Chapter 22—Is Magic Real?

Happy Valley, Oregon—June

If anyone asked Nikki if she believed in magic, she would hiccup. Not because she had a breathing problem, but whenever she couldn't come up with an answer that's what happened.

She knew she was super smart and thought that was why kids in school didn't like her. They called her "Einie," short for Einstein. It was meant to be derogatory, but she didn't mind.

But school was finally out for the summer, and today Nikki relaxed on her bed, comfortable in shorts and a T-shirt. Her strawberry-blonde hair was loosely pinned up, and small red glasses hung low on her nose. Her long legs served as a human desk as she soaked up every word of a book called Magic and the Supernatural. Closing it, she marked her spot and leaned back to stare up at her mobile of the solar system. It had been hanging there since she was born.

Her pupils narrowed as she reflected on the apparition in the mine crater. Had that been magic or the supernatural? And what was the difference? Nikki didn't usually accept what wasn't explained by science, but she couldn't dismiss something she had seen with her own eyes. The very next day she had checked out the book, taking great pains to not let anyone see it lest they think she, "Einie," was leaking brain cells. But she had to get to the bottom of this apparition thing. The memory teased like a Rubik's cube.

Maybe tonight she'd ask her parents at dinner, though it would be unusual for them both to be there because her dad, a doctor, did rounds at this time. Nikki knew she couldn't just blurt out, "Hey, Mom, Dad, guess what? An angel appeared last week and she's sending us on a worldwide quest for enchanted crystals."

She had no idea how they'd react but was pretty sure they wouldn't laugh at her. Her dad might run for the thermometer and her mom would probably suggest Sleepy Time tea with honey and then a nap. One thing Nikki knew for sure: the word magic had never been spoken inside this house.

If she did bring it up, she'd have to tell them about the tunnels. Her parents knew she and her friends hiked on Scouter Mountain, but they didn't know about the tunnels or the crater. Although she'd never been inside the tunnels, she knew they were dangerous, and her parents would never approve. She sat up and reopened the book, deciding to keep quiet about the angel for now. Her stomach felt queasy. This was the first time she'd ever kept a major secret from her mom.

* * *

"So, honey," Nikki's mom, Adele, asked, breaking the long silence at dinner. "How's our experiment with the DSC coming along?" Nikki's mom worked for the same special division of NASA that Jesse's and Chaz's parents did. It was called the Deep Space Network and was part of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Nikki's thoughts were elsewhere when her mom spoke, so she answered vaguely, "We're getting reasonable sound."

"I'm not sure what you mean by 'reasonable sound.'" Adele looked at her daughter, her tiny pupils growing smaller. Adele was ever the precision-language coach and had a penetrating glare.

Nikki sat up. "We hear each other most of the time, but sometimes there's static. Jesse's writing it all down in his log."

"Probably deep space interference," Adele said, tucking red stray hairs into her neat bun. "Speaking of which, I have to be on a conference call with Washington in ten minutes. Would you clean up please, Nikki?"

Adele stood and left the table, patting her daughter's shoulder as she passed. Nikki sighed as she looked over at the messy stove and countertops. Then she glanced at her father, who seemed a million miles away. Probably no help coming from that sector either, she thought.

"I need to review a patient file for an early surgery," her dad said, rubbing his hands together as if he were already prepping. He caught his daughter's eye. "I'd help you out, pumpkin, but duty calls." He pushed his dark frames higher on his bird-like nose and strode down the hall to his office.

Nikki rolled her eyes. Dad called her that absurd name, and it was embarrassing. The pet name was due to her strawberry-blonde hair, currently wound into a bun like her mom's, but looking as if a cat's claws had gotten into it. She certainly didn't look like a pumpkin, she thought.

Nikki carried the dishes to the sink and thought about her theory on the angel apparition—maybe fumes from the mine had caused a neurotransmitter disruption, making the friends think they had seen something that wasn't there. Dad would be proud of that hypothesis, she thought, and her lips curled into a lopsided grin as water flooded the sink and then drained away.

* * *

Later that night, Nikki climbed into bed with Ranger and snuggled under the covers. Like she had every night since the angel appeared, she closed her eyes and recreated the scene. It had not faded as memories usually did over time. She weighed the noxious fumes idea, trying to justify the vision more scientifically.

As Nikki looked out at the half moon hanging in the distance, her thoughts turned to the quest. The full moon was less than two weeks away. She'd never forget what the angel had said: "Peace, not war, will become humanity's strength." Every time Nikki said those words, she felt goose bumps all over. Could she and her friends really pull this off? Pull what off? her doubting mind asked, and she pounded her pillows. This whole thing could be a total sham. But she had agreed to lead the search in Happy Valley and would stick to her promise.

Jesse and Chaz were on their way to France and New Zealand and, once there, Jesse would call on the DSC to ask how her expedition plan was coming. And Nikki could report that she had just recruited Jake. An experienced hike leader, he had been her first choice. Tomorrow she and Jake would ask Devin, the mapmaker, to join the team. They also needed to find someone with emergency medical skills but Nikki had no idea who to ask.

She closed her eyes but knew she wouldn't sleep. She still had a lot of details to figure out, her expedition had yet to start, and she was keeping a major secret from her parents. An image appeared in her mind's eye—her mom and dad flying away on a cloud as she reached to stop them and missed. Nikki's eyes filled with tears; she had never felt more alone.