A Tale of Magic... (31 page)

“I’m positive,” the boy said. “I spent so much effort hiding my powers I didn’t have time for any other secrets.”

“Come on, Xanny, I’m sure you’ve got one in you,” Lucy said. “You’ve never done something you knew you weren’t supposed to? You’ve never been caught in the middle of misbehaving? You’ve never committed a forbidden act that resulted in an accidental but horrific event?”

“Those are
very
specific questions,” Emerelda noted.

Xanthous was confused by Lucy’s interrogation, but it didn’t take long for him to remember the event she was fishing for. The memory made the color drain from his cheeks. He looked to the floor with a devastated gaze, and he gripped his Muter Medal with both hands.

“Oh yeah,” he said softly. “I suppose something like that
did
happen to me once.”

“And?” Lucy pressed.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Xanthous said. “It happened on the night my father died.”

“I’m afraid you have to tell us,” Lucy said. “Otherwise it’s seven years’ bad luck.”

“Seven years?”
Xanthous asked in a panic.

“I don’t make the rules, I just play the game,” she said.

Brystal covered Lucy’s mouth and took over the conversation before Xanthous was traumatized any further.

“Xanthous, this game isn’t going to give you bad luck,” she said. “This is just Lucy’s unique way of trying to help you. We all know how terrible keeping a secret can feel. Secrets are like parasites—the longer you keep them inside you, the more damage they cause. So if you ever want to talk about the night your father passed away, we’ll be ready to listen.”

The troubled boy thought about it and slowly nodded.

“You’re right,” Xanthous said. “It doesn’t do me any good keeping it to myself. I just hope it doesn’t change your opinion of me.”

“Of course it won’t,” Brystal said. “We made a pact, remember? You couldn’t get rid of us if you tried.”

Her smile gave Xanthous the courage he needed. The boy sat straight up and let out a deep breath.

“A few nights before Madame Weatherberry recruited me into her academy, I was at home by myself,” he told the others. “That night, my father came home from the pub earlier than he normally did. He walked into the house and caught me doing something I knew I shouldn’t have been doing—it was something he’d repeatedly told me not to do. My father began beating me and I accidentally started a fire that burned down our house and took his life.”

“What did he catch you doing?” Emerelda asked.

Recalling that night made Xanthous’s eyes water and his jaw quiver. Everyone in the room was on pins and needles as they waited for him to answer.

“He… he… he…,” Xanthous said with difficulty.
“He caught me playing with dolls!”

After the confession was made, tears streamed down his cheeks and he covered his face in shame. His classmates were shocked, not because of what he had confessed, but because it was nothing even close to what they were expecting.

“Dolls?”
Lucy exclaimed. “
That’s
your big secret?”

Xanthous lowered his hands and peeked at his classmates.

“You don’t think that’s wrong?” he asked.

“Wrong?”
Lucy blurted out. “Xanthous, do you know how many men play with dolls in show business? Let me put it this way—if they all disappeared overnight, there
would be no show business
!”

“Really?” Xanthous asked. “You’re not just saying that to make me feel better?”

“I never say things to make people feel better!” Lucy said. “Gosh, I’m so disappointed right now. I was hoping you were making weapons, or hosting rooster fights, or writing radical manifestos! Not in a million years would I have guessed it was something as simple as
playing with dolls
. If your father was cruel enough to beat his own son for
that
, then he deserves to be dead!”

The whole room gasped at Lucy’s extreme statement, but in many ways, it was exactly what Xanthous needed to hear. Brystal knew what he was thinking without having to ask him. Xanthous had been raised to believe his interests and preferences were shameful and despicable—to finally have someone dismiss them as
simple
and
shameless
was the greatest gift he could have been given. The boy sighed with relief like an invisible weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

“I understand how you feel,” Brystal told him. “It’s ironic, but when I was growing up in the Southern Kingdom, I was
forced
to play with dolls. I was always furious about the expectations they placed on girls, but I never realized it was just as unfair for the boys.”

Xanthous nodded. “Maybe it was for the best,” he said. “If we had had everything we wanted, then we might never have found what we need now.”

Brystal and Xanthous shared a warm smile, knowing how grateful they both were to put the Southern Kingdom behind them.

“That’s it, we’re done with this game!” Lucy announced. “Playing circle of secrets with you guys is like playing I spy with blind mole rats. Let’s find something else to do.”

“Oh, I have an idea,” Tangerina said. “Why don’t we play Leave the Office While We Still Can?”

“That sounds terrible,” Lucy said. “Instead of playing a game, why don’t we tell
ghost stories
? The weather is perfect for it.”

“That sounds like fun!” Xanthous said. “Who wants to go first?”

“I know a good story,” Emerelda said. “Back in the coal mine, the dwarfs used to talk about a phantom mine cart that moved through the caverns all by itself.”

“Ooooooh, creepy!” Lucy said. “Go on.”

A blank expression came to Emerelda’s face. “Well, there was a phantom mine cart that moved through the caverns all by itself,” she repeated. “What more do you want?”

“That can’t be the best story you’ve got,” Lucy said.

Emerelda bit her lip and squinted at the ceiling while she thought about it.

“Actually, there is another story I could tell,” she said. “And the scariest part is that it’s about someone who’s still living. Have any of you guys heard of the
Snow Queen
?”

All her classmates shook their heads, excited to learn more.

“She’s a real person causing a really big problem right now,” Emerelda explained. “The Northern Kingdom has tried to keep her a secret to prevent mass hysteria, but when you live in the In-Between like I did, you tend to get the unabridged version of bad news.”

“Wait a second,” Brystal said, and leaned forward. “Did you just say she’s causing trouble in the
Northern Kingdom
?”

“Trouble is an understatement,” Emerelda said. “The Snow Queen is causing destruction like the world has never seen. Many years ago, the Snow Queen was just a simple witch with a specialty for controlling the weather. One night, an angry mob found her home and killed her family! The loss devastated the witch. Her rage made her powers grow stronger than ever before, and she became the Snow Queen we know today. Right now, as we speak, the Snow Queen is attacking the Northern Kingdom as part of her revenge against humankind. And according to what I heard, she has more than half the kingdom in her frosty clutches!”

“Oh, I
have
heard about this woman,” Lucy said. “She’s the reason the North has been so cold lately! My family had to cancel the northern leg of our last tour because all the roads were frozen!”

Skylene leaned close to Tangerina and whispered in her friend’s ear:
“I wonder if the Snow Queen has anything to do with the Northern Conflict.”

The girls’ conversation caught Brystal’s attention and she jerked her head in their direction. She couldn’t believe her ears—Skylene had said exactly what Brystal was thinking.

“Did you just say the
Northern Conflict
?” Brystal asked.

“Yeah,” Skylene said. “Have you heard of it?”

“Once or twice,” Brystal said. “Do you know what it is?”

“We wish,” Tangerina said. “Me and Skylene heard Madame Weatherberry bring it up when she met with the sovereigns to talk about the academy, but we could barely make out what they were saying. She always asked us to leave the room before they started talking about it.”

“In that case, I bet the Snow Queen
is
the Northern Conflict,” Lucy said. “Every show worth talking about has a strong leading lady.”

“But how can we be sure the Snow Queen actually exists?” Brystal asked. “How do we know it’s not just a story?”

“My papa has customers who have seen her with their own eyes,” Emerelda said. “They say the Snow Queen can summon a blizzard in seconds. They say she wears a giant snowflake as a crown and a fur coat made from the hair of her enemies. They say she abducts children from their homes and feasts on their innocent flesh. They say it doesn’t matter how hard the Northern Kingdom’s army fights her, she only becomes stronger and stronger. And most terrifying of all, they say the Snow Queen won’t stop until the whole world is covered in her icy wrath!”

As if Emerelda had planned it, the conclusion of the story was followed by a flash of lightning that made everyone scream.

“Well,
I
say it’s time for bed,” Tangerina said. “I’ve had as much mischief and horror as I can stand for one night.”

“I agree.” Skylene yawned. “I’m going to have nightmares enough as it is.”

“We don’t have to be
worried
about the Snow Queen, though, do we?” Xanthous asked. “I mean, there isn’t a chance she might come to the academy, is there?”

“Probably not,” Emerelda said. “The Northern Kingdom is so far away from here, I bet someone stops her before she gets close to us.”

The classmates called it a night and headed for the door, but Brystal stayed seated on the floor. Her heart was racing after listening to Emerelda’s story, not because the tale frightened her, but because of how frighteningly familiar it all sounded.

“Brystal, are you coming?” Lucy called from the doors. “I’ve got to lock up on our way out so it doesn’t look suspicious.”

“Just a moment,” she said. “I want to check something before we go.”

Brystal moved a chair under the enlarged Map of Magic that hung over the fireplace. She climbed onto the chair and took a close look at all the glittering stars that represented the different fairies and witches living around the world. However, when Brystal’s eyes moved past the Northern Kingdom, the majority of the country was blank. Even the areas surrounding the major cities and the kingdom’s capital were completely vacant of magical life. Brystal wondered if it was just a coincidence, or if the magical community had evacuated to save themselves from the Snow Queen’s destruction.

Only a small cluster of five stars remained in the dark area of the Northern Kingdom, and among them was one of the brightest stars on the map. One by one, Brystal touched the stars with her finger and the names Feliena Scratchworth, Crowbeth Clawdale, Squidelle Inkerson, and Newtalia Vipes appeared next to them. Then Brystal touched the largest star in the group and gasped when the name
Celeste Weatherberry
appeared beside it.

“So
that’s
Madame Weatherberry’s secret,” Brystal said to herself. “She hasn’t been leaving the academy to visit a sick friend—
she’s been in the Northern Kingdom fighting the Snow Queen
!”