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THE MORNING ARRIVES all too quickly, the sky outside Nina's bedroom intrudes as the morning becomes golden with the rising sun but with it comes a strange feeling inside. As Nina stirs, blinking her eyes, slowly adjusting to the new day, feeling exhausted, she inhales a deep breath. She glances across the room for her best friend, Toots. 'Oh,' she thinks as she gazes on an empty perch while reminiscing at the mornings when Toots is here, it seems long ago. Realising the sadness, because Toots is not here, the pain of it feels like despair. Festering over things, she feels worried about Toots and wonders how he is at the order. She misses him terribly but reassures herself he is safe. She distracts her thoughts, by listening, for noises in the house, trying to normalise her feelings to understand what she is experiencing in more depth.
She lies in bed composing the night and her hapless sleep. A disturbing dream and whispers of the night keep her stirring in and out of alertness. She resides in a black cave, hidden from the world. This cave is different. It feels ill-fated with no safety or reach for help, only the night and all the darkness it holds.
Laid watching her warm breath turn to mist in the unusually cold air, she looks up at the ceiling, and it seems to come alive. She reaches out her finger as if to touch the world above her head. She moves the light and shadows with her inner magic. As she watches curiously, the shadows hide, as the light chases the black back from where it derives; something pops into her thoughts. 'The light comes so you may see.' She questions this not knowing her thoughts. She feels different this morning, altered, somehow in her life, a person less tolerant, built up inside, only leaving a new awareness of her feelings. Even perhaps an emotionless state altering her happiness, of being normal for a witch. She pulls herself up from the bed; morning comes too quick; the broken sleep makes her feel listless. She realises the cold is back, it is summer, but a bone-chilling frost clings to the air. She takes a deep breath that leaves her gasping. Arms wrapped around her shuddering body she goes through the bedroom door to the landing and huddles herself in her dressing gown then knocks on Relck’s bedroom door. There is no answer, so she slowly opens it. No one is present. There is a vacant bed. She notices the blanket Nasharie asked for and taking it; she decides to leave it under her bed.
'Hang on,' she thinks. If Nasharie or the under-bed trolls are catching her bad dreams why is she having troubled thoughts and unpleasant dreams at night? Could her anxious thoughts be a form of contact from Nasharie or a warning from her friend, perhaps? Unsure she leaves the blanket under her bed and enters the bathroom to get washed with hot water, the warmth cleans her cold face, and a warm feeling makes her normal again. Not in the mood to be choosing clothes she dresses in jeans and a plain jumper, she pauses turning off the taps, and noise from her room startles her. ‘What was that?' She thinks. Fear enters by her knowing that she might be in the house alone and there is no wand at hand! Taking a deep breath, she creeps in to see nothing! No one is there. Kneeling, she looks under her bed; the blanket is not there. ‘Nasharie', she calls, but there is no answer. This absence disturbs Nina, hoping for some human comfort from her friends but no one is there.
While Nina's walking down the stairs, the house is silent. Feeling unnerved for a moment then noticing her mother, she is relieved. Mother is happily sitting at the kitchen table looking at a witch’s book. The Rayburn is warming the kitchen. It's another strange cold night. ‘What are you doing Mam?' ‘Hello, sweetie, I'm looking through this spell book.' ‘What spells does it have in it?' ‘One that can help us find Dillwyn's parents, hopefully.
‘Relck is at the order. Witches and wizards are disappearing. He is waiting; he needs your help,' she explains.
Sitting down at the table, Nina's serving herself a bowl of cereal, wanting to hear more. Her witch's sense picks up the dangers before her. ‘Tell me more Mam.' A discerning looked comes over Mother.
‘It's the Summer Solstice coming up, and the stars will align, and magic will be strong for twenty-four hours. Witches and wizards will get new powers, but also young magic folk will change.'
‘Change into what?' ‘They will get more powers or new powers,' says Mother. Nina is unsettled. Mother has not answered her question fully. Her Mother smiles strangely. Nina frowns at this, not understanding what is trying to be said.
‘Are you feeling okay, sweetie?'
‘I've had a bad night sleep, says Nina ‘I'm missing Toots. There's so much going on, we help Dillwyn, and now we need to help find his parents!' Mother smiles as if feeling and understanding what Nina is trying to say. ‘Sometimes things are meant to be broken, you know.' Nina frowns.
‘That doesn't make sense Mam.' ‘At times, put aside yesterday thoughts, and when your mind clears the things that mean the most to you show you what is troubling.' She continues.
'We have a lot to cope with and to understand in life. We have to live two lives, and one or the other is just as hard as next.'
Nina smiles as she finishes her breakfast, understanding the meaning of what Mother is implying.
Being ushered to the order, she finishes her breakfast, gives Mother a kiss and hug, runs upstairs feeling more with it and excited at the day ahead. Grabbing her witch's bag, she silently wonders where Father is? She can't sense his presence; she touches the mirror.
‘Witchy witchy woo. Mother nature hears my cry. I offer you the wing of a bat, leg of the spider.' She sprinkles magic dust on the floor. ‘Through the darkest night and the lightest day, through time and space take me to the order.' Sparks fly from her wand, and she is gone.
Arriving at the Order of Feathers dressed in her apprentice robe, she pauses to catch her breath from the unnatural transportation through the mirror. The great hall is inaudible, witches and wizards are too busy to notice her as they pass.
Not seeing Relck, Toots or Dillwyn, she walks towards the inventor's room. Reaching the door, it is ajar. Peering inside, she is struck by the silence. Relck, Toots, Raspy and Dillwyn study what the inventor is making. Toubale looks up. ‘Ah.' He quickly throws a sheet over whatever it is on the table. Relck turns and looks throwing a smile as if up to something; she knows her brother, but thinking to herself, ‘I'll let him keep his secrets till he wants me to know about it.' ‘Hello everyone,' she smiles as if the game is up and she knows everything.
Dillwyn rushes over and hugs Nina. Noticing Toot’s feathers are still white on the tips and his face sad, tells Nina all she needs to know. Nina walks over to him and squeezes him and gives him a kiss.
‘I'm with you,' she whispers.
‘Yes, I know,' he screeches. ‘You nearly squeezed the feathers off me.' The friends chuckle. Nina is so happy to be with her friends. Without them, it's lonely on adventures.
Relck turns to Nina,
‘Have you heard about the witches and wizards' disappearing?'
‘Yes, do you know where they have gone?'
‘No! But I don't think anybody's taken them. I reckon they're hiding.' ‘Hiding, hiding from whom?' She asks.
‘No one seems to know. But Mother's considering spells to help.'
‘Yes, I spoke to Mam this morning. She's trying to find your parents Dillwyn, but it's a mystery, this goings-on.
‘You should look for clues Nina, alone,' prompts Relck.
‘Where do I start?'
‘Try home, see what Mam knows, if not, then the box of lies may help.'
Nina agrees then makes her way to the great hall and the grand mirror. It's empty, as witches and wizards go on their way. Reaching into her witch's pouch, she grabs her wand. She touches the mirror and whispers her magic words, as she makes her offering.
Then with a swish and a swoosh and spark from her wand, she disappears.
A blinding light hits her eyes, and the scent of pine trees fills the air. Nina is disoriented. ‘Where am I?' This is not home. Eyes are focusing; she turns her head and looks around. She is in a wood, needles and pine cones cover the ground. There are no signs of anyone or any horrible creatures. She mutters quietly to herself,
‘I always fear the worst, but this could be good.'
Unexpectedly a thought comes to her, something from within her dream, she remembers.
‘Be careful where you tread, in the trees they hide. Footprints will mark their presence. Be careful of danger from above. If you look up, a spell you may find, dropped on the unwary. Witches and wizards hide from harm. Only cold and dark follow, to take their magic.' Crunch, a twig snaps above her head. She nervously looks up. Her eyes are distracted, and a large snowflake floats down. Nina's instinct is to hold out her hand remembering this happened at Auntie Paulina's. Strange, she thinks for a second, and as the snowflake lays on her palm, it burns hot like a flame. Then, whoosh, she vanishes.