The Ritual with Aitana
Tinkerbell arrived back at the Treehouse just as the boys were finishing supper, it was a long flight to the Fairy City, but she made it quick as she knew how urgent this could be. Peter saw her coming and was not very happy about it, he knows that Tinkerbell usually spends the night in the City as it’s a tiring voyage there and back.
“Tinkerbell! What are you doing! You’ll tire yourself out way too fast coming back like that, now go lie down and we’ll deal with whatever it is tomorrow.”
The boys were just watching Peter talk to Tinkerbell, but they could see that Tink was not happy about the suggestion of going to bed. Her tinkling sounded urgent and hurried and they could see Peter looking a little confused about what she was telling him.
“On their way now? What do we need to do? Is this going to be safe for Lightning Bolt? Tinkerbell, what is going on?”
Lightning Bolt was worried now, it seemed like he was causing more trouble than he was worth, maybe Peter bringing him here was a bad idea. He tried to hide behind the other boys out of shyness, he just did not want to be trouble anymore!
Tinkerbell was getting frustrated with Peter now, she was turning red from anger, the other boys all took a step back knowing how her temper is, Lightning Bolt was looking at everyone wondering what was going on.
“Tinkerbell, take a breath, we’ll take Lightning Bolt to the empty field and get him settled there like Queen Aitana wants. I just don’t understand why it can’t be done here.”
Tinkerbell explained things to Peter again, slowly this time around, and then she just went straight to Lightning Bolt and started pulling on his shirt so he’d follow her to the field.
“Follow Tinkerbell, Lightning Bolt, I guess the Fairy Queen wants to do some magic on you that needs room like the field nearby. We’ll follow along and make sure everything is good and safe for everyone.”
Lightning Bolt walked behind Tinkerbell; he was nervous because magic usually brings him trouble, except for the time he flew to Neverland with Peter. But, if Tinkerbell says he needs this then he should follow her advice, he guessed. She was the fairy with the magic experience.
They walked a ways until they got to a field of flowers where there were no trees but a circular area that had just grass. Peter explained that this was where the fairies usually do their ritual magics when they needed to.
“Lightning Bolt, the boys and I will be back towards the trees, but we will be watching the whole time. We just cannot be around when magic is being done in case something we do causes trouble. Tinkerbell will stay with you while you are being introduced to the Fairy Queen Aitana. Afterwards she will join us boys out of the way. But you will not be alone, we are with you, just a little ways away is all.”
Lightning Bolt smiled shyly and nodded; he understood that magic can be dangerous. It’s why he was always in trouble before in the mainland. Now he was causing trouble here too, he felt bad that all these problems were because of him. He was tired of being a problem for everyone. He was hoping that once he made it to Neverland that his troublesome would stay away.
“Peter, don’t you need to stay with me to translate the fairies’ talk? I don’t understand Tinkerbell quite yet…”
“Oh right, well Queen Aitana can speak human, it comes with the magic of the kingdom. So, she’ll be able to translate everything you need to know. The fairies she tends to bring with her understand human speech as well, so you do not have to worry about that at all.”
Lightning Bolt nodded and laid down where Tinkerbell directed him. Her bell-like speech was soothing in a way even if he did not understand a word she was saying. Peter and the Lost Boys stood by the trees closest to where Lightning Bolt was laying down and were whispering to each other trying to figure out what kind of problems the poor kid had.
Then as the sun was setting in the background, they could see a bunch of fairies making their way towards them. They all seemed to be prepared for something serious, but they seemed happy to help as well. A knight flew over to Lightning Bolt and Tinkerbell to make sure everything was safe and well for the Queen, but the Queen did not wait to hear from him, she just flew right over to the poor child.
“You must be Lightning Bolt. My name is Aitana and I will be performing some magic on you to see if we can help you with everything that has been done. The first piece of magic I want to do is just a health record, which will show anything that needs to be fixed or that is causing any trouble. I just need you to relax and trust in my magic to help you. Can you do that for me little one?”
Lightning Bolt was shocked, she sounded and looked so beautiful, he couldn’t believe someone so pretty would speak to him never mind help him!
“I trust you since Tinkerbell and Peter trust you. I just don’t want bad magic around me anymore.”
Aitana smiled and nodded her head, she understood where the child was coming from. It’s not easy being affected by dark magic.
“Alright, just lay down, stay calm and let my magic do its work.”
Aitana circled Lightning Bolt and started performing some magic. Everyone else, the fairies and the Lost Boys alike, stayed back and let her work so that they could be sure they would not get in the way of the magic.
After some time a form appeared in front of Aitana, she read it and looked sadly at Lightning Bolt.
“According to this, you have some blocks on your magic and a dark piece of magic is embedded in your forehead, we’ll need to deal with both these things to make sure you grow up healthy and properly controlling your own magic.”
Then she spoke to the other fairies and explained what rituals she wanted to have done, Tinkerbell explained things to Peter and they were all getting ready to get things done.
The fairies all lit up candles and placed them around Lightning Bolt, they placed herbs and other random things around the circle and then placed themselves around the circle in certain spots.
“Now, Lightning Bolt, we will deal with the dark magic first, I’m afraid what your magic would do if I left it and freed your magic to deal with it. You will feel some pain in your scar area, but it should not hurt too badly. If the pain is too much just let me know and we will stop and give you something for it and then try again. Understood?”
“I can handle pain, but what will happen to the bad magic? Is it just going to disappear?”
“No, I have here a piece of jewelry that will contain the dark magic until we are sure it is time to destroy it. But you will no longer have to worry about it, it is something we will be in charge of once it is out of your forehead.”
With that Lightning Bolt nodded and closed his eyes, the fairies started chanting around him and he felt something pulling in his forehead. He could tell his own magic was battling the pulling but he wanted the bad magic to leave so he was trying to control his magic to let it go. The pain was constant but bearable and he felt it when the dark magic left his being. He felt soothed in a way and he loved it.
“Great work Lightning Bolt, and everyone else as well! That was fantastically done and we only have one last ritual to perform to unlock Lightning Bolt’s magic. Once that happens he might have a burst of magic so be prepared.”
Lightning Bolt closed his eyes once more and waited for them to do their thing. This time he felt his magic close by and he could tell it was curious with what was happening. His magic didn’t like the way other’s magic was messing with it though, so it fought back a little. Lightning Bolt tried to soothe it, let it know that they were helping and not hurting him, that they are trying to free it like it is supposed to be. Once Aitana found the lock that had the magic blocked she pulled forth a burst of magic and freed the magic completely. Lightning Bolt was not prepared, his magic exploded out of him and just sent a wave of pure magic around him, it went on for miles, causing things to bloom and change colors.
“Woah, nice look Peter, pink suits you.”
Tootles snickered at Peter who had pink hair due to the outburst. Peter just laughed and told him he’s one to be speaking seeing as how his hair was bright blue. All the boys laughed at each other seeing as how everyone had different colored hair.
“Lightning Bolt, you are free, now you just need to practice controlling your magic so that accidental magic doesn’t keep happening. Don’t worry about anything yet, us fairies are used to fixing random magic accidents, but we just do not want anything to get hurt, including yourself.”
Lightning Bolt gave Queen Aitana a great big smile and just wished he could hug her. He got up and looked over at the boys, shyly walking over he started apologizing right away.
“I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to do that to everyone, my magic just sort of exploded and I couldn’t contain it any longer.”
“Don’t worry Lightning Bolt! We kind of like the look, now people can tell us apart!”
First Twin had green hair and Second Twin had purple hair, it certainly made them look different to each other.
Tinkerbell laughed and tinkled to Peter, who smiled and nodded his head.
“Tink says that she can fix everyone’s hair no problem, she just wants to know if you would like to try it first.”
Lightning Bolt gave them all big eyes and shook his head really fast.
“My first time practicing magic probably shouldn’t be on a person but on rocks or something. I don’t want to hurt anyone accidentally or cause something permanent. Besides, after all this magic being done today I am extremely tired.”
Peter nodded and went back towards Queen Aitana to speak to her some more. The boys all stayed around Lightning Bolt asking him how it felt having magic done to him and what his magic feels like.
“Thank you, your majesty. If there is anything you need from us, we will gladly be of help. But I have one more favor to ask. Is there anyone in your kingdom who would mind staying with us for a while so that they may help teach Lightning Bolt magic and reading and writing and all of that? This little one wants to learn and most of my boys just left all that behind. We will pay back somehow if needed just let us know how and we’d be glad to do what we can.”
“Young Peter, I know exactly who I will send to you to help the young one learn all he can, Tinkerbell will help as well I’m sure. Give them a week to settle things in the kingdom and then they will come by to your treehouse to report themselves to Lightning Bolt. He is a powerful wizard and having him learn to control his magic is an important thing. I’m sure we will be able to come to some agreement or exchange when needed, but for now consider it a gift.”
Aitana gathered all her people up and they went back towards the Fairy Kingdom. Tinkerbell and the Lost Boys were joined by Peter and they headed back to their treehouse. The sun was gone for the day, it was time to rest. So together they all settled in for bed and fell asleep.