Celtic Magic (12 page)

It was the painting of the throne she had
seen last night, only now there was a woman sitting in the chair.
As she walked closer, she was finally able to see her own face
staring back at her from the painting. It was her sitting in the
chair wearing the green dress that she had been wearing the day
before with a small smile on her face; it was like looking into a
mirror the painting was so realistic.

She backed away from the wall, her heart
beating and was thinking that she really wished she could see her
mother right now, when the wall next to her suddenly became a large
window. She walked over to it and looked out and saw her mother and
Jasmine standing in the Southern Gardens talking to lots of other
creatures, including a small unicorn whose horn was silver, instead
of gold, like the one she had met the day before.

Everyone walking around the garden looked so
happy and as she looked down at the glittering grass, felt that it
was happy too. She sighed, wishing she was at home; she really
missed Tom, and her small apartment. Then the little lights came
and blocked her vision. When they all disappeared again, she was
standing back in her bedroom in Dallas, still wearing the red
flannel pajamas.

As soon as she realized where she was, she
ran to the kitchen to grab the wall phone. She dialed Tom’s number
and waited while it seemed to ring forever. Finally, he picked up
the phone.

“Hello?” he said, with a hopeful sound to
his voice.

“Tom, it’s me Abby, I’m back at my
apartment, I’m sorry I was gone so long.”

Abby waited but only heard silence for a
minute.

“Hello?” she asked again.

Finally he spoke, “I’m sorry, you just
surprised me with that, I didn’t know what to say. You have only
been gone for about an hour, that isn’t that long” he said.

Abby remembered what her mother told her
about the time being different in the Other World.

“Oh, sorry. We really need to talk. Can you
come here, or I can come there?” she asked.

“I’ll get your things you left and come to
you. I need to know what is going on with you and what the hell
happened here” he told her. Abby nodded, even though she knew he
couldn’t see her.

“I know, come on over and I promise I will
tell you everything. You just have to promise to believe what I
tell you, because it is going to sound a little crazy” she
said.

He laughed, “After what I saw, I will for
sure believe whatever you tell me” he said.

She smiled, “Good, see you in a few minutes,
I love you” she said holding her breath.

“I love you too Abby” he quickly
responded.

She let out the breath she was holding and
hung up the phone smiling; at least he still loved her, that was a
good sign.

She walked over to her closet and as she was
looking through her clothes started to think about how she could
just make clothes appear back in the other world and wondered if it
would work here too. She closed her eyes and thought; I wish I was
completely dressed in jeans and my favorite ruffle shirt.

She felt her body become warm and opened her
eyes and nearly laughed when she saw that she was wearing exactly
what she had thought of.

***

About thirty minutes later she heard a knock
on her door. She practically ran to the door and pulled it open
without even looking into the peep hole to see who it was. She was
happy to see that it was in fact Tom standing there, with his hair
still as disheveled as when she had left him. He was holding a bag
filled with her things in front of him and in his other hand was a
beautiful bouquet of bright wild flowers.

She jumped and hugged him around his neck,
practically tackling him in the process. After she finally let go
of him, he came into her apartment and she put the flowers into a
vase that was in the kitchen and put the bag of her things on the
bar and pulled him into the living room, ready to tell him
everything.

Twenty minutes later, she had told him
everything, up to the point of calling him on the phone. She sat in
silence while he gathered his thoughts, waiting for his reaction.
Finally he looked over at her.

“
I’m glad you aren’t all
red anymore” he said.

Abby burst out laughing, “That was not what
I expected you to say” she said.

He smiled, “I know, it’s just hard to
believe all of this. But after what I saw, I know you aren’t lying
to me about it” he said.

She felt her heart swell, “So you still want
to be with me?” she asked him.

His eyes went wide, “Of course I do, I love
you Abby, how could you even think that I wouldn’t want to be with
you?” he asked her.

Abby smiled and scooted over and sat on his
lap and put her arms around his neck.

“
Make love to me, this
time without all the turning red and crazy magic stuff?” she asked
him.

He leaned forward and kissed her gently,
then stood up off of the couch with her in his arms and carried her
to the bedroom.

She didn’t hear anything from Jasmine or her
mother for the rest of the weekend, and she enjoyed the silence,
even though she was worried that they didn’t know what had happened
to her.

Chapter
20

She had spent the entire weekend with Tom,
holed up in her little apartment, only leaving once to grab some
groceries from the supermarket. Once Monday morning came around,
she knew that she had better go to work, or Jasmine would probably
send in the squat team to find her. As she kissed Tom goodbye, she
started to walk over to the shop, and as she started to approach
it, she noticed something odd out o the corner of her eye.

It looked like a very big butterfly at
first, but as she slowly edged closer, she saw that it was a tiny
faerie, kind of how you would picture tinker bell to look. She had
brown hair, a yellow dress, and pastel green wings. She was about
the size of a forearm, too large to be a bird, but much too small
to be a person. Abby slowly approached her and saw that she was
looking right at her.

“Hello? Who are you?” she asked the tiny
faerie.

“I am Isabella, your mother sent me here to
make sure you were okay” she answered back with an oddly loud voice
for such a small creature.

“Hello Isabella, I am doing pretty good so
far. Can you tell my mother that I will come and visit her at the
castle tonight?” she asked.

The tiny faerie nodded, “Yes, princess, I
will be happy to. Goodbye!” she said smiling.

Before Abby could answer her though, she
disappeared, leaving orbs of light around her similar to the ones
she had seen before, only smaller.

She smiled and continued to the store where
Jasmine was already inside, getting the register ready for the day,
looking quite human again. She pushed open the door and walked
inside, expecting Jasmine to be angry with her for not telling them
she was leaving. Jasmine looked up as the door jingled and
smiled.

“
Abby, I am so glad to see
you, I was scared you were mad at me and wouldn’t be back” she said
as she practically ran up to her and grabbed her into a big
hug.

Abby hugged back, “I thought you would be
mad at me for leaving the other day” she told her.

Jasmine pulled her away and looked into her
eyes, “No, we felt you leave, but we were actually surprised that
you managed to leave without using the portal; how did you leave
exactly?” she asked her.

Abby shrugged, “I’m not sure, I just wished
I was home, then there I was, in my apartment” she said.

Jasmine shook her head, “You are so much
more powerful that you will ever know, and I am happy to be able to
be the one to teach you to use your magic” she said seriously.
Jasmine let her go as they walked over to where Jasmine was getting
the register open.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you, I just met up
with Isabella outside” she told her.

Jasmine laughed, “That doesn’t surprise me,
I know your mother was worried about you, and she knows that only
truly magical people can see pixies, so she sent her to check up on
you. Your mother and Isabella have been good friends for centuries
now, so it makes sense that it would be her that she sent. Did you
send good news to you mother?” she asked her.

Abby nodded, “Yes I told her I would meet
her tonight at the castle, just to let her see that I’m okay and I
am not mad or anything” she told her.

Jasmine clapped her hands together, “Great,
let’s go ahead and get the store open, then when it closes this
afternoon, we will start your training” she said, heading to the
door to turn the sign to open.

***

Abby watched as Jasmine shut and locked the
door while pulling the shades down over the windows. She looked
around the store at all of the small objects on the shelves and
hoped she didn’t accidently break anything by trying to use her
magic.

Jasmine turned around, “Follow me” she said,
gesturing toward the back room. Abby was still worried, as there
were just as many things to break in the back room as there was in
the front.

“Are we going to be careful? I don’t want to
break anything here, I would feel really bad about breaking your
merchandise” she told her.

Jasmine smiled and shook her head and Abby
followed her to the back room. They parted the curtains and walked
in and just as Abby was going to ask where they were going to be
doing this, Jasmine walked to the wall that held the large filing
cabinet where she kept all the paperwork for the store. Abby looked
over at her confused, but didn’t say a word as she watched her make
her fingertip turn red, then touched her finger into a grove on the
cabinet she had never noticed before.

Abby heard a small clicking noise, then as
Jasmine pulled her finger away, the cabinet slowly dissolved until
it was completely gone, and in its place was a small door. The door
was too small to walk through normally, so after Jasmine opened it
for her; she crouched down and went through it.

As she straightened back up she gasped, she
was in one of the brightest rooms she had ever seen, with tables of
objects she had never seen before lining the walls, which were so
white, they almost hurt her eyes. Jasmine walked over to the first
table and pointed at a long blue stick.

“Do you know what this is?” Jasmine asked
her.

Abby shrugged her shoulders and said, “It
looks like a wand, but that seems too obvious.”

Jasmine laughed, “That is exactly what it
is, but we do not need to use them, as we get our magic from the
Gods, and therefore only need our hands” she explained.

Jasmine handed the wand to Abby and she took
it into her hand, surprised at how warm it felt, she looked back up
at Jasmine.

“Then who uses them?” she asked her.

“Most magical creatures do, some fairies,
pixies, and even humans who were gifted with some magical powers.
There aren’t many of those around though, humans don’t believe in
magic the way they used to, so a lot of humans who should have
magic do not” she said while taking the wand back from Abby and
laying it back down onto the table.

“Why do only some fairies have to use them?”
she asked her, confused.

“Well” Jasmine started, “Some fairies are
more powerful than others. For instance, you noticed how my wings
were larger and brighter than the fairies you saw walking about
castle.”

Abby nodded and Jasmine continued, “You see,
the more powerful the faerie, the bigger their wings. Once their
wings become a certain size, they no longer have to use a wand.
Some fairies never get that far, and some are born without having
to use them, like me” she told her.

Abby nodded, “Well, that does make sense.
Elysia didn’t need a wand and her wings were almost as large as
yours are” she said.

Jasmine smiled, “Exactly, now let’s move on”
she said.

Jasmine then picked up something that was
too small for Abby to see and turned back to her.

“Do you know what this is?” she asked her.
Abby looked at what appeared to be a small crystal marble, that had
a purple center.

“Is it a marble?” she asked her, wondering
what a marble had to do with magic. Jasmine shook her head and
handed the marble to Abby. Abby held it in her palm and looked at
it, but didn’t see what was special about it. Abby looked back up
at Jasmine with a confused look on her face

“It is what we call a ‘Seer’s Orb’, but
humans like to call them Crystal Balls” she said. Abby looked back
down at the orb and looked at it while Jasmine explained to her how
it worked.

“It is small now, but it becomes bigger when
you use it. Think about what you would like it to show you, and it
will” she explained.

Abby held the orb in her hand and thought
about Tom and how she would love to see where he is right now. Just
as she thought it, she felt the orb get hot and she opened her hand
and looked down at it. It was now glowing purple, as thought the
center of it had come to life. Then, it flew out of her hand and up
into the air, where it hovered in front of her, growing to the size
of a bowling ball.

In the middle of the orb she saw Tom’s face
smiling and she watched as the picture cleared and it was as though
she was watching a movie inside of the orb. Tom was standing in
front of a flower shop with a bundle of wild flowers in his arms as
he spoke with an older woman, who was also holding a bundle of
flowers.

She thought to herself that she wished she
could hear him, and then as though the orb knew what she wanted,
she could hear his voice inside her head.

“My car should be here in just a second, he
told me he was on his way” Tom said to the woman, who was
nodding.

She watched as his limo pulled up in front
of him and the driver jumped out and ran to the back of the car to
open the trunk. Tom and the woman followed the driver and both laid
their flowers into the trunk. Tom turned back to the lady.