1 Three Stones, A wolf and a Cat

Once upon a time there was a girl who lived in a relatively small town, where it rained all the time. Tough she was not a graduated witch, she talked to her shiny black cat every morning, before walking to school. Cats in general are very polite, but Theodora’s (that was the girl’s name) cat was a real rebel. One day she said to him:

– You have to come with me to school today, Theodor! (that was the cat’s name) I will need your help at the science class.

But Theo, in reply, simply jumped on the nearest neighbor’s wall and got away from the girl’s sight, leaving Theodora talking to herself.

– Allright, then be it. I really didn’t want you to come at first!

Theodora herself was some kind of a rebel too.

The city where she and her cat lived was full of sky trains. There were sky trains everywhere, linking one cliff to another, and sometimes they were so low that the cars and chariots had to stop to let them pass. Riding a sky train is a really fun way to go to places, because you can see all the landscape of your town up there in the air. Theodora didn’t mind that she couldn't see the beautiful scenery frequently, because the rain may be a real obstacle to landscape viewing, and it was always raining in Theodora’s town. But Theodora liked the rain, in fact.

A relatively small town is also a good place to spread news. That’s why when the man dressed in dark blue came in town, everybody was talking about it in the same day. They said that he was a real gentleman, who came from foreign sunny lands and could do any kind of magic tricks. People instantly started to admire him, even those who haven’t even saw the great man.

But it wasn’t like that in the beginning. When the man first appeared in the Main Street, people were really frightened. They were scared because they had never saw a man walking side by side with a giant black wolf before, so they though that the visitors could be very dangerous. That fear of the foreign man just passed when they found out that both, man and wolf, were in fact, very friendly. People became amazed about their strange friendship and incredible powers.

Theodora heard the news too. She was wandering in the streets thinking about how great should be being so famous and talented. She imagined her and Theo, walking into towns, doing every kind of magic spells in the world and being invited from all the people in town to come to dinner or to teach some tricks in schools. She wanted to be a great witch someday.

It was a very starry night, and Theodora nearly forgotten what she was doing in the streets by that time. She was looking for a sparkling green stone, that only appeared in that day of the year. It was a really difficult job to find one, because they could be everywhere. There were tales about persons that woke up in the morning with a Sparkling Stone in their mouths or that a Sparkling Stone appeared in the fireplace and burned, giving the fire a light green color and making it last for days.

Theodora was thinking about looking inside someone’s mouth when she thought that her work could be much easier if Theo was with her. Cats have a good sense to find hidden things, and she was sure that Theo was a great stone hunter! But Theodor was hunting other things that night. He had said to her that a night like that was really rare, and the mice would be much easier to catch. Theodora though that her cat needed to reevaluate his priorities.

– Theo never helps me. – she said to herself – But he will see, I’ll find not just one, but three Sparkling Stones without him!

It’s a witches saying that when someone really wants something with all his or her heart, that person will get it, one way or another. Maybe that happened that night, because Theodora just spotted a shiny green stone inside a water jar in the Coffee Spell café.

The owner of the Coffee Spell café was a very somber old man, who didn’t like children, and that’s why Theodora didn’t entered the café and asked the stone nicely, as any other polite person would do. She knew he wouldn’t give it to her, so she casted an invisibility spell on herself and got stealthily inside the Coffee Spell shop.

Though the owner wasn’t a lovely person, he wasn’t bad with his clients, and by that moment The Owner was talking with a good looking couple in the table on the left corner of the shop. The jar was in the middle-right part, right in front of the shop window, so it could be easy to get there without being spotted by him, if the girl just remained very silent.

Well, but it’s not exactly easy to get silent when you just stepped in the tail of giant black wolf, and the animal got his deep yellow eyes on you. Theodora got a really deep and noisy breath when she saw the wolf, and that was enough to make the owner look back to try to see where the sound came from. Theodora though she was in real trouble, so she got very surprised when the foreign man, that was sitting near the wolf, said:

– Oh, I’m sorry. I just dropped my tea cup on Crowley’s tail. — and there really were a tea cup smashed on the ground when he said that- Just a second, and I’ll clean this up.

And with a gesture of his hand there was no more cup or tea on the floor. The owner smiled and turned to the couple again, but the wolf was still looking to Theodora’s scared face.

– It’s better to get going, while it still not raining – the man said to no one specifically, though the phrase could be directed both to the wolf and Theodora – You follow me, please, I know a good place to go before we get home.

Theodora didn’t like to give up on things, but in the situation that she has found herself at the moment, she thought that it could be better get away from the Coffee Spell shop, and find another Sparkling Stone in some easier place to get in. When they all were at the street, the man said:

– My name is Autumn. Dominic Autumn. – he talked to the air. — And you are?

– Theodora. – the air answered – Theodora Rainfall.

– Nice to meet you Theodora – the man smiled – This is Crowley, my friend. And… — he made a pause to get something inside his pocket – I suppose you were looking for this.

Theodora saw the Sparkling Stone that were inside the water jar shine in his hands. She felt very tempted to get the stone and thank him, but she didn’t think it was right to get helped by foreigners when she was trying to prove to Theo that she could do everything by herself.

– No, thank you – she said – You can keep this, I’ll find another one.

The man stared the air again, with one of his eyebrows stretched in some kind of interrogation face.

– Are you sure? The night won’t last too much, and you may not be able to find another one so easily. Sparkling Stones are very difficult to track, you see.

Theodora confirmed her decision with her head (what the man probably didn’t see, beacuse she was still invisible) and walked away. If she only had a way to know where the stones were hiding, she could take them all very fast!

Then, the second saying of the witches came true. They usually say that, if someone needs help, she or he can find that an apple or a strawberry can be really useful to make you think in creative ways. Theodora bit the beautifully red apple she had stocked in her backpack and suddenly knew where she could find a stone without anybody’s help: in Merlin’s Garden!

Merlin’s Garden is the name of an enormous store that sells every kind of magic stuff a mage could ever need. Though Theodora wasn’t thinking about buying a Sparkling Stone, she knew that the garden in front of the shop was a good place to some of them to be hiding. The garden was illuminated by fluctuating fireballs, and usually attracted a lot of magical items to the area, once all the people with magical powers gathered there.

Theodora found herself at the entrance of Merlin’s garden really quick, but not quick enough to be able to enter with her invisibility spell, which had already vanished by that time. There was a very pleasant music playing in the garden, and people with bags, floating carts, trolleys, horses and brooms were getting out of the shop. It was nearly impossible to find a Sparkling Stone there, with all that movement around, and that much of green things in the same place.

Theodora didn’t know any locating spell that could help her in her search, but she knew a very useful color changing spell. People on her school (that happens to be only tree days a week) never thought that that spell was helpful to do anything but changing hair color, but Theodora really enjoyed changing the color of things she had home, and became very good in the Color Changing spell. Soon she became able to create a lot of different colors, and some of them could even shine in the dark. The other good point of that spell is that it changes the color only of chosen things: if Theodora says “Theodora’s hair”, her hair cold change from copper brown to cotton candy pink (though it doesn’t last more than a week or two).

So Theodora said:

– Stones!

And suddenly all the stones started to glow white. It really helped her to see which of them where normal stones, and which could potentially be Sparkling Stones. She found what she was looking for near a fountain, and she was getting close to it when someone dropped a potion from his bag, and a very dense red smoke started to cover the place up. Theodora still tried to reach the stone but she wasn’t able even to see her own hands.

She, then, heard someone casting a spell, and when the smoke finally disappeared she recognized Autumn and Crowley, coughing and laughing while the man who dropped the potion was trying to apologize. Theodora thought that he should be apologizing to her, because she had just noticed that the sparkling stone had disappeared. The girl made an angry face.

– Hi, Theodora – said Autumn when he saw her – Looking for this?

Once more the man was carrying the Sparkling Stone Theodora wanted. She said no.

– If that potion reached this stone, the contact between them could end up destroying the Stone and creating some unimaginable consequences. I though you wanted that Stone so I saved it before the smoke reached it. – he tried to explain

Theodora thanked him, with long face, and said that she didn’t need the stone after all, and that he could keep to him again. When she finished, the man said that he was going to give her a hint so — if she someday decided to look for those kinds of Stones again.

He said that Sparkling stones usually appear close to water or fire, or both, but there was only one in Merlin’s Garden, unfortunately. Theodora thanked him again and walked away, saying to herself that she was going to forget that hint immediately and find all the three (now, she was considering that maybe two could be okay) Sparkling Stones by her own.

She was walking on the Main Street when she saw, on the sky train, Theo sitting down and watching the view.

– Theo! – she called, momentarily forgetting that she was trying to do things without talking to him.

The cat looked down and jumped to the rooftop of a nearby house. His second jump brought him close to Theodora’s feet. He asked how the stone hunting was going. Theodora didn’t want to admit that she haven’t really obtained any stone, so she said that it was doing well, and she had an incredible clue about where the next stone could be.

Theo said that it was really nice, but his mice hunting weren’t, unfortunately, going that well. He had only found two of the special mouse specie he liked, and both of them ran way, so by that moment, had only ate cookies and other sweet things that cats usually don’t eat. Theodora felt bad, because he was being very honest about his hunting, unlike her.

– You can have this speed spell I’m working on – she said to cheer him up – I’m sure you will get those mice with it!

Theo thanked her and got away very fast when the spell had finished. Theodora though with herself, that maybe Theo wasn’t so difficult to handle at all. Well, at least cats are always very honest.

Theodora thought with herself that maybe she was only making things difficult to her, by not following the hint she learned. So she decided that following the hint wasn’t breaking the rules after all. She still was going to take the stones by herself, with or without the advice, so she went to the bridge that cut the Main Street, that is lighted by a lot of beautiful fire lanterns.

Haven’t taken too much time to find a Sparkling Stone close to the entrance of the bridge. Theodora was really happy that she could finally take that Stone and prove everyone that she could do anything by her own. She was so distracted by those thoughts that she didn’t realized a spell in the way. Someone casted a giant glass box all around the bridge, and Theodora hit her face on the glass when she tried to get closer to the stone.

– What is this? – she thought – I can’t believe there is a spell here!

She had no idea of why would be a wall made of glass in that part of town, neither how to pass through it, so she got very disappointed. She started to think that she should give up that entire search. She couldn’t be a great witch if she couldn’t do things herself, and even when she decided to follow the hint, things kept proving that she wasn’t good enough. She though that Autumn was a very incredible person, doing all those spells and helping all those people alone.

Theodora was leaving the bridge when she heard a sound coming from inside the glass box. Theo was chasing a bright red mouse by the river, and she saw when he caught it and disappeared in the shadows.

– At least Theo is doing fine – she thought – I wonder how he got in there…

This is when the third saying of the witches proved itself. They normally say: “If a cat can do it, you can do it too”, but it usually can be applied to every other magical creature too. So Theodora found out that right under the bridge, by the side of the river, was a little crack, which probably Theo and the mouse had created in the chase.

– If I can make the crack bigger I’ll probably be able to pass!

She thought of every spell she knew but none seemed to be useful there. She was thinking about using a bubblegum spell on the crack (but she noticed that it would only fill the gap even more) when she heard the alarm of the Royal Jewelry sounds. A short man ran out of the shop with something in his hands and a woman shouted that she was calling the Air Police. Theodora hadn’t noticed it before, but Autumn and Crowley were walking up the Main Street by that time, and when they saw the man running, both of them started to chase him. Theodora wasn’t scared of the thief but she didn’t want anyone to disturb her, while she was finally thinking that she could get one of those Sparkling Stones. Unfortunately, the short man was going right in her direction.

The man was really fast and when he got to the bridge, only Crowley had a good distance to see him. The wolf make mention to jump on the thief, but the man pointed to the glass box and lots of fireworks started to burn and go up to the sky. Crowley couldn’t see the little man now. There were so much fireworks that Theodora thought that that box of glass was probably the box to keep them safe. Letters were forming in the sky, but Theodora was too close from the fire to be able to see them.

The thief thought that that distraction was good enough so he stopped running and got calmly to a boat, where he was surprised by Autumn, who had turned his boat into stone. So the the thief ran close to the glass box and said:

– You may be good, but you can’t pass through glass like me! It took me years to learn it and now, thanks to it, you will never catch me!

The short man got into the box, while the last fireworks were still coming out, and laughed. He was escaping but Autumn camly said:

– I see you can pass through glass, but what about plastic?

And then the giant glass box turned into a giant indestructible plastic box, where the thief got caught inside. Theodora found that really great, but the thief was still smiling when he suddenly started to get smaller.

– Oh, no. – she thought – He’s going to pass through the crack, and Autumn is still concentrated on keeping the box into plastic!

Theodora couldn’t think on a good spell to make the man stop shrinking, so she casted the first thing that came in her mind. Suddenly the crack started to get filled with a dense bubble gum (that probably no human being would be able to chew), making the little (now very, very little) man get stuck inside.

– Oh, what a wonderful spell! – Autumn said, when he noticed it.

The Air Police got there in seconds and took the thief away giving to Autumn, Crowley and Theodora each one a medal made of cookie (which Theodora found really disappointing once she was expecting something made of steel, but it still tasted very good).

When she finished her medal cookie, and gave half to Theo that was now sitting by her side under a tree, and both saw the sun coming up from the horizon, Theodora felt sad. She hasn’t been able to collect even just one of the Sparkling Stones…

– I think this is yours – said a man, lending a green stone to Theodora.

– You can keep it. You found and caught it, it’s yours — she said

Autumn and Crowley sitted near her.

– Well, I think you deserve them all – he said – I didn’t spot the stone inside the jar, for example. Neither did an incredible changing color spell to find this other one, and without you, the thief would probably had escaped from me and Crowley.

Theodora looked at him for a while:

– But I told to myself that I was going to find and get all the stones by my own. I wouldn’t have caught any of them if you and Crowley haven’t helped me! I wanted to be a great witch so bad…

Theo told her to stop acting stupid. If it wasn’t her, he wouldn’t have caught all that rare mice in one night. She was a great witch, and great witches helped people like that. Great witches also know to appreciate help, and learn with others.

– You are an incredible witch, Miss Theodora! – said Autumn – You may think that I am a great mage because I do things on my own, but in fact I am always getting help from others. Crowley here, for example, could see you behind your invisibility spell, but I actually didn’t. I wouldn’t be able to help you on the Coffee Spell if Crowley wasn’t with me. Neither I could catch that thief. You deserve this stones, little lady.

Theodora smiled, and finally agreed. But she told Autumn, Crowley and Theo that the potions that she was going to create with those stones would be a present to them. And maybe, she would catch a lot of stones next year, by herself.