by J. A. Areces
Chapter 8
The Greatest Vacation Spot in the Whole Wide World
“Excuse me, sir, but it appears that your cousin, Ana Mahgo, is attempting to speak to you, sir. Should I take a message or would you prefer to speak to her?” The wizard’s cell phone announced.
Beifar reached into his pant pocket and withdrew his phone. “I’ll be right there.” He said calmly. He turned towards the door and proceeded to exit. “My cousin, Ana, from the Department is here.”
No one responded. The homeless man and the pizza delivery guy were both sitting on the floor across from the crystal ball entranced. They both gazed stupidly at their own reflection. Jesse started to work on his laptop, not paying any attention to the wizard, the crystal ball or its gazers. The bell rang announcing Beifar’s departure so Jesse looked up and noticed him leaving. He went over to the window and curiously peeked outside. Across the street, at the exact location where he first discovered Beifar stood a woman. She didn’t look like a witch. There was no pointy hat or long, dark cloak, not even a broom. She wore a light pink dress, and a rather large, pink handbag. She greeted Beifar with a big hug. He attempted to help carry her bag but she refused. As they walked back across the street, Jesse noticed that her hair was long. It was very long, almost to the back of her knees. She wore it in a long ponytail with shiny little objects that glistened in the sunlight. Then they both stopped just short of the sidewalk.
“Oh, brother,” Jesse murmured. He was losing patience with this whole Emunio Concutio thing.
“BEEP”
He opened the front door wearing a fake smile and with both arms invited them both to enter Alivan’s Wizards and Witches Corner Store.
Beifar introduced Jesse to his cousin Ana. They politely shook hands as the wizard closed the door behind her. She was not tall and not intimidating at all.
“Oh, my!” she exclaimed. “What a wonderful store!” She quickly made her way to the witches’ hat display on the wall, ignoring the huge crystal ball and the two men on the floor. Without any hesitation, she began reaching for hats and trying them on. “I like this one,” she said joyfully. She picked up a small pink hat with a large brim and a short round crown and gently glided the tips of her fingers around the brim. “I’ll buy it. How much is it?”
Jesse looked a bit taken aback. Ana marched, determined, toward the front desk searching her bag for money. “It costs $50.00.” Jesse said awkwardly while thinking that Beifar didn’t bring Ana to Alivan’s Wizards and Witches Corner Store to shop. Ana pulled out the money, “No need to bag it,” and adjusted the hat to fit her just right.
“I lost my hat on my way over here.” She said a bit embarrassed.
The two men on the floor glanced at each other and shrugged clueless.
“Ana,” interrupted Beifar, “the crystal ball is over here.” He pointed with his staff.
“I know. I saw it when I came in.” She turned from the front desk and walked to the crystal ball. “It’s late eighteenth century, French, probably from the South region…. Wait!”
Everyone froze. Beifar lifted his staff in defense. She quickly made her way to the back of the store and stopped just short of the wand glass display. “These are just marvelous!” She placed her bag on the top of the counter and leaned down close to the glass. “That one is beautiful…look at the workmanship… Phoenix feather… and a touch of pink. I must have it! I can feel it calling me…oh, how wonderful. Finally! My old wand has just about had it. How much is that Salacious Wand?”
“You can buy it on the way out,” insisted Beifar, “we’re in a bit of a hurry here, Ana.”
“Oh, very well.” Ana faced them all. “It’s just that I never get to go shopping. I’m always working, working, working.” She moved before the crystal ball. “Okay, let’s take a look.”
Ana leaned over the orb, her reflection distorted. She placed her hands just above the cold glass, slowly sliding them in all directions as she gingerly danced around the crystal ball, mumbling and making inquisitive noises that sounded like “hhhhhmmmmm,” or “ah ha.” Abruptly, she stopped, straightened up, waved to her purse, and it obeyed, floating across the room into her hands. The two men on the floor gawked at each other before jumping to their feet. They were out the door as fast as their legs could move, slamming it shut behind them.
Ana reached into her purse and pulled out a pair of small, black, reading glasses. She placed them squarely on her nose. “Are you using these already?” she asked the wizard.
Beifar nodded. “Yes, but only at home. I’m still in denial.”
Ana reached into her bag again and pulled out a small, thick book, wrapped with a leather string that ended with a nice, neat knot. She pulled on the string, freeing the book. The pages fluttered from cover to cover on their own. She placed her hand over the pages and the fluttering stopped, revealing a page somewhere in the middle of the book. Taking a deep breath, she began to read words that were not recognizable to Jesse. Then, she reached into her bag, all the way up to her shoulder, and retrieved a bottle filled half way with red dust. Taking a pinch, she sprinkled the dust over the crystal ball. The crystal ball emanated a slight, red glow. “Bingo!” she exclaimed. “Now we’re getting somewhere. Boy, I am good.” She glanced over her reading glasses at Beifar and smiled. “Ten years in the Bureau pays off every once in a while.” Ana turned and went back to her book. She returned the red dust bottle back into her bag, and retrieved a very small bottle filled with green dust. She opened it and took out a pinch of the green contents. Again, she sprinkled the dust over the crystal ball, while reading from the strange book, and the crystal ball released a slight green glow. “OK” she said proudly, “so far so good.” She returned the bottle back into her bag and dug out a small bottle filled with yellow dust and repeated the same procedure as before. “Excellent,” and repeated the procedure, this time with a purple bottle.
“How long will this take?” asked the wizard impatiently while pacing around the store.
“It’s hard to say.” She responded. “These things have to be done delicately so as not…”
“…to hurt the spell.” Beifar finished her sentence. “Yes, I know the line.”
Ana the witch never looked up. She continued the same procedure over and over but with different bottles filled with different colored dust, and each time the crystal ball would radiate the corresponding colored hue.
“Well, we know it’s a magical crystal ball. The question is what’s it doing here? You know, it’s against the law for one of these things to be owned by a Folk. It’s much too dangerous.” She pulled out a new bottle of light blue dust. “Do you have a permit for this?” She looked up at Jesse.
Jesse lost interest in the magical investigation on the origin of the crystal ball some time ago, and returned to the Exercises. He stretched both arms out in front of his body while he concentrated on feeling his fingers. He stopped for the moment angered that he was interrupted, and asked, “Permit for a glass ball? Hello? I don’t even know where it came from or how it got here.” He then continued his Exercises.
“Rude, young man, Beifar.” The witch continued her investigation. “No need to be rude just because you’re stressed out.” Ana drew closer to Jesse and threw a handful of light blue dust at him.
Jesse pulled back on his chair obviously upset. Dust covered his hair and desk. He wanted to retaliate but resisted. He didn’t think he could beat a witch at anything. The thought of being turned into a cat or something more bizarre was enough to make Jesse ignore the whole matter. And, really, what could he do even if she was not a witch? Kick her out of the store? She was the wizard’s cousin after all.
The wizard pushed back his hat and sat on the stairs that led to the office, frustrated that the revelation of the crystal ball was taking so long. Resting his head against the sidewall, he retraced the events of the last day and repeat
ed over and over in his mind the conversation with Lord Alex. It was evident that Lord Alex despised him and would take any opportunity to dispose of him. So why did Lord Alex set him free? It definitely was not a demonstration of compassion or mercy; far from it. Lord Alex was using Beifar. The question now was, for what purpose? Was there any truth in his statement that Claw was planning to destroy the greatest vacation spot in the world? Impossible he thought, but what if - - what if Claw was completely mad? A vacation spot was a huge place. This was unheard of. Why would anyone dare such a terrible deed?
Ana returned the last investigative bottle back into her bag and pulled out another containing pink dust.
“This is my favorite.” She giggled to herself. “It won’t reveal anything, but I just want to see the crystal ball glow this color.” It was very pretty and it made Ana happy.
“Jesse,” Beifar called out.
“BEEP”
“Yeah?” Jesse did not take his eyes off the screen.
“Do me a favor,” The wizard was heading toward the front desk. “Do a search for the five best vacation spots in the world.”
Jesse looked up inquisitively at the wizard who now stood by his side.
“Something I just remembered,” continued the wizard.
Jesse pulled up the Google search page and ran the search. A long list of sites appeared. Jesse clicked on the first site listed. On the screen appeared a web page with a list of different vacation spots. The first one was Paris, France with a picture of the Eiffel Tower at night, studded in bright lights. I would like to go there someday, thought Jesse. Jesse scrolled the arrow and clicked on the bold highlighted words.
“No, not that one,” interrupted Beifar leaning over Jesse’s back gazing into the laptop. “Go to the next.”
Jesse scrolled down to the next selection feeling his space invaded by the wizard. He huffed as he highlighted Disney World, Orlando, Florida, hoping that Beifar would get the hint, but he didn’t. Jesse kept his finger on the mouse waiting for further instructions. There was none.
Meanwhile, Ana continued reciting strange words from her spell book, as she moved around the large, seemingly immobile, round object. The floor underneath appeared like the remnants of a large box of crayons. Jesse slowly glanced over his shoulder to find the wizard gazing off distracted. His expression, stoic.
“Are you okay?” he asked Beifar.
“That’s it,” announced Ana. She closed her bag and adjusted her hat. “I’m done, and it’s just as I expected. This is an authentic, magical, crystal ball and, for now, just that.”
Ana’s announcement reanimated the wizard Beifar, who moved around the desk back into the center of the shop looking confused.
“Don’t worry,” Ana assured him, “there is nothing evil about this. This is your typical crystal ball. I put a special spell on it, so that if it’s used for anything else besides communication or visualization, we’ll know.” She turned and moved to the wand counter. “Now young man, how much is this beautiful pink wand?” She pointed by pressing her finger against the glass for a moment and smiled.
The wizard slowly walked around the crystal ball, observing it from all angles suspiciously. Lord Alex delivered it. That, alone, was enough to give Beifar every reason to suspect that this crystal ball was here for an ulterior motive.
“I’ll pay for it.” He remarked. “It’s the least I can do for you after you came all the way out here to help me out.”
“Good!” exclaimed Ana as she waved her hand causing the wand to appear in her grasp. With her new wand in one hand, and bag in the other, she walked towards the wizard and gave him a kiss on the cheek as she headed for the door. Jesse watched her pass the front desk, and then she stopped, turned, and faced him.
“You’ll need a permit for that crystal ball, or you’ll be fined. Every wizard knows that. Don’t worry about registering the crystal ball; I’ll do that for you when I return to my office.” She smiled at Jesse.
“I’m not a wizard.” Jesse declared.
“Ciao!” she waved to Beifar, flung the door open, the bell rang, and out she went.
Jesse watched Ana through the window. He found her to be even stranger than the wizard Beifar. Ana the witch stood on the porch; looked up and down the sidewalk and street a couple of times; and when she was certain that the coast was clear, she took her brand new wand and tapped it slightly on her brand new hat.
FLASH! She was gone.
That was the coolest thing Jesse ever saw. He leaned up against the window in complete awe and disbelief. Ana the witch was really gone. She disappeared with just a slight burst of light. Had he not been looking right at her, he would have missed it. How? Jesse asked himself. It must have been the wand. Jesse ran over to the back of the wand display counter and pulled the sliding door open. Reaching in, he retrieved any wand, and standing straight, tapped his head repeatedly. Nothing happened. Determined, he grabbed another and then another until he noticed Beifar watching him with an odd expression like, have you suddenly gone mad? Jesse lowered his head embarrassed. He replaced the wands and returned to his desk. The wizard made no mention of the incident.
“I saw Ana tap her head…” Jesse started to explain but then decided against it. He knew it was futile.
“BEEP”
Another order came in, and Jesse switched from the vacation screen to his ordering software without giving it a thought. They both forgot about the search for the greatest vacation spot in the world.
Beifar turned and headed to the front of the store. “I need to go.” He informed Jesse. “I’m going back to my office to do some research. You have my cell. Call me if you need me or if anything strange happens.” He took hold of the front door knob and opened the door. The bell rang. “And don’t do anything foolish, Jesse. Do the same thing you would regularly do everyday.” His eyebrows rose as he gave Jesse a stern look and exited the store.
Jesse watched him go down the porch steps as three women passed him on their way up. He was hoping to see him disappear, but there were too many people around. Jesse resumed his work.
