Hey! I wrote this story because I saw the movie and LOOOOOVED it! I would really love reviews, they fuel me. Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. Disney got to it first.
Horvath approached the boy cutting wood. He had been searching for someone like him for weeks, months, travelling from New York, to Washington, to England. Finally, he had found him in Scotland. He even probed his brain while he was sleeping. He was perfect. Perspiration ran down the boy's face and soaked through his grey cotton shirt, even though the air outside was turning cool for the fall. He stopped chopping for a moment to wipe his face with the back of his hand and run a hand through his thick, black hair. It was then that he saw Horvath.
"Can I help you?" he asked in a thick Scottish brogue.
"Yes, I think you can. My name is Maxim Horvath. What might yours be?"
"Donovan. Donovan Morgan. If you're looking for me mum, I can just go insi—"
Horvath cut him off.
"No, no, it's actually you I was looking for. Now, Donovan, let me ask you a question. Have you ever heard of a woman called Morgana Le Fay?..."
"HELP! If there's anyone in here, I really need help! Please? Anyone?"
Dave Stutler heard the yell from the storage room of Arcana Cabana. (After Morgana, Balthazar and Veronica bought back the shop from Nokia and reclaimed their artefacts.) The pleas for help continued as Dave raced around the reception desk to the front of the store.
Standing there, panting, was a girl of about fourteen or fifteen years of age. She had copper-brown hair, and she wore ripped blue jeans and a dark red tee-shirt. And, strangely, she was barefoot. She was looking around frantically, until she saw Dave.
"Oh, thank God! I was taking a shortcut through the alley way, here, and this group of guys came out, and they had knives, and they chased me and I thought they were gonna kill me and rob me, but then I saw the store and I thought I could hide in here and that if there were any people in there they could help me so I sped up around the corner and—oh goodness, I think I'm going to pass out."
The girl had been retelling her story with amazing speed, and her legs gave out from under her as she finished.
"Whoa whoa whoa, sit down...slowly..." Dave had caught her by the shoulders and sat her down on a low shelf. He didn't know what would happen if she sat on the nearby royal throne. Spontaneous combustion, maybe? Or transformation into a mountain lion?
The girl took a deep breath in and let it out slowly.
"Hi. I'm Nellie," she said, and stuck out her hand. Dave shook it.
"Dave. I work here. My Aunt and Uncle own this shop," he said, but hated how he hesitated slightly before saying Aunt and Uncle. He didn't know how long he'd been keeping up that charade, but he was still a bad liar. "I can get them, just a sec."
Dave called toward the back of the shop. They were in the apartment above (where they all now lived. He had left Bennett to himself. He could not take another breakfast, lunch, or dinner lecture about the grey wolf) but he knew they could hear. They were sorcerers after all.
"Aunt Veronica! Uncle Balthazar! There's a girl in here hiding from a mob!" Dave looked back to Nellie, who looked at him oddly.
"That's an...interesting way to put it. It was more like a gang, anyway." She gave a small smile, then averted her eyes (a startling green colour) to over Dave's shoulder. Dave looked back, too, and Balthazar came out from behind the curtain leading towards the upstairs apartment, followed by Veronica.
Veronica had adapted more to the ages, wearing a floral blue skirt and a white blouse, while Balthazar opted for his usual long shirt and pants, vest, and arm-warmers.
Nellie didn't seem fazed by his odd and eclectic outfit. In fact she smiled widely at the sight of him, and then quickly stopped, realizing it might be rude to laugh at the imposing man who's shielding you from a group of gangsters.
"Uncle Balthazar, Aunt Veronica, this is Nellie," Dave introduced. Nellie repeated her story for Balthazar and Veronica, this time at a regular speed.
"You know," she added in at the end, "I never even take this alley to get home. This was a complete coincidence!"
Her choice of words seemed to ignite a spark in Balthazar's brain. His expression changed ever so slightly, so that you would have to have been watching him very closely to see it. Luckily, Dave was.
"Well, you're free to stay here as long as you need. Or until eight, when we close. My name is Balthazar Blake, and this is my wife Veronica."
"Nice to meet you both," she said, shaking their hands. Balthazar jumped a little when Nellie's hand touched his.
"Oops! Static! Sorry! Um, I'm sorry to bother, but do you have a phone I could use? I was supposed to be home now, and my mom is probably worried sick," she asked.
"Yes, right at the back."
Nellie made her way to the back left corner, and stared curiously at the seventy-year-old telephone hanging on the wall. She picked it up, probably wondering if this was some sort of prank, put it to her ear, and then almost dropped it when she heard the dial tone. Dave smirked. Gets 'em every time.
Dave heard the spinning of the wheel, then:
"Casey? Yeah, It's Nellie. Ouch, stop screaming! No, I'm at an antique store with a Mr. And Mrs. Blake..."
As she began to explain her situation for the third time, Veronica and Dave turned to Balthazar. Apparently, Veronica saw the change of expression as well.
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"What's different? Something she said surprised you."
"Hm? Nothing. Dave, do you know where I put the collection of figurines?" Balthazar asked suddenly, looking around the store. Veronica gave him a strange look and answered instead.
"The shelf in our bedroom. Balthazar, do you think she's-?"
"Maybe. I'll be right back," he cut her off and whipped through the back curtain again. He keeps avoiding saying what he's thinking out loud, Dave thought. He turned to the lady staring hopefully after Balthazar.
"Veronica, what's going on? Why do we need those figurines? What do they do?" Veronica creased her eyebrows and looked at him sympathetically.
"I can't tell you until we know he's right, David," she said, jerking her head back the way that Balthazar left the room. "All can tell you is that if she is, she would be special." She put a weird, whispering emphasis on special. She was probably giving him a hint. Dave was terrible at hints. His eyebrows furrowed in frustration, because one, no one would tell him ANYTHING around here, and two, He had asked Veronica time and time again not to call him David. Just Dave. She sounded like his mother.
At that moment, many things happened at once.
Nellie got off the phone and started to walk back to where Dave and Veronica were standing. Balthazar was on his way back with the tray of silver figurines, and, seeing Nellie, bumped into her accidentally-on-purpose, knocking the figurines to the ground.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! Did anything break? Here, let me help you clean these up." Nellie apologized profusely, joining Balthazar, who was already picking things up off the floor. Each one she picked up, she examined thoroughly.
"Hey, these are really beautiful! How much are these?"
Balthazar looked at her, and Dave swore he saw...was that a glint of hope in Balthazar's eyes?
"Well, they're not normally on sale, but if one likes you, you can keep it."
Wait, that was like what Balthazar had told Dave when...
"What do you mean, likes —WHOA." Nellie broke off when the dove with the little green jewel in its back came to life in her hand and climbed onto her right ring finger, wrapping its wings around tightly to form the bands of a ring. Her eyes widened. So did Dave's. And Balthazar?
When Balthazar Blake smiles, it's a rare and wonderful thing. There had been only a few times that Dave had seen him genuinely smile. When he first found Dave in Arcana Cabana ten years ago. When Dave's reflexes saved him from being impaled by Horvath's enchanted knives. And when Dave had reived him after the fight with Morgana, and he found himself there with his enemy defeated, and his apprentice and his true love at his side.
Dave saw Balthazar smile again that day. He grinned at the stunned Nellie, and the sorcerer's ring she now wore.
"Veronica," he said, without looking up, "I think we've found your first apprentice."