by Melody Grace
Then she checked the next room down. Her dad’s office.
Instead of bookshelves and an old desk, she found her bed and dresser, a brand-new desk of her own, and all her stuff exactly how she’d always pictured it would be!
Sophia hardly had time to enjoy it before she heard the front door open.
She ran to the door and hugged her mom as soon as she walked in.
Her mom laughed; a tired sound.
“Hi, Soph. You okay?”
Sophie nodded, drying tears that were a mix of happy and left-over scared tears. “I’m just happy you’re home,” she said, looking around and frowning. “Where’s Daddy?”
Her mom looked worried. “Honey, are you sure you’re feeling okay?”
“Yeah, I’m better now. Why?”
Her mom was quiet for a moment before kneeling beside her. “Sophia, you know Daddy’s with Grandpa John, right?”
Sophia was confused. “But Grandpa John is in Heaven …”
Her mom nodded. “That’s right, Sweetie. That’s where Daddy is.”
The tears came back when Sophia realized why a wish with Genie Jinn had to be made with her whole heart. Because the only way to pay for magic that big was with something just as important.
Dust Bunnies
Story // Nancy Engler
* * *
“Colton, clean your room if you want to go to Jackson’s party later. And sweep up those dust bunnies under your bed,” Mom said.
“Dust bunnies…but Mom, Tyler said the dust bunnies would take me away if I bothered them.”
“Oh, your brother’s just trying to scare you. They’re just piles of dirt and dust. They can’t take you anywhere. Don’t listen to him.”
Colton went into his room, picked up all his toys and made his bed. With a broom in hand he cautiously bent down to look under his bed. In the shadows he could make out a couple of storage boxes and several little puffs of fluffiness. Colton laid down on the floor. He took the broom and made a quick sweeping motion under his bed. The dust bunnies flew in all directions. Or were they hopping in all directions?
Terrified, Colton pulled the broom from under the bed.
“All done, Mom!” he called out.
Jackson’s party was awesome. Exhausted, Colten crawled into bed, pulled the covers up around his shoulders and fell right to sleep.
THUMP! THUMP! Colton woke with a start. What was that? The quiet darkness surrounded him. He lay back down pulling the covers close to him. He drifted back to sleep.
THUMP! THUMP! Colton sat straight up. THUMP! THUMP! was coming from under his bed. He could feel something bumping the bottom of his mattress.
“Mom! MOM!” he yelled.
His mother came rushing in, “Colton, what is it?”
“Mom, I heard a thump and it’s coming from under my bed.”
“Oh, Colton, it’s those stories your brother told you about the dust bunnies. They’re not true. Everything’s okay. I’ll leave the hall light on and your door cracked open a bit. Okay?” his mom said.
“But Mom…”
“Colton, you’ll be fine. I’m right down the hall. The lights on. Go back to sleep,” Mom reassured him.
Colton laid back down. He snuggled under the covers. The light from the hall dimly lit the room and Colton could make out all his toys and sports gear. Colton fell back to sleep.
Colton dreamt of flying through the night skies, stars all around him. The cold night air made him shiver a little. After a while the sensation of flying stopped. The night air grew colder and colder. So cold that Colton woke up.
He sat up in his bed and looked around. He searched for the familiarity of his room, his toys, his dresser, the light from the hall. As Colton’s eyes grew used to the darkness, he realized he was surrounded by trees. The light from the moon cast a pathway across the clearing in the woods. Colton could see little dark puffs of fluffiness hopping towards the trees.
“MOM! MOM!”
A Witch Should Know
Story // Neen Cohen
Illustration // Jasmine Jarvis
* * *
Brianna liked to watch the forest grow darker as the sun disappeared behind the trees. The field behind the houses of her street was where the kids played and behind the field was the forest.
As she watched through her window, she suddenly felt a cold shiver crawl up her spine. Her breath quickened and she knew something was wrong.
That was when the shadow pulled away from the trees and slid across the field, like inky tentacles.
Brianna watched, scared and frozen as the shadow slithered closer to the fence of Clark’s backyard.
Clark was the biggest boy in class, and he was always mean to Brianna. But still, Brianna couldn’t let the shadow get him. There was something sinister about the shadow. As soon as she had focused on it, all the hair on her body stood up like needles sticking out of her skin.
The house was growing dark, she hadn’t turned on any lights yet, her mum was still out, and the babysitter too engrossed in her own TV show to notice the house had grown darker. Brianna stepped into her mum’s library and froze as the floorboards creaked.
Brianna stopped, breath caught in her throat as she waited to see if her the babysitter would notice and come investigate.
One Mississippi
Two Mississippi
Three Mississippi
No movement from down the hall. Brianna let out a relieved breath and moved forward again.
The Grimoire was behind the cooking books. Brianna had seen it many times, but only under her mother’s guidance. She wasn’t a trained witch yet but tomorrow might be too late
The parents of the town had been talking in hushed whispers for weeks now. But Brianna’s mum had told her about the missing children from across town.
And everyone knew that Josh hadn’t been to school for two whole weeks.
Brianna flicked through the heavy book until she found the description of the Shadow Eaters.
Shadow Eaters hide in the shade of trees until darkness falls and they are free to roam the earth. They move like spilt ink. They take children from their homes turning them to trees they can live under.
Brianna sat back, her heart thumping and her breath fast.
She was certain she had seen a Shadow Eater, and now it was on its way to turn Clark into a tree.
‘I have to stop it!’
The fear gnawed away inside her chest as her heart thumped and it felt like a rubber band was too tightly wrapped around it.
She had to find what to do. She kept reading.
They are two ways to vanquish a Shadow Eater: summoning a Tree Herder who has the power to trap a Shadow Eater inside a tree or by facing the Shadow Eater without turning away.
Brianna raced to her room flicking on the hall light as she did. She looked out her window but quickly stepped back as her heavy breath steamed up the glass. Using her shirt, she wiped the mist and looked out again.
Her heart thumped. Was she too late?
No. The shadow beneath Clark’s outdoor table finally shifted too far to the left. Brianna could almost hear the sucking sound as the Shadow Eater pulled away from the harmless darkness beneath.
Her heart and breath both raced.
She could do this. She had to do this.
She slipped out of the house without the babysitter noticing. She felt almost confident until she slipped over the back fence of Clark’s yard, following the same trail as the Shadow Eater.
She licked her dry lips and forced a swallow over her throat as she saw the shadow begin to make its way up the houses wall.
‘Hey, Shadow Eater.’
The sickening sucky noise made Brianna feel ill.
‘Come and get me.’
Everything pulsed inside her body and she fought every instinct she had to run away.
She had to face it.
Standing her ground, Brianna watched as the shadow inked its way closer to her and away from the house.
She shuffled back until her back touched the fence.
She could do this. It drew closer, blocking out more of her view of the house.
She could do this.
Coldness clung to her skin despite the warm night air.
She couldn’t do this.
Her body moved faster then she thought it could. She wasn’t sure how she got over the fence so quickly, but she was running across the field and toward the forest. Behind her she could hear the sucking sound of the following Shadow Eater.
The forest was quiet. Too quiet as Brianna finally reached the first line of trees and stepped her way inside.
Just a few more steps.
They echoed heavy and loud inside her head.
She couldn’t go any further. A stitch pulled at her side and she had to stop to catch her breath enough to speak.
But she couldn’t wait any longer.
‘Ent.’ Silence answered.
‘Ent please. I beg you. We aren’t safe.’
Brianna didn’t hear the first rustle of trees because the sucking sound of ink had just invaded the silence of the forest.
She turned. Fear now creeping its way to the ends of her fingers. Her feet shuffled in the fallen leaves on the forest floor as she tried to move back from the oncoming darkness of the Shadow Eater.
Perhaps she had been wrong. A witch should know the creatures that live near her. Brianna began to doubt her own knowledge as the shadow grew closer once more.
If she faced the shadow now would it work, or had she already failed by turning away before?
Her back pressed up against a tree trunk, she could go no further.
The darkness was closing in on her.
The trunk shifted behind her. She let out a small squeal as she fell on to her bottom onto the ground.
She watched, mesmerized and terrified as the tree’s roots took a step over her. One foot and then another.
Brianna could no longer see the Shadow Eater. The Ent blocked her view, standing between her and the shadow.
But she heard the frantic sucking sound of the Shadow Eater as it tried to escape. The noise was so loud, Brianna closed her eyes and covered her ears.
She squealed when rough bark touched her cheek.
‘Children are safe now.’
Brianna opened her eyes and stared wide-eyed at the Ent. She had never seen a Tree Herder before. His face was cut into the bark and Brianna suddenly wondered why she hadn’t read anything more about the Tree Herders.
‘You did good child. How did you know I could help?’
‘A witch should know.’ Her voice trembled.
For a moment the silence was absolute again until a noise like a stormy wind echoed around her. It took Briana a moment to realize the Ent was laughing.
‘Yes, a witch should know.’
She thanked the Ent and left the forest, too scared to look back.
The Ent had saved her and saved them all but the forest suddenly felt a lot more frightening once she knew for sure what was hiding in it.
The Ballerina
Story // Vanessa Hawkins
Illustration // K.M. Bennett
* * *
Round and round and round. She danced like an angel. The little Ballerina who never ever lost a step was perfect. And everyone who watched her dance finally thought so too…
There was no denying it.
She really was the best…
* * *
“It’s not fair! I should be Wendy!” Sybil shouted, stomping her feet. She didn’t care that her entire ballet class was looking at her, or that her instructor was pursing their lips in frustration. All Sybil cared about was getting her way. She should be the lead role in the Peter Pan recital, not Samantha!
“Now Sybil, not everyone can be Wendy,” Mrs. Kilpatrick tried to explain. “You were lead last year and...”
“I’m way better at dancing than Samantha!” Sybil took a moment to shoot the girl a scolding look. “She’s got big clown feet and falls down all the time!”
A few of the other girls giggled. Sybil took it as proof that she was telling the truth and everyone else thought so too.
“It’s not fair!” she demanded.
“Sybil, I’m calling your mother.”
Sybil didn’t care. Her mother would agree. Her mom would yell at Mrs. Kilpatrick until her stupid old teacher had to give her the lead role. After all, Sybil was the best, and she was eight and three months, which meant she was the oldest in the class. She had way more practice than stupid Samantha, then all those stupid girls!
“Good!” she said, crossing her arms in front of her. Sybil couldn’t wait, especially when Mrs. Kilpatrick would have to say sorry.
But Mrs. Kilpatrick never had to say sorry. In fact, no one did. It was her who was forced to apologize, and she had to do it twice! Once only to Samantha. Her mama had made her!
“I hate you!” Sybil yelled from the top of her lungs, hoping that when she slammed the door to her bedroom that the noise would somehow be able to travel downstairs and slap her mother across the face.
Throwing herself onto her bed, Sybil screamed. She pounded her fists into her pillow, kicked her feet and cried. Her mom wouldn’t even allow her to be in Peter Pan now! Not after she had thrown a tantrum in ballet class and had to be drug out. Sybil wanted to be the prettiest, bestest ballerina! How was she supposed to show everyone how great she was when she was just a stupid Tinkerbell?
“I hope Samantha falls on her stupid, fat face!” Sybil cried. She wasn’t really angry at the other little girl. She was more upset that her mama hadn’t insisted she be the lead.
“I want to be the best…” she sniffed, wiping her nose on her pillow.
“I can help you **hee hee!”
Sybil looked up from her bed. Her small room adorned in pink faced outside, and at her windowpane was a little boy, tap tap tapping at the glass.
Sybil froze.
“Open the window, easy as pie,” the boy smiled, his grin stretching too far at the corners of his mouth, “then you’ll have the help of I.”
Sybil looked back towards her bedroom door. It was already past suppertime. Her mama and daddy would be downstairs, watching T.V. They hadn’t even let her have any dinner.
“Are you flying?” she asked, screwing her face up. “Boys can’t fly, and my room’s on the second floor.”
The boy tilted his head to the side, and his wide eyes grew to the size of boiled eggs. “Questions, questions! Time to start. Don’t want my help? Then I’ll depart!”
“No!” Sybil shot out her arm, then realizing how loud she was, clapped the other over her mouth. “Just a second,” she whispered through her fingers. She didn’t know who this boy was, but she didn’t want him to go away, not if he was going to help her.
The boy continued to stare through the window. He had red hair, fluffy like candy floss, and black and white striped trousers over a black, short-sleeved shirt with tie. He looked like someone from the circus. Or maybe from far, far away…
“You can help me?” Sybil asked as she opened the window.
The boy flew in, his body as bendy as a streamer in the wind, his boiled egg eyes wide above a Cheshire grin.
“How can you fly?” she asked.
He tucked his thumbs into his pants, leaning back on his heels as he settled on the floor of her room and regarded her. “Magic, lass. ‘Tis no joke! Want to be best, then I’m your bloke!”
“I am the best!” she demanded, stomping her foot.
“Assuredly,” he replied.
Sybil stopped, noticing his pointy ears. She wondered if maybe he were a fairy, like Tinkerbell. Or maybe he was like Peter Pan! That made sense. Peter Pan visited Wendy, which meant that he thought she should have been Wendy too!
“You can make me better?” Sybil was the best in her class. But if she was the best in the whole wide world, better than even the grown-up ballerinas, then Mrs. Kilpatrick would have to make her Wendy and her mom would have t
o apologize to her and see that Sybil had been right all along.
The boy folded his arms in front of him. “I can make you best, better then now, everyone’s darling! To you, I vow!” He stepped forward and leant down before her. He was at least five years older than her, Sybil thought. Almost an adult. That meant he must be telling the truth.
“Yes! Please! That’ll show everybody. Make me the very best Ballerina dancer that there ever was. Better than stupid old Samantha.” Sybil’s eyes shone.
The boy’s grin split his face and tipping forward on one toe he tapped the young girl on the nose. “This I will do, but for a fee. You must agree to dance for me.”
Sybil laughed. “Sure! You can watch me whenever you like.” And come to all my shows, she thought!
The boy again tilted his head, his hair waving around his face like a crimson cloud. “Okie dokie! Hee hee hee!” he giggled. He swooped his arm up, spinning on both heels. Sybil felt her head begin to spin as the floor wobbled beneath her. Pink shoes sprouted from the tips of her toes and wound up her legs, and the prettiest pink tutu encircled around her tummy, flecked in silver stars.
“The best, the best, the best! As per your own request!” the boy cried, hopping from one heel to the other.
But as the room began to spin, so too did Sybil’s arms and legs, until she was perfectly positioned in a pirouette.
“I can’t move!” she shouted, her hair spinning into perfect curls. The floor was moving beneath her, but her toes were stuck in place, and the ribbons around her legs were tying her down.
“Dance for me, dance for me! The best for all eternity!”
Sybil screamed before her mouth was forced into a very pretty, pearly smile.
Then the room went black.
* * *
Sybil was an angel. She danced so perfectly when the lid came off the music box, that everyone who watched her thought she must have been the best ballerina they had ever seen.
“Mommy, it’s so pretty! Can we buy it?” asked the little girl at the pawn shop counter. She was surprised when the shop keeps leant down and smiled at her with a large Cheshire grin.