Which she shouldn't push beyond her ability," Aliyah added with a pointed look at Jordyn. "I'd much rather give up on all my access to magic and ever going to school again than ever losing you. So next time it gets to be too much for you, you had sure as pie better pull back before you go and kill yourself, got it?"
"Well, that's the last time you're going to need to take the state-ordination tests, right? So it shouldn't be a problem again."
"Oh, sure, it figures! You nearly die, we decide to tell everybody our deepest, darkest secret, and you're wanting to joke about it all?"
Jordyn shrugged. "Might as well do something to lighten the mood. I think we broke our friends."
Her comment managed to break me out of the shocked, appalled stupor I had fallen into listening to their story, and I looked around at the rest of our friends. Sure enough, they were sporting the same look I had been wearing just before. But what other response was there but dumbfounded abhorrence? To know that someone in this world would treat their own daughter so terribly- that our friends had grown up in such a horrifying situation and still were able to stand before us every day as if nothing was wrong- was too much to comprehend.
Aliyah caught sight of our faces, and apparently interpreted them the wrong way, because she was quick to add, "I never would have agreed to take Jordyn's magical talent for myself if I didn't think it was the best way to protect her, please know that. I know it sounds like I'm selfish and greedy and awful, but I promise from the bottom of my heart that I would give anything to change the way things-"
"Aliyah."
It was Nettie who had spoken. Even she was serious at the moment- it would have been impossible not to be- but she offered Aliyah a kind, reassuring smile. "None of us are judging you or looking down on you for what you did. We are your friends. We know what kind of a person you are, and we know that you're not the kind of person that would take advantage of Jordyn in that way. What you have gone through in your life was horrible and wrong and never should have happened to anybody, but we know that you couldn't have changed it, and that you did everything you could to protect Jordyn through it all. And now, you need to know that we love you. Nothing you did is going to change that. We're friends. We have to stick together, even through the hard times."
Day 10. Enjoy!

I'm starting to get to the part that I actually have a strong idea where my story's going, so I'm having fun now!
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