Branchweaver’s Difference

By Bonnie Maisen

What’s the difference between a hero and a wimp?

I fall firmly in the latter category. I don’t sing in public. I don’t raise my hand in class.

My wimpiness wasn’t really a problem until last week. That’s when Aidan Peacebringer—beautiful Aidan, with his curly hair and goofy grin and not being a total jerkwad—became the new target of Rowan Mindhammer, the red-headed witch of Ridget Middle School.

I walked out of the school building into the late afternoon sun, avoiding puddles outside the door, when I heard her laugh, chittering like an irate dolphin. They were standing under a birch tree near the fence. Rowan was barefoot, the better to draw in the earth’s power. She had taken Aidan’s flute out of its case and was levitating it over his head. Never mind the fact that magic wasn’t allowed on school grounds. No one crossed Rowan. Her last target, Delaney Flowersbane, my best friend, had transferred to Heightcast just to get away from her.

Every part of me wanted to stop Rowan. She couldn’t get away with this again. But what could I do? I could smell the hot sun on wet asphalt. The dolphin laugh screeched in my ears. A flash of light reflecting off Aidan’s flute blinded me. By the time I gathered enough oomph to say or do anything at all, Rowan stumbled over a rock, and Aidan’s flute smashed to the ground.

He grabbed it and fled toward our neighborhood on the south side of town.

I made my decision on the way home. Rowan’s telekinesis put her in a separate class from the rest of us. Literally. She was in a class of kids with the strongest magical talents, being “groomed for greatness.” Someone needed to stand up to her.

I was going to make sure that “someone” was me.

That is the reason—and I mean the only reason—I was standing outside Madame Charmbringer’s classroom a few days later, summoning the courage to knock on her door. Two deep breaths. No, four. Just knock, Keira. Six breaths later, knuckles met wood.

“Enter.” Her voice betrayed neither annoyance nor pleasure at the interruption.

The only light in her classroom came from the multi-colored crystals that hung from her ceiling. I never understood why someone with a “groomed for greatness” talent like hers would become a schoolteacher. And a history teacher at that.

Each of her crystals held a one-use magical talent. A concentrated burst of magic that could be activated by any one she deemed worthy of the gift. If anyone had a way to stop Rowan, it was her.

Madame set down her quill. “Keira Branchweaver.”

I grimaced at the moniker. My gift to civilization was the ability to manipulate tree branches into different configurations. Whee.

“What can I do for you?”

“I… Do you have anything, any crystal, I mean, that’s like…” I trailed off. I had practiced exactly what I was going to say during my six breaths, but they filtered out of my brain at the sight of her thin-lipped smile and piercing eyes.

“Spit it out, child. You’ve chewed that request to death.”

It was happening again. The smell of her perfume clogged my nostrils. The breeze from her vent brought on goosebumps. The shining crystals swayed back and forth, and the squeaking sound of their movement was almost deafening. I closed my eyes and clenched my fists, my nails biting into my palm, focusing on that sensation alone. “I need courage. Something to make me brave.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I have nothing that meets that description.”

I squeezed my eyes shut and took a heavy breath. “Okay.” I curtsied. “Thank you, Madame.” I turned to leave.

“But if you would accept it, I would give you a gift before you go.” I heard the creak of a drawer opening.

Hope shook my nerves, but I turned back to her and held out my hand. The crystal she gave me was tiny, just a shard really. It would have to be enough.

The next day I watched Aidan Peacebringer sneak out the doors of the school, trying his hardest to avoid Rowan’s attention. I watched as Rowan nodded to her minions and followed him outside.

I watched my own feet pounding after them.

I kept staring at the ground, the crystal shard clenched in my fist, until I reached the two of them. They were under the same tree, but this time, Rowan held his backpack aloft, with Aidan still inside it.

As soon as my eyes met his, the familiar panic crept into my consciousness. I squeezed the crystal harder, following Charmbringer’s instruction, willing its power to creep into my veins.

Time stopped.

Rowan, Aidan, the entire world was frozen around me. Charmbringer had delivered! I could do anything to Rowan now, and she couldn’t stop me.

There was only one problem: I couldn’t move. Like Rowan, I was frozen in time.

The overwhelmed feelings I had been trying to hold back hit me like a wave crashing on rocks. Sounds had ceased, but I could still smell the birch. See the crowd that had formed around the hunter and her prey. Feel the hot sun on my cheeks.

And then? The wave ebbed. My mind cleared. The plan formed. Time began again.

My knuckles met wood. The birch tree reached out her branches and coiled them around Rowan’s arms, hoisting her into the air, away from her power source of earth. Aidan fell onto a soft patch of grass beside me. My classmates unsuccessfully stifled snickers at the sight of the powerless witch, the color of her face now matching her hair.

I took my hands from the tree and helped Aidan to his feet. “Walk you home?”

He nodded and smiled.

Holding hands, we let Rowan’s dolphin screeches fade into nothingness behind us.

The difference between a hero and a wimp? It turns out that for me, it’s about ten seconds.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bonnie Maisen is a fantasy fiction writer, homeschooling mom of three, and practice manager for a group counseling practice. She spends her spare time (Ha!) singing karaoke, playing D&D with her family, and acting in community musical theater.