In Exchange for Magic

"Ez?" I asked again.
"What?" he muttered.
"We're lost!"

He sighed and sat down on a tree stump.

"I know..." he muttered, defeated.

We'd been walking for close to three hours now, and my big poofy dress wasn't helping the status of my grumpiness much. I fidgeted with it.

"Want me to fix that?" Ez asked.
"What? My dress?" I laughed. "It's hardly fixable!"
He snorted. "Why'd you wear it anyway?"
I rolled my eyes. "Forgive me for not making better choices in my apparel! I didn't know I'd be launched into Never-Never Land!"
"Attannia," he corrected me.
"Yeah. Whatever."

Ez scrutinized me for a moment.

"Come here," he ordered softly, and withdrew the small dagger he kept in the strap on his leg.

I approached him, and, in one swift movement, he cut off the outer skirt. All that was left now was a silky tank-dress. I gasped at him.

"W-Why did you do that?"
"You said you wanted it fixed!"
"Yeah... But now it's too short!" I tugged at the hem, which fell about a foot below my hips.

"Sorry," Ez answered. "Deal with it."

I opened my mouth to protest, but found that no words would come out. I wasn't quite sure how to act; he was deliberately trying to make me angry. I was, for once, playing the straight man -- the victim in this crazy comedy. I suddenly realized that this was how I made Ms. Geller feel all the time.

He craned his neck to look at the sky.

"It's getting dark," he commented. "I didn't want to do this..."
I recovered slightly. "What? Do what?"
"Come here."
I took a decided step back from him. "No!"
He sighed. "Rose, don't be a baby. Come on."
"No!" I cried. "Tell me what you're going to do first!"

He squinted, lost in thought.
"You don't trust me?" he answered, sounding hurt. He was trying to play the guilt card.
"No, as a matter of fact... I don't!"

He didn't seem to mind, because he advanced towards me so fast that I hardly saw him move. I screamed and tensed, curling away from him.

Then, without warning, Ez had wrapped his arms around me.
He laughed. "You screamed? You actually screamed? I'm not that menacing, am I?"

I struggled to get away from him, squirming and grunting in my efforts.

My shadow was weak upon the ground, and the sky was the pale color of lavender... Twilight was rapidly painting itself across the horizon.

"Cut it out, Rose," Ez whispered, and repositioned his arms so that one was around my waist, and the other was securing my shoulders.

I was now pressed uncomfortably close to this strange boy... I squirmed slightly.

"What are you doing, Ez?" I demanded grumpily.
"That, I can not tell you," he said with a smile.
"Okay... Can you tell me why you're hugging me?"
He pretended to think for a moment. "Don't think of it as a hug... More of a... A seat-belt!"

This made my eyes go wide with horror. "What's wrong with you?" I screeched. "What are you going to do? Let me go! Let me go!"

"Stand on my feet," he instructed.
"No! No way! I have no clue what your going to do, but I don't want to be a part of it! Get off me!"
"Stand on my feet, Rose."

I continued struggling, but it was useless against his strong arms.

"Rose," he said calmly, with that hint of smile in his voice. "If you don't listen to me, I'm going to leave you behind. You're going to have to fend for yourself. And, really, it's just a matter of time before you stumble into that pack of Shades and-"
"Okay!" I yelled. "God, there's no need to freak me out... Jeez..."

I stood on his feet, reminding myself of all those movies where I'd seen the Father-Daughter dances.

"Okay," he instructed, and lifted his arm off my shoulders, keeping me strapped to him by his grip around my waist. "I want you to put your nose right here."

He patted the crook of his neck, and leaned his head to the left.

"Why?" I asked.
He replaced his arm around my shoulder. "So you can't see what's going on."

I sighed and obeyed him, closing my eyes and resting the bridge of my nose comfortably on his neck.

He took a deep breath and I felt a quiet wind rustle through my hair. A few more moments, and the wind became stronger. He held me tighter, and, my stomach dropped in that sudden suspended feeling of weightlessness.

I was so surprised, that I raised my head. I found that Ez and I were floating a few inches off the ground, supported by a cushion of air!

I gasped, and Ez lost his balance. He skidded off the air pillow like it was made of ice, and we both fell face first on the ground. I quickly scrambled away from him in amazement, pressing my back flat against a tree.

He groaned and rubbed his forehead, which had made an acquaintance with the forest floor.

"You were... flying!" I accused, pointing a finger at him.
He groaned again. "No... I wasn't."
"Floating... You were hovering! You were standing on air!" I cried.

He shook his head, got up off the ground, and dusted off his clothes. "This is why you weren't supposed to look..."

"I can't believe this! You can fly!"
"No, I can't!" Ez protested. "I was simply manipulating the wind through the oxygen released by the trees-"
"Oh my Lord! I know a boy who can fly!" I cried, throwing my head back and yelling into the sky. "Eat your heart out, Peter Pan!"

"Rose!" Ez said sternly. "Shut up!"
My mouth snapped shut, and I folded my arms.

"Now," he instructed. "Come back over here, and stand on my feet again."
My heart clenched and my stomach twisted in fear. "No!"
He groaned. "Rose... Don't be a baby!"
"I can be a baby all I want! I'm not going to hover over the tops of trees with only you to hang on to!"

He spread his arms out wide. "Can't you just trust me?"
"No!"

He shook his head and advanced towards me anyway. I scowled as he encased me in a strong vice-like hug, and, reluctantly, I stood on his feet.

"Please don't, Ez," I begged. "Please?"
He sighed. "What's wrong now?"
"I'm... I'm scared."

Hesitantly, he instructed, "Well, then... Hang on to me."

My arms, which had been scrunched up in front of my chest, quickly found his waist. I buried my face in his neck and sucked in my breath. I could feel him tense... His spine straightened, and he became stiff and immobile.

"I... Erm..." he stuttered.
"Just go," I ordered, sensing the awkwardness, and wanting to get it over with.

He took a deep breath and I could feel us lifting off the ground again. I squeezed my eyes shut, and dug my fingernails into Ez's back.

In a matter of seconds, I could tell that we were soaring. There was this weightlessness about it that was just... eerie.

Have I mentioned that I don't do so well with heights?

My eyes were squeezed shut. I knew that if I looked down I'd have a panic attack. To soothe my nerves, I began asking him questions.

"Hey Ez?" I asked quietly.
"Yeah?" he replied, his voice taught and strained.
"H-How are you doing this?"
"I... Well, trees release oxygen through their leaves and into the air. I manipulate the oxygen produced by the trees and concentrate it in a solid form that can lift me-"
"Trees?" I cried. "You control trees?"
He chuckled slightly, a rarity. "Yeah... Something like that."

The talking hadn't calmed me one bit. I concentrated, instead, on breathing deeply. My nose was still squished in the crook of Ez's neck, and so I ended up smelling him.

To tell you the truth, it wasn't as bad as I expected. He smelled like the air after a thunderstorm. Sort of earthy and crisp. And if that wasn't weird enough, he also smelled like... the night. I'm not kidding!

Okay, go outside at, say... Midnight. And breathe. Just take a deep breath in, and that is what this kid smelled like.

I could hardly contain myself... I kept my mouth shut for a few more minutes, but it got to the point where I couldn't hold it in.

"Ez?" I asked tentatively.
"Mmm?" he grunted, still concentrating.
"I hope this doesn't sound strange, but... You smell good."

"I... Wha-" he stuttered, and then he wobbled.

We balanced precariously for a few split seconds, like Ez was trying to gain footing on a big round rubber ball. And then we started falling.

A straight-out free fall, and screaming for our lives.