Disclaimer: I own nothing about this story except the plot. Not even the names as they were only random choices with no background.

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Granted

By Issac Blast

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"Hurricane Olivia's projected course has changed again and, instead of sweeping the east coast of Florida, its current path will take it inland along Georgia and Alabama. Landfall should occur within the hour."

For the family of three watching the emergency broadcast, it was a strike to their hopes. Being that they lived on the beach put their house at risk from the surge. But now the storm was heading straight for them. With no time for escape and no supplies for barricading the windows, they could do nothing but wait.

"Beth, honey, I need you to get some sleep. There's no point in watching this anymore," the father said to his daughter.

"OK, Dad," the girl replied as she turned off the set. "You want me to put the stuff in the hall?"

"Yeah, that'd be best." Since every room in the house had at least one window, they had chosen to huddle together outside the laundry room, as close to the center of the house as possible.

A little over an hour later, the family was doing just that when a sudden burst of wind slammed into the walls. Pictures fell of shelves and windows rattled in their frames as the gales tried to rip the house from its foundations.

~*~*~*~*~

"Is everyone ready?" called a jean-clad wizard in the middle of a large rune covered circle drawn in what seemed to be lines of pure light.

"The Quebec-Montreal team just Okayed," shouted another wizard in a second, smaller, circle joined to the first.

"New York-Philly checks out along with Milwaukee-Chicago," responded a third somewhere in the crowd.

"Hey, boss," the second wizard yelled again, "St. Louis is good, but Raleigh is short five."

"Domingue, Henderson, Jones! Find two others and report to the Carolina team!"

"Yes sir!" came the reply as five pops were heard over the cacophony of voices.

The head wizard raised her hand to her mouth and whispered a word, which caused a music note-shaped charm on it to glow. When she spoke again, her voice boomed across the courtyard.

"All right, people. We're prepped to start in one minutes time, so I want everyone to their places, now. You all know what's at stake here." Then, to the second wizard again, "Landreux, tell Philly that team Mobile-Jacksonville is ready and waiting."

~*~*~*~*~

As five hundred wizards simultaneously raised their voices to sing in the language all things understand, the winds began to swell with energy, the seas rose in tempo, and the entire universe seemed to lean in and listen.

Nature quickly yielded to the persuasive call of so many minds and mouths. Cold air high above Hudson Bay started to sink, flowing downward and over the warmer air rising to meet it. This buffer of frigid wind continued to fall until it planed out over New England as a front. Rushing along the east coast, it soon clashed with the hot oceanic front pushing over Florida. The swirling mass recoiled from it icy touch, then pushed back but to no avail.

After an epic struggle, the warm front lost its forward drive and took a more westerly path. The core of movement skirted less than a hundred miles from wind-blown shores before it fizzled down to a humble storm.

~*~*~*~*~

All of this the wizards saw as they poured their strength into the cold fronts southward flight.

~*~*~*~*~

Beth and her family had seen none of it, so when they awoke the next morning expecting not to have a home, they were overwhelmed to find no lasting damage to their house or any others in the immediate area. Their last fear was quelled when a smiling fifteen year old boy appeared out of nowhere and his younger sister cried out his name.

"Johnny!"