by Dani Corlee
Something else strange? Oh. My dear! Kim breathed deeply. What could it be now?
“Come with me, I want to show you! It's really weird.”
Not again! She hunched her shoulders.
Linda rushed upstairs, with Kim following her.
She entered the room and approached the walk-in closet. She opened her arms and said, “See?”
Kim put her head inside the closet and took a look at both sides. The closet was well organized, perfect for the strategy her mom had taught her. A place for everything and everything in its place: she should have been proud of her. It was really spacious, a big room itself, with two drawer units, double hangings, a tall shoe shelf, a tilt-out laundry hamper with drawer, and regular shelves. There was a tall mirror, and a small storage ottoman was placed in the middle. There were a few big acid-green boxes on the shelves and the closet was lit by small light recessed in the ceiling. She was sure she hadn't forgotten anything.
“So, what?” She was a little nervous to ask but had to.
“Look!” Linda replied, and started walking in big steps across the closet. “Now come here.” She headed outside the room and again with big steps she measured the distance between the room and the next one, which was the toilet.
“You see?” It cannot be! The closet should be much smaller or the toilet much more distant!” She scratched her head. “I cannot really understand it.”
Kim bit her lip. “Must be a funny optical effect. Must go!” and she hurried down the staircase.
“A funny optical effect? Kimberly, don't be silly.” She leaned over banisters and shouted to her daughter, already downstairs, “The house itself is strange. From outside it looks much smaller than it is inside. How much did you say you paid for it?”
CHAPTER 8
“Do you need help, Kimberly?” Linda asked, looking at her from the sofa where she was sitting next to Aurora, who was surrounded by the presents she had brought her. Kim smiled to herself. Her mom had brought Aurora many gifts, even a pop-up book that revealed a wonderful fairy castle. She had never gifted her with this sort of toys. Not to mention the latest bestseller cartoon DVD, the doll dressed as a princess, and a box of plastic rings and bracelets. The presents Kim could recall at birthdays and Christmas were calculators, the Rubik's cube, science experiment kits, and also kits to study and grow insects. She could still recall how her little friends proudly pushed their tiny strollers and shopping carts full of plastic grocery food while she pushed her little but functioning lawn mower. Her grandmother had only been allowed to gift her some dolls and a cooking set. Even now, instead of taking her a sash, a bijou, or maybe a romance novel, she had brought her a barometer. Which was useful, no doubt about it, but was so impersonal that Kim had sighed unwrapping it. “Don't you like it?” her mother had asked. “No—I mean, yes, it's a beautiful present, thanks.”
Busy in the kitchen, she replied, “Be comfortable, Mom. Aurora will help me, won't you, Aurora?”
Aurora stood up, reluctantly leaving her new toys. She approached her table and with a quick gesture of her little hand adorned with the new rings and bracelets made a gesture after which the table was perfectly set, with crystal glasses and their best porcelain plates. Kim turned in that very moment and held her breath, seeing her mom was about to lift her gaze from the magazine she was leafing through. Not having enough time to think about anything clever to distract her, she screamed while throwing in the air the dish towel she was drying her hands with. Her mom looked at her, seeing the cloth falling down, while Kim gestured toward the table, to clear it. Her mom looked at her, bewildered; then, following her gesture, looked at the table; and for only a fraction of a second she saw something disappearing. She remained open-mouthed and looked at her daughter again.
“Are you OK? Why did you scream? What's happening here?”
“What do you mean?” Kim said as though nothing had happened, while her heart was racing.
Her mother stood up and pointed to the table. “There... I'm sure. For an instant, I saw the table set but now...”
“Oh, that!” Kim couldn't hold back her mom's gaze. “I had already put out the plates, but then I saw one was chipped and I decided to change them. Don't worry, I'll set the table in a few minutes,” she continued, after clearing her throat.
“No, I mean. There was something on it and suddenly it disappeared.” Linda's voice, usually calm and determined, was starting to be higher than usual.
“What are you talking about, Mom?” She pretended not to understand and dragged Aurora by the arm back into the kitchen, hissing, “Can you help me or not?”
Her mom had been with them not even an hour and the situation was already intolerable. And for once, it wasn't her mother's fault!
Trying not to be heard, because it wasn't an open space and therefore she couldn't scold Aurora as she would have wanted to, she shouted in a low voice, “What did I tell you? No magic with Granny!”
Aurora offended, whined: “But she is... Granny! She isn't a stranger.”
Kim sighed, knowing all that this was well over Aurora's head—and her own head too. “I know, but she wouldn't understand. She doesn't like witches, and we cannot let her understand we are magical.”
“If she doesn't like the witches, she doesn't like us!” Aurora had tears in her eyes.
“Oh, no, my little love. I didn't mean that. Listen. She would be impressed. You know, she’s old. Very old!” Aurora nodded while Kim smiled to herself and continued, “She's nearly 60! She could be scared and fall ill. So please, do me a favor. No spells while she's here. Promise?”
Aurora nodded again. “I don't want Granny to fall ill,” she said aloud.
“What did you say?” Linda inquired from the sofa, while Kim and Aurora put their fingers on their lips and said shhhh in unison and then giggled.
CHAPTER 9
“Can we begin?”
Isidora tapped on the lectern to get the attention of those present. A new, unplanned meeting had been called, but because of the short notice not all the witches of the community had been able to be present. Isidora had also clarified that although the subject of the meeting was important, it was not vital, and therefore attendance was not obligatory. Isidora, however, was proud of the fact that she always involved the community in making decisions, unlike other masters, who made their decisions alone, sharing their own plans with only a select group of witches.
“My dears, as you already know, someone,” and as she emphasized the word someone she glanced at Aunt Adeline, who sat placidly in the front row, ignorant of being the cause of so much confusion, “has thought of resolving the problem of the antenna by simply making it disappear. A good try, I must say.” She gave a small, sarcastic smile. “But we all know that we cannot reveal our existence to the non-witches, and the disappearance of such a large object in plain sight would threaten our secrecy. We were able to find the solution of hiding the disappearance with a light cloud and then annulling the incantation. But now we are back to where we started. How can we eliminate the negative effects of the antenna? At the moment, we do not have any newborns within its sphere of influence, but we must also think of the communities of witches. Not to speak of the fact that it would be good if we could solve the problem before some other community does. Yesterday evening the Queen’s daughter, little Aurora, gave us an interesting idea. It is up to us to find how to apply it.”
Isidora paused a moment to take a drink of water while a murmur of approval went around the room. Everyone adored little Aurora, who was always smiling and kind, and no one doubted the fact that, as the Queen’s daughter, she would become a powerful witch.
Isidora continued, “She suggested that we create a shield around the antenna, just like newborns create around themselves, to protect themselves from its effects. Now we must find a way to create such a shield. Any suggestions?”
Isidora sighed at the sepulchral silence that followed her words, interrupted only by the heavy breathing of Aunt
Adeline, who in the meantime had fallen asleep. Was it possible that no one had even the slightest idea? At times, she truly doubted the intellectual ability of her community. She gripped the lectern tightly to channel the anger that was rising within her while maintaining her usual calm and neutral expression.
A hand went up nervously.
Isidora recognized the girl and could not help but scowl. Catarina had demonstrated several times her lack of sense, and Isidora knew that she would probably suggest something absolutely useless.
“Tell me!” she exclaimed rudely.
Kim had turned, as had all the other witches, to see who wanted to intervene.
“We could ask the babies how they did it,” Catarina answered in a rush.
“Catarina!” Isidora exploded with displeasure. “How can you think of asking for explanations from an infant? Have you ever even been near a newborn?”
“Who is she?” Kim whispered to Lucille, who was sitting next to her.
“She's Catarina, and I'm afraid a helpless semi-witch.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, tried not to be noticed by Isidora, who looked quite upset.
“She was adopted several times, always being rejected because of her doing odd things since she was very young. She wasn't able to develop proper powers until of age, when she went off by herself and was able to find our community. Luckily, at least she met people who like and accept her the way she is.”
Did she? Kim was quite skeptical.
Isidora brushed back a lock of hair that had fallen on her face and turned to the audience. “If there are no suggestions, we will proceed as we have already planned. We will call together the group that the Queen trained to remove the shields, and we will see if we can create one around the antenna. That is all for now,” she said and quickly left the room. She needed a few minutes of solitude to calm her rage.
Kim kept on looking at Catarina for few seconds, studying her. She was a young, plump girl with long, golden hair and light eyes. Her light skin showed more than necessary the blush she had when Isidora scolded her in front of the whole audience. What was going on between the two? When all the gazes were back at Isidora, Catarina had sent the master a look that surprised and even disappointed Kim, even though she couldn't quite grasp why. Despite her still childish and sweet look, Catarina seemed to be quite hard. “Later I'd like to know a little more about her,” she whispered to Lucille, who nodded in silence.
The meeting ended. Kim remained for a while with the other witches, who despite the problem of the antenna were only interested in the possibility of hanging out with the Queen and being able to talk to her, Isidora not being with her to take everyone away from her.
Kim was eventually able to say goodbye after various tries, all of them not wanting her to go away. She wanted to go to Isidora and see if she was OK. She couldn't help noticing how she got nervous and she couldn't blame her for that. Even though she still couldn't perfectly understand the situation, she was aware that the last period had been very tiresome for Isidora. Having the queen in her community was giving her an undoubted prestige, but this was also causing the witches of every community to keep their eyes on her, which obviously caused her great stress.
While heading to Isidora's office, Kim shook her head, disheartened. It was obvious Isidora and the whole community had waited for a real queen who might have commanded them, but who surely would have known how to act and what to do in any circumstance. She didn't feel like a queen; she didn't also feel any different from when she had arrived in Springsville, apart from the fact now she could do some magic tricks. For sure, magic still scared her a little even though she had to admit it often was useful. But those were very little tricks. Nothing Aurora herself couldn't do. By no means spells worthy of a queen, and certainly not up to... how did they say? Oh, yes, a queen who can change the destiny of the world.
Everybody seemed to love her, Isidora too, but she wondered how many times her ineptitude as a witch had worried them. What did they really think about them? She remembered Catarina and her expression when Isidora had answered her. She turned as red as a beet, and Kim didn't like her gaze when Isidora had started talking again and attention shifted again to the master. Kim had inadvertently kept on looking at Catarina, and she had noted her embarrassed expression had turned into something she couldn't define. Surely it wasn't the friendly and affectionate gaze one ought to have for her master, even though she had scolded her in front of the whole community.
CHAPTER 10
“Do you think it will work?” Sitting in front of Isidora, Kim was frustrated. The master and all the other witches put their trust in her. A trust she thought to be misplaced. She hadn't the slightest clue about what to do to create a protective shield around the antenna. And she hadn't the slightest clue about how to change the destiny of the world, if she had ever had the chance. She was enjoying being turned into a witch. After all, what's the harm in ironing with a blink of an eye or improving one's clothes by changing colors with a gesture of the hand? But having the responsibility of the world's destiny was something totally different. She stopped biting her lips, realizing she shouldn't show herself weak to the community, much less to Isidora, who looked at her with affection.
“My dear. I'm sure under your leadership the healers' group will be able to find a solution.”
Kim sighed lightly, aware Isidora was doing her best to encourage her and to improve her self-esteem. But this resulted in her feeling even more embarrassed and guilty.
She smiled despite herself. The idea of meeting the group again was very appealing, particularly Samia and Ivy, with whom she had created a special bond.
“How do we get in touch with them?” she asked.
“Don't worry about it. I'll contact their masters, and I'll have them come here as soon as possible. Tomorrow, I hope. The quicker we act, the better. Besides, we'll have the coronation ceremony soon, and they might help in the preparation too.”
Kim couldn't help rolling her eyes. The coronation was the last thing she wanted to think about. It was something so... embarrassing!
She took her leave of Isidora, reminding her that she had left her mom alone for too long and that she wanted to be back home before she had revolutionized her whole home. “I'm pretty sure she has found thousands of ways to maximize the space and minimize the effort in the housework,” she tried to joke, forcing herself to find it funny, but in her heart she feared the changes she was going to find.
Isidora felt a heavy push on her mind, the kind of push which implies intimacy, and it wasn't hard for her to guess who was trying to reach her. “Odessa, my dear.”
“Isy! Mon petit chou, how are you?”
“I'm fine, but tired. What about you?”
“I'm fine too. I guess you had too many responsibilities lately. Come on, ma cherie. Leave them alone and visit me in Paris.”
“I wish I could. We are getting ready for the Queen's coronation and I cannot drop everything for a vacation, not even to meet you, my dear sister.”
“Take her with you, then.” Isidora laughed. “Oh, no, my dear. I'm pretty sure your master would be happy to get her hooks on the Queen. But she is my responsibility, and unless she decides otherwise, she will stay in my community.”
“Talking about my master, Serafine asked me to send you a message.”
“Oh dear. How's that?”
“She didn't want to use more, er, normal ways of communication because the information is unofficial and, most of all, should be kept secret until she verifies it. She decided to ask me to be the channel because of my being your sister.”
“So...”
“She read it in her tea leaves. You know she has always been good at that. She doesn't know if she interpreted it clearly or...”
“My dear. If you don't tell me at once what you are talking about, I might have a heart attack.”
Paris's master was old and extremely powerful. Well known by everyone as one of the most important witch
es of the planet. Even though Isidora was now known by every witch, her fame was due to being the master of the community who hosted the Queen, not really for her own stature. Serafine, instead, was known for her high abilities and merits. She wasn't the kind of witch to shoot her mouth off, and everything she had to tell her must be important.
“She's afraid something might happen soon to the sky. She says she doesn't know much more, but hard days will come. And this all has something to do with the Queen.”
Odessa stopped talking, waiting for her sister's reaction, which didn't arrive.
“Isidora? Isy?”
“Yes. I'm here. Didn't she say anything else?”
“No, that's all.”
Isidora sipped her lemon tea slowly, trying to put some order into her mind. They had had years of total calm, the only problem being many children without any power. That was a huge problem but was also a global problem, which every community had been trying to understand and resolve, unsuccessfully, for years. Now every single piece of news seemed to be on her shoulders. What could she do, knowing only that something might happen in the sky?
