Once Upon a Second Chance

(41) - Different Forms

"Alright Mal, now that your fireballs have improved, we'll be moving on to something a bit more complicated. Today, we're going to be learning about the art of transfiguration," Maleficent said. Mal nodded attentively as she and her alternate mother stood in the backyard of the house, continuing with their daily magic lessons. Lily had already passed today's lesson, so she sat that one out. "Now, you have experience with this seeing as you say you've mastered turning into a dragon. But today, you're going to learn how to transfigure objects."

Mal had her brows furrowed in confusion. "But what would be the point of knowing how to change one object into another if we could just conjure a new object entirely?"

Maleficent sighed. "It's not about what you use the magic for; it's about knowing how to use that magic. Keep in mind, transfiguration is more difficult and complex than ordinary fabrication. Because instead of magically forming the nature of an object, you're changing another object's nature completely."

"So why am I learning about that first?"

The Mistress of Evil chuckled. This girl sure asked a lot of questions. "I'm trying to start with the more difficult aspects of magic and work our way down so mastery of your abilities becomes easier as we progress."

Mal nodded and prepared herself. "Okay, teach. Where do we begin?"

Maleficent picked up a small stick in the corner of the yard. After a mere second, the twig glowed purple and suddenly the piece of wood transformed into a knife.

Mal gasped in amazement. "How did you do that?"

Her alternate mother looked at her in confusion. "Magic. I believe we already established that."

"No, it's just I-I've never seen it so simple before. Usually, I would have to recite an incantation from my spell book."

"Well Mal, I assure you, there's nothing simple about any kind of magic. All it takes is practice." The blonde took another twig and handed it to Mal. "Now, a blade might be too complicated for a beginner like you, so I want you to start off with turning it into a needle. Simple enough?"

"You tell me—you're the mentor," Mal answered a bit nervously. "So, how do I do it?"

"Magic is all about emotion. Until it becomes second nature, you must be able to maintain total concentration as you perform a spell. Now, all you must to is will for the object to shift into another and do it as you block out all other thoughts from your mind."

Mal took a deep breath as she obeyed. She held the stick up and eyed it intensely as she willed it to transfigure. Her eyes narrowed as she gripped it tighter. She tried to conceal the gasp in her voice as the twig glowed in a purple light and transformed into an intricate dagger.

She looked at the knife in amazement. It was more ornate than the one that Maleficent made—it was thin silver blade with a black handle that had a very pale blueish-silver dragon wrapped around it.

That was when Mal's eyes widened as she grew scared to look back at her alternate mother, afraid that she would be angry that she turned the stick into a knife rather than a needle like she had instructed.

Though when Mal looked back at the woman, she internally sighed in relief to find that the expression on her face was not that of anger or malice, but of... pride?

"Impressive," Maleficent nodded. "Especially for a beginner."

Mal tried to suppress the smile on her face as she shrugged. "It's probably just because of how powerful I am, you know, given my parentage."

"Well, I'd say today's lesson was rather successful, no?" Maleficent said. "Why don't I go inside and make some dinner so after, you may get some practice."

"Yeah yeah, sounds good," Mal answered, pocketing the dagger, not waiting to show her friends what she'd managed to do.

"Mind going upstairs and telling Lily?" the older woman requested as she and her alternate daughter made their way inside the house.

"Sure thing." Mal walked upstairs to get her 'older sister'. As she made it to the top and was in the upstairs hallway, she knocked on Lily's door. After a moment of no answer, she called out, "Lily? Your mom's saying she's making dinner."

She sighed as there was no answer. She looked at some of the other rooms in the house. She caught one door that was slightly open at the far end of the hallway. Her curiosity piqued.

"My mind tells me I shouldn't investigate," she said. "...But my gut tells me to screw it."

She opened the door and entered. It was a bare room occupied by nothing but a table, a chair, and a bulletin board in the center of the room.

Mal wolf whistled at the board in front of her as she approached it. It was thumbtacked with illustrations, research articles, and passages from fantasy stories.

"What are you doing in here?" she heard a voice from behind her.

Mal whirled around to find Lily standing in the doorway. "O-Oh, Maleficent told me to get your for dinner."

"Okay, tell her I'll be down in a minute," the brunette responded, coming to stand in front of the board.

"Cool murder board," Mal joked before she grew more serious as her general curiosity caused her to ask, "So what actually is this? Are you really trying to solve a murder?"

"No, I'm trying to find the perpetrator of a far worse crime," Lily sighed. "My father."

Mal looked toward Lily in surprise. "What? Your father? You're trying to find him?"

"When I figure out who he is first," Lily muttered.

"Who don't know who he is?" Mal asked. "Your mom doesn't want to tell you?" she asked softly, remembering the days of her childhood when her mother would rant to her about her 'weak, human' father who wasn't worth knowing until Mal found out herself that her father was indeed Hades.

"No, she doesn't know either," Lily said in exasperation.

"What?" Mal almost found the fact humorous if it didn't not make much sense.

"Dragons mate in dragon form. So... it was a one and done without either of my parents knowing who the other's human identity was," Lily explained, with the same expression that was on Mal's face at the thought of their mother mating.

"So any ideas so far?" Mal changed the topic. "About who he is?"

"I've listed some possibilities, but the only real clue I have is this necklace," Lily shrugged, taking out a necklace that was a gold chain that had a crescent moon-shaped pendant made of some sort of stone. "It's a piece of the egg I hatched from."

"So you don't think he knows about you either?"

"It's highly unlikely."

"Well... you want some help?"

"What?" Lily looked up in surprise.

Mal shrugged. "You want some help finding your dad? I mean, it looks like you've hit a dead end, and I really don't have anything to make myself useful with until I leave, so I can help out in any way I can. So... what do you say?"