Problems of Permanence
I was lucky to escape earlier when that nosy shadow peeked into my private business. All I wrote in there was something about Doctor Facilier not being the stranger he once was and that I was really starting to warm up to him and I even drew his hat above his name. But I could tell that his shadow had taken it the wrong way and thought that I was implying something of a far more intimate nature.
Oh goodness, no. Of course not. He just intrigued me, that's all. I'd never met anyone so interesting before. Everyone my mother tried to set me up with were tasteless bores with no personality. Come to think of it, if my mother ever found out about my new friend she would almost certainly stop me from seeing him. If they're not rich or they don't have a title then they're not fit to accompany me in her eyes.
I often write down my thoughts in the back of my spellbook. The pages are made of dragon skin and a mystic book requires a mystic tool in order for the inscriptions to remain permanent. The pencil I had used simply wouldn't suffice, it would disappear on its own after a day or so. Lucky for me because Doctor Facilier seemed rather eager to learn of what I was hiding in there, but after that day was over my written thoughts would be gone and he would never know.
It's not like I could tell anyone how I felt anyway. Either no-one would understand and take it the wrong way, or no-one would listen. I couldn't even trust my sister with some of my thoughts, she'd get the wrong idea. And she'd already developed a bad opinion of Doctor Facilier. Judging him before she knew him, just as she always does with all the friends I make. I suppose she was only trying to protect me, even when she went so far as to ask me question after question about my new friend. She may be persistent but at least she's not as bad as the doctor's shadow is for poking their nose where it doesn't belong. Jenny only becomes nosey when she thinks I'm doing something stupid.
"Charlie, you're doing something very stupid." You see what I mean? I knew she was going to say that. "You've only known this bloke for a week. You can't possibly know what kind of person he really is."
"I could say the same thing about you, by all accounts." I made a note of her hypocritical statements. "You're the one who's making assumptions about him even though you've only known him as long as I have. You're always insulting him despite him having done you no wrong."
"I don't trust him, alright?" Jenny carried on regardless. "I don't know what it is, I can't put my finger on it. But if I did I'd have to wash my blinkin' hands!"
"Jenny, don't be so rude." At this point I felt like she was hurting me by having a go at him. I had to defend my friend. "You couldn't be more wrong about him. Even I was unsure about him when I first met him, but he's really a kind gentleman."
"Charlie, you're unsure about everyone when you first meet them." She was right about that. "He's nothing special." But she certainly wasn't right about that.
"Maybe he is." I looked down at my hands, remembering the mysterious blue that ignited from within them only days ago.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jenny folded her arms and slouched in her wheelchair, expecting me to explain my remark.
I glanced around the room, searching for an appropriate specimen to experiment on. I laid eyes upon Jenny's cup of coffee.
"What do you think you're looking at?" Jenny looked to her left and saw what had caught my attention. "You don't like coffee. You don't even like food."
I ignored her as she would soon realise my intentions. I stretched out my hand slightly towards the cup, keeping my elbow bent.
"O-kay…" Jenny was very confused by what I was doing. "Now you're creeping me out."
If I concentrated too hard on the fear of disappointing my sister I'd fail. I had to keep calm. Trust my instincts just like before and let my feelings tell my magic what I want it to do. Keep calm and be a witch.
The same neon light searched out from my fingertip and found its way to the required object, levitating Jenny's beverage up off the sideboard and into the air.
You should have seen the look on my sister's face.
"Cos-mic…" Jenny exclaimed in her moment of shock and fascination. "Cos-bloody-mic!... You've cracked it! After all this time, you've bloody cracked it!"
"Isn't it amazing?" I smiled admirably as I lowered the container. I decided to turn my magic off for now. I wouldn't want another accident like I had with the doctor's shadow. Although I still didn't feel sorry for bumping him on the head, it served him right for being so nosey.
"No kidding!" It's not often my sister stares in awe at one of my accomplishments. "Turn it into booze!"
What an absurd request for a young teenager. "No, Jenny. I am not about to turn your cup of coffee into booze. You're only fourteen."
"But you let me sip your Sherry sometimes!"
"That's only a sip, and don't you dare tell mum about that."
"Don't worry, I won't." Jenny swaggered in her wheelchair. "Your secret's safe with me. Along with your secret about the mystery man."
"Thank you, Jenny." I had to show her that I was grateful. She may have been pesky and persistent when it came to getting information out of me, but she always kept those things secret and she always kept her promises. "You have no idea how much I appreciate that."
"You're welcome." She began to change her tone and instead she now sounded rather cunning. "But if I don't get a taste of something bitterly sweet then I might accidentally let something slip next time mum's around." The little blackmailer!
"Jenny please! You mustn't! She'll go stir crazy if she finds out!"
"Turn it into Sherry or I'll tell mum about your new friend Doctor Freakazoid!"
"Alright!" I succumbed to her demands. "Just hold on. I've never tried this before. I haven't got round to learning how to transform an object into something else."
I opened my book and took out all my translated notes. I didn't quite believe her when she said that she'd tell on me, she was far more honourable and understanding than that. But I wasn't about to risk my friendship even if keeping it meant giving my little sister a sip of alcohol.
I'd been looking at transformation spells as the next step up from simply moving things around. I also needed to find the age reversing spell for Doctor Facilier so I could restore his Emporium. That kind of spell would fall under the same category. But believe me, the biggest section in this entire book is the section on transformation spells. There's so many different variations and different kinds of spells that turn one thing into another, based on what it's made of, how old it is, what you're trying to turn it into. And of course if it's a living creature then that's an entirely different thing. That's even harder, to successfully transform something while it's still alive! If you get the spell wrong you could end up killing them! Good thing for me that the coffee wasn't alive.
"By the way, did you find any spells in there to save yourself yet?" Jenny asked me while I was looking through my notes.
"No, not since I found the ghost gate spell." I regretted to inform her. "Magic alone can't create one. You need a certain set of events in order to make it happen."
"What events?"
"That's what I don't know. The information in this book is vast and very complicated. It's going to take some time for me to find the right section and translate it. I don't even know where I should be looking yet."
Translating dead tongues to modern day English isn't like translating English to French. It's far more complicated, the book is also written in more than one language and the ancient symbols make the code even harder to break. When I was given my gift by The Keeper I think I was also given an instinct of how to translate these old languages, otherwise I wouldn't have a clue!
"I think I've found it." I looked at the paper that gave a brief description on changing fluid based elements. Even though the drink wasn't made up of one element like mercury or nitrogen. It was of course made up of many different kinds of elements blended together and some dead organic matter in there too from the coffee beans. Like I said, magic is a delicate balance of science and sorcery. "Don't expect me to get this right." I warned my little sister.
"You'd better. Or else I'm blowing the whistle on you." She was only making me more nervous. The fact that I had to do this or else I might lose my friendship with Doctor Facilier already had me worried without fretting that I might get the spell wrong and my sister might end up drinking something that wasn't sherry.
I pointed my finger at the coffee cup. I didn't even want to look as I turned my head away when I unleashed my magic.
Jenny eagerly picked up the cup, desperate to see what was now inside. "It's a lot heavier than it was. Is sherry supposed to be this heavy?"
"Maybe in a bottle." I thought out aloud. "But not in a little cup."
Jenny removed the lid from the top and took a look inside. "It's sand!"
Oh no… I got it wrong...
"It's bloody sand! What have you done to my coffee!?"
"I'm sorry!" I pleaded. "I tried my best! I'm not that good yet. I'm still practicing."
"It's a good job I didn't try to drink this stuff!" Jenny dropped the heavy contained down on the sideboard in utter annoyance, splitting the side of the plastic and spilling the sand onto the counter. "How did you get from sherry to sand? Explain that to me!? They're nothing like one another!"
"Well, sand is a crushed mixture of all different kinds of things. Maybe my magic couldn't turn the coffee into any specific so it turned it into little bits of all sorts."
"Well that's brilliant, isn't it?" She said sarcastically as she slumped down in her chair and folded her arms. "No sherry."
I sympathised with my little sister, even though I shouldn't be giving her such a toxic treat. "Hold on a moment." I left her in her room just for a moment while I went into my own. I kept a bottle or two in the mini fridge in my bedroom. It's all I would ever keep in a fridge anyway. God knows I strongly dislike food and I certainly wouldn't want to keep any of it in my room.
"Here." I returned with a cocktail glass and a fresh bottle. I poured a shot's worth into the glass and handed it to her. "But please, don't tell mum."
"You know I don't tell tales, sis." She held up the glass of sherry. "Not if you won't." After taking her first sip she sighed and relaxed her body. "You know I was only joking about the whole 'telling mum' thing." Jenny admitted to my great relief. "I know how you need control over your own life, even if you do make stupid choices."
"You mean my choice of friends?" I took a seat next to her as I felt like this was a chance to have a rare heart to heart with my only sibling.
"Well, the dead people are okay." She shrugged as she put her glass down on her chair arm. "They're not a threat to you even if they wanted to be. But that weirdo from the olden days can't be trusted. Not yet anyway."
I had to disagree. "Well, would it surprise you to learn that he was the one who taught me how to use my magic?"
"You're joking." Something else besides my magic that my sister almost couldn't believe. "You're bloomin' joking!"
"I most certainly am not."
"Good god." She stared out blankly before raising an eyebrow in a confused manner. "Maybe he does have a nice side to him."
"You see?" Finally it seemed like she was starting to understand.
"Look, I just don't want you getting into trouble, alright? We all know how easily led you are. Remember what happened to you...before?"
My sister may have only been ten at the time, but she remembered a moment in our family's life when my world was turned upside down. Now she was fourteen not only did she remember what happened to me but she was also capable of understanding such a serious matter.
"Remember... him?" She needn't have reminded me.
I simply nodded my head. I had been emotionally and psychologically scarred from that particular experience.
"I know that was someone who mum set you up with, and this one is someone you've chosen yourself. But please, Charlie, be careful. You know what some people will do to you just to get your money… and your body-"
"-Stop!" I interrupted her. She was bringing back terrifying memories I'd tried so hard to bury. "I'm not about to start a romantic relationship with this one." I was adamant. "I wasn't even that man's friend, never mind his…" I was struggling to talk about it.
"It's okay, Charlie. You don't have to say anything about it." Jenny sympathised with me. "Mum made a stupid decision and you paid for it. It messed you up pretty bad and it's going to take you some time to recover before you're ready to find someone again." She then managed to change the topic to something slightly happier. "Look at the bright side. At least you don't have to worry about mum trying to marry you off any more."
I nodded before saying one last concluding message. "Doctor Facilier is my friend. That's all."
"Good. Let's make sure it stays that way. If he tries anything at all you come straight back to me and I'll give him a piece of my mind."
I was lucky to have a sister as protective as Jenny, even if she was a little too protective sometimes.
"Hey look!" Jenny pointed over to where the sand in a cup once stood. "The sand is gone!"
I looked over to the counter and saw the sand was absent from where it once spilled out of the crack in the plastic. But in its place coffee had gotten everywhere! All down the sideboard and onto the carpet!
"It's turned back into coffee!" Jenny threw her hands up before folding them and scowling at me. "And now I can't drink it! Can't you get anything right anymore?"
"I'm sorry. I don't know why that happened. Maybe my magic isn't permanent."
"Not permanent?" Now Jenny sounded more concerned rather than annoyed. "Then how are you going to save your soul from the voodoo doodoo brains? How are you going to open the gate thing long enough to go in there and come back out again?"
"I don't know. Magic is still very confusing. Even for me."
"How can magic be confusing for you? You're supposed to be a bloody witch!"
"I'll ask Doctor Facilier about it. Maybe he can point me in the right direction."
"Yeah, good luck with that." She wriggled the joystick on her chair arm, moving her wheelchair and turning her back on me.
"Jenny, he did help me find my magic in the first place." I reminded her.
"Urgh, I know! I know!" She rolled her eyes and dropped her arms hard onto her lap. "I just don't trust him yet. I don't know why, I just don't."
Just as Jenny's tiny teen tantrum was over I suddenly heard a musical noise coming from somewhere in her wheelchair. The jingle was accompanied by a familiar buzzing sound and I instantly knew that it was her phone.
"That had better not be mum!" She sulked as she took her phone out from the compartment under her chair arm. "I'm too ticked off to hear about what a 'wonderful' mother she is." She said with a hint of sarcasm to the word 'wonderful'.
Jenny looked at her phone's screen and didn't see her mum's name there, instead she saw the title 'Princess Cameron'.
"Well, there's a nice surprise." I gave her some reassurance. No-one wants to see Jenny angry, trust me.
She slid the icon showing the green phone and answered the call. "Hi, Cameron! You're just the person to lighten up my day." Jenny smiled with anticipation. "Tell me something good."
But that smile of her's soon started to disappear. "Cameron, are you okay?"
"What's wrong?" I mouthed without wanting to risk disrupting her conversation.
"...Hang on. I'll be right there." Jenny quickly hung up and started getting her wheelchair into gear.
"Where are you going?" I asked desperately. "What's happened?"
"Cameron's upset. Something about her grandma Tiana. I'm going over there to keep her company."
I started to feel worried. I knew that Queen Tiana was gravely ill. "Is she alright? She's not taken a turn for the worst has she?"
"That's what I'm about to find out. Are you coming?" My sister offered me to join her. But I felt unwilling to accept.
"Um, no. I feel like this is private, family only. With you being an exception of course. Princess Cameron clearly sees you as a trustworthy friend."
"Just like you and the shadowman, right?" She sighed out in annoyance.
"Yes, just like me and Doctor Facilier."
"Alright, but I'll keep you informed." Jenny wheeled herself out of the door and started heading down the hall for the lift. "And keep practicing! I don't want to lose my sister to some voodoo morons!"
Well, at least she was starting to come round. It's not often that my sister approves of my friends. Even rarer that my mother does too, especially after… what happened when I was eightteen. Let's just say that she set me up with someone, hoping I would settle down and marry. And everything went horribly wrong.
I had sworn to myself that I would never become romantically involved with a man again, for fear of what might happen to me. I didn't want to be hurt like that again…
At least I didn't have to worry about Doctor Facilier becoming a romantic interest. He was my friend and I couldn't ask for any more than that.