4
Across the great pond in the former lands of the Vikings, modern Europe had forgotten the sword and barbarian legacy of its past when mortals once called upon pagan deities to invade and conquer new lands. Highways criss-crossed the lands where Viking once clashed with Celt, and where Roman soldiers once decimated whole Gael villages. Old castles were turned into hotels and museums. Ancient villages were swallowed up into suburbs for larger towns. Near the bank of the Rhine in the shadow of the Black Forest was the preserved edifice of former Castle Schloss, a former Saxon stronghold near the village of Mecklenberg now owned by Professor Victorious Crumbs. Publicly, a scholar of history and the occult, he was the headmaster of one of the most exclusive schools in Europe second only to Hogwarts in Scotland and Alexandria in Greece. Known only to the mystical world, the edifice secretly schooled the best potential students in the art of wizardry, witchcraft and sorcery. What was known to the world as the Mecklenberg Academy was actually known as Wizard School of Mystical Technology, or Wiz-Tech to its students. There were five houses on campus. The favored and best houses were Swiftwind and Brightmoon, full of well-liked and eager young students and pupils. Tanglewood was mostly made up of the most studious and serious future wizards while Sandstorm was mostly made up of the athletic and the image-obsessed while Darkwind was touted as the worst, full of obnoxious over-achievers driven to cheating and deception to win at all costs. The founder of the school had taken the names from his children and each student had left one mark on the school as they served as headmaster and passed it on. Swiftwind had left her robe to serve as the model of all the other students' robes and Brightmoon decided all the students would live co-ed with boys and girls in each house. Sandstorm had left behind the complicated game of "Twelve Ball" for the students to play. As a final act of mischief, Darkwind decided that every student's magic would be ineffective against plastic balls while Tanglewood decided the most annoying everlasting trait to live on; every student would wear the same type of glasses he wore until graduation. When Jerry visited the school, he felt he was in a school of optometrists.
The office of Professor Crumbs, the current headmaster, was in a secret room of the castle that was always changing location. Technically, it existed in a realm beyond the castle, but the mystical access doorways were always changing from portraits to furniture to even the bric-a-brac. The last time Jerry was here, it was located in the coat closet, but this time, it was in the wardrobe closet. With thoughts of the novel by C.S. Lewis in his head, Jerry sought out Crumbs to get his help in locating his daughter.
"Jerry, I'm sorry but there's nothing I can do. As wizards and magicians, our powers are derived from our godly ancestors. Mortal magic doesn't affect them at all. It's like using a flashlight battery to short circuit a car battery. You can't affect beings who command the true nature of the universe."
"Professor…" Jerry was losing hope. "This is my daughter we're talking about. I know Alex isn't the best student…"
"Is that what you're calling her?" Crumbs was feeding his fish.
"But she is my daughter, and I want her back." Jerry fretted and wavered as his daughter's face floated through his head. "Professor, please, if anyone has any contact with them, I was sure you would."
"We wizards lost our contact with the gods eons ago; that they make any effort to stay in contact with us at all is nothing short of miraculous." Crumbs tapped the side of his tank then ambled past his books and stacks of scrolls. "Jerry…" He sat down slowly at his desk. "The gods showed our ancestors how to be civilized. They gave us laws, government, architecture, the foundations of magic and then they left us to clean up after ourselves. You do not challenge them. Does the name Odysseus sound familiar?"
"They cared about mortals once." Jerry was beside himself with worry. "There must be something they respect."
"Art, science, culture and religion." Crumbs pressed the tips of his fingers together in front of his face. "Oh, and they love toys… not kid's toys but mortal toys like planes, trains and automobiles. I hear Athena is fascinated by the Internet, and Anubis flies small planes. Hermes races cars and Ares owns a fleet of vintage military tanks. They love it every time mere mortals discover something scientific. You don't think they stay in the heavens and not keep track of what's going on down here?"
"I always thought they were petty and vindictive."
"Jerry," Crumbs chuckled a bit. "They are much more human than you believe. Their family squabbles are better than any soap opera on TV. By the way, did you see Desperate Housewives last week?"
"They like scientific, eh…" Jerry started thinking. "How do I get in touch with one of them?"
"Well," Crumbs thought of it a second. "You didn't hear it from me, but I hear Bacchus owns a vineyard in the Napa Valley, and Aphrodite lives in Hollywood. Zeus has a mansion in Olympia, Washington…"
"Go figure…"
"And Circe has a retreat in the mountains of Colorado." Crumbs paused. "I think the Native American gods own a casino in Wyoming if you like gambling…"
"Professor, you've given me a lot to think about…" Jerry rose shaking his old mentor's hand.
"I did? What did I say?"
"If this works…" Jerry wandered about in Professor Crumbs' chambers. "Alex should be home in time for supper!" He turned left instead of right, stumbling over a chair and knocking over a candelabrum.
"The other way, Jerry…"
"Where is that wardrobe?" Jerry stumbled out from under a tapestry, found the way back to the school and headed out on his way.
"Can't find his way out, and yet, thinks he can get his daughter back." Crumbs mumbled to himself then clapped his hands together. "Now, where did I leave the remote to the TV…"
Back in the loft above the sub shop, Theresa had wept while holding her daughter's picture until she fell asleep. Justin and Max had gone to school, and no one had opened the shop downstairs. Deep in sleep, the worried mother dreamed that her daughter was sailing far, far away. She stayed in slumber until she hard the sound of Max and Justin coming home. Harper Finkle, her daughter's best friend was with them.
"Hi, mom…" Justin walked by the sofa. "Dad still at Wiz-Tech?"
"Yeah…" Theresa stumbled through wake and asleep.
"Oh, Miss Russo…" Harper dropped her bag to comfort her. "Justin told me everything that happened. I can't believe Alex would leave and not tell me! I mean, we tell each other everything!" She sat down by her. "But I'm here. I'll take care of you…"
"Oh, Harper, you're just the daughter I always…"
"Mom!!!" Justin screamed. "It's saying things like that that made that guy take Alex away." He mugged a bit happily. "And I had the best day in years without Alex around!!!" He cheered and high-fived Max. "No one called me a geek even once!"
"I know!" Max was likewise excited. "I actually talked to Suzy Parker. She thinks I'm cute! I got a date!"
"Justin!" Theresa went into mother mode. "Can you stand there and claim your life is better without your sister?"
"Heck, yeah!" Justin and Max echoed together.
"You're unbelievable…"
"Hey, guys…" Harper had wandered over to the spiral staircase. "Is your dad back already? I thought I heard someone up in Alex's room."
Theresa and the boys looked at each other. In that moment of arrested silence, Alex's closet door opened and closed and someone was opening and closing drawers. Theresa felt a stirring of joy in her heart, and Max and Justin looked at each other with a mixture of fear and worry. They all then rushed for the spiral staircase; Theresa leading the way with Justin behind her and Harper following behind. Alex had the first room to the right with the stop sign on the door. Theresa pushed the door open first to the empty room, looked around once and found a lack of a person for the sounds they heard. Mother and son looked to each other and back to the room. Where there was once empty room was Alex standing at the closet, pulling out clothes and draping them over the chair.
"Alex, honey!!!" Theresa started grinning ear-to-ear and stepped forward to hug her. "Oh, baby, I thought I'd lost you!"
"Alex, where have you been?" Harper advanced closer. "You missed your history test!"
Justin and Max stood arms folded and disgusted.
"Look, lady, arms off, okay…" Alex pushed her mother away. "I just came back to get a few things I forgot to take." She reacted with Demetria's personality and memories. "There's a festival in Asgard, the Olympians were invited, and I don't have a thing to wear, but then I realized, hey, my previous life was the same size as myself. I'm here to check out the closet."
"Wait a second…" Theresa reacted a bit and looked again. The mannerisms, the personality, the character, it was completely different than her daughter. She looked to Harper and back to this person in her daughter's body. "You came here to steal my daughter's clothes when you could have just zapped up new clothes? I think you came back because a trace of my daughter is still in there somewhere. Why else would you risk getting caught here?"
"Because I came here to steal back my clothes…" Demetria did not get why no one understood this. "Your daughter might have been a piece of work, but… I like her taste." She held up one of Alex's sweaters. "Didn't she own a single dress?"
"Not especially…" Justin mumbled just wanting to see how this played out. Both he and Max reacted distracted and started heading out of the room.
"Hey, Justin…" Demetria looked to her former brother with a grin. "Daddy said I could bring a date. Would you like to come to Asgard with me? There will be Egyptian and Mesopotamian Gods there…"
"Really?"
"Justin!!!" Theresa reacted. She was not losing two of her children to another plane of existence. She whirled back round to the teenage goddess. "I want my daughter back!"
"Fine, fine…" Demetria rolled Alex's eyes and sighed. She walked up to Harper, tapped her to the head and turned back to collect the clothes stacked on the bed that she was taking. Harper reacted with the flick to her forehead, looked to Justin's mother and back to Alex. A flood of memories and thoughts came rushing into her.
"Why am I looking at myself taking my clothes?" Harper reacted. "What's going on here?" She waved her hands trying to do something. "Where are my immortal powers?"
"Alex?" Justin looked at her.
"Yeah????" Harper said it obviously as if she was someone else. She looked to him and his mother and wondered why they were looking so weird at her. She dashed over to the mirror on her bureau and checked on her reflection. What she saw took her aback. "Why am I in Harper's body?!!!!"
"You're welcome." Demetria reacted complacently. "Alex, these clothes aren't going to fit you anymore so can I have them? Thank you!!!"
"Mom!!!!" Harper was freaking looking at herself and Harper's reflection in the mirror. "What's going on here? Why am I in Harper's body? What's going on here??"
"Alex?" There was so much happening at once that Theresa could not keep her. Alex was back… in Harper's body? Where was Harper now? Justin dropped his jaw in shock.
"This is like so cool!!!" Max was reacting with surprise. He did not see that coming! "Man, we should have popcorn for this!!!" He watched as Harper pushed free of Theresa and rushed to Justin, grabbing his wand from his back pocket and aiming it at her former body.
"I want my body back!!!" Harper reacted as Alex. "Freezus décor, feet stick to the floor!!" She waved Justin's wand.
"Alex…" Demetria grinned with her body. "Do you think I'd bring you back with your powers? Not that you'd be able to hurt me, but still…."
"No!!" Alex started losing it. She had lost her body, her immortality, her identity and now her magic. She looked to her mother, Harper's eyes starting to fill with tears. She looked to her mother. "Mom????"
"Alex, honey…" Theresa awkwardly pulled Harper close to console her. Now, the girl really was her daughter. Justin looked toward them then back to Demetria lifting up the clothing taken from the closet and bureau. He knew he should do something, but what?
"Justin," Demetria eyed him mildly infatuated. "Are you coming?"
"No, wait!!!" Theresa called out before Justin could respond.
"You got your daughter back, what is it now?" Demetria looked at her. From within Harper's body, Alex was crying over her mother's shoulder.
"I want my daughter… in her body… right now!"
"It's my body, I had it first…" Demetria vanished with the clothing removed from the closet into a white hole of smoke and light.
