A Magical Bond | 12

"I can't believe you pushed me out of bed at the crack of dawn to spend all day at the library," Katy grumbled the next morning, the metallic liner smeared liberally beneath her eyes disguising the most telltale sign of her massive hangover.

Cassie, on the other hand, had limited herself to two drinks and had already been up for hours, anxious to show Katy the handful of potential leads she had accumulated at the beginning of the summer. She felt simultaneously so close and so far from the finish line. All she wanted was to step through that portal and into the Magic Realm once and for all, and she was determined not to let even one more distraction stand in her way.

Once it became clear that Cassie wasn't in the mood to indulge her whining, Katy sighed dramatically and flipped open the manila folder full of map printouts, which she began thumbing through distractedly in an unconvincing show of helpfulness. But then she lingered on one page for a beat too long and smacked her finger down in the middle of it. "That's got to be it," she exclaimed. "Glimmerbrook. That's a town with a magical origin if I've ever seen one."

"That's what I thought at first, too," Cassie said, pulling up the small village on her phone's navigation app to take a closer look. "But isn't it kind of... obvious? I'd expect something a little less in your face. Besides, what would my family's Door even be doing in a place like that? We've been in Sulani as far back as anyone can remember. Shouldn't it be somewhere on the islands?"

"Well, to answer your first question, sometimes the best way to hide something is in plain sight. Most people don't even believe in magic. You really think they're going to think twice about some middle-of-nowhere town with a weird name? There are thousands of them! To answer your second question, I'm no historian, but I've heard stories about long abandoned Doors, we're talking hundreds of years abandoned, being drawn closer to their point of origin over time. They're built to survive, so once they can't feed off the magical charge of their owners, they seek out the only other source with enough energy to keep them going."

"The Magic Realm," Cassie supplied readily.

"Exactly. I can't say I know how the mechanics of it all works, but maybe this Glimmerbrook or another town like it is where it all began, the place from which whoever or whatever created the Magic Realm brought it into existence."

"Let's go," Cassie exclaimed, sprinting out of the library and mounting her bicycle before Katy had a chance to protest.

"Slow down," Katy demanded as she hopped on her own bike and pedaled like crazy to catch up. Cassie didn't stop to rest until they were several miles removed from town, surrounded by nothing but greenery and rocks. Katy finally broke even with her, huffing and puffing, face shiny with perspiration. "Girl, I know you're excited," she said, her words punctuated by ragged breaths, "but you're going to have to pace yourself. Some of us have spent the entire summer slouching behind a service desk, not pedaling across the entire countryside."

From that point on, Cassie tried to keep her pace moderate enough to avoid leaving Katy in the dust. After all, it would only slow things down if she wore Katy out before they even managed to uncover a single answer. To Katy's credit, she soon stopped complaining and valiantly pushed herself forward, powering up even the steepest inclines. They rode until the afternoon, when the endless miles of trees and dirt and stone finally opened up into a clearing that looked like it might actually lead somewhere that was occupied by more than just wildlife.

When they reached an unassuming little blink-and-you'll-miss-it pub nestled in amongst the pine trees, Katy proclaimed, "Thank God," and abandoned her bike immediately. As much as Cassie wanted to keep going, she didn't put up a fight. Her own throat was bone dry, her stomach was growling angrily, and the muscles in her calves were throbbing. It wouldn't hurt if they took 30 minutes to revitalize themselves. The Door wasn't going anywhere (at least, she hoped it wasn't).

The pub was like a ghost town, with only a single bored and half-asleep bartender to keep them company. They tried asking her a few questions about the area, but she was oddly cagey and standoffish, so they soon gave up on conversation. Instead, they all stood around awkwardly as she lazily and silently mixed their drinks. Katy grabbed hers the instant it hit the countertop and began wandering around curiously. "You'd better come check this out," she called as Cassie waited impatiently for her own drink.

"Whoa," Cassie exclaimed as soon as she saw what had caught Katy's attention.

"Exactly."

"What is that, some kind of seal?" Her eye was more drawn to the dragon statue beneath it, though, which unsettled her with its vaguely sinister aura. It felt like a warning of some sort, like they were close to stumbling upon something not just anyone was supposed to know about.

"Those markings look familiar," Katy mused. "I've never seen that exact configuration before, but it looks similar to the lettering in the Order of Enchantment's sacred texts, which, by the way, are a real bitch to make any sense of. Teaching yourself an archaic magical language is no walk in the park."

Soon enough, they were back on their bikes. Katy was so ecstatic when they finally hit a paved road that she surged ahead. "We've reached proper civilization at last!" she shouted joyously as she whizzed past Cassie to glide across the bridge that signaled a welcome reprieve from the endless stretch of forest.

Cassie slowed to a halt as they approached a sprawling mansion that stuck out like a sore thumb from its surroundings, a far sight more ornate and about four times bigger than any of the small cottages they'd passed leading up to it. It appeared that no one was home. The courtyard out front was eerily empty. Although Cassie had obviously never stepped foot there in her life, she somehow felt like she recognized the place.

"What's up?" Katy asked, cautiously trailing her as she stepped up close to the house, mesmerized by the stained glass window that stood as its centerpiece. Where else had she seen that design?

"I've been here before," she said, with a degree of certainty that surprised even herself.

"Like, here here?"

Cassie shook her head distractedly. "Not exactly," she mumbled, and before she fully grasped what she was doing, she found herself moving closer, twisting the first doorknob she saw, and feeling the door creak open with a single push.

"What are you doing?" Katy hissed, but there wasn't much to worry about. The place was clearly abandoned, empty of any furniture, its scuffed wood floors coated in a visible layer of dust. Their footsteps echoed ominously as they made their way through the labyrinth of dark, empty rooms.

Cassie stopped in front of a protruding stone wall and lay her palm flat against its surface. It was so cold to the touch that it raised goosebumps on her forearm. "There should be a fireplace here," she remarked idly. "Where is it? What happened to everything?"

"Babe, I hate to be the bearer of bad news," Katy said, "but I don't think there's been a fireplace or anything else here for a very long time. Are you sure this is the right place?"

"Yes!" Cassie insisted. "Of course I'm sure! It's exactly the same as the one in my dream."

"But you were just a kid then. How can you possibly be certain-"

"I can feel it! Can't you sense there's something different about this place? It's like the air is vibrating at an entirely different frequency in here than anywhere else."

Katy couldn't entirely disguise her concerned grimace. She was embarrassed for Cassie. She thought she was acting crazy. She chose her response carefully. "I'm sorry. I don't know what you mean. It's just an old house."

"But it's not! You said it yourself. Maybe the Magic Realm actually originated from this place."

"It was just a stupid theory!" Katy exclaimed. "I was talking out of my ass, and I was clearly way off-base."

Cassie refused to be thrown off a trail that felt like it was leading her in the intended direction. She was so close to the Magic Realm, she could taste it. "But what if you were right. If all that is true, then maybe we're standing in the Magic Realm right now, only it's in an alternate dimension, so we can't actually see it. But it's occupying this exact physical space in another world."

Katy scoffed incredulously. "This is bullshit. I'm sorry I got your hopes up, but this clearly isn't the place. Look around you, Cassie. There's nothing here."

"But what about the symbols in the bar?"

"Those could've been anything! I told you I can barely understand that stuff. I probably made a mistake."

"If we could just go a little bit further-"

"No, I'm done!" Katy shouted. "We're losing daylight, and I don't want to be stuck in the middle of the woods at night. I'm heading back now. We can dig around more the next time I'm here. We'll try another town."

Cassie couldn't just sit around twiddling her thumbs while she waited for Katy to come back from Del Sol Valley again. She was only wasting precious time. Sure, she might be flirting with danger by setting off on her own, but she felt that she had no choice. The last few weeks of summer were rapidly ticking away, and she refused to drag herself back to Britechester empty-handed. She made the abandoned mansion her base, pushing herself further and further beyond Glimmerbrook's borders every day before turning around to painstakingly retrace her path back to the house. She was exhausted, weary down to her bones, but she couldn't give up. Finally, when she had just about stretched the summer as far as it would go, she rounded an uncharted bend in the dirt road and was abruptly struck with an intense wave of deja vu. It took all she had in her to not fall down weeping with joy on the spot.

She steadfastly pedaled forward, through a veil of fog and across the shallows of the river, until she finally set eyes on the sight she'd been bracing herself for all this time: the Door. Throwing her bike to the ground, she jogged forward, her entire body shaking at the prospect of finally approaching the portal in real life.

Standing in front of the massive, intricately carved arch, it felt like time had stopped. All of a sudden, she was a girl again, marveling at the surreal floating world that hovered just beyond her reach, filled with a deep sense of impossible yearning. Except this time, she knew, she would make it across without being thrown back into her bedroom without warning. She stared resolutely into the amorphous green glow before her. "Well, it's now or never," she said aloud before taking in a deep breath, like she was about to plunge underwater, and stepping through.

On the opposite side of the portal stood an exact replica of the vast estate she had spent the last several weeks growing intimately familiar with, except that where the version in her world was cold, dark, and empty, the version in this world radiated warmth and life, every window illuminated in a way that made Cassie feel like she'd already been invited in.

As soon as she stepped inside, her subconscious took over, compelling her body to retrace the steps it had once taken in a dream so long ago. When she saw the same silvery bob that had been burned into her memory for years now, she gasped. Her head started spinning and her muscles tensed, bracing to fight with all the strength they had against the forces that any second now would be working to fling her back into reality. But the sensation never came. She still felt solid. The woman turned around, a coy little smile on her face, like she wasn't entirely surprised to find Cassie there gaping at her. "Cassiopeia Bautista," she intoned solemnly. "You've found your way to us at last."

Cassie blinked uncomprehendingly. "You-you... How do you know my name?" she finally managed to stutter.

The woman's laugh was like a harmoniously ringing bell. "Darling, we've met before! Don't tell me you've forgotten."

"Of course not! But that was only a, only a, only a..." She couldn't seem to spit out the word.

"Dream?" the woman asked, her eyes sparkling mischievously. "Yes, it must've seemed that way to you. You were too young to know any different. The magic in your bloodline is strong but sadly long dormant. It was important for us to start planting the seeds early. If you were as powerful as we hoped you were, we knew you'd find us eventually."

"Who are you?" Cassie finally succeeded in blurting out, the question she'd been trying to ask all along.

"L. Faba, Sage of Mischief, at your service." She offered a hand for Cassie to shake. It was warm and buzzed with faint electricity. "Now, are you ready to begin your lessons?"

"I was born ready!" Cassie exclaimed, though she still had more questions than answers.

L. Faba smiled again. "That's what we've been waiting to hear."

Before Cassie knew what was happening, L. Faba had whipped out a glowing wand, seemingly from thin air, pointed it in Cassie's direction, and recited a string of unintelligible, gravely pronounced syllables. All of a sudden, Cassie felt a shock, a jolt of buzzing energy coursing up her spine that seemed to collect in her eyes, turning her vision glowy around the edges but also sharper than it had ever been, even with her glasses on. She could see every near-transparent wisp of smoke and microscopic speck of dust dancing in the air. "In order to fully unlock the magic within," L. Faba told her carefully, "I will need seven magical motes. I have temporarily granted you the supernatural sight necessary to see and retrieve them. There's not a moment to waste. Return to me before the spell wears off!"

There was no time to ask her to clarify. She wished Cassie luck before practically shoving her out the door. At first, Cassie had no idea what to do. What the hell was a magical mote, and how was she supposed to find even one when she could suddenly see the entire world down to the molecular level? There was too much visual information to process. It would be like finding a needle in a haystack - seven needles in a seemingly boundless haystack, to be more precise. But she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to focus her mind on the task at hand. When she looked again, the motes were suddenly everywhere, shimmering translucent bubbles hanging effortlessly in mid-air. She reached out to touch one and immediately absorbed it into herself through her fingertips. Was that supposed to happen?

She tried to work quickly, remembering L. Faba's warning about the spell wearing off. But she found herself easily distracted by the sight of other spellcasters - presumably neophytes like she would soon (fingers crossed) be able to call herself - scattered across the lawn in duos and small groups to hone their skills. She paused for a moment or two to watch a couple of spellcasters engaged in a tense magical duel and thrilled at the thought that she could be standing in their shoes sometime in the very near future. Then she snapped out of her reverie and sprinted back inside to deliver her motes before it was too late.

Once inside, L. Faba greeted her with little more than an expectantly raised eyebrow. Cassie gulped nervously. Now that she had absorbed the requisite number of motes, she was clearly expected to relinquish them - but how? Well, if they'd entered through her fingertips... She gingerly uncurled her fist until her palm lay flat, glowing hotly with all that collected mote energy. She stared hard, envisioning the energy as it rose from her palm to recombine into its original form. It wasn't until she noticed L. Faba nodding in satisfaction that she realized she'd actually done it.

"Very good," she said. "Now, I must admit the truth. That was a test of commitment, which you passed with flying colors, but it had nothing to do with unlocking your magic."

"What?" Cassie asked, more confused than ever.

"Your magic was never under lock and key, darling. All you needed to activate it was to believe in yourself. But confidence is a trickier thing than it seems. The journey was required to prove you were capable. Now that you know your own power, there will be no limits on what you can achieve."

"What am I supposed to do now?" Cassie called desperately as L. Faba began to walk away.

"That's up to you, my dear," she responded cryptically. Suddenly, Cassie remembered how effortlessly L. Faba had flung out her wand, as if it were a natural extension of herself. The burst of energy shooting from its tip came not from the wand but from her. Trying not to overthink it, Cassie extended her own arm, fingers splayed wide, willing her magical charge to burst forth with her mind. It took a few seconds, and the resultant form was wobbly and nascent, dissipating after only a moment with no spell to guide it, but she'd cast. She was a spellcaster! It was all finally real!

Time passed differently in the Magic Realm. When she stepped through the portal and found herself back on the forested outskirts of Glimmerbrook, it was mid-morning - the sky was bright blue and the birds were passing cheery songs back and forth amongst themselves - but she had no idea if hours or days had gone by.  But her bike was still tipped on its side next to the Door where she'd left it. After spending so long in an alternate universe, it was oddly surreal to hop on and follow the familiar path back to Glimmerbook like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. She felt like an entirely new person.

She decided to take an alternate route, giving herself more time to shake the haze of fog from her overstimulated brain. What was she meant to do with all the knowledge she'd uncovered, all the power she'd unleashed? Even here, back in "reality," she could still feel the magical charge coursing persistently through her veins, anxious to be put to good use. If she wanted to fully harness her abilities, she could hardly just go back to Britechester, enroll in fall classes, and return to life as usual. She needed to be practicing. She needed to be with other spellcasters. She needed to be near the Realm at all times. The Order of Enchantment wasn't going to cut it. She needed to be here.

The hand of fate must have agreed with her, for suddenly she came upon a tiny cottage, its overgrown lawn blending so naturally into the surrounding trees that she almost missed it. It looked exactly like the sort of place a burgeoning spellcaster might call home, and, as luck would have it, there was a sign out front advertising the place for sale or rent. Cassie snapped a hasty photo of the sign with her cell phone. The listed price made her stomach drop precipitously, but she thought maybe, just maybe, the small bit of money she'd managed to squirrel away over the summer would be enough to cover a few months' rent while she found her magical footing.

As much as a part of her wanted to, she couldn't just up and vanish from her former life without a trace. Besides, she'd left most of her things in Britechester under the assumption she'd be back. So much had changed since then. As she stood outside the house where she'd spent nearly a year, she felt like an entire lifetime had passed since she'd last been inside, even though it'd only been a few short months. She was so caught up in her thoughts she had no idea how long Sione had been standing there silently observing her before finally exclaiming, "Cass! You're back! You're... blonde! I was beginning to think you'd moved out without telling me."

The simultaneously relieved and hopeful look on his face made her feel guilty. "I'm not staying," she told him, and his expression immediately fell.

"So you did find another place," he muttered dejectedly.

"Not exactly. Well, sort of." His forehead creased in confusion. She tried to explain without getting into the specifics. "I found another place, but it's not in Britechester."

"What about school?"

"I'm dropping out."

His mouth fell open slightly. "Oh," he managed, unable to mask his disappointment.

"I tried, but it's just not for me. I never really felt like I fit in at UBrite."

"So you're just back to pick up your stuff." She nodded. He cleared his throat and summoned her inside. "Well, at least let me give you a hand then."

Between the two of them, it didn't take long to pack up her few remaining belongings into cardboard boxes. She'd never owned much, which she was grateful for now. Her lack of material belongings would make it far easier to wipe her life's slate clean and make a fresh start somewhere new. "It already looked pretty empty in here," Sione mused, taking in the bare furniture and walls, "but now it looks downright spooky."

"Thanks for letting me stay," she said. "I know you never particularly wanted me here, but I appreciated it anyway."

"Cass, that's not true." His voice was quiet, oddly tender. He turned and slowly looked her up and down, like he was mulling something over in his mind. "Actually, could we talk for a minute?" She was impatient to go but nodded anyway and gestured for him to sit down with her on the bed. At the very least, she owed him one last conversation.

"Listen, I don't blame you if you have a hard time believing anything I say. I know I've made a lot of promises and apologies, and they've always ended up falling flat because I couldn't to commit to putting in any real work on myself. But I've been doing a lot of soul-searching lately. I never realized how deeply my feelings for you ran until you were gone. God, I missed you so much, Cassie, you have no idea - and it was crazy because we were barely talking when you left. But it took not knowing if you'd be back for me to admit to myself how much I care for you."

He paused for a moment, waiting for her to respond, but she stayed quiet, and it was impossible to read the look on her face. He took a deep breath and concluded in one long run-on sentence, "I guess what I'm trying to say is I know I've been an idiot and I know I've hurt you too many times to count and I probably don't even deserve another chance, but I think I might be in love with you and it's been slowly killing me inside not to be able to tell you."

Another interminable stretch of silence ticked past. Then, as if in slow motion, Cassie's features gradually clouded over, her eyebrows knitting together in frustration and her face turning a deep shape of red. "And you're telling me all this now?" she shouted.

Sione bowed his head meekly. "I'm sorry," he nearly whispered. "I only just realized it."

"You... you... you... AFTER ALL THIS TIME!"

"Cassie, please-"

She shot up from the bed and bent over double, screaming wordlessly into her thighs. He wished he could reach out and scoop her into a comforting embrace, but he knew she would only flinch away from him painfully if he tried.

"No," she said simply once she had recovered from her primal urge to tear the entire house apart. "I'm not going to do this anymore. I can't. I won't. It isn't healthy. We both just have to let this shit go, for once and for all."

"Cass, wait," Sione called weakly, but she was already on her way down the staircase. He'd rejected her so many times, and she'd just kept crawling back, hoping against hope that things would be different next time. But now that things finally were different, instead of being overcome with happiness, all she could think about was how stupid she'd been, how much time she'd wasted. It was just like Sione to profess his love and expect her to come running into his arms at the exact moment she had finally discovered who she could be without him. She couldn't walk away from that now. She couldn't regress back into that pathetic, desperate girl she used to be. If they were truly meant to be, the universe would surely conspire to bring them back together, but she wasn't about to let it happen solely on his terms.