Tag: magic

Charlie’s Room: The Vase

Isaac was walking to his car after work and passed the antique shop once again. Even though he told himself not to, he glanced in the window. There was a lawn gnome on display, surrounded by a wreath of artificial flowers. Isaac smiled in relief. He didn’t need a lawn gnome, so he wasn’t even tempted to stop inside.

He stopped abruptly when his foot hit something and looked down. There was a box marked “free” in front of the antique shop. Inside, there was a lovely white vase with blue stripes. Marianne’s roses would look lovely in it, and she’d been talking about needing another vase just last week.

He hesitated. His purchases at the antique shop were sometimes trouble. But Marianne needed a vase, and here one sat. It almost seemed meant to be. Isaac rescued the vase from the box and took it with him to his car. Read More

Isaac’s Adventures Underwater: Chapter Eighteen

“I can give you a ride to the next island on my rowboat,” the lady said.

“You have a rowboat?” Isaac looked around.

The lady laughed. “Of course I do. I’m the Queen of Everything, remember?” She pointed at a scrap of notebook paper and it turned itself into a rowboat. “See?” She pointed at the rowboat, and once again it was a scrap of paper.

Isaac looked at the paper with surprise. “Wait, didn’t we need that?”

The lady raised an eyebrow. “Why carry that heavy old thing to the beach when I can change something into a boat there?”

“Right.” Isaac felt foolish. He followed the lady out the door, where she changed into a swan and launched herself into the air.

“I’ll meet you at the beach,” she said, and then flew away.

Isaac trudged across the bridge without looking down and picked his way through the swamp. Then he walked around the beach until he found the swan waiting for him, preening her wings.

“What took you so long?” she asked.

“I can’t fly.”

The swan fluffed up its wings. “Well, that’s no excuse. Hurry up then. The rowboat is waiting, just over there.”

Isaac walked over to the rowboat, and then turned to look at the swan. “Aren’t you coming?”

“No, I don’t want to leave my island. I want to watch the closet doors and be there when they open. But, once you’re rowing away, I’ll send some lucky feathers along to guide you. Just catch them before they hit the water, or they’re not lucky any more.”

Isaac looked at the little rowboat. “I don’t know how to row.”

“You can do it, I believe in you,” the swan said. “Did that help?”

“Not really, no.”

The swan sighed and turned into a sheep. “Hop in and I’ll give you a push to start.”

Isaac climbed into the rowboat and held tightly to the oars and the sheep shoved the rowboat into the waves. The sheep changed into a large white whale that gave the boat one large final push, and Isaac and the rowboat were out to sea.

Overhead, a dove flapped its wings and several feathers blew off to the left. Isaac tried to push the oars back through the water to pull the boat forward. It didn’t work very well. The water seemed heavy, like he was pushing through cement. The feathers floated down, just out of reach.

Isaac remembered what the lady said, and reached out, trying to catch the feathers before he hit the water. A small breeze caught the largest, prettiest feathers and flung them far away. But nearby, a little fluffy bit of down was tumbling through the air.

Reaching out as far as he dared, Isaac’s fingers just barely managed to close around the bit of fluff. It dissolved like a snowflake when it hit his palm. The other feathers disappeared into the water. Now what?

A dolphin popped its head out of the water. “Have we met before?” she asked. “You seem familiar somehow.”

“I think you escorted me to land once,” Isaac said. “Thank you for that.”

“I do try to help where I can,” the dolphin said. “Say, did you happen to need help again?”

“Yes please.” Isaac held up the oars. “I don’t know how to row.”

“Well, show me what you’ve done so far.”

Isaac tried scooping the water again. “It’s too heavy,” he said.

“Then scoop less water,” the dolphin suggested.

Isaac tried again. The boat inched forward. The dolphin followed, giving encouragement and advice, until an island appeared on the horizon. The dolphin whistled. “I need to go now. Good luck, friend.”

“Thank you, friend,” Isaac said. And he rested a moment, and then rowed his way to shore. Rowing was hard work, much harder than he’d thought.

Isaac’s Adventures Underwater: Chapter Seventeen

“So, how are you the queen of everything?” Isaac asked.

The sheep smiled. “Would you like to see my store?”

“I don’t have any money.” For some reason, Isaac felt a twinge of embarrassment, even though even if he’d brought money to this world with him, it probably wouldn’t be the right kind.

“Oh, I wouldn’t sell you anything,” the sheep said. “If I sold something, then I wouldn’t have it anymore, and then I wouldn’t be the Queen of Everything.”

“Then isn’t it more like a museum?” Read More

The Magic Mirror and the Queen

The queen fixed her make-up and then smiled at the mirror. “Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?”

A fuzzy face appeared in the mirror and her reflection disappeared. “My queen, you are fair, it is true, but Snow White is a thousand times more fair than you.”

The queen scowled and turned from the mirror, a dozen murderous plots already forming in her mind. And then she paused and turned around. “What do you mean when you say fair?”

The mirror narrowed its fuzzy eyes. “What, no rhyme?”

The queen shrugged. “Is it really necessary?”

“I guess not.” The mirror sighed. “There are so many meanings to the word fair. But I know that you meant beautiful, and really she is more beautiful than you at this point.”

“A thousand times more?” Read More

The Magic Club

“I joined a magic club today,” Hortense told her sister.

“A what?” Kezia nearly knocked her crystal ball off its stand. “You’re kidding.”

“No, I saw a flyer for it posted on the wall at the grocery store.” Hortense flicked her fingers at the fruit basket, and and apple hopped into her hand.

“That sounds dangerous. Was it charmed so that only magic users could see it?”

“No, there weren’t any runes on it or anything.” Hortense bit into her apple. “Weird, huh?”

Kezia made a face. “Don’t talk with your mouth full, or I’ll make that apple disappear.”

Hortense laughed. “You sound just like Mom.”

“Well, Mom had manners. Now tell me about the club.”

“So bossy.” Hortense took another bite of the apple.

“Well?”

“Can’t talk. My mouth’s full.”

Kezia muttered and snapped her fingers. The apple vanished. “There. I solved that problem for you.”

Hortense scowled. “Fine. You’re so mean.” She sat on the couch with a huff.

“Hortense?”

Hortense looked up at her sister. “You know, it was nice to be around magic again. But it was such a weird mix of spells. Some people were doing mind reading, some were making things appear and disappear. One guy was talking about cutting people into pieces and putting them back together. How would that even work?”

Kezia shook her head. “I wouldn’t want to risk it. I can’t believe that was allowed.”

Hortense shrugged. “I guess he was just talking about it. Anyway, they had a magic demonstration planned for next week. I signed up. I think I’ll do some tricks on my broom. It’s been too long since the poor thing’s been out of the house.”

“We talked about that when we moved here. In a big city like this…”

“Yes, yes. People, cameras, blah blah blah.” Hortense slumped back into the couch. “I don’t see why we’re both stuck here just because you want to try to fix air pollution with rune-covered crystals.”

“It’s a global problem, and my research…”

Hortense sighed loudly. “I know. And I came to help out. It’s just not easy to feel so trapped.” She sat up. “You should come next week. You never leave the house at all any more. It’s not healthy.”

Kezia snapped her fingers and the apple reappeared in Hortense’s lap. “All right. It might be nice to get out.”

The next week, they sat in a dimly lit, crowded room, watching the first act. The man pulled a rabbit from his hat and roses from his sleeves. Kezia sat up and narrowed her eyes. She began muttering during the next act as playing cards appeared and disappeared.

When the man with the giant saw wheeled his victim onstage, Kezia snorted. Hortense looked at her sister in confusion. “Kezia?” she whispered.

“It’s fake. None of them are using any magic at all. It’s just pretend,” Kezia whispered back.

“What?” Hortense said loudly. It was drowned out by the cheers of the magicians around them as the victim was repaired. “What do you mean? How could they even do that?” she whispered fiercely.

“Pay closer attention. You’ve let yourself get sloppy,” Kezia said.

After watching a man escape from a burning box and appear in the audience, Hortense sighed. “You’re right. Does that mean I have to cancel my performance?”

Kezia looked around at the audience. “No, I think you’ll be fine.”

“What do you mean?” Hortense asked. But already she was being called to the stage. Trusting her sister, she flew some loops around the stage and did a few flips. The audience roared in approval.

After the show, she was surrounded by eager magicians. “How did you do it?” one of them asked. “I have to know!”

The club president came over and shook his head. “Now, now. You know the rules. A magician never reveals their secrets.”

“Oh yeah. Sorry,” the man said. The group stared to drift away.

The club president smiled at Hortense. “Tell your sister I am a big fan of her work.” Then he winked and walked away.

Kezia brought their coats over. “Are you ready to go?”

Grinning, Hortense took her coat and started to put it on, only to realize she was holding it upside down. “You won’t believe what just happened!”

Kezia smiled. “I can’t wait to hear all about it. It’s good to see you this excited about something again.”

“Well, maybe the city isn’t so bad after all.” Hortense managed to get all her coat buttons fastened. “Let’s go home.”