A large family was sitting making a chorus in the garden of a small country house. The mysterious atmosphere could have given the creeps to any human, but to them it seemed normal, as if they didn't belong to this world, as if their humanity hid a deep secret. The only source of light to light them were a few dancing candles and the rays of a silvery full moon. In the middle of the chorus, a man and a woman, both in their thirties, had a book and scissors going through the middle, the scissors rested on each other's fingers.
The woman, had dark brown eyes, long and penetrating, short, black hair that was spiked and wild, a skinny face with a large bony nose. She was very slim, but not too tall, and she was wearing very tight shorts and top. She looked around.
"You are ready to assist the revelation of you inner self, so all who think it is a joke are in time for leaving" she said in a creepy, low voice.
The man next to her, a rather muscular man, with dark blond, short hair, a round face and rather handsome features, coughed like trying to keep from laughing, which caused the woman to shoot him an evil glare. She resumed.
"So we will ask now, which of us in this circle, have magic powers!" her voice echoed again.
The oldest of the three children, a girl in her early 10, paid attention while she heard the youngest laugh. The girl was short for her age, and her long hair, which reached below her shoulders, was slightly curled and wild, her dark reddish colour was emphasized by the sparkling flame of the candles. Her eyes were of a deep dark blue, and her oval face was lit with the candle, making her look more mysterious than any of the people in the chorus. Her lips were fleshy and pink, and were shaped in a serious manner, hiding a set of pearly white teeth, the front ones which were slightly larger than usual. Her nose, slightly long, was beautifully shaped, and a few strands of hair fell over her dark eyebrows and gave her large, deep eyes, which resembled a universe, a mysterious look, like if an unknown, powerful source of magic was hidden in them, waiting to be released.
She turned her head to look at them, the boy, who was around 9 and the other girl, who was on her early 7, hid their faces laughing a bit. The boy's hair was curly and a dark blond colour, his eyes were lined and a bright green colour, like a shiny tree boa, his face was slightly round and with handsome features, his nose was normal and a bit piggy like, and his lips were fleshy and rosy, he was well built and liked to wear wide clothes. His gaze was that of an innocent child, but this could easily deceive since he was restless and a trouble maker, who managed to get the blame into the others.
The girl, who was the youngest of the three children, was small and looked like a doll, her eyes were dark brown, nearly black, and had that glow that showed she liked to have things made her way. Her hair was curly and a deeper red than the oldest of them, which seemed like a large torch under the continuous glitter of the flame. Her nose was small and speckled, and her lips were thick and wide.
The older girl sighed in annoyance and stared back at her aunt, who seemed to be working something with the book. The woman looked at the spectators and gave the children another evil glare before resuming her task.
"Is there a witch or wizard between us?" she said, everyone looked at the scissors.
The metallic object stood still for a few seconds, then without a warning, it moved and fell off the fingers of the couple. Now everyone was silent, staring.
"How many, 8?" the witch asked again, but the scissors didn't move, "7, 6,5,4..." she kept asking until the scissors moved again and fell, once she had pronounced number 4 with her sinister voice.
She looked around again, looking right into Alex's eyes.
"Is any of the children a witch or wizard?" the woman asked again, and the scissors moved again.
Right at that moment, a man stood up yelling "stop!", his short hair was dark black, he wore round glasses and had deep, dark blue eyes.
Alex looked at the man.
"Dad, what...?" she started asking before being hushed by her father.
The witch looked at him.
"What are you scared of? Admitting who you are?" the witch said with a normal, but at the same time annoyed voice.
"I don't know what you mean!" Alex's dad shuttered looking away and meeting her daughter's eyes with his.
The witch smiled at the concerned girl.
"You know very well Leo, or do you want me to question the scissors?" the witch said.
"Mary, don't you dare" Leo snapped.
The witch had placed the scissors back in place.
"Is Leonard Velsk a wizard?" the witch said in a thundering voice.
The scissors moved quickly and fell off, Alex looked at the book then at her father.
"Dad?" she said as if talking to a ghost, looking right at him, feeling slightly disappointed that she didn't know earlier.
Eleanor, Alex's mom stood up and walked towards her husband, she stared right into his deep blue eyes,
"It's...it's just a game, isn't it?" she asked, her voice shuttered with fright.
Leo looked into her brown eyes with a revealing gaze
"Eleanor, darling, its...its not...I'm...I'm a real wizard." Leo said nervously, thinking his wife would not accept his condition of being different.
He placed his hand in his pocket and took what seemed to be a large wooden stick
"It is a wand" he said softly, then pointed at the book, he waved his wand a bit and then hit the air strongly "Atractius, scissors" he commanded.
The book started flying and reached Leo's hand, he threw it back at Mary, who picked it up grinning. Leo placed his wand into his pocket and sat down again, Eleanor stared in awe, and went back to her place again. Leo walked towards his wife and placed a hand on her face. The woman closed her eyes and touched the man's hand, emitting a deep sight.
"Oh Leo…" she said in a low whisper.
Leo placed another hand under her chin and forced her to look at him,
"Eleanor, I...I know you will hate me for this, and you might not want to admit the condition that I'm...well, I'm this, but please darling, please, don't leave me!" he said with a saddened and desperate tone.
Eleanor looked at him and in her face appeared a smile, a small tear ran across his cheek, glittering with silvery sparks at the pure moonlight. These tears were not of sorrow or deception, but of happiness and love.
"I will never leave you, honey, you know, I love you, and I don't mind if you are a wizard or not, I like you the same!" she said, then she forced a severe look, "but, no more secrets!" she then said standing up and placing and fist on her hips.
Leo laughed a bit and nodded.
"No more secrets!" he said hen placed both hands in her waist, and moved closer to her.
Eleanor's arms surrounded the wizard's neck and both of them shared a gentle kiss, enjoying it like teenagers, letting the magic flow through them. Alex thought it was very sweet, and she paid no attention to the children's whistles and yells, and her grandparents screaming about how unhealthy it was and what a bad example they were. Alex was happy, her mom accepted the fact that two members of her family were magical, and her parents were in love like they were the first day they met.
The witch resumed her task again,
"From the children, is Alexandra Velsk the witch?" she asked in her cavernous voice.
Alex stared expectant, and suddenly the scissors moved and fell, Alex stared at them in awe, her heart shrank, and her stomach did flip-flops, she was excited but frightened at the same time. Alex stared at her hands.
"You...you have to be kidding, right?" Alex asked quizzical.
"No honey, I'm not kidding, you are a witch, here, try." Mary had said handing Alex her magic wand, "its made out of pine, and the core is built with a phoenix feather." she explained.
Alex held it with her left hand, staring at it confused. Mary stared at the girl and raised an eyebrow.
"There, try it, point it at something!" Mary said.
Alex then saw a flower pot, and pointed the wand at it. Like if some sort of strong wind had blown, the pot fell off the marble table and broke into several big pieces. Alex moved a step back and stared at the wand.
"Was that me?" she asked confused.
Mary nodded.
"Yes, my dear, but you need to find your twin wand, then you will be able to control magic, I will help you do such, unless someone has an objection!" Mary said shooting another angry glare at Leo.
Leo sat sulking, drawing on the sand with his wand, he looked at Mary for a brief moment.
"Do as you wish Mary, teach the girl to be a witch, teach her to be refused by society!" Leo snapped angrily at the senior witch.
Mary sighted and looked at Alex, who stood trembling all over.
"Calm down, young witch, you don't have to tell anyone if you don't want, it should be better if you don't. However, I will teach you how to find other witches or wizards!" Mary said changing her sinister voice into a motherly comprehensive one.
Alex nodded and handed Mary back her wand, as if afraid she might cause another disaster by just looking at it.
The two witches walked across a very busy street, blending in easily with the people that walked around them, not knowing if they had come across any other witch or wizard, which they probably had many times already. Although Alex knew these people didn't know about her peculiarity, she still felt different, as if hundreds of pairs of eyes were focused just on her. She felt uncomfortable and Mary seemed to notice.
"It's normal you feel this way at first, we all did, but you will get used, promise!" she explained in a motherly voice Alex had never heard.
Mary went inside a small, dark shop that said "The Old Antiques" on top of an old, cracked wooden door. Alex followed her aunt inside, the shop smelled strongly, like humid wood and oxide metal, and the tickling, unpleasant feeling of dust filled her lungs. There were lots of shelves full of every kind of strange object, most of them were broken, rotten or dirty. There were all kind of small statues, boxes, keys and even coins she had never seen.
Mary walked towards the shopkeeper and smiled.
"Hello Ollivander, how are you?" Mary asked smiling wickedly.
"I'm very good!" the shopkeeper answered.
He was a rather short man, around his late 50, his whole hair was pure white and his face wrinkled. He had two pale blue eyes hid under two fury eyebrows, his mouth was pale and small, and he was rather thin, with a thick, potato like nose.
Mary looked at Alex and motioned her forwards, she did as was told and stood looking at the man with a curious gaze. Mary smiled.
"I want a wand." Mary said with a large, enthusiastic smile.
The shopkeeper raised an eyebrow.
"Another wand, Mary? But you already have one!" said Ollivander.
Mary smiled staring and placed a hand over Alex's shoulder.
"I do but she doesn't" Mary said, her face lit enthusiastically.
Olivander looked at the girl with a bright smile, from ear to ear, causing his eyes to hide more in his face, and to look more wrinkled than he already was.
"Congratulations, young witch, I will bring some wands!" he said disappearing through another old wooden door.
He came back with a few boxes, he opened one and gave Alex a fine wooden wand, Alex held it.
"This one is pine, and its core is the hair of the mane from a female unicorn!" he said smiling mysteriously.
Alex frowned, "Unicorn? But unicorns don't exist!" Alex said looking at the man determined that she was right.
Ollivander emitted a chuckle.
"They don't exist, unless you know where to look!" he said approaching her, being more mysterious than ever.
Alex looked at the glittering want in her hand, like if by some automatic action, she shook it. Immediately, a few old, dusty books fell down a shelf. Ollivander looked at the books.
"Not that one" he said taking it and handing another, "Oak, dragon scale" Ollivander commented.
Alex gave him another curious look, making her eyebrows curl over her eyes.
"Dragons? Where could something as big as a dragon hide and remain unnoticed?" she said with a deep, confused voice.
The man emitted a chuckle.
"Dragons are powerfully magical creatures, they are experts in blending in with the environment!" the man explained.
Alex nodded, letting him know she had heard every word. She stared at the wand, a few red sparks fell down from it, glittering on their way to the floor, as soon as Alex shook the wooden wand more books fell off. The man took it from her hand.
"Hum, brave! But still not this one, strange." he said examining it and placing it back in one of the wooden cases.
Alex tried more and more wands, and it seemed like there were no more books to throw. Ollivander gave Alex another wand.
"This is a very rare one, its a white willow wand, and its core contains the fibres from a griffin's head's feathers, griffins are hard to find and catch!" Ollivander explained more mysteriously than ever.
Alex gulped and picked the wand. As soon as her bare skin touched the leather of the wand, a strange magic made her fingers tickle pleasantly, and feel a strange heat, as if the wand was on fire. It was a fire that didn't burn, but instead made her feel safe, secure, made her feel herself. She held it up and a shower of pure white, golden and red sparks fell from it, and they started spiralling around her. A small gust of cold air blew across her, and she closed her eyes and raised her head, feeling the purity of the magic surrounding her, and the coolness of the wind dancing with her hair. Ollivander smiled pleased.
"That's your wand, young witch, its curious, you are the first person who has the quality of ambition, kindness, intelligence in one, and the first person I have seen that is twin to a griffin's feather wand!" he explained in his old, cracked voice.
Alex nodded and smiled, for the first time since she had known about her powers, she felt fine, full of life, and confidence.
Alex was beaming at her new wand, she was exultant, full of euphoria, glancing at the precious object with sparkling, vibrant eyes. The wood was smooth, soft, rather flexible, and the core within was shaking with tiny, unperceivable explosions of magic. At one sing of her aunt, the girl placed the wand safely in her belt, situating the jumper right over the wooden surface and the crimson leather handle. Both females walked out of the shop calmly, their eyes sparkling, glancing at each other's with a silent comprehension, sharing a secret that was only theirs.
Mary stopped all of a sudden, her mouth wide open in a silent, joyful and emotive scream. Before the two had appeared a young woman, about Mary's age, with short, flaming hair that ignited like fire under a clear, autumn sun. The woman smiled exultant, full of euphoria when her scanning, brown eyes recognized the woman before her.
To Be Continued…
AN: OK, so I decided to continue this into one small novel, explain a lot of things, etc. Now we have introduced the Boy, and the Girl, so lets go for the story. The next chapter will focus completely on the plot. Please, read and review.