Magic Madness™️

Chapter Twenty Nine: Energy

Word Count: 2,109

     This small portion of the forest was dead. The trees had no leaves, the leaves were all on the ground. They crunched beneath everyone's feet. The flowers were wilted. Mushrooms and moss grew on every dead surface. Every so often they would pass the remains of a shed or something of the like, burnt mostly to the ground. Amber wrung her hands.

    As they walked further, the houses looked more whole. The bases looked burnt, the rest looked re-built (and poorly, at that). There were a couple stores, but what they sold (or used to sell) was unclear. There was a well, partially crumbled.

    "The royal family came through with their stolen fire powers and burnt us down awhile ago, after they swept the houses and stole any magic we had. Some died, most fled, and then there's the remaining, who had nowhere else to go. We just rebuilt and hoped for the best. So far, it's been alright," Ed explained, leading them through the center of the empty streets. He cupped his hands around his mouth and whistled loudly, in a very specific tune.

    A door opened loudly. Some dust flew up from where it hit the outside wall.

    "Ed, why are you back so early?" a woman asked, squinting, "Are those...who is that?"

    "This is Joan the Wizard and his companions!" Ed told her excitedly, walking quickly toward the house.

    "Is that so! If I knew we were having guests of such importance, I might have cleaned up a little," the woman laughed, but stepped aside anyway, gesturing inside, "Come in anyway, our door is always open for those who need refuge."

    "Gentlefolk, this is my wife, Maia," Ed said, and everyone greeted her on their way in.

    The rebuilt walls were a different color of the foundation wood. Hand-woven rugs littered the floor, and knitted blankets were draped over most of the furniture. (Many of the color schemes of these items didn't match in any sort of way; the first blanket Elijah noticed was practically brown with all the different colors oddly mixed into the patterns.) Most everything looked to have been hand-crafted, and quite well, at that. There was a large grandfather clock next to a hallway at the end of the room, and the left side of the room opened to a small kitchen. It felt very cozy, and maybe a bit old, but in a comforting way. It wasn't old in a creepy or warning sort of way, but in a grandparent's house kind of way.

    "Is father back already?" a girl asked, stepping out of the hallway in a white dress that somewhat resembled a nightgown.

    "Yes," Maia said, covering her daughter from view a bit, "And we have guests, so go get properly dressed. They're going to spend the night."

    "Oh!" the girl said excitedly, and turned right back around.

    "That's Katherine, our daughter," Maia turned back to the group, "I believe she's about your age. She's fifteen."

    "I'm back!" Katherine announced, stumbling into the room. Her long black hair was messily pulled back at the sides of her face with clips, and she had slipped a long blue skirt and green corset on over the white dress still underneath it.

    "I'm Katherine," she said, facing the entirely wrong direction, head tilted down. Maia gently took her shoulders and turned her to face the right way before disappearing into the kitchen. Katherine held her hand out to shake, waiting for someone to take it. Alex reached forward and shook it, and she looked absolutely delighted. She tilted her head up, and Alex observed that she had no pupils or irises. Her eyes were completely white. (Not like Theodosia, who did have pupils and irises that were just light grey and hard to see.)

    "You're not from around here. What's your name?" she asked, turning his hand over in hers and inspecting it with her fingertips.

    "Alejandro," he said, and she seemed to light up even more.