Modern Magick

The Wonders of Vale: 12

'How imaginative of me,' I murmured, looking around. 'I'm getting the feeling this is going to be an... interesting stay... Jay!'

He sat three feet behind me, his back against the brick wall of some kind of shop, judging from the sign that hung from its eaves, though I couldn't decipher the symbols that were painted upon it. We had fetched up in a town square, albeit an unusually circular one, and all around us were stone or brick-built shops with tall, tapering roofs and inconsistently sized windows. As I watched, the blue-slate roof of a nearby structure leisurely grew two or three feet taller, as though stretching itself, and then settled back down.

Jay was in one piece, which was nice. 'Have you... shrunk?' I said.

He gestured at himself with his free hand. The other held something breadish that oozed cheese, and he spoke with his mouth full of the stuff. 'What do you think.'

He was three feet tall.

'I may get to like being the taller of us, for a change,' said I.

'Wait till you see yourself.'

'...Have you shrunk, or have I grown?!'

'It's more your hair.'

I checked it. 'I have grass growing from my head,' I said, in a very calm voice.

'I'd classify it more nearly as hay, but yes.'

I took a deep, deep breath. 'Right. Priorities. Where's Adeline.'

As I spoke, a tiny unicorn zipped past my nose. Her pale coat and silvery rope harness looked familiar.

I captured her in my two hands, and sighed. 'Emellana?'

'She and Wyr went shopping.'

'Wyr! I thought he had made off with you.'

'Sorry,' said Jay. 'We—'

Wyr's dusty voice interrupted. 'You thought what? I am outraged.'

'Sure you are.' I watched him narrowly as he skulked into view, expecting to see some sign of alterations in him. There were none.

'How are you unscathed,' muttered Miranda, echoing my own thoughts. Her ratty old jumper had found a new lease of life as a gown, which would have pleased me immensely, especially since it was made of fiery autumn leaves and what looked like velvet. Or clouds. I couldn't altogether say. Though, I couldn't blame her for being displeased about her nose, which now more nearly resembled a beak.

Perhaps she hadn't noticed.

'You get used to it,' said Wyr. 'Your first dose of pure, prime-grade magick tends to have side effects.' He saluted me. 'Don't mind the bees,' he said. 'They'll leave you alone when your hair changes again.'

So that was the buzzing sound I'd been half aware of. I put up a hand to check my haystack, and found it merrily sprouting flowers.

'I dread to ask,' I said, letting this pass. 'What's become of my pup?'

Wyr pointed at a sparkly, polychromatic brick that lay in the middle of the square. As I watched, all the cobblestones around it pulsed, washing over with shifting colours.

'She's a brick,' I said, keeping it together somehow. I don't deny that I was beginning to feel just a touch... high.

'For now. She was an alikat ten minutes ago, if an unusually small specimen. In a minute she'll be a balloon, perhaps, or herself again.' He wandered over, and put a glass bottle into my hand. It felt positively chilly to the touch, a quantity of amber-coloured liquid sloshing about inside it. 'Drink that,' he instructed.