Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Chapter 23 - Into the Ink

Author's Note: Really really sorry for taking so long, everybody! I completely forgot about this! I feel so so bad for leaving y'all hanging like that. Forreal. But don't worry, the wait is over! Enjoy and review :)

3rd person POV

"Okay, kids!" A loud booming voice interuppted Leah's daydreams. She swatted a fly away from her head and squinted from the warm sunlight.

"Call me Coach Rickwood." He adjusted his sunglasses and looked at the children around him. "For this exercise, I will be testing your endurance. When I blow the whistle, you all will take off running. Run as fast and as far as you can until you absolutely can't run anymore. And no magic is permitted for this. Got it?"

"Got it," everyone agreed in unison.

Ink leaned closer to Leah. "Psst," he whispered. She ignored him. "Leah I need to talk to you."

"About what?" She folded her arms over her chest.

"Everything."

"You're actually gonna tell me?"

"Yep."

"Here? Now?"

"No, when we finnish."

"Then why-" she was cut off by the whistle. Adele and Angele took off running. Ink walked slowly. Trace toddled after the twins, leaving Leah standing.

Okay, she thought, he said he'll tell me when we're finnished, so, lets hurry up and finnish this! She burst into a sprint, faster than the average five year old. Well, Leah was no average five year old. She quickly caught up with the other kids, who were starting to slow down. Trace stopped. Angele stopped. Adele's sprint slowed into a tired jog, while Leah haddn't even broken a sweat. Ink shrugged and sat down in the grass. He could've easily gone a lot farther, but chose not to.

Leah continued to run. The field seemed never ending, and so did her energy level. She looked back to see the awed look on Coach Rickwood's face. She smiled. If he thinks that's fast, wait'll he sees this! She balled her fists, concentrated, and instantly broke into full-on werewolf speed.

The scenery around her seemed to fly by. It was like she wasn't even running anymore. The wind whipped around her like she was flying, but her feet stayed on the ground.

Within seconds, she was back at the starting place, nearly exhausted.

"Incredible." Coach Rickwood said in awe. "You're half werewolf, aren't you?"

Leah nodded, too tired to speak.

He wrote something down on his clipboard. "Absolutely remarkable." He blew his whistle again. "Okay everyone, back inside!"

xXxXxXxXxXx

Ink grabbed Leah by the hand and pulled her into the girls' bedroom. She settled on the bed as he locked the door. The seven year old tossled his hair in frustration.

Leah sat beside him and patted his back reasurance. "Ink, if you're not ready to tell me, then you don't have too."

He sighed. "That's my problem; I want to tell you. I need to tell you. I need to tell it to someone, but I just don't know how."

"I was kidding about you not having to tell. Seriously, its killing me."

He gave her a look of desperation, "I haven't even told my parents about most of it."

"Well then, spit it out!"

"Okay, okay, gimmie a minute." He glanced out the window, then lowered his voice. "I'm a young wizard too."

"I knew that," she reminded him. "What's so secretive about that?"

"I'm also a fletch."

"A fletch? What's that?" Leah gave him a quizzical glance.

"A fletch is someone who can do special things with an ordinary item." He explained.

"Ink, you're losing me."

"It's ink."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "That's what I just said!"

"No, you don't get it!" He started to pace around the room. "The ordinary item I can do special things with is ink. Pens, markers, some types of paints, I'm a fletch."

She stood up and stopped him in his tracks. "Can you try to slow down with this? You're not making any sense what so ever."

"Um, okay, do you have any paper? And a pen?" he asked.

"Probably." She dashed to the dresser and dug out a notebook pad. "Is a pencil okay?"

"Is Monopoly money okay to pay the waiter at a resuraunt?"

She held up her hand in respect. "Understood." She dug deeper and pulled out a blue ball-point pen and offered it to him. He quickly took them both and began sketching. His hand flew across the paper at almost lightning speed. Leah curiously watched over his shoulder. Seconds later, he stopped and looked at his work: a very realistic soccer ball, with flawless rounding and shading.

"Ink, that's amazing!" She smiled, then frowned. "Now why can't I do that? Both of my parents are amazing artists. I wonder if Mom and Daddy could draw like that when they were kids. I can't even draw a stick person properly."

"Shh," he hushed her. "Watch this." He pressed his finger against his drawing, and literally pulled it off the paper. The soccer ball inflated; Ink threw it against the wall. It bounced back to them and landed on the bottom bunk. Leah gasped in astonishment.

"That's absolutely incredible!" She rested her elbow on his shoulder and looked him in the eye. "Why do you keep hiding this from everyone? Are your parents fletches too?"

He shook her arm off and rested his head in his hands. "Because no one understands it! All the other fletches out there have important gifts, like earth, or water, or stone. Mine's just pointless and weak." He shrugged. "Both my parents are wizards, but when they figured out that my drawings could come to life and sent me here to figure it out."

Leah put her arm reasuringly around his shoulder. "Ink, you're incredibly talented! You should be thankful for your gift! It-"

"But all their 'gifts' can help people! They can build shelters, stop earthquakes, stop floods, bring rain...all I can do is make my drawings move around."

"Well what do you want to do?"

He looked down. "I want to help people. But how can you help someone when all you do is control ink?"

"Ink, you're very special. You were meant to help people. I can feel it. But you can't depend on your gift to help. You have to help. You have to be the change you want to see." She patted him on the back. "Your fletch is just a back up. It'll help you in the end. But you are the change."

He looked into her dark brown eyes. "Wow, Leah. Even for a kindergardener, you always seem to know exactly what to say."

She dramatically flipped her hair. "It's what I do." she smiled and looked down.

"What is it?"

She clutched her locket. "I just wished I knew what was going to happen with my family. I haven't heard anything about the trial in a while. I just want it to be okay." She opened the locket. Instantly, her favorite lulluby played softly. When destiny calls you, you must be strong. I may not be with you, but you've got to hold on. They'll see in time, I know. We'll show them together...

Ink snapped his fingers. "I've got it!"

"What?" she asked with a confused glance.

"You can read minds, right?"

"Pretty much. It depends on the mind." She shrugged.

"Well, why don't you see if you can read Professor Crumbs's mind? Maybe you'll get like an update or something."

"I've already tried." She sighed. "It's too far of a distance." She paused, and then a smile grew across her face. "But what if I could go there!"

Ink gave her a quizzical look. "What do you mean? We can't leave the property."

She smiled. "Who said anything about leaving?"

xXxXxXxXxXx

"Are you sure this is gonna work?" Ink asked for the third time.

Leah laughed. "Stop worrying! I've done this millions of times."

"Really?"

She shrugged. "Okay, maybe thousands...Or hundreds. Or tens. Okay, twice. But it's gonna work, okay? Trust me."

She stood up and offered him her hand. He hesitantly took it. "So, how eactly does this work?"

"Simple. It's called Astral Projection. If I concentrate, I can leave the place with my mind, and go to Professor Crumbs without him or anyone else knowing. If I concentrate hard enough, I can take you with me. You know, probably."

"So it won't hurt? Or I won't die on the way back or anything?"

She rolled her eyes. "Don't be a baby. Just clear your mind and leave the rest to me. Got it?"

"Got it, I think."

Leah squeezed her eyes shut and cleared her mind on everything but one thing: Professor Crumb's office. She squeezed Ink's hand. She could feel his nervousness. Within minutes, she could feel both of them levitating right out of the room, like they were going through a wormhole of time and space.

Ink opened his eyes, and tightened his grip in panic when he saw everything pass them by so quickly. Whatever you do, DON'T. LET. GO. Leah thought directly to his mind. Just calm down and keep your mind wide open to anything. Don't be afraid. She felt him relax a little. It made her relax more, too.

Leah reopened her eyes, to find them both in a lobby. Thousands of doors surrounded them.

Where are we? Ink thought.

"We're in the wizard council center." Leah answered him, much to his surprise. "You can talk out loud. We're not really here. No one can hear or see us."

"Oh. Got it." He glanced at all the doors around them. "Which one is Crumbs in?"

Leah wondered the same thing. She thought deeper into the door they were facing. No sign of him. She started on the next door.

Ink watched curiously as Leah's eyes raced back and forth at nothing in particular. She blinked a few times. She looked up. They both instantly levitated up six doors.

"He's in here." Leah finally stated.

"Great!" Ink smiled. He reached for the door knob, but it when right through him. He tried again, but the same thing was the result. Leah rolled her eyes as he flapped his hand back and forth through the knob. She finally sighed and pulled him straight through the door.

Ink looked around in amazement. "H-how did-" he began.

"We're not really here, genius. We can't hold or grab anything. It would alter reality in another demention or something like that. But that's not important now."

Before he could respond, Leah heard another voice in the room. She covered his mouth and walked closer to the large desk, where Professor Crumbs was sitting, shuffling through some files.

Ink ducked out of view from him. Leah gave him a 'seriously?' glance.

"Right. No one can see us. Got it."

The door behind them swung open. Chancellor Rootie Tootietootie busted in, carrying a clipboard similar to Coach Rickwood's earlier. "Professor, you have got to see this!" He set the clipboard in front of him. "Jeremy Rickwood was testing the kids at the WOC today, and Leah Graybeck's timing is incredible."

Leah and Ink exchanged glances. They quickly looked back at Crumbs.

"That is incredible," Crumbs replied. "And from the other records here, everyone has written just about the same thing: 'She's a very bright and talented girl who seems perfectly harmless.'" Ink nudged her with a smirk.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rootie asked him.

"They say she can control her temper even better than the average child, let alone werewolf. And she could easily be a very powerful wizard one day. Very useful in the wizard world. She's got a good head on her shoulders; she was definately raised right."

"What are you saying, Professor?"

"I am saying, it would be a shame to see anything bad happen to this girl."

Leah beamed. Ink gave her a fistpound. "See?" he smiled. "Nothin' to worry about."

"Have you decided on Mason Graybeck and Alex Russo's trial yet?" Rootie asked.

"Graybeck." Leah mentally corrected. "Alex Graybeck." Leah knew her mother would be frustrated to be called Russo again. Graybeck was the only name Leah had ever heard when it came to her mother. It just felt weird for her to be called something other than that.

"In all my years, I haven't seen a family more close-knit than these people. It's very surprising, after knowing for such a long time."

"Meaning?"

"But the law is still broken, Rootie. The law is the law."

Leah's heart sank right there on the spot.

"If only there were a way for Alex to become a full wizard," Crumbs sighed. "But, that is that. I am done with this conversation."

Hope you all enjoyed. Sorry for the cliff hanger, but I have a LOT planned for Chapter 14! Review your thoughts, please! :)

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