Chapter Three: A Land Without Magic
"Jenny? Jenny, darling? Jenny, you need to wake up now!"
"M-mom . . . ? What is it, mom? What's wrong?" Ten year old Jenny Jordan had been asleep for less than an hour when her mother had come into her room and woke her up. Wiping the sleep from her eyes, Jenny saw that her little brother, Ricky, was at their mom's side, groggy and still in his pajamas.
"Honey, listen to me very carefully," said her mother. "Whatever you do, you need to stay calm . . . ."
"What's wrong, mom?" said Jenny, now fully awake and wide-eyed with worry. "What's happening?!"
"Jenny, listen to me." Jenny's mom put her hands gently on her daughter's shoulders. "Whatever you do, you have to stay calm. Your dad says that you're at that age when you could do spontaneous, reflexive magic if you are scared. You have to keep yourself under control. This is very important. No magic may be used until we are safely away from here."
"Safely away? From our home? Why, mom . . . ?"
"We'll talk more when we're on the road. We have to leave our home as quickly as possible. And your dad can't do any magic until we are out of Collinsport. Out of Maine. Not until we are at least 100 miles from where we are now. Now you need to throw some clothes into your school backpack as quickly as you can and get to the car. I'll get Ricky packed up, but we've got to be on the road within the next twenty minutes.
"Mom, what's happening?"
"Jenny, please, we need to go! We can talk more when we are on the road. Your father is on the phone right now; he has to make some calls before we leave. Please get packed and when you are done, please get Ricky into his car seat!"
"B-but what about my Birthday Party this weekend?" said Jenny. "All my friends are supposed to come over."
"Honey, where we are going, a lot of your friends will be there, too. We'll do everything possible to give you a Birthday Party. But for now we've got to get moving . . . ."
Less than fifteen minutes later, the Jordans were backing out of their driveway in mom's '53 Studebaker Starlight Coup. Their dad's Avanti would be left behind. The Jordans were a "Studebaker Family," and Jenny knew that her dad treasured his '65 Avanti. For American wizards and witches, old cars were even more of a "status symbol" than they were for their muggle neighbors. For dad to abandon it, even briefly, spoke volumes about the situation all by itself.
Because older cars were less susceptible to stray magic, wizarding families in America favored them over the newer cars that were becoming more and more computerized. They were easy to repair to the point that even some magic could be used without fear of damaging the electronics. And the poor gas mileage of these older cars was not a problem for a driver who could waive a wand or twitch a nose and turn a gallon of water into a gallon of gas.
And unlike the newer cars, that were looking more and more alike, the older cars had real character. All things considered, it was no wonder that American wizards and witches developed a "car culture" of their own that made their European brothers and sisters scratch their heads in confusion at this obsession with such a quintessentially muggle artifact.
Based on this fact alone, the Jordans could see that other wizarding families were on the road as well. An impromptu parade of classic cars was forming, heading out of Collinsport. The Brockens in their '49 Mercury Woody. The Russos in their '59 Buick. Jenny's dad, who was driving, gave the Minorus the "thumbs-up" as they passed in their '56 Cadillac, and Jenny caught a quick glimpse of Karen Minoru as they passed, still in her pajamas. The girls waved at each other for as long as the Stude was in sight of the Caddie.
Karen was Jenny's best friend, and was supposed to come to her party. "Karen and me were supposed to have a sleepover after my party . . . ." said Jenny wistfully.
"Well, that much we are able to promise you, sweetheart," said Jenny's father. "We've got a four hour drive ahead of us once we get on I-95 to Massachusetts. The FBS has set up a "Displaced Wizard's Center" at an old, abandoned motel just outside of Boston. The Minorus are going to be there as well. We all are, at least until we are able to find some place more permanent to stay until the Aurors can sort this thing out."
"What is it, dad?" said Jenny. "What's happening? Is it Death Eaters?"
"No, Jenny," said her father. "Something big came through from the Enchanted Realms and the FBS has ordered all wizards and witches to leave Maine, especially Collinsport, as a precaution."
Collinsport, Maine, was also known as "America's Godric's Hollow" among European wizard tourists. Like the Godric's Hollow in the UK, Collinsport had a large population of wizards and witches, living more-or-less openly among their none-the-wiser muggle neighbors. Because of this, Collinsport was a popular place for mixed wizard-muggle families to live. The town had an old history, and was mostly owned by a man named Barnabas Collins who was rumored to be a vampire.
But for ten year old American wizards and witches, Collinsport was the best place in the world to grow up. Unlike her father, (who attended an all-muggle elementary school where he grew up,) Jenny Jordan was one of fourteen kids at Collinsport Elementary School from wizarding families; and two of them were in her fifth grade class, including Karen Minoru.
"What came through, dad?" said Jenny. "Something like a giant or a dragon or an army of orcs?"
"The agent didn't say. She just gave me a list of people to call before we left to relay the message. The agent said that they would tell us more when we got to the Motel."
"What about WWN, daddy? Do you think that they will be saying anything about what is happening?" Jenny pointed to a small, non-factory stock button on the car's radio.
"The person I spoke with said that the WWN was "blown out" by what happened," said Jenny's dad. "And in any case, since the WWN uses magic instead of radio waves, all WWN stations within a five hundred mile radius of the Incursion have been ordered to be silent until we know more about what came through from the Enchanted Realms.
"Uh, Aggie?" said Jenny's dad. That was her mother's name, Agatha, or "Aggie" for short. "Did you, ah, think to bring any money with you?"
Jenny's mom checked her purse, and said, "I've got about five dollars with me, Ren." Her father's name was Lawrence, but everyone called him "Ren." "I had planned to go to the bank in the morning. Let me guess, we need gas?"
Ren nodded. "We're down to one quarter of a tank. I was going to gas up your car tomorrow morning from the garden hose before going in to work, but, well . . . . I think that I may have seven dollars in my wallet. How about you?"
Aggie rummaged through her purse. "Four dollars and seventy-two cents."
Ren nodded. "That should give us at least enough to get more than a hundred miles away from Coastal Maine. We can pull into a rest-stop after that, and I can use my wand from there until we get to the Motel being used as the Displaced Wizard's Center." The Jordans always carried an empty five-gallon can in the trunks of their cars for such emergencies. Moments later, Ren saw a gas station up ahead and signaled to turn in. "No time like the present."
The Jordans pulled up to a pump and Ren gave Aggie the seven dollars from his wallet. "Ask the clerk to give us the full $11.72 on pump five. Jenny, if you have to go to the bathroom, now is the time."
Jenny followed her mother, who was carrying two-year old Ricky. Jenny's little brother had fallen asleep despite (or maybe even because of) all the excitement over the past half-hour into the station's minimart. The cool, night air smelled damp from the brief but violent storm that had passed through the area a little after eight o'clock that evening before Jenny went to bed.
When they got inside, Aggie Jordan handed the money her husband gave her to the clerk behind the counter and then reached into her purse to get out the rest. After taking out the money in her purse, she took out a small, triangular object in birthday giftwrap tied with a ribbon.
"Jenny, this is from your Aunt Maisie," said Aggie. "I was supposed to give it to you at your birthday party this weekend. But I suppose it would be alright to give it to you now."
Jenny took the package and untied the ribbon. When she un-wrapped the paper, she found herself holding a triangular shaped jade stone with a hole through the center. Jenny's eyes brightened. Her grandmother's gift was a rare talisman that allowed the user to see through most enchantments, no matter how skillfully they were crafted.
"Oh, mommy!" said Jenny excitedly. "A seeing-stone!"
Aggie shushed her daughter. "This isn't Collinsport, Jenny. Keep your voice down."
Jenny nodded. She would have to get used to being more careful; especially since she would probably end up being the only witch in her school wherever her family found a new home. Jenny slipped the stone in her pocket, and then went outside to the car. Her dad was checking under the hood, topping-off the oil, as her mom was putting a very sleepy Ricky in his car seat.
At the next pump, a family of muggles pulled up in a new '84 IROC Camaro fresh out of the showroom; its window sticker still in place. They were a father and a mother and two boys, one about 14 and one about Jenny's age. The boys ran past Jenny to get to the minimart (and probably the Pac Man and Mario Brothers games inside.) There was a little small-talk between Jenny's parents and the other couple, who were mostly commenting on the Jordans' immaculate '53 Stude as her parents in return complimented them on their new Camaro.
To anybody watching, they were two, typical American families who met on the road. Jenny wondered what would happen if the other family found out that her father was a wizard? Would they ask him to fill their tank by transfiguring water into gasoline? And if dad said no, would they burn him at the stake? For that matter, would the gas station owner burn them all at the stake if dad said yes for taking away his business . . . ?"
When Jenny's dad told his daughter that he could do real magic and that one day, she and her little brother would be able to do real magic as well, he took great pains to emphasize that they were, in all other respects, no different from any other family. The Jordans told their daughter that, despite their father's ability to seemingly override the laws of physic as muggles understood them, that he was as human as their muggle mom was.
On a whim, Jenny wondered if her father would look any different through the seeing stone than her muggle mom or the muggle family gassing up their car next to them. Her dad once told her that he would look the same as any muggle if he were given an X-Ray or an MRI. But maybe the seeing stone would show something different . . . .
Jenny held the stone up to her eye and nearly dropped it when she looked through the hole. She looked again without looking through the hole in the stone, and then looked again through the stone, repeating this several times.
It wasn't the way that her parents or the other family looked when viewed through the stone's hole that startled the young witch. It was what was behind them in the distance.
Without the stone, Jenny saw thick, old-growth forest.
With the stone, Jenny saw the lights of a city.
When the muggle family went inside to buy some snacks and get their boys, Jenny ran up to her parents and told them what she saw. Then she showed them. Jenny's father gasped as he looked through the hole in the stone. "The Incursion from the Enchanted Realms . . . !"
Lawrence Jordan scrambled for the small camera that they carried with them in their glove compartment in case they needed to document an accident. He aimed the lens through the seeing stone's hole and Jenny saw her father's hands shake as he snapped as many pictures as he could. They would have taken more if they had any money left for an additional roll of film. And when they had taken their last picture, they got back in their car and continued on their way to the Motel where the FBS had set up their Displaced Wizard's Center.
Jenny watched the city through the stone's hole as they drove away, looking over it periodically to see the forest, until the Jordans had driven too far away to see anything more of what would come to be known to the Wizarding World as the "10-22-1983 Maine Incursion."
By 12:00 am, on October 23, 1983, all Wizarding families in the State of Maine had been evacuated. And Maine had become a land without magic . . . .