Almost Magic

by Kathleen Bullock

  “Things are not okay!” Words tumbled out of my mouth in a rush as I jumped off the bed. “Things are pretty bad, and going to get worse.” I hesitated. “Does your brother know about my family and…the magic thing?”

  “Not yet, but he will in a minute. Here he comes.”

  Not good. I groaned. The greater the number of people who knew, the more complicated the situation got and the harder it would be to fix.

  “Don’t worry, Marsh is cool. And he has a car! He can drive us to the police.”

  “Police? Oh, no. We have to find my father and go straight to the High Wizarding Command. They’ll know how to stop the evil mage and his plan to take over the world.”

  “An evil mage? Take over the world? This sounds like my favorite movie plot. I’m getting goose bumps!” She clasped her hands and looked totally excited.

  A tall boy with a football player’s build pushed into the room. Marsh Meadows. I smoothed my hair and hoped I looked presentable, even if I was still in my pajamas.

  “Posey, come with me NOW,” the boy said, holding out his hand. “This is nuts. You’re trespassing. I promised Cornelia I’d never come out here uninvited. She told me her family is part of a Witness Protection program. Let’s go before she finds out.” Like his sister, he had dark hair and gray eyes. He tugged at Posey’s hand, making her wobble.

  “No. I’m not leaving, Marsh. Apple needs me.”

  The boy scowled and looked ready to carry his sister off, when ker-thump, a suitcase appeared in the middle of the carpet. A second later, Cornelia Bramblewood, the golden Venus herself, materialized wearing a “don’t-mess-with-me” look on her face. “I’ve been calling and calling. Does no one answer the phone anymore?”

  Did we ever?

  Marsh gasped and the color drained from his face. Posey stepped behind him.

  Corny turned toward her confused classmate, a look of utter dismay on her face. “What are you doing here, Marsh? I asked you not to visit without calling first. You promised!” Suddenly her demeanor softened and she smiled at the boy. I caught my breath. Corny liked him!

  Seeing my smile, she whipped around and glared daggers at me. “What happened here? The whole house is trashed! What did you do? Throw a pajama party?” She laughed at the ridiculousness of the idea. “As if!”

  The next moment, my sister’s face hardened again. We always knew we had to keep the magical side of our lives secret for obvious reasons, but clearly things had gone beyond that point now.

  “Darn it, Marsh. I’ll have to conjure up another batch of forget pills and who-knows-what-else to wipe this incident from your mind.”

  “No time for that!” I stomped over and pushed my nose into her face. “Listen to me for once.” I rapped my knuckles on her forehead. “Big emergency here! We have to find Dad. IMMEDIATELY!”

  I threw a big sweatshirt over my jammies, grabbed my sister’s hand, and dragged her, stumbling and protesting, down the stairs as I shouted a rapid-fire account of the crisis. I kind of avoided the lost journal issue—plenty of time for for her to blame me later.

  We reached the bottom of the stairs. “Do you understand now, Corny?” I persisted. “There’s an evil sorcerer from the past on the loose who wants to conquer the world with fire-breathing dragons!”

  Corny pried my fingers off her arm. “I get it. I get it! Mom, Pop, and the world at large are in jeopardy. And it’s probably all your fault.”

  The blaming came sooner than expected.

  The Meadowses stumbled down behind us. Marsh brushed past, pulling Posey toward the door. “We’ll be going now,” he said, reaching for the knob.

  “Oh, no you don’t.” Corny zapped, and the doors locked and the windows shuttered. “Sorry, guys—” She flushed. “You can’t leave just yet. Stay where you are and be patient. I’ll send you home in a bit.”

  Posey and I made eye contact and exhaled as one. Even as bossy as my sister was, I realized I was breathing again. “Corny’s here,” I thought, crossing my arms over my chest to calm a racing heart. “She’ll take charge now. Everything’s going to be all right.”

  We found Grizzwald in the library. Every book had been ripped from the shelves, the desk rifled, furniture overturned, and the wall safe opened.

  Our father had been petrified (as expected) and, in an act of pure meanness, encased in a block of ice. Around the middle, a green ribbon with a red seal gave the refrigerator-shaped ice cube the look of a grotesque Christmas present. Grizzwald stood slightly bent at the waist, eyes half-closed, glasses suspended beneath his nose, with a book just slipping from his fingers. The Sorcerer Azelbomb had caught him off-guard.

  A horrible, burning anger boiled inside me. My father! The kindest, finest, smartest wizard on Earth mocked and humiliated by a ridiculous cartoon character from the Dark Ages. “Do something, Corny! Fix it! Get him out of there.”

  Cornelia’s breath hung in the freezing air. She shook her head side to side very slowly. “That red seal is a Bounce-and-Stick Spell. It can’t be broken. Whatever I try will bounce off and stick to me and then there will be two of us encased in ice. Reversing this spell will take more finesse than I can muster. Where is Mother?”

  “Didn’t you listen?” I ground my teeth. “Mom is at Aunt Rose’s ranch in Colorado. The evil Wizard is headed there to get his dragons. Don’t you think we ought to go and warn her? Send a message or something? Use the Spell Phone, at least. If anything happens to her…”

  Corny dismissed the notion with a wave. “Forget it! If what you say is true, the bad guy is there already and we can’t help Mother by falling into his trap. Besides, Bramblewoods don’t just fly off willy-nilly. We make plans and arm ourselves. We need to report to the Wizarding Council.”

  She jerked her thumb at the Meadows. “First, we take care of loose ends.” Corny gave Marsh a weak smile and pointed her wand at him. “Please forgive me.”

  “No!” I stepped in front of the dumbfounded, frightened kids. “Posey saved me, Corny. I don’t care what you do with the boy, but I won’t let you erase Posey’s memory. Besides, she already knows about us. She’s Reynard Grey’s niece. Practically part of the family.”

  “Buttercup’s niece, actually,” Posey hung on her brother’s arm and peeked up at Cornelia. “Marsh is right, you are ho—pretty.”

  “Well?” I crossed my arms and waited.

  Corny slumped into Dad’s leather chair, and put her head in her hands. “Be practical, Apple. I’m not going to hurt them—I’m trying to save them! We can’t put non-magical Ordinaries, in harm’s way, for Merlin’s sake. If what you say is all true, there’s so much at stake—saving Mother and Father, stopping an evil wizard from ruining the world, and mending a rip in time.”

  Surprised, I moved closer and put my hand on her shoulder. “Let’s get busy, then,” I said softly.

  “We can’t do it alone. We’re just kids!”

  Shocked, I stared at Cornelia. “You can do anything, Corny.”

  She flipped her wrist at me. “Don’t be a ninny.”

  I snapped my fingers. “What about Bob? He’ll help us. Let’s think of a way to get him back here.”

  Corny was in the middle of pooh-pooh-ing my suggestion when—

  Crack! Fizz. Hiss. A smell of burnt hair permeated the air and a bundle of laundry fell at our feet.

  Posey backed up and knocked against a chair. Her mouth opened and her eyes bugged behind her glasses. “Look!” She stabbed the air wildly in the direction of the pile on the carpet.

  The laundry moved and groaned. Everyone stared.

  Bob Bibbetty, the boy wizard, sat up and grabbed his head. “What happened?”

  He was scratched and bleeding. His clothes were tattered and singed. A swath of orange hair was burned away above his ear.

  “How’d I get here?” He staggered to his feet and wobbled. “The last thing I remember was running like crazy, trying to escape a wacky character in a pointy cap.”

  My heart nearly flat-lined. O
h no! Corny was right, Azelbomb is at the ranch already.

  Bob stiffened when he caught sight of Grizzwald frozen in ice. “Good grief!”

  “Where’s my mother?” I choked on a sob. “How could you leave her there with that maniac?”

  “It’s not as if I had a choice. Something pulled, and I came. I haven’t seen your mother. Perhaps she’s hiding.”

  Corny threw up a hand. “Don’t be absurd. She wouldn’t hide, she’d transport home.” My sister stopped to consider, and scowled. “But she’s not here. Something’s wrong.”

  She surveyed Bob top to bottom. “What else did you see at the ranch?”

  Bob’s cockiness evaporated. “I was taking a cartload of high-protein gruel down to the dragon pen when I saw him surrounded by hatchlings—a funny-looking, fattish dude in a pointed cap and robes. He had some kind of power over the dragons and spoke their language. When he saw me, he waved his arm real friendly-like, and I waved back. Then he ordered the dragons to attack. Before you could say ‘dinner,’ those little buggers were all over me. I rolled under the fence and started running for dear life; then—poof—here I am. For a minute there, I thought I was a goner.”

  From the corner, Marsh snickered.

  Bob turned on his heel. He probably recognized Marsh from the party. “I’d like to see how you’d handle twenty crazed fire-breathing baby dragons!”

  “I’d start by getting my head examined! If this isn’t a dream, I must be crazy.”

  “Boys! This isn’t a dream, and it isn’t a game.” Corny looked grim. “That so-called sorcerer is after something more than baby dragons. Look around; he destroyed the house searching for something.” She flipped her head between me and Bob. “Do either of you have any idea what he wants?”

  Bob puffed his chest and stood tall. “I heard snatches of what the villain told his hatchlings in Dragon language. He wants the Nebbula. The Nebbula will make him Supreme Ruler of all the world. What’s a Nebbula?”

  This time my nerves lay whimpering somewhere at my feet. I darted a look at Corny. Horror tightened her face.

  “The Nebbula necklace?” she breathed. “How could the Sorcerer possibly know about that? Believe me, that’s the worst possible news. The Nebbula is one of the most potent sources of magic on Earth. It must never pass into evil hands.”

  Bob plucked at his singed hair. “I’ve never heard of it.”

  “Few have.” Cornelia almost sneered.

  I sank onto a mutilated sofa cushion. Polyester fiberfill oozed out of the ripped cushions and I winced when I sat on a spring. Azelbomb knew about the Nebbula necklace and where to find it. Why? Because I had written about it in my journal.

  Bob shuddered. “You think he’s coming here to get that item?”

  “Only Mother knows where it’s hidden, and she’d NEVER tell.”

  I relaxed a bit. Mother’s hiding places were always the best. “Let’s go get her,” I suggested. “She’ll know if the Nebbula is still safe. She’ll fix Dad, too. Besides, I’m worried about her.”

  “You’re the Attractor,” Corny said. “You got Bob here—try for Mom.”

  Her words kind of shocked me. Had I brought Bob to Bramblewood Heights just by wishing? I guess I had. But—“I’ve been wishing for Mom non-stop since the Sorcerer zapped me.” I moaned. It was true. I’d been sick to my stomach about Colorado since Azelbomb had tossed the word off as if it were a location in the fourth circle of Hell. “But she hasn’t come.”

  “Can’t come, then. Oh dear.”

  I’d never seen Corny turn so pale. Nothing could have frightened me more.

  Bob combed his hands through his singed hair. “I’d better go back. Those baby dragons were left in my charge, and no dress-wearing scum from the past is going to take them. Maybe I can get the jump on him and save Aunt Rose and your mom. I sure want to try.”

  I bit my lip and waited to see what Corny would say.

  She took a minute to make up her mind. “Well, if you must go, go. It’s been nice knowing you, Bob. I’ll come to your funeral. Here is my plan. Apple and I will transport to the wizard professionals, and drop Marsh and his sister off on the way.”

  Marsh snapped. “No! I’m not leaving you, Cornelia.”

  Bob grimaced. “Lot of good you’ll do!”

  Cornelia’s head dropped, and I saw the glitter of a tear. “You can’t stay here, Marsh. You’ll get hurt. Please let me send you home.”

  Marsh scowled and stiffened, but before he could bluster a protest, a thought hit my brain like a bolt.

  “Wait! We’ve forgotten an important fact. We can’t leave the Nebbula unprotected!” I stretched my arms imploringly. “The sorcerer will come back with Mother when he realizes that she knows where it is.”

  Corny blinked. “Knock me over with a broomstick and set my hair afire. For once, you’ve made a valid point. That villain mustn’t get his hands on that necklace. If only Father weren’t frozen! Bob, I need your help after all, but first—the Ordinaries. New plan. Apple will go with Posey and Marsh and stay at their grandmother’s house until this crisis is over. Okay everyone, get ready, get set…” She brandished her wand.

  I’d been dismissed before but this banishment by Cornelia was the worst insult I’d ever suffered. And in front of the Ordinaries, too! My face burned, my eyes glared, and my shoulders squared. Inflamed with passion at the injustice a blaze of energy surged through me. I threw up my hand. “Stop!”

  Repelled, Corny staggered back, a look of shock on her face.

  I lifted my chin and tried to look as if I’d wanted to do that. “You see, I can be useful, too.” I spoke boldly, but inside I quivered. Since I didn’t know how it happened, I had no way of knowing if I could do it again.

  Marsh shuffled his feet, lowered his head, and mumbled. He looked at Corny through his dark lashes. “Send Posey home, Cornelia. I don’t want her caught up in this weirdness. But I’m staying. I don’t need magic to protect you.”

  Corny gave Marsh such a look; it made my toes curl. Ahhh, a miracle. She’d fallen under the love spell. She stuttered. “I m-must contact the…C-Council b-before I do anything else…”

  A hissing crack of electricity ripped the air and a thunderous wind rocked the house. High-pitched wails, like something out of a nightmare, blasted our eardrums. We ran to the library and flung open the windows. Outside, five young razor-backed dragons, with wingspans eight to twelve feet long, circled like black bats against the dull sky.

  Bolts of red-hot breath scorched the trees and burned the shingles off the outbuildings. One especially aggressive dragon aimed a stream of fire at the Honda Civic parked in the driveway. The blast blew the car sky-high.

  “Hey!” shouted Marsh, pounding the window. “That’s my grandmother’s car!”

  Bob yanked him away and fastened the shutters over the window. Marsh fumed, and looked at Bob as if somehow it was his fault.

  “Oh no! I waited too long!” Corny twisted her hands and turned in circles. “We’re completely trapped. I’m trying to send a message to the Wizarding Council now, but it feels like a powerful force field won’t allow any magic to come in or go out. I can’t even send Marsh and Portia home.” Another person might have broken down, but Corny was made of sterner stuff. She tapped each of our shoulders, mumbling magic. “I’ve put a personal protection spell on each of us, but everyone had better find a safe place to hide just in case.”

  On weak knees, I crawled into my secret cupboard beneath the library stairs and pulled Posey after me. Me and my stupid journal. This nightmare was all my fault.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Posey whispered, “I hear chanting.”

  I pressed my ear against the cupboard door. “Sounds like Corny and Bob casting protection spells. Why do they do those things without me?” I knocked my head against the shelf in my scramble to get out. “Stay here, Posey. Please. Don’t make a sound—and no matter what you hear, don’t leave this cupboard.”

  As I tiptoed through
the room, I caught sight of Marsh’s right elbow and a protruding sneaker behind the grandfather clock. “I see you,” I whispered, hopping over the mess to open the basement door. “Hide down there.”

  I didn’t wait to see if he obeyed, but hurried to find my sister. Outside, the horrible screech of dragons sounded. I coughed at the smoky, rotten-egg smell of dragon fire that leaked into the house and prayed the dragons wouldn’t set the woods ablaze and bring the volunteer fire department out. That would be disaster upon disaster!

  I found Bob chanting a protection spell and Corny chanting a search-for-the-necklace spell in my parents’ bedroom, another scene of total disaster. Even the curtains hung in shreds at the windows.

  Corny was not pleased to see me. “Go back and safeguard the Ordinaries,” she ordered.

  Bob scratched his head with his wand. “We might need Apple to make the third leg of a Tri-agram.”

  I didn’t know what he was talking about, but nodded anyway.

  Corny leaned against the wall and tapped her lip with a pink fingernail. “Too risky.” She peeked out the window. The dragons were still hovering. “Why hasn’t the Sorcerer come with Mother? What’s the delay? He must know only she can open her secret safe.”

  “She’d never reveal her hiding place to him.”

  “You might be right. Nevertheless, we have to patrol the whole house. Particularly the most likely places where Mom may have hidden the Nebbula—her bedroom, her art studio, and the library.”

  “I’m patrolling, too, Corny. Please!”

  My sister crossed her arms and tapped Artemis against her shoulder. “You’re too inexperienced. Mom and Dad would never forgive me if I let anything happen to you.”

  Bob held up his hand. “Hold on. If we can trap the villain in the center of a three-sided containment field, we can disarm him. It might be our only chance.”

  I clutched Wanda to my chest. My knees trembled at the thought of confronting the Sorcerer again, but it was right and just that I should. I set my mouth and steeled myself. “Yeah, like he said.”