Point out that she can’t be mad at you for using magic if she never told you not to

You just want to open the refrigerator and eat half of its contents, then go back to bed for a week. When you walk into the kitchen, you see your mother sitting at the table, glaring at you. You know you should just get the dishwasher loaded and not provoke her.

You were trying to help her, give her a long, healthy life. You can’t tell her that, because then she’d know you know another spell and you’d be in even more trouble. You find that you can’t just accept the unfairness of her attitude towards you and keep your mouth shut. What is her problem with magic anyway?

As you put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, you say, “I’m sorry I upset you, but I wasn’t trying to cause any harm. How was I supposed to know that you didn’t want me to experiment with magic. You never told me that you didn’t want me to,” you say, trying to appeal to her reason. You can hear your tone become more accusing as you add, “You never said anything about magic at all. If it’s so terrible, why wouldn’t you warn us about it?”

Your mom scowls angrily at that accusation. Then she gains her composure and sighs. “I was afraid if I warned you and your sister about magic, then you’d know it was real. My telling you to keep away from it would just make it forbidden fruit, and tempt you to seek it out. I didn’t think it was possible that you’d ever just run across it by accident,” she says. “I probably should have known better. Magic finds a way to ruin people if it can,” she adds bitterly.

“What happened that makes you hate magic so much? Why don’t you think it could be used for good, if someone knew what they were doing?” you ask. You know it’s a dangerous path to take, coming close to sounding pro-magic when your mother is so dead-set against it. You aren’t sure why you say it, other than you think you’re right and she’s wrong, and you want to prove it — make her admit it.

She smirked, “Do you think you know what you’re doing? Because some guy whose name you’re not even sure of told you about a couple of spells?” she retorts. “I’ll tell you what happened, but your sister should hear it, too. I don’t want to ever have to repeat it.” She raises her voice. “Abigail, come down here, please. I want to talk to you and your brother.”

When Abbie comes in, your mom tells you both to have a seat. “I never told you much about your father. That’s because I didn’t like thinking about that time in my life. I’m not proud of the things I did back then. I feel foolish that I allowed myself to be manipulated and used,” she began.

“I was also trying to protect you from knowing what a deceitful, narcissistic bastard you got half your DNA from,” she continued. “I was only 19 when I met him, still a virgin. Your grandfather and grandmother were very protective and strict, and I was extremely sheltered.”

“Your father was older, mysterious, and handsome. He knew all the right things to say, and he played me like a fiddle. When I met him, I rebelled against my parents. I wanted to experience all the things that they had kept me from. He was more than happy to provide all those experiences and more. He was very attentive to me at first. Made me feel special. He sweet-talked me and made me feel things, and do things, that I had never even imagined. I was caught up in the excitement of what I thought was romance. I went along with anything he wanted.”

“I was pregnant with Abbie when he first asked me to help him with a sex magic ritual. He told me he was a mage. I didn’t believe him at first. But he showed me things that made me believe. Proved he could walk into my dreams. Once I started helping him with the rituals, he could alter the minds and memories of people we knew. He gave himself unbelievable luck with money. He started bringing it in fast, and spending it just as fast.”

“Then when I was pregnant with Dave, he twisted the mind of one of my best friends. Enchanted her so she lived to please him and would do anything he wanted. They disappeared with all the money. I was left alone to raise two kids with no help and nothing to my name.”

“I realized that all along he had just wanted me as a tool to perform sex magic. He needed someone naive and easy to manipulate, who would go along with anything he needed. He never loved me, he only loved the power that magic provided. It had corrupted him to the core.”

Abbie frowns, looking confused. “Wait, if you went along with everything he asked, you were enchanted, right? Did it wear off or something?” she asked. You think you hear a tone of fear in her voice at the prospect of the enchantment going away.

Your mother shakes her head. “I wasn’t under a spell. I was just young and dumb,” she said. “He told me that for sex magic, the partner has to be doing it of their own free will and understand what the spell is going to do. It was one of the few things he taught me about magic on purpose. I think it must have been because my understanding was necessary for it to work. I worked out a few other things from watching what happened around him. I tried to research magic for a while after he left, but most of the things I read didn’t seem to match the reality of what I had seen with him.”

“So, that’s why I don’t want you using magic,” your mom says as she looks at you. “I’m afraid it will turn you into someone like your father, who would use a girl for his personal gain and abandon his own children.” Tears welled in her eyes. “I’m afraid that it’s already starting. One of the spells he cast to prove to me that he was able to do magic… it enhanced his physical appearance. After that spell, he became more arrogant, condescending, and uncaring. When I saw you in my dream, you looked so much like what your father became. David, I’m begging you, don’t ever try to use magic again. Promise me.”