Leo thought about jumping out for a second but grabbed his backpack instead. Reaching in, he took out the notebook and was met with an emanating red light. Speechless he handed the notebook over as he saw one of his drawing, simple lines that should have no depth, seemed to almost breathe on the page and move as the light slowly brightened and dimmed with each passing second.

Leo sat silently, watching Circe run her hands over the page, mumbling under her breath. Her eyes began to well up before she seemed to notice him staring and rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hand. "Leo, what's your last name?"

Caught off guard by the question, Leo answered, "It's uh, it's Wallbridge."

Circe seemed to notice the hesitation and said, "You don't have to tell me, it's just, this type of stuff, this isn't something people learn. This is something else entirely."

"I-I don't know, I never met my family."

She shifted in her seat to face him better. Grabbing the notebook, she put her finger next to the shifting lines, "Leo, what you did here, this is pure runic magic. I've read about it before, and we're taught about it in history, but this isn't normal, even by magical standards. Nobody has been able to do this for over 100 years. There was only one family that had true mastery over this, and they disappeared a long time ago."

"W-wait so you think I'm some sort of... what? A wizard or something?"

Circe smiled a little, "No, I wouldn't say that. But the fact that you're able to do this magic, I would say there's slim to no chance you're a normal human. This is a type of blood magic. Not in the sense that you use blood or anything, but it's only capable of being passed down through bloodlines, never learned. People have been trying for years to replicate some of the known runes, but it's never worked."

"So, you think this family that disappeared is what... my family?"

"I don't know." Circe said as her tone got softer, and her face bore a more empathetic expression. She could see he was beginning to get overwhelmed with all this information.

Leo had given up hope a long time ago of ever learning more about his family. He put his hands up to his face and rubbed his eyes a bit.

"I-I just need a minute." He said as he stepped out of the car.

A chill Fall breeze met his face as he exited the car. After pacing for a moment, he went over and sat on the curb, elbows on knees, hands on his face, and tears forming in his eyes.

"What the actual fuck is going on?" His hands were shaking, and the wind caused bumps to form on his arms.

Red foliage floated down in front of him, landing on the asphalt. Glancing down, the veins on a leaf began to contort and twist into a familiar symbol. His mind shifted immediately as he was taken back to his dreams. The same markings he had been seeing for weeks. A fear welled inside him and the leaf started to burn. After a moment of shock, he stood up and began stomping it out before the wind took it away. Sitting back down, a realization hit that these symbols might be more than him going mad, and that brought some solace.

After a few minutes, Circe came over and sat beside him.

"I'm sorry you never met your family. I can't imagine what that's like, not knowing anything about where you come from. I can't promise you all the answers, but if you're willing, I can get you information about your gifts, and you can do with that information whatever you want. I live not that far from here, and to be honest, I think you probably shouldn't stay here much longer. You didn't exactly use the most subtle magic back there, and those two other people seemed to get a good look at you."

Standing up, Circe reached down a hand to help Leo up. Leo took her hand and pulled himself to his feet.

"Thank you for what you did back there."

"To be honest, when I saw the flame I thought it was just magic gone wrong. But when I saw the notebook and the surprised look on your face, I figured there was something more going on. When you started to go limp I figured out it was your first time. Exerting that much energy can be dangerous if you don't have experience, and sometimes even with experience it can still drain too much. I-I'm glad I was there."

Circe smiled a little and started walking around to the driver side of the car, "So, you willing to take one more chance today? The library at my house isn't huge but it definitely has enough to get started."

Leo looked nervously at the car for a second before saying, "Can we keep this between us? The whole bloodline magic? I just don't want to get too ahead of ourselves."

She hopped in the car and popped the passenger door open. "Of course. It's not my secret to tell."

Leo took one last look at the Fall colored leaves lining the parking lot leading up to the school. He took a deep breath and got in the car, unsure of what awaits, but for the first time in a long time, hopeful for a new beginning.