“Uh… hello,” Marissa replied cautiously to the young lady as she pushed herself to a sitting position.
She could hardly believe that a stranger had appeared in their secret place without warning. In this quiet corner of the park, away from the sidewalks and hidden behind some flowery hedges, her team could see all around without being seen themselves. The boys would always whistle a danger signal long before any policeman or unknown person came near. Pipio or Paulinho should have seen the lady sooner but had not. At least it was not police who had caught them by surprise. But who was this lady?
“How did you know her name?” Nino asked.
“Maybe it’s magic,” the lady in her turquoise cloak replied with a little smile.
“No. Tomas just said it,” Marissa corrected as she stood up. She wasn’t going to let the woman think she was foolish enough to be impressed by someone knowing her name.
“A much more reasonable explanation,” the lady commended. Marissa noticed she had an unusual accent, like the tourists who came from other countries.
“It is amazing the information you can learn if you listen well,” the lady continued. “These young men are Pipio, Nino, Tomas, and Paulinho.” She made eye contact and nodded at each boy as she said his name.
Now Marissa was a little surprised. She had just said Tomas’ name, but no one had used the other boy’s names since the lady arrived. She wondered how the lady knew them all.
“Who…are you?” Marissa asked.
“I am Professor Grace Merrythought,” she replied. She acted very friendly. Most adults just brushed them aside and tried to ignore them.
“What’s a ‘professor’?” Marissa found herself asking as she always did when she heard a word she did not know.
“It’s a title, like ‘Doctor’ or ‘Captain’. A professor is a school teacher.”
“Are you lost?” Pipio asked. “I can show you how to get back to Jardins or Avenida Paulista. For just a quarter.”
Marissa could understand why Pipio thought Professor Merrythought was lost and might want to return to the wealthy part of the city. It was the same thing that she thought. Ladies like her did not just go for a walk in Parque da Luz. Well dressed and pretty, she would be noticed quickly by the thieves and vagrants who hung about the old park. She must be rich to wear the beautiful long turquoise cloak that flowed to her feet. She wore dark, gleaming heeled boots and Marissa thought the decorations in her hair must be real silver. She had no purse but probably carried money somewhere in that cloak.
“Why thank you, young man. That is a very kind offer and a fair price I’m sure. But I am exactly where I wish to be.”
Marissa looked about for bodyguards or a car waiting nearby, but the lady seemed to be here all by herself. In this poor part of the city it was dangerous for her to walk alone. If she met someone like Leandro she would be in trouble. Because she sure couldn’t run fast enough in those heels.
“This is a bad area,” Pipio kindly warned her. “Most rich ladies don’t come here.”
“I’m may not be in as much danger as you think. But thank you for your concern. I am here because the person I wish to talk with is here.”
“Who?” Marissa asked and looked about again. If she was meeting someone in the park it would be over by the benches or plaza, not here hidden in the trees.
“You, Marissa of Santa Efeginia,” she stated with a very definite tone.
“Me?” Marissa questioned, looking very puzzled. A woman who she did not even know had appeared from nowhere and said she was here to see her. That was very strange.
“Yes,” Professor Merrythought assured her. “I wish to talk to you about your future.”
“How…” Marissa paused to complete her thought. She was homeless. She had no parents or family to know where she was. Except for her boys and just a few others, Marissa had not believed anyone else was even aware or cared that she existed. “How did you know how to find me?”
“I heard there was dinner at the church tonight and that you might pass this way,” she replied. “Why don’t we let the boys go ahead while you and I talk a bit?”
Pipio and Nino glanced at Marissa to question whether they should leave her alone with the lady. She had a strange feeling about the lady in the turquoise cloak but not a feeling that she might harm her. She wondered what the woman could want with her.
“Pipio,” Professor Merrythought said. “I do have a service you can provide for me. All of you actually, and I will pay in advance. One quarter was the fee?”
Her hand withdrew from her wide cloak sleeve with four coins in her palm. The boys smiled at their good fortune as she placed one in the hand of each. Then she explained the service she required.
“If she runs at me like she did those four large policemen,” the lady said looking at Nino, “I’ll need you to hold her back from me.”
Nino and Tomas began to laugh. Pipio and Paulinho hadn’t heard of what happened yet but joined in too as they all accepted that it might not be Marissa they should worry about. Marissa wasn’t laughing. She was wondering how the lady knew about the police.
“I shall scream if I need you,” Professor Merrythought instructed as the boys sprinted off to the nearby church of Nossa Senhora da Luz. “Marissa will join you shortly.”
Marissa thought she was nice. If she talked to her for a few minutes maybe the lady would give her a quarter too.
“All so young,” Merrythought said as she watched them go. “Don’t you have anyone older to look after you?”
“There used to be Marcelo and Melinha, but they’re gone now.”
“Gone where?”
“Marcelo got caught stealing and went to jail last year. Melinha met another older boy and she went to Rio with him. She said she was coming back but she never did. Marcelo came back after jail, but then he was mean and he had a gun. One night he went out with a gang to break into cars and we never saw him again. One boy said he… said he was dead.”
“I’m so sorry. How old was Marcelo?”
“Almost grown up, same as Melinha. Maybe sixteen. It’s hard to beg when you’re not little anymore ‘cuz no one feels sorry for you. He didn’t mean to do bad things.”
“I understand,” the lady said.
She gestured for Marissa to follow as she walked over to a park bench. Marissa sat down a little apart from the lady and the swallows landed on the back of the bench.
“Ah, your little pets,” Merrythought smiled as one surprisingly hopped onto her shoulder. Its tiny beak poked at the flower patterns on her cloak that seemed to be moving. Marissa had never seen them incautious of a stranger before.
“They’re not pets. I don’t keep them in a cage or anything. They just like me.”
“What are their names?”
“That’s Fides,” she pointed to the one perched on Merrythought, “and Spero and Amor.”
“Latin,” the lady remarked. “Do you know Latin?”
“No. Sister Angelica at the church named them for me,” Marissa explained. Before that she had simply thought of them as the three birds who liked to follow her.
“Ask her about their names when you see the Sister.”
“Okay,” she accepted. She thought the lady couldn’t have come to Parque da Luz just to hear Marissa tell her about her friends and birds. “But… why did you want to talk to me?”
“I want to talk about school. Would you like to go to school Marissa?”
“Yes, but I can’t. You have to have parents to go to school.”
“Of course you don’t. Unless that’s a Muggle require…” she stopped herself.
“Well, parents don’t want homeless kids around their kids,” Marissa explained. She had stood along the sidewalks in the mornings watching the clean uniformed children going to class. She had seen the mothers frown at her in her soiled used clothes and dirty bare feet. By their faces she could tell that, like anywhere else, street kids were not welcome. “They think we’re all in gangs and will fight and steal from their kids. They think I’m not worth going to school.”
“This is a different school Marissa. A special school for special students.”
“Then why would they want me?”
“Because you are very special.”
Merrythought saw a look of distrust in Marissa’s eyes. No one in her life had ever called Marissa special before. In her world people only complimented someone when they wanted to get something, like when Pipio told businessmen what nice shoes they wore so that he might get an extra dime when he finished shining.
“Let me start in another way,” Professor Merrythought said. “I am a witch.”
“No you’re not,” Marissa told her flatly, again to show she was not foolish enough to believe such things. In the slums she had seen the old dark-skinned ladies from Rio who practiced Macumba and told fortunes or removed evil curses when someone paid them. The lady in the turquoise cloak did not look like one of them at all.
“Real Macumba witches are black,” Marissa added. “They light candles and dance around and pretend to talk to ghosts. They even kill roosters sometimes.”
Professor Merrythought laughed slightly at this. Marissa frowned and wondered if maybe she was not well. Then the lady leaned over and spoke softly near Marissa’s ear.
“You are a witch.”
“YOU are a crazy lady!” Marissa declared and stood to step back a few feet. The young woman had seemed normal at first but now she wasn’t sure. Maybe she really did think she was a witch. Maybe she was like the mad old bum who gave speeches on the corner of Rua do Triumpho and thought he was the President of Brazil.
“Possibly,” the lady nodded in agreement. “ I may have been hallucinating today. I saw four grown men toppled over by thin air. I saw a knife throw itself out of an evil boy’s hand and the boy thrown off of Pipio. Did you see anything like that or am I just crazy?”
“You were there?” Marissa asked, and then remembered Tomas’ words about a lady who watched them play soccer. “But those things just happened.”
“I’ve watched you today, Marissa. You have quite an ability to help your friends out of trouble. Those things happened because you did magic. Or can you explain them in a more reasonable way?”
“No,” Marissa admitted. It was true impossible things happened around her sometimes. Like the time Pipio’s soccer ball had fixed itself. He found it in a garbage can in the park last year but threw it back when he saw it was flat. Someone had kicked it against something sharp and ruined it. But Marissa saved the slashed ball hoping she might tape it or stuff it with newspapers to make it useable. That night she had used it for a pillow and dreamt of the boys playing soccer. In the morning the slash was somehow sealed closed. Mr. Palito filled it with air for Pipio and it was the newest ball any street kid ever had. Yet she could still just barely see the long scar on it.
“But I didn’t make spells or tell those things to do all that. I don’t know how.”
“Before young witches learn to control their powers properly, they can cause magic unknowingly when feeling strong emotions like joy, anger, or fear.”
“I wasn’t afraid of Leandro!” Marissa declared. She didn’t want to let the lady believe she was weak or helpless.
“Not if you ran at him while the others were running away,” Professor Merrythought agreed. “Or maybe you were afraid but felt something even stronger.”
Marissa did not know what she meant by that. She was still uncertain whether she believed her or whether the lady in the long cloak was making it all up. She wanted proof .
“If you really are a witch, show me,” Marissa requested. “Do something magic.”
“Fair enough. What magic would you like?”
“I wish for a million Reais,” she answered. That was Brazilian currency. It would be a stack of money to last Marissa her whole life.
“I believe you have mistaken me for… a ‘genie’ I think it is.”
“See, you can’t. You’re not a witch.”
“I could. But counterfeiting is illegal for witches just as it is for Muggles.”
“What’s ‘count-er-feit-ing’?” she replied. “And what’s ‘mubbles’?”
“Counterfeiting is making your own money. A Muggle is what people in our witch community, the Wizarding world, call nonmagic people,” Professor Merrythought explained. “What would you do with a million Reais, Marissa?”
“I would buy a house for the boys. So we don’t have to sleep in the alleys,” she said. “And food for every day. And new clothes that aren’t worn out. And a television.”
Grace Merrythought smiled at the very simple things that the young girl hoped for. “With schooling, with an education, you can have all those things one day Marissa. You can grow up and do anything you want. Except conjure money. You’ll have to earn it.”
“I could work if someone let me. Do witches have… magic jobs?”
“Yes. For example, I get paid to teach magic. And I believe you wanted a lesson.”
Professor Merrythought stood from the bench and extended her arm to Marissa. She opened her hand and motioned for Marissa to take it. Marissa grasped it hesitantly, her own hand still stinging from its scrapes.
“Hold on tightly,” she instructed as Marissa felt the squeeze of her grip. She saw the lady turn about and then everything went black as something started pushing down on her. She felt like she was being squished back into her body from every direction. She could not breathe but then suddenly she could again as she gasped air back into her lungs. The light returned and Marissa quickly realized they weren’t in Parque da Luz anymore.
She was standing on an outside terrace of a building, next to a meter high wall topped with smooth granite. Beyond the wall, as far as her eyes could see, she looked down upon skyscrapers and hundreds of giant buildings. The closely crowded structures were criss-crossed by wide lines of streets and avenues that moved with tiny dots that she saw were cars. Peering closer she could see even tinier dots on sidewalks and balconies that were faraway people. It was Sao Paulo as Marissa had never viewed it before. Not from down in dirty alleys where the buildings surrounded one like the walls of canyons and blocked out everything beyond. It was the way birds flying high in the skies saw it. It was the way God looking down from heaven must see it.
“You really are magic,” Marissa said in a soft, awed voice.
“Thank goodness,” Professor Merrythought said with relief. “For a while I thought I might just be crazy. Now hold out your hands please, palms up.”
Marissa did so as the lady removed a long thin stick from within her sleeve. She waved the wand and said a strange word, “Episkey!” Marissa watched in amazement as the scrapes and blood on her palms faded away, completely healed. The dull ache beneath her black eye was gone also.
“That’s better,” said Professor Merrythought.
“Thank you,” Marissa said. She looked out across the vast city again. “Where are we?”
“I believe it’s called Terraco Italia,” the lady replied. Marissa knew of the Italia building. It was on Avenida Ipiranga and was the highest skyscraper in Sao Paulo.
“Look there,” she pointed to the northeast at a distant large area of green tucked among the greys of the buildings. It was a dense stand of treetops. “That’s Parque da Luz.”
“I can see forever from here,” Marissa said as she stood on tiptoes to see over the wall that was almost as tall as her and gazed towards the horizon spread out in the distance. Professor Merrythought stood right beside her.
“Forever is a thousand times farther still. But the world does seem to stretch so much bigger when you see it from here, doesn’t it?” Professor Merrythought asked. Marissa nodded her agreement. “Your world can be much bigger than the blocks of Santa Efigenia, young lady.”
Marissa thought to herself that if she could go to school maybe she could be more than a beggar in Santa Efigenia someday.
“I saw you with a book earlier today,” the lady said. “Do you know how to read?”
“Yes,” she replied a bit defensively. “It’s not a picture book.”
From within the wide sleeve of her turquoise cloak, Professor Merrythought pulled a tan parchment envelope and handed it to Marissa. On the back a wax symbol was stamped upon the fold and on the front was written her very own name.
“Break the seal and open it there,” she explained to Marissa who had never had her own mail to open before. Marissa did and withdrew the pages.
“Witness Stone School of the Mag-ic-al Arts,” she carefully sounded out the letterhead just to show the lady she could read even though she was a homeless kid. Then she silently read the rest so she would not be embarassed if there were any big words she did not know.
Dear Miss Marissa,
We are pleased to inform you of your acceptance at Witness Stone School.
Semester begins the evening of Monday February 14th with the Welcoming Banquet. Please confirm your attendance by January 1st.
Please find enclosed a list of required supplies and textbooks.
Best wishes and congratulations. We look forward to you joining us soon.
Yours sincerely,
Ubiritan Katupya
Vice Principal
She didn’t know what a ‘semester’ or a ‘banquet’ was. The very strange words at the bottom were someone’s name, maybe the boss schoolteacher. She was glad she hadn’t tried to read that out loud.
“Marissa, please listen,” Professor Merrythought said in a very serious tone. She took a step back but still held both of Marissa’s hands firmly. “You can say ‘No’ to the school. No one will force you to go. And I am not trying to hold you here against your will. But it is important that you understand completely. There is more I want you to know about the Wizarding world before you decide. Then I will take you back to the park, okay?”
“Okay…” Marissa nodded. She wouldn’t really have leapt off the ledge.
They walked along the terrace that circled the tall building, past potted trees and hedges. As if she was worried Marissa might try to jump up over the wall again, Professor Merrythought had not let go of her hand. For some reason Marissa didn’t mind. It was like when she was little and Melinha held her hand when they crossed a busy street.
“There are fifteen thousand wizards and witches in Brazil,” Merrythought continued . “Some of us live in in towns or villages of only Wizarding people, and many of us live in the large cities among Muggles. Yet every one of us keeps what we are secret from the Muggle world. Now that I have told you, you must keep it a secret also .”
“Why?”
“Because Muggles cannot know we are here. We keep our magic lives separate from nonmagic people.”
“No. Not at all. But in the past many people feared and misunderstood magic. So the Wizarding world agreed long ago to hide the existence of magic from the Muggle world and we have our own government and laws that enforce that. You will have to learn and follow those laws.”
“Why?” Marissa questioned. “If I don’t go to your school I won’t be a witch and…”
“Whether you choose to go to Witness Stone School or not, you are still a witch. The laws of the Wizarding world will still apply to you. If a witch uses magic when she shouldn’t she can be punished.”
“What do they punish you for?” Marissa asked, trying to understand.
“For example,” Professor Merrythought said, thinking of how to illustrate her point, “if I turned Leandro into a tree frog I would be punished. It is against the law to perform magic on or in the presence of Muggles and I would go to jail.”
“But you said I did magic on him. Does that mean I…”
“No. You were defending yourself and did not know about your powers. But in the future you will be held responsible. As an underage witch our government will know any time you perform magic.”
“They’ll watch me like you watched me today?”
“Yes. In a different way but yes.”
“And if I do magic when I shouldn’t then…”
“If you don’t learn to control it,” Merrythought interuppted, “you will do magic when you shouldn’t, Marissa. You won’t be able to help it. That is why it is so important for every young witch and wizard to attend school and be trained properly.”
Marissa paused to consider all of this. Although she believed that turning Leandro into a frog was something a person should be rewarded and not punished for, she felt she understood the rest of what Professor Merrythought told her. She also had a sure feeling from how easily the lady had found her today that if she did something wrong she would not be able to get away from witch police the way she had from regular police.
“Magic can heal wounds,” Professor Merrythought said. “Magic can repel an enemy. Magic can make a soccer ball float into the clouds or make it vanish altogether. Magic can even make you fly. Magic can do more wonderful things than I can tell you about in a whole day, Marissa. It would be so sad if you never get to learn all of those things.”
“But it’s so far away. The boys would think I’m leaving forever.”
“You can return every few months during holidays. There is a three week winter break and almost three months in summer,” she assured her. “I know it’s very hard the first time you go. I cried the day I left for Witness Stone because I had to be away from my very best friend in the world.”
Marissa knew for certain that if she did go to school she would never cry when she left. Other kids would see that and believe she was weak, believe she was still just a baby. Marissa had not cried for many years, ever since she had stubbornly decided to never let anyone think they could hurt her. Ever since she had decided to be strong.
“Maybe if I told them I was coming back soon,” she said.
“If you knew the boys would be okay while you were away,” Merrythought asked her, “is there any other reason why you would not want to come to our school?”
“No. I would want to. I want to learn and Mr. Palito taught me to read so I can learn.”
“That’s good. Who is Mr. Palito?”
“He’s just a man who lives by our alley,” Marissa said. She chose to leave out that he was a poor bum who slept in a box at the front of the alley. “But he’s nice to us and he’s real smart and he finds me books.”
“I want you to remember that you cannot tell any Muggles about being a witch. You cannot speak of magic or perform magic in front of the boys or other nonmagic people. But perhaps you can ask your Mr. Palito what he thinks about you going to school, as long as you do not reveal it is a Wizarding school. You can talk to him before you decide. And maybe you have other adults you could talk to.”
“Sister Angelica. She’s one of the nuns who come to the church to serve dinner.”
“The one who named the three birds.”
“Yes and… um, here they are.” By some strange coincidence, just as Professor Merrythought had spoken of them the three swallows came sweeping up over the terrace wall and glided to a landing on Marissa’s shoulders. They had flown a very long way.
“Amazing,” Professor Merrythought said as the little birds chirped a happy greeting.
“They always find me,” Marissa explained with a shrug.
“Just like an owl,” the Professor remarked.
“No. Owls fly at nighttime. My birds sleep all night by me.”
“In wizard society we use owls to send our mail and they can find anyone, anywhere,” she explained. “If you were from a wizard family your acceptance letter would have come by owl. Let me show you.”
From within a fold of her cloak Professor Merrythought withdrew a tiny feathered ball that balanced on her fingertip as she held her arm up. It shivered for a moment and two round eyes blinked a few times adjusting to the light then opened wide with a ‘Hooo.’ The little bird was smaller than the swallows.
“Ohhh,” Marissa smiled. She was always fascinated by any bird. “It’s just a tiny baby owl.”
“No, he’s ten years old,” the Professor said. “He’s a pygmy owl. His name is ‘Infinitesimal’, which means immeasurably small. But I call him Tesimal.”
“He couldn’t carry a letter. It’s bigger than him.”
“I use little parchment notes and write very small,” she smiled. “Most wizards use larger owls. Some that could almost carry you I think.”
“Are there owls at the witch school?”
“Owls and so many hundreds of other kinds of birds that I could never learn them all. Students learn to care for magical creatures too. Are you sure you don’t want to go?”
“Maybe I can,” she replied unsurely. “I can talk to Sister like you said. And I have to talk to all the boys.”
“Yes,” Professor Merrythought agreed. “I know the boys are important to you, Marissa. Your emotion to protect your friends revealed your magic. To risk your own safety for them you must love them very much.”
Marissa knew the lady thought she would cry if she left them, like she had done.
“They’re just my gang. I watch their back and they watch mine. I don’t love them.”
“Don’t love them,” Professor Merrythought murmured. “How unfortunate. My grandmother knew a very great wizard once and would always remind me of something he said. ‘Love is the strongest magic of all.’”
Love didn’t count for much in Santa Efigenia. Marissa thought if the parents she never knew had loved her they would not have left her behind alone so long ago.
“I believe we may return now” the lady said. “Do you think the swallows would like to fly back themselves or come with us?”
“With us. I bet they’re tired,” Marissa replied. She slid the pink backpack off her shoulder, unzipped the top and spread it open. Spero hopped from her shoulder into the opening, followed by Fides and Amor. She rezipped the pack, leaving a small hole for air, then slung it back on. “They like to ride in here for naps.”
Professor Merrythought tucked the small owl back into its place then held her hand out to the little girl. She turned about and Marissa saw only blackness again and felt the tight squishing sensation. Then they were back in Parque da Luz in the quiet corner by the hedges.
“Wow!” Marissa said as she took a deep breath.
“In two days Tesimal will visit you with your confirmation letter for Witness Stone.”
“What’s ‘confirmation’?” she asked.
“It’s your reply to tell us if you will be coming to Witness Stone School. If you decide to go, sign your name on the letter. If you decide not to go, send it back blank with Tesimal and I will know not to visit you again and you must try never to do magic again.”
“I still don’t know,” Marissa tried to tell her. “I don’t know.”
“Let your friends help you decide,” the lady said kindly. “Then do what is right for you.”
She stepped away from Marissa, preparing to depart alone.
“Professor Merrythought,” Marissa called before she disappeared again. “Could you really turn Leandro into a frog?”
“If he attacked me and I was defending myself, yes. But I would have to turn him back again… eventually.”
“Would you teach me that?”
Professor Merrythought smiled. “If you come to Witness Stone I will teach you that.”
Then she turned and vanished without a sound.