by L. C. Miller
“We didn’t sense any magic being used near us,” the Madam told Marcella.
“That’s because you weren’t looking for it,” said Abby before she could stop herself.
“What?” Madam demanded. “You could not have done anything of the sorts or Rollen would have told us. Right, Rollen? Rollen?” He didn’t say anything. “You can’t be serious. She could have injured herself. Or been attacked!”
“But she wasn’t. I didn’t see a problem with them making the hideout. You already had me monitoring her when she was away from camp. Besides, I was outside it every time they went in,” Rollen explained quickly.
“Aha!” Marcella jumped up. Pointing at Rainy, she said, “I knew she couldn’t be doing it alone. All of you were in on it. Performing who knows what, and without permission.”
Brannon looked horrified at Abby. “I didn’t know it was a secret.”
Abby shrugged. “Who says I didn’t have permission?”
That stopped Marcella. She turned to the Madam and then back again. “And just who did you gain permission from?”
Abby said nothing, but turned to Esther who said, “That would be me. And might I suggest that you close your mouth before more words come out of it.” Marcella’s expression looked close to that of someone getting hit in the face with a fish.
“Mia, could you escort Marcella home, please?” the Madam asked.
Nodding, Mia rose and took Marcella by the arm. Esther started to explain why she gave Abby permission. “I did indeed give Abby permission to make the hideout, but I believe I was misled. I never said how many you could make. And the only reason I gave permission was because she told me of Rollen spying on her. I know it was only in making sure nothing happened to her. Since she is safe here, I think Rollen’s skills would be of better use somewhere else. No more hideouts, young lady.” She looked sternly down at Abby.
Abby nodded her head.
“How do you know any concealment dances?” the Madam demanded.
“My mom.” Abby shrugged. “I used to watch as she danced. I know the entire shield dances by heart, too. Rainy helped me complete them.”
Esther stopped the Madam from asking another question. “Show them your wand, Abby.”
Pulling it from her robes, she held it out in front of her. The Madam let her hand hover over it and a small breeze lifted the wand into the air. “What’s so special about it?” asked the Madam as they stared at the white wand with the green bow.
“Now take off the ribbon,” Esther told Abby.
Abby untied the ribbon and watched the Madam’s mouth drop. “Is that a stone?” asked Mrs. Herrin, eyeing the green gem.
“It’s an emerald,” said the Madam, who began to reach out to it.
Esther stopped her hand. “You can take your wand now, Abby.”
People gasped when Abby grabbed it and the emerald started glowing.
Chapter Thirty-Three
“Now you know why she needs the ribbon on it,” Esther explained.
“Have you ever tried to test it?” questioned Carter.
Esther shook her head. “You can try all you want, but nothing will work. Only Abby can pick it up.”
“What? I don’t understand,” interrupted Mr. Peterson. “Is that what happened to those two men? The ones Cecilia left to finish Esmerelda?”
“Samuel Pinches and Bernard Barbemby,” said Principal Bauble. “If I’m not mistaken, no one has seen them since. What caused the blast of green light?”
“We don’t know. There was no trace of any other people besides Abby and Esmeralda when we arrived,” answered Esther. “We assumed they were banished along with half the contents of the apartment when the light exploded.”
Hours later, Ethan, Aaron, and Carly were upstairs in Abby’s room. Bombers snoozed on the bed. Mr. Spinner had agreed to come back into the open. He was rather looking forward to kicking up a fuss when he returned to the council.
They had also agreed to keep Abby’s last name a secret, as being the daughter of the notorious William Reed would not be looked on kindly.
“Any more secrets?” Carly questioned.
“None! Oh, guess what?” Abby turned to Ethan. “Do you remember when we first snuck out to the graveyard? And that one ghost talked to us? Told us to run? Well, his name is Joseph Carmichael, and your mom told me is a very distant cousin of hers. She knew every time I went out there.”
“We should go out there again,” said Aaron excitedly.
“I agree, but first things first.” Ethan grinned at Abby. “Since you’re an Unrestricted, how about freaking out Brock?” He and Aaron immediately started tossing around ideas as Carly rolled her eyes at them.
Abby officially met Carter the next morning but only for a few minutes. He was tall like his dad and had shaggy brown hair. He promised to return for a couple of weeks near the holidays, but for now he had to return to work. He gave Abby an awkward one-armed hug. “We’ll talk about your Glider when I get back. I’m interested in knowing more about it.”
Feeling relieved that her friends knew everything about her, and still liked her, was a new thing for Abby. It was one feeling she thought she could get used to. Things returned to normal. Well, as normal as it could get after they returned to school. Abby’s ability to morph into anything ended up being of more interest than Mr. Peterson’s arrest and his proven innocence.
The twins bombarded her with questions and requests to change her hair into all manner of styles. Martin seemed in awe as well. Abby and Martin finally discovered how they knew each other. Both of them stayed, briefly, with a foster mother named Cynthia Smoots. They spent part of lunch talking about all the quirks the lady had. Abby left her care the day Martin came in.
It was a few days before Ethan’s birthday when Abby came down the stairs to find Ethan, Aaron, and Carly waiting on her. “Happy really late birthday!” they chorused.
“Better late than never, right?” asked Carly, stepping forward to give Abby a small box. Both Ethan and Aaron held a present as well.
“Oh, you guys!” cried Abby, hugging Carly. Her eyes looked watery.
“Now, don’t get all sentimental. Just open them up,” said Ethan, grinning.
Abby opened Carly’s first. “Rosemary’s Packet of Mysterious Flowers.”
“We know how much you like plants,” said Carly as Ethan handed her a big green bag.
Opening it, Abby began to laugh. “Mulch and a flowerpot!”
“Now my turn,” said Aaron, handing her his present.
“Oh, it’s beautiful,” she exclaimed as she held up the bright yellow glass fairy.
“It’s one of the watering things, you know, so you don’t have to water every day. You just need to remember to fill her up. I thought you might like it since it’s in the shape of a fairy and not just the normal globe things.”
Smiling, Abby looked up at him. “I love it.” She hugged all of them before running upstairs to put up her gifts and dry her eyes.
“Knew she would get all sentimental,” joked Ethan when Abby came back down.
Mr. and Mrs. Herrin surprised her with more clothes later that evening. Carter, though, sent Abby a new belt that was lined with bottle caps, which surprised her as she didn’t expect anything from him. Abby wore it as she practiced in the woods with her shadow. Piney waved his branches at her, sighing.
“Oh, be quiet,” said Orn, flicking his branches at him. “Be grateful for what you have,” he told the young tree.
“I never said I was ungrateful, I just want to be able to walk around again,” Piney defended.
“Again?” Abby asked, stopping mid-step. “When could you move around before?”
“We used to move all the time,” explained Orn. “When we are young saplings, before we plant our roots, we can move anywhere we want. This youngling was drinking from the creek, and not paying attention, when his roots went under.”
“Yup, now he’s stuck with us,” laughed Barky, the skinny tree. Grumblin
g, Piney made his branches droop.
“It’s okay, Piney,” giggled Abby. “If you hadn’t, you might not have met me,” she said, trying to cheer him up. He patted her head with his leaves.
“AAAHHHCHOOOOO,” the loud noise seemed to echo in the woods. “So sorry,” said Orn. He whipped his branches over his face. “Winter’s coming. I’m already getting my cold.”
“Oh man,” said Piney, upset again. “Last winter all he did was sneeze this way and that way. He kept interrupting my beauty sleep.”
“Shut up, Piney,” wheezed Orn before sneezing again. “I would sleep all winter if it helped your beauty!”
Barky let out a loud guffaw. “Why don’t you come over here and say that!” said Piney. He wiggled his branches at Orn. Whack! Orn’s long branches settled back to his sides.
“Hey now, I was just kidding!”
Orn and Barky laughed as Abby giggled.
“How bad does your cold get?” she asked Orn once they had settled down.
“Pretty bad. It doesn’t help that I’m hollow. I just get so cold being empty and all.”
Abby gazed at him for a moment before rising and gathering her things. “I’m sorry, Orn. Maybe I can find something for you.” She waved to them and headed home. Along the way a few trees stopped her to talk.
“Not many alder trees are around here. You’ve chosen a good spot,” Abby said, smiling at an alder tree that was on the edge of the woods.
“My friends call me North, and thank you,” he spoke in a very intellectual tone. Abby finished making her way home through the woods. Although it was still very cold, no snow had come yet. Ethan decided for his birthday, which was exactly one month after Aaron’s, to throw a party. He laughed over the Handy-Dandy Bedroom Picker-Upper that Abby and Carly had pitched in to get him.
The four kids soon realized that all of their birthdays were exactly one month apart. Carly figured it out as the four of them sat in Ethan’s room. “Can you believe it? You’re actually older than us, Abby!” she laughed.
Grinning at them, Abby took a slight bow in her seat.
“She may be older, but she’s still shorter,” Ethan joked, laughing. Abby stuck her tongue out at him.
Carter came home a few days before midterms. Dinner that night was a loud affair as Mrs. Herrin loaded the table with tons of food. “So, when does school let out?” asked Carter as he dished out more dumplings.
“We have midterms this week, and then we’re out for a couple weeks,” Ethan replied. After dinner they all helped decorate the tree. Carter picked Abby up to put the star on top. Mrs. Herrin used her wand to get the garland wrapped prettily around it.
With all of them standing back, Mr. Herrin flicked his wand and the tree lit up. Its lights flashed from green to red to blue to purple. “Epic!” Ethan said.
When Abby headed down for breakfast the following morning, presents were already lined around the bottom. Carter was sitting eating bacon and eggs. Abby felt weird as he watched her move around the kitchen. “Ya know,” he started, “when Mom told me she brought you here to live with them, I thought she was nuts. I mean, no one really knew you.”
“And now that you do? Now that you know who my parents are, do you still think your parents are crazy?” Abby asked, almost fearing the answer.
Carter shrugged. “I’m definitely not sure now. But I see you with my family and them with you. I’m not quite ready to welcome you to the family with open arms, but I could probably get there someday.”
Abby nodded as she sat down and started eating her cereal. She knew where he was coming from, but still thought the conversation went better than expected.
“Ready for midterms?” he asked, changing the subject.
“Sure am,” Abby answered, relieved.
“Probably more than Ethan is,” Carter said jokingly as Ethan entered the kitchen carrying a greenery book.
“Hey, Abby, what plant is the one that grips everything?” Ethan was flipping through its pages.
“See,” Carter said, laughing.
Smiling, Abby replied, “It’s the clinging vine, also known as aggrappati vite.”
Exams were done in complete silence. After their teachers had explained what they needed to do, the students got to work. All of the classroom tables were replaced with individual desks and chairs. Little curtains divided up each desk so no one could look over at a fellow student and cheat. They were also given special pencils and paper.
Student aids were in the classes as well. They walked around the classroom and helped the teacher by letting students perform whatever spell or potion was required for the test. Abby was relieved once everything was over. It was technically her first real test in school. Her one-on-one session with Mr. Spinner didn’t count in her opinion.
She got her passing grades a few days after her exams. After receiving several Excellency results, two Nice Jobs and one Barely Acceptable—in Drifting—Abby felt even more relieved. Ethan had gotten much of the same, but he and Aaron both received two Barely Acceptables—Greenery and Stargazing. Carly received all Nice Jobs and two Excellency results.
Carter was absolutely entranced by her Glider. He kept asking her to ride whenever he could. Hovering a few feet off the ground one day, he asked her to tell him about its qualities and what it could do.
Abby thought for a minute. “Well, once it’s been given away freely to a new owner, the carpet will only work for that person. For instance, if this carpet were to find itself on the floor of a Normal’s house, it would simply be a carpet. But if her owner was to call for her, it would immediately fly into the air and go to them.”
Cater whistled excitedly. “Every time? Imagine that! Having a broom fly only for its owner has been tried, but it doesn’t always work. What else can she do?”
Abby explained that no matter which way you were, you would never fall off. She demonstrated by flipping them upside down and hanging there. She even stood up, still hanging upside down, before flipping the carpet right side up.
“Also, say if you were riding along and someone tried to jump on, they would simply roll right off.”
He asked her to prove it, and when she told him to get off, he suddenly found himself on his back on the ground. Laughing, he got to his feet. “Is there just one kind of carpet, or are there others?”
“Oh, there are loads of others. There are ones that just go sideways, some only backward, others go only left or right, or up and down. There are some that are made of spider silk, others threadbare, some wool, some cotton, some animal skins, and even a few spandex ones. Oh, and there are different speeds as well. The slowest is called the SnailStop60. Mid-speed ones are the Silk String Series, the Harping Hoppers, and the Quite Fast, but not Fast Enough line. The fastest ones are the Nearly Break Your Neck Series 1, 2, and 3. The Lightning Fast and the Gliders are the fastest. The Gliders are very rare because the person who made them kept its ingredients secret and died one day cleaning his garden, as the rumor states it.”
Every morning Carter asked to ride on the carpet with Abby. At one point they raced Ethan and Aaron on their broomsticks. Aaron beat them by a hair as Carly, Mr. Peterson, Ms. Richardson, and the Herrins cheered from the ground.
On the day Carter had to leave, he handed Abby fifteen gold coins. “If you ever come across another flying carpet, preferably one in the mid-fast to fastest line, it would be great if you could get it for me.” He hugged her bye and did the same with Ethan and Brannon.
Feeling more carefree than she had in several years, Abby started school again. There were no more secrets between her and her friends. Only a week into school and they celebrated Carly’s birthday. She chose not to throw a party but had them all over for dinner. Abby had bought her a skirt from the Mystic tailors. Ethan and Aaron had gotten Carly two exotic fish for her tank her dad had given her.
A couple of weeks later, Abby received a letter from Mistress Mia. Her status as unofficial Mystic was being called into question.
Ch
apter Thirty-Four
Dear Abby,
Since your … uh, morphing talent is now in the open, there have been concerns raised on whether or not you should remain a part of our world. The meeting has finally ended and we feel the best possible way for you to be still considered an unofficial Mystic is to prove it through dancing. You are to come to camp at 7 p.m. tonight. Be prepared to perform.
Oh, and Abby, try not to hold back this time.
See you soon,
Mistress Mia
Abby let her friends read it while they sat in Aaron’s room. “What do you think it means?” Carly asked, passing the letter back to her.
Abby shrugged. “I’m not sure. Hopefully whatever I dance to will prove to them that I should stay a part of them. Either way, I’ll find out tonight.”
“Have you thought of names yet?” Abby asked Aaron, trying to change the subject. She gestured to the cocoon-wrapped egg sitting between them on the floor.
“Not yet,” Aaron said. “Though I do like a few names: Fintz, Gaern, and Pao.”
“Where’d you get those names?” Carly asked.
Aaron shrugged. “They were in our history book a couple of years ago. Can’t remember what they mean, but I liked them.”
“Oh, hey,” Ethan interrupted. “Tryouts are next Tuesday.”
“Tryouts?” Abby asked.
“Yeah, for the ROC racing teams! Ethan and I were on the team last year. We were front-runners,” Aaron explained.
“Are you going to try out this time?” Ethan asked Carly. She nodded excitedly. “What about you?” he asked Abby.
Abby shook her head. “I don’t even know what a ROC racing team is, but since it sounds like it uses broomsticks, I’ll stick to my Glider.”
“No idea what ROC stands for, but it does involve broomsticks,” Ethan explained, smiling.
They heard Ms. Richardson moving around downstairs. “Ever since the trial, she’s been home really early. Even asked if I wanted to go do something with her this week,” Aaron said.