by Bo Savino
Chapter 13: Calling All Sprites
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Morning found most of the members of Team Phoenix sound asleep, but Ryssa was wide-awake, her eyes staring blankly into the dark. She thought she heard movement in the common area. Perhaps it was Brownies setting up breakfast. The noises were so subtle, she couldn’t be sure, but before long the scent of cinnamon rolls wafted under the bedroom door.
After lunch the preceding day, Aurelius had set them on the grueling task of clearing and emptying their minds. Ryssa couldn’t believe that just sitting there, trying to think about absolutely nothing, could be such hard work. It didn’t help that she had a tremendous amount on her mind.
Everyone else was able to get it, although not right away. They had taken a break around dinnertime. Afterward Aurelius had them work on connecting to the Earth’s magic. He wasn’t trying to get them to call the magic yet—only connect to it. That part was even more frustrating for Ryssa. She had already failed miserably at emptying her mind, only to later watch the others connect to the magic one by one. Aurelius seemed to have to concentrate to sense the connection each one made. Ryssa saw the connections clearly—strings of light folding outward like fans when one of her fellow teammates connected to the magic.
She tried to copy what she thought the others were doing, but nothing worked. It all boiled down to the fact that the others could do it, and she couldn’t. Aurelius became cross with her at one point, ordering her to stay focused. That was the worst part. Ryssa was so embarrassed that she had stormed from the common area and shut herself away in the girls’ room.
No one had followed. As far as she was concerned, it wasn’t because they didn’t know what was wrong—they just didn’t care. Later that night, when the other girls came to get ready for bed, Ryssa pretended to be asleep. She knew it was childish, but she wasn’t feeling very sociable.
The other girls drifted off to sleep, while Ryssa lay awake most of the night, staring into the darkness. The one, single hope she felt at the prospect of coming to Faery had been dashed. All her life it seemed like everything came easily to everyone else, especially her twin, while she had to struggle for every inch of ground, no matter what she did. It was no different here. Once again, she struggled while everyone else succeeded.
When she could no longer stand the smell of the cinnamon rolls calling to her empty stomach, Ryssa gave up and headed out into the common area. Meek sat in the same spot as he had the morning before, on the bench outside the boys’ room. The Brownie sitting next to him was there one moment and gone the next. Ryssa started for the table of food, but changed her mind and instead marched over to Meek.
She stood before him, arms folded across her chest. “I need to ask you a question—two, actually.”
Meek looked wary, but nodded slowly for her to continue.
“Like everyone else here, you have to be truthful in all things—right?”
His eyes grew even more wary, but he nodded confirmation.
“So the next question—are you the one responsible for the disappearance of all these potentials?”
Meek’s expression changed from wary, to stunned, to hurt in the blink of an eye. He shook his head to the negative.
“Okay. I had to know, because of you being up and all before everyone else yesterday and—never mind. I’m sorry. That was really rude of me, but I don’t know anything about this place, or anybody here. I didn’t want to ask that question in front of the others and start something that shouldn’t—oh, just forget it. I’m sorry”
She left him sitting there while she walked to the table, grabbed a warm cinnamon roll and went to sit on the couch outside of the girls’ room. Her attention was so intent on the roll that she didn’t see Meek until he was standing next to her. When she glanced up, he asked with a gesture and a raised brow whether he could sit. She nodded her consent, and he joined her in silence.
They were still there a short time later when the other Team members started joining them one by one. Nobody spoke, but it wasn’t an awkward silence. It was more an unspoken agreement to stay lost, each in his or her waking moments, enjoying breakfast. It was as though after the work they had put their minds through the previous day, no one wanted to make the first move toward engaging their brains that early in the day.
Aurelius entered the room with a hearty, “Good morning, Team,” and helped himself to breakfast with the rest. He took a big bite of cinnamon roll and winked at Ryssa.
After the scrape and clink of breakfast utensils had died down, Aurelius rose. “All right. Everyone go get dressed and meet me back here in a few minutes.”
A few minutes was all it took for them to get ready. Not even the girls were up to lengthy preparations this morning. They were all so tired from the day before. No one seemed to have any energy.
Today the ramp from the Team Phoenix quarters led up to the Arena Court. Reggie shook his head. He didn’t understand it, but he didn’t have the wherewithal at the moment to try and figure it out. Aurelius headed up the stairs that led toward the outside, taking a left into another, shorter hall before they actually left the Sithin mound. He turned again into a doorway near the end of the hall. They entered a large room with all sorts of odds and ends shoved here and there, piled in corners, on shelves, and in drawers bursting to overflowing. Stones, cloth, ropes, strings, feathers, claws, paints, jars of glowing liquids and glittering powders—all manner of things filled the room.
Aurelius walked to a large wooden cabinet attached to the far wall. Taking a key from his pocket, he unlocked the ancient lock that held it closed. He threw open the doors, and the children gathered around to see what the cabinet held. Inside, were what appeared to be all kinds of sticks. The collection seemed to be made up of various kinds of wood in different lengths and widths and shades and tones of color. Some were polished, others rough, while others looked as though they still had the bark on them.
“Okay, Team.” Aurelius waved his arm with a flourish to bring attention to the assortment encased by the cabinet. “Today we focus our attention on procuring your new lifetime partner in magic.
“When I have finished, you will proceed to the cabinet and choose whichever wand you like. After that, you may spend as much time as you wish going through the baubles within this room, taking whatever items you fancy will make your wand personal to you. When you have done this, find a space at one of the tables and have a seat. Now, go ahead and begin.”
Reggie and Ryssa shrugged at each other and moved closer to the wand case where everyone was now examining the contents. As far as they could tell, there was nothing more than a bunch of sticks inside. They watched as Moira and Jet grabbed a matching pair of sleek, black polished sticks, both exclaiming with delight over their find. Gervais grabbed a dark brown stick still covered with bark that was as narrow as his little finger on one end and almost too wide to fit into his hand at the other.
At the same time, Reggie and Ryssa both noticed a set of sticks, not polished, but of a purple so dark they appeared black. They each grabbed one and held them side by side to compare. The grains of each were different, obviously from two different kinds of wood. The coloring, however, was a perfect match.
“Lightning struck oak and ash.” Aurelius peered over their shoulders. “Those are two of only a few rare pieces that made the trip from Tir Nan Og itself.”
Again, Reggie and Ryssa looked at each other and shrugged. As far as they could tell, they were just sticks. But they thought they were pretty cool looking anyway—as far as sticks went.
“Which one is which?” Reggie asked.
Aurelius leaned a little closer, examining them both carefully down the length of his nose.
“I believe you are holding the oak, Reggie—and you, Ryssa, have the ash. Interesting. I would have expected it to be the other way around.”
Ryssa eyed him suspiciously. “Why is that?”
“No reason,” Aurelius walked away, “I was just thinking out loud.”
Ryssa
went to one side of the room and poked through the piles of cloth. She really didn’t know what she was searching for—what was a wand supposed to look like anyway? From what she had seen of her uncle’s wand, it was nothing more than a carved stick with a crystal. It didn’t have feathers, or anything else for that matter. She wanted a little more than that, but what?
She walked over to a selection of ribbons and lace. One piece of black lace caught her eye. Woven into the pattern were stars—eight in all—before the piece had been snipped off. It was pretty. She wasn’t sure what she would do with it, but she grabbed it. There were also some ribbons nearby, in a variety of colors. She chose a spool of thin raspberry-pink and another of black, and added them to the lace.
What else? she wondered, looking around the room. Glinda was going through a pile of feathers, selecting a few to add to her own wand craft pile. Gervais studied a collection of claws, examining each with a critical eye before discarding most. Loo ran his fingers through a jar of translucent rainbow fish scales, letting them pour through his fingers like water. Pyro was near Ryssa by the ribbon table, checking out some flame-colored samples. The rest of Team Phoenix already sat at the tables with their piles of crafts stacked next to their wands.
Reggie sat at a table, holding his collection of finds. Moira and Jet were at the same table. A collection of paint pots was situated between them. The Phooka twins playfully charged at each other with tiny little carved horses.
How were those going onto their wands? Ryssa shook her head. Not my problem.
Jars glittering with pinpoints of light, their colorful sparks reflecting onto the surfaces around them caught Ryssa’s attention. She walked over and grabbed a jar of raspberry-colored glitter to match the ribbon, and then took her supplies and sat next to her twin.
She surveyed Reggie’s collection of wand craft treasures. All he had selected were four miniature swords made of a shiny, silver-colored metal. He grinned and pointed to the ring he wore, the one Debra had given him for his birthday.
“The Three Musketeers came to mind. All for one and one for all.”
Jet raised an amused eyebrow. “And the fourth for their sidekick, D’Artagnan?”
“Yeah—D’Artagnan and my brother, Terry—both take life far too seriously. It fits.”
“How are you going to attach them to the wand?” Ryssa looked to Moira and Jet. “How do we do this?”
“You’ll see in a minute,” they promised with mysterious smiles.
Ryssa glanced around the room. Hammie was the last to take his seat. Aurelius grabbed a stack of carved wooden boxes next to the wand case. He motioned for Meek, who was closest to him, to help.
“Pass these out to the others,” Aurelius piled a stack into the boy’s arms, “one for each.”
Meek came to Ryssa’s table and placed one box in front of each of them. Moving to the next table, he passed the rest out, keeping one for himself. Aurelius handed out the other half of the boxes to the remaining members of the team.
“Remove the lids from your boxes, children, and place your wands inside, along with the items you have chosen.”
Reggie and Ryssa examined the covers of their boxes. Each had a depressed pair of handprints set into the cover. They removed the lids and saw the interior was deeply set and lined with velvet. The wands went in first, followed by the items chosen to decorate them. Reggie went to put the lid back on the box, but Aurelius stopped him.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Reggie.”
He blushed and put the lid back on the table.
Aurelius pulled out another large box from under the cabinet and lifted its hinged top. He walked around the tables and deposited a small crystal about the size of a robin’s egg—and almost the same color blue—onto the table in front of each child. When he finished, he put the box away. He closed the doors to the wand cabinet and relocked it, pocketing the key.
“All right, team.” Aurelius turned to face them again. “Listen carefully. Place your crystals into the wand box and close the lid. Without breaking contact with the box, once the lid is on, slide your hands over the surface until your palms rest into the depressed carvings on the top. No matter what happens, do not remove your hands until I tell you to do so. Now—crystals into the boxes, please.”
The members of Team Phoenix did as they were told.
“Wow.” Reggie was surprised at the feelings emanating from the box into the palms of his hands. “That’s really warm.”
“Really?” Moira asked. “Mine’s kind of tingly.”
“Mine’s wet and pulsating.” Jet frowned.
Ryssa watched her hands with an odd expression. “I don’t know.” She couldn’t take her eyes from the box. “It goes hot and then cold and then hot again. It’s making my fingers throb, like I can feel my heartbeat in the tips.”
“Cool.” Reggie looked around the room.
As always, Loo was wearing a dreamy smile, so Reggie couldn’t really tell what was happening to him. Pyro’s hands were twitching and smoke rose from under his fingers, but he didn’t seem to be in any pain. Hammie’s entire body jerked and convulsed as though zapped by an electrical current, but he had a big smile on his face. Reggie swore he heard music coming from Glinda’s box, and that she hummed along with it, but he wasn’t close enough to make out the melody.
Each child sat holding their hands in place as Aurelius had directed. Eventually, the warmth began to fade from Reggie’s box. From the puzzled looks on the faces of the others, he guessed that they also noticed the sensations dissipating. When it looked as though all the boxes were finished doing whatever it was they were doing, Aurelius spoke again.
“All right, children. If you no longer feel anything coming from your box, and only if you feel nothing, you may remove the lid and retrieve your wand.”
Reggie took his hands away and lifted the lid, looking inside with surprise. The swords were gone and the crystal had attached itself to the top of the wand, but now the crystal had faceted sides that came to a point at the tip. It was no longer robin’s egg blue either. The color had transformed into a dark, purple-black, like the color of the wand, with a burgundy-colored spot at its center. He lifted the wand out of the box, checking the wood. There appeared to be some sort of etching along its side. Upon closer inspection, he saw that four swords had been delicately embossed onto the wand, running from end to tip, with the points coming together at the crystal.
“Way cool! Hey, Ryss, look at this!”
Ryssa was examining her wand, while Reggie eyed it from where he was sitting. Her crystal had turned the exact opposite colors as his—the crystal being a burgundy-color with a dark, purplish-black spot in the center. The shape of hers was different, almost star-shaped with multiple points. Down near the handle, the wood was embossed with an intricately woven style, like thin, braided ribbons alternating in polished black and deep raspberry colors for about the first six inches from the base. Where the weave ended, in the space from the handle to the crystal, the wood was carved in a lacy pattern with stars, eight of them, that shimmered with the reflecting color of the glitter she had chosen.
“It’s beautiful!” she pronounced, delighted with her treasure.
Reggie and Ryssa both looked toward Moira and Jet, who seemed to have identical wands—opalescent, rounded crystals at the tips, and little horses embossed down the sides, each a muted variety of colors from the paint pots that had been incorporated into their wand boxes.
Everyone around the room exclaimed satisfaction with the results. Hammie waved his around happily, apparently oblivious that his hair was standing on end from the experience. Meek stared at his, turning it end over end, while Gervais examined his own with its circle of claws curving upward, just above where he would hold it in his hand. He grunted, looking pleased.
“Okay, children. We have to do the next part quickly, while the wands are still fresh.” Aurelius pointed to a small door set to the far side of the room. “Through that door is the Hall of
Sprites. It is there that the elders of Faery place the Sprites we manage to collect. When we enter the Hall, find a place to stand and hold your wands high. Wave it around to draw their attention if you want. Sometimes they need you to let them know you are there, since they really exist on a plane different than the one we do.
“When a Sprite enters your wand, you will feel some sort of sensation. I can’t tell you what it will be, because each will be different—just like when you created the wands. The one thing that will be the same, however, is that you will hear the name of your Sprite in your mind. When you hear its name, you must bind the essence of the Sprite to your wand, and to yourself, by adding the name to yours and announcing it out loud. Under no circumstance are you to leave the Hall of Sprites until you have completed the binding. If you do, the Sprite will be released into Faery, and we are all very aware of what a rogue Sprite can do.”
“How do we add its name to ours?” Reggie asked.
“My name, before the binding, was Aurelius Trenton Starborn. The Sprite who came to me was Icewand. When she entered the wand and gave me her name, I called out, Aurelius Trenton Icewand Starborn to bind her. She became as much a part of me as my name. That is why we add their name to ours—to make them a part of who we are.”
“Oh, I guess it makes sense.”
“Come along now. Let’s call in the Sprites.”
The scraping of chairs filled the room as the children left the tables and followed their Counselor to the Hall of Sprites. Aurelius opened the door and let them enter, making sure everyone was inside before closing the door. The room was less like a Hall and more like a large cavern with crystals set into the walls that lit the domed rock formation as bright as day. Hundreds of lights circled the top of the dome, much like the lights that floated through the branches of the Sithin tree above the mound. The circling kaleidoscope of colors had a dizzying effect, especially when viewed from below.
“Take your places, children, and hold up your wands.”
Team Phoenix scattered about the room, holding their wands high. Reggie and Ryssa stepped off to one side, holding theirs up with the others. The lights circled overhead, but a few began to float lower in the cavern, as though noticing the children below. Some flew directly downward, and it wasn’t long before cries of binding echoed through the room.
“Glinda Alysses Summerhand Feathernest.”
“Jade Marcea Gardenlight Stoneheart.”
“Hammie Marshall Gobletbreath Starborn.” He paused. “Oh—what? Sorry. Hammie Marshall Goblinbreath Starborn.”
“Moira Tinay Ravencall Starborn.”
“Jet Findlay Winternight Starborn.”
“Gervais Wilhelm Strongoak Beastmaster.”
Reggie looked around. He saw Meek whispering something, closely holding his wand to his lips.
“Move your wand a bit.” Aurelius pulled his attention back. “Draw the Sprites to you.”
Reggie tried wagging his wand, and then settled for slashing it through the air like a sword. Ryssa sort of poked and jabbed her wand into the air, thrusting it at the Sprites and willing one to come to her.
“Pyro Solomon Wildfire Flamebringer.” Pyro looked confused for a moment and then added with uncertainty, “Junior?”
“Loo Loo,” the boy blushed, “Sirensound Seacalm.”
“Whisper Hexwand Windcall.” The girl shrugged. “I was never given a middle name.”
“Storm Gray Seabreeze Cloudwalker.”
Reggie frowned. Only he and Ryssa had yet to get their Sprites. He looked up and saw two heading directly for them, coming in fast. They hit the wands. Ryssa was knocked to the floor, while Reggie shook his head from the force of the voice that echoed through his mind. When he could focus again, he smiled and announced loudly, “Reginald Aurelius Starsong Starborn.”
He looked to Ryssa, who had climbed back to her feet. She wasn’t smiling. Instead, she was staring at her wand with a mortified expression.
“Ryss?” He took a step toward her.
Ryssa’s eyes turned to him, filled with tears. She threw her wand to the ground and started to run to the cavern door. Aurelius caught her and held her tight.
“Ryssa, you cannot leave until you have bonded with the wand.”
“No!” she fought against him, “I won’t!”
“You must,” his voice held a touch of anger. “If you don’t, you will let that Sprite loose into Faery where it could go rogue and cause some serious damage. Stop acting like a spoiled child. Do you not like the name? Names don’t mean anything. Hammie ended up with Goblinbreath. Go back, pick up your wand and bond with it.”
Ryssa glared at Aurelius. Reggie could feel the weight of her anger overriding his own emotions. But he was right. She couldn’t let a rogue Sprite loose on Faery.
“Fine.” She pushed Aurelius away, but he stood ready to step in again if it became necessary.
Ryssa walked over and picked up the wand. She wouldn’t even look at it. Reggie was surprised at the coldness of the anger that flashed through her eyes. He had seen her mad before, but not like this. She locked that stare on Aurelius, refusing to look at the wand now clenched so tightly in her hand that her knuckles turned white.
“You want me to bond with this thing?” Ryssa glared at him, the tears quivering in her throat. She paused to swallow and took a deep breath. When she spoke again, her voice was tight, but steady. “Maryssa Delzia Darkwind Starborn.”
She stood for a moment, locking her gaze on Aurelius just long enough to see the name register in his mind and turn his expression to horror.
“No—Oh, child, no—”
“Names don’t mean anything, Uncle.” She pushed past him and walked to the door. “Isn’t that what you said?”
She left Team Phoenix and their Counselor standing in shock while the sound of the slamming door echoed through the cavern.