The Road to Power

Chapter Two

Nina rolled her eyes. 'You didn't come, I forgot. Anyway, you know how Mum and Dad went to cast a spell? When we first got here? We went to the forest, so no one would see.'
'Yeah. What spell was it?'

'Anti-travel-sickness or something. But then Dad said that the forest didn't feel right. Like it was diseased or something. I kind of felt it too. And then he tried to do the spell, and he couldn't. Neither could Mum. Their spells just sort of... faded. It freaked them out. They ran out the forest, but then they said that they would go back to see what was up.'

'So... they just went there? Without telling us?'
'They told us after we came back, stupid. You weren't listening.'

Abigail smiled slightly. If they were just investigating the forest, then that was okay. Magicians often went missing due to magical accidents - it was surprising how many magicians floated off and then fell and landed in weird locations - but Abigail had never really thought that her parents would mess up a spell that badly. They were very cautious with their magic.

Nina skipped off towards the forest. Abigail followed, but even as she walked, she was beginning to get worried that they'd get lost in the forest, and then they would become the missing ones. If their parents in turn looked for them, and the cycle just repeated...

No, she told herself. That won't happen. We won't get lost in such a tiny forest...

She remembered the time when she was lost in a national park during a game of hide-and-seek with a family Harriet knew. There were trails to follow, but she couldn't identify which one led back to the group. They all looked the same. She was lost for over an hour before a woman named Maria managed to find her. It felt like forever to Abigail. She didn't have matches or a bottle of water or anything. At that age, she didn't know the first thing about building a shelter or finding food in the wild.

Abigail shook her head. "Stop it, brain, stop it." She had a habit of worrying about stupid things. Actually, now that she thought about it, none of her fears seemed rational. Her two biggest fears were crowds and nightmares. Yes, nightmares. The things she conjured with her own mind.

Nina was practically fearless. It just reminded Abigail about how she envied her in so many other ways. It seemed kind of pathetic, that she would be jealous of a hyperactive twelve-year-old. But she was.

The forest was quieter and emptier than any spot in the campground. Abigail wished she'd been here earlier - it was beautiful. The canopy of leaves made the entire area appear green-tinted, and the plants were tall and flourishing, unlike anything she'd see in the city.

"Focus," she reminded herself. "Focus on finding them."

She pulled out her hairclip and started fiddling with it as she walked, tracing the edge with her finger. It was calming her down. But Nina looked confused. Nina never looked confused, even when she was. She was walking in circles, frowning, then suddenly breaking into a run - before stopping, sighing disappointedly and slowing her pace. It was bringing Abigail's nerves back.

Eventually Nina dropped to the ground at the foot of a tree, defeated. 'Mum and Dad aren't here. I don't know where they are. They're just... gone. And my head hurts. I think there is something wrong with this place...'

Abigail didn't know what to say. She should probably try and comfort her, saying it would all be fine, but Nina would know that she was lying - that her older sister was even more worried than she was.

But then she heard a sound. Footsteps. People running. And they were getting closer.

Nina's eyes lit up and she took off towards the sound before Abigail could stop her. Abigail sighed and began to chase after Nina, but paused when she heard a shout, and then a ding.

She ran faster, and burst through a clump of trees just as a boy on a bicycle knocked Nina off the path and into a shrub.

Abigail winced and closed her eyes.

When she opened them, three children who must've been siblings - they all had curly brown hair - were on the path next to the bicycle, which had fallen over sideways. A boy of about sixteen was muttering curses as he hugged his tearful little brother, and a girl was crouched beside Nina, apologising.

The girl turned, saw Abigail and began babbling about what happened and how sorry they were. From what Abigail understood, the younger brother had only recently learned how to cycle, and was nervous about using his bike off-road.

This was his first time riding on uneven terrain, and his siblings had been watching him, not the path ahead, as then ran sidelong to encourage him.

Nina was shaking, but the only physical damage seemed to be two small cuts on her forearm and a scrape on her leg from where she'd been hit - it was shaped like the markings on a tyre. She whispered that she was fine, but the girl wasn't giving up.
'We have bandages! Mum has a bag of medical stuff, so we can disinfect it...'

Abigail shook her head. 'We have our own. We're very sorry for getting in the way.' She hauled Nina to her feet and walked her though the forest and back to the cabin.

As soon as they were inside, Nina collapsed on the sofa. 'Get my wand.'
'Get it yourself.'
'I would, but I need to work on the rest of the spell.'
'Liar.'

Nina raised an eyebrow at her sister.
'Fine, fine. But you owe me as soon as you get better.'

Abigail walked to their room and searched through Nina's bags until she found what she was looking for.
Nina's wand was a thirty-centimeter length of wood, but it was hardly a regular stick. It was painstakingly engraved, with an elaborate copper handle, and whenever Nina held it, Abigail felt it surge with power.

When Abigail held it, she felt nothing.

Abigail cautiously lifted the wand out of its case and brought it to her sister, who was holding a glass of water. Nina reached for it, smiling as she wrapped her fingers around the familiar handle. She passed the water to Abigail. 'When I say go, you need to pour the water.'

Nina tapped her wand to the cuts on her arm, and winced - but the wince turned into a sigh of relief. Suddenly, a fireball appeared above her hand.

'NOW! Nina yelled. Abigail shrieked and doused the fireball with water, putting it out.
'What was THAT?' she gasped.

'I'm still not powerful enough to heal it, so I used a spell to dull the pain.'
'By setting yourself on fire..?'
'Well, the website said that the spell made the pain manifest as fire. We get rid of the fire, we get rid of the pain. At least for now. But I need to do it for my leg as well.'

One extinguished fireball later, the cabin smelt very strongly of smoke and... something else. The scent, the feeling of Nina's magic. Musky. Fruity. Charged with energy. Abigail was certain that all magic had a kind of signature, because whenever her family members cast spells, they were surrounded by a specific feeling or scent. Her mother's smelt sweet and woody, and it comforted her. Maybe just because she was used to it.

Alex's was crisper and earthy, like herbs or rain on dry earth... "Petrichor," the word was. And Abigail's grandmother's felt gentle and smelt more like vanilla.

'Nina... what about our parents? They're not here.'
'They've probably been in some kind of magical accident. That's all.'
'Right. "That's all." Because accidentally spelling themselves away to who-knows-where is much less of a big deal than going away to buy fish and chips without telling us.'
'That's not what I meant. It's just... magical accidents are common. People are always hurting themselves with poorly-performed spells and getting rushed to hospital.'

'But... that's not Mum and Dad. They never mess up their spells. And if they did... then they'd at least get Nanna and Grandad or... or someone to look after us.'

'They might be unconscious. You don't know.' Nina crossed her arms.
'Then we need to find someone ourselves. We only rented the cabin for four days. They'll expect us to leave tomorrow morning. If I turn in the keys and pretend Dad or Mum sent me, we should be okay. We can't take the car, we'll be arrested, but maybe if we walk...'

'No. We can't walk all the way home, stupid.'
'Let me finish! It's possible that we can message someone, and they can drive and meet us halfway. That is, if you're okay with it.'

Nina blinked slowly. 'You're... not worried? You're usually scared without Dad and Mum. Like when we went to that park and...'

'It doesn't matter if I'm worried.' interrupted Abigail. 'We need to go home. Or else they'll put us in... I don't know, some kind of orphanage? And we can't...' Abigail trailed off, looking behind Nina. Her mother's handbag was sitting on the coffee table.

'She didn't take it.' murmured Abigail. 'Which means she wasn't planning on leaving... were they kidnapped?'

Nina rolled her eyes. 'Forget it. Like you said... we need a way home. I suggest calling Auntie Ruth and Uncle Steven, because they'll get worried when we don't show up to collect Sherbet and Charlie...'

Sherbet and Charlie were the Taylor family's parrots, being petsitted by their aunt and uncle. Sherbet was Abigail's and Charlie was meant to be Nina's, but Nina usually ignored the birds, and her parents threatened to give Charlie away. Abigail was pretty sure that Charlie liked her dad more than Nina anyway.

'Well, we can't call them. It's a "no-electronics" holiday. For us, not for Mum or Dad. They still get to bring their phones, which of course are password-protected. And hacking spells are very dicey.'
'In that case...' Nina smirked. 'I think we'd better do it the old-fashioned way. But first I need to clean these scratches.'
'With more fire?'
'Nah. Disinfectant is easier.'