“Lili!”
Reluctantly pulling her green eyes away from her book, Alethia McFarland—Lili for short— answered, “Yes?”
“Don’t you have class half an hour ago?” her mom called from downstairs.
Lili’s heart skipped a beat.
Oops.
She sprang off the couch and flew down the steps to her computer. Clicking the mouse and wiggling it around, Lili waited breathlessly for it to turn on. A whole five seconds dragged by before the ancient machine started, and once its screen finally brightened, it decided to annoy her and show a spinning loading icon, unresponsive to her frantic clicking. After her computer properly started, GP7 decided to go on strike and kick her out of class every time she entered. Rising to her feet in agitation, Lili tossed her long blond locks. “Ugh, this isn’t working! I need a break. Somewhere far, far away.”
Mere milliseconds after speaking, she felt a tingling sensation in her toes and glanced down in surprise. Glittery dust swirled around her feet— at least, what was left of them. Her body was rapidly fading into individual particles, the rainbow hues looking out of place against her jeans and T-shirt. Lili looked down, realizing the dust had worked its way up to her ankles, and flinched, expecting to crash to the ground. Yet, defying the laws of gravity, she remained aloft even as her legs and arms, too, dissolved.
Just as the dust reached her chin, Lili realized she should be screaming. She opened her mouth, but then remembered the “No Screaming in the House” rule. Unsure for a moment, Lili closed her mouth, but she decided this was enough of an emergency to break a rule. However, by the time she made up her mind, the dust had flurried her head away.
The moment between disappearing from her house and reappearing was beyond time–it could have been two seconds or two hours–but all Lili remembered of it was a haze of sparkles. As she felt her feet settle on solid ground, she blinked away the last bits of magic from her eyes and took in her surroundings. She was standing on a hill, dwarfed by the thousands of rolling hills in every direction. In the distance lay a forest taller than any she had ever seen. Everything here had a sort of shimmer that made even the mystical dust seem perfectly ordinary.
“Greetings, fair maiden!”
Lili jumped at the sound of another voice. Following the direction of the cry, she spotted a gray-haired man in a long silver robe climbing her hill.
“Greetings–uh–good sir!” she replied, mimicking his wave hoping that was the way people addressed one another here.
The man stroked his drooping silver beard thoughtfully. “Rather far from the village, are you not?”
“Indeed.” Thinking fast, Lili made up what she hoped was a believable story. “I went into the woods to pick strawberries, but I ventured too far and lost my way. I am very glad to have met you. Perhaps you could point me in the right direction?” She blinked as innocently as possible.
Clapping his hands in delight, he cried: “Why, certainly! It would be my pleasure. Ah, you should know, I am the Wandering Warmhearted Wizard Wozo.”
“Oh, um, pleasure to meet you, Wandering Warmhearted Wizard Wozo. I am the… the… um, Alethia.” She felt that her full name would be more appropriate in this world, as it possessed an elegance that ‘Lili’ did not.
“Wonderful! Follow me, the Alethia, and I shall show you the way to your village.” Wozo turned away from her slightly and murmured what sounded a lot like, “Alethia sounds like the name of a grinchess, and grinchesses mean honey, and honey means handsome. Oh-ho-ho! My ducky day has arrived at last!”
Lili cocked her head to one side. “Pardon?”
Facing her once again, Wozo grinned. “Nothing, the Alethia. Off we go!”
The wizard led her over rise after rise, the sun’s rays graciously gentle despite it being mid-summer. Since she hadn’t been wearing shoes when the magic transported her here, Lili’s socked feet got sorer with every agonizing step as they marched onward until the moon chased away the sun. To pass the time, Wozo told her stories of his travels throughout the land. From his tales, Lili gathered that they were in Faraway Land, where kings and queens ruled the kingdoms and princes were constantly rescuing princesses from evil mother figures. It seemed a ridiculous land, but one very familiar to her, if only from books.
Finally, they stopped by a giant tower with smooth walls stretching up to the sky. Lili craned her head back, yet the top was lost in the clouds. As her eyes traced the vines climbing the tower, she noticed patches of blackened vines with scorch marks on the wall behind them. Everything about the situation was unnerving.
“Wozo? What is this?” The wizard rounded on her, beaming, and for the first time she realized how evil he looked. “This isn’t my village.” She wished she could keep the quaver out of her voice.
A wand appeared in his hand, and with a flick of his wrist, Lili found herself unable to move. “Clearly, the Alethia, you are a disguised princess, and princesses mean money, and money means ransom. Oh-ho-ho! It is indeed my lucky day!” Wozo cackled. So that’s what he was saying earlier, Lili realized.
She was definitely in big, big trouble.
Photo Credits: https://hogwartsmystery-archive.fandom.com/wiki/Homenum_Revelio