A Magical Adventure

"We're lost, aren't we?" Melina huffed, flitting her ice blue wings in irritation, causing little blue sparks to fly out from behind her. The short burst of light illuminated the tall, thin trees that reached toward the sky all around her like bony fingers trying to grab the thin streams of sunshine that poked through the leafy canopy above.

"We're not lost," Aiden droned, his dark green eyes casting her a wounded look before pulling out his wand. With his age being just a few years younger than Melina's, his wings were a bit smaller and colored an iridescent green that almost matched his eyes. With an exaggerated show of concentration, he tucked his broad shoulders back just a bit, pointed his reed-looking wand toward a small rock lying in between some grass blades, and ZAAPPP!! Red lightning hit the rock, making it look as though it were melting right before it turned into a compass. A look of pure satisfaction spread across Aiden's face and his light brown hair turned a dark blonde color at the pride in his work.

"Adolescents...," Melina rolled her eyes. "At least I can tell you've been practicing your magic, though. That will please Magi." She sighed. "I wish we would have stopped and asked for directions from those ground squirrels at the mud puddle. As it is, we’re likely to be late for our magic exams." She glanced up toward the sky looking for telltale signs that they might be close to their destination but not a single tree or pile of rocks looked familiar.

A pair of aquamarine eyes popped out from behind one of the tall trees, followed by a set of almost transparent wings and a long white billowy dress that fluttered gracefully about a tiny feminine body, giving the appearance of a ghost. "Both of you were arguing so loudly that we wouldn't have been able to ask those ground squirrels any questions when we passed through even if either of you had thought of it at the time." Lily fussed. "You know, if you two spent as much time working together as you spent squabbling, we'd probably already be there." Being the oldest, Lily was supposed to be the voice of reason among the three. In addition, Aiden was still young and Melina was prone to hasty decisions and frequent pouting. Lily floated toward Aiden's make-shift compass to lend an experienced eye to geographical scrying so they could find their position.

"It's all Aiden's fault," Melina accused in a high-pitched whining voice from a few feet away. "If he wasn't such a baby when I was teasing him about flying into that tree when we were racing through the forest!"

Aiden looked up sharply from his position over the compass, his eyes honing in on his sister, Melina. "I wouldn't have hit the tree if you hadn't pushed me!" he shouted back. "And I still won," he grinned obnoxiously. To add insult to injury, he pointed his wand into the air and spelled out "L-O-S-E-R" in bright shimmery letters directly above Melina's head.

Immediately, her pointed eyebrows pushed together into a "V", giving away a glimmer of the seeds of mischief that had already formed in her sharply calculating mind. She fluttered her wings quickly, moving herself about two feet higher into the air, took a daring aim at her too cocky brother, and sent a shower of sparks over his head, turning his hair a bright purple color. A peal of laughter fell from her lips, causing her to grab her middle and tumble in the air before catching herself in a circular air glide.

Aiden glared at her. This meant war... Melina caught his heated look just in the nick of time as she made a dive for the ground and barely missed a meteor shower of red flames shooting out the end of his wand. A low deep growl rumbled from Aiden's chest. Lily knew this circumstance all too well. At least they weren't indoors, but it should still be stopped.

"Enough!" Lily cried firmly. However, it was too late. Melina had already zoomed through the trees and disappeared out of sight, with Aiden following her close behind. Lily shook her head softly and pulled out her wand that looked like it was made of ivory and carved in the shape of intricately woven vines. One swish turned the compass back into the stone it originally was. No need to have humans finding evidence of their passage through the forest. With a great sigh, Lily pulled herself gracefully into the air and followed the slowly fading trail of fairy dust her siblings had left behind.

It wasn't too long before Lily found Melina and Aiden in a clearing that ran into a shallow river, obviously having an outrageous magical conniption, right in the open for everyone to see. Bright flashes of light shot through the sky of all colors, like some odd daytime fireworks show. Somebody was obviously going to have to be the adult here...

Lily set herself on the ground and walked right upon the two of them. "Stop," she cried, in the sternest tone of voice she could muster. The two of them were not in the mood to be disturbed though and the battle raged on. Melina darted into the air, not exactly on the losing side, though little colored smudges dotted her short pink dress and varying places on her face. Aiden flew down underneath Melina, just over Lily's head, planning on a new tactic to achieve his purpose. Lily was about to grab his leg when Melina turned around just halfway, aimed her wand at Aiden, and shot a spray of amber sparks toward him. Unfortunately, however, Melina's aim was just a bit off and it hit both Lily and Aiden.

Suddenly, everything felt different. Melina stopped for a moment, frozen in the air. One minute she was perfectly still, the next she was literally falling from the air, a high pitched tinkling laugh the only noise resounding through the now silent meadow. It was no wonder, too. A mere three feet away stood her brother and her sister, not on their two fairy legs, but in two large brown hairy bodies that now looked exactly like a mama bear and a baby bear wading in the water. It was hard to tell which was which until the large brown bear growled loudly, then said in a barely reigned-in tone of voice,"Get your paws off my behind, Aiden." This, of course, only brought more laughter from Melina until tears poured down her eyes.

"Change us back, Melina!" cried a very upset Aiden. Lily just gave a blank stare, a final attempt at patience with her two mischievous siblings.

"Alright, alright," Melina conceded, still wiping away the tears of laughter. She picked up her dropped wand from the ground and aimed it at Aiden and Lily, a small stream of tiny white lights trickled slowly from the tip of her wand, circling the bears slowly before a funnel of wind grabbed the pair of them, returning them to their original forms, them disintegrating into nothingness once more.

"I think this argument is over," Lily stated with finality. "I bet mother will strip you of your wands for at least two weeks..." she added. After cleaning up the clearing of all magical tracks, the trio started walking up the river.

"Hey, there's the Magi's knothole..." Melina pointed to a tree excitedly. "I guess we're not lost anymore."

"And we can tell the Magi all about our magical adventure to get here," Lily stated with a smile.

“Do you think once we explain everything to Magi, we’ll get extra credit on our exams today…?” Melina asked saucily. They all laughed as they flitted their wings and disappeared into the hidden stairs that led to the Magi's knothole.


Word count: 1315