Thanks to my duo reviewers again!
SRAndrews – Alex is not a squib ;)
Leiselmae – Another great review! I hope this is speedy and enthralling enough for you, haha
When Tyler slid open the back door of the kitchen, he heard the same, unmistakable notes of the fight song he had heard in the backyard. He looked down at the envelope in his hand, somewhat dismayed that it was playing again because he wanted to surprise his mom; but the envelope in his hand was silent.
Confused, Tyler searched for the source of the noise. Maybe his parents got a letter too, informing them that he had been accepted? His elementary school always mailed letters to his parents, even though he had a copy to give them also. Tyler resented this, but put that thought in the back of his mind as he followed the song's joyous notes.
The song ended, and he still couldn't figure out where it was coming from. It seemed awfully loud, but after he searched the downstairs, he figured he'd go upstairs and check.
His brother's door was opened a crack, and Tyler peeked inside to find Alex sitting between his mother and father, holding the note.
"So THAT'S what Werdwall is!" Alex said triumphantly. "It's not a person, it's a place!"
"Just keep your voice down," Tyler's father murmured in a low voice.
"Honey," his mother whispered, "We're going to have to tell Tyler now, anyway."
"Wait!" Alex said angrily, "You're going to tell Tyler even though he's only nine?"
Tyler figured this was as good a time as any to present himself. Hiding the letter in his back pocket, he entered the room.
"What's going on?" Tyler said in what he hoped was a casual enough voice.
"I know what Werdwall is," Alex sneered, "And you don't!"
While Tyler was planning on keeping his acceptance letter a secret, he couldn't stand Alex flaunting like he was. Tyler reached behind him, and pulled out his letter.
"I know what Werdwall is, too. And I knew about ten minutes before you did."
"Wait a second," Alex growled turning to his parents, disappointment in his voice, "Am I being accepted late? Was I held back before I even got in? I'm not going if I have to take classes with little snots like Tyler!"
Tyler's parents were too distracted to reprimand Alex for calling his brother a name. They both reached out for Tyler's letter; he didn't want to give it up, as if afraid he wouldn't see it again if they took it, but he let it go. He surveyed his mother and father's faces while they glanced meaningfully at each other; he couldn't tell if they were excited or worried.
"Honey, where did you get this letter?" his mother asked him.
"Outside," he replied simply. Tyler was trying to avoid Alex's furious stares.
"How could this be?" his father said to himself.
"Why, what's wrong?" Tyler asked, his heart beating faster. His father clearly wasn't excited.
"You're too young," his mother whispered. Tyler tried not to let himself become automatically angry at the statement, but that would be like trying to keep a dog from chasing a cat.
"What do you mean I'm too young?"
His mother shook her head. "Only 11 year-olds get accepted to Werdwall. It's like that for all the magical schools."
"You mean there's more than one?" Alex asked suddenly, his mood lifting. "I'll go to Werdwall and Tyler can go to another one!"
"Alex, please," his father said, quieting him.
Tyler couldn't see what the big deal was. It was neat that he found out about the magical school, but whoever was in charge obviously just sent the letter to him too early. He'd just wait another two years and then go.
When he voiced this out loud, Tyler's mother shook her head.
"I don't know," she said. "Christopher?" She looked at her husband and nodded toward the door, silently asking him to step out of the room with her.
Tyler was left alone with Alex in Alex's room, feeling like an animal out of his territory.
But Alex wasn't concerned with tormenting Tyler at the moment. He was looking over his supplies list, eyes brightening as they surveyed each item.
"Magic wand," he breathed, "that sounds cool."
Tyler, devoid of his letter and supplies list, sat next to Alex and tried to read over his shoulder. Alex pulled the list away defiantly.
"I'll read them to you," he announced bossily. "Magic wand, basic chemistry set, dragon hide gloves—"
"Dragon hide?" Tyler asked. "Like, real dragons?"
"Of course, stupid," Alex replied, but Tyler could tell he was excited about the sudden realization that dragons might actually exist.
Alex continued to read the list: Ministry approved safety goggles, standard size 2 cauldron (pewter), and an assortment of other things, none of which seemed as exciting as dragon hide gloves.
"Mom and Dad must have gone to Werdwall when they were kids," Tyler said as Alex tucked his letter back into the envelope.
"We did," their mother said from the doorway. Both boys jumped, not realizing she had been standing there. She looked less bothered than she had when she left the room.
"Where's Dad going?" Tyler asked, hearing the garage door open and the car start.
"He's going to go talk to some of the people in charge at Werdwall and sort it all out," she smiled down at her boys. "We've been waiting for this day to come since... well, since you were born, Alex."
"You've known I was going to be able to do magic since I was born?" Alex gawked.
"There was a very good chance of it," she said, sitting down between her sons. "Your father is a wizard, and I'm a witch, making it very likely that you were magical, too."
"Did your parents keep magic a secret from you until you were eleven?" Alex asked.
Their mother grimaced and smiled at the same time, Tyler noticed, as if she knew what their reaction would be.
"No, they didn't."
"What?" Alex exclaimed at the same time Tyler asked, "Why were you hiding it from us?"
"It's a long story," she said quickly, silencing them. "It's not normal, exactly, for a magical family to keep magic a secret from their children. But you two are an exception because we had to live in a non-magical town because of your dad's job."
"What does Dad do?" Tyler asked.
"That's not important," his mother answered, evading Tyler's question, "what matters is that it's so hard for a magical family to live in the suburbs with non-magical neighbors. Look at Pamela Washington next door, she's had at least five memory charms because she so darned nosy!"
"What's a memory charm?" Alex asked, wide-eyed. "Did you erase her memory?"
"I certainly didn't," his mother answered. "But, yes, that's pretty much what happens. She saw the two of you when you found the Fizzing Wizzbee, and someone from the Ministry of Magic came the next day to fix her up."
"Have you ever erased my memory?" Tyler asked.
"Of course I haven't," she answered, idly ruffling his dark blonde hair.
"How did Werdwall know I was magical?" Alex questioned.
"Remember that fish tank you broke at school?"
"I didn't break it!" Alex fumed suddenly. "I didn't even touch it!"
"You didn't touch it, but you did break it with your magic."
Alex's mouth dropped. "So I've already done magic? Wow!"
"What about me?" Tyler asked quietly. He'd never broken anything or done anything magical before; at least, nothing he knew of.
"I don't know, sweetie," she said, not meeting his eye. "Sometimes it's not as obvious as a broken fish tank."
Alex asked his mother dozens of questions for the rest of the afternoon. Even while she bustled around making them lunch, he sat at the kitchen table, asking about dragons, monsters, and magic his mother had done before she went to school. Tyler, though, remained silent. Why had he been accepted when he'd done no measurable magic, and accepted early, for that matter? While Alex spent the afternoon asking questions, Tyler just waited for his father to get home and announce that the mistake had been ratified.
What if he had to go to school anyway, and they asked him what he had done that was magical, and he said nothing? Not only that, he'd be the youngest and shortest person in the entire school. Would anyone else be accepted early? Even if they were, he'd be a head shorter than any of them.
"Can't we have any more of that candy?" Tyler heard Alex ask.
"No," his mother answered promptly, serving them sandwiches and milk. "Just because you kids know about magic now doesn't mean it's a free-for-all in this house. I want you to keep this a secret just like you kept the plants outside a secret."
Tyler sighed, wishing he could share in Alex's excitement about Werdwall, but the looming threat of attending school too early dampened his enthusiasm. To keep Alex from pestering her all night, his mother finally disappeared upstairs and came back with a thin book titled: "Lucas and the Magic Cloud" which looked like a normal book, except that the smiling cartoon boy on the front was animatedly waving from atop his magic cloud.
"It was one of my favorites when I was younger," she told Alex, handing it to him.
Night crept up on the house at the end of the cul-de-sac, and Tyler's father still hadn't returned home. Alex was up in his room, reading about Lucas's adventures flying over Egypt, Australia, and England and Tyler was curled on the couch in front of the TV.
"Are there any magical channels?" Tyler asked when his mother entered the room. A soft smile came to her face and she fiddled with something in the back of television set. The newscaster, who had been droning about an oil crisis, was replaced by a colorful commercial for cereal.
There was a boy eating the cereal, and with every bite his skin turned a different color. It flashed to a table full of colorized children, all of them laughing at each other's colors.
"Rainbow Crisps!" the announcer exclaimed, "A rainbow in every box!" A message quickly scrawled across the bottom, which hurriedly explained to parents how to undo the charm if it didn't disappear after fifteen minutes. "If child is blue and not breathing, seek medical help."
Tyler normally would have smiled at the end of this message, but the fact that his father had been gone for hours wasn't making him feel better. His mom, who had been watching him closely for a reaction about the magical television channel, turned the volume down to a hum.
"It'll be okay, Ty," she said, approaching the couch. "Your father will sort out everything."
Tyler smiled a little bit, glad that she could at least tell what he was worried about. "I just wish," he said slowly, "I wish that I knew I could do magic." His mother sat down next to him. "At least that way I'd know if I did have to go, I wouldn't be just a mistake."
"They wouldn't even have your name if you weren't magical," she said softly. "Magical kids are the only ones who get those letters, and they have never made a mistake before."
"Then why did I get mine early if they never make a mistake?"
"I meant they didn't make a mistake about a kid being magical or not."
"If they could make a mistake about giving me a letter early, how come they can't make one about me being magical?"
Tyler's mother laughed a little and placed a hand on his head, combing his hair with her fingers.
"Ty, don't worry about it. You're too smart for your own good. No matter what happens your father and I will make sure everything is for the best."
Tyler nodded, and then faked a yawn. "I'm tired," he lied. "I'm going to go to bed."
"Okay, sweetie," she said, pulling her hand from atop his head. "We'll tell you in the morning what's going to happen, okay?"
"Okay."
"Night."
"G'night."
As Tyler lay in bed that night, straining his ears for the garage door, he tried to keep his mind from wandering to Werdwall. Every time his thoughts settled on it, he imagined a large wizard, who looked remarkably like Mr. Chas, asking Tyler how he was magical. He would say nothing and the room full of older kids laughed so loud it woke him from his half-sleep. The fourth time this happened, Tyler stopped trying to stay awake for his father, and turned to his side. He sleepily remembered that it was still his birthday, and he hadn't made a birthday wish yet.
I wish, he thought with all his might, I wish I don't have to go to Werdwall this year.