Chapter Four

Learning to Spell

          The next morning Alice woke up under Ruby’s patchwork quilt, which meant yesterday must have been real. Thank God.  She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stretched.

She got dressed, choosing a comfy, form-fitting brown sweater and a pair of jeans from her suitcase. Her makeup was usually the bare minimum, but today she decided to use black eye liner and a little eye shadow. It took a while, since she hadn’t used it in so long, but the end result was satisfying. The woman who looked back at her from the mirror was an improvement from plain old Alice. She padded out into the kitchen in her bare feet. She had just started on the pancakes, when there was a soft knock on the door.

“Come in.”

            Azura was dressed in black slacks and a grey sweater. That morning she had gelled her short salt-and-pepper hair so it stuck up in spikes at the back. Alice thought it suited her.

            “Good morning! Did you sleep well?” the other woman asked.

            “Very, thanks. It’s so peaceful.”

            “The walls are actually spelled to keep out noise.”

            “Ah…” Alice stirred the pancake batter. “That’s why it’s so quiet.”

            “I think there’s some bacon in the fridge.”

            As Azura set about making the bacon, Alice asked her some of the questions she’d been wondering about last night. “So, I notice there isn’t nearly as much magic in here as there is downstairs.” She gestured to the one or two wisps of magic floating near the ceiling. “Why is that?”

            Azura stabbed at several pieces of bacon with a fork, and flipped them over. “Magic is attracted to other magic; you’ll find the most magic in places where a lot of it is being used.”

            “So Aunt Ruby didn’t do too much magic up here?”

            “Not for the most part.” Azura shrugged. ”No need to, I suppose.”

            Ten minutes later they sat down to pancakes, bacon and orange juice. Alice found Azura a pleasant breakfast companion. When she wasn’t instructing her about the shop she was laughing and telling jokes or stories. She told her how she had actually turned one enraged customer into a newt.

            “You really did?” Alice gasped.

            “I don’t take well to people swearing at me,” Azura said firmly. “They keep a civil tongue in their head or they end up three inches high and eating flies.”

            “Wow! I guess I had better be polite then.”

            When breakfast was over they went downstairs and Alice’s teacher began by showing her some of the basic spells.

            “What shall we start on first…hmm. Here we go!” Azura started to paw through the boxes on one of the shelves. “Strangling Scarves.” She pulled out a blue, woollen scarf and offered it to Alice.

            “Sounds horrible.” Alice took the scarf carefully, as if it might bite her.

            “Don’t worry,” Azura laughed at the look on her face. “It’s not enchanted yet. And we don’t enchant them to be very strong, just a gentle squeeze, for a joke. Kids think it’s funny.”

            “I’m sure,” Alice murmured. “How do I do it?”

            “I’ll let you try this first one. You might not be able to spot the magic right away.  It’s difficult, especially because this one is rather specific. So what you want to do is get a picture in your mind of what you want to achieve. You want something that constricts or squeezes gently. Just remember though, keep it light. We don’t actually want it strangling anyone. Maybe picture yourself giving someone a hug?  When you have that picture in your mind, reach out with it.”

            Alice thought this rather vague, but she closed her eyes and pictured herself hugging someone and how it felt. She tried to project that thought outwards, away from her and towards the magic. She opened her eyes and…

Nothing.

             “It’s not working.”

            “Try again,” Azura said encouragingly. “This one is a bit difficult, but if yesterday was any indication you’ll be doing dozens of these spells in no time.”

            Alice pictured it again, feeling stupid. She stretched out the thought further, really feeling annoyed now. This is so silly. Am I even doing this right? What is this supposed to…

            “Open your eyes,” Azura whispered.

            When she opened her eyes she spotted a light yellow thread glowing amongst the rest of the magic.

            “Now reach up,” Azura said softly. “Pluck it from the air.”

            “How?” Alice whispered, feeling scared and exhilarated. “What if I can’t?”

            “You can,” Azura promised. “Just reach out.”

            Alice reached up, feeling terrified. What if my hand slips through it and I can’t do magic at all and she sends me home and…Her hand closed over a solid, pulsing line of electricity. Closing her hand around it was different from when she’d simply touched it with one finger; it didn’t burn or sting, but it felt warm and alive in her hand, and Alice sucked in a breath, nearly letting go in surprise. After a second or two she brought it down to waist level like Azura had done.

            “Now wrap it around the scarf,” Azura instructed.

            Alice realized she still held the scarf in her other hand. She held it up by one end and wrapped the gleaming thread gently around the woollen scarf, where it gave one last pulse of light and sank into the fabric, giving the appearance of having been woven into the original pattern.

            “You did it.” Azura grinned. “Good job - that was great.”

            She felt a heady rush of relief and excitement. Maybe she did have a knack for this.

            They enchanted more things -they made dolls that would talk to lonely children, rubber balls that sang while they bounced, crystals that glowed bright enough to light a room, magic wands that shot bubbles or glitter when you waved them, paintings that talked, necklaces with protective charms, a pack of cards that ensured you won every game and even a wrist watch that shouted the time at you.

            “Who buys those?” Alice asked, wincing and covering her ears as the wrist watch yelled “Ten o’clock! Ten o’clock!” in a high, squeaky voice. 

            “Mostly people who are late for everything.” Azura placed the watch back into the box and closed the lid firmly.

            “Now I think we are ready to open shop, don’t you?”

            Alice wasn’t so sure about that, but she followed the woman out of the backroom and into the store.  They passed the cat, who gave them both a sleepy glare.

            “This is Emerald by the way - we call her Emmy,” Azura said. “She doesn’t do much, just lies around and eats.”

            Alice noted the little dish of food and water beside the fire.

“Nice kitty,” she told the cat.

            “Not really,” Azura muttered. “I’ll go open the till; you have a look around again.  You probably didn’t take it all in yesterday. You were a bit shell-shocked.”

            “Yes,” Alice agreed. “I certainly was.”

            She wandered around the shop. To call it magical would be to state the painfully obvious, but Alice couldn’t help thinking that was the best way to describe it.  Her footsteps were muted by the soft brown carpet as she walked between the shelves of merchandise.  She spotted displays for objects she had already enchanted. Nearby were the “Strangling Scarves” and there was a colourful illustration above the basket that showed a cartoon man being strangled by one, his eyeballs popping out comically.  Next to the scarves was the display for the “Perfect Excuses Potions”, the sign promising to get you out of “awful obligations”. Alice looked at the next display with interest.  It held a number of jade coloured potions. The sign read “Delightful Day Dreams” and went on to tell you that each bottle held a total of five hours of “authentic feeling day dreams” Alice blinked in surprise and continued to read the sign.

            “Be whisked off to a castle, a mansion or your own private island, become a famous movie star or a singer, have the romance you always wanted.”  The sign also warned to use no more than an hour per day because, “side effects of an overdose may include, but are not limited to: Dizziness, weariness, bleariness, confusion and depression upon waking and finding it’s not real.”

            She shook her head in amazement and moved on. There was soft background music playing from overhead speakers. In the stillness of the shop she could hear the lyrics of an upbeat pop song:

“Goddess Nyx, veil of darkness, born of chaos and the night.

Sweep me away, my immortal passion, burning dark and bright.”

            “Sort of weird lyrics,” Alice remarked.

            “I’ve been hearing this song a lot,” grumbled Azura. “Terrible, isn’t it? Apparently he’s some new pop star - Alex something? I don’t know.”

Alice nodded, not wanting to admit she thought the tune sort of catchy even if the words were a bit strange.