THE MOMENT
"DARA!!" she heard her name being called a split second before the door flew open. She'd been relaxing in her room with her legs crossed on the bed studying various magic tomes and she looked up to see one of her roommates with an unfamiliar stranger. She trusted Phantae; but, for a moment she worried they were there to reveal all her secrets.
"Yeah?" She turned and got off the bed to meet their guest. She was another teenage girl like Phantae, Dara, and their third roommate Shayla, who was in class.
"Dara, this is Julia," she introduced them one way, then the other. "Julia, meet Dara. She's the most knowledgeable sorcerer in the school," she grinned. Dara gently shook her head with a look toward Phantae. It wasn't a stern glare, but it communicated enough for her to tone it down.
"We don't need to quite go that far, I'm just pretty good," she said.
“Nice to meet you,” Julia smiled, then turned to Phantae with a curious expression. Dara realized she didn't know why she was there either.
“Julia has Dysmagia, her magic doesn't work right and I thought maybe you could help?” she explained as Julia blushed beet red.
“That was kind of a secret…,” Julia said. But, Phantae shook her head.
“Oh don't worry! Dara can keep secrets way better than I can,” she said. “And if she helps you, it'll be even easier to keep hidden.”
“I don't know, it's a rare condition…,” Julia protested.
“Yeah, it's pretty rare,” Dara nodded. “Relatively speaking. But, I can help,” she nodded.
“You can fix me?!” Julia focused all her attention on Dara with hope. But, the dark-haired teen shook her head.
“Nothing wrong with you to fix,” she made sure to meet Julia's eyes first. Then, she turned and walked over to the wooden chest at the foot of her bed and opened it. “Dysmagia is kind of a ‘processing error’, if that makes sense. Whenever you cast a spell, the ‘magic’ is ready before you’re done casting. And since it doesn’t know what you want to do yet it tends to backfire. Honestly, it means you have a strong connection to magic, which is good. But, you still need to learn to cast slower and more deliberately,” Dara explained as she finished rummaging through the trunk. She pulled out a white facemask, then she walked it over to Julia.
“This isn’t the final solution, if you want something more discreet; I just want to see if it works,” she offered the mask to Julia. She accepted it with a puzzled expression.
“What am I doing with this?” she asked.
“It’s a mask,” Dara smiled. “Put it on.” Julia shrugged, then pulled it up to her face and hooked the loops around her ears.
[Now What?] bright red text appeared on the mask for a moment before Julia’s eyes shot wide and she pulled it off.
“WHAT HAPPENED TO MY VOICE!??” she yelled before realizing it still worked. Both Phantae and Dara laughed and Julia brought the mask up to look at it.
“What happened to my voice, when I was wearing the mask?” she asked in a calmer tone.
“The mask translates what you say into text, and eliminates the sound,” she directed Julia toward the mirror and encouraged her to put it on again.
[Testing. Testing.] Red text appeared in the mask as she spoke. Then, she took it off again, but not in as much of a hurry as she did the first time.
“Okay, what will that do?” she asked.
“Try casting a spell,” Dara nodded. “With the mask on, it’s like telling the magical forces to wait until you’re done casting. That’s my theory anyway, I haven’t actually tried it,” she shrugged.
“Okay…,” Julia nodded. She hooked the mask over one ear, but paused before putting it on completely. “You guys might want to stand over there,” she pointed at the far side of the room. “Sorry if I mess anything up…,” she said.
“It’ll be fine,” Dara nodded without moving. Phantae did take a few steps, but she stopped next to Dara when she realized her friend wasn’t going anywhere. Julia finished putting the mask on, then faced the wall.
[Globe of Light] Julia raised her hand at the same time the words appeared on her mask. Then, a sphere of gentle, warm light took shape between her and the wall. It hovered for a few moments before she dismissed it and tore off the mask.
“IT WORKED! THANK YOU!” she dashed forward and swept Dara up in a tight hug. She pulled away before it went on too long, and looked at the mask again. It looked like a simple cloth medical facemask from every angle, no matter what she knew about it. “This is amazing, where did you get it??” she asked.
“It was a gift from my mom,” Dara nodded as she put her palm out to ask for it back.
“Oh!” Julia only worried for an instant before she remembered what Dara had said. This was only a test, and asking for it back didn’t mean she wasn’t helping. She handed it over, and Dara smiled at her.
“And, now that we know that works, I can order a custom version for you. It doesn’t have to be a mask, and it’s only meant to be training wheels anyway. In the long term, you’re going to want to learn how to cast spells without it. It’s just going to take you a lot more practice than everyone else.”
“Thank you so much!!” Julia was trying not to cry, and trying not to hug Dara again. “I’ve been to so many doctors! No one had any ideas and just dismissed me as ‘broken’,” she said. “How… Who are you?” she asked. Julia came from a well-regarded family of wizards, and that made things worse for her. Magic supposedly ran strong in her blood, but she’d been a disappointment to all of them since she started casting spells.
Her parents took her to dozens of magical specialists, some so exclusive most people didn’t even know they existed. But, not a single person had helped her as effortlessly as Dara did. Julia’s parents were of course donors to the school, and as a result, she knew more about the student body that most students. She’d never seen Dara’s name on any of the top rankings, and she was further confused when Phantae dragged her off to meet ‘a friend that could probably help’. She would’ve known if someone that talented was in thes school. At least, she assumed she would’ve.
“I …,” Dara studied Julia for a moment. Neither of the other two girls knew what she was looking at, but she apparently saw something that helped her make a decision. “I’m a friend,” she turned and gave Phantae a subtle nod of permission. The girl’s face lit up like Christmas morning; now she could tell Julia everything about Dara. “And, I kind of want to get back to studying,” she tilted her head at the books on the bed. “Nothing personal, but it’s kind of a lot and Phantae will answer any of your questions. And, you can tell her what you want your new gadget to look like,” she added.
It was surprisingly easy to not feel rejected. Julia saw a light where none existed before. Dara had completely changed the trajectory of her life, and her new friend was allowed space any time she asked.
“Okay! Thank you!” Julia nodded and shook Dara’s hand again before walking to the door to wait for Phantae. Their conversation began as the two teens walked out of Dara’s room. She heard bits of it as she closed the door behind them, and she had to laugh when she heard Phantae’s starting point.
“So, Dara was born on Mars…,”