They reappeared many miles away from New York; they ended up by the boarder of Canada and the United States, in nowhere North Dakota. “Ah, here we are, jump down Katy Lily.”
Katy did as she was told, she looked all around her, and it was amazing here. “Where are we?”
“We are outside the city of Portal, we call this Marcus’s Valley, and it is named after a powerful ancient warlock.”
“Wow.” She saw shop signs, that read like things out of a book, Potions R Us, Mentha’s Uniforms and Cloaks, Kandi’s Sweets, Ross’s Amulets and Talismans, and the strangest of all was the book store, though it did not have a strange name, just Books, the titles inside however, were strange, Vampire Protections, Good Vampires Bad Reputations, Creature Care, Exotic Herbs, and Beginner’s Potions. Katy just took it all in and did not say anything until Antonio suddenly stopped.
Katy looked straight ahead and saw the strangest little building. “What is this place, sir?” It appeared to be made of all sorts of gems held in place by what looked like mud, with a large black door that sparkled like diamonds.
“Call me Antonio, and this is the bank. We must stop here to get your money for the year. When you enter the magical world, you get a bank vault all to yourself if you have no family, until you marry, then your vaults will be combined, and one will be reassigned. Since you have no family this vault will be yours alone, it will have enough money to buy all the supplies you need and to pay for extras along the way, you know like buying friends’ birthday gifts and things of that nature. Once you stop your schooling in ten years then whatever is left is yours, but you will then start your additional years of study, you will get paid by your masters, not much, but you don’t usually need much as they provide materials and you usually live with one of them, whichever is your main passion, for example mine is potions so I live with the potions master, which just so happens to be my father.” Antonio could not have looked prouder at the fact his father was a potion master. They walked into the bank and all around there were small people.
Katy did not know what they were, but they seemed different and so she got up the courage to ask. “Who, or what are these people?” She asked very quietly so she would not offend any of the small people she saw. They all seemed the same, mean faces, with bright shining white hair and black eyes with red pupils.
“They are dwarves; they live in the underground that is why the bank looks so small it is all underground.” All this time Antonio had kept a hold of Katy’s hand.
Katy was so shocked at this new world she did not even notice he had not let go, she just wanted to take everything in, she could not believe she was magical, it had to be a mistake. “Are they evil?” Katy asked as her fears rose in her once again.
“No, but they are not friendly either. So, don’t get too close to them. And do not offend them they are very prideful and will kill you if they feel you have offended them. They had the laws rewritten so they would only have to pay a fine if that happened. My advice is to never give the dwarves a reason to call you an enemy.”
Katy took this all in and she did not want to come here more then she had to, and she made a note to stay as quiet as possible when she was here. So, she changed the subject. “Antonio, how do you know if you are magical, how do you know I am magical? What if this is all a big mistake? How do you know what elemental power you have? And how many are there?” She took the words from him on the last questions, though she did not know what they really meant? She watched his face, sometimes adults did not like it if you asked too many questions, but he still had a smile on his face, like he was the happiest man on Earth, like he knew something she did not, something the world did not know. Something that alone was his.
“You are magical, make no mistake, you have had your name down since birth, we know when a magical person is born, most have magical parents, your mother for example was magical, as is your father.” Suddenly, he stopped smiling at the mention of her father. But soon smiled again and continued with his answer. “There are five elements, Fire, Earth, Air, Water, and Spirit. As I said before my elemental power is Fire, which means I control Fire, heat and other things associated with Fire, more easily than any other element. For example, Air can be difficult or quite easy for a Fire Elemental to control. Water almost always seems the hardest for a Fire Elemental, however it is not uncommon to be able to control two elements quite easily. My secondary element is Spirit. It tends to be in the blood. My mother is a Spirit. but you will learn more in your elements class. Your mother was an Earth, chances are you will be Earth, your father is Air.” Again, the smile fell. “Air and Fire don’t get along very well, never really have, very rare to see a Fire and Air relationship.”
Katy absorbed this for a second and hoped she was not Air; she liked Antonio and did not want to be Air if it would mean he would not be her friend. She wondered who her father was, why he never came for her, why her mother and she had to be homeless. But she stayed silent and she continued to listen.
“The smallest house is Fire, we are rare ones, and the largest is Earth. Even Sprit, who is closer in size to Fire, have more people in their house.” Antonio smiled and she felt better, even though she was still worried about her elemental power.
“How do you know what your elemental power is?” Katy asked just as they stopped at a desk with a young-looking dwarf behind it.
“Just a moment, Katy Lily,” Antonio said as he looked down at her, and then he looked at the dwarf. “Hello, I am here to help Katherine Lillian Fitz, retrieve her first year’s money out of the bank.”
The dwarf looked down at her, he had a deadly look about him, his eyes were as black as the door at the entrance, but there was no sparkle to them, only his pupils, which looked like little drops of blood, broke up the black of his eyes, he leaned over his desk, “Does she have her wand yet?”
“No, she first needs her money to gain her wand, however, I am a school official and my wand was set up to open the bank vault this first time.” Antonio said as he handed over a beautiful white wand, with a bit of red shaped like a flame, at the handle. She could not wait to get her own!
After a moment, the dwarf looked down in his old thick book and said “fine, follow me.” The dwarf got down off his stool and walked around in front of them, they seemed to walk forever up and down right and left, finally they stopped in front of a vault numbered 1204. The dwarf took Antonio’s wand and tapped upon the door. The door opened and inside was gold, silver, and bronze coins, with funny little symbols on them. Katy just stared, Antonio took a money bag and counted out the money she would need for her supplies and extras for her first year. There was nothing said on the way back just like on the way to the vault.
Once outside the bank Antonio turned as if he needed to look for something. When he spotted what he pretended to look for, he smiled down at Katy.
“Now to answer your question, when your wand and staff choose you, that is how we know what elemental power, as each different type of wood that is used in the wand making process is connected to an elemental power. Of course, after that we visit the Divination shop to determine your classes, and then after that we buy your books and school supplies.”
“What if no wand or staff chooses me, or what if the divination person gives me classes I am not good at?”
“The wand and staff always choose you, and as far as I know Professor Erin O’Conaill hasn’t been wrong yet.” Antonio still had the smile on his face she did not feel too worried, after all there was something calming about his presence.
They walked up to this exceptionally large shop with a whole bunch of wands and staffs in the window, it was named Jo’s Wand and Staff Shop. They walked in, it seemed to be empty. “Where is everybody?”
“Well, most are on their school vacation and most first years have picked up everything before the holiday, we might see a few people but not many.” And as if them talking was the sign the person had waited for, out walked an older woman. She had bright blonde hair streaked with grey and walked with a slight hunch.
“’ello, good to see you again Antonio, who is this with ya, not a child yet?”
“No, Jo, I am helping Katherine Lillian Fitz, enter the world and get her school things. She starts at the beginning of the next term.”
“Ah, a new little witch, normal born?”
“No witch and warlock mother and father, but both out of her life, mother deceased.”
“Ah, poor darling, come on up here,” Jo pointed to a platform. “This will help keep damage from being done to my shop, nice shield barrier. Let’s see what were your parents, dear?”
“Umm… Antonio said my mom was Earth? And my father Air?” Katy said it like a question because she did not really know what Jo wanted to know.
“Yep that is right, maybe start with Earth woods?” Antonio stated.
Jo just looked at the young girl for a minute, walked away and came back with about fifty boxes. She took the wand out of the first box and handed it to her. Nothing happened, but Jo took it back and continued to hand her wands, they did Elder, Elm, Maple, Acacia, and Chestnut wands but after what seemed like forever they went through all of the wands Jo brought out. And not a one did what Jo was looking for it to do, Jo decided to go in the back and get the Air wands.
Katy felt her chest tighten while they did the Air wands of Blackthorn, Oak, Birch, Banyan and Cypress, but not a single one of them gave Jo any sign they were Katy’s and Katy relaxed again when it was clear she was not an Air elemental.
“Well, well a tricky one you are!” Jo seemed excited, but Katy was worried.
“Well, let’s try Spirit wands; she was born on a cusp was she not? Lots of power this one has!” Jo said but Katy did not understand a word of it. But she took the wands handed to her once again, this time out of Aspen, Myrtle, Sycamore, Redwood, and Peach, but not even one of them seemed to give any indication that Spirit was Katy’s elemental power.
“Jo, maybe Water?” If possible, Antonio’s smile started to get wider than it already was.
“No, no, not Water, well it wouldn’t hurt to try.” Jo stated as she handed Katy the Water wands, first Alder, then Ash, Hazel Willow and Rowan, but not a single indicator.
“Well, it looks like you are Fire, Katy Lily!” It looked like Antonio’s smile would break his face. Katy could not help but smile, she was glad she was to be a Fire; when the only person who had ever been kind to her stood by her side smiling, it was hard not to be happy; she had something in common with Antonio.
“Fine, Fire it is then” Jo said and ran off to get staffs and wands this time around. She came back with dozens of staffs and wands. “Now normally your wand and staff will be made from the same wood, but not all the time. For example, Antonio’s dad has a yew wand like Antonio, but a Laurel staff. Antonio himself has a Holly staff. However, his mother’s wand and staff are both made out of Peach.” Jo smiled now as well. Jo continued as she handed Katy wand after wand, this time though Jo told Katy all about the wands. “Now each wand and staff have some of the magical element in it, well something connecting it to their element, for example with our Spirit wands we have a feather of a Ba in it, our Water wands the hair of an Ondine, our Air wands the breath of a Sylph, our Earth wands a hair from a Gnome and our Fire wands the Fire of a Salamander.”
Katy was fascinated by this and could not wait to have her wand choose her, but still none had chosen her. She started to feel worried again when Jo handed her a gorgeous black wand with a blood red tip, out of a box that looked very old, before Jo pushed it to the side Katy saw the words: Rare, Made 11000 BC Will Be Considered Fire Elemental. And once the wand entered Katy’s hand, it sparked like crazy, and she could feel a warm sensation spread though her, it lifted her soul.
“Excellent a Holly wand, a very rare Holly wand, for a very rare child,” Jo stated with a wide smile.
Antonio was silent, but still had a smile on his face. Katy did not say anything either but smiled wide. She had a wand, and now knew her elemental power, she was so happy she did not realize she was being handed staffs until Jo spoke.
“Hmmm…. The Holly staffs don’t seem to want to spark… let’s try some others!” Jo ran to the back again coming back with a dozen more staffs. Jo started speaking about the staffs, “each staff as a bit of the magical element in it as well, but instead of a Salamander’s Fire, it has a Salamander tail, they re-grow you know. And the Water staffs have the Water from the cup of an Ondine; Earth has dirt from a Gnome’s land, Spirit the tear of a Ba, and Air the hair of a Sylph.”
Jo would have gone on but it didn’t take long to find a staff within this new batch, as soon as she had handed Katy a white yew staff with blood red flames at the bottom of it, it made a loud noise and Katy felt the warmth spread though her once again.
“Oh, a rare wand and a rare staff, for a rare power, your power is great young witch.” Jo said with a smile, but there was a look in her eyes. It was a look of both relief and worry; it was as if her soul was confused to rather, she should be relieved or saddened by what had happened with the wands.
Katy did not know what to say she looked to Jo and then to Antonio, both had huge smiles. “Thank you! These are so pretty, and great.” Katy said, she smiled more today than she could ever remember smiling before.
Antonio started to laugh. “Well, Katy Lily, it looks like it is official; you are a Fire bug. Thanks Jo.” Antonio said as he paid Jo some of the gold coins from Katy’s bag. “Let’s go.” Antonio took the packages with her wand and staff and put them in another bag. Katy wanted to hang on to them but would wait. Katy looked at the bag, it looked like a normal book bag, black leather, but it fit the staff, the wand and all her money in it. And it now had the same emblem that was on Antonio’s cloak, though there was no emblem before.
Katy looked at Antonio and asked, “is the bag magic too?”
“Yes, it is your book bag, it will carry all the things you need it to and never weigh you down.” Antonio explained as he took Katy’s hand and they walked out of Jo’s.
“Antonio how much were they, how does our money work?” Katy was interested in the strange signs on them, the gold ones, had what looked like a dollar sign but was a B instead of and S and the silver ones had a J instead of and S and the bronze ones had a c just like the sign for cents.
“Well they were four berries. The gold ones; are called berries they are worth about twenty US dollars, the ones with the J are jewels they are worth about one US dollar, and you use them more often than any others, except when it comes to things like books and clothes. And the bronze ones; are called crystals they equal about fifty US cents.” They stopped in front of a small little shop that said Madam Wolf. “Ah, let’s go see Professor Erin O’Conaill now, her sister runs it during the school terms, but the professor runs it during breaks.”
Katy said nothing as they walked inside, but nothing prepared her for all the pink cushions, the beads, the crystal balls, the different gems, and crystals. Katy never had been a fan of pink, but she loved this place. She looked up at Antonio to say something, but he spoke first.
“I took divination for ten years, great study, but I love potions more.” Antonio stated as they stopped in front of an ancient black desk, and rang a bell informing whoever was here, they were as well.
Before Katy could respond a young-looking woman came in the room, she had long black hair, she had dark rich umber skin, her eyes were black with a tint of yellow around the pupils, and dressed in pink. She had long nails as well; Katy could not help but notice, as they were painted a sharp pink color. “Hello, Katy and always good to see you Antonio!” Katy figured this must be Professor O’Conaill.
“Hello, professor, let me introduce you to Katherine Lillian Fitz, or Katy. We have come to divine her classes as she has her wand and staff.” Antonio’s smile was still wide, so Katy did not feel as worried as she was before she got her wand and staff.
“Hello, Katy, please come this way, Antonio please hand me her wand and staff, and wait here.”
Katy did not want to let go of Antonio, but she followed the professor, into a small room, which was filled with pinks as well.
“Please sit Katy.” Professor O’Conaill said and motioned to a large pink cushion.
Kris Charles - Author 