Chapter Five

A Spellbinding Experience

            Over the next couple days Alice learned how to put spells on everything in the shop.  By the end of the first week she felt like she had been dealing with the threads of magic her entire life.

            “You’ve really got the hang of it,” Azura commented as she watched Alice make yet another love potion.

            “Thanks.” Alice grinned happily. “It’s fun.” It wasn’t hard either, which was a relief. At first she had been intimidated by some of the patterns, thinking that anything involving more than one thread would be too complicated. But Azura had been an excellent teacher, easing her fears and slowly showing her how to do more and more.

            Azura was tapping her chin again. “Hm…I think we could move on to some harder enchantments now. What do you say?”

            Alice put down the potion, which was turning a bright shade of pink. “Really?”

            “I don’t see why not. You seem to be doing well, and there are some basic things I’d like to teach you.”

            “Like what?” Alice asked eagerly, hungry for more opportunity to prove she had a natural talent. It was almost intoxicating, being good at something.

            “Let’s start off with a basic blocking spell, something that will allow you to avoid anyone influencing or attacking you.”

            “Is someone likely to attack me?” Alice asked nervously, remembering their conversation with Shira.

            “Not likely while I’m here,” Azura said, “but you never know. There are rouge magical creatures once in a while, and like Shira said last week, once people figure out that you own this shop, Wizards and Witches will be coming in to check you out.” Alice wasn’t sure, but she thought a hint of anxiety had flickered past Azura’s face as she said this.

            “And they’ll attack me?” she asked, worriedly.

            “Not at all - but it’s a good spell to know.”

            “Okay, what do I do?”

            “This is less like a spell and more like a force of will. It’s the same force of will you use to make the threads solid so you can touch them, but this time it needs to be much stronger.”

            “Okay...” It had been difficult the first time she tried to touch the threads. This would be even harder?

            “If someone is to attack you, they will basically take the spell they want and send it at you.  In order for you to actually understand, I’m going to come at you with some magic,” Azura said. “Don’t worry. I won’t use a strong spell.”

            “I’m not worried,” Alice said. That was a lie; she was worried, but more about failing the lesson then being hit with a spell. She knew Azura wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.

            “Alright, when I send the magic at you, you basically have to will it away from you. There are a couple of things you can do. You can push the threads away from you, or some people find it easier to form a sort of shield to simply block them.”

            “How do I make my will stronger?” Alice hesitated, not wanting to sound stupid.

            “Have you ever, as a child perhaps, felt that if you thought about something hard enough it would be true, or thought if you wished fiercely enough it would happen? Perhaps you tried to stare at an object with all your might until it moved?”

            “Yes, I guess so.” She blushed red, remembering the ten year old Alice wishing desperately to fly, going so far as to stand on her window sill and wish for wings, her eyes squeezed shut, her fists clenched as she desperately wished.

            “And what happened?”

            “Nothing happened.” She wasn’t going to mention what had actually happened, that she had gone to bed and cried herself to sleep that night. It was embarrassing

            “Nothing happened, of course, since you had Ruby’s spell on you, keeping you safe and preventing anything from happening. Now you don’t.”

            “Okay.” Alice hesitated, wondering exactly what that meant. “So, ah…what should I do?”

            “Try picturing a shield in your mind,” Azura suggested. “That might work best to start with. But remember, you have to want it. As hard as you wanted to fly as a child.”

            “Pardon?” Alice frowned. How did she know that was what she’d been thinking?

            “Nothing dear, just concentrate.” Azura smiled confidently and waited.

            “I’m ready.” Alice braced herself.

            She watched as Azura reached up and gathered three glowing threads.

            “I’m gathering force,” the other woman explained, “Movement and energy.” Azura wove the three strands together. “Now I’ll start gently.” She flicked the woven strand at Alice, and it floated slowly towards her.

Alice tried to concentrate on making a shield in the air between them, a blockade so that the magic couldn’t get past. She felt silly and unsure of what she was doing. This wasn’t like touching the threads; the threads were tangible, real. This was like playing make-believe again. She was nineteen, not ten.  

The threads continued to float slowly towards her, past her imaginary shield.

            “This isn’t working.” She frowned, backing up as the threads floated closer.

            “Try pushing it away instead,” Azura instructed.

            Alice concentrated, her brow furrowed. She tried to picture her will and determination as a powerful force pushing the threads back. They still moved towards her. She grunted in frustration, thinking this was stupid and feeling more foolish by the minute.

            “Remember that feeling as a child,” Azura said. “Remember the faith you had, that if you wanted it enough it would happen.”

            Alice tried to summon up that blind faith, that fierce, childish desire. She shut her eyes and imagined herself at the window sill, almost feeling the cool night breeze brush past her face.

            “Now push harder…”  Azura said, whispering ever so quietly, “Fly”

            Alice pushed with everything she had in her, with all the will and determination of that child. The thick strand whipped back with startling speed and hit Azura firmly across her chest and shoulder, pushing her backwards so she staggered into the counter, her elbow striking the till. The thread dissipated as soon as it hit, leaving the woman looking startled.

            “Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry!” Alice reached out to steady her mentor. “Are you hurt?”

            Azura straightened up, brushing herself off. “I’m okay. It’s alright, Alice.” She rubbed her elbow, smiling a little sheepishly.  “I should have figured that would happen. Your skill for magic, raw though it may be, is quite considerable.”

            “Thank you!” Alice couldn’t stop smiling even though she felt bad about pushing Azura over.  She was barely keeping herself from dancing around in celebration. She’d done it on the first try!

            Azura also went over the schedules, payroll and how to order product. She gave her the flyers from the company they ordered from, and Alice spent a few happy hours looking through magazines full of joke items and knick knacks.  

            “Let’s go over the scheduling here,” Azura was saying.

            It turned out that Azura’s days off were Monday and Wednesday, and Alice would be running the shop by herself.

            “What if I don’t know a question someone asks me or something?” Alice felt a little panicked at the thought of working the shop on her own. 

            “Then you make something up.”

            “What?” she squawked. “Seriously?”

            “You make the rules here,” Azura told her. “It’s your shop. There is no wrong answer.”

            “Huh. I guess so.” Alice was willing to bet there were a lot of wrong answers but the other woman interrupted her thoughts.

            “And if there’s ever some kind of crazy emergency I’m usually just in my suite, and I always have my cell phone on me if I’m out.”

            That was a bit more comforting.

            “Now, there isn’t much point in writing a schedule when there are only two of us, so you might as well just choose what days you would like off. Ruby had weekends off; you might find that to be preferable.”

            “Sure.” Alice shrugged. “Weekends are fine. I mean, I don’t care really. I don’t exactly…” she halted, realizing she had been about to say she had no one to see and nowhere to go. How pathetic. “It doesn’t matter,” she finished lamely.

            Azura nodded, apparently not noticing her hesitation. “You might think about hiring another person at some point, just in case one of us isn’t feeling well, or wants a vacation. Your Aunt wasn’t big on vacations, but you’re young, you’ll want to go off jet setting at some point.”

            Alice tried to picture herself leaving the shop and all its magic to go traveling.

“Doesn’t the shop go anywhere we want it to?”

            Azura’s eyes twinkled. “Yes - England, Ireland, Egypt, Greece, anywhere that has a major city, anywhere you want to see, we can go.”

            “I’ve always wanted to go to Egypt.” Alice thought of pyramids and snake charmers, it always seemed so exotic in the movies.

            “We can certainly make sure we end up there when we move.”

            “That’s so exciting! I can use my days off to tour!”

            “You can. And speaking of days off, tomorrow is Saturday so you should probably get out and do some relaxing.”

            Alice stared at her. “It’s all been so exciting. The real world sounds so boring now.”

            “There’s lots of magic out there,” Azura said. “I think you’ll be surprised at how much you’ll see now that your ability has been awakened. Besides, didn’t you only come with three suitcases? You could go shopping. You should probably check on your bank account too.  I think you’ll find that the balance has changed.”  Azura smiled at the look on Alice’s face. “Your Aunt Ruby left you a little nest egg to get you started, and now that you’re working full time you do get a pay check every two weeks.” Azure gave her a cheeky grin and strolled into the backroom, leaving Alice to ponder this new information.

            She exited the pay options on the computer till screen and found the internet, checking her bank account online. 

“No way,” she breathed, staring at the numbers on screen. “That can’t be right.” She looked around quickly to see that Azura wasn’t nearby to hear her.  Her parents had always been good about giving her money when she really needed it, and they had helped her save up for her first crappy old car in grade eleven. She had done chores around the house for them and they had given her a little at a time till she had enough. But this, this was more than her car had cost. In fact, this was more then she’d ever seen in her life. Her bank account had held about two hundred dollars last time she’d checked, and she had thought that was pretty good.

            “Ten thousand dollars?” Alice had to whisper it out loud just to hear it. “No way.”

            She could hear her father’s voice in her head going on about the importance of saving. She would move most of it into her savings account, of course. But after that….

            “I’m going shopping!”