Prompt: The Magician's Nephew: "The box was Atlantean; it came from the lost island of Atlantis [...] the Atlantean box contatined something that had been brought from another world when our world was only just beginning [...] Only dust. Fine, dry dust. Nothing much to look at [...but] every grain had once been in another world - I don't mean another planet, you know; they're part of our world and you could get to them if you went far enough - but a really other world - another Nature - anothe universe - somewhere you would never reach even if you travelled through the space of this universe for ever and ever."
"Now we don't have time to unpack all of that," but we can take a stab. Choose some point of hte history - when Andrew's fairy-godmother (who was shut up in prison at the end of her life) had the dust, when it was in Atlantis, before it came to our world, what turned it to dust and what it was beforehand, while Uncle Andrew was studying it, when it was turned into rings - choose one point of the history and write a story about it or about the people who had it.
Agnes Lefay would never tell anyone where the box came from, nor what its contents were capable of. That was her secret. No one would ever know.
She knew what it could do – indeed, she knew it well – but she couldn't do anything with it.
Only on one occasion did she open the box and immediately, as she looked at the fine dust, her blood began tingling. She had fairy blood in her and the magic part of her recognized the dust and longed to make the dust into something magical and wonderful. The urge to use it and to finger it and to form it was incredibly strong. It felt as if the magic in her was taking over and it scared her. Never had she felt something so strong and wild in her before. It was all she could do to force down the magic in her and seal the box again.
For Agnes was also a sensible woman and she saw where this could go and how wrong it could get if she tampered with it. She could wreck the world by her own hand if she ever dared to use the dust. It needed to be removed from the face of the earth. But she could not bring herself to destroy it. No one could wreck a part of themselves that way, no matter how strong they were. So she hid it and made herself put it out of her mind so that she would not be tempted.
For years it remained untouched by her or anyone else. Agnes never even laid eyes on it. If she ever did, the fairy part of her would spring up and take over and she did not want that. Truth be told, she was frightened of it. Frightened of the power that lay with the dust and frightened that she knew how to manipulate it. She was scared of her own powers. Of herself.
Toward her latter years she became a godmother to a young man called Andrew. He was like her in many ways, stingy, extremely sensible, and with much potential to study magic. She saw the ability in him to become something great, but also something terrible.
She didn't want to tell him about the box. He too would be tempted and he would have far less self-control than she. But there was no one else she could tell and if she left it in its hiding place when she died, someone sometime would surely find it. It was best to secure its future. So she determined to tell him about the box on her deathbed. She prayed he would listen to her warnings.
When at last that day came she called him to her and reluctantly told him her life-long secret. She bade him get the box and bring it to her. She would allow herself to see it once more before she died.
He brought the box and Agnes gave him careful instructions to burn it. To burn it well and to never open it. Then, with one trembling hand she reached out and brushed the box with her wrinkled fingers. Her mind felt alive again and the magic flowed strongly through her once more before she died.
Her last sight was that of the box, the box that held magic, her family, her heritage, and a part of herself in it. Her life's magic secret.
A/N: This was definitely one of my favorite stories to write. Even though the prompt was hard, I really enjoyed unpacking it and then being able to flesh out Mrs. Lefay's character and her history with the box. I really liked this prompt.
Thanks to all readers and reviewers!