The Midnight Sorceress

Chapter 3

Cassandra's aunt and uncle ate something called Healthy Food, which they brought with them in big cardboard boxes from a special Health Food store in Moscow. They had boxes called Better Buds, Protein Punch or Cereal Zeal, and all kinds of crazy seeds and several brands of honey and strange juices that tasted like celery syrup that smelled even worse.

Cassandra would put their supper on the table and then spread out all those seeds and juice for them every day. You can imagine how exhausting it is for her to vacuum three times a week, because the couple kept scattering so many seeds on the floor after each meal.

When their old vacuum broke, Aunt Klementina scolded her for her poor handling, which wasn't the case at all, so Cassandra suggested that maybe they should get a bird, or a hamster instead of buying a new vacuum cleaner, but she was given a death glare.

This morning, Cassandra hurried through her chores and returned to her room as soon as she could. The aunt and uncle had gone to the Ice Festival with their twins. Ruslan pretended to be sick and had insisted to stay behind with Cassandra.

When the coast was clear, they brought the chest outside and put it on the table. The golden sunbeam pierced through the glass window, shining like a spotlight directly on it. The two of them sat opposite each other, staring at the box for the longest time. Ruslan once in a while poking around at it as if it was something alive.

"So where exactly did you get this box?" Ruslan said after a while later. His small hands reached out to the said object, turning and feeling it around as his eyes still glued to it. Cassandra could almost imagine his mind racing, connecting dots within the neurons in the speed of light trying to figure out the puzzle.

"In the wood on my way from the store," she said.

"Who gave it to you?" he asked, looking up at her at last.

Cassandra was about to say 'an owl' when she caught herself. She looked at her cousin as if he was a doctor trying to diagnose a disease. Ruslan was brilliant in school, and he was always kind to Cassandra, but he was the sort of boy who is practical with a 'rocket scientist's brain'. Ruslan Osinov, thought Cassandra, would not believe in magic or a talking owl, would he?

But he liked reading science fiction. Science fiction, Cassandra thought again hopefully, was a little bit like magic, wasn't it?

"Cassandra?" Ruslan waved his hand in front of her face.

"Oh, sorry, I spaced out..." she said and then she decided to take a chance. "Alright, so something happened to me yesterday."

"Huh? What happened?" said Ruslan, tilting his head at her in curiosity. Cassandra decided to try another tack.

"What do you think," she started carefully, "is the most wonderfulest, specialest, excitingest thing in the whole wide world?"

"A Tesla's Coil," said Ruslan without losing a beat. He had a bright smile on his face. Cassandra always knew that he wanted to be a great inventor. She smiled back at her cousin.

"Right, do you think his inventions were nothing short of...magical?"

"Magical?" her cousin said. "I only thought of that as scientifically genius, but now that you put it like that, well...yes...why not? They were kind of magical."

"And do you believe in magic?" Cassandra said.

"Well, unless it can be proven by science," Ruslan said with a shrug.

"What if I told you I've found it?"

"You have found what?"

"Something or rather someone who is truly magical?"

Ruslan raised his thick dark brows at her.

"Really?"

A great rushing warmth filled Cassandra's heart. She had been just about dead certain that no one would believe what she saw.

"It's a talking owl," she said quickly, leaning forward. "I was getting the groceries home and a great white owl took one of the bags from me. Then she talked to me and gave me this wooden box. And she wanted me to see her again tonight."

Ruslan's face changed. Then he burst out laughing uncontrollably.

"That was so funny, Cassandra."

For a moment, the girl felt silly in front of the eleven-year-old kid.

"Well, it wasn't a joke, Ruslan," she said. "The owl seemed like she was in terrible trouble of some kind. She needed us to open this box before sunset. Can you help me with that?"

Seeing the serious look on her face, Ruslan stopped laughing and stared at the little box again. It did look like it had something magical inside for sure. Something like a Tesla's Coil would make him feel when he looked at it.

"You meant...there was a talking owl?" he said.

"Yes."

"An owl who talks?"

"Yes," Cassandra said with a solemn nod. She wasn't one who lies or thinks up fantasies, and Ruslan knew it. If anything, Cassandra had always been the most rational one in this house. His mouth slacked as his eyes widened in wonderment.

"Whoa!" Ruslan let out a breath.

"Don't tell your parents, okay?" Cassandra said. "Or they will put me in a nuthouse. You don't want them to lock me away, do you?"

Ruslan shook his head vigorously and crossed his heart as if to show his loyalty. Indeed, there was a 99.9999% chance that Aunt Klementina would think Cassandra had been taking some hallucinogenic drugs if she heard a word about a talking owl.

For the whole morning, the two of them studied the ancient chest, trying to figure out the secret of its otherworldly puzzle.

Cassandra herself wasn't talented or a great learner of things, but she never gave up easily. She never lost hope easily either. Her mother used to sit her down on her lap and say to her that Cassandra's heart was solid. Cassandra's five-year-old self wasn't exactly sure what her mother meant by "Solid", but she liked the sound of it.

And little did she know that soon she was going to need her solid heart.