shlyn and Donnie had four kids—Arabeth (fifteen), Mary Roberts (ten), and twins Michael and Tina Louise (six). Together, they made up the clan of the Inero family.
All but Arabeth had expertly tussled dark curls. She had long black hair much like SJ’s. The twins had eyes like their mother’s—a warm hazel brown ringed in amber. Mary Roberts and Arabeth took after their father and had eyes bluer than the coastline, which was visible through almost every window in the family’s enormous beachside property.
Arabeth was very athletic. She was always either swimming in the water, running barefoot down the beach, or climbing trees. An entire closet in the hallway was stuffed full of her action-adventure equipment for a myriad of activities from rock climbing to bungee jumping.
Mary Roberts, meanwhile, was more calm and focused. Unlike her older sister who was constantly dashing about, she preferred to sit in a windowsill reading a book. I didn’t get to talk to her much throughout our stay, but when I did I perceived that she was fiercely intelligent, just extremely modest about it.
The twins, Michael and Tina Louise, reminded me a great deal of chipmunks (not the fire-breathing kind we’d run into in the Forbidden Forest, just the normal kind that hung around public parks). Inseparable, the pair popped up when you least expected them. And they had these naturally curious expressions on their faces that suggested everything and everyone was absolutely fascinating.
That first night we all had dinner together, my friends, Daniel, and I told the story of how we’d come to be there. Since we didn’t want to bring up the whole “we want your locket” business yet, we’d agreed on a cover story for that part of the tale before dinner.
Rolling with SJ’s earlier comment about our reason for being here, we explained that in order to break the In and Out Spell around the Indexlands we needed several Earth plants, and we’d travelled through one of the holes to find them. It was a lie that worked well since while we were stuck here, SJ—with Ashlyn and Donnie’s permission—planned on brewing a fresh batch of portable potions with whatever ingredients she could find and the many recipes she knew from memory.
That dinner was the most time my group spent together during our stay. After the meal we dispersed to pursue more individual activities, which would occupy our time and give us the space we desperately needed from one another.
Having received our hosts’ blessing, SJ headed for the kitchen to begin her potions work. Daniel went with an eager-to-learn Arabeth to the front yard to teach her the basics of sword fighting. And Jason and Blue joined our remaining hosts in the family room to watch the “TV.”
It was an interesting and sufficiently awesome contraption, this TV. Ashlyn described it as pre-recorded theater in a box and explained its concept in more detail after Blue’s inquiry.
Blue and Jason went on to discover the family’s collection of VHS tapes that went with the TV. These devices contained pre-performed storylines that could be re-watched again and again from any starting or stopping point.
They were definitely an innovation worth more of my time. Alas, my interest in them was exceeded by the awkwardness I felt around Blue and Jason. As such, I did not join them for the VHS viewings that evening. Instead, I found my way to the garden out back and sat in the metaphorical bed of isolation I had made for myself.
The house (which was more like a rustic mansion) had enough rooms for me to find a solitary place inside. But I preferred it out here.
I kicked at the dirt, my boot catching the sheen of one of the many multi-colored lanterns that lit up the area. The sun had set long ago, and despite the tropical climate I was starting to feel the night’s chill.
Or on second thought maybe that was just my friends’ cold shoulders . . .
At least I wasn’t wet anymore. That was definitely a plus. After emerging from the ocean the others and I had dried crisp and clean thanks to SJ’s SRB’s.
If only I could’ve said the same for my satchel. My beloved bag had been far from unaffected by the ocean’s composition. The thing was weirdly discolored now and the material had hardened drastically. I began poking around inside and discovered that nearly everything inside was ruined. The only things that didn’t appear to be destroyed were my wand and . . .
Hello, what’s this?
Inside my worn bag I found a perfectly crisp white envelope. Its color remained unchanged, and its seal unweathered. I pulled out the object and turned it over to find a name printed in sparkly red pen on the upper right hand corner.
“Debbie Nightengale,” I read aloud.
I thought back to that night in Adelaide six weeks ago and the sparkly woman who’d come to my aid in the shimmering lightning storm gown. My eyes widened when I realized what the envelope was.
Dang, I forgot about this.
My Fairy Godmother trainee Debbie had given me this envelope when we’d first met the night the others and I broke into Fairy Godmother Headquarters. It was a survey of her performance, and Debbie had said that since it was printed on magic paper it was impossible to destroy or ruin. She’d also mentioned that I would be unable to lose it until I filled it out. I guess at that point the magical document would just poof itself back to headquarters or something.
It seemed I’d underestimated her claims on both regards. I mean, for this thing to still be with me after all this time and still be in one piece—that was just nuts.
Well, I guess if it’s with me for the long haul then there’s no need to end the procrastination by filling it out now, is there?
With a shrug, I shoved the envelope back into my satchel and removed the other untouched object inside—my wand.
Might as well practice. Not like there’s anything else to do out here.
I stood up from the grassy knoll I’d been sitting on and stepped away from its perimeter of carroty orange flowers. With a steady exhale I harnessed my dwindling concentration and focused on the wand.
Spear, I commanded.
The silvery weapon that had never failed me began to extend and thicken in the manner I’d become accustomed. Suddenly, about halfway through the process it felt as though someone had jabbed a knife into the arm I was holding it up with.
Surprised by the pain, I dropped the wand into a bush by my feet, causing it to snap back to its original shape.
I lifted my arm to examine where the pain had come from. Rolling up my sleeve, I was shocked to discover a bruise had developed on the skin several inches above my wrist. Not only that, but around the injury was a small haze of golden sparks. They fizzled around the wound like a flurry of tiny, electrical snaps. After a few seconds the sparks disintegrated into the air as curtly as they’d appeared, but the bruise remained.
“What happened to your arm?”
I spun around, rolling down my sleeve as quickly as possible. Ashlyn had entered the garden and was eyeing me with concern.
“Nothing. I, um, fell,” I replied.
“Ignoring that clear exaggeration of the truth for now, what I am more interested in is what happened to the rest of you,” Ashlyn said as she gestured to my entire person.
“I don’t know what you mean.” I shrugged.
“You’re hurt. I can tell.”
Ashlyn walked purposefully toward me, but her leg with the knee brace wobbled a bit with each step, causing a slight limp. Nevertheless, she moved as if she didn’t notice the impairment at all. Perhaps she was just used to it.
She took my arm into her hands and gingerly held it up like a doctor examining a patient.
“It’s just a few bruises. I’m fine,” I tried to reassure her.
But I couldn’t fend her off. I winced as she gently applied pressure to the area of my diaphragm where Arian had laid into me on the train.
“Right. Of course you are,” Ashlyn replied.
She pointed authoritatively to a hammock tied between a pair of trees a few feet away. “Lie down. I’m going to have a look at you.”
“Ashlyn, really,” I protested. “It’s not necessary.”
“Crisa, I’m older and wiser, darn it. So lie down before I call the twins out here and have them tickle tackle you again.”
I shuddered at the thought. I’d experienced one of those tickle tackles before dinner and, because of my injuries, the pain had been excruciating. Reluctantly I gave in and climbed onto the hammock. Ashlyn leaned over me and pressed her hands onto my ribcage with delicate accuracy. I cringed at the touch.
“Hold still,” she said.
I clenched my fists and did as she commanded, despite the discomfort of her prodding. After a minute Ashlyn shook her head in disbelief.
“Well, I think it’s safe to say I haven’t seen a specimen this bruised up since I visited that roadside fruit vendor selling two-week-old pears. Honestly, it’s amazing that you were able to keep going on as long as you did in this condition, Crisa. You’re pretty banged up. I assume that you and your friends drastically undersold the danger of some of the adventures you told us about over dinner?”
I looked away from her.
“It doesn’t matter,” Ashlyn said. “I’m not your mother. You can do whatever you want and don’t have to tell me about it. Just try not to move while I fix you, all right.”
“Fix me?” I glanced up her. “How are you going to—”
“Crisa, sweetie,” Ashlyn held up a finger. “Talking counts as moving.”
I wanted to protest again but decided against it. Ashlyn laid one of her palms on my forehead and the other on my stomach. She closed her eyes for a second. When she reopened them they flashed bright blue. In the next instant, the same kind of aqua-colored radiance began protruding from her hands.
When Lonna had first activated her current-controlling magic, the same kind of glow had consumed her hands and eyes. The only difference was that while her glow had dissipated into the waters around us, Ashlyn’s spread over my entire body with a flowing movement that emulated a rippling tide.
I suddenly found myself feeling lighter. It was as if every ache in my body was being lifted. The sensation was strange, but it brought immediate relief. It was like lying in a bathtub and then gently having all the water raised off of you in one fell swoop.
Eventually Ashlyn removed her hands and the radiant light vanished into the air. When every trace of it was gone, I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the hammock.
I felt great. Better than great, really; I felt renewed. I moved my left wrist and sensed no presence of the sprain that had once been there. My ribs felt fine. My body pulsed with pain-free invigoration. Even that bizarre bruise I’d developed a minute ago was gone.
“How did you do that?” I asked.
Ashlyn smiled proudly. “It’s one of the benefits of having Mer-people blood pumping through your system. Not only did I inherit the ability to swim like a mermaid and breathe underwater, I was also born with a touch of magic. All Mer-people have some, you know. It allows them mastery of a single power.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I’ve heard. A friend of mine, Lonna, she can control currents.”
“Sounds like my little sister Onicka. She could control waves.”
“Really?” I perked up. “That’s pretty cool. So your power is . . .”
“Healing. It’s a pretty useful one as far as powers go, especially when you have four children,” Ashlyn joked. “What about you. What’s your power?”
I gulped and considered denying that such a thing existed, but one look at Ashlyn and I knew I couldn’t fool her. Her eyes were burrowing into my soul like some kind of all knowing, pure-intentioned Great Dane.
“How did you know?” I finally asked. “That I have magic, I mean.”
“That wound on your arm a minute ago,” Ashlyn said. “I know it well.”
Ashlyn raised the sleeve of her baggy sweatshirt and revealed three large bruises on her arm. Each was freshly made and fizzling with blue sparks similar to the golden ones that had previously been emanating from mine.
I almost fell out of the hammock in surprise. “Oh my gosh, why are you . . . I mean, how did you . . . Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I’m used to it,” Ashlyn replied calmly. “Magic works differently here, Crisa. On Earth there are no spells, no witches, no fairies, no enchanted objects. At least there’s not supposed to be because, unlike Book, Earth isn’t a Wonderland. So when you try to use our type of magic in this world, the realm sort of rejects it. Hence the bruise you received on your wrist. Every time you use unearthly magic here, the realm reacts with negative consequences that cause harm to whatever, or whoever is the source. The bigger the magical output, the bigger the side effects. That’s why I got these,” she said gesturing to her own bruises. “Healing you took a decent amount of my power.”
“If we aren’t supposed to use magic here then why did just use yours to help me?”
“For starters, girl, you were falling apart,” Ashlyn responded. “But I was also due to use a little magic anyways, so it was a win-win.”
“Wait, I’m confused. How’s that a win-win? You just said that using Book magic on Earth is bad and that it causes punitive harm.”
“That’s all true,” Ashlyn admitted. “But it doesn’t mean we can just turn off who we are. We’re magical creatures, you and I, and when we go too long without using our powers they sort of retaliate. It’s called Magic Build-Up, and . . . Oh, how do I explain this?”
Ashlyn tapped her finger to her chin and blew a curl out of her face. “Okay, so basically it’s like this. The force of our magic accumulates the more time goes by without our using it. And if we go long enough, eventually it overflows like water from a dam—expelling itself from our bodies in one giant burst whether we want it to or not.”
“Awesome.”
“Yes. But more than anything it’s painful. It causes this terrible feeling to develop in your hands that’s so intense it feels like they’re on fire, and it will persist until you release the magic.”
I blinked as if I was adjusting to some sort of bright light. An internal one that is, like a bulb turning on in my brain as Ashlyn’s words triggered a familiarity that was way, way too close to home.
“Holy bananas, is that what that is?” I couldn’t help but exclaim in excitement. “I’ve totally had that happen to me. Like a lot.” Then I hesitated.
“But wait, Ashlyn, until recently I didn’t even know I had a magical power. So if I’d never been using it at all, why hasn’t this Magic Build-Up thing happened to me more often? I only get it once in a while, and always at the weirdest times—move-in day at school, our ball at Adelaide Castle, Therewolf prison revolts . . .”
“Ignoring the whole ‘Therewolf prison revolt’ thing, which raises a whole different set of questions,” Ashlyn responded, “there has to be some sort of connecting thread between all of those events that would explain it. What were you doing just before I got here that caused you to develop the bruise?”
I swallowed my inclination toward secrecy and stepped off the hammock. Ashlyn had been so forthcoming and helpful with her explanations. I felt like in the privacy of this garden I could be honest with her too.
“I was practicing with my wand,” I said as I collected the fallen, but not forgotten weapon from the bushes where I’d dropped it. “It was my godmother’s, and it’s enchanted to take the shape of whatever weapon I will it into.”
Ashlyn examined it. “So if you have a wand and you can make it work, am I correct in assuming that your magic is Fairy Godmother-based?”
“That’s right.”
“Well, don’t wands only work for their respective Fairy Godmothers because their specific magic is tied to them and that’s all the wands will recognize?”
“That’s how I understand it,” I said.
“Then there you go,” Ashlyn declared. “Whether you realized it or not, all these years you’ve been using a bit of magic every time you operated your wand—keeping yourself from getting Magic Build-Up so long as your usage of the wand remained regular.”
Light bulb number two went on in my head. I thought back to the three most recent occurrences of the strange burning episodes on my hands.
Normally I used my wand every day, but prior to move-in day at Lady Agnue’s I had gone a while without practicing with it because of my mother’s constant supervision. This explained the incident on move-in day while I was unpacking.
An entire week had passed during our field trip to Adelaide when I hadn’t used the wand. This explained the episode at the Adelaide Castle ball that had led to me plunging my hands into that seagull fountain.
And being in Therewolf captivity had prevented me from using my wand for two weeks, resulting in the massive burning episode that occurred midway through our escape.
As I thought back to other instances of the Magic Build-Up I’d experienced over the years, the more I became certain of the explanation. Whenever I went longer periods of time without using my wand, that’s when the burning episodes took hold.
Understanding this, now the only anomaly that remained was the instance of Magic Build-Up I’d experienced in the Therewolves’ lair. That occurrence had been noticeably different from the others, given the increased levels of pain and the whole glowing thing.
Reasoning that Ashlyn might’ve had an answer for that too—what with her having had an answer for everything else thus far—I decided to just plain ask her.
“Does the amount of time without using magic correlate to the intensity of the burst?”
“You got it,” she said, reaffirming my suspicions. “The longer the span of time without using your powers, the more extreme and painful the Magic Build-Up will be when it reaches its boiling point. Once I almost went an entire month here on Earth without using my powers and my inevitable Build-Up was so strong it felt like my whole body was on fire. And when I finally released the magic I ended up inadvertently curing the hearing loss of every elderly person within a sixty-mile radius.”
“I know exactly what you’re talking about!” I responded. “That awful pain thing happened to me just recently after I went two weeks without using my wand. It was so bad my hands even started to glow.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, hasn’t that happened to you?”
“No. My glow only comes when I use my magic intentionally. Channeling it to the point of producing an aura like that takes a lot of focus. It’s never been strong enough to just happen on its own. Magic usually is never that strong.”
“Oh,” I said.
My excitement paused and I rubbed my arm awkwardly. I’d thought for a moment that Ashlyn might’ve had the answers to everything; that she and I were the same. Now I wondered if maybe we weren’t.
“Hey,” I said, changing the subject, “at least in your case the consequences of your Build-Up were favorable. Curing hearing loss is great. Meanwhile, who knows what kind of havoc my magic has been wreaking when I was unknowingly expelling it.”
“The results were helpful to a lot of other people, yes,” Ashlyn responded. “But it was harmful to me. Like I said, the level of magical output on Earth corresponds to the level of punishment for releasing it. While healing your various injuries caused me to develop a few nasty bruises, a burst as powerful as the one I’m describing caused a lot more damage. How do you think I got this limp? That Build-Up disintegrated so much cartilage around my knee that even after years of physical therapy it still hasn’t returned to normal.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said carefully. “That sucks.”
“A bit,” Ashlyn agreed. “But if anything, it was a lesson learned about the dangers of going too long without using my magic—a lesson that I hope you’ll take to heart.”
“I will.” I nodded fervently.
“Good.” Ashlyn nodded in return. “So then, no more wand work while you’re here, just to be on the safe side. You’ll be going back to Book in few days, so Build-Up isn’t really a risk you have to worry about.”
“All right, I hear you.”
“And no other magic either . . .” Ashlyn started to say. Then she paused and tilted her head. “What can you do anyways? You didn’t answer me before—what exactly is your power?”
“I have zero idea,” I admitted.
Ashlyn gave me a skeptical look.
“Really,” I assured her. “You can ask the others. I wish I knew what my power was. Honestly, part of me feels guilty not knowing. Obviously once I figure it out I’ll have way more magic hunters chasing me because my magic scent will get stronger, and I’ve had enough trouble with them already. But if I could use my abilities, then maybe I would have a better means to protect my friends from the antagonists that are after me. Lately I’ve been feeling so useless. Everyone keeps having to save me and I have no means to ensure their safety in return. At least if I could use my magic I could tilt the odds in our favor.” I sighed. “I don’t know. At this point I’m beginning to think I might be incapable of figuring it out—what my power is, and what I am too. Or rather, who I am . . .” I trailed off, a little embarrassed to have opened up so much.
Ashlyn seemed to think on this for a moment. Then she brushed another curl off her face. “Somehow, I don’t think so,” she said. She slapped her hands to her legs decidedly and got up to make her way back toward the house.
“Wait,” I said, following her. “What do you mean by that?”
Ashlyn shrugged. “Just look at what happened in the last five minutes,” she replied. “The explanation behind your Magic Build-Up was not that hard for you to find. The answer was in front of you the whole time. You only had to truly want to see it in order to make the connections. So I have a feeling that when it comes to discovering the truth about your powers, and the truth about who you are, the situation is no different. Which means you only really need to ask yourself one question.”
“What’s that?”
“Do you really want to see it?”
“Hey, Ashlyn!” Blue called out as she suddenly came stomping into the garden. “I was wondering if I could ask you something about this VHS thing, I—”
Blue stopped in her tracks when she saw me standing there. “Oh, uh . . . am I interrupting something?”
“No.” I shook my head quickly. “We’re all through here.”
“All right. Well in that case, Ashlyn, I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit more about this.” Blue handed Ashlyn a small rectangular box.
“I thought Donnie explained to you about movies and VHS tapes,” Ashlyn said.
“He did,” Blue responded. “I meant what’s this movie? It looks interesting.”
“Oh this? This is a classic—Die Hard with Bruce Willis,” Ashlyn explained. “It’s actually a part of a series. We own all three if you want to watch them.”
“Okay!” Blue said excitedly.
“Don!” Ashlyn called inside the house.
Donnie came out through the screen door. “What’s up, babe?”
“Will you watch Die Hard with the kids, please? I have some things to do so I can’t, and I have a feeling they’re going to have a lot of questions.”
“Really? It’s an action movie. How much stuff actually needs explaining?”
“Well, off the top of my head: guns, cars, computers, curse words, helicopters . . . Need I go on?”
“Point taken,” Donnie said. “Sorry, I forgot that Book’s not completely caught up with the times here. I’ll watch it with them. Come on, Blue. I’ve got a hunch you’re going to like this.”
Blue took the VHS tape back from Ashlyn and trotted eagerly after Donnie. Ashlyn began to follow but then glanced back in my direction. “Aren’t you going to join them?”
“Not right now,” I responded hesitantly. “But hopefully soon.”