Agnes picked one of the empty crystals up from the table. Her eyes were distant with memory. “I used to play tricks on my little brother, growing up. I’d hide one of these under his pillow and groan like a ghost He hated it. I think I permanently scarred him.”
Salem laughed.
“Ah, little brat deserved it after he set fire to my dolls,” Agnes reasoned. “Besides, it was funny.” Her smiling expression went blank as she turned on Maria. “But be careful. Terrible nightmares lie within the crystal’s potion. It plays on your worst fears.”
“Good thing I’m not afraid of anything,” Maria replied triumphantly.
“Oh, my dear, we are all afraid of something, whether or not we know what that is. I hope you never have to witness such nightmares, but the magic will find your fear, and it’ll make you realize how scared you are of it.”
Maria put the necklace on over her head, slipping it over her wild brown hair with slight difficulty. “If the day comes, I’ll be prepared,” she promised.
She didn’t mean to sound cocky or full of herself, but she had, after all, conquered a Rogue Dragon, and done other things she hadn’t thought she’d successfully accomplish. A few nightmares were nothing compared to all that.
“You’ll be prepared because you have such great mentors,” Salem said.
“You not included,” Agnes quipped. Salem sidled over to her and slipped an arm around her waist.
“Aw, you’re too kind, my love,” he said.
Laughter drifted in from under the door again.
“How’s the ice cream situation?” Salem laughed. “Should I even bother to ask? We can just conjure up more if we ever do run out.”
“That’s against the magical law, my friend,” Ignatius scolded as he packed up the contents of the chest.
“Since when are you concerned with magical law?” Salem leaned his head back and roared with laughter, and Gramps joined him. Agnes and Maria caught eyes, both wearing a hesitant look on their face because magical law seemed to be something one should be concerned with.
After a moment, Agnes shrugged.
“Right you are, Salem. The Silver Griffins have never truly scared me, though I suppose they should,” Ignatius shrugged.
“Trevilsom is no joke, you two,” Agnes said. She looked to Maria and whispered, “You know that brother I used to scare? Well he was in there for nearly three years. He came out an entirely different wizard.”
“That’s good,” Maria said. “That’s what prison is all about, right? Reform? Rehabilitation?” She accessed the many hours she’d spent watching Law & Order.
“Unfortunately, he didn’t come out for the better. I can hardly look him in the eyes, let alone hold a conversation with the poor fellow. Suffice to say, he is not my brother—not the budding wizard I used to play pranks on whilst we grew up.”
“Probably your fault, too,” Salem said.
Gramps surprised Maria when he leaned over and punched his friend in the arm hard enough to draw a wince from the wizard.
“I’m just joking, geez,” Salem said, sucking a breath in through his teeth.
“No, I fear you may be right,” Agnes said. She hung her head as she spoke.
“I wasn’t there for him when I should’ve been. We had gone down different paths.”
“Aw, don’t say that,” Maria said, patting the witch on the back. “A ton of stuff could have been the cause. You can’t single out one exact thing.”
Gramps and Salem nodded their approval.
“I suppose you’re right,” Agnes said. “Though I do miss my little brother.”
There was silence as the four of them contemplated Agnes’s heavy words.
For Maria, they made all of this even more real. She had known Salem and Agnes for as long as she could remember. They were there for birthday parties, holidays—pretty much any time something important came up (once, the witch and wizard even came over to support Gramps during a particularly heavy episode of General Hospital). But Maria hadn’t truly known them.
Standing there and learning more about their pasts, their lives, made them realer. These were witches and wizards, but most importantly, they were people, and the outcome of their lives ultimately rested on whether or not she was successful in the war against the Widow and the Arachnids.
You don’t know if there will be a war for sure, Maria. If Gramps and Salem get the Jewel of Deception, then Gelbus can help you activate the music box, and you can get those villagers out of the world in between. After that, you can all live happily ever after with big, goofy smiles on your faces. All sunshine and rainbows. How beautiful.
Deep down, she knew it would not be that easy; it rarely ever was. If being a witch had taught her anything—in the short amount of time she had actually been one—it was that when one issue is solved, another problem presents itself.
I wonder if there’s some scientific explanation for that…Maria’s Law instead of Murphy’s Law.
She chuckled to herself.
“What is it you’re thinking of over there, my dear?” Gramps asked.
Maria smiled, taking in the three of them standing by the card table. They were frazzled and odd, but they were family, and she loved them more in that moment than she had ever loved anything. She made sure to take a few mental pictures because, deep down, she knew this could be the last time she saw them like this. Happy. Together. Whole.
“Nothing,” she answered.
Gramps crossed the distance to her and put his arm around her shoulders. “Nothing? Are you sure, Maria?”
She could tell by his voice that he knew ‘nothing’ meant something, even though Maria hid it well. Gramps was just good like that.
“Yeah, nothing,” she repeated.
“Sometimes, we think of the most important things when we think about nothing,” Gramps said.
Behind them, Salem snickered.
“That doesn’t make much sense, Gramps,” Maria replied skeptically.
“What have I told you? A wizard doesn’t have to make sense.” It was Maria’s turn to snicker. Guiding her, Gramps continued. “Come, come. Let’s eat some ice
