They arrived at the dance studio the next day talking about what they would be doing after class. While Paula's mother was meeting with a couple of people Paula and Hannah watched The Little Mermaid Two. Jenny sat by herself with her eyes closed.
Towards the end of the movie Paula's mother came back in and sat at her desk. Not long after this a man came in and said "Alice, I wanted to talk to you about our date tonight."
"Oh Stan" Paula's mother said, "I forgot about that. I'm afraid I can't tonight as I'm watching two girls for a little bit."
"Oh, you must mean my nieces" Stan said smiling at Hannah and Jenny. "Hello Hannah, Jenny."
"Hi Uncle Stan" Hannah said.
"Hello Uncle Stan" Jenny said with her eyes still closed.
Paula was surprised that her mother's boyfriend was Hannah and Jenny's uncle. He had never mentioned his family or that they lived in town.
"Well this is a surprise" Paula's mother said. "Now I'm a little confused. Why didn't their parents ask you to watch them?"
"Well it's time that you knew a little bit more about me" Stan said. "You see I live in a different dimension that the girls cant go to."
"Why couldn't you watch them here then?" Paula's mother asked.
"Well I can only come to this dimension on the weekends" Stan said. "It's a curse my old girlfriend cast on me and the girls."
"Why would she do that?" Paula's mother asked with a bit of fear in her voice.
"It's my fault" Hannah said. "We were visiting Uncle Stan on my fifth birthday and he took us over to Sherry's. He wanted to show her what I had learned. Well I had never felt comfortable around her and I accidentally set her house on fire."
"She blamed me for it since I had brought Hannah over there" Stan said. "She broke up with me right there and then. After a couple of minutes she started yelling at me for breaking up with her when my niece had set fire to her house. It was then that she cast the curse on us. After that she tried cursing Hannah so she wouldn't even be able to use magic. By that time though Hannah had brought up the strongest shield I had ever seen a five year old produce. The curse bounced off of Hannah's shield and hit Sherry."
"Couldn't someone break the curse?" Paula's mother asked.
"It's difficult to break a curse if you don't know the specifics of it" Jenny said with her eyes still closed.
"Sherry has never said what curses she used" Stan said. "She didn't speak them aloud so we didn't hear what they were. Also it seems like the council doesn't want Hannah over there so they're taking their sweet time. I should mention that one of the council members is trying to speed things along. The rest of the council are liable to wind up dead if they keep delaying and make her mad."
"She doesn't sound like a good person" Paula's mother said.
"Oh she's a good person but you don't want her mad at you" Hannah said.
"I heard that she transformed into a dragon once and squashed a council member" Stan said. "The rest of the council ruled it an accidental death but she insists that it was a natural death. Her reason is that he made a dragon mad and he naturally died."
Just then a woman burst into the office and screamed "So this is the tramp you left me for Stan! I'm going to kill you you harlot!"
Suddenly Hannah was in front of Paula's mother and a blue crystal like structure appeared around them, as the woman threw a blood red energy ball at Paula's mother.
The woman screamed "NO!" as the ball hit the blue structure and bounced back to her. When the ball hit the woman flames engulfed her body and she let out unearthly screams. She kept on screaming until the flames extinguished themselves and she fell to the floor.
Then a guy came in and looked at the woman's body with a sad face. He then looked at Hannah and said "You can drop your shield now Hannah, she's dead."
Hannah's shield disappeared and she said "I was just protecting Mrs. Miller."
"I know Hannah" the guy said. "I heard what she said. By the way my name is Leo Walts" looking at Paula and her mother. "I just wish it was under better circumstances that we meet."
Then Paula cried out "Mommy!" and buried her head in her mother's chest crying.
"Was that Sherry" Paula's mother asked with an understandable quiver to her voice.
"Yes it was" Stan said. "What I don't understand is how she was able to use magic."
"It seems like she broke all of her curses to regain her use of magic" Leo said. "What a thing for a little girl to witness."
"This is going to scar her for the rest of her life" Paula's mother said.
"All we can do is help her cope with it" Jenny said with her eyes open at last.
"Also remember that Paula was a fifteen year old boy" Hannah said. "It will be easier for her to cope than if she had actually been born four years ago."
"Really?" Leo asked. "How did he change?"
"The same medallion of Zulu that transformed me" Hannah said.
"It's still going to be hard on her though" Stan said. "Don't forget that she also has the mind of a four year old girl Hannah. You should know that better than any of us."
"You're right" Hannah said. "I forgot about that for a second."
Just then one of the ballet instructors came in and said "Oh my god. What happened here?"
"She tried to kill me Rhonda" Paula's mother said.
"How did she try to kill you?" Rhonda asked. "I don't see a weapon anywhere."
"She tried to kill her with a spontaneous combustion curse" Stan said.
"You mean she tried to set her on fire with magic?" Rhonda asked.
"Yes" Leo said. "By the way, my name is Leo Walts. I came here to stop her before she could do any damage. I didn't get here in time but fortunately Hannah was here. She brought up her shield to protect Mrs. Miller."
"Come on now" Rhonda said. "There's no such thing as magic."
"There is Miss Tailor" Hannah said. "I can prove it to you if you want."
"Ok go ahead and prove it then Miss Thompson" Rhonda said.
Hannah brought up her shield and when Rhonda tried to get through it she received a slight shock.
"Well I guess it's true" Rhonda said. "Now what are we going to do with the body?"
"I'll be taking it with me" Leo said. "I would ask that you don't tell anyone that you witnessed magic. Most people won't believe you and you might become a target for those that want to wipe out magic."
"Alright I wont say anything" Rhonda said. "You know you look cute."
"Thank you" Leo said, "you're pretty cute yourself. "Forgive me for asking but, would you like to go out sometime?"
"I'd love to" Rhonda said. "I'll give you my number so you can call me."
Once Leo had Rhonda's number he said "I'll be going now. Stan, you and every witness will need to appear before the council to give testimony."
"I know" Stan said.
"Ok then" Leo said. He kneeled down next to Sherry's body and gripped the arm. A blue-white light surrounded them and they rose a little bit into the air. Then they and the light faded and broke into little balls of light before fading completely.
"That is so cool" Rhonda said. "It's exactly like how the White Lighters orb on Charmed."
"What?" Paula's mother asked.
"It was a pretty popular TV show" Hannah said. "On it there were these people called White Lighters that were able to move around like that. They called it orbing because of the small blue orbs that they broke up into. By the way, we also call it orbing."
"You know, it's funny that his name is Leo" Rhonda said. "He even looks a bit like the guy who played Leo white. That's the Charmed Ones' White Lighter by the way. I have the DVDs of the show if you want to borrow them."
"Maybe some other time" Paula's mother said. "Right now I have a favor to ask of you."
"What is it Alice?" Rhonda asked.
"If you think you can, could you take over my classes for awhile?" Paula's mother asked. "I'm going to need some time to deal with this myself and help Paula with it."
"It must have been horrific to see that" Rhonda said. "Of course I'll take over your classes for a while. You take all the time you need."
"Thank you Rhonda" Paula's mother said. "Before we go I need to tell you that we are entered in a ballet competition in five months."
"The girls will be happy to hear that" Rhonda said.
"Ill see you at your house Alice" Stan said. "I need to go see when the council wants us before them." With that he orbed out of the office.
"I wonder what that feels like" Paula's mother said.
"You'll find out" Jenny said.
"Ok girls, lets go" Paula's mother said.
When they got home they found Stan waiting for them.
"I have some bad news" Stan said once they were inside. "The council wants all of us there in one hour. What's worse is that they want each of us to orb there individually."
"We can't make a deadline like that!" Jenny said. "It takes at least one month to learn how to orb and beginners take even longer."
"I know" Stan said with a sigh.
"They know that it was my shield that reflected the curse don't they" Hannah said.
"Yes they do" Stan said with another sigh.
"Well then all we can do is try to teach them how to orb before then" Hannah said.
"It's impossible!" Jenny said.
"I'm willing to try" Paula's mother said with a trace of anger in her voice.
"Me too" Paula said.
"With that attitude we may be able to do it" Hannah said. "Now in order to orb you have to either concentrate on where you want to go or who you want to go to. While concentrating on that you need to let the magic flow through you. If you're doing it right you will feel a tingling in your body and your vision will be obscured by a blue-white light. Next you'll feel your body getting lighter until it feels like you weigh nothing at all. After a few seconds of this you
will start to feel your body grow heavier until you feel as heavy as you do now. Then the light will fade and your body will stop tingling."
"How do you let the magic flow through you" Paula's mother asked.
"You just open yourself up to the magic" Jenny said. "You can't teach that which is why it takes so long to learn to orb."
"Alright we need to see if you two can orb" Hannah said. "I'm going to orb to someplace and you need to try to orb to me. Concentrate on me instead of where you think I might be, otherwise you'll probably end up in a different place than me." With that Hannah orbed someplace.
Paula concentrated as hard as she could on Hannah and tried to let the magic flow through her. To her surprise she felt the tingling in her body and then the light obscured her vision. Everything that Hannah said would happen was in fact happening. She felt her body get lighter and lighter until she felt like she weighed nothing at all. After a few seconds she felt her body get heavier and when the light
faded she saw Hannah right in front of her and her mother right beside her.
"Congratulations" Hannah said, "You have just orbed by yourselves. Now orb back to your house. Concentrate on a room in your house and I'll come find you."
Paula concentrated on her room and in a few seconds she had orbed to her room. A few seconds after that Hannah orbed in. They then orbed to her mother who was in the guest bedroom that Jenny was sleeping in. Then they all walked downstairs together.
"Well I'll admit that I'm surprised" Stan said. "I didn't think that anyone could learn to orb that fast."
"Hannah was able to do it her first time" Jenny said. "Of course our parents didn't start teaching her that until she was seven. Who knows, she might have been able to orb at four."
"Ok we need to get going" Stan said. "I'll go first, Alice will go second, Jenny third, Paula fourth, and Hannah last."
Paula watched as Stan orbed out, then her mother, then Jenny. Now it was Paula's turn to orb.
"Hannah" Paula said, "I have a question. What do I concentrate on?"
"You can concentrate on your mother, Jenny, or my uncle" Hannah said.
"What if I get lost?" Paula asked.
"I'm going to be following you" Hannah said. "I'll be there if you get lost and as long as you concentrate on your mother, Jenny, or my uncle you should be fine. Besides you didn't get lost when you orbed to me, your room, or your mother."
"You're right Hannah" Paula said.
Paula gave Hannah a hug and then orbed to...