chapter 5

Sarah and Cleo arrived upon an abandoned house-- the estate sale had been over a month ago after all. "We didn't come all this way for nothing," Cleo suggested, "let's break in."

"What? I don't know how to pi--"

"pick pockets?" Cleo asked incredulously, "Did you forget the part where you have magic powers?"

"Good point. Still have never broken into a house before." Sarah whispered as the two snuck to back door on the property. With a simple tap from Sarah's finger, the back door unlocked and granted them access to the kitchen. "If only we knew where to look," Sarah mused as the two looked around the empty kitchen, "oh! Maybe if I had a something round, like a-- gumball? Why do you have a--"

"What you don't have a gumball machine in your living room? You should really try it," Cleo teased with a cheesy chaotic grin.

"This'll do. Show us the way, little guy" Sarah said to the gumball before tossing it onto the ground in front of them. Immediately, the ball bounced forward with unnatural trajectory up each star cases before settling dead in the middle of an upstairs hallway. Noticing a drawstring above their heads, Cleo reached up and opened the attic door so the two girls could investigate inside.

There, the girls found a huge trunk full of books that the people running the estate sale must have overlooked. Having no way of knowing which books they would need, and with neither girl particularly wanting to stay in this attic for long periods of time, the only solution was to bring the trunk with them. As Cleo was preparing to stoop down and lift with her legs, Sarah stopped her "weren't you just reminding me that I'm magic. Give me your bag." Cleo watched as Sarah held the bag out in front of the trunk and bags opening grew wider and wider and the inside of the bag grew deeper and deeper, such that the inside of the bag was impossibly bigger than the bag itself. "Alright, that should do, let's push it into your bag."

And just like that, Sarah and Cleo were back in Sarah's apartment, reading strange books on a couch next to a magically conjured fireplace sipping on tea and nibbling on leftovers of Cleo's handmade pastries.

"I've found it!" Cleo exclaimed, "there are various professions often associated with the practice of magic, and it is said that a practitioner's development of their profession can manifest magical abilities under the right circumstances. There is no known limit to the number of kinds of professions allow a person to manifest their powers, but some of the more common include alchemy, brewing, carpentry, cooking, gardening, sewing, and various arts and crafts. While the details and rules governing any given persons powers differs on a case-by-case basis, there are a few common features."

"For example," Cleo continued reading, " a magical practitioner who gains their abilities through gardening might find that the use of their gifts causes their garden to grow. As their garden grows, their powers become proportionately weaker until the empty space in the garden can be replanted with more crops. Over time, if the moderation or disuse of one's magic can cause the source of their power to revert to it's original size, but this process can be incredibly slow for some practitioners."

"So, what we're saying, is that if I use my powers too much, my lucky skirt and corset will get looser and looser, and my powers will wane by the same amount?"

"I think so? it's hard to say. These writers all have different theories on whether its the how often you use your powers or how potent the magic you create? This is all crazy stuff-- do you mind if I borrow some of these books? I'd be crazy if I didn't try and figure out if there's a skill I could use to tap in to my latent powers (assuming I have any)"

"You definitely do, I really couldn't have done this without you, so of course you can borrow as many books as you like."

"Thanks girl! I hate to say it, but I should probably get going. Promise me you'll keep me in touch about all this, right?"

"It's a promise!" Sarah said as she gave Cleo a big hug. Sarah couldn't stop but think relish the fact that Cleo gave the best, warmest hugs.

It was in that reverie, however, that, Sarah realized Cleo had left before Sarah had an opportunity to send her home with her leftovers. With a sigh, Sarah popped another one of Cleo's macarons into her mouth. If cooking wasn't the source of Cleo's latent powers, Sarah didn't know what was. Thinking about "her garden," Sarah tugged at her lucky skirt, which would have been much too large to actually wear if she hadn't cinching it to herself with this belt through brute force. If she was going to keep her garden full, she would either have to wait god knows how long, or she could take matters into her own hands and grow her garden the old fashioned way.

"We do love a curvy girl in this home," Sarah mused as started snacking on one last treat before putting everything up for the night.