"After the wizard died, I went exploring his tower and found a book that caught my attention. I brought it home and read it. This is what it said: 'To my daughter. If you are reading this, I no longer live in this plane of existence and have moved on to the next life. Many moons ago, I betrayed my wife by mating with a magicless woman from Pelican Town. As the child produced in this affair, you have powerful magic in your blood. Untrained magic can be very dangerous. This book shall teach you to use your arcane powers correctly.' The rest was basically just a magic workbook. There were even some links to poorly made YouTube videos. So, I followed the instructions, and I'm a witch now, I guess."

"Wow… that's cool!" said Maple.

"So… the wizard anticipated his own demise and wrote a book specifically so that his daughter could learn magic? That's…" trailed Sterling.

The three of them were sitting on the floor in the empty house. Maple went to open the curtains, but Abigail flicked her wrist and intoned some foreign-sounding gibberish.

"Distrahere cortinas." All the curtains in the house opened at once. Maple slow clapped. "Magic is pretty convenient, as you can see."

"Why were there monsters in the house?" asked Sterling.

"Long ago, the wizard cast a spell to keep the monsters in the valley sealed in the mines. Enchantments die with the caster, so…" said Maple nonchalantly.

"How do you know that?" asked Sterling.

"I don't know!"

"You always say that! And you're always talking about the little apple guys that live in the weird leaf house Mom installed."

"They run all over the place and help Mom harvest crops. Well, they used to, anyway."

"You can see the Junimo? That means you have some forest magic," said Abigail. "Anyways, I have things to do. I think you should talk to Gunther in town. He has something for you. Bye!"

"Okay, bye!" said Maple

As Abigail left, Sterling began to unpack his suitcase and backpack. Maple did too. They removed some blankets from Sterling's suitcase and laid them on the floor to be a temporary bed.

"Well, I suppose the museum is still in the same place, and I'm sure Gunther is still behind the desk."

"Yeah, I have never seen him leave he desk, ever."

They held hands and walked out of the house, off the farm, past the bus, and into Pelican Town. When Sterling saw his old home, he was sure he had somehow got off the wrong bus. The town looked super run down and damaged. Pierre's Store was decorated with claw marks not unlike the one across Maple's face. The clinic had its windows boarded up. Looking down the road, The Stardrop Saloon was gone, replaced by a small restaurant with a sign that read Gus's Pizzeria. Maple kept on walking down, but stopped when she saw the cemetery. There used to be just four gravestones, one too faded to read, one for someone named Mona, and one written in a strange language that Maple only now realized was Dwarvish. The newest addition had been Harvey's, but even that looked old in comparison to the new ones. Sterling read them aloud.

"Evelyn Mullner. Beloved grandmother, made good cookies" Maple started crying. "Lewis Goldwight. Mayor. Pam Sylvana. Mother, Bus Driver. Wow, what happened while we were gone?" They left the cemetery and continued to the museum. Together they crossed the bridge and entered the green building.

"Ah, Sterling and Maple! I was expecting you. I suppose Abigail told you I had something for you." Gunther was still behind the desk. He was old now, with a Santa-looking beard and white hair. "Starla's old tools and some supplies were left with me 2 years ago. They're just here collecting dust, so Abigail and I were hoping you would take them."

"Yeah! We'll take mom's stuff." said Maple

Gunther walked into the room behind his desk, and the clatter of things falling to the ground and an annoyed old man swearing could be heard. After a while and a few more thumps and clatters, the museum curator emerged with a box. Sterling accepted it, and immediately almost dropped it, it was so heavy. Maple grabbed the other end, thanked Gunther, and went home. Sitting on their laid out blankets, they opened the box to find 15 Parsnip seeds, 5 Strawberry seeds, 10 Jazz seeds, and a set of iridium tools that still smelled like their mother. It had gotten dark, and amidst plans for planting and selling, the siblings fell asleep.

In Maple's backpack, a faint peep sounded.