October 23

Magic Diary? Hah. That's really funny. This just looks like an ordinary old book. But.. who am I to scoff at magic? Who am I to scoff at anything? It's going to take a lot of magic to fix my life right now.. I've got to believe in something, even if I don't believe in people. Especially since my friends and family... No, forget it. It's not like you'll care. Not like anyone really does.

Daddy's been showering me in some really expensive gifts lately... It's like he thinks it'll magically (please pardon the pun) like his new girlfriend. It won't. She acts sweet as candy around Daddy and Sunny Engel, our house-keeper. But the second they turn around, she's absolutely horrid to my brother Aidan and I. Aidan gets away from it because he's in college, so I get the brunt of it... Poor Daddy is so lovestruck by the bit Jezebelle Breckers, his girlfriend, that he doesn't listen to me, or Aidan... I'll give her this though.. She's sneaky. I had a recorder in my pocket yesterday, on and recording, while she was laying into me about Aidan's bed not being made yet, (he was already in class, and it wasn't my job to make his bed.) Somehow, in the 20 minutes between when she stopped, and when Daddy came home, she replaced it with a recording of Aidan and I singing. She's way too good. She was in the room at the time, and I just wanted to wipe that awful, smug look off of her face. I wish Daddy would see just how horrible she is to us.

"Keagan!" She heard her father calling her.

"Yes, Daddy?" Well, he doesn't sound angry... Jezebelle must not be here spreading her lies, she thought.

"Can you come down here, Baby Girl?"

'Baby Girl?' Keagan blinked in surprise. Her father, Connor Michaels, hadn't called her that since he'd started dating Jezebelle, who had told him that Keagan was too old to have such a "baby name" for a nickname.

Keagan shut the diary and locked it in her nightstand before hurrying down the stairs, bumping into her father at the foot of the stairs.

Connor caught his daughter by the upper arms, smiling at her.

Keagan wouldn't quite meet his eyes and mumbled a quick, "Sorry, Daddy."

Connor gave a small sigh and pulled her into a big bear hug. When he released her, Keagan crossed her eyes and made a big show of rubbing her sides and panting, a small smirk playing upon her lips. Connor chuckled softly and brushed a lock of her flaming red hair behind her ear.

Connor's expression turned sheepish as he pulled a recorder out of the back pocket of his jeans. "I found this in a drawer in the den."

Keagan's brow furrowed. "What is it, Daddy?"

Connor looked down at his feet. "I wish I had believed you in the first place, Baby Girl..." His voice trailed off.

Keagan's eyes widened. Surely she'd be smarter than to just hide it away in a drawer.

Connor put the recorder on its dock in his office as Aidan walked in from his classes at the local college.

Connor looked up at the door, "Aidan, will you come in here, son?"

Aidan glanced in at his baby sister, who just shrugged in confusion. He walked over to her, dropping an arm around her shoulders as Jezebelle flounced into the room, making her daily show of being the perfect girlfriend, kissing him grandly and plastering a sugary sweet, yet somehow smug, smile on her face for both Keagan and Aidan. The two narrowed their matching sea-blue eyes at her. Connor moved behind his children seated in chairs opposite his desk. He placed a hand on either of their shoulders after hitting play on the player. Keagan's voice rang throughout the room, drawing even Sunny's attention from the kitchen. 

Seconds later, Jezebelle's voice screeched out of the player. Vicious lies flew from between her lips at Keagan, about how her father never truly loved her, he left sorry for her, which was why she wasn't at a boarding school. 

A sudden yelp of pain indicated where Jezebelle had pulled on Keagan's long locks of flame red hair.

Keagan looked down at her hands as sounds of hitting and more vicious lies and insults filled the room. Aidan looked over in shock at his little sister. She had kept this from him. Seeing a few tears slipping from under her lashes, he scooped her up onto his lap and held her. Connor stroked his hair, his brows knotted together. Tears slipping from Sunny's angry eyes, her hands covered her mouth. Jezebelle glared angrily at Keagan, her lips parted in a sneer.

When the recording stopped, the room was silent for quite a while, until Jezebelle regained her usual cool composure. "Darling, what exactly was that supposed to be?" She asked, feigning innocence. 

Connor's eyes, the same sea-blue as his children's, snapped open, glaring angrily at Jezebelle.

"I think you know exactly what it is, Jezebelle." He spoke slowly, controlling his anger.

She blinked, widening her eyes, feigning shock. "Surely you don't think that I would ever lay a hand on your beautiful daughter!"

Connor's lips angrily lifted over his teeth. "Are you implying that my Baby Girl would lie to me? Doctor a recording just to get you? It was clearly your voice on the recording!"

Jezebelle's black eyes flashed. She stood quickly. "Fine, yes. I HATE your children, Connor. I had everything figured out. When you finally married me this summer, I was going to send your son to a college in Alaska." She held up an acceptance letter from University of Alaska Anchorage. "And your selfish, bratty, absolutely horrid daughter to a boarding school in England. They're far too close." She held up an acceptance letter from Headington School in Oxford.



To be continued.... (MAYBE.)