After the last Stephanie fused back together, Stephanie removed her necklace around her neck as the Curators, Lucy, and Notches were on a small table, watching her with confusion.
"Okay," Stephanie said, clapping her hands together once. "Let's see what the first potion or spell is."
She walked over to the huge book from where she had placed it on a bookstand near her.
When Stephanie opened the book's first page, her face screwed with confusion after reading some of the pages, noticing that the pages either had one page of a potion with pictures and ingredients or another page of a spell.
Stephanie hummed a little after noticing the random mixup of the pages before flicking her wrist and summoning her bracelet as it transformed into a wand.
"In this tome of secrets and lore so grand," Stephanie recited as the pages of the book glowed, lifting slightly from the book stand. "With pages that are random and hard to understand, I seek to bring order, to find my way, and to know what's a spell and what's a potion today."
The writing lifted from the book's pages in front of Stephanie as the pages flipped back and forth as the writing was placed back onto the pages or hovered.
It started moving around magically, sorting through the pages as Stephanie watched, holding the wand in her hand as she noticed the writing was slowly clearing up for her to read, from splotches to shaky handwriting.
After a few minutes passed, the sorting spell faded as the book was magically placed back into the book stand before sticky labels with handwriting on them that read 'Potions,' 'Spells,' and 'Charms' appeared from the top corners of the sections of the pages.
"Perfect!" Stephanie smiled and flicked her wrist, transforming the wand into a bracelet around her wrist.
She flipped to the first page of the 'Potions' section, coming across the first page about creating a potion called 'Invisibility Potion.'
The page reads:
Ingredients for a Potion of Invisibility:
Mistletoe Berries
Moonstone Powder
Powdered Bicorn Horn
Invisibility Vine Leaves
Dragonfly Wings
Gillyweed
Moonlight Dew
Pearl Dust
Brewing Process:
Preparation: Gather all the ingredients and tools required for the potion, including a cauldron, stirring rod, and magical fire source. Ensure that the workspace is clean and organized.
Add the Base: Add a clear and pure base liquid (usually water) to the cauldron and set it to boil. The base provides the potion's foundation.
Add Ingredients: Carefully add the powdered Bicorn Horn and Moonstone Powder to the boiling base liquid. Stir the mixture counterclockwise three times with a silver stirring rod to infuse it with magical properties.
Mistletoe Berries: Grind the mistletoe berries into a fine powder and add them to the cauldron. Continue stirring clockwise to blend the ingredients thoroughly.
Invisibility Vine Leaves: Add the finely chopped leaves to the mixture. These leaves are crucial for the potion's core effect. Stir gently to prevent damaging the leaves.
Dragonfly Wings and Gillyweed: Add the Dragonfly Wings and Gillyweed to the cauldron. Dragonfly Wings contribute to agility, while Gillyweed enhances the potion's versatility. Stir in a figure-eight pattern.
Moonlight Dew and Pearl Dust: Carefully sprinkle Moonlight Dew into the mixture to add a touch of enchantment. Then, add Pearl Dust to give the potion a subtle shimmer. Stir clockwise to incorporate these ingredients evenly.
Simmer and Focus: Reduce the heat and let the mixture simmer for a specific duration, allowing the ingredients to meld and the potion to take shape. Maintain a focused and calm state of mind during this step.
Cooling: Once the potion has simmered adequately, remove it from the heat source and naturally cool it to room temperature.
Straining and Bottling: Strain the potion to remove any solid remnants or impurities. Carefully pour the clear liquid into a clean, vial-like bottle, ensuring it's sealed airtight to prevent evaporation.
Activation and Use: The Potion of Invisibility is complete and can be activated by consuming a small amount. The effects will render the drinker invisible for the potion's specified duration.
Stephanie pushed her glasses into place as she looked at the drawn-out pictures of what the ingredients looked like, having ideas for creating them.
She had already grown mistletoe berries, so Stephanie collected enough for this potion before using her magic to fill the cauldron with water.
For moonstone powder, Stephanie picked up one of her collected gemstones from her pile, the moonstone itself, and used the mortar and pestle to grind it until it became a powder.
Once the moonstone was a powder, Stephanie carefully placed it into a small bottle and stuffed cork to keep the bottle from spilling the powder.
She placed the small bottle of moonstone powder next to the small basket of collected mistletoe berries before moving on to the next ingredient.
When Stephanie read the sentence, the 'Powdered Bicorn Horn' sounded strange.
However, after seeing the picture of the horn, Stephanie used her drawing skills to make a real horn before carefully grinding the snapped bottom in the mortar and pestle.
Once ground into a powder, Stephanie poured the powder of the Bicorn Horn into a bottle, put a cork on it, and placed it with the other ingredients.
'Invisibility Vine Leaves' were also strange, but Stephanie drew out what the vine looked like, allowing it to grow in her massive jungle, carefully plucking the leaves off once fully grown.
Stephanie placed the leaves with the other collected ingredients before putting dragonfly wings down with the pile after drawing out what they looked like, along with gillyweed.
'Moonlight Dew' was a little tricky because Stephanie did not figure out whether she needed to go out at night to collect it even though it was daytime, but she added a little twist to her idea.
When Stephanie stepped outside, she used her magic to draw a moon in the sky, perking up when she watched drops of moonlight soak into the small bottle in her hand.
Once it was full, Stephanie closed the bottle with a cork before pausing as she looked back at the moon, feeling that the moon looked lonely.
She stepped into the witch's hut dimension, placed the bottle down with the collected ingredients, and stepped back out, drawing a sun in the sky after using her magic to set the moon.
Once the sun was drawn, Stephanie stepped back into the witch's hut dimension and looked at the next ingredient, the last one called 'Pearl Dust.'
Stephanie picks up a pearl from her gemstone collection from her adventure around Sodor, places it into the mortar and pestle, and adds more in the same color.
She placed enough pearls into the mortar and pestle, then began grinding them into a powder, carefully pouring the pearl dust into a small bottle, corking it, and placing it with the other ingredients.
After all the ingredients were collected, Stephanie nodded and looked back at the book, reading the first paragraph of the brewing process.
After reading some parts of the paragraph, she had already started the boiling process, so Stephanie moved on to the next: carefully adding the powdered Bicorn Horn and moonstone powder to the boiling base liquid.
She stirred the mixture counterclockwise three times with a silver stirring rod, watching the water glitter from all the items carefully poured inside.
Once Stephanie stirred the third time, she ground the mistletoe berries into a fine powder with the mortar and pestle and added them to the cauldron.
Stephanie stirred clockwise to blend the ingredients thoroughly with the silver stirring rod, watching the water become more translucent and making her curious.
She stopped once everything was mixed and started finely chopping the Invisibility Vine Leaves and adding them, stirring carefully as the instructions said.
After watching the mixture blend in, Stephanie added dragonfly wings and gillyweed, then stirred it into a figure-eight pattern, watching that blend into the mix, making the water into a sky-blue translucent liquid.
She then carefully dropped the moonlight dew into the mixture, sprinkled the Pearl Dust, and stirred the mixture clockwise as it shimmered with a faint, silvery color.
Stephanie then dimmed the heat and removed the silver rod, allowing the mixture to simmer as she watched the color deepen a little over time.
Once the potion had simmered adequately, Stephanie removed it from the heat source and allowed it to naturally cool to room temperature.
Stephanie waited patiently before the mixture became liquid glitter-like in a deep snow and sky blue mixture, and she picked up a box filled with empty potion bottles.
She began to strain the potion from anything within it, putting corks on some already full and tying a string with a tag on it with 'Potion of Invisibility' written on it.
But something round and polished landed in the strainer after the last drop of the Potion of Invisibility.
Stephanie removed the strainer, placed the cauldron down, picked up what fell onto it, and carefully washed it off.
In her hand was a rune with the letter 'ᛞ' on it, which made Stephanie curious about this stone, but she placed it to the side for later.
As she made other potions to stash for later, Stephanie continued to come across different stones with runes, ranging from the letter 'ᚳ' to 'ᚱ.'
Some looked familiar as Stephanie continued going through the list of potions in the spellbook, while others were different.
After reaching the last potion, Stephanie placed it on the shelf with the others before returning to the book and flipping it to the spells.
"Now, let's try spells!" Stephanie grinned, flicking her wrist as it transformed into her staff.
But then she paused after sensing something and transformed her staff into a pocket watch, looking at the time before perking up, seeing it was noon.
"Right after having lunch," Stephanie added with a small smile.
J.J. always gets suspicious whenever he is around that blue-haired and pointed-eared child, but he barely has time to talk to her thoroughly because she usually goes on adventures.
But he figured he would have the chance to meet Stephanie, deciding to see if she was willing to talk with him.
So he headed towards Hatt Manor since that is where Stephanie would be staying, but remembered he could not get the butlers' attention or wanted them to see him like this.
J.J. headed towards the gigantic tree near the window where Stephanie's room was and climbed towards the top, although his hands were aching a little from his battle scars.
Once J.J. was on the branch to Stephanie's window, J.J. headed towards the window and peered in, noticing the room looked a little white.
It was too white to even the room's design with the other rooms that J.J. noticed while climbing the tree to reach Stephanie's room.
Curiosity got to him, and J.J. carefully climbed towards the window, shaking a little from his slight fear of heights.
He reached the window after balancing on the branch and poking around, searching for a way to open it since he could not tell if anyone was on the other side.
J.J. eventually found the lock and quietly huffed to himself, seeing that it was inside the room, and there was barely room for him to stick anything in to help him unlock it.
But something sensed J.J. was there, trying to find a way to get into the room and magically unlocked the window, causing J.J. to perk up after seeing the window as it lifted.
J.J. stumbled backward a little as he gave a yelp, but something grabbed his middle and gently tugged him forward, causing him to enter the white room and collapse… in the grass?
He pushed himself upright and looked at his surroundings, noticing the room had a strange jungle appearance instead of the normal room he once saw.
J.J. took off his glasses to look at them before putting them back on, not believing what his old eyes were seeing before him as he pushed himself upright.
He turned to the window to see if it was still open, like when he entered, expecting to see the outside world.
But the window had disappeared, causing J.J. to wince after seeing it had disappeared.
Could it be that it was a trap set up for-!
An earthquake shook J.J. from his thoughts, and he flinched, glancing back in front as he gripped the grass around him, startled by the shaking before it died down.
"Stephanie!" a voice shouted, causing J.J. to perk up, noticing the name but not that voice. "Be careful!"
So J.J. headed towards where the voices were coming from, going through all the grass and around rocks, usually climbing some if he did not find a way around.
He parted some tall grass and saw what looked like a cat looking up at someone hovering a few feet from the ground and swirling a trail of rocks with a staff in her hands.
J.J. instantly perked up after seeing that the flying person was none other than Stephanie herself but flinched when the cat exclaimed, "Stephanie! Be careful with those rocks, okay?"
Stephanie looked down at the cat with a smile before calling back to them, the rocks swirling around the tip of her staff, "I'm being careful! I realized the problem before!"
She turned back to the staff before saying an incantation, causing the rocks to land back on the ground.
The staff went upward as J.J. watched with worry as he looked at the small group, noticing each member resembled either the Army, the Navy, or the Air Force.
Stephanie was flying through the air, whooping and laughing, holding the staff between her legs like a broom with the gemstone in front.
Stephanie then went downward and moved upward, transforming the staff into a bracelet that caused J.J. to worry instantly.
But she flipped onto her feet and landed squarely on them, causing nothing to happen or even breaking a bone.
She giggled after landing and stood up to her height, looking up at everything as she rubbed her hands together.
"That was awesome!" Stephanie smiled with excitement.
"Yes, but you should've watched before using your elemental powers, Stephanie!" a navy captain toy exclaimed. "You could've accidentally crushed someone."
"Yes," Stephanie nodded, turning to the navy captain as she knelt at their height. "I should've, and I'm sorry. I was excited after learning a few spells."
Then she noticed J.J. and perked up before blushing after noticing him and exclaiming, "I'm more sorry that I didn't see you there, sir!"
The group instantly turned towards J.J. after Stephanie exclaimed, and the cat's ears moved back, confused and mostly startled after seeing him.
"It's fine, kiddo!" J.J. assured the embarrassed Stephanie. "I didn't expect you to master spells before me."
"Oh, that." Stephanie smiled nervously. "I recently found an old spell book filled with potion ingredients, how to make charms, and even spells. Something that I needed to touch on since I had been dragging myself around at new places."
"Speaking of which," J.J. remembered, approaching Stephanie. "I have been meaning to talk to you about some things I have noticed about you."
Stephanie moved her hands down for him, and J.J. took Stephanie's offer, stepping into her palms as she lifted him up to her chest to speak to her comfortably as he sat in her palms.
"As much as I am amazed about your knowledge of finding magic and harnessing it," J.J. explained to Stephanie. "But there are a lot of dangerous beings lurking around Sodor, especially the ocean liners."
"The ocean liners I learned from that book I read before?" Stephanie mentioned.
"So you did learn about ocean liners?" J.J. curiously asked.
"A little," Stephanie nodded. "It tells about Gordon's battle against Juliet and the list of ocean liners, of which there are many."
"Yes, and I want to warn you about using magic in front of the ocean liners, young Stephanie." J.J. pointed. "They are powerful, and if they saw you using that pocket watch of yours or that staff, they would attempt to destroy it because they believe it is dangerous."
He sighed, adding, "I don't want to risk having a child encounter the wrath of an ocean liner."
Stephanie smiled softly and carefully adjusted her hands without knocking J.J. out of her palms, patting his back as she assured him, "Don't worry. I won't show any of my powers towards the ocean liners, Mr. J.J.!"
Then she added, "And I would think twice before swimming in the water, too."
After hearing Stephanie's remark, J.J. cocked his head with a confused expression and asked, "What do you mean by that, honey?"
"Well," Stephanie began, drawing a blue magic circle with her right hand after removing it from his back, inserting it into the circle, and exiting from the other side, covered in scales with webbing between her fingers and her fingers ending with a claw. "I can transform into a half-fish, half-human being when touching liquid."
'Oh, that's also why!' went through J.J.'s mind after seeing Stephanie's arm transform into scales, with more worry in his mind.
Stephanie removed her arm from the circle, and it started drying, showing Stephanie's normal arm as J.J. watched with curiosity.
"Yeah, that's one of the things I discovered," Stephanie chuckled before gingerly standing up with J.J. close to her chest and carrying him. "Let me show you the potions I have made!"
"Potions?" J.J. blinked with confusion, holding onto Stephanie's sweater as she carried him to a door there.
Notches stood up and followed along with the others, opening the door that showed the witch's hut dimension, confusing and surprising J.J. after she opened the door.
Stephanie gingerly placed J.J. on her shoulder and entered the witch's hut, pointing at a shelf filled with potions as she started naming them off to J.J.
J.J. was astonished to see she had practically mastered the potions as she pointed to each one, even mentioning the new runes she discovered.
So, J.J. decided to ask her about the runes after he was shown the potions, not wanting to keep these a secret from her since she was curious… and perhaps wanting to master them too.
He named the runes' names to Stephanie so she could understand which one was which and even told Stephanie about the powers they harnessed, which intrigued Stephanie.
…But he did not expect Stephanie to pick up a rune to practice on the power in the palm of her hand, asking J.J., "So I just put the rune in the middle of my palm, and just-gah!"
Stephanie accidentally activated a gust wind rune and was launched backward, colliding into an empty shelf she had barely filled with items.
She landed on her bottom with an "Oof!" and the tea kettle that the confused Stephanie carried inside wobbled to the ledge as Stephanie winced, looking at the rune in her hand.
Then the tea kettle fell off and landed squarely on Stephanie's head, causing her to shriek, "OW!" while clutching her head with one hand while the other was holding the rune.
The tea kettle rolled away and through the open door, causing Stephanie to notice and stand up, chasing after the tea kettle as she apologized to J.J., "Sorry! Wait one moment.
As Stephanie was chasing after the tea kettle, the lid popped off, and a whoosh of steam burst out of the tea kettle, causing Stephanie to yelp.
"Stephanie?!" the group exclaimed after seeing the burst of steam erupt.
Stephanie quickly took off her glasses after they were fogged up and squinted when there were what looked like blurs of color in front of her.
She placed her glasses on after they de-fogged, and standing before her was a group of steam locomotives with a brake van.
…Ghost steam locomotives and a brake van.
Stephanie, J.J., Notches, Lucy, and the Curators stared at the ghost steam locomotives and brake van before one of the Curators exclaimed, "Holy sh-!" before the chapter ended.
