-10-

"I—" Staring at his sister as she watched him expectantly, waiting for an answer, Alan took a deep, shaky breath, then plastered a smile across his face. "I kind of flashed everybody, actually. Ha-ha."

Julia either didn't get the joke, or just didn't think it was funny, because she didn't laugh, didn't even smile. Didn't react much at all, actually, except that her eyes tightened at the corners a little.

"Alan, just 'cause I'm littler than you doesn't mean I'm stupid," she said, bitterly. "You can't fool me like I fooled Hayley. So don't try, OK? I know you too good. And besides, you kinda suck at it."

"Yeah, I know," Alan groaned, shoulders slumped as he dragged himself over to the counter and sat down on the stool next to her that Hayley had vacated. Then, because he couldn't help himself, he added: "It's 'you know me too well', by the way, not—ow! OW!"

Alan recoiled as Julia, seemingly having lost her mind, started furiously slapping at him with both hands. He leaned back so far to get out of her reach that he almost fell right off his stool, and raised his arms over his face to protect it.

"OW! HEY! QUIT IT, JULIA! OW!"

"I'M SCARED, YOU RETARD! STOP BEING SUCH A STUPID KNOW-IT-ALL AND JUST TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON ALREADY, PENIS-BREATH!"

"What's going on down there?" Mom's voice called down the stairs.

Alan and Julia froze in place, and turned their heads towards the black spiral staircase that led up into the loft.

"Nothing!" they said in unison.

"It doesn't sound like nothing!" Mom said. "If you know what's good for you, you'll knock it off! Don't make me come down there!"

"OK, Mom," they replied together, even as they pulled apart from one another. Alan straightened the anti-magic hat on his head, as Julia crossed her arms over her chest again, glaring at him sullenly.

"What do you mean you're scared?" Alan asked her, frowning. "Are you scared of me?"

Julia's cheeks reddened beneath her dark brown eyes as the darted away from him, towards the door, as though she hadn't meant to admit that. Silently, she shrugged her shoulders.

"Ugh." Alan reached up and rubbed his eyes. Great. Every time he thought this couldn't get any worse...it wasn't enough that his sister hated him, that she was embarrassed by him, but now she was frightened of him, too?

"Is that why you covered for me with Hayley?" he asked, his voice raw. "Because you thought I might...because you're scared of me?"

Julia let out her breath in a huff and rolled her eyes at him. Alan realized with a start that they were glittering with barely-contained tears.

"I'm not scared of you, stupid-head," she growled. "I'm scared for you. You've always been weird, but this is too weird, even for you. People already don't like you. If they found out about all this—" Julia waved her hands vaguely at him—"they might stop just calling you names and try to hurt you, or take you away to weirdo jail, or something. Y'know, like in that show."

Alan blinked at this, confused. "What show?"

"Every show!" Julia snapped, throwing her hands up. "All that stupid boy stuff you make me watch! X-Men, Spider-Man, Ninja Turtles, the stupid Incredible Hulk...um...that other one with the big dragon-looking guys that turn into stone during the daytime..."

"Gargoyles?"

"Yeah, that one," Julia nodded, pointing at him. "Even Superman! They all have to hide, or run from the police, or wear masks, or pretend to be somebody else, because they're different and people are scared of them, even though they're good guys. And you're just no good at any of that stuff, Alan! You suck at lying, you run like a girl, you always lose at hide-n-go-seek, and you stick out like a...a...a big, stupid belly-button!"

Alan burst into laughter at this, despite the gravity of her tone, which of course only upset Julia even more. Eyes flaring, she raised her hands to start smacking him again.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" Alan chuckled, rearing away from her and holding his arms in front of his face again. "I didn't mean to laugh, I just...I can't believe you actually get it!"

"What, get that you suck? I've been telling you that forever!"

"No, that you get why I can't tell you—"

Alan broke off, and looked towards the stairs, at where they disappeared up into the loft, where their parents were. His eyebrows bunched themselves together under the brim of his hat as he inwardly debated with himself. He'd never willfully disobeyed them before...that was Julia's area of expertise...but maybe...

"What, Alan?" Julia demanded. "Can't tell me what?"

Alan swiveled his eyes back towards her and nodded once, his mind made up.

"C'mon," he said, smiling as he held his hand out to her. "There's something I want to show you."

"A wizard?" Julia asked. Perched on the edge of their father's dirty brown recliner in the Wizard's Grotto, she frowned up at her brother. "What, you mean like Harry Potter?"

Staring down at her, his expression as solemn as it had ever been, Alan simply nodded.

"Bullshit," Julia scoffed.

Alan snorted, then shook his head and covered his face with his palm. "Don't cuss, Julia. And it is not, either. I really am a wizard. So is Uncle Kirby. And dad used to be one, I think, but he isn't any more, for some reason I don't get. Really. Scout's honor."

"Bullshit!" Julia repeated, grinning at the way it made Alan wince. "You're so making this up! Magic isn't real, penis-breath. It's make believe. Fairy tale stuff."

"How can you say that?" Alan asked, incredulous. "I've flashed you twice! Actually, three times, since the first time I flashed you here and then flashed you back. And I just brought you through the freezer door into a room that shouldn't even be here.How do you explain all that if it's not magic?"

Julia pursed her lips together in deep thought as she considered this, then snapped her fingers. "That's easy: it's CGI."

Alan blinked at her. "What?"

"See Gee Eye," Julia said again, slowly. "Y'know, special effects? Like in the movies? Big stupid alien dude looks like he's walking next to Natalie Portman, but he's not really there?"

"I know what CGI is!" Alan snapped. "I was the one who explained it to you! I just can't—how can you possibly think all this is special effects when you're sitting right here?"

"So prove it, then," Julia challenged him. "Do some magic right now. And no flashing me again. Something different, this time."

"I can't do any other magic, though," Alan growled, annoyed at himself as much as he was at her. "Not yet, anyway. I'm not...I'm still don't have control over it. That's why I've had to wear the stupid hat. It blocks my powers, so they don't go all crazy and make me breathe fire again, or cause another thunderstorm in the garage."

Julia's eyes flicked up towards the hat, sitting atop his head, then back down to meet his. She cocked one eyebrow skeptically.

"Bullshit," she smirked.

"Ngh!" Alan groaned, dropping his head in frustration. "Would you please stop saying that? I'm telling you the truth, here. Did you not see me make the boyscout salute, before? Why else would I wear this ugly thing?"

"Because you're a dork," Julia said, as though this was obvious. "You do embarrassing stuff all the time, Barney. That doesn't make you a wizard."

"For the last time, I am too a wizard! I'm just not a very good one, yet!"

Julia was quiet for a second. "OK, that I believe."

"Hey!" Alan said, raising his head to glare at her. "I've only been a wizard for a little more than a week, OK? I'm still learning. Wizard lessons aren't like regular school, y'know. They're actually hard."

"Or maybe they're like sports, and you just suck at it," Julia said. Standing up out of the chair, she started wandering around the Grotto, poking at anything that caught her eye. "I'd be an awesome wizard. Way better'n you."

"Just a second ago you said you didn't believe in magic," said Alan, rolling his eyes as he walked around the chair and grabbed her hand before she could break something. "Now you think you'd be better at it than I am?"

Julia shrugged one shoulder, but made no effort to take her hand back. "If wizards were real, you would make a terrible one. Because you're a boy. Everyone knows girls are better at magic. Like Willow on Buffy, or whatshername with the frizzy hair in Harry Potter...I dunno, Minnie something?"

"Hermione Granger," Alan said automatically. "And being a girl has nothing to do with it. They're both only good with magic because they study and work hard!"

"Oh," Julia said flatly, making the face she usually made when the idea of hard work was brought up. Still, she rallied. "Well, that's a waste of time. I'd be so good with magic that I wouldn't need to study. I'd do spells like that."

She snapped her fingers again, nonchalantly. And there was something about the smug look on her face as she did it, about the way she was so easily dismissing this awesome secret he'd shared with her, against his better judgment, that made a fire start to burn in his chest. Setting his jaw, squaring his shoulders, he sat down on the edge of the recliner and reached up to snatch the anti-magic hat off his head.

"Oh sure, here you take it off, where nobody can see us," Julia said.

"Shut up," Alan growled, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. "You want to see some magic? Here, watch that candle on the table, there."

Julia frowned at him. "Why? What're you gonna—?"

"Hush!" Alan cut her off, as he narrowed his eyes and stared fixedly at the scorched end of the candle's wick. "Just. Watch."

He knew he was supposed to close his eyes, spend a few minutes just breathing, clearing his mind. He knew he was supposed to focus on the candle and only the candle, nothing and nobody else. Especially, as Dad had instructed, not his sister.

But Julia was all he could think about. Julia, and that smug look on her face, and how good it was gonna feel to wipe it right off her face when he proved to her that magic was real. That he really was a wizard. And that studying was not a waste of time, dammit. The fire burning in his chest flared hotter the more he thought about it, grew until it felt like it was consuming his entire body from the inside. And just when he thought he couldn't contain it anymore, he pictured the look of wonder and amazement that would appear on his sister's face once he'd succeeded, and...

"Flame be nimble, flame be quick, flame light up my candle stick!"

The fire seemed to rush right out of him, all at once, as soon as he finished reciting the spell. And then Julia let out a little gasp of surprise as the candle spontaneously flared to life, with a dancing flame that stood almost two inches high. Alan exhaled sharply—nearly causing the flame to go out—then smirked over it at where his sister stood watching it. Her mouth hanging open in utter shock, the reflection of the burning candle dancing in chocolate brown eyes as wide as dinner plates, exactly the way he'd imagined them. And it was easily the most satisfying thing he'd ever seen in his very short life, so far.

"Magic is real," she said, her voice just a shade over a whisper. She tore her eyes away from the candle, and stared at him with something approaching awe. "Magic is REAL! You really ARE a wizard!"

Alan leaned back in the chair, flushed with pride as he watched the candle, the flickering proof of his mastery over magic...or at least the first lesson in it. "Told you so."

"This. Is. AWESOME!" Julia shrieked, rushing to his side and throwing her arms around him. "We can do anything we want, now! Quick, flash us to the candy store, Alan! Or Disney World! Yeah, flash us to Disney World!"

"Uh..."

"Nonono, wait...flash us to a candy store IN Disney World! And then make me a pony!"

"Julia, I can't do any of that, yet!" Alan said, pushing her off of him. "I don't know how! Lighting a candle with my brain was only the first lesson!"

"What do you mean you don't know how?" Julia snapped. "What happened to 'I've flashed you three times already!'"

"By accident," Alan said. "And look how well it worked the last time. Do you want to wind up in Disney World in just your underpants?"

"If it means free candy, yes!"

"Julia..." Alan sighed heavily. "Look, magic can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing, OK? You saw how bad I got hurt today. I wouldn't want you to get hurt like that."

"But Alan—!'

"And we need to be careful to keep it a secret from people," Alan pressed on. "We can't just do whatever we want, or people might find out, and get scared and try to take me away, or something. Y'know, like you said."

Julia opened her mouth to protest again, then blinked and frowned as she realized that he was using her own argument against her. And she wasn't about to insist that something she'd said had been wrong when, as far as she was concerned, Julia was never wrong.

"Oh yeah, right," she said flatly, as she slumped back into the recliner next to him. "Well, you're no fun."

"Being a wizard isn't about fun, Julia. It's serious business," Alan said in his big brother voice, the one he used whenever their parents left him in charge. Then, when she rolled his eyes at him, he added: "I mean it, Julia. You have to keep this a secret. You can't even tell Mom and Dad. We have to pretend you don't know."

"Huh? But don't Momma and Daddy already know?"

"Of course they know," Alan said. "But they said I couldn't tell you. They said you were too little to be able to understand. That you'd couldn't keep it to yourself, and you'd tell everybody."

Taking offense at this, Julia thrust her bottom lip out in an angry pout. "I am not too little! I can too keep things to myself!"

"I know, Julia," Alan agreed patiently. "That's why I told you."

"Oh," Julia said, then narrowed her eyes at him. "Wait...so you're breaking the rules for me? You wanna lie to Momma and Daddy?"

Alan's entire body flinched as though she'd struck him. "Just until they say you're old enough to know for real. So only for, y'know...a couple of years, maybe?"

A wicked grin began to spread slowly across Julia's features. "But I thought you said you couldn't doooooo that, Alan."

"Julia..." Alan groaned, at a loss for words. He didn't know how to explain that, as guilty as he felt for even suggesting it, he knew that lying to their parents was by far the lesser of two evils, compared to the idea of having to continually lie to her. That, given the choice, he would always choose her, over anyone. That the idea of not having her share in something that was so huge was so foreign to him, it was utterly ridiculous.

She seemed to understand, though, even if he hadn't said it out loud. Or maybe she just liked the idea of having something she could blackmail him with. Because, eyes shining, she smiled mischievously and said, "OK, I won't tell."

"You promise?"

"Cross my heart," she nodded, drawing an exaggerated X over her chest with her index finger. "But only if you promise to make me a pony as soon as you learn how."

"Well...we'll see," Alan said. He stood up and gestured for her to do the same. "We'd better go. We gotta get back before Mom and Dad notice we're gone, and start looking for us."

"Awwww, but we just got here!" Julia whined. "I wanted to look at all the cool weird magic stuff!"

"Later," he said. He wrapped one hand around hers, tried to pull her up out of the chair, and sighed impatiently as she stubbornly refused to budge. "Julia, c'mon. It's not going anywhere. You'll have all kinds of chances to see it all."

"I'd better," Julia pouted, reluctantly allowing him to draw her to her feet and herd her towards the freezer door.

"You will," he insisted. Then, with a smile, he added: "We've got the whole rest of our lives to hang out here alone together, just you and me. It'll be like our Fortress of Solitude."

"Ugh, that's like the dumbest name ever," Julia groaned, wrinkling her nose. As Alan dragged her away from the chair, she reached back at the last minute and snatched up the anti-magic hat from where it lay on the arm, then slapped it against his chest. "Almost forgot your ugly hat, dorkface."

"Oh!" he said, looking down at it in surprise as he took it from her. "Thanks, but...I think maybe I don't need to wear it anymore."

"Ugh, thank God. Quick, let's throw it away before you change your mind."

"Hey, if you're so embarrassed by it, why do you keep giving the stupid thing back to me every time I lose it?"

"I—" Julia hesitated, the skin behind her ears turning pink as he watched her, waiting for an explanation. "Because I know if you did lose it, you'd just be a big, whiny crybaby about it. And that'd be even more embarrassing."

"I am not a crybaby," Alan growled, as he pressed his free hand against the door's push-bar, swinging it open into the kitchen of the Hoagie Hub.

"Are you kidding me?" Julia scoffed. "Remember in the summer when I let—I mean, when the pizza delivery guy let Wally out, and he ran away and got lost? You cried for three weeks!"

"I did not, Julia."

"You did too, Alan."

"No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did!"

"Didn't!"

"Did!"

Still hand-in-hand, Alan and Julia stepped back out into the real world—bickering the way they always had, always would—as the freezer door slammed shut behind then, leaving the candle he'd lit with only the power of his brain to burn itself out in the Wizard's Grotto. And even though life was more complicated now than it had ever been before...even though he was fairly certain Julia would let it slip to her parent that she knew the truth before the end of the month, that Hayley Finster was probably here to stay, and that he'd definitely spend the rest of third grade being tormented for his taste in underwear that was fun to wear...Alan had still never been happier.

Magic was real. He was a wizard. And Julia loved him again. For the moment, nothing else mattered. As far as Alan Rubik was concerned, all was right with the world.

— Fin —