Sorcery Mama dropped her voice to a whisper Princess Ozma has outlawed the use of magic Only she Glinda and the Wizard of Oz can do it Zerie’s eyebrows drew together in confusion I thought they were the only people who even knew how to do magic No child Grammy told her There has always been magic in Oz Regular folk have the talent too We just aren’t allowed to use it anymore Zerie scanned the porch floor It was perfectly clean But all she remembered doing was a single swipe across the wood Do you do you mean that I did magic Just now You swept the whole porch in the blink of an eye Grammy said Did you feel yourself moving Not really Zerie felt her face break into a grin Is that my power I just imagine things and
they come true Grammy laughed and even Mama smiled Not even Ozma has power like that Grammy said Your talent is the same as mine Zerie Speed So I moved fast Or the broom did Zerie asked Both I think The truth is you’ll have to learn for yourself how to use the talent I can’t teach it to you for the power of the magic comes from within each person Suddenly Grammy was standing next to Mama in the doorway Zerie blinked She hadn’t seen the old lady move Try a few things Grammy went on Learn for yourself Or find the others and learn together Friends are always strongest together Grammy turned and walked into the house Don’t listen to her Zerie Mama said anxiously Princess Ozma says we mustn’t do magic and she’s our rightful leader Promise me you’ll listen
Zerie bit her lip She couldn’t break a promise to her mother But she needed to know how she’d swept the floor so fast She felt as if she might burst unless she figured it out I don’t even know how I did it she finally said I doubt I could do it again Good Mama went inside But that wasn’t a promise Zerie whispered
1 Where are you going Zelzah asked as Zerie jumped down the porch steps Zerie stopped just long enough to give Zelzah’s round-faced baby a kiss Vashti needs some help with the bread basket she’s making today We’re going into the woods to find the perfect branches for the handle she said Zelzah smiled Have fun Zerie felt bad for lying to her sister but this was the way it had to be Since the moment she’d discovered her talent two years ago Zerie had been forced to do a lot of fibbing She couldn’t let Zelzah or Mama or Grammy or anybody else in the family know what she and her best friend
