Even and Odd

by Sarah Beth Durst

  Kicking at the dolls as if she were playing soccer, Even knocked them away. As they grabbed at her, she shook her second-to-last can. She sprayed it, and the dolls collapsed, limp, as the soda touched them.

  More kept marching toward her, though.

  Clutching the final can, she threw herself toward the pedestal. Please work! Please . . . I’m not magic. Let me past!

  She burst through the bubble.

  The magic-infused dolls thumped against it, unable to pass.

  Catching her breath, Even faced the power stone. Only one can. One chance. She hoped this worked.

  And then Lady Vell shouted, “Stop!”

  19

  “Do not move,” Lady Vell barked at Even.

  At her command, the wall of purple fire vanished, and the vines receded.

  Even shook the can of soda as hard as she could as Lady Vell stalked toward her through the shriveled thorns. Blue sparkles rained down on her, sizzling as they hit the greenery.

  Where’s Odd?

  “I will not allow you to steal my life’s work!”

  “I’m not going to steal anything.” Unlike you, she added silently. “I’m just . . . drinking a nice carbonated beverage while I wait for my sister to finish talking with you. Is she done? Because once she is, we’d like to go home.” She hoped her voice didn’t sound as shaky as she felt.

  “Your sister is with my other unwelcome guests.”

  Even wanted to open the soda right now, before Lady Vell came any closer, but she also had to make certain her sister was unhurt. “You said you’d free them if she cooperated. Did she cooperate?”

  “Yes, but she also allowed that pesky unicorn to wreak havoc in my laboratory—”

  “You agreed to set everyone free if she cooperated. I heard you. Did you hurt her?” Her heart was pounding hard as she asked.

  “Of course not,” Lady Vell said. “I’m not a monster.”

  “You’ve kept us from Dad. You’ve torn people’s homes apart. Explain to me how you’re not a monster?”

  Lady Vell gestured toward her inventions. “Look at all I’ve done! And these are only the beginning. A proof of concept that I can make magic available to everyone. These are equalizers. All I want is to improve the lives of the people who were born without magic. Surely, you of all people can understand that.”

  The terrible thing was that Even did understand that. If her parents hadn’t used the power stone, then she wouldn’t even have magic every other day. She would be without magic, the kind of person that Lady Vell said she wanted to help.

  But this was not the way to help anyone.

  And not everyone without magic needed help. Odd had never wanted magic, even though it had been hers to begin with. She’d have been perfectly happy to be magicless her whole life. What Lady Vell was doing was reckless and dangerous. She acted without any care for consequences, as if she and only she knew what was best for everyone.

  She had to stop. Or be stopped.

  “Step away from the power stone,” Lady Vell said.

  “If I leave the stone alone, what will you do?” Even said. “Are you going to free everyone? Are you going to stop using the stone to drain the border magic? Are you going to let people have their homes back and return to their families? Or are you going to keep not caring about who you hurt?”

  “You can’t keep the stone from doing its work,” Lady Vell said. “A power stone is rare and powerful. You don’t possess any magic that can counter it. Indeed, today you do not possess any magic at all.”

  “Maybe I don’t need magic for this.” Even shook the soda again.

  Quickly, Lady Vell said, “If you destroy the power stone, I can’t use it to help you and your sister.”

  “We don’t need your help.”

  “You do,” Lady Vell said. “You need someone who has studied the power stone. Someone who knows how it works, and someone who can use that knowledge to give both you and your sister what you’ve always craved.”

  “I don’t want anything from you,” Even said.

  “I can make it so you have all the magic and Odd has none,” Lady Vell said, “if that’s what the two of you want.”

  Fingers on the soda-can tab, Even froze. “You can do that?”

  “Easily,” Lady Vell said. “I know how to properly control the power stone. Look at me. I don’t have magic naturally. All I have is thanks to the power stone.” She waved at the vines, the doors, the magical birds flying above them. “I know how to transfer magic from your sister to you. You could both have the lives you yearn for.”

  That . . . was what Even had always wanted.

  And what Odd had always wanted.

  Odd would be able to be ordinary all the time. She wouldn’t have to pretend she didn’t have magic. And Even would never have to do without magic.

  She’d be able to practice every day. She’d win her medallion, and no one would ever be able to say she didn’t deserve it. She could become a hero of Firoth and be able to do great things—important things that would help people who needed help. She tightened her grip on the soda can. “I don’t know . . .”

  “My work has to continue,” Lady Vell said. “I have made such magnificent progress!”

  “And you’ve destroyed so much!” Even said. “What about the stability of the borderlands? The lake that moved? The hill? And what if that instability spreads? The unicorns said it could. It could affect all of Firoth!”

  Waving her hand as if this was of no concern, Lady Vell said dismissively, “I’ll research a solution, when I have the time.” From her tone, Even knew she’d do no such thing.

  “I have the solution right here.” Even lifted the soda can.

  “Wait! Don’t you want to have magic all the time?” Lady Vell said. “Don’t you want to be able to do extraordinary things?”

  Why doesn’t she use her magic on me? Even wondered. Why try to convince me to stop? Lady Vell could just walk through her own barrier and . . .

  She can’t.

  However Lady Vell had made the last bubble of protection, it was built to stop all magic, which meant even Lady Vell, full of her stolen magic, couldn’t cross it. Here and now, being magic­less was its own kind of magic.

  “You and I, we’re not so different,” Lady Vell said. “I too was born without magic. Yet I yearned for more. You yearn for more too. I know what you want, in your heart of hearts.”

  “You don’t,” Even said. “You don’t know me at all. Sure, having magic every day would be great, but it’s not the most important thing to me. You don’t know what’s important to me. You never asked. You never cared—you never cared what anyone else wanted, but what other people want matters too.” She shook the can one more time, and then she opened it. “And I want my family back.”

  The spray rocketed out, landing on the power stone. The lightning fizzled. Even emptied the rest of the can onto the stone, shaking it until every drop dribbled out.

  “No!” Lady Vell cried.

  The sparks from the stone sputtered—and then stopped.

  Across the workroom, the vat of stolen magic began to rumble.

  20

  Throughout the tower, the vines began to droop as the magic receded. Blue sparks fizzled as power drained from the leaves.

  “Freedom!” Jeremy shouted as he broke out of the greenery with a majestic leap.

  “Find Odd!” Even called to him. “Check the solarium!” He raced for the other room as she sprinted across the lab, leaping over the vines as they writhed and fell to the ground. She couldn’t let Lady Vell catch her.

  “What have you done?” Lady Vell howled, and Even felt herself lifted up into the air by the back of her shirt. She flailed her arms and legs in the air, trying to resist.

  But it was an odd day. She had no magic to fight Lady Vell. It won’t last, Even thought. Lady Vell’s magic was stolen. Just like the vines’ power had been. And as with the vines, hers would fade too. But would it fade fast enough? Even was pul
led back like a fish on a reel.

  From the solarium, Jeremy cried, “Found her!”

  Then he burst into the room, with Odd on his back.

  “Odd, skunk me!” Even yelled as she felt Lady Vell’s hand close around her wrist. Her fingers were bony, and she squeezed so tight that it hurt.

  Odd squinched up her face, concentrating, and Even’s body began to tingle. Fur sprouted on her skin. Still held in the air by Lady Vell’s magic, she shrank quickly. She felt her hands curl into paws, and Lady Vell lost her grip on Even’s wrist.

  Lifting up her gloriously fluffy tail, Even sprayed, aiming at Lady Vell’s face.

  Coughing, Lady Vell lost her magical grip on her as well, and Even tumbled to the floor. She landed on a floating board—Jeremy had shoved it across the workroom just in time. She rode it toward her sister as Lady Vell regained herself.

  “Do you know what you did?” Lady Vell raged.

  “Yeah, we stopped you from destroying families and homes,” Odd said as Even reached her. Odd put her hand on Even’s furry back, and they faced Lady Vell together. “We stopped you from stealing what other people need.”

  “And we did it without magic,” Even said. “Well, except the skunk thing.”

  Odd shot her a smile, and Even curled her skunk’s mouth up to smile back at her.

  “Shortsighted, selfish, stupid children! You destroyed my life’s work. I have devoted my life to discoveries that would benefit—”

  “Other people have lives too!” Even cut her off. “Hopes, dreams, homes. Those matter too, and you treated them as disposable. It doesn’t matter why you think you did it—it was wrong. The way to help people isn’t to hurt them!”

  Behind Lady Vell, Even saw that the vat of blue bubbles was evaporating away, as the liquid dispersed into a blue cloud and rose up toward the light at the top of the tower. “And now you won’t be able to hurt anyone anymore,” Even said. “See for yourself.”

  “Oh no, you’re not distracting me,” Lady Vell said. “My magic—”

  “‘Your’ magic is going back where it belongs,” a new voice said.

  “Mom!” Even and Odd cried. She was okay!

  As Lady Vell turned, Even and Odd saw that Mom wasn’t alone. Everyone who had accompanied her on her official quest was here. Like Jeremy, they’d been trapped in the vines. And like him, they’d been released when the magic began to fail. They advanced on Lady Vell.

  A man with a single eye pushed aside the now-motionless creepy dolls, while the unicorns leveled their horns menacingly at Lady Vell. One wizard held a purple fireball in her hands. She tossed it back and forth, and it grew.

  “The dam is broken,” Mom said to Lady Vell. “You don’t have access to a reservoir of stolen magic anymore, Vell. Soon, it will all return to its source. Now . . . step away from my children.” She marched forward.

  The wizard sent her fireball spinning across the room, and the flames wrapped around Lady Vell’s wrists like handcuffs. As the centaur guard charged at the wizard, she shot another fireball, handcuffing his hands and hooves in flames as well.

  Even, Odd, and Jeremy let out cheers.

  Glaring at them, Lady Vell struggled against the fire cuffs, but they held her and the centaur tight as the last of the blue liquid dissipated.

  Jeremy’s parents trotted over to Jeremy. “Did she hurt you?” Starry asked. “Are you okay?” She prodded him gently with her horn, as if checking for injuries.

  “Mom! Dad! So great to see you!” Jeremy said to them. “I don’t even care if you punish me again for borrowing the invisibility cloak and kind of letting it get destroyed.”

  “I think saving your parents earns you forgiveness,” his mother said. She nuzzled his face with hers. Their horns clinked together with a sound like champagne flutes. “Wait, you destroyed Uncle Sunflower’s cloak?”

  “It never fit him anyway,” his father said. “You’re forgiven.”

  Mom hurried toward Even and Odd, stepping over the wilted vines, the limp dolls, and the scattered boards. “Are you two all right? Odd, did you skunk your sister again?”

  “I asked her to,” Even said.

  Starry stepped forward and declared in a ringing voice, “We will send word to the Academy of Magic about what transpired here. I believe they will be very interested in Lady Vell’s recent activities. I can guarantee that after this, she will not be allowed to cause any more trouble.”

  Effervescent Spring added, “You can be certain we unicorns will be keeping a close eye on her. In fact, I think the whole world will.”

  Picking up Even by her furry stomach, Mom wrapped her arms around Odd. Even was squished between them, but it was a nice squish. She made a skunk purring sound. “Can we go home now?” Even asked.

  * * *

  Lady Vell was taken, along with her centaur guard, by some of Mom’s allies to be transported directly to the Academy of Magic headquarters, east of the dragon territories. Even, Odd, and Mom watched them load her and her vat onto a cart pulled by four winged horses.

  “She didn’t think it mattered that she was hurting people,” Even said. Lady Vell had claimed she was helping people, but instead she’d caused pain and chaos.

  “Lady Vell won’t hurt anyone again,” Mom said.

  “We will spread the truth of what happened here to all,” Starry promised.

  Together, they all watched the flying cart with Lady Vell disappear into the clouds.

  After it was gone, Mom herded Even and Odd back into the city, to the house with the purple Seuss tress, while Jeremy and his parents went to find the rabbit reporter. The evening felt so strangely quiet after everything that had happened. Even the city itself seemed subdued.

  It fit Even’s mood.

  She’d always wanted to be a hero, to have her own quest, to do something that was important, but she’d always thought of that as something she’d do in the distant future, when she felt ready. I never felt ready for this, she thought. She’d been scared a lot, worried a lot, and uncertain a lot. None of it had felt the way she’d imagined a quest would feel, but she’d done it anyway. Maybe “ready” didn’t matter as much as she’d thought it did. Maybe what mattered was that you did it anyway.

  Even, Odd, and Mom went inside their old house, and Mom transformed Even back into her human self. “Thanks, Mom!” Even stretched her neck and her arms, shaking out the last of the tingles. “You know, I kind of like being a skunk. There are pluses.”

  “And definite minuses,” Odd said, wrinkling her nose.

  Mom waved her hand, and the scent of flowers wafted through the room. And in that instant, Even realized that it was over. Lady Vell had been stopped, the border magic had (hopefully) returned, and both worlds should be back to normal, or on their way to normal.

  “It’s over,” Even said, letting the words roll around inside her. It didn’t feel real. And yet . . . she knew what she’d seen and heard and felt and done, even if she didn’t yet know what she thought about all of it.

  The three of them stared at one another. And then they burst out talking all at once. “You did it!” “We did it!” “How did you—” “Are you okay?” “You could have been—” “But we weren’t!” “I didn’t think—” “What if she—” “Did we really do it?” “Is everything fixed?” “Can we go home?”

  They paused, looked at one another again, and started laughing so hard they couldn’t speak. Even didn’t know why she was laughing, since none of this was funny, but it felt right. A tear slid down her cheek, and she wiped it with the back of her hand. Odd’s eyes were wet too.

  Eventually, they all calmed down.

  Jeremy and his parents returned a little while later, and Mom insisted on feeding everyone and shooing them to their beds to sleep. She’d call Dad and tell him they were all okay, she promised. As eager as they all were to be home, it was a half-day journey to Lakeview and a few hours more to the gateway that would take them back to Stony Haven, so they should rest and recover first.
They’d be home tomorrow.

  Even had said that so many times over the past few days—we’ll be home tomorrow—but this time, finally, she believed it.

  * * *

  In the morning, Even and Odd helped their mother close up the house, while Jeremy and his parents went out to buy food for their journey. The sisters unhooked the hammocks and stuffed them into bags, they cleaned up the dishes their guests had used, and they shut all the windows. Once they finished, they stepped outside so Mom could shrink their home into the size of a brick. After carefully marking it with their name, she took them to a wall of tiny doors and placed their home in what looked like a post-office box. She sealed it in with a lock.

  It felt so final. Even felt the weight of everything she could have had but had given up. Daily magic. Maybe even a future here.

  “Will we ever come back?” she asked.

  Mom put her arm around her. Side by side, they regarded the wall that held their shrunken home. “How about we make my next business trip into a family trip?”

  “Really?” Even asked.

  “Yes, really.”

  Odd jumped in. “But it won’t be too soon, right? I haven’t been to the animal shelter in days, and I know the dogs must miss me. Plus there are supposed to be new kittens.”

  Even knew that wasn’t the real reason, or at least not the only reason, that Odd didn’t want to come back too soon: she wanted to be safe and sound at home for a while before venturing back into Firoth. Even didn’t blame her.

  “It won’t be too soon,” Mom promised. “Come on, girls. Your father is waiting for us.”

  They met up with Jeremy and his parents on the street that cut through the city. Each unicorn carried a satchel with breakfast and lunch.

  Jeremy asked Even and Odd, “Ready to go home?”

  “Seriously? You have to ask?” Odd said. “Obviously.”

  “How about you?” Even asked.

  “I just want to see with my own eyes that home is where it’s supposed to be.”