Ley Lines and the Cape Cod Node

Early the next morning (like before the sun came out), I was sitting in the bath tub in the dark with a dim mage light hovering in the corner thinking about what it felt like swimming in the pond I fell into earlier; surrounded by water teaming with life, looking up past the trees to the clear blue sky above and feeling like the energy of the earth could pass through me. In the back of my mind a little voice tells me I could do it again and I remember Marnie. Marnie used to talk to me in my mind, tell me magical things. She brought the pixies to Nevada with her. I knew she was different but I didn't know how unusual she really was. She died rather suddenly one day and her death nearly tore the insides out of me. My parents tried to help me feel better by getting another cat and he tried to warm up to me the way cats do but it wasn't the same.

I feel tears sting my eyes in a way that hasn't happened in years. I thought that the pain of the loss of my cat Marnie had waned in the years since. The tears escape my eyes and I don't feel them sliding down my cheek like tears normally do. I open my eyes and look at my body in the warm soapy water expecting to see a human body. What I see surprises me to my heart. I think it skipped several beats when I saw my long legs covered with a slick fur and my feet looked like flippers. I reached with my hands to touch the fur but my hands were flippers to. I thought they said this couldn't happen. Only natural water could help a selkie change. Calm down I tell myself.

Under the house I feel the pulsing earth and my legs shortened and my skin is covered with short slick fur until I looked like a seal. I followed the pulsing path with my mind into the earth until I found a large stone set in sand in the middle of the cape. The energy flowing into and out of the stone contained massive amounts of earth and water energies. Maybe this would help Belle and Shane's transformation.

"Belle." I send out with my mind hoping she's awake. Soon she appears in the bathroom.

"What the?" She stammered out.

"I've found something interesting. You know the island in the middle of the cape? Well there is a ton of earth and water magic flowing through it." I tell her in her mind because I'm pretty sure that seals aren't built to speak like humans do.

"But how?" Her tongue must be stuck because I heard that in my mind.

"I'm not exactly sure but being able to transform is like being whole. I was living a half-life before I fell in the pond. Get undressed and climb in. I'll see if I can guide you."

"I wouldn't know how to swim like that."

"I don't know how to either, this is only the second time I've been in this form. So don?t worry about it."

"If you say so." She pulls off her clothes and slides into the other end of the tub. "What next?"

"Feel the earth below us and the water around us with your mind. Let the energy flow through you and relax into the sensation. Imagine trees and fish in a pond or lake surround you and you can see the sky above and the sun warming your skin. Now follow the energy through the path that it travels to the stone in the middle of the cape. There is more energy there but only take as much as you need to fill you up before letting it flow through you. It might be dangerous to take too much." I watch as her spirit travels to the stone then I open my eyes to see the fur sprouting through her skin and her body shift in to that same form I feel comfortable in.

"Wow." I hear in my head. I laugh or make a sound like a laugh. "You're right, I feel whole. But if I let go of the stone, will I change back?"

"I don't know. I did. It won't hurt if you do shift back. You'll have an easier time than me getting out of the tub. I probably won't change back until I'm dry." She giggles.

"Willow isn't the only mage that changes shapes anymore."

"This is much more fun if you ask me."

"Well here it goes." I feel the pulsing leave her body and see the fur recede as she morphs back into a human girl. "Fardles. I was hoping I could stay like this for a while. It's probably just as well, I've still got to finish writing a report on unicorns for tomorrow. Might as well get an early start this morning."

"Fardles?"

"It's a non swear word I found in a science fiction book by Anne McCaffery I read a couple of years ago.

"It's about a planet that humans colonize then realize it has nasty stuff that falls from the sky every so often and eats every living thing it touches. They then use the little flying lizards to make dragons that breath fire. They learn to fly on the dragons and scorch the stuff before it touches the ground. I?ll loan it to you if I still have it."

"Sounds fun."

"Could you pull the drain plug for me? I'm kinda lacking fingers."

"Move it yourself like you moved that book your first day here." She stands up and towels herself off.

"Thanks for showing me how to shift."

"You're welcome."

"Elizabeth, Isabelle. Come see me before class." I hear Professor Barnett's dry voice in my head as I pull the drain plug out with my teeth.

"Yes Mam." We both reply.

Belle and I found Professor B. in the library the next morning. She asked us to sit down and then paced the room for several minutes before even speaking a word. These minutes feel like an eternity. We knew we?d done something wrong, and judging by the way her face looked as she paced we were in deep. The biggest question was how severely we'd be punished. About the time she had us squirming in our seats and glaring at the clock she finally decided to speak.

"What do you know of heart stones and ley lines?" The cold fire in her voice broke the usual serenity in her face.

"I've never heard of them Professor Barnett." I said. Belle kept silent.

"Ley lines are like the blood vessels that travel through plants and animals. These ley lines meet at either nodes or heart stones. Nodes are simply where the lines meet without a heart stone. Heart stones are where major lines, like arteries or rivers, meet at a very large stone. You may have noticed a pulsing from the earth that is from the heart stone. Heart stones act like our hearts, aiding energy to travel the ley lines. Only very powerful trained mages are supposed to be able to tap into them. What the two of you did last night is unheard of and very dangerous. That much power could severely damage a mage and you two untrained students have walked away undamaged."

"I'm sorry." I said hoping to reduce our future punishment.

"No. I'm afraid it's my fault." She sighs. "That is advanced level training. I should have realized with your potential that you could do so much more and forewarned you not to mess with that much power when unsupervised. It is this reason that I must either forbid you to experiment with the heart stone in the cape or the ley lines that travel the upper surfaces of the earth or I can have Lazlo Black come and teach you. At any rate, you are restricted to the house and the yard surrounding here for the next two weeks. No going to town for treats, e-mailing your friends back home, no night of dancing on the weekends. Now, get to class." How does she know about e-mail?

Belle and I separated at the top of the stairs. She went to Conjuring 3 and I went to Elementals 1. I walked into class and everyone was already there. The look from Professor Harper was agony. Did he know what I did yesterday? Was he mad because I was late? I quickly found a seat and sat in it.

"Thanks for joining us Miss Keeney."

"Sorry Professor. Professor Barnett wanted to talk to me before class."

"Very well. Open your book to page 30."