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xp_logsLast leg - once in Amanda's suite, there's just the small matter of climbing a very tall bookcase.
As the last pair reached the foot of the bookcase, Amanda held up her hand to stall any more comments about her lack of tidiness. "I know, I know, I'm a pig. New Year's resolution, get a laundry basket." She looked up at the bookshelf they needed, tilting her head up, and up, and then some more up. "That's... a really big bookcase," she observed redundantly. "Pixie's going to wear herself out carrying us all up there, and the wych is too big for her to knock down. We're going to have to climb."
Stephen gazed up at the bookcase, the mountain looming up before them before glancing back at the rest of the group and giving them a grin. "Hey, I've always wanted to learn mountain climbing," he piped up encouragingly, "But you know..." the teenager turned his best innocent grin on Amanda, "you know this is quite a work out getting up there, you could maybe talk to Angel and get us excused from Gen-X physical training," he pointed out with a laugh. "Not that I don't enjoy running around, but it's starting to get cold now."
Clea was exhausted and it was starting to show a bit. Looking up at the bookshelf that was taller than any mountain she had seen. She took a moment to sit down on a shoe that was nearby. "Don't worry Steve, we can have a nice hot cup of tea after this. And then I am going to soak in the bathtub for several hours."
"Well, no sense griping about it." Not that Topaz didn't have a lot of gripe-y things to say about the state of Amanda's room or the bookshelf they were currently facing. "It looks like there's a plant up there not too far, we can use that as a rope...type...thing. Might help."
"If you want to wait, you could soak in your hot cup of tea. Have your bath and drink it too," Billy said, fatigue showing in his attempted humor. He stood facing the first shelf, then climbed up next to one of the books. "I bet we could knock them over and make a staircase of sorts," he said, then started pushing on the one on the end. "Ugh. Amanda, why are magic books always freaking tomes? Would it kill them to break it into smaller volumes? Gonna need some help here."
Megan flew up to inspect the trailing vine of the plant above. "Topaz is right, it's not far," she decided. "I think Billy's on the right track with the books. Once you can reach the plant, you should be able to climb the rest of the way." She landed back down and joined Billy in shoving the book. "Being tiny sure is a huge pain."
"Especially since most of the books here are by long-winded magician types," agreed Amanda. "Steve and Clea, can you help Billy and Pixie there, and Topaz and I can work out the best way to go from down here."
Stephen nodded, grabbing hold of Clea's hand and starting towards Billy and the tome he was pushing at. The climb up onto the shelf was nothing, they'd had to scale harder obstacles at school, but as he stood, dark eyes tracking the tome as it towered before him he gave a long impressed whistle. "Amanda...as soon as we get out of here we need to get you a kindle," he called down to the teacher his lips quirking up as he drove his shoulder into the wall of book cover with Billy, "Think of the killing you could make in the magical world if these were more portable."
Clea let Steve led her to where Billy was located it. "And to think these may be heavy when we are at normal size." She slide in between two tomes and began to push with the rest of them.
"Digital is even better," Billy agreed. "I mean, Science journals figured out how to do that 20 years ago. It can't be that hard." He felt the book start to tilt and gave a final shove to send it off balance, then called out "Timber!" before covering his ears to mute the coming boom.
"I always thought the written words in magic books contained their own power, like runes," Megan suggested, watching from a safe distance as the book fell and dust flew up everywhere.
After another concerted effort, the next book tipped over halfway onto the first.
"Yes, let's put magic books on Kindle and make it easier for people like my father to get them," Topaz commented dryly as she examined the shelf above the books. "As long as the books are lined up right, getting to the plant shouldn't be too much of a problem. How high up do we need to go?"
"A couple more should do it." Amanda was perched on a sandal, leaning back and looking up at the bookshelf. "The plant will get us up onto the third shelf, and the wych is on the fourth. I've got a bunch of spell components on the shelf near the plant - we should be able to use those to reach the fourth shelf, if we're careful. I don't think there's anything really noxious there - I usually keep the serious stuff locked up."
With a heave, Megan helped straighten the most recently felled book. "I'd hate for the stack to go all wobbly halfway up..." Another one fell into place. "Second shelf, almost there!"
Clea climbed the books, "I think we can boost people up to the second so we can get to the third shelf."
Stephen glanced at the shelves cautiously before nodding, "It shouldn't be too hard to get someone up there, and then it become easier on the rest of us to get pulled up."
Billy hoisted himself up, testing the ground before standing. "They're sturdy--you've got to admit that."
"I don't think I can ever look at books the same again," Topaz muttered as she climbed after Billy. She was used to being short, but this was just ridiculous. "Who volunteers to go up first and pull people up? Or should we draw tiny straws?"
"Steve, you go first. Then you can pull and Billy can push. Consider it part of the perks of being tall," Amanda said with a grin as she scrambled up the book 'stairs'.
Stephen shot a mock glare at Amanda as he started for the books as he shook his head, "I always knew it'd come back to bite me on the ass," the teased good-naturedly as he started climbing.
As the others climbed, Megan flew up to the second shelf. She looked down, impressed with that they'd managed to build with their tiny huge effort.
With a bit of help, Clea was able to climb to the second shelf and patted Steve on the shoulder as she passed him. "This is some really advanced magic." Tilting her head to the side to read what was on the end.
"Yeah, it is, Clea. Meant for when you've got a bit more control and discipline under your belt." Amanda remarked a little pointedly, before looking up to the rest of the party. "Steve, find yourself a good spot in the plant so you can start hauling us shorties up."
The teen waved his hand in a salute as he backed up to stare at the plant, "Just like climbing trees back home, now problem," he muttered to himself, and no-one in particular. With a running jump he was off, pulling himself up, arm over arm as he scaled the plant locking his legs around the first leaf as he waved to the group. "You know, this would be a really bad time for someone to develop Acrophobia."
"I have definitely gotten lazy with teleporting lately," Billy groaned as he pulled himself up after the others. "Gonna be sore tomorrow. Remind me to take the stairs more often."
"Develops acrophobia," Topaz mumbled in response to Stephen, looking over the edge of the shelf and shuddering. "It's not an irrational fear if it can actually kill me."
"Take as long as you need and don't look down," Amanda advised helpfully. "Megan can spot you and grab you if you slip, yeah?"
Megan quickly popped down from where she was surveying the third shelf. "I gotcha," she assured Topaz. "I may not have the strength to carry you lot up, but the hells if I'll let anyone fall."
Clea took a deep breath before starting up the plant, while not saying another word.
"Yup, this'll be great," Topaz mumbled as she followed Clea. "Nothing to worry about. Nothing at all."
Stephen let his eyes track his friends as they climbed, one hand gripped tightly to the plant and the other reaching down, "It'll be fine," he assured the older girl. "We used to do this all the time, it's easy as pie, just don't look down."
Billy finished boosting her up, then brushed his hands on his pants before relacing his fingers. "Amanda, you ready?" he asked.
"As I'll ever be." Amanda wasn't fond of heights herself, but years of trenchcoat-related exposure had made it easier for her. She placed her booted foot in the cradle made by Billy's hands and steadied herself with a grip on his shoulders. "And oop!" she exclaimed as he boosted her up and she grabbed Stephen's hand and the stem of her plant. "I swear, once we're out of this, I am totally going to spoil you," she muttered to the plant as she hauled herself up with Stephen's help. Once she was able to brace her feet on a leaf stem, she let go of his hand and began climbing up towards the others. "Everyone okay up there?"
"It's easy are the last words of the doomed," Topaz informed Stephen pointedly. She was mostly just talking to distract herself from what was below them. One hand in front of the other. It was fine. "That and 'hold my drink'."
Clea finally reached the top and quickly moved away from the edge. "Fine as I will ever be!" She yelled out after finding her voice. "I will be happy again once we are our normal sizes."
"I'm itching to get my hands on that wychwand, I am," said Megan. "So what kind of spell components are we working with?" Instead of going to take a look, she had been keeping an eye on the climbers.
"Don't touch it!" came Amanda's sudden, panicked response. "There should be enough magical energy in there for me to run for a full day at normal size - at this size, you'll overload for sure!"
Megan jumped back and her cheeks turned a shade to match her hair. "I... I was just looking." But it was like putting a buffet in front of a starving person. She forced herself to look at anything, anyone else.
Billy scaled his way up the plant and eyed the makeshift staircase the others had begun to assemble. He looked around, spying a small glass jar filled with a dry powder that didn't look too heavy. "Steve, help me push that over here?"
The teenager nodded, pushing off the the plant branch he'd been sprawled across, carefully inching his way to the stem and scooting along, climbing up towards Matt. "On three, he called, "One, two, three." As he counted Stephen threw himself forward, his shoulder bowed, pressing against the smooth surface of the jar.
Topaz climbed onto the shelf, determinedly keeping her eyes up. Almost there, thank god. She looked around as the jar began to scrape against the wood and quickly got out of the way.
Amanda waited until the jar was in place before finishing her climb. "Clea, Megan, let's see if we can't use some of those raven feathers as ladders between the top of the jar and that box." She pointed to the feathers which had been stuck, point first, into one of those sponges florists used for flower arrangements, and then to the large wooden box which occupied half of the shelf and had only a small gap between its top and the final shelf. "The feathers should hold if we use a couple of layers, yeah?"
Looking at the feathers, Clea nodded. "Yea I think it would." She moved to get the feathers in position, carefully. Again trying not to look down as it was a very long way down.
Hovering in the air, Megan helped maneuver the feathers from above until they were aligned perfectly. "They feel pretty sturdy," she commented in agreement.
Stephen slowly climbed up to join the crowd gathered around the feathers as she stared up whistling, "Well, one last push then," he stepped closer reaching otu to tug on the feathers as he grinned at the group, "up we go," she called pulling himself up onto the feather carefully testing it's strength.
Topaz watched Stephen go, letting him get ahead a bit before she started climbing as well. She didn't want to put too much weight on the feathers. Lord knew if they would actually hold. Although she doubted they even weighed much. "Seems alright," she reported.
"I hope no one is allergic to birds," Billy commented, running the back of his hand along the feather while he waited for Topaz to make her way up. "Although who knows, at this size, dust might not even affect us." When he was reasonably sure it was safe, he began his own climb, forcing himself not to go too fast for fear of knocking something loose.
At this size, the individual strands that made up the feathers were like rungs on a ladder, still and unyielding under her hands. Amanda waited until Billy was clear, not wanting to risk overloading their precarious walkway. "Not far to go now," she said, trying to be encouraging, but she was aware of a deep fatigue settling into her bones. The lack of magical power was starting to tell - not to mention the sheer effort it had taken to get this far. "C'mon, Clea, your turn."
Clea looked at the feathers and sighed before she started to make her way up, slipping a few times on the way up.
"Tidy job mates, we've done it!" The wytchwand was laid before them on the shelf. Megan shivered with anticipation. It had to be around dawn by now and she was beyond tired, but the sight of it sent her heart racing and she felt wide awake. "But now for the tricky part?"
One by one, the remaining five clambered from the wooden box onto the next shelf, with much pulling from above from Billy and pushing from below by Stephen, until they all stood before their goal. The wych was a simple short wand of elm wood, only a foot long and normally as wide as Amanda's thumb. At this size, however, it was a massive beam, resting on two brackets to stop it rolling off the shelf. Behind it was a framed pencil sketch of a teenage Amanda and a skinny boy with black hair flopping over his forehead and into his eyes. The sketch itself was rough, with the two sitting on a vaguely drawn-in couch, but there was enough detail to show the pair were laughing at something and the teenage Amanda looked far happier than any of her students would remember her being since M-Day. Some binders also occupied the shelf, as well as a computer hard drive that looked somewhat old.
Billy dropped to a crouch, breathing hard from the lifting. "I hope your spell doesn't require any swish and flick, Amanda," he said, eyeing the daunting size of the wych. "I'm not sure all of us together could manage that."
"I dunno," Stephen stuffed his hands in his pockets as she leaned backwards as he observed the wych, "I bet if we could get some string and wrap it around a pivot high enough we could get some decent swish and flick going, though aiming might be a little difficult if we want to levitate anything."
"And that'll be the story of how the tiny magic class blew a hole in Amanda's and Ms. Colbert suite wall," Topaz said dryly. Her eyes had been drawn to the framed picture behind the wych, but she looked away after the briefest moment, not wanting Amanda to catch her staring.
"Alright, if we cannot touch it without being overloaded with magic how can we channel it?" Clea rubbed her arms as she looked at the wych. "Would a chain work? We all link together by holding hands and do it that way?"
"Close. Line up so you're all facing the wych. Backs to the wall, so no-one gets blown off the shelf." Once everyone was arranged according to instructions, Amanda continued. "Now, on the count of three, we all touch it at once. I'll warn you, it'll be a hell of a charge, so make sure you're ready, okay?" There were nods all 'round, and the witch counted slowly out loud. "One. Two. THREE."
Six hands were slapped onto the slightly warm surface of the wand. Six bodies lit up with a searing light and then six magic users collapsed to the 'floor' of the shelf, panting and buzzing from the sudden recharge. After a moment to pull herself together, Amanda brushed her hair out of her eyes and looked around. "Everyone all right?" It might have been a little less odd if her eyes hadn't been glowing slightly. She didn't wait for responses, either, but turned to Megan. "Okay, Pixie, you're up first. Fly out there and try the reversal - we can't do it on the shelf or we'll bring the whole bookcase down."
"Right." Megan nodded, drying her palms on her pants before flying out into a clear spot in the suite. She hoped her hands weren't shaking - her wings felt like they were buzzing with electricity - as her carefully recited the words of the reversal spell along with the proper hand movements. The moment the spell was complete, the intense pounding of her heart gave way to a huge yawning sensation. There was no other way to describe the feeling of suddenly becoming human-size again. Clumsily, slowly, she made her way back to the bookshelf. Yet the journey across the room that had previously taken hours now took mere seconds.
"Hop on the Giant Express," she said, offering her cupped hands for her mates to climb into. "Wow, no wonder Namor didn't notice us wee folk," she observed as she carefully carried her tiny passengers to Amanda's bed. "Ah, I need to sit down..." She recharge and the reversal had taken its toll, and perhaps her heart had to get used to pumping blood a longer distance again. Dizzy, Megan set the others down on a pillow before letting herself slump over on the bed.
"Meg... nope, she's out cold." Amanda looked to the rest of the group. "All right, we know it works. Find a spot and do the spell. Hopefully there's room." And with that she cast the reversal, growing to her proper size again in a sudden whoosh of displaced air. "Ow," she managed through a jaw-cracking yawn, before passing out herself.
Topaz found a spot at the corner of the bed and a moment later she was big again, her head spinning from the sudden influx of emotions before her shields slammed back into place. "Ow," she muttered, falling over and rubbing her temples.
Clea moved a bit to perform the reversal spell and then she was also big, almost falling off the bed in the process. Catching herself she fell forward and was asleep before her head hit the bed again.
Stephen wasn't in any better shape, as her case the reversal spell he could feel all the strength draining from his body, he only managed to stay awake long enough to see Clea collapse, angling himself so he fell down right behind her, his body curving into her as his eyes fluttered close leaving the teen just enough presence of mind to wrap one arm around Clea before he slid away into unconsciousness.
There was another buzz of magic, another sensation of a body sinking into the overloaded bed as Billy returned to his normal size. And then the room was quiet, the silence broken only by the occasional sigh or snore.
As the last pair reached the foot of the bookcase, Amanda held up her hand to stall any more comments about her lack of tidiness. "I know, I know, I'm a pig. New Year's resolution, get a laundry basket." She looked up at the bookshelf they needed, tilting her head up, and up, and then some more up. "That's... a really big bookcase," she observed redundantly. "Pixie's going to wear herself out carrying us all up there, and the wych is too big for her to knock down. We're going to have to climb."
Stephen gazed up at the bookcase, the mountain looming up before them before glancing back at the rest of the group and giving them a grin. "Hey, I've always wanted to learn mountain climbing," he piped up encouragingly, "But you know..." the teenager turned his best innocent grin on Amanda, "you know this is quite a work out getting up there, you could maybe talk to Angel and get us excused from Gen-X physical training," he pointed out with a laugh. "Not that I don't enjoy running around, but it's starting to get cold now."
Clea was exhausted and it was starting to show a bit. Looking up at the bookshelf that was taller than any mountain she had seen. She took a moment to sit down on a shoe that was nearby. "Don't worry Steve, we can have a nice hot cup of tea after this. And then I am going to soak in the bathtub for several hours."
"Well, no sense griping about it." Not that Topaz didn't have a lot of gripe-y things to say about the state of Amanda's room or the bookshelf they were currently facing. "It looks like there's a plant up there not too far, we can use that as a rope...type...thing. Might help."
"If you want to wait, you could soak in your hot cup of tea. Have your bath and drink it too," Billy said, fatigue showing in his attempted humor. He stood facing the first shelf, then climbed up next to one of the books. "I bet we could knock them over and make a staircase of sorts," he said, then started pushing on the one on the end. "Ugh. Amanda, why are magic books always freaking tomes? Would it kill them to break it into smaller volumes? Gonna need some help here."
Megan flew up to inspect the trailing vine of the plant above. "Topaz is right, it's not far," she decided. "I think Billy's on the right track with the books. Once you can reach the plant, you should be able to climb the rest of the way." She landed back down and joined Billy in shoving the book. "Being tiny sure is a huge pain."
"Especially since most of the books here are by long-winded magician types," agreed Amanda. "Steve and Clea, can you help Billy and Pixie there, and Topaz and I can work out the best way to go from down here."
Stephen nodded, grabbing hold of Clea's hand and starting towards Billy and the tome he was pushing at. The climb up onto the shelf was nothing, they'd had to scale harder obstacles at school, but as he stood, dark eyes tracking the tome as it towered before him he gave a long impressed whistle. "Amanda...as soon as we get out of here we need to get you a kindle," he called down to the teacher his lips quirking up as he drove his shoulder into the wall of book cover with Billy, "Think of the killing you could make in the magical world if these were more portable."
Clea let Steve led her to where Billy was located it. "And to think these may be heavy when we are at normal size." She slide in between two tomes and began to push with the rest of them.
"Digital is even better," Billy agreed. "I mean, Science journals figured out how to do that 20 years ago. It can't be that hard." He felt the book start to tilt and gave a final shove to send it off balance, then called out "Timber!" before covering his ears to mute the coming boom.
"I always thought the written words in magic books contained their own power, like runes," Megan suggested, watching from a safe distance as the book fell and dust flew up everywhere.
After another concerted effort, the next book tipped over halfway onto the first.
"Yes, let's put magic books on Kindle and make it easier for people like my father to get them," Topaz commented dryly as she examined the shelf above the books. "As long as the books are lined up right, getting to the plant shouldn't be too much of a problem. How high up do we need to go?"
"A couple more should do it." Amanda was perched on a sandal, leaning back and looking up at the bookshelf. "The plant will get us up onto the third shelf, and the wych is on the fourth. I've got a bunch of spell components on the shelf near the plant - we should be able to use those to reach the fourth shelf, if we're careful. I don't think there's anything really noxious there - I usually keep the serious stuff locked up."
With a heave, Megan helped straighten the most recently felled book. "I'd hate for the stack to go all wobbly halfway up..." Another one fell into place. "Second shelf, almost there!"
Clea climbed the books, "I think we can boost people up to the second so we can get to the third shelf."
Stephen glanced at the shelves cautiously before nodding, "It shouldn't be too hard to get someone up there, and then it become easier on the rest of us to get pulled up."
Billy hoisted himself up, testing the ground before standing. "They're sturdy--you've got to admit that."
"I don't think I can ever look at books the same again," Topaz muttered as she climbed after Billy. She was used to being short, but this was just ridiculous. "Who volunteers to go up first and pull people up? Or should we draw tiny straws?"
"Steve, you go first. Then you can pull and Billy can push. Consider it part of the perks of being tall," Amanda said with a grin as she scrambled up the book 'stairs'.
Stephen shot a mock glare at Amanda as he started for the books as he shook his head, "I always knew it'd come back to bite me on the ass," the teased good-naturedly as he started climbing.
As the others climbed, Megan flew up to the second shelf. She looked down, impressed with that they'd managed to build with their tiny huge effort.
With a bit of help, Clea was able to climb to the second shelf and patted Steve on the shoulder as she passed him. "This is some really advanced magic." Tilting her head to the side to read what was on the end.
"Yeah, it is, Clea. Meant for when you've got a bit more control and discipline under your belt." Amanda remarked a little pointedly, before looking up to the rest of the party. "Steve, find yourself a good spot in the plant so you can start hauling us shorties up."
The teen waved his hand in a salute as he backed up to stare at the plant, "Just like climbing trees back home, now problem," he muttered to himself, and no-one in particular. With a running jump he was off, pulling himself up, arm over arm as he scaled the plant locking his legs around the first leaf as he waved to the group. "You know, this would be a really bad time for someone to develop Acrophobia."
"I have definitely gotten lazy with teleporting lately," Billy groaned as he pulled himself up after the others. "Gonna be sore tomorrow. Remind me to take the stairs more often."
"Develops acrophobia," Topaz mumbled in response to Stephen, looking over the edge of the shelf and shuddering. "It's not an irrational fear if it can actually kill me."
"Take as long as you need and don't look down," Amanda advised helpfully. "Megan can spot you and grab you if you slip, yeah?"
Megan quickly popped down from where she was surveying the third shelf. "I gotcha," she assured Topaz. "I may not have the strength to carry you lot up, but the hells if I'll let anyone fall."
Clea took a deep breath before starting up the plant, while not saying another word.
"Yup, this'll be great," Topaz mumbled as she followed Clea. "Nothing to worry about. Nothing at all."
Stephen let his eyes track his friends as they climbed, one hand gripped tightly to the plant and the other reaching down, "It'll be fine," he assured the older girl. "We used to do this all the time, it's easy as pie, just don't look down."
Billy finished boosting her up, then brushed his hands on his pants before relacing his fingers. "Amanda, you ready?" he asked.
"As I'll ever be." Amanda wasn't fond of heights herself, but years of trenchcoat-related exposure had made it easier for her. She placed her booted foot in the cradle made by Billy's hands and steadied herself with a grip on his shoulders. "And oop!" she exclaimed as he boosted her up and she grabbed Stephen's hand and the stem of her plant. "I swear, once we're out of this, I am totally going to spoil you," she muttered to the plant as she hauled herself up with Stephen's help. Once she was able to brace her feet on a leaf stem, she let go of his hand and began climbing up towards the others. "Everyone okay up there?"
"It's easy are the last words of the doomed," Topaz informed Stephen pointedly. She was mostly just talking to distract herself from what was below them. One hand in front of the other. It was fine. "That and 'hold my drink'."
Clea finally reached the top and quickly moved away from the edge. "Fine as I will ever be!" She yelled out after finding her voice. "I will be happy again once we are our normal sizes."
"I'm itching to get my hands on that wychwand, I am," said Megan. "So what kind of spell components are we working with?" Instead of going to take a look, she had been keeping an eye on the climbers.
"Don't touch it!" came Amanda's sudden, panicked response. "There should be enough magical energy in there for me to run for a full day at normal size - at this size, you'll overload for sure!"
Megan jumped back and her cheeks turned a shade to match her hair. "I... I was just looking." But it was like putting a buffet in front of a starving person. She forced herself to look at anything, anyone else.
Billy scaled his way up the plant and eyed the makeshift staircase the others had begun to assemble. He looked around, spying a small glass jar filled with a dry powder that didn't look too heavy. "Steve, help me push that over here?"
The teenager nodded, pushing off the the plant branch he'd been sprawled across, carefully inching his way to the stem and scooting along, climbing up towards Matt. "On three, he called, "One, two, three." As he counted Stephen threw himself forward, his shoulder bowed, pressing against the smooth surface of the jar.
Topaz climbed onto the shelf, determinedly keeping her eyes up. Almost there, thank god. She looked around as the jar began to scrape against the wood and quickly got out of the way.
Amanda waited until the jar was in place before finishing her climb. "Clea, Megan, let's see if we can't use some of those raven feathers as ladders between the top of the jar and that box." She pointed to the feathers which had been stuck, point first, into one of those sponges florists used for flower arrangements, and then to the large wooden box which occupied half of the shelf and had only a small gap between its top and the final shelf. "The feathers should hold if we use a couple of layers, yeah?"
Looking at the feathers, Clea nodded. "Yea I think it would." She moved to get the feathers in position, carefully. Again trying not to look down as it was a very long way down.
Hovering in the air, Megan helped maneuver the feathers from above until they were aligned perfectly. "They feel pretty sturdy," she commented in agreement.
Stephen slowly climbed up to join the crowd gathered around the feathers as she stared up whistling, "Well, one last push then," he stepped closer reaching otu to tug on the feathers as he grinned at the group, "up we go," she called pulling himself up onto the feather carefully testing it's strength.
Topaz watched Stephen go, letting him get ahead a bit before she started climbing as well. She didn't want to put too much weight on the feathers. Lord knew if they would actually hold. Although she doubted they even weighed much. "Seems alright," she reported.
"I hope no one is allergic to birds," Billy commented, running the back of his hand along the feather while he waited for Topaz to make her way up. "Although who knows, at this size, dust might not even affect us." When he was reasonably sure it was safe, he began his own climb, forcing himself not to go too fast for fear of knocking something loose.
At this size, the individual strands that made up the feathers were like rungs on a ladder, still and unyielding under her hands. Amanda waited until Billy was clear, not wanting to risk overloading their precarious walkway. "Not far to go now," she said, trying to be encouraging, but she was aware of a deep fatigue settling into her bones. The lack of magical power was starting to tell - not to mention the sheer effort it had taken to get this far. "C'mon, Clea, your turn."
Clea looked at the feathers and sighed before she started to make her way up, slipping a few times on the way up.
"Tidy job mates, we've done it!" The wytchwand was laid before them on the shelf. Megan shivered with anticipation. It had to be around dawn by now and she was beyond tired, but the sight of it sent her heart racing and she felt wide awake. "But now for the tricky part?"
One by one, the remaining five clambered from the wooden box onto the next shelf, with much pulling from above from Billy and pushing from below by Stephen, until they all stood before their goal. The wych was a simple short wand of elm wood, only a foot long and normally as wide as Amanda's thumb. At this size, however, it was a massive beam, resting on two brackets to stop it rolling off the shelf. Behind it was a framed pencil sketch of a teenage Amanda and a skinny boy with black hair flopping over his forehead and into his eyes. The sketch itself was rough, with the two sitting on a vaguely drawn-in couch, but there was enough detail to show the pair were laughing at something and the teenage Amanda looked far happier than any of her students would remember her being since M-Day. Some binders also occupied the shelf, as well as a computer hard drive that looked somewhat old.
Billy dropped to a crouch, breathing hard from the lifting. "I hope your spell doesn't require any swish and flick, Amanda," he said, eyeing the daunting size of the wych. "I'm not sure all of us together could manage that."
"I dunno," Stephen stuffed his hands in his pockets as she leaned backwards as he observed the wych, "I bet if we could get some string and wrap it around a pivot high enough we could get some decent swish and flick going, though aiming might be a little difficult if we want to levitate anything."
"And that'll be the story of how the tiny magic class blew a hole in Amanda's and Ms. Colbert suite wall," Topaz said dryly. Her eyes had been drawn to the framed picture behind the wych, but she looked away after the briefest moment, not wanting Amanda to catch her staring.
"Alright, if we cannot touch it without being overloaded with magic how can we channel it?" Clea rubbed her arms as she looked at the wych. "Would a chain work? We all link together by holding hands and do it that way?"
"Close. Line up so you're all facing the wych. Backs to the wall, so no-one gets blown off the shelf." Once everyone was arranged according to instructions, Amanda continued. "Now, on the count of three, we all touch it at once. I'll warn you, it'll be a hell of a charge, so make sure you're ready, okay?" There were nods all 'round, and the witch counted slowly out loud. "One. Two. THREE."
Six hands were slapped onto the slightly warm surface of the wand. Six bodies lit up with a searing light and then six magic users collapsed to the 'floor' of the shelf, panting and buzzing from the sudden recharge. After a moment to pull herself together, Amanda brushed her hair out of her eyes and looked around. "Everyone all right?" It might have been a little less odd if her eyes hadn't been glowing slightly. She didn't wait for responses, either, but turned to Megan. "Okay, Pixie, you're up first. Fly out there and try the reversal - we can't do it on the shelf or we'll bring the whole bookcase down."
"Right." Megan nodded, drying her palms on her pants before flying out into a clear spot in the suite. She hoped her hands weren't shaking - her wings felt like they were buzzing with electricity - as her carefully recited the words of the reversal spell along with the proper hand movements. The moment the spell was complete, the intense pounding of her heart gave way to a huge yawning sensation. There was no other way to describe the feeling of suddenly becoming human-size again. Clumsily, slowly, she made her way back to the bookshelf. Yet the journey across the room that had previously taken hours now took mere seconds.
"Hop on the Giant Express," she said, offering her cupped hands for her mates to climb into. "Wow, no wonder Namor didn't notice us wee folk," she observed as she carefully carried her tiny passengers to Amanda's bed. "Ah, I need to sit down..." She recharge and the reversal had taken its toll, and perhaps her heart had to get used to pumping blood a longer distance again. Dizzy, Megan set the others down on a pillow before letting herself slump over on the bed.
"Meg... nope, she's out cold." Amanda looked to the rest of the group. "All right, we know it works. Find a spot and do the spell. Hopefully there's room." And with that she cast the reversal, growing to her proper size again in a sudden whoosh of displaced air. "Ow," she managed through a jaw-cracking yawn, before passing out herself.
Topaz found a spot at the corner of the bed and a moment later she was big again, her head spinning from the sudden influx of emotions before her shields slammed back into place. "Ow," she muttered, falling over and rubbing her temples.
Clea moved a bit to perform the reversal spell and then she was also big, almost falling off the bed in the process. Catching herself she fell forward and was asleep before her head hit the bed again.
Stephen wasn't in any better shape, as her case the reversal spell he could feel all the strength draining from his body, he only managed to stay awake long enough to see Clea collapse, angling himself so he fell down right behind her, his body curving into her as his eyes fluttered close leaving the teen just enough presence of mind to wrap one arm around Clea before he slid away into unconsciousness.
There was another buzz of magic, another sensation of a body sinking into the overloaded bed as Billy returned to his normal size. And then the room was quiet, the silence broken only by the occasional sigh or snore.
