by Tegan Maher
I balked. “You were what? I thought your plan was just to make my nose swell up a bit.”
“That’s what I told you, since I knew you’d never agree to the extra arm idea,” Ellie replied. “It’s not a big deal, anyway.”
“Spoken like the person who still has a normal number of limbs,” I replied, carefully rubbing my hand over my side to make sure there were no extra extremities beginning to grow from it. Luckily, my abdomen felt normal.
“Well, it can’t be an easy spell to fix,” Ellie said. “Otherwise they’ll have us in and out in an hour.”
“Right,” Amy said with a small smile. “I have just the thing.”
She pointed the wand at Amy, and chanted an incantation. “Jupiter, god of lightning, turn Ellie into an ornament, as it’s a time for celebrating.”
I burst out laughing as Ellie’s body turned into a giant Christmas ornament. A Christmas ornament that wore pants. Her body had turned completely round and bright red, with gold glitter snowflakes scattered around it. Her clothes, the way magical clothes always did, adjusted to her new size and shape. Her arms and legs stuck awkwardly from the sides of the ball, and her head popped up from the top of the ornament, her face scowling at Amy.
“Seriously?”
Amy shrugged. “You’re the one who wanted a spell that wouldn’t be easy to reverse. Besides, it’s the Christmas spirit.”
“Right. So you turned me into a tree ornament. Just you wait until I get that wand back off you. You’ll be sorry.”
“Come on, Ellie,” I said. “Let’s just get you to the hospital, and then we can get all the information we need. We’re trying to save Sara’s reputation, remember?”
“Fine,” Ellie muttered. We made our way to the front door, and ran into our first issue. Ellie, in her new form, was now too wide for the door, but Amy cast a quick spell that expanded the frame by a few feet each way allowed her to leave the house before the door returned to its original dimensions. We decided it would be safest to walk into town and make our way to the hospital that way, rather than risk taking brooms.
Of course, it wasn’t completely smooth sailing.
“Guys, my balance is completely off like this,” Ellie complained. We had just begun to make our way down a slight decline, and she was leaning backwards slightly to make up for it. “Plus, I can’t see what’s in front of me.”
As if right on cue, Ellie tripped on a cobblestone. I reached over to grab her, but I wasn’t quite quick enough, and given her new round shape she began rolling downhill, gathering speed as she let out a yelp.
“You guys, I need some help here,” Ellie cried, her voice an octave higher than usual as she continued to roll. I ran after her in vain; gravity and her ball shape made her move far faster than my legs could ever hope to do.
I watched in horror as she narrowly avoided a family of witches and wizards, with the father having to throw one of the children into a nearby snowbank before just darting out of the way himself as the out-of-control Ellie ball threatened to wreak havoc on the town.
Amy pulled out her wand and pointed it at Ellie, who came to a halt suddenly. We all ran down towards her to find her looking greener than I’d ever seen.
“I feel like I’m going to throw up,” she muttered. “Thanks for stopping me, but no thanks for not doing it sooner.”
“Come on, let’s get you upright,” I said, taking Ellie by the hand and pulling her up to her feet. She wavered unsteadily for a few steps.
“I’m a bit dizzy, give me a minute. I still think you should have given me an extra arm.”
A few minutes later, without further incident, we made it to the hospital. Ellie was immediately led by an Assistant Healer to one of the beds, promising that someone would be by shortly to have a look.
“Alright, you stay here,” I said to Ellie. “We’re going to go see what we can find out.”
“Great, so not only did I have to be the one who had the spell cast on them, but now I don’t even get to be involved in the investigation?” Ellie complained.
“Hey, this was your bright idea, remember?” Amy replied. “Don’t worry; you’ll be back to normal soon. And I can always reverse the spell. I do know a counter to it.”
I let out a giggle as Amy and I left the room. We made our way to the main waiting area, where Amy made her way straight to a woman getting ready to slip some abracadollars into the coffee machine.
“Here, I’ve got it,” Amy said. “Let me. My good deed for the day.”
“Oh, thank you, dear,” the woman replied. She was an older witch, her back slightly hunched, with grey hair, but her crow’s feet around her eyes showed a face that had laughed a lot in life. “You are too wonderful.”
“It’s the very least I can do,” Amy said. “You’re Danielle Bronte’s mother, Audrey, aren’t you?”
“That’s right,” the witch replied.
“I can only imagine what you’re going through,” Amy said as she led the older witch over to a couple of seats and they sat down together. I took a spot on a nearby chair, not so close to be intrusive in the conversation, but close enough that I could listen in.
“It’s been so hard,” Audrey said. “And Danielle has been so brave through all of this. She’s had to be, for the girls, you know.”
“How old are they now?” Amy asked, and Audrey smiled with the swell of pride only a grandparent could manage.
“Six and four,” she replied. “And what absolutely lovely young witches they are. The other day, Anna fell and scraped her knee, and managed to fix it up herself with a spell, and she didn’t even cry. I’m so proud of them, and yet they grow up so fast. Too fast, given what’s happening with their mother. They shouldn’t have to know about things like cancer this early in life.”
“I agree,” Amy said. “Is it mainly Danielle’s husband taking care of them?”
“Oh yes, Michael has just been a superstar,” Audrey replied. “How he does it, I don’t know. He’s with them now, actually. He took the girls into town to do some Christmas shopping. I told him I could watch them here if he wanted to go home and get a few hours’ rest, but he wouldn’t hear of it.”
“Did he take them into the village last night to see the Christmas tree celebration?”
“Oh, he did, yes. Even Danielle was able to get herself out of bed for that. All the Healers were so good about making sure she had enough energy to get through the night, and it’s all she would talk about this morning. She’s resting now to make up for it, of course. Poor dear. I hope she at least got some of that delicious hot chocolate they were serving. I know it was difficult for her, but she wanted to do it. She wanted the memories with her girls. She wanted the girls to have those memories just in case… you know…”
Amy nodded as Audrey trailed off. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” she said quietly.
“Oh, I certainly hope not. But you never know with surgery, especially not with someone in as fragile a state as Danielle. There’s always a little bit more of a risk when the patient is already not in perfect health. And of course, there’s no guarantee they’ll get all of the cancer out, but I do know the Healers here are the best.”
“What about you?” Amy asked. “Did you go and see the Christmas tree last night?”
“Oh no, not me, dear. I went back home for a little while, then made my way back here so that when Michael took the little ones home and put them to bed I could give Danielle a hand. She was exhausted, though she tried to hide it. About fifteen seconds after she made it back into bed she was fast asleep, though.”
“And Michael?” Amy asked. “Is he still with the children now?”
“That’s right. He wanted to come by with the girls, but I told him Danielle’s too tired.”
“Well, it sounds like he’s a wonderful father. I do hope everything goes well for Danielle next week.”
“So do I, dear. So do I. Thank you for the conversation.”
Amy smiled and got up, and the two of u
s headed back to Ellie’s room, where she was back to looking like a regular witch and no longer like a giant Christmas ornament. She did look like she was ready to murder us both on the spot, though.
Chapter Four
“I can’t believe you did that to me,” Ellie said, shaking her head.
“You agreed to it,” Amy shrugged. “Besides, you were going to do the same thing to Tina.”
“Right, but that was different.”
“How, exactly?” Amy asked, raising an eyebrow.
“That was going to happen to Tina. Not to me! It’s different when it’s happening to someone else. You had better have gotten some good information.”
“We did,” Amy said, nodding. “Michael, Danielle’s husband, took their two little girls into the village last night to watch the Christmas tree unveiling. He would have seen the orb, and then he has no alibi for the rest of the night.”
“Do you think he did it?”
Amy shrugged. “I don’t know. He might have. It was an emotional night for the family; Danielle went out to make memories with their daughter, and the subtext was that they know she might not survive the surgery next week. We didn’t meet Michael, but I could see from an emotional point of view why he might have done it.”
“Agreed,” I said. “But that said we have no evidence that he actually did do anything. He might be completely innocent.”
“Alright,” Ellie said. “Well, we haven’t ruled him out. I’m feeling a lot better, so let’s go find Estelle and talk to her. Hopefully she says something dumb and I can curse her. That would make me feel better.”
I bit back a smile as the three of us left the hospital and made our way towards coven headquarters. Amy and Estelle mainly shared the job of watching the front door and directing visitors where they needed to go, as well as helping Lita, the head of the coven, whenever she needed a hand with anything. That made it very likely that Estelle was working now.
Sure enough, we arrived at the whitewashed brick building topped with a large green dome and found Estelle just inside the entrance, greeting new arrivals. Her face scrunched up when she saw it was us.
“You know where the library is,” she said, motioning to the stairs.
“We’re not here for the library,” Amy replied. “We were hoping we would ask you some questions.”
“Oh?” Estelle said. “About what?”
“Did you go to the Christmas tree ceremony last night?” Amy asked, and Estelle’s eyes narrowed.
“Why do you want to know?”
“It’s just a simple question,” Ellie said, rolling her eyes. “Were you there, or not?”
“I was there,” Estelle replied, crossing her arms. “So what? So was half of Western Woods.”
“Did you go back there that night and steal the orb?”
“What?” Estelle asked. “Are you insane? Why would I do that?”
“Because you’re about to take the exam to see if you can study to become a Healer,” I said.
“Right, and you think because I’m a giant idiot I won’t be able to do it on my own, and that I had to steal a stupid orb to give me extra luck to get over the line. Is that it?”
“Basically, yeah,” I said with a shrug.
“You’re ridiculous. I’ll have you know I’ve been studying for the exam for months, and that on all of the practice examinations that I’ve taken my results have been perfectly fine. Not that I have to justify myself to you, but I’m going to be just fine without extra luck from the orb. Just because Amy would need the luck doesn’t mean I do. After all, I’m obviously a superior witch.”
“Fine,” Amy said, ignoring the barb aimed at her. “Where were you last night, after the celebration?”
“I went to bed, since I had this shift to do. Come on, you can’t seriously think I’m the one who did this.”
“Well, why wouldn’t we? A bit of extra luck wouldn’t be unwelcome for you, I bet.”
“I’ll show you all the practice exams I’ve taken if you want,” Estelle said. “That’ll prove to you I don’t need a sliver of luck to get into that program. As much as Amy might think she’s the smartest witch around and that no one holds a candle to her, the reality is I’m just as intelligent, if not more so.”
“Don’t worry about it for now, but we might take you up on that later,” Amy said, and the three of us made our way back out into the street.
“We should get another hot chocolate,” I said, rubbing my hands together. I’m freezing.”
The three of us made our way to Hexpresso Bean, settling into a booth at the back, as far from the front door and the cold as possible, and warming our hands around the steaming hot mugs of chocolate, whipped cream and milk chocolate shavings, topped with a maraschino cherry for good measure.
“Do you think Estelle is telling the truth?” Amy asked, and I nodded.
“Honestly, yeah. She’s basically the exact same as you, only not as smart, as much as she won’t admit that part. That means she works hard, same as you do. I don’t doubt that she’s been studying like crazy, and she’s just arrogant enough to think that she doesn’t need any extra luck.”
“Plus,” Ellie added, “she did offer to let us look at her practice exams. If she really is doing well enough to pass those, then she definitely wouldn’t think she needs any extra luck. I’m inclined to agree with Tina.”
“Ok,” Amy said with a nod. “So we’re all on the same page. I think for now we can consider Estelle crossed off our suspect list, although she doesn’t have an alibi.”
“No one is going to have an alibi, because everyone who’s normal and not sneaking around stealing orbs off Christmas trees is sleeping in the middle of the night,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, that is a good point,” Amy conceded. “Alright, Tina, you’re going to have to find out about Normordira.”
I nodded. My boyfriend, Kyran, was an elf, and elves had a tendency to be very private when it came to their own kind. Normordira and the other elves wouldn’t be the least bit receptive to witches asking questions, but they might just open up a little bit to another elf.
“I’ll text him,” I said, pulling out my phone and sending a message. His reply came a moment later.
“He’ll stop by the house later tonight with what he finds out.”
“Good. I was hoping it was Estelle,” Ellie said with a grin. “She’s the least likeable of those three. But at the same time, I’d rather the other two have the luck.”
“Me too,” I said. “Honestly, if it weren’t for the fact that people think Sara did it, I’d be inclined to let whoever did it get away with it.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you’re not in charge of law enforcement here in town, then,” Amy said. “There’s a reason individuals aren’t allowed to use the good luck orb for their own personal use. Using magic to change the outcome of your life isn’t a thing that can be permitted. Just think, if paranormals were doing it all the time, it would completely change the entire course of the world.”
“Yeah, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” I argued. “I mean, what if a scientist looking to find a cure for cancer had improved luck? We might be able to stop major diseases.”
“Yes, but what if the scientists’ competitor would have found not only a cure for cancer, but then also found a cure for Alzheimer’s afterwards, but gave up because the cure for cancer was already found?” Amy asked. “You cannot change a single thing in the world without changing the entire future course of humanity. And using magic to improve your own personal situation is absolutely frowned upon for that reason. The entire world is affected by every single decision you make in your entire life to begin with; using magic to alter the results of your decisions will even further alter the course of reality. Besides, it’s just bad form.”
“Really? Because you do all the dishes with the wave of your wand,” I replied. “One could argue that’s improving your own life by using magic. The amount of time I spend doing housework has dropp
ed significantly since I’ve been able to do it with a wand and a spell.”
“Housework being done more quickly doesn’t come at someone else’s expense, though,” Amy argued. “But if you used magic nefariously to get a promotion at work, by using the orb, for example, that promotion would be good for you, but it would mean another person who might deserve the promotion more would be left out.”
“Ok, I can see where you’re coming from,” I said slowly. “If Estelle used it for good luck, for example, and she got into the Healer program when she didn’t deserve to, it would mean someone else who did deserve it would be kept from the program.”
“Exactly,” Amy said with a nod. “Life is chaotic enough as it is. We’re not supposed to throw magic into the mix to alter the future even further.”
I supposed I could understand that. “Alright,” I said. “I’m going to go find Sara. Hopefully she hasn’t heard that half the town thinks she stole the orb.”
“I’m going to head home,” Ellie said. “I want to get some Christmas baking done.”
“Ooh, yum,” Amy said. “I might join you. I still have some work to do, but I wanted to reference one of the books I have at home.”
The three of us separated and I made my way to Coven Gardens, Sara’s favorite spot to practice her broom riding skills.
Chapter Five
Ten minutes later I was walking through the Coven Gardens, an enormous expanse of green space dotted with trees, benches and walking paths. In the center was an enormous lake, the surface water now frozen after multiple consecutive days of sub-zero temperatures. The normally-liquid surface was now smooth and hard, the ice completely black as I approached it. Being from a water coven, I was always attracted to the lake, and I made my way carefully towards the edge as I looked out over the gardens for Sara.
I spotted her a few minutes later, a tiny speck of a silhouette against the clouds above. The silhouette got larger as it approached me, but to my surprise, there were two other silhouettes flying as well. Dragons! Their wings pumped as they flew after Sara, who rushed towards me at top speed. My hand flew to my mouth as one of the dragons, with red and black scales, shot fire from its mouth, with Sara having to do a barrel roll to avoid it. She pressed down on the broom, lowering her altitude until her feet were practically dragging on the ice, then turned sharply to the left.