The Magic of the Cathedral

 

            Timothy hurried to the construction site. He wanted to get there before the foundation was finished. He lifted up the bottom of his robes so he could run. Shouts of “Good morning, Father!” and “Good day, Father!” followed him as he got closer to the site. There were a lot of people who had come to work on the new cathedral. This would be perfect.

            Timothy slowed down as he reached the center of activity. He looked over the nearly completed foundation and marveled at how huge this place was going to be. He drew his robes close around him and tried to appear pious. His disguise as a holy man would only work if he acted the part. He slowly walked the perimeter, pretending he was there to inspect the work as it progressed, but really, he was looking for a suitable place to perform the spell.

            He might have been dressed as a priest, but Timothy was actually a wizard. He had been looking for a permanent structure that would last a really long time, and a cathedral would fit that requirement. If everything he had heard about the new Notre Dame Cathedral turned out to be true, then this would be a truly massive building. It would take a very long time to complete, and it was meant to be around forever. This suited Timothy’s plans perfectly.

            The spell would tie his life to the life of the building and would allow him to find other young wizards and teach them about the magic in the world. Wizards usually lived longer than normal humans, but Timothy had already lived longer than most wizards. He had watched the magic in the world diminish alarmingly over the last five hundred years. He remembered when dragons actually flew in the sky and fairies didn’t feel the need to hide.  

            Timothy walked over to where the workers were digging and placing foundation stones. He would have preferred to cast his spell at night with no one around, but he would just have to create a distraction instead. Gripping his wand inside of his long sleeve, he muttered an incantation. Sparks flew out of his sleeve and streaked off behind him, landing in the back of a cart. That cart was full of hay bales, and the sparks immediately became flames, and soon the entire cart was engulfed in a burning inferno.

            People all around Timothy rushed in to help put out the flames. They could not let this fire get out of control. Timothy, meanwhile, took the opportunity to cast his spell on one of the remaining foundation stones that hadn’t yet been placed. Deftly cutting his palm with a small knife, he allowed a few drops of his blood to drip onto the stone. He then removed a vial of precious unicorn dust and sprinkled it over the stone. He then waved his wand and muttered a few words.

            With his work finished, Timothy walked over to join the rest of the crowd. Despite all their efforts, the fire had begun to spread. Several more carts and wagons now had flames coming off them. From inside his sleeve, Timothy waved his wand while muttering another incantation. After that, the flames lessened considerably, and people were able to put the fire out.

            Timothy smiled as he watched everyone return back to work. The foundation stones were laid, and he breathed a deep sigh of relief. This should allow him to live a much longer time and teach young wizards how to use their powers. It would also alert him to any new wizards in the area that would need guidance. He felt a hum resonate within him, and he knew that the magic was working. He looked around and immediately focused on a young man that was helping his father work on the cathedral.

            Timothy squared his shoulders and walked over to introduce himself. He needed to teach this new wizard everything he needed to know.

            Nearly 900 years later, Timothy no longer pretended to be a priest. He worked as a tour guide in the Notre Dame Cathedral. He had found and trained countless young wizards, and he still enjoyed his work. He shuddered when he thought of the horrific fire that nearly destroyed the cathedral a few years ago. It was a good thing he had chosen such an important building for his spell. The damage from the fire was being repaired, and the Cathedral would be around for many more years to come.

            Tourists were always amazed at his knowledge of the Cathedral. He knew the answers to everyone’s questions. Today’s tour group had the usual questions. As Timothy answered them, he felt the familiar hum of a new wizard nearby and turned to see a young man who looked a little bored.

            Timothy waited until the end of the tour, and then he slipped his card into the young man’s backpack. It had his website and email on it. He hoped the young man would contact him, but it would also allow him to know where the young man went. After so many years, Timothy knew everyone, and he could alert the wizard closest to the young man so he could still get a magical education.

Magic Teacher

 

            Matthew needed a break. He got up, stretched, and then asked Haley, “Don’t you think we’ve got enough information for our presentation now?”

            Haley still sat at the table, looking over all of the work that they had done. “Yeah, I think we have enough for the presentation. All we need to do now is practice.”

            Matthew sighed. He’d really had enough of reading about the country of France. He couldn’t wait for this whole project to be over. He thought wistfully of tomorrow afternoon. By then, he could forget all about France once their presentation was over.

            Haley interrupted his thoughts. She handed him a sheet of paper, saying, “You do this half, and I’ll do the rest.”

            Matthew took the paper reluctantly. “Okay, but I need to take a break first.” He wandered away from the table where they had been working in the library. He just needed to move his body. He thought about heading outside, but something stopped him. It was almost like someone had said his name, but really softly. He looked around, and there was no one close to him. He looked toward the shelves full of books, and he felt like he should walk over there.

            Matthew wasn’t sure why, but he took a step toward the stacks. He really wanted to go outside, but he felt like he needed to do something first. Not exactly sure what it was, he continued walking toward the rows of books. Once he reached them, he felt something pull him in farther. It was like his body was following invisible instructions, but Matthew had no idea what they were.

            He walked deeper and deeper into the stacks. This library was huge and quite old, but it seemed even bigger now. His body turned down aisles confidently, still following that strange pull. He started to worry that he would get lost. He’d never been this far in before. He glanced at the books on either side of him, noticing that they seemed older and heavier. There weren’t any books with bright pictures on the covers, like he was used to seeing. These books were mostly made of leather with the titles peeling off or illegible.

            Whatever was pulling him on was getting stronger. Matthew started running, feeling like he needed to hurry now. He continued to twist and turn among the stacks. There was no way he would ever find his way out, but he felt like he was almost there.

            Finally, he stopped, breathing heavily. The pull was gone, and Matthew was left a little confused. He had entered a round room, lined with bookshelves. In the center of the room sat a table, with a single book lying on top of it. He was standing right next to the table, so he picked up the book. He could tell that it was ancient. The leather binding was cracked and peeling. It looked like it might have had a handsome green cover at one time, but now it was coming apart in his hands. There was no legible title, but there were a few gold markings that looked like they used to be letters.

            Carefully laying the book back onto the table, Matthew opened it. He immediately felt that pull again, but this time, he was turning pages. He was so close to his goal now, whatever it was. He feverishly turned the pages, heedless of how they disintegrated in his hands. Finally, he reached the right page.

            A beautiful drawing of a blue and gold dragon filled the page. Matthew marveled at the level of detail. The dragon was drawn flying in the air, and Matthew could feel the wind blowing past him from the dragon’s powerful wingbeats. Its scales shimmered and shone. Then, it moved.

            With one mighty swoop of its wings, the dragon flew out of the book, straight into the air in front of Matthew. Matthew stared, dumbstruck, at the miniature dragon now flying around him. It couldn’t be any bigger than a hummingbird, but it was magnificent.

            After circling around Matthew twice, the dragon spoke. “Hmmm, not exactly what I expected, but I guess you’ll do.”

            “W-w-what?” Matthew stammered.

            The dragon landed on Matthew’s shoulder and looked at him haughtily. “I’ve been waiting a thousand years for you to show up. Everyone told me I would be wasting my time by waiting for someone like you to come along.”

            “Someone like me?” Matthew asked softly. “What does that mean?”

            “Someone with your magic capacity. Everyone told me that humans would never have magic, and I’d be waiting in that book forever.” He nodded toward the book that still lay on the table.

            “Uh, I think you’ve got me confused with someone else. I don’t know any magic tricks.”

            A gleam appeared in the dragon’s eyes. “No magic, huh? Where do you think you are?”

            “The city library,” Matthew answered promptly.

            The dragon stared at Matthew, wondering if he was joking. “Um, no. This is the magical library of Tulok. My name is Gable, and I will be your teacher of magic.”

            Matthew felt his jaw drop. This had to be some sort of weird dream or something. He needed to leave. “Uh, thanks, but I need to get back now.” He gave kind of a half-hearted wave as he said, “See you later, Gable.” He turned and ran back into the rows and stacks of books.

            Soon, he was hopelessly lost. He ran in a panic down passages lined with books until he finally stopped to catch his breath.

            “Need some help?” Gable asked, perched on Matthew’s shoulder.

            Matthew yelped and said, “I need to go back and finish my project on France. Haley is waiting for me.”

            “Relax, er, what’s your name again?”

            “It’s Matthew.”

            “Okay, Matthew, all you need to do is use your same magic that you used when you came here.”

            “But I don’t have any magic!” Matthew said, frustrated. “You pulled me here.”

            “Did I? Or did you just follow your feelings?”

            Matthew said nothing. Something had pulled him here. Was it his magic? He did really need to get back to Haley. He closed his eyes and imagined a rope pulling him toward her.

            Matthew opened his eyes and immediately felt himself being pulled along an invisible rope. He took off running to follow the pull.

            “Ah, there you go,” Gable said proudly as he flew along beside Matthew.

            Matthew ran until he started to recognize his surroundings. He was back in the city library now. Slowing down, he turned to Gable to say, “Thanks.”

            The dragon perched on his shoulder again and said, “Anytime. You and I will be spending a lot of time together, you know. You’ll be needing a teacher now.”

            Matthew hesitated before he said, “Well, there’s really no such thing as dragons where I come from. People are going to wonder what’s going on when I show up with you on my shoulder.”

            “Never fear, young wizard!” Gable said happily. “You’re the only one who can see or hear me.”

            And that’s how the first human became a wizard. Matthew walked out of the stacks and sat back down next to Haley.

            “Finally!” Haley sounded exasperated. “Let’s finish this project.”

            Matthew never told anyone about his powers—or Gable. He eventually became a powerful wizard who would seek out other magical talent around him. He worked closely with Gable and they became best friends. The world became a much more magical place after that, and the names of Matthew and Gable became legendary.

Life Brush

 

            Sam brought out his painting supplies as he thought about what he was going to paint. As he got things all set up, he realized that he had forgotten an important piece of equipment.

            “Hey Grandma, do you have any paintbrushes I could use?” he called out to her. She was working over in the garden in the back of the house. He could see that she couldn’t hear him, so he started to look around.

            Grandma was always telling him not to mess with her stuff, but he knew she had some paintbrushes somewhere. He looked around in her office and couldn’t see any with her other art supplies. He looked in the closet and saw an old box that was simply labelled, “Art.”

            Sam carefully pulled down the box and peered inside. There were professional quality art supplies in here. Sam had taken enough art classes to know that when he saw the bright purple paintbrush, that it was very high quality. It was a medium size round paintbrush, perfect for his current project.

            Now that he had something to paint with, Sam went back to where he had set up his easel and his other supplies, and he started to paint. He wasn’t sure if he was just having a good paint day, or Grandma’s brush made him paint better, but he was able to finish his artwork much more quickly than he ever had before.

            He stepped back to admire his work. He had finished while Grandma was still out in the garden. The dragon that Sam had painted next to a beautiful silver tree really turned out amazing. The blue-green of its scales seemed to sparkle, and its wings looked magnificent. He moved his eyes to the dragon’s face and realized that there was steam coming from its nostrils.

            “Hmm,” Sam said, perplexed. “I don’t remember painting that.” Then something happened that really surprised Sam. The dragon moved and flapped its wings.

            Sam startled back from the painting with a gasp. “What?” he breathed, shocked. The dragon’s eyes focused on Sam as it started to lift up off of the ground in the painting, and then up off of the canvas itself.

            Before Sam could even process what was happening, he found himself standing nose to nose with the dragon. Sam hardly dared to breathe, and then the dragon spoke.

            “Thank you for breathing life into me,” it said, and then it fell unmistakably into a bow.

            “Umm, what?” was all Sam could say.

            Now the dragon looked a little confused as he said, “You created me from the life brush. I now owe you my life and will do whatever I can to serve you.” He paused then and said a little more hesitantly. “You are the one who painted me, aren’t you?”

            Sam looked down at the purple paintbrush in his hand as he said, “Well, yes, but I had no idea…How is this even happening? Am I dreaming?”

            Grandma chose that moment to come back into the house from her work in the garden. She held a bouquet of flowers and went straight into the kitchen as she called, “Are you doing all right in here, Sam? You should come out to the garden with me. It’s such a gorgeous day outside.”

            “Uh, Grandma?” he asked softly.

            Grandma must have heard something in his voice, because she finally focused her attention on him, and her eyes went wide. She saw the paintbrush in his hand and the dragon in her living room. Very slowly she asked, “What have you done, Sam?”

            Sam felt his face grow hot as he tried to explain. “I forgot to bring my paintbrushes, so I went to find one in your office. I found this one in a box that said “Art” on it.”

            Grandma took a deep breath and then asked, “I believe that I’ve asked you not to go through my things?”

            Sam felt Grandma’s eyes cut into him as he said lamely, “It was just a paintbrush.” Obviously, it wasn’t just a paintbrush. There was silence for a moment between the three of them – Sam, Grandma, and the dragon, who still stood right next to Sam.

            Then, Grandma’s cat, Rufus, strolled in and looked around. He walked right over to Grandma and said, “It looks like Sam’s got your magic gene.”

            Another layer of shock fell over Sam. “What?!!” He stared down at Rufus, who he had thought was a completely normal cat. Up until now.

            Grandma gave a great big sigh and said, “This will take some explaining. Sam, let’s move to the couch and sit down. Bring your dragon.”

            Sam walked over to the couch, and the dragon followed him. He flopped onto the couch and the dragon sat down beside him. For the next hour, Grandma told him about how some people in her family had magic. She hadn’t been sure that Sam had any magic, so she was always looking for clues. She began to suspect recently that he might have magic, so that’s why she had invited him to stay with her for the summer.

            Grandma then talked about the paintbrush that Sam had used on the dragon, or what she called, The Life Brush. She said that it was used to create a life-long magic partner for those who had magical powers.

            “Wait,” Sam interrupted. “Are you saying that this dragon will be with me for life?”

            Grandma gave a little laugh as she said, “Yes, but usually we create normal looking animals for our partners.” She saw Sam turn white and then quickly added, “I’ll teach you how to use your magic to disguise your dragon. You’ll have to change him into something like a dog or a cat whenever anyone else is around.”

            As the shock of what Grandma was saying started to sink in, Sam began to feel something else. “So, I can actually do magic?” he asked with excitement. He looked at his dragon and started to think about all the possibilities.

            From that day on, Sam learned all he could about magic. He never got tired of working with his dragon, Dorian. Grandma taught them everything she knew. Sam and Dorian became very successful magicians, even if they had an unusual start. Sam never met another magician with a dragon for a partner, and he felt proud that he was truly unique.

Finders Keepers

            Alex pushed open the creaky door and stepped inside the old mansion. He couldn’t believe that he was even inside. The place hadn’t been lived in for at least 15 years and was the perfect subject for haunted house stories. Kids had dared each other to go inside, but no one had ever found a way in. The doors were always locked, and the windows seemed to be made of thick, bullet-proof glass.

            Alex looked down at the key in his hand. Someone had left the key and a note by his front door this morning. The note had simply said, “There’s something strange inside the old mansion.” There was no signature or any hint of who had left him the note.

            Alex considered himself a pretty good investigator. Even though he was only 11 years old, he had a reputation for tracking down things that had been stolen or lost. That’s why he wasn’t too surprised when he found the note. Someone had a mystery for him.

            Even though it was only ten o’clock in the morning, Alex clicked on his flashlight as he pulled it out of his backpack. He shone it around the darkened entryway. The door swung shut behind him and Alex gave an involuntary jump. There was a thick layer of dust everywhere except for a set of footprints leading down the hall. Alex followed the footprints and came to an ornate set of stairs. The steps creaked as he climbed up and reached the landing.

            Nervously, Alex adjusted his backpack as he continued to follow the footprints. With every step, the wood underneath him moaned and groaned in protest. The footprints stopped in front of a door that was slightly ajar. Alex pushed open the door and stepped inside. He glimpsed an old, dusty room before suddenly, everything changed.

            There was such a powerful whoosh of air that Alex closed his eyes and took an involuntary step back. When he opened his eyes again, he was absolutely dumbfounded. “What the?!!” he said, totally confused.

            Alex was standing in the middle of a bright, sunlit meadow. His eyes darted around and landed on a strange man standing a few feet away. He was wearing a suit and tie, and a warm smile as he said, “Welcome Alex!”

            Alex had never seen this man before. He pulled out the small flip phone that he carried in his backpack, just in case.

            “That’s not going to work here,” the man said kindly.

            All was silent in the meadow until Alex asked, “Who are you, and what is this place? I was in the old mansion, and I suddenly find myself here. What happened? How did I get here?” This all came out very fast, thanks to his nervousness.

            “Well Alex,” the man said as he shook Alex’s hand. “I was the one who sent you the key. My name is Greg.” He led Alex over to a nearby garden bench and invited him to sit down.

            Alex slowly sank down on to the bench and asked, “Where are we and why are we here?”

            Greg chuckled as he sat down next to Alex. “Well, I wanted to let you know that you’ve caught my attention. Not many 11-year-old boys are able to do what you do.”

            “What’s that?” Alex asked.

            “You’re a finder.”

            “A what?”

            “A finder. Someone with the magical gift to be able to find anything that they’re seeking.”

            Alex’s confusion now turned to disbelief. “That’s not magic! I’m just able to find things that people lost or were stolen because I’m a good investigator. There’s no such thing as magic!”

            Greg’s smile grew wider. “I beg to differ, Alex. How do you think we got here?” He gestured to the meadow around them. He continued explaining to Alex. “Usually, people with this magical gift take years to use it properly. You’ve been able to master it without any training at all.”

            Greg paused as he pulled something out of his suit coat pocket. “That’s why I’m inviting you to join the Finder’s Society.” He showed Alex what was in his hand.

            Alex couldn’t believe his eyes. Greg was holding a miniature gold dragon in the palm of his hand that was moving. The dragon paced around his palm as it studied Alex. Alex was shocked and didn’t know what to say. Finally, he asked, “What’s the Finder’s Society?”

            “Oh, it’s just a secret group of Finders like you and I. Yes, I’m a Finder too,” he answered before Alex could ask.

            “So, what does this society do?” came Alex’s next question.

            “We just work behind the scenes, helping others. It’s what you already do, right?”

            Alex thought for a moment and then said, “I suppose so, but what about the dragon?”

            Greg held the tiny dragon out closer to Alex and then said, “Go ahead, take it.”

            Not knowing what else to do, Alex reached out to touch the little golden dragon. Immediately, it wrapped itself around Alex’s finger and became solid. Alex felt something inside him shift and looked up at Greg.

            “With this dragon, you’ll be able to use your finder magic more easily, and other Finders will be able to sense you.” Greg smiled at Alex again. “You will also be able to sense other Finders.” He abruptly stood up and said, “Well, that’s it, time to go.”

            Alex had a million questions and opened his mouth to ask one when suddenly, there was another powerful whoosh of air that made him close his eyes and fall off of the bench he was sitting on.

            When he opened his eyes again, he found himself on the ground outside the old mansion’s front door. More confused than ever, he reached to open the door again, but discovered that it was locked and he had lost the key. He was seriously questioning his sanity when he saw the dragon ring still on his finger.

            Alex went home that day, not really believing or understanding what had happened. But for the rest of his life, he wore the golden dragon ring around his finger. People often came to him for help, and he was a very successful private investigator. They were always surprised at how easily it came to him to get to the bottom of every mystery. Alex would just say that it came naturally, but he always rubbed his golden dragon ring as he said this. People assumed it was his good luck charm, but Alex knew better.