Alice in Murderland

by Samantha Silver

  “Grandma Cee is exaggerating,” Sage said to me reassuringly. “We don’t know for sure that Francine was killed by the Others. We did call Corrine and ask her to convince you to move back here just in case she was, but we don’t have any proof.”

  “Well she sure didn’t die of cancer like you’ve been going around telling everyone,” Grandma Cee snapped in reply. “Face facts, Sage. The Others are back, and they want more bodies. Why do you think most of the residents of Brixton Road are spending less and less time in Sapphire Village?”

  “Because you’ve scared them into thinking their lives are in danger,” Sage replied.

  “I’ve lived through three invasions from the Others, I know when they’re around,” Grandma Cee replied. “Now, because I’m the only one who recognizes the coming danger, I’m going to have to be the one to take care of all of this. Alice, when we’re finished eating, you’re coming with me. I’m going to teach you some basic spells. It’s about time you learned a little bit of magic; you may need it one day to save your life.”

  I gulped, and as we finished eating, a stony silence permeating the room, suddenly the delicious food felt like sandpaper in my mouth. I was just coming to terms with the fact that I was a witch. Now all of a sudden, I had to worry about groups of other witches trying to kill me for my powers? Surely Grandma Cee had to be senile, or something. Maybe the rest of my family just put up with her to humor her in her old age. My biological mother had died in a car crash. That was what I’d always been told. That had to be the truth.

  Right?

  Chapter Ten

  After we’d finished eating lunch, Sage did all the dishes with a simple flick of her fingers, and Grandma Cee took me out the back to learn how to do some magic.

  “Cat, Peaches. You both are coming too,” Grandma Cee ordered.

  “What? But you’re just going to show her basic spells,” Cat complained. “I know how to make things change color already.”

  “Don’t you play smart with me, young lady. You don’t practice your magic nearly enough. Don’t think I don’t know that.”

  “I don’t want to either, I made plans for this afternoon.”

  “If you could do a magic spell on the dishes without making half of them start dancing, I’d tell you to keep your plans. But, you can’t, so cancel them. This is more important. In fact, I blame myself for your lack of education. Your mother does not keep onto you nearly as much as she should.”

  “Fine,” Peaches muttered, rolling her eyes. “But when you start begging for great-grandchildren and asking me why I don’t have a man, remember this moment, where you took away my social life by making me do basic spells once again.”

  “Consider it getting to know your cousin,” Grandma Cee replied.

  “My cousin and I can’t have children,” Peaches replied. “Unless you’re hiding something,” she added to me with a wink, and I laughed.

  “Nope, sorry, definitely not physically possible,” I replied.

  “Good. Then we’re sorted. Everyone into the backyard.”

  We left my aunts and uncles in the house and made our way to the backyard with Grandma Cee. She was surprisingly spry for her age, and practically bounded into the yard with the energy of a woman at least forty years younger than what she actually was.

  “Don’t worry,” Cat whispered to me. “Basic spells are actually pretty easy.”

  “Yeah, they teach them to us when we’re like four years old,” Peaches whispered from my other side. “You’re not going to have any problems at all.”

  Despite my cousins’ words of reassurance, I still wasn’t completely sold on this idea. Still, I didn’t see that I had any other choice. And to be honest, a little part of me was excited.

  This was magic! I was going to learn to do real spells!

  The backyard was nothing like I imagined. That same, weird pastel-green grass covered the huge expanse of at least an acre. There were a few of the weird swirly-colored trees here and there, but mostly it was just regular grass. We walked through it and I noticed it was soft; much softer than what I was used to. This grass almost felt like sinking your feet into a pile of nice, warm sand on the beach.

  “All right, ladies!” Grandma Cee barked out, like an army general speaking to new recruits. “Line up!”

  “We’re already in a line, Grandma Cee,” Cat replied.

  “Don’t get smart with me, young lady!” Grandma Cee said. “Now. First things first, we’re going to teach Alice a simple color changing spell.”

  Grandma Cee pointed at the grass, and all of a sudden a white plastic lawn chair appeared, one of those cheap ones that no one ever seems to buy and yet everyone seems to have.

  “Make this blue,” Grandma Cee ordered Cat, who rolled her eyes, pointed her finger at the chair, and instantly it was a pretty shade of baby blue. My mouth dropped when I saw it; really seeing magical spells being performed was still a novel experience for me.

  “Good,” Grandma Cee nodded sternly, like a private school teacher from the fifties begrudgingly being forced to accept that a student got an answer right. She pointed at the chair and turned it white again. “Now, you do it, Peaches.”

  Peaches scrunched up her face and pointed at the chair, but rather than turn blue, the chair seemed to melt, until it was only a puddle on the ground.

  “Arrrgh,” Peaches said, while Cat snickered next to her.

  “Well, water is also blue, that should count,” Peaches muttered unhappily. Grandma Cee shook her head as she pointed to the puddle of water, which turned back into a white chair just a moment later.

  “Truly you are the most dangerous of all the witches,” Grandma Cee told Peaches. “Even you do not know what spells will come from your fingers.”

  “I don’t know what I did wrong,” Peaches cried. “I really did try.”

  “You need to truly picture the chair being blue before you point,” Grandma Cee replied. “Focus on the chair, focus on the change, then send your energy toward it. Try again.”

  Peaches blushed slightly then squinted toward the chair once more, pointed at it, and this time it changed into a nice navy blue color.

  “There. See? That wasn’t so difficult, was it? At least it shouldn’t be, for a woman in her mid-twenties.”

  Peaches blushed again. “Now, your turn, Alice.”

  “Ummm, I don’t know what to do,” I said awkwardly.

  “Look at the chair. Picture the chair in the color you want it to change. Truly picture it in your mind. Then, use the energy inside of you, point to the chair, and it will become blue.”

  “Ok,” I said, feeling a little bit stupid. I looked at the chair and imagined it looking like a nice, sapphire blue. After all, I lived in Sapphire Village now. To my surprise, as I did so, I felt energy welling up inside of me, like I was a tiger ready to pounce on my prey. It was like the feeling of adrenaline coursing through me, getting ready for me to do something scary.

  I pointed at the chair and instantly felt the energy releasing from my fingers. It was like all the adrenaline coursed straight through my arm and out from my outstretched finger. I gasped as suddenly the chair instantly transformed from white to a perfect Sapphire Blue.

  “Good,” Grandma Cee said, nodding. “That is an excellent start. You are already better than Peaches, and she has been doing magic her whole life.”

  “Hey,” Peaches argued. I gave her a sympathetic look and mouthed a ‘sorry’, but she just shook her head.

  “No, it’s ok. My magic is all over the place. I know that. I can’t even practice by myself because I never know what chaos I’m going to unleash on the universe.” Her shoulders drooped.

  “With that attitude you certainly aren’t going to get anywhere,” Grandma Cee scolded. “Take some pride in your work, woman! Make an effort! Next spell: make the chair double in size. This time, Alice goes first.”

  My heart leapt into my throat as I looked at the imposing plastic chair. You can do this, I told myself as I
focused on the chair and truly imagined it doubling in size. Straight away I felt that same feeling of energy building up inside of me, and when I pointed to the chair, the energy coursed out of me through my finger and the chair began to expand, like it was filling with air, until it had more or less doubled in size.

  “Good,” Grandma Cee nodded. “Very well done. She pointed to Cat, who did the same spell easily, and Peaches managed it on the first try herself. She squealed with delight as the chair grew in size, and nothing weird happened.

  “Now,” Grandma Cee said. “Since it is obvious that Alice has a natural ability as a witch, I want to try a more difficult spell. “I want you to change this mouse into a basketball.”

  She pointed to the ground, and with a little squeak a mouse appeared, scurrying around the ground, sniffing as though wondering how on earth it got here.

  Cat stepped forward, focused on the mouse and pointed. There was a small popping sound, and the mouse disappeared. It was replaced with a basketball, but it wasn’t completely correct. It was about half the size it should have been, and the ball had whiskers, a little pink nose that sniffed around and a tail coming out the other side.

  Peaches snickered and Cat shot her a look. “You’re probably going to mess it up worse than I am,” Cat shot at her. Grandma Cee pointed at the basketball and in an instant it had turned back into the mouse.

  “I do not believe that basketball was NBA regulation,” she told Cat, who shrugged. “Now, Peaches, it’s your turn.”

  Peaches looked at the mouse for an extra moment before pointing at it. Suddenly, Cat and I gasped. The mouse did turn into a basketball, and it did grow, only it was now bigger than the house!

  “Oh my God!” I said, looking skyward to see the top of the ball. Suddenly, it began to bounce by itself. It bounced over the house and onto the street. Screams came from the street as the ball began to terrorize the residents of Brixton Road.

  “Ohhhh noooo,” Peaches cried, and I couldn’t help myself, I burst out into laughter. As Grandma Cee pointed her finger at the basketball, which had quickly turned back into a mouse and been brought back into the backyard, Cat and I were practically rolling on the ground, tears were running down Cat’s face while Peaches looked more embarrassed that I knew it was possible for one person to look.

  “Well,” Cat managed to say between gasps of laughter, “I think you went a little bit too big on that one, Peaches.”

  “I can’t believe I actually did that,” Peaches said.

  “It is a miracle that your magic doesn’t accidentally maim people, or worse. I’m absolutely going to be giving all three of you more lessons in the future. Now, Alice. It’s your turn. Try not to create something out of a horror story like your cousin did, please.”

  “I’ll try,” I said, my voice sounding more like a squeak than anything else. Looking at the mouse, I tried my best to picture a basketball. A perfectly sized, normal looking basketball.

  A second later, as the energy released from my finger, the four of us all gasped. Sitting right there, in the middle of the ground, was an orange orb with a thousand tiny pores and black lines around it. I had turned the mouse into an absolutely perfect basketball.

  “Wow,” Peaches said. “You’re definitely showing up the two of us.”

  “Absolutely,” Cat said. “Most people don’t learn how to transform living objects until they’re at least ten years old, so having about four of five years of experience casting spells.”

  Grandma Cee nodded. “Yes. You are a very gifted witch, Alice. That will come in handy when the Others come.” I definitely didn’t miss Peaches rolling her eyes at Grandma Cee’s mention of the Others, and I wondered if it was really something I needed to worry about. I quickly decided that for now, I was going to worry about not embarrassing myself in the middle of my first magic lesson.

  “Now, turn it back into a mouse,” Grandma Cee ordered. I focused on the basketball, thought about it turning back into a mouse once more, and a minute later the basketball had turned back into a squeaky little grey rodent.

  “I can’t believe you’ve mastered living-to-object transformation on your first attempt,” Cat said, looking at me with awe.

  “The fact that you call that mastering shows just how far you have to go, young lady,” Grandma Cee said to Cat, then she looked me up and down.

  “You are well and truly Jennifer Calliope’s daughter. Your mother was a very gifted witch, which was why she was one of the ones the Others went after. You will come here at least once every week, and I will train you in the magical ways. Your cousins will have their lessons separately, as it is obvious that the skills in the basics that come to you naturally still elude them.”

  “Ummm, ok,” I replied. I was pretty sure my face showed just how terrified I was of this idea. Grandma Cee was intimidating even with my cousins here, I wasn’t sure how much I was going to be looking forward to lessons with her on my own.

  “Good,” Grandma Cee said with a curt nod, ignoring my obvious discomfort, before turning on her heel and heading back into the house.

  “I’m sorry, guys,” I said to Cat and Peaches. “I didn’t mean to show you guys up or anything.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about it,” Cat replied.

  “Definitely,” Peaches agreed. “Grandma Cee has always been super tough on everyone. I almost never use my magic anyway, and Cat mostly just knows how to do things that are actually practical for daily life with magic, like loading the dishwasher and making dinner.”

  “Honestly, the fact that you’re so good at magic is great, it takes the pressure off us,” Cat said, and I smiled. “Now come on, I bet you’ve had enough of Brixton Road for one day, let’s go back to Sapphire Village.”

  “That sounds great,” I said. While I liked Brixton Road, and it was great getting to know the rest of my biological family, it had been quite the exciting afternoon. Maybe it was the spells I’d tried, as well, but I was starting to feel incredibly tired.

  We went back into the house and said goodbye to everyone. Cat promised to bring me back for another family dinner the following week, and we made our way back through the streets of Brixton Road until we reached the area where we’d come in.

  Everything had looked so amazing when we’d first stepped into Brixton Road that I hadn’t even looked to see what the portal looked like. But now, it was perfectly obvious. There was a large green square, like a small park, and every ten feet or so was a different colored portal. There were probably fifty portals in total, each one a different color. I recognized the red as being the same shade as the portal in the library, and made my way to that one.

  “Where do all the other portals go?” I asked Cat.

  “To wherever the residents of Brixton Road set them up to go,” Cat replied. “That pink one over there is mine, it leads to the walk-in fridge at the back of my shop. The blue one in the corner leads to Keith the werewolf’s chalet, it comes out in the middle of his fireplace. Last year mom decided to visit him when he was sick and hanging out in Sapphire Village and she got a nice burn on her leg before jumping out of the fire.”

  “Wait, so all of these are open for anyone to use whenever?”

  “Well, the other end has to be open to let someone through. So, if you leave the bookstore side closed, no one can come in that way.”

  “Ah, gotcha,” I replied, nodding. “So do we just walk through this portal as well?”

  “Yup!” Cat said. “After you.”

  I took a deep breath and stepped into the red glowing portal. The same gust of air swirled around me, whipping my hair around my face, and when it dissipated and I re-opened my eyes we were back in the bookshop. A moment later Cat was standing next to me. She tapped the book about Oregon fly fishing personalities once again and the portal disappeared.

  “Now no one can come in through this portal until you re-open it,” she said. I thanked Cat, who waved no problem and told me she had to go check on her store. A minute later I was standin
g in the middle of the bookstore, alone once again, my thoughts swirling. I knew that today had happened, but it was so completely unreal I figured it was going to take my brain a little while to really come to terms with it.

  Chapter Eleven

  The first thing I decided to do when we got back was take a nap. Whether it was doing spells for the first time, or just the mental exertion required to come to terms with just how magical Brixton Road was, or the stress of meeting my entire biological family for the first time, I knew my body was exhausted. I stumbled up the steps and collapsed onto the couch, falling asleep almost instantly.

  By the time I woke up it was almost four o’clock, and judging by the rumbling in my stomach, I was hungry. I still had leftover pizza in the fridge, but seeing as I hadn’t really eaten anything remotely healthy since arriving in Sapphire Village, my body was starting to crave something with actual vitamins in it.

  I quickly checked to make sure the grocery store was still open, and seeing that I had another hour to go until it closed, I slipped out of the apartment and made my way down Main Street until I reached the grocery store.

  I wasn’t going to lie; a part of me expected the small-town store to have about two aisles worth of food, a bit like those big gas stations. But to my surprise, it was legitimately a large grocery store, with about eight different, decently sized aisles of food, as well as a nice selection of fresh meats, fruits and vegetables.

  I grabbed a cart and started adding some staples to it—potatoes, onions, green peppers—when suddenly I heard someone behind me.

  “Excuse me; are you Jennie Calliope’s daughter?”

  I turned to find myself face to face with a woman with sandy blonde hair that reached her shoulders. She had one of those square, authoritative faces, and that confident air about her that women who managed to do everything always had. I wouldn’t have been surprised to find out she was the head of half the local groups and committees here in Sapphire Village.