Chapter 13: A dream is born.
Okay, so I'm not exactly sure how I convinced, not only my teammates, but also Croix herself to join me and the mischievous twins in my celebration for winning the race. It involved lots and lots of begging, a bribe and a whole tone of my cutest puppy dog eyes, but here we are, the six of us hanging out at Blytonbury.
I haven't been here more than a couple of times, honestly. Why hang out in some random provincial English town when you can be at a magic school instead? But I've heard a lot of my classmates do visit the place quite often, and Croix actually comes here every once in a while to get her technological supplies, so I figured I should give it a try. And this being the first weekend after the broom race, which means we have a whole day to explore, seems like the perfect opportunity.
The idea is just go to town, let myself be dragged around by my friends as they show me the place, hopefully get an ice-cream or something, and then return to Luna Nova. Simple, right? I bet nothing can go wrong… except my teammates seem to hate my friends more than they hate me. And my friends also appear to hate my teammates. And Croix looks like she wants to get out of this as soon as possible. Great.
So, first mission, try and get everyone to get along!
"I'm so glad y'all agreed to come!" I say, to no one in particular. "You have no idea how much it means to me that we can be here, together, like normal friends hanging out in town."
"I'm just here because you two made me." Karen sighs. "I was hoping to study all day."
"Karen!" Amelia chastises her.
"What? I do take my responsibilities seriously, unlike a certain redhead that became overconfident just because she knows how to fly."
"Who knows how to fly spectacularly well." I correct, smiling proudly. "Headmistress' words."
"Yeah, right. You only won because you cheated." Enid says, pouting, no doubt still sore for her loss at the race. Even if she did finish third.
"I didn't cheat! Read the rules!" I immediately protest.
"Well, what you did certainly should be considered cheating." Anaid unsurprisingly agrees with her sister. "Like, come on, landing on another witch's broom, even for a second? It's clearly not fair."
"Yeah, yeah, complain all you want. No one flies better than the great Chariot du Nord!" I answer, not at all apologetic for rubbing my victory on their faces. After all, I earned it with sweat and tears. Literally!
"You didn't do it alone, remember? We're a team." Karen protests, irritated, and I have the decency of giving her a sheepish look. I mean, of course I know they did their part! But honestly, sometimes it feels like I did all the work, considering how slow those two were.
"Right, right." I answer, trying to placate the fury burning in my teammate's eyes.
"Excuse me?" Croix raises an eyebrow, speaking up for the first time since we arrived to the town, which surprises us all. "I saw the whole race. You would have come last if it wasn't for Chariot." Of course she's right, but I can't agree with her without looking like an ass. Plus, I'm sure Amelia and Karen did their best! It's not their fault they aren't as fast as me.
"It was Amelia's fault." Karen unsurprisingly says.
"Hey! I got a bad start, thanks to certain teams conspiring against me." She shoots an angry look to the twins, who immediately take on offended expressions.
"Are you insinuating something, Amelia?" Enid challenges.
"I am."
And so, the fighting begins. Again. Honestly, it's been like this since we left the school. Ugh! If only they could get along for just a few hours! They're all so funny, and amazing and… okay, maybe not Karen, but the rest should be able to get along, right? Why can't they just make peace? And why do I only make things worse?
"Seriously, Chariot. Why did you think this was a good idea?" Croix complains, slowing down her pace to walk slightly behind the others, and I do the same, wanting to be with Croix and Croix alone. At least for a while.
"I don't know!" I whine. "I just wanted to celebrate, have a good time."
"My idea of a good time is a cup of instant ramen and a TV."
"Maybe we should do that next time." I sigh.
"Hey, wanna see something cool?" She asks after a while, giving me a look that definitely tells me she want to get away from the other four. Well, not happening! Part of the reason I invited Croix is because I think she needs to socialize, and she's gonna do it weather she likes it or not!
"Sure! You think the others will like it?" I feign obliviousness.
"I was kinda hoping it'd be just us…" She frowns, trailing off and looking awkwardly to the side.
"Why? If it's as cool as you say we should all see it!" I then turn to look at the other girls, who are still bantering about, and quickly interrupt them. "Hey! Croix says she wants to show us something cool."
They all stop talking and turn to look at us, giving Croix an unbelieving stare that makes her shrink and look almost sheepish for a moment.
"You do?" Enid asks, clearly not buying it.
"Uhm… yeah." Croix sighs, resigned to her fate. "Follow me." Then she goes to position herself at the front of our little group, but as she passes me, she whispers one single threat. "I'm going to kill you."
But she doesn't scare me anymore; she's too much of a softy.
A few minutes later we arrive to the place in question, and honestly? I would've passed without noticing it if not for Croix stopping at the door. It's a small dark place with a sign that simply reads "Last Wednesday Society". It's a café of sorts, I guess, and it looks nothing special, but surely Croix brought us here for a reason, right? Unless she wants revenge and actually just took us to a random café to spite me and keep me wondering what she had originally in mind. But no. Croix wouldn't do that, would she?
"Seriously?" Karen is the first one to complain… just not for the reasons I expected. "I've already been here at least a dozen times!"
"Yeah. This place is boring! Let's go somewhere else." Enid surprisingly agrees with Karen, and the other two girls soon follow.
"Why? What's this place?" I ask, confused.
"A magic shop." Croix simply answers, smiling at me and ignoring our companions. "Quite possibly the last one of its kind, at least in England."
"Wait… what?! A magic shop?!" I exclaim excitedly as I all but run inside, my eyes shining brightly when I place them on the many objects there are on shelves, which I have no idea what they are, but they must be awesome! Like that wand, or that wooden staff, or that crystal ball! They all look very old, and mysterious! Oh, what I'd give to try them all out!
"Careful, this one is very fragile." The shopkeeper, a man in his forties, tall, overweight and with a bear, says when I try to touch what seems to be a wand made of glass. "Rumors say it belonged to the last fairy godmother, who lived ten centuries ago."
"Cool." I muse, practically itching to touch it… even if I know I'd most likely break it with how clumsy I am.
"I'll keep an eye on Chariot, don't worry." Croix tells the shopkeeper as she enters, followed by my reluctant teammates and friends. "She won't break anything or start a fire somehow."
"Hey! You make me sound like a hazard!" I pout.
"Yes." She answers naturally.
"What do you mean 'yes'?" I complain once more, but she just laughs.
"Relax, Chariot. I'm just teasing. Now, let's go look around, but don't touch anything, alright?"
"Sure! Hey, what's that?!" I immediately run off toward something that caught my attention; it's a sand clock of sorts, but its crystal is opaque, black even, and inside it there's a green dust going upwards. It looks so cool! I want it.
"That, Chariot, is a Timeless Tool." Karen is the one who responds, surprisingly enough, but of course she does so with a condescending tone. "It can revert any object to its original state, no matter how deteriorated it is or how many years have passed since it last saw its prime days."
"Sounds useful." I smile, trying not to get too irritated by her attitude.
"It's also incredibly difficult to make, and can only be used once." Amelia cuts in, smiling proudly when she sees Karen watching her in surprise, obviously not having expected her to know that information.
"That's boring!" Anaid interrupts our little conversation. "Come take a look at this instead."
We all turn to see what the twins are up to, and I realize they're next to a vitrine with some sort of broom inside, except it's red, it appears to be made of metal, and it's chained for some reason. Regardless, it looks really cool as well.
"Whoa! What is that?" I ask, approaching.
"It's just an old broom." Croix shrugs, obviously not caring at all for such a thing.
"That, Chariot, is the fastest broom to ever be invented." Enid says, her eyes fixed on said object, shining wit barely dissimulated want. "Honestly, if I had had it during the broom race we would have won."
"Yeah, right. Like you could ever ride the legendary broom. Even Chariot would have a greater chance." Karen retorts.
"Oh, so you think you could do better?" Anaid says, clearly searching to start a fight.
"Naturally."
"G-girls, let's not fight over it." Amelia intervenes, probably being as tired of their shenanigans as I am, but of course they ignore her and start fighting again.
I then decide to just tune them out, knowing there's nothing I can do to stop their little debacle. Maybe I should go talk to Croix instead, see if she can explain to me what's that golden ball over there… except Croix is now talking to the shopkeeper near the entrance, and is holding something in her hands. Curious, I decide to go to her.
"Is that really as cheap as you can give it to me? I mean, it's just a photocopy." I overheard her asking. That's when I see that what she's holding is a bunch of papers.
"I'm afraid I can't lower the price any more." He responds. "You see, the original book is rumored to have been burned during the era of the witches' hunts, and the only copy is in possession of a very reserved individual. I don't even know how my associate was able to get his hands on this!"
"Ugh. Fine." Croix sighs, getting her hand inside her pocket and retrieving a credit card. "Here, take all my money."
"What's that, Croix?" I ask her while the shopkeeper inserts the card on the terminal.
"Oh, it's just a book that will hopefully have the answers I need." She says nonchalantly.
"About your arm?" I inquire further.
"No, that problem is mostly in the past now." She answers, looking down at her hand for a moment, though there doesn't seem to be anything different, as her gauntlet is cloaked with an invisibility potion. "This is about something else."
"Which is?" I prompt. Ugh, I hate when she gets all mysterious.
"Way too complicated for you." She answers with an odious smirk.
"Hey!"
Before I can protest any further, however, the shopkeeper calls Croix to give her her card, as well as a bag to put in the book she just bought. I, of course immediately get distracted with something else in the store, but with my other friends still fighting over there and no one there to explain me what everything is, it gets kinda frustrating. Also, why is Croix still talking with the shopkeeper? Come on, hurry up! I want to know what this little ring-thingy does!
Just then, a voice coming from outside the store catches my attention. It's high pitched, like it's coming from a little boy, but the words are what actually make me want to listen more closely.
"Come on, witches aren't real!" I peer though the doorframe to try and see who's talking, and discover it's a group of two boys and one girl, all probably around six or seven years old, and they seem to be in the middle of a heated discussion, which is why they haven't seen me.
"But my grandpa told me they are!" Another boy protests, puffing his cheeks.
"He just wanted to scare you." The girl argues.
"He said this is a magic store, and that if you go inside the witches will curse you!"
"No, they won't." The boy that had originally been speaking intervened once more. "Because they don't exist."
Okay, maybe I should end their little debate. It's not like I've got anything better to do anyways (honestly, three random kids listening to me has a greater chance of happening that my friends doing it), and I can't just let people keep thinking that we are just some fairy tale, right? Or that we're evil, for that matter! It's my witching duty to correct them.
"Actually…" I say, stepping out of the shop and addressing the children, who all jump a bit, startled. "Witches do indeed exist, but we're not evil, and we won't curse you." They all look at me with distrustful eyes for a moment, but then the girl is the first one to speak.
"And how do you know?" She frowns. "Are you a witch?"
"No, of course not." One of the boys (the one who was talking about his grandfather) responds before I can say anything. "She's too young, and she doesn't have green skin."
"But I am a witch! We don't have to look like those silly cartoons on the TV in order to do magic, you know?"
"Then prove it!" The other boy challenges. "If you really are a witch, then do some magic." His two friends immediately agree with him, and soon the three kids are asking me to do magic.
And… yeah, I know I shouldn't. It's not only prohibited, but the last two times I used magic outside school ended with a traffic jam and a dog with five-meters-long legs. But, I mean… what's the harm? Just one spell. An illusion spell. What could possibly go wrong?
"Alright, alright. I'll do magic." I smile as I get out my wand and ready the spell. "Okay, so… do you like dogs? Or birds? What would you prefer?"
"Are you going to turn us into animals?" The boy who's afraid of witches asks fearfully.
"No." I chuckle. "I'll make them appear."
"A dog sounds nice." The other boy says.
"I prefer cats." The girl says. I then turn to look to the boy who's yet to give me an answer.
"Uh… horses. I like horses." He answers hesitantly.
"Alright then! Prepare yourselves to enter a world of magic!" I exclaim as enthusiastically as I can, hoping to convey my love for magic, so that they'll love it too.
Just then, I release the first spell, which is a dog, roughly the size of a small puppy, which comes out of the tip of my wand and starts running circles around the kids, while floating in the air. The color is yellow, and it looks like it's made of light, like any illusion spell, but it seems to do the trick, as the three kids gasp in awe, and their eyes open wide, following my creation's every movement with their eyes. Then, I move my wand once more and the dog turns into a blue cat, which climbs onto the girl's shoulders before jumping towards the other kids. They seem to startle at first, but soon enough they relax and start laughing, full of joy.
Finally, to finish my little spectacle, I conjure up a life-sized red horse, making him run through the street, startling quite a few people (ups!), before making it run back towards us, dissolving into an explosion of colorful fireworks just before coming into contact with the kids. And with that I pause, waiting for their reactions. As expected, they remain stunned for a moment, likely too enthralled to properly respond, but once the moment of surprise has happened, the three kids start clapping and laughing, and asking me to do one more trick… and not only them. Soon enough I realize a lot of the people who were walking down the street had also stopped to stare at my little improvised spectacle. When I hear someone clapping at my back, I see my friends had also come outside to watch, and they all seem impressed, especially Croix, who was the one who clapped, and is looking at me with something like pride. Karen is the only one who's looking at everything but me, and has her arms crossed over her chest, probably not wanting to admit she enjoyed my little performance.
I feel a little sheepish with so many eyes pointed in my direction, and my cheeks are all but burning at this point. But at least my friends' smiles manage to calm me down enough to address my little crowd once more.
"So… you want to see another spell?" I ask, smiling through my nervousness and focusing just on the three kids in front of me, in order to calm down a bit.
"Yes, yes!" One of the boys says, smiling so widely I think his cheeks will surely hurt later. "Now make something cool appear, like a dragon!"
"Or a unicorn." The girl adds.
"Or a lion!" The other boy requests.
Honestly, they sound so enthusiastic about magic now, even considering they believed it didn't exist just minutes ago. More so, they all look so happy and mesmerized… they remind me of myself when I was their age, discovering magic for the first time. Gosh, I want to live up to their expectations so badly! Thankfully I've been practicing illusion magic a lot.
I then ready my wand, imagine the dragon inside my head, and…
Nothing. No magic.
Confused, I look at my wand and shake it a few times, but even the tip has dimmed. Weird. Maybe it's the battery?
Surely enough, as soon as I open the battery compartment I find only darkness instead of the green glow of magic, meaning…
"Ugh… I'm sorry kids, looks like I'm out of magic." I smile apologetically at them, but their smiles still turn into frowns and pouts almost instantly.
"Seriously? But you only used four spells!" The girl protests, understandably upset.
"I know, but… that's how magic works, I'm sorry." I apologize, hoping they will remember the spectacle I gave them rather than the disappointment they experienced afterwards. But they are already walking away… as well as the rest of my public.
"What's magic worth if you can't use it for more than a minute anyways?" I hear one of the boys saying as they pass. Which saddens me, more so because I agree wholeheartedly with him. I wish I could use all the magic I want! That way, I could bring happiness to so many people! And make them love magic as much as I do. That would be absolutely amazing.
"Hey, thanks for showing us magic." One of the kids actually stops on his way in order to talk to me. "It was really fun." And then, he's gone. But at least he left a smile on my face. Maybe it wasn't in vain after all.
"So… are you a street performer now?" Croix teases, coming to stand by my side.
"I wish! This stupid wand can't cast more than four spells when there's no Sorcerer's stone nearby." I answer, glaring down at my wand. The responsible for cutting my fun short.
"Well, what were you expecting? We're not even supposed to be doing magic outside school." Karen is the one who answers, giving me a disapproving look.
"But it was amazing!" Enid says, smiling widely. "I'd never even seen that spell. I bet it would be great for pulling some pranks!"
"And the fireworks at the end were a nice touch." Her sister adds, also smiling.
"I thought the cat was pretty cute." Amelia seems to agree with the twins for once.
"Yes, I must admit that it was a flawless execution of an illusion spell." Even Karen compliments me, which is just the weirdest thing. "Now I see what you spend all your free time with."
"You've indeed improved a lot." Croix says placing a hand on my shoulder. "I'm proud of you."
"Thanks." I blush, being under such high praise, looking first at Croix and then the rest of my friends. "Thank you all, really, this means a lot to me."
Well, by their happy faces it looks like my little spectacle served to calm them down a bit. Hopefully they'll get along better now and we can go get an ice cream or something without them fighting for every little thing. But… I didn't get to see everything in the magic store!
Wait… the magic store probably sells wands, right? I wonder if it has one with a bigger battery than mine.
"Wait! I need to see something!" I say as I pretty much push past them to get into the store and towards the counter, where the shopkeeper is.
"Hey girl, I saw your little spectacle. Pretty impressive. Believe it or not, I'd never seen magic before." He says, smiling.
"Thanks." I simply say, eager to ask my question. "Hey, do you have wands with better batteries? Maybe one that could last like an hour or so casting spells?"
"An hour?" He exclaims in disbelief, laughing. "No, from what I know your wands are some of the best they are." He explains. "There was an abundance of magic in the past, after all, so most of these relics don't even have batteries." He then points to the many wands he has in his store, most of which are made entirely of wood and sure enough don't seem to have any room for magic storage.
"Oh." I sigh, disappointed. "And isn't there something else? Like a scepter or something?"
"Well, I could get you a modern scepter, but even then the battery can only store enough magic for two dozens of small spells." He says apologetically. "And honestly it's so expensive you'd be better off buying your own Sorcerer's stone."
"Are there mini Sorcerer's stones? Like, one I could store in my pocket?"
"No, the smaller there is it's about the size of a jar." He answers, signaling with his hands the approximate size of said thing… which is still bigger than my head. And I already have one of those! Back at home, but still. It wouldn't serve me at all.
"Alright. Thanks anyways." I sigh resigned and then turn around, going towards my friends who are presumably still outside. Except I stop before even taking one step when I notice Croix followed me here.
"You really liked doing that, huh?" She says, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah… did you see their faces? I've always wanted to spread my love for magic into other people. I just didn't know how." I sigh. "Making spectacles would be a pretty good way, even if it's just on the street, but…"
"Hey, don't worry. Once I revive magic, you'll be able to make as many spectacles as you want." She reassures me with a kind smile.
"Revive magic? What?" I ask, utterly lost. I didn't think there was even a way to revive magic! But if it's even possible at all, I know I'd do anything to help Croix.
"I'll explain later. For now let's go before your friends start fighting again, alright?" She smiles before turning around and walking out of the store.
I quickly follow her (not without thanking the shopkeeper first), but I know now I won't stop wondering about what she just said for the rest of the day. If there is indeed a way to revive magic, then it would be super easy to spread my love and wonder for it into other people! I would just have to wave my hand and… puff! Everyone would be happy. Honestly, it'd be like a dream come true! I hope Croix explains everything as soon as we go back to Luna Nova.
A/N: So... I meant to update earlier than this, but I was working on another fanfic of mine (if you like the Hamanda ship you may want to check it out), still I'm sorry, and I super duper promise that the next update will come in 15 days tops! So, expect some Charoix sweetness coming soon :D
Anyways, thanks for reading and if you want to leave a coment I'd very much appreciate it, and it'd hopefully inspire me so I can update faster. Follows and favorites help to, so please do that if you're liking this story. See you!
Thanks to my beta reader moonwatcher13 :)
