Morning Magic

Morning Magic
(word count: 484)

"Zana…Zana!"

Zana cracked one eye open and peered surreptitiously at her mistress.

"It's no use pretending you're still asleep.  I know you're awake.  Now, hurry up.  There's a Lost Soul standing right on the corner, and you have to catch her before she disappears into the crowd."

Zana opened both emerald green eyes and peered up at Aldia the Witch.  She raised her tiny hands to smooth sleep-rumpled hair from her face and sat up.  She yawned, politely covering her mouth.

"Come on, come on.  There's no time to waste.  I've held the red light as long as I can without drawing suspicion.  The students will be moving, soon."

Zana stretched her butterfly-like golden wings until their tips touched the sides of the knitting basket.  Then she stood and peeked over the rim.  "Which one is it?" she asked.

"The one on the right.  The girl standing all alone.  Oh!  She's crossing, now, behind the bicycle.  See her?"

Zana did, indeed, see her.  She was hard to miss, textbooks clutched to her chest in a death-grip, head bowed with eyes on the ground, black aura enveloping her like a miasma of evil.  The student reached the other side of the street and hurried toward the campus.  Zana leapt into the air, wings pumping, and hovered over the witch's knitting bag.  She spared one glance at her mistress.  The Witch was in her favorite old-lady disguise, sitting on the park bench, placidly knitting a sweater.  Zana smirked, If the humans only used their feelings rather than their eyes, what magic they would see!

Zana darted off down the street toward the Lost Soul.  Her wings whirled in an iridescent explosion of golds and greens, her body glistened with fairy dust.  She was a bewitching sight – if the humans could have seen her.

Down the street she flew until she came to the Lost one.  She swooped and circled above the student's head.  She shook herself, vibrating loose tiny particles of gleaming dust which sprinkled down over the unsuspecting student.  Zana danced in the air and laughed.  This was her favorite part.

As Zana shimmied, a shower of shining dust scattered over the student, and the dark aura surrounding her began to crack. It fell away in pieces and strips like dead skin sloughed off by a snake.  As the oblivious student walked on, the mantle of evil shuddered and collapsed to the ground, and she stepped out of it and into the bright morning light.  The student raised her head toward the sunshine and a little smile appeared on her face.

Clapping her little hands with glee, Zana zipped back to Aldia the Witch.  Safely ensconced within the knitting bag again, she turned her glowing face to Aldia and waited for her reward.  In Aldia's hand, a lovely lilac thistle appeared; she offered it to Zana, who accepted it, smiled and munched on it happily.