The Phoenix and the Witch

by H. M. Gooden

  Robin twinkled at the girls, his dimpled cheeks and shiny white teeth glinting before he spoke.

  "Hello, my lovelies! I'm happy to see you on such a beautiful Summerland day. What brings you here?"

  Evelyn smiled before she spoke, sounding almost bashful.

  "We're thrilled about the idea of a trip to Scotland, but I'm not sure if I can afford to go. It's a lot of money, and well," said Evelyn, her voice faltering slightly before she continued. "I just don't have the resources to pay for it."

  Robin looked at her, strangely serious yet with a compassionate expression Cat couldn't remember ever seeing on his face before.

  "My dear, never fear. I wouldn't ask you to go if I didn't think you could. I've anticipated that you may hit this snag, as money is a such a very human problem. And so I have planned for it."

  As Cat watched, she noticed Robin was holding small bag. She'd never seen him carry anything before. As Robin held the bag out to Evelyn, she felt her mouth drop open.

  "No way!" Cat gasped.

  Evelyn almost shrieked as she held the heavy bag, having opened it to see it full to the top with coins and papers. As she pulled one out, Cat noted that it was a British pound and smiled.

  "Why Robin, that is so kind of you to provide for us. How can we thank you?"

  Cat waited for him to answer and wasn't disappointed with his response.

  "Why, you can beat back the darkness again, of course! This particular foe has blighted my land for centuries and now the time is coming where it will try to rise and create more havoc. I wish to have it gone, permanently, before this happens, and so I shall entrust you to this mission."

  Evelyn and Cat both nodded, still stunned by the bag of money in front of them, but not surprised to hear the reason for its presence.

  "Thank you, Robin," said Cat. "We shall do our best to aid you in this mission. This will help a lot, with our very human problems, of course."

  Evelyn bowed her head in thanks, accepting the bag and tucking it into her backpack, then looping her straps back over her shoulder. Cat noticed her stumble a little under the new weight.

  Robin beamed at them again, springing at Evelyn and giving her a quick and unexpected peck on the cheek before he bounced away, calling over his shoulder before he disappeared.

  "Take care, lovelies. I will see you soon."

  Then he was gone, bounded away to wherever it was he went in between cryptic visits with the girls. They looked at each other, Evelyn absently rubbing her cheek in amusement before she pulled out the bag again, opening it so they could both examine it's contents. They sighed.

  "So, how much do you think is in there?" Cat asked.

  Evelyn shrugged. "No idea. Probably not enough to cover everything, but like you said, I'm sure the plane tickets are part of the 'scholarship', so I'd imagine it's just enough to get us by. Robin's very predictable that way."

  Evelyn smiled down at the bag and patted it fondly. "Such a silly boy. I could just squeeze him!"

  Cat laughed at her friend's affectionate look.

  "Well, he's gone now, so we should get home as well. We can plan the rest of the trip later."

  Evelyn nodded and headed back to the tree. "Yes, let's go. I need to tell my mom about everything."

  Cat took a breath, thinking about the day's events.

  "Yeah, I've got a lot of filling in to do at home for my parents too."

  They took a last look around, before going back through to the cooler, darker human world, the tree closing like a door behind them.

  "No way!" Vanessa practically shrieked into the phone later that night.

  "You get to take English in Scotland? What the hell? How did I miss that opportunity?"

  Cat smiled, lying upside down on her bed, wearing her cozy pjs while she did homework and talked to her sister. She'd been texting Vanessa, as their mother had finally caved in and allowed Cat to have her own cell phone for grade twelve, considering that she'd saved the world and now had a driver's license. Vanessa had promptly called her after Cat had mentioned a study abroad program. Now they'd been talking for twenty minutes, with a lot of high pitched, extremely excited noises coming from Cat's very jealous big sister.

  "Yes, it looks like it!" said Cat. "It's only supposed to be for six weeks, right after the end of the first semester. So I've still got an entire month before we leave, but it sounds amazing, based on the information I've been able to find on the program. Mom is really excited too. It's like she thinks I'm artistic or something. She's too busy being proud and calling all of our distant relatives to brag to ask me about the details. I think Dad suspects it's a bit of a ruse, but he just gave me a list of places I need to visit, based on ancestors and stuff. If I don't visit a few specific castles he'll be pretty upset."

  Vanessa laughed. "That sounds about right. Well, listen. Tell me when the dates are and I'll see how I can make it over there. I'm guessing you'll need all of us if we're fighting another big bad evil again. I'll rearrange my schedule and take time off when you guys are there. And of course, I'll definitely tell Mai everything."

  "That would be wonderful, Vanessa. I've missed you guys so much! I hope everything works out so that you can come too."

  The girls talked for a bit longer, Vanessa doing the lion's share as usual. Nothing new was going on for the girls outside of the trip, so once Cat's information was exhausted, Vanessa said goodbye, leaving Cat to sit on her bed, lost in her thoughts again.

  One thought remained clear to her throughout all the excitement. The fantastic trip to the land of her ancestors was all part of what would likely be a very dangerous experience. They may not all come out of it in one piece. Her excitement thus tempered, Cat turned out her light, drifting off into sleep after mulling over the day's events in her head and dreaming of a far away place.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Cat and Evelyn were both terrified and exhilarated as they hugged their parents goodbye at the airport. Neither girl had been on a plane before, let alone a giant aircraft that would be crossing an ocean.

  "You have your wallet and passport, right? And your money belt? Just in case?"

  Mindy McLean fussed around Cat, attempting to straighten her jacket and the strap on her bag. Cat shrugged off her mother as gently as she could, patting her hand.

  "Yes, Mom, I have everything. And I have my cell and the plan that we set up for the UK. I promise I'll text when we land for sure, okay? We'll be fine."

  Her mom sighed, smiling at her sadly. "I know you will. But even though I know that you're a strong capable young woman, you're still my baby. Mommy loves you and I'd keep you locked in a safe room if it was allowed and not considered child abuse."

  Cat smiled at her mom, noting her suspiciously sparkly eyes, and gave her a tighter-than-usual hug. "I love you too, Mom."

  Cat looked over her mother's shoulder to see her dad smiling with a hint of mist in his own eyes. He quickly blinked, replacing the moisture with a twinkle.

  "I'm really jealous, you know that, right? I haven't been to the UK since I was about eighteen. Make sure you listen to the teachers while you're there. And be careful. Try not to burn anyone alive that doesn't deserve it, okay?"

  He said the last part in a light, teasing tone, but Cat felt her face turn red to match her long hair and she looked around to make sure that no one was listening. Luckily, the Valleyview airport was pretty quiet at six am and there were few people around to notice her turn into a tomato.

  "Don't worry Dad, I'll be careful. We'll be in touch as soon as we land."

  Cat gave her dad a hug, inhaling his familiar aftershave and realizing it would be over a month until she had the chance to do that again. She felt a lump form in her throat. While generally an independent and solitary girl, Cat loved her parents and had never been away from them for longer than a week or two for camp when she was younger, or for the odd weekend when she went to visit her sister a few hours from home. She also hated that, ever since Declan had put her parents in
the hospital two years earlier, she found herself worrying about them when she wasn't around. She knew they were fine without her, but the fact that she'd be far away over the ocean gave her a sharp pang with the memory of that day.

  She sniffed back a few tears of her own and stepped back, giving both her parents a brave smile. She looked at Evelyn, who was giving her own mother a bear hug at that moment. The two girls said their final goodbyes to their parents and proceeded through security, looking back to see the three adults standing at the gate, Mindy and Marie-Jean giving each other a comforting hug, while Peter stood stoically beside them. With a last wave, the girls entered the first checkpoint, before their parents disappeared from view.

  A few minutes later, Cat and Evelyn were looking out the window at the gate, waiting for their plane to arrive. It wasn't busy, so there were lots of seats as well as a few places to grab food and drinks nearby, but they stood instead, watching the planes as they landed and took off.

  Evelyn took a deep breath before exhaling slowly. "So, here we are, on our way to a new country. Don't tell anyone I said this to you because I'll totally deny it, but I'm kind of scared."

  Cat looked at her friend, then leaned into her shoulder with a small bump.

  "Don't worry, Evelyn. This conversation never happened. Also, I'm scared too. I'm sort of counting on you to keep me safe. You're the cool-kid-extrovert, remember? I'm supposed to be quiet and hang back while you deal with all the strangers for me."

  Evelyn laughed, lightly pushing Cat away.

  "Fool. You're the strongest person I know. You don't need me for that."

  "Okay, how about this? We'll help each other when we get scared and overwhelmed. Deal?" Cat said, holding out her hand to shake on it.

  Evelyn nodded and took her hand, giving it a decisive pump.

  "Deal. Now, let's go find somewhere to sit. Our plane doesn't leave for awhile."

  Cat followed Evelyn to a nearby cluster of chairs, still looking at the planes outside as they flew away. It was going to be a grand new adventure, and Cat was looking forward to spreading her own wings.

  BY THE TIME THE GIRLS arrived at Heathrow Airport, they were completely wiped out. The trip had taken them about sixteen hours of flying time. They'd had to fly an hour to get to Los Angeles, and then it was almost twelve hours from Los Angeles, as well as a layover, plus a huge time change. In the end, they'd somehow lost an entire day. Cat checked in with her parents as promised. Since London was eight hours ahead of them in Valleyview, the text she sent to her mom was met quickly with a happy face emoji. Cat sent a kissy face back, letting her mom know that they were catching a van that had been chartered for them across the country up to Scotland and that she'd text when she got to their final destination. Her mother, happy that the plane had landed safety, sent another kiss and said she'd talk to Cat tomorrow. Evelyn, after similarly informing her mother, looked at Cat.

  "God, I'm so tired! Let's go see if our ride is here. At least we didn't have any delays, but an entire day of flying and sitting in tiny chairs isn't cool."

  Cat agreed, replying with a small amount of snarkiness of her own. "Well, at least you're short. I think my legs are permanently cramped from sitting in those smurf-sized seats. Not to mention the food cart hitting me in the knees about thirty times."

  Cat rubbed her knees, wincing at the memory, as Evelyn smirked.

  "Your fault for being so freakishly tall. I stopped growing at a perfect size."

  She smoothed down her shirt, giving a coquettish pout at her much taller friend from her more petite five feet, four inch frame.

  Cat stuck out her tongue and stood up, starting to walk away in a pretend huff after grabbing her suitcase. Evelyn laughed, grabbed her bags, and together they walked toward the exit signs. They passed along many motorized walkways inside the terminal before finally reaching the exit, seeing a wide variety of people dressed in many different styles and speaking many languages she didn't understand. Finally they walked outside into a giant plume of smoke, where Cat found herself having a coughing spell. So much for the fresh air she'd been looking forward to. Smoking wasn't that common anywhere she'd lived, but as the terminal building was smoke-free, it made sense that people would light up the minute they got out after a long flight. Heck, she'd didn't smoke but Cat certainly felt the need for something to help her relax after their grueling flight.

  Scanning the crowd, Cat's gaze finally fell on a small woman holding a card that read 'Catherine McLean and Evelyn Baptiste'. Cat reflexively flipped into her aura vision, as she always did now whenever she met someone new, and felt her breath catch.

  No. Way!

  She turned to Evelyn, gesturing at the woman as subtly as she could.

  "Do you see that?" she hissed.

  "You mean the giant sign with my name on it? Um, yeah? Thanks?"

  Cat shook her head impatiently. "No, look closer. Do you see her aura?"

  Evelyn turned to look at the woman and Cat saw her start with surprise when Evelyn noticed what Cat had seen, before turning back with wide eyes.

  "She has power. Like, a lot of it!"

  Cat nodded. "Yeah and her aura's green. I haven't seen any like that before. I wonder if she knows? Do you think she's one of the contacts Mr. Grayson was talking about?"

  Evelyn shrugged as she continued to examine the woman.

  "I don't know. He's almost as bad as Robin about actually telling us anything. He literally told us the bare minimum and just kept saying that everything would unfold in due time. Let's play it cool for now. Once we get a little more familiar with her, maybe we can ask."

  Cat nodded and they walked over to meet the woman. When they got closer, they realized that she was a lot younger than she'd initially appeared. In fact, she looked close to their own age of late teens. When she noticed them approaching, the woman straightened up from where she'd been slouching against the hood of a small van.

  "Catherine and Evelyn?"

  Her voice was a warm alto, with a perfect television British accent that almost made Cat giggle. She knew she'd have to remember that she was the one with the accent now, not the people that lived in the UK. She'd also have to keep telling herself that it wasn't a comedy in which people pretended to have British accents, no matter how enjoyable she thought they sounded.

  "Yes, that's us," said Evelyn, smiling as she held out her hand confidently for the woman to shake.

  Cat took the opportunity to examine her appearance using her regular vision and liked what she saw. She was shorter than Evelyn, maybe only five feet, two inches, but had a strong air of energy around her that made her seem bigger. She had long, straight black hair almost to her waist, and dark tan skin with warm brown eyes that reminded Cat of the earth in summertime, rich and full of life.

  Cat, still trying not to giggle at her earlier thoughts about accents, shook the woman's hand after Evelyn, feeling a nice, warm tingle that was subtle and not at all unpleasant. She let go of her hand, trying to smile innocently. The woman looked at her curiously, then shrugged before introducing herself.

  "My name is Zahara Khan. I've been hired by the scholarship program to be your driver and guide during the time you're here. Are you ready to go to your lodgings?"

  "Oh yeah, more than ready," said Cat, yawning.

  Evelyn groaned with exaggerated exhaustion, earning a smile from Zahara.

  "Well, hop on in then and we'll get going. It's a good days drive, about eight hours away, so would you like to stop for a bite first, or eat somewhere along the road?"

  Cat got in, putting her bags in the far back of the vehicle before turning to answer.

  "Maybe in a bit? I wouldn't mind driving until I'm a bit hungrier. My stomach's a little unsettled from the plane right now."

  Zahara nodded, getting into the drivers seat once both Cat and Evelyn were seated behind her in the first of the two rows.

  "Perfect! Seat belts are mandatory here, please. Let's take a good look around at the craziness of traffic
near London in the morning!"

  She threw a cheerful smile over her shoulder at the girls, ensuring their seat belts were in place before she shifted into gear and drove smoothly into what turned out to be truly crazy traffic.

  Cat found herself holding her breath at multiple times en route, as Zahara maneuvered through spots that looked too small for their vehicle, and drove on the wrong side of the road from what she was used to. She was struck by a memory of the scene in the Harry Potter movie when the Night Bus was changing its size to fit in between two oncoming vehicles. She smiled at the crazy idea then paused, wondering if Zahara was doing something to alter the size of the van.

  Hmm, she thought, something to think about. She spent the rest of the drive attentive to anything that seemed unusual, but wasn't rewarded with anything that she could clearly chalk up to being supernatural. While slightly frustrated she couldn't pinpoint their driver's powers on first sight, she was more than satisfied by the sight of the countryside as it passed by. She'd been disappointed that they weren't going to be visiting London, at least not at the start of the trip, but she was mollified slightly by the sights around her. It was enough to satisfy a small part of her tourist curiosity, at least for now. Vanessa and Mai were totally missing out.

  Zahara turned out to be a friendly and capable driver, keeping up a steady stream of information regarding the passing scenery even while dodging traffic more narrowly than Cat was comfortable with. Cat and Evelyn found themselves quite entertained with her practical and humorous comments on the traffic, local customs, and history. By the time they decided to break for food they were already over three hours down the road, just outside Manchester.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  They stopped at a small roadside gas station to refuel and get sandwiches, not wanting to take too long of a break before moving on to their final destination.

  "Alright all, I'll handle the petrol tank," said Zahara. "Why don't you two go in and grab yourself a bite and freshen up? I'll be along shortly."