Chapter Text
The island was quiet— eerily so. A vast velvety black sky stretched across the horizon, alive with infinite winking stars. A full moon hung proud in the heavens, graciously shedding its ghostly light upon the world. It shone down on the vast sea, glittering like crystals. Its soft light blanketed the prominent steeple of the church, the synagogue, the headstones of the cemetery; the trading ships, moaning hauntingly as they bobbed with the tide; the main square, the marketplace, where the shops stood empty and devoid of any activity. A light tropical breeze blew, whispering sweet nothings to the island’s inhabitants as they all slept peacefully.
All except the boy with fiery red hair and violet eyes sparked with wonder, perched on the roof as the world turned.
How long had he been sitting up here? He wasn’t entirely sure. Time seemed to be warped by the waves crashing like a heartbeat, was masked by the salty tang of the ocean air, swept away by the soft breeze as if it were nothing but dust.
It was times like these in which Alexander could finally let his imagination run freely, let his mind wander like ivy on a wall, from this to that to some other topic that he’ll soon forget.
Eventually, he found himself thinking about the incident a few weeks ago. How his mother had told him about the truth. He was still in slight shock; a part of him was still doubtful about the whole affair.
But why would his mother tell him something like that if it wasn’t true?
Maybe she will explain more in those lessons she promised. Oh, how he hoped that she would keep that promise. Despite his skepticism, a part of him was excited to learn how to harness this magic.
Much to even his own surprise, he had managed to not utter a word about this to James. He had kept his promise and was hoping any day now that his mother would do the same.
But suddenly, he was jerked away from his thoughts and back to reality. His eyes darted to a single nearby palm tree, shaking violently from what he knew wasn’t any wind.
A smile found its way to his lips as he stuck his hand out over the edge of the flat roof, giving the signal. After a few moments of clambering, a pair of tiny hands found their way to the ledge and a tiny body pushed its way up and over to join Alexander on the roof.
“Hey, Alex.”
Martha’s hair was the color of coffee beans, a brown so dark it can easily be mistaken for black. It was curly, too, thick and frizzy and wild as it shone in the moonlight. Her eyes were a shocking electric blue, but even in the low light Alex could see they had lost their usual spark.
“Hey, Martha.” Alexander knit his eyebrows together, concerned. “Did he do it again?”
“No,” she huffed, not meeting his eyes, “he just yelled this time. You know I hate it when he yells.”
“What was he mad about?”
“That’s the thing, Alex. I didn’t do anything. Not really, at least.”
“What do you mean, ‘not really?’”
“I dunno! I was just trying to do my homework the fast way when he barged into the bedroom and—”
“‘The fast way?’”
She huffed again, rolling her eyes. “You know, doing a bunch of different things at once. Having pens do some work for you. Daddy says that’s not normal, though. That’s when he started to yell.”
Alexander’s eyebrows furrowed even further, this time with confusion.
“You can make pens move on their own?”
“Yes, Alex, I just said—”
His violet eyes widened, sparkling in the moonlight.
“You can do it, too.”
“What?”
“Magic. You can do magic, Martha—just like me.”
“I can do magic? You can do magic?”
“Yeah!”
She folded her arms and gave him a doubtful sort of scowl. “Prove it.”
Alex looked around trying to think of something when his eyes found their way to a group of palm fronds fluttering gracefully towards the ground. The fronds suddenly soared up and began to circle around martha’s ankles, snaking their way up until they rested on her head in a beautiful crown.
Blue eyes met violet and widened, amazed, as the inky black sky became tinged with purple.
“Wow” Martha breathed, at a loss for words.
For once, so was he.
“Yeah.”
There was a silence between them that seemed to tell more than words ever could. Martha smiled.
The smile was followed by bubbling giggles that poured out of her like seafoam; her laugh like a tinkling wind chime in the breeze. Alex soon found himself unable to contain laughter of his own, spilling out of him like thunder and rain.
By the time their laughter had died out, the sun was beginning to poke above the horizon, making its grand entrance as it set the sky aflame with blazing yellows and oranges, while the moon retreated to safety behind the sea.
They tore their eyes away from the brilliant sky and looked at each other.
“I should go,” Martha whispered.
“You should’ve gone already,” he amended. “You’d better hurry.”
“Yeah— I’ll see you tomorrow, Alex.”
“See you then.” he responded.
Martha climbed back down, crown and all, and was gone.
Alex wished he had more time to think about all of this as he descended the stairs and climbed back into bed, waiting to be woken up.