Nothing happened.

And why would it? Avalon chastised herself. She shook her hands to get rid of the thousands of imaginary ants running all over her arms and fingers. She'd only put on her training ring, nothing more.

"Let's get to it, then," Zelo said in a calm and almost patient way. Back in teacher mode. As if the past three years had only been one long break from their studies. Which, come to think of it, they probably were. No, she reminded herself. It's a one-time operation!

Avalon blinked and concentrated on the small black figure sitting in front of the scratch tree in the corner of her room.

"Take a deep breath," he went on. "Breathe out slowly. Come over here and stand right beside me. Good. Now, concentrate on what you want to achieve."

She did what he said, closing her eyes when she felt the reassuring brush of Zelo's tail across her calves once she came to a halt next to him.

"Focus on what you want to change, Avalon. Now, feel the power within yourself. Listen to the force flowing from the universe into you. Feel the connection. Become one with it. Be the–"

Avalon opened her eyes to throw Zelo an annoyed look. "Can we skip the beginner's introduction to magic 101? I'm not a newbie, you know."

Zelo meowed unhappily. "But that's the best part!"

The eyebrow holding her piercing lifted. "That's your part, you mean."

"Naturally. Which, as I have said, happens to be the best part."

Avalon looked at him for a beat. Then, "You're not helping."

Zelo's only response to that was an offended huff.

Shaking her head, she returned to the task at hand. She closed her eyes, focussed her mind and energy, and... got nothing. She harrumphed indignantly. "Okay, fine!" she said, finally relenting, albeit reluctantly. Blasted cat and his self-righteousness! "So I'm a bit rusty. Please help me?"

Zelo cackled in amusement. "Now we're talking."

Avalon bit her lip to refrain pointing out she was glad to provide such entertainment for him. It wouldn't help her to antagonise her teacher any further. Besides, she clearly needed help, if she wanted it or not.

He repeated the words from earlier, and Avalon, at last, let him lead her back into the meditation. It only took Zelo a few more coaxing words for her skin to start prickling all over. Finally, she could feel the energy of the universe flow through her again, connect with her once again. There it was, like a familiar tickle caressing her soul: the power bestowed upon a selected few representatives of humankind.

Witchcraft.

"Now open your eyes," Zelo went on with the mantra from their time as student and master. But Avalon didn't hear him any longer. All her thoughts, feelings and energy were focused on that one task before her. When she did finally open her eyes, it was to stare at the forlorn scratch tree that neither Zelo nor she herself was particularly fond of – despite it having been a well-meant gift from their old neighbour.

Then she took a deep breath and held it as she pointed the finger with the ring. It pulsated with her heartbeat, waiting for her to release the power from within. Grey and blue, she thought. From old make new.

The rhyme was ridiculous and completely unnecessary for the spell to work but it did help her concentrate. Just like rhyming used to do when she was still young and learning about magic.

Not a second after her thought, Avalon could feel the energy flow from the tip of her finger by the power of her will. Along with feeling that cosy and dearly missed tickle, she could also see the energy as it left her for its goal in a more or less direct line.

Her eyes soaked up the trusted sight of her magic, visible only to those with a persona magicae and unique like a fingerprint. It left her breathless and in a daze. It had been so long since she'd seen it... the slight pink and turquoise tinges. Those golden twirls forming tiny butterflies here and there. And then there was that soft, sweet melody-that-was-not that only she as the magic caster could hear: the wind rustling the rich canopy of a mighty tree, wooden wind chimes moving as they hung from its branches and birds chirping as they fluttered from one limb to the next.

Only when the stream of magic hit the scratch tree – about a heartbeat or so later – did the physical changes start. Where the stream touched and encircled it, the tree's design began to alter. The faded pink colour of the furry fabric faded even more until it became a solid grey. In other places, like the floorboards and the trunk, the grey changed some more and took on a blueish hue, rich and deep. Stains, blemishes and tears of the fabric disappeared, threads renewed themselves.

Then, it was done. When the stream had caught and changed every fibre of the tree, Avalon couldn't help but grin, feeling tired but content. The spell had taken more out of her than she'd expected.

Zelo tilted his head, giving his new toy a scrutinising look. "Hm. The blue's a tad too deep, but I like it. Well done!"

Avalon rolled her eyes, let her arm fall down her side and looked down at Zelo next to her. Ever the critic, that one. "It wouldn't kill you to say thanks once in awhile, you know?"

Zelo was about to retort, but then he glanced back at the scratch tree. His feline eyes went wide and his ears perked in attention. "Er... you sure about that?"

Oh, no. Slowly, with dread tying knots into her stomach, Avalon turned back to her creation.

The changes hadn't stopped like they should have by now. Still, her energy encircled the scratch tree, altering not only its colour and appearance but its entire structure as well. The room vibrated ever so softly from the rumbling.

Zelo and Avalon took a few steps back, shocked by the machinations of the spell. All they could do was look on as the magic did its might.

Before, only two branches had offered a tiny platform on the left and a small house on the right. Now the trunk was growing in size, spreading more and more branches as it climbed up toward the ceiling.

And it didn't stop at the ceiling as Avalon had hoped it would with all her might and against her better judgement. Instead, the trunk split into two branches which made their way across the wall in opposite directions; like the snares of a climbing plant. They even sprouted limbs with platforms and houses hanging from them, becoming smaller and smaller the farther the branches went.

Then, slowly and steadily, Avalon's stream of magic grew weaker, fading with each passing heartbeat. By then, the scratch tree had completely taken over the upper areas of two walls – and parts of the ceiling as well. Then, finally, the whole thing came to an end.

It couldn't have lasted more than three seconds. Four, tops. But to Avalon, having to watch her spell get this out of control – and that was clearly what had happened here –, it felt like a millennia.

Zelo was the one to find his voice again first. "Rusty, you said? That's one bit of wonky magic right here."

Avalon heaved a heavy sigh, feeling small. And depressed. And overwhelmed. By her own powers. "I'll say."

There was a moment of silence in which both of them were caught up in their own thoughts. Then the silence was interrupted.

"What. Was. That?" a voice exclaimed from the door.

Shocked, Avalon spun on her heels toward the door. There, Gil stood, a hand lying on the handle as he leant against the frame. Had he witnessed the whole thing?! Maybe he didn't see anything! Right? Right. Even if, he'd helped her get her stuff into her room. He knew what the scratch tree was supposed to look like. And that was neither monstrously huge nor spanning across most of her walls and ceiling.

"Um..." She shrugged helplessly, trying to come up with anything. In vain. "Guess the cat's out of the bag now, huh?" she tried to joke.

"Don't drag me into this," Zelo retorted, clearly offended by the phrase. And clearly also not minding the human a few steps away the least bit either.

Gil only stood there, gaping like a fish out of water as he tried to make sense of it all. His eyes were the size of plates as they looked from the scratch tree to Zelo then back to the scratch tree. And so on and so forth. "Erm... did the cat just talk?"

Avalon sighed, getting a hold of herself again as she rushed toward her secret stash of magical potions. Guess she'd have to use that Doolittle Potion she'd received from Fidelia, the VME manager, sooner rather than later. "Gil? Why don't you come on in and have a drink with me?"

- - -

It took the better part of the night to tell Gil the rough gist of "what that was". Question time included. As was breaking one of the key rules of the witch community – don't let a human know your true identity.

Such a futile rule in this day and age, where "unexplainable" things could be recorded with a freaking phone and published online in a second. But that was the thing about humans, wasn't it? Even with their eyes wide open, they didn't really see. They didn't really want to see.

Except for Gil, it would seem. He saw pretty damn good, judging by his rather tranquil reaction to their explanation. He'd taken the vial holding the Doolittle Potion and drowned it in one gulp. Why Avalon wasn't sure at all. She wouldn't have been that trusting, had she witnessed what he'd just witnessed.

In any case, Gil hadn't freaked out about a talking cat. And, thus, was much more gullible when it came to the other stuff. The literal Chill Pill that Avalon had bought at the VME had majorly helped, of course.

But that didn't explain the Brazilian's seemingly unquenchable thirst for information.

"So," Gil said, drumming his fingers on his lower lip, processing the info dump he'd just experienced. Thanks to the pill, he didn't have a problem taking it all in. On the contrary, it was helping him accept this whole new world. "To sum it all up: you're a witch."

He was currently pacing through the room after having sat on the chair by the desk for the major part of their conversation. He pointed at Avalon when he'd said that and she nodded. She was still perched on the recently reinstated bed, her magical equipment hidden from sight once again. Zelo lay on her lap and purred as she stroked a hand over his back.

Gil's incredulous gaze turned toward the cat. "And he's a witch as well." Again, Avalon nodded, showing far more patience than she felt. "Only he's not right now. Because he's... stupid?"

Zelo meowed, insulted, while Avalon snickered behind a palm held over her mouth. "I beg your pardon! I'll have you know that I was a magical genius in my time. I could've become a legend!"

"Wouldn't a genius have succeeded in turning himself into the very first werecat in the world and not become stuck as a house cat instead?" That made Avalon finally laugh out loud. Had she mentioned she loved the fact that Gil was in the know? "By the way, I still can't believe werewolves don't really exist. I'm kinda disappointed."

Zelo only meowed indignantly once more, jumped off her lap and ran out the balcony door which Avalon had opened before they'd started their conversation about magic, witches and talking animals.

"If you hadn't noticed by now, he's got a very sensible ego," Avalon explained when the cat was gone to sulk somewhere. She almost felt bad for him.

"You don't say?" Gil scratched his neck in mild concern as he gazed at the balcony door. Then he sat back down in the chair by the desk again, his eyes travelling over the monstrous structure of the scratch tree. "What are we gonna do about that, anyway?"

Avalon tilted her head, giving the construction a scrutinising look. "Not a clue."

"Can't you just– you know?" Gil pointed with his finger and then wriggled the others along toward the tree to indicate the spell working. "Whatever it is you're doing when you point like that?"

Avalon bit her lip in thought, contemplating her options. Which weren't a lot. Actually, there only were two – magic the tree away or put it down by hand. Neither sounded like fun to her.

"I'm not sure," she said. "I'm kinda out of practice. Who knows what will happen if I try again?"

"Guess you have way more juices than you remember, huh?"

"Juices?"

"You know. Your magical mojo. You got more than the average witch, don't you?"

Avalon blinked, surprised by the unusual phrasing. Juices? Involuntarily, the picture of a pink, turquoise and golden whirlwind appeared in front of her inner eye. Powerful. Relentless. Uncontrollable.

Destructive.

She shook her head and pulled a hand through her black hair in distress. That was a problem for a later time. Preferably one for the shrink she was sure she was going to need as soon as this whole operation was over and done with.

"I... guess," she eventually said.

Gil sighed, unaware of the storm raging inside of her that he'd started with his words. "I say, give it another go." He waved his hand toward around the room. "From what you guys have told me tonight, you need all the practice that you can get, right? You're pretty much all we have to get my best friend out of that love spell."

And now he started a completely different storm. Avalon lay back on her bed to stare at the ceiling, her mind conjuring up Neymar's face, his mouth forming a smile, his eyes gleaming happily. Damn. She was so over and done for for that man.

Gil chuckled softly, so Avalon turned her head to give him a questioning look. There was a grin on his face as he returned her look with a mischievous one and said, "By the way, can I just say how relieved and unbelievably gleeful I am about the fact that I just knew there was something fishy going on with that bitch of a witch?"

Avalon only snorted at that.

He stood up and put his hands on his hips, eyeing the scratch tree then Avalon. "Now, let's get a move on with that tree, shall we?"

--

Hi, guys! So, that's the first touch of real magic we got here! How'd you like it? I hope the cover to this story now makes a bit more sense. Things will certainly be more interesting now that Gil knows about magic, won't they? Who would have guessed that? We also found out a little bit of Zelo's cat-status... Such a "genius", isn't he? 

Up next, we are finally going to catch that first glimpse of NINA! Ah!!!

All the best!

--

Published on: 14 February 2017