“Eek!” shrieked Tim, falling backwards and toppling over a pile of musty, old cardboard boxes that looked like they'd been sitting here in the basement since before the Hodgson's even moved in.
“Ouch, dammit!” Tim cursed, rubbing his bruised posterior as he climbed out of the toppled pile of cluttered, old cardboard boxes.
“I am so sick of this!” Tim grumbled. “First there's stupid Paul and his dumb obsession with magic crap, then I get stuck in his mom's life, and now here I am doing laundry for the family in the basement and fighting with these crumbling towers of boxes littering the …”
And with that, Tim trailed off.
Because it was just then that his eyes caught sight of something that looked most unusually out of place amidst the other suburban debris of basement storage items.
It was a magic wand.
Normally it never would have caught Tim's eye. Normally, he never would have believed in such things. But right now, he was wearing the clothes of his best friend's mom and pretending to be her, while she was wearing his clothes and living his life. So “normally” didn't really cut it right now.
The sight of a foot long, ebony stick with an improbably shining-white ivory cap at one end filled Tim with hope.
“Oh, please dear god, tell me that's what I think it is!” he said, stooping down and picking up the wand. “There's no way a bizarre family like the Hodgson's keeps a mere stage prop in the cellar. This thing has just got to be a real-life, magic wand. Please, please, please, dear god – this thing has to be the way to undo that dumb spellbook of Paul's uncle.”
Picking up the ebony wand, Tim ran his fingers across its surprisingly smooth, hard surface. Was it just his imagination or did this antique, wooden stick actually tingle with overworldly energy.
“I know this thing has power in it,” Tim muttered to himself. “I can feel it. This must have belonged to Paul's Uncle … or some other crazy, warlock of a relative. But how do I use it?
Tim waved the weird wand about in the air a few times, hoping for a reaction of some sort.