Category: Isabel
Rating: G? PG?
Distribution: Tell me where 'tis. Its okay, really
Disclaimer: The characters and situations in Roswell are not mine. They belong to Melinda Mertz and the UPN
Summary: A thirteen year old Isabel tries her hand at magic to create a talisman to protect her heart.

=========

"There," she told herself as she pried out the letter "C" in her father's old typewriter in the attic. It had been tough work, but with a little extraterrestrial help and determination, she had most of what she needed: a lock, a guitar string, and her mother's herb garden in the backyard to work on. With that task done, she pocketed the lock, the string, and the letter "C" and sprinted down the stairs before her mother remembers that she'd been there for the past twenty minutes.

She slowly went down the ladder going up the attic. She had to work stealthily so that her mom won't notice. Once down, she adjusted her clothes, and fixed her hair. When she was satisfied with her appearance, she went back to her room, and locked the door behind her. She emptied her pockets, placed them on her bed, where her mother's wooden salad bowl was placed. She dropped the typewriter key, the guitar string, the lock, and a couple of pieces of paper on it.

"Isabel, honey? What have you been doing up there?" her mother's voice floated from below.

"Nothing, Mom. Just fixing things." she yelled from across her room

"Okay, sweetie. If you want, I baked brownies today. I'll just put them out to cool"

She jumped out of bed, and opened the door. "Really?" she asked, hopeful.

"Yeah. Want some, before your brother gets his hands on them?"

"Sure! I'll be down in a while" she shut the door, locked it, and looked at the bowl on her bed. The spell would have to wait a couple more hours.

"I'm coming down!" she told her mother as she turned the hallway and went down the stairs.

*****

It was eleven thirty that evening. She checked. She had to make sure that she got this right, because there were so few full moons in a year. She took the bowl from her bed, tiptoed slowly across the room, and went to the door. Making sure the coast was clear, she edged away from her door and closed it with a click behind her. It was a good thing that her parents slept early tonight, so that she would have time for herself to perform this. The hallway was dark, and through her parents' bedroom she could hear her dad's soft snoring.

"Isabel?" a voice whispered behind her

"Max!" she jumped out of her skin. She whirled and rounded on him angrily. "Don't you ever surprise me that way!" she whispered frantically

"What are you doing up?" Max asked her again, in a whisper. He cocked his head from his door frame and looked at her quizzically. His eyes were boring into hers again, and she huffed out an impatient breath "I heard you come out of your room and I was wondering.."

"Just trying something, okay?" "More of that witchcraft thing you got into three weeks ago?" he asked, a smile curving up his lips in the dim moonlight. He eyed the bowl in her arm and its contents. "I swear, Max, if I dont need you to keep quiet about this, I'd whap you," she whispered back. "Max, please? Please don't..just go to sleep."

"Okay, Izzy. You owe me this one." He smiled again, that wry, shy smile that he now so seldom uses. Her brother had become more protective about the three of them since they all turned thirteen. Most likely because puberty had given them more powers, and more unstable hormones. Her brother had become more serious of late, holding their group of three more tightly together with his growing paranoia and worry. His words held a note of teasing, but with an undertone of warning; he wanted her to be careful with her powers.

"Yeah, Max. Thanks." she smiled sweetly at him, and made sure he closed the door carefully before tiptoeing downstairs to her mother's herb garden adjoining the kitchen.

*****

In the garden

With her finger tapping the sheet of paper she had written on, Isabel Evans muttered the receipes to herself.

"The 'C' is for Charles. The Prince. My prince." she said to herself, and she dropped the typewriter key in the bowl, adding, "A man who has a writer's soul, who can express himself through writing."

She picked up the guitar string. "Music should fill him," she told herself, thinking of the funny tales her father would tell her of his college exploits. He could sing so well, but he hardly ever does now. "He should be able to sing."

She lifted her eyes from the paper and looked around the rows of herbs and plants. She walked the room, passing her hand on the wooden planks and the pottery. She stopped at a huge potted daisy plant, and picked up three stems. She smiled to herself, "To summon you to me." She walked around the room again, picking up a red rose "For love", a yellow one, "For friendship," and a white one, "For death"

"Must be able to make me laugh," she cut a head of a bright yellow mum. "Goofy" she giggled. "And witty, and funny" she added.

She took two leaves of a peppermint plant. "Someone who is different from all the guys I've ever known and will know again. A breath of fresh air" She stopped, and whapped her head. "I almost forgot!" she told herself, and ran out to the kitchen and came back, dropping two peppercorns and a dried red jalapeņo pepper. "If he can take that, then he's ready for me." she told herself, and smiled.

Finally, she placed the lock in the bowl. "To unlock the keys to my heart," As a last measure.

With that done, she took up the piece of paper lying on the table, placed it in the bowl, and went back to her room.

In her room, she opened her window, letting the breeze in. The wind ruffled her hair slightly, and she closed her eyes to savor the breeze. She opened her eyes, and sure enough, the moon was full out her window. She was also granted a clear night sky, with all the complementary constellations that she had loved as a child. The perfect night to cast a spell.

Picking up the piece of paper, she said the final words of the spell, and placed the paper in the bowl. She covered the bowl with her hand, and watched resolutely as her hand and the space beneath it glowed red. She chanted the words softly under her breath, and closed her eyes. She was about to remove her hand when her eyes flew up. "Blue!" she told herself. "His eyes must be blue." She took a breath, and took her hand away, revealing blue daisy petals where the lock, the key, the other flowers had been. Dusty blue daisy petals.

For a moment, she gazed in awe at what she had created. Then, she heard she locked door opening, and she turned slowly, knowing that there was only one person who could unlock her door at this hour.

"Isabel?"

"Max, I told you to go back to sleep." she told him softly, as his head, and the rest of his upper body poked into her room

"I was wondering, what you were dong." he told her

"I made a love spell, Max," she told him, part of her daring him to challenge what she had done, part of her pleading for him to understand.

Even at this distance, she could feel his brows furrow into a frown. She felt him move out of the doorway and come into her room. He got in, turned, and locked the door behind him. "Isabel. I thought we talked about this already." he said softly, warningly.

"I, Max.." she started

"We can't get involved. No matter how much we want to," he told her. Still, she sat by her window, not moving, her heart slowly plummeting to the ground. "We're too different from the people here, Izzy. And no amount of wishing, or magic spells," he paused, looking pointedly at the wooden bowl in her lap, "can change that."

She looked at him in silence. She was close, so close, to finishing her spell. She stared at her brother and heard more than his words. She didnt know how she understood, but somehow she felt her brother felt the pain of loneliness more than she did.

"Isabel, you have to be realistic," he told her again

She smiled, and she felt the sudden onset of tears behind her eyes. She blinked them back. "Oh Max," she said softly, her hand swirling inside the bowl. "You don't understand," she continued, her hand swirling and the petals slowly rising and twirling in front of her. She felt him start toward her, then hesitated. With her free hand she pressed her fingers over her eyes to stop the tears from falling. She looked at him, and past him, to the window and the moon beyond. The moon beckoned, and the stars greeted. The petals swirled dusty blue and soft where they brushed against her skin. The breeze came into her window and they danced around her face, danced and twirled and whirled out the window to meet the moon and greet the stars.

"I made that spell because I wished for a man who was too incredible to be true." The bowl, now empty, sat forlornly on her lap. Now she pressed her fingers to her temples and sniffled, hating herself for becoming this vulnerable. She looked up at him, and was surprised to learn that he had crouched down in front of her, looking at her worriedly. "It wasn't a spell for me to meet the guy of my dreams, Max. It's for me to create one who cannot exist." She smiled a wobbly smile at him. "So I won't have a guy like him."

"So that we'll be safe, too." she added, and faced him.

"Iz, I'm sorry. Ssh. I never thought--" Max's eyes clouded with apology, and he drew his sister in for a hug. Both of them feeling the other's pain and loneliness. They were both alone, and doomed to be lonely. They hugged, her silently crying, him rubbing her back. Through the window the moonlight beamed down at them and the stars were covered by the clouds, and two siblings from the stars sat underneath it: wishing, wanting, waiting.

*****

Note: The situations here is inspired by the movie, "Practical Magic", when Sally made a love spell summoning her "dream guy". She conjured up an "impossible" man to protect herself and her heart. No infringement intended.

Back to Area 51 (Section IV)