by Ava Day
“No, it certainly isn’t funny.”
Taking a deep breath, I focus on a paint brush sitting on the floor. My ears start ringing as I will it to rise into the air. I close my fist and feel the wooden handle inside my hand, then start moving as if I was painting the wall. Brent and Joy watch in stunned silence as the brush swishes across the surface, mirroring my movements.
“Fantasia…” Joy whispers.
“Penny?” Brent’s voice is fuzzy. “Penny, stop.” He rushes over to me as I waver on my feet. “Stop!”
The brush falls to the ground and I almost tumble down with it. Brent and Joy each grab one of my arms and help me control my descent to the floor. I wipe my nose and I’m not exactly surprised to see a little red on my fingertips when I pull my hand away.
“Still think I’m joking?”
“Don’t you do that ever again!” Joy says, her voice shaking as she wipes the sweat from my brow with her sleeve. “Ever! We need to read more about magic obviously,” she replies seriously.
“Yeah, that's not a bad idea,” I rasp. “Tonight I'll sit down with A Beginners Guide to the World of Magiks.”
“Are you crazy? You two should not be messing with this stuff,” Brent insists.
“It started messing with us, first,” Joy interjects.
“I can’t handle this.” Brent rises to his feet.
“Brent, wait!” I yell after him as he stomps out the door.
“Give him some time to let it sink in, Penny.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“We still have a ghost to deal with. I'll start looking for what we need to summon Laverne,” Joy adds.
I head up to the apartment to read about magic. Having witch powers came as a shock to me, but now that some time has passed to process what happened, it's really exciting. There are so many things I could do with the power to move objects with my mind. I flop onto the bed with the book begin to read The History of Magik.
I become so engrossed about the rise and fall of magical empires, of storied objects, and fanciful quests that I forget that this book is presenting all of these fantastic claims as fact. I slap the book shut and push it aside. This can’t be real. I must have come unhinged. I finished school and didn’t have a plan, so I must have suffered a psychotic break or something. Joy’s probably been visiting me at the psych ward while I’m trapped in this fantasy about starting over in a new town and stumbling upon an exciting, magical life.
Or not. Legends have to come from somewhere, right?
The sun is barely peaking over the tops of the buildings. If the book I'm reading is to be believed, witches have walked on the sun with magic. Not very many witches, but more than one. Ash of a phoenix is very expensive and one of the rarest reagents. Harry just had it sitting on the shelf in his magic shop for anyone to come and take. I'd better start believing in magic sooner rather than later. There might be such a rich magical history that only a handful of people know about and even if they did, most of them wouldn't believe it. If I’m not in the nut house, I’m one of the very privileged few to discover a whole new world. I decide to go bother Joy some more. I need more practice reading those runes.
I find Joy combing over different jars that look like they contain the same green ingredient. “Can you tell the difference between any of these vials?” she asks, clearly frustrated.
I pluck a few from her hands and hold them up to the light. “Kind of. This one here has no glitter when it swirls. These two do,” I say, handing them back to her as I describe what I see. “This last one has something moving inside but whenever I try to see it, it swims away. Creepy.”
“Exactly, they're all different but they are labeled as the same thing. How could they be the same thing?” she asks.
“I just read a snippet about reagents actually. Something about not every ingredient taking the same form all the time. Magical ingredients can change appearance over time also,” I explain.
“You're saying that all of these things will work the same? This is nothing like baking a cake,” Joy replies.
“There is so much interesting history, too.”
“I'm glad you're finding some more information. I'll keep looking down here, you should go make sure we don't mess up the spell. I'm surprised we got the first spell to work.”
“Me too. There are a lot of little rules to follow. I saw a section on spell casting. I guess I should skip ahead and read it,” I say as I turn around.
Joy puts the bottles of green liquid back on the shelf as I skim over the section titled Executing the Perfect Spell. I don't find anything wrong with our current methods. The book stresses the correct reagents and the proper incantation. Apparently, there's not much to the casting of the spells. Success all depends on how inherently powerful the witch casting is. Besides, I'm more interested in learning about what magic is and how witches use it.
The way this book describes it, magic is a fundamental force of the Universe just like gravity or electromagnetism. The writers believe that until more people come to believe in magic, scientists will never truly be able to fully understand how the Universe works.
The most powerful spells can only be cast when imbued into an object. Only witches with enough skill to manipulate magic can use the most potently spelled objects. I read further and discover that most witches don't get powers and if they do, it's a good indicator of how strong they will be. I sure hope that Joy manifests powers. She's going to feel very left out if she doesn't.
Joy's footsteps on the stairs tell me that she is done finding whatever reagents she was looking for in the auditorium. She pokes her head in my door after knocking.
“Anything we need to know before starting this séance?” she asks.
“Nope, just have the right spell and the correct ingredients,” I say while shifting into a more comfortable reading position on the bed.
“What are you getting comfy for? Aren't you going to help me do this?” Joy says impatiently.
“I guess we're doing it now then?” I yawn.
“You bet we are. I'm tired of wondering where our ghostly roommate has been.”
Joy hurries out of my doorway and I hop out of bed after her. She pulls the large bowl from under the sink while I take stock of what reagents she found. What the heck is Imp Oil? Dried brittle bat’s wing, bark of an unholy tree, a few cat whiskers, and powdered faerie.
“Uh, Joy don't you think the powdered faerie is a little creepy? It can't be real faerie, right?” I ask, feeling a guilty about the ingredients we are using.
“I was more surprised to find out that Imp Oil is a real thing. Do they extract it from an imp or is it excreted?” Joy speculates as she comes back over to the kitchen table. In all there are 15 ingredients that we have to mix in the correct order and recite the accompanying spell.
“Ok, I'll add the reagents and you cast the spell?” I look at Joy.
“That's fine with me.”
“First thing it says to do is mix one dram of imp oil with a pinch of blood root and let sit for 30 seconds.” Grabbing the imp oil, I realize that I have no clue what a dram is. “Joy, do you have any idea how to measure a dram?”
“I know that it's a small amount, but I couldn't tell you how much it is,” she replies.
“Well, first let’s read through the preparation here and gather any other supplies. There has to be some sort of magical measuring device in the Beacon.”
Heading back into my room, I grab the book I was just reading and flip through the index in search of what a dram represents. The section is called The Importance of Proper Measurements. This makes it seem even more imperative to get this right. Skimming the chapter, I find that a thimble can be used to measure a dram if you don’t have the correct size vessel. It goes on to state that a dram is 1/16 of an ounce or 1.75 grams. Perfect, this is just what we needed. I dig through my crafting supplies and pull out a thimble. It might not be exact but hopefully it will do in a pinch.
“We'll have to look around
the theater more later, but this should work for now,” I tell Joy as I toss her the thimble.
“Where were we then?”
“Imp oil and blood root,” I reply, grabbing the vial of imp oil and pouring a tiny amount into the thimble before dumping it into the large bowl. After that I toss a pinch of blood root in and stir it gently with a small willow stick as directed.
“Now you really look like a witch, Penny. Bent over some cauldron and stirring it with a stick.” Joy laughs.
“Just as long as I don't grow warts and green skin, I'm fine with being a witch,” I shoot back.
“Now that you mention it, you do look a little green. Maybe that's just the god awful smell of the imp oil getting to you,” Joy laughs.
“Alright, 30 seconds is up. What's next on the list?”
“Sprinkle one crushed bats wing,” she reads.
“Ok, done,” I say while dusting the rest from my fingertips into the bowl.
“Next, place 23 spider eyes around the edge of the mixture. Let them sit until the whole thing turns purple.”
“How is this brown goop going to turn purple?” I ask while carefully placing the largest spider eyes I have ever seen around the edge carefully. “I think if I saw this spider in real life, I would just run the other way and not bother collecting it's eyes.”
“Agreed.”
“Now we just wait for this to change color?” I ask.
“That's what it says.” Joy places a bookmark and closes the book.
“Do you think we have time for coffee? This could take all evening.”
“Sure, might as well. Nobody told me spell casting would involve so much waiting. Did you find anything out about powers in that book you were reading?”
“I did and not everyone gets them. Witches who do end up with powers are usually very strong with magic also. So, that's a bonus I guess.”
“Will I get powers, too? Did it say anything about how to predict it?” Joy pouts.
“It said that it was unlikely that a witch would develop them after gaining her magic. Unless something starts happening soon, you might not,” I say with regret as I watch her smile droop.
“I'm sure it will just take time,” Joy replies in an upbeat tone.
I get up and put some water into the coffee pot. We sit there at the table and watch the strange concoction in front of us intently. Watching the clock on the wall it's been nearly 25 minutes when suddenly the color blossoms from the inside out and the brown turns a brilliant shade of purple.
“Yes! It's working, Penny!” Joy exclaims excitedly. “Ready for this next part?”
“Let me have it.”
“This is a weird one, for sure.” Joy replies. “It says to take powdered faerie and mix it with some water to make little globs of re-hydrated faerie dough.”
“Faerie dough? Seriously?” I ask.
“Look, it's right here. I couldn't make this up if I wanted to.” Joy shows me the book with her finger pointing to the sentence on the page.
Grabbing a small dish, I put some water in it and come back to the table. “Does it say how many faerie dough balls to make or how big?”
“The size of a large pea.”
“I also want to state for the record that had I known that mixing the reagents was going to be such a challenge, I wouldn't have volunteered.”
“Such is life, Penny. You got powers.” Joy smirks over the top of the book.
Adding a few droplets of water to my palm, I take a pinch of powdered faerie between my thumb and forefinger. Slowly mixing it together, I watch as it begins to shimmer. In the palm of my hand the rainbow colors of this small doughy ball are mesmerizing to watch swirl like mercury in glittery patterns.
“Here, look,” I hold it up for Joy to see.
“Pretty. Now make 32 more.”
“Seriously? The spell calls for that many? I hope we're actually trying to summon a ghost and not a dragon,” I snort.
At first working with the powdered faerie is fun. Watching it change color is nice, but after making 20 of them it's getting old. My hands are covered in a glittery mush that reminds me of a squashed lightening bug. The thought of what I'm rubbing on my hands is creepy. I truly don't want powdered faerie to be what I think it is. Finally, I roll the last ball together and drop it delicately in with the rest of the reagents. As soon as the last one hits the mixture they all dissolve into a sparkly oil slick that shimmers on the surface of the purple liquid. I quickly step over to the sink to rinse the remaining powdered faerie goo from my hands.
“Are you ready for more?” Joy asks sympathetically.
“Let's just get this over with.”
“This is fairly straight forward. Toss in 3 cat whiskers, viper scales, and a half of a zombie rat tail. Just like mixing in the dry ingredients for a cake, Penny.”
“So this is from a zombie rat,” I ask while holding it at arm’s length.
“Correction, that is a whole zombie rat tail. But you need to chop it in half,” Joy says while handing me a cleaver and cutting board. “It does say to toss them all in at once and stir until dissolved.”
“Yeah, yeah. Give me a minute,” I grumble, laying the tail on the cutting board in front of me. “I hope you don't plan on cooking with this cutting board ever again.”
With a quick chop, I get the zombie rat tail ready for the spell. Joy eyes her cutting board with horror. In one motion, I drop the handful of reagents into the liquid and stir it with my willow stick. It's amazing how fast the items incorporate into the mixture without a trace.
“Next, crumbled bark from an unholy tree.” Joy reads.
“Unholy tree? How does that happen to a tree?” I ask as I grab a chunk of the bark and crumble it between my hands. “Does it just go in like this?”
“Yep, same things just stir until dissolved.”
Releasing the bark into the bowl causes sparks to leap up and dance along the surface until crashing into each other. I stir it carefully to avoid getting shocked. Slowly, the bark becomes a part of the spell and the lightening settles to a slow crackle. It adds a great ambiance to the séance vibe.
“That was fun to watch. I could feel the lightening wanting to jump right out at me!” Joy bubbles with excitement.
“Hmm, I didn't feel anything. Just looked like a bowl of static,” I say. Joy pulls out a dish towel and covers the bowl. “Hey, I thought we were doing the spell?”
“We are but it says to leave it covered for an hour. When we uncover it, somehow it will be used as the base for the rest of the ingredients,” she explains.
“That was just the base? This is some complicated magic. Do you think it might be beyond our ability?”
“Harry told us to try it.”
“Yeah, but we don't even know that guy and he was acting strange. That whole town gave me the creeps,” I remind her. “For all we know, he was Laverne’s sworn enemy. He didn’t exactly have anything helpful to add to our investigation.”
“Hmm. Good point. You always were the smart one, Penny. But too bad, because we're in it now.” Joy skims over the spell instructions one more time. “The book is very specific about this stage. If we don't use the base in a spell it will turn into an open gateway to the underworld. Wherever that is.”
“What? This is crazy, you should have led with the whole underworld thing! Why did you let us even start casting this spell?”
“We really need to talk to Laverne and figure out what happened to her. What if she never comes back?”
“But we could both die if we mess up casting this spell or any spell,” I say. “Or even end the whole world.”
“Yeah… I’m sure it will be fine,” Joy replies grimly. “Probably.”
“I’m going downstairs and paint while we wait for this to do its thing? You stay here and make sure we don’t die tonight,” I say with a smile only half joking.
Chapter 14
The things we needed for the spell are all starting to follow a pattern of death and decay
. This might be a dark magic spell that neither of us should be messing with. I just read about Queen Rumilaque who lost her life and entire kingdom for dabbling in the dark arts. Just dabbling. Maybe that's one story I won't share with Joy.
“You're not worrying about the Underworld still?”
“Yes, I am and you should be too.”
“Why do I have to watch it?” Joy groans.
“Because I need a break from this whole magic and murder mystery thing. It’s taking up too much of my time and energy.”