After a few more moments here and there of recollection something surprised me.

I came to with a confusing lack of stimulus. I stared up into the pitch dark and assumed I was alone in my room. 

It made no difference if my eyes were open or shut.

Howls of wind outside made me reconsider my lack of stimulus. Listening to the wind rattle the window in the dark made terror creep up in me.

But how rude would it be to burst into tears and disrupt my family’s slumber?

I clenched my tiny mouth shut even as my lower lip trembled.

If only there were light. What I would give for some light to dissuade my unfounded fears.

Light flared above me and my eyes nearly shut against the sudden change. It took a few seconds of letting my squinty eyes adjust before I got a good look at the light.

An orb of pure light hovered just out of reach. My fingers uselessly stretched towards it as wonder consumed me.

This light. . . . It was mine. I knew it as an intrinsic truth, despite it feeling strange and new to me.

I stared at the ball of light for probably too long before yawning and drifting back to sleep, wind not bothering me when I had my own personal magic light source.

Magic. I had magic. . .

***

“Madeline! Hi! Did you sleep well?” Theo waved down at me. He had a smear of some red sauce at the corner of his mouth. Ketchup? Hot sauce? Pasta sauce? Pizza sauce?

My stomach gurgled and I turned my thoughts away to distract myself from hunger.

Did everyone have magic here? That, I didn’t know. I knew of magic, but couldn’t say for certain what kind was available here beyond my floating light.

Confound my lack of communicative ability.

I summoned my little ball of light to be my clue. Theo gasped and gaped at the light.

He blinked hard once, followed with a few fluttering blinks before the stupor ended.

“MOM!” He dashed off, leaving me with the hope Mother would return before I lost consciousness.

***

Drat. I regretted losing a chance to gain insight to the world I resided in.

Try, try again.

Father held me in a different rocking chair. We sat in front of a lit fireplace in what I surmised was the main room of the cabin. There was a cushioned bench in lieu of a couch directly parallel to the fireplace. Dad was a hairy man with scruff on his face and some chest hair poking out from the top of his loose shirt. His hands and arms were rather hairy as well, but what I cared for was the warmth in his expression as he looked at me. He may look like a lumberjack, but that didn’t matter.

The darkness beyond the window to the right, along with the dimness of the room the fire tried chasing away made me want to summon my light. If magic existed, did monsters? Being so small and dependent on others left me with no defense of my own and reliant on lighting up the darkness to help abate my fears.

I called forth my little ball of light with a tensing of my body.

Father stopped rocking, just as dumbfounded as Theo had been.

I got my own surprise as he abruptly stood. He took two steps towards a door before stopping and looking back at my light orb hovering in front of the chair.

With a small mental effort, I tugged the light to follow us.

Father gaped at it and me. “Is this you?”

I smiled at him while worrying I had exhibited prowess prematurely.

“Susan! You need to come see this,” Father said as he headed for a door.

Mother opened the door and he angled away so she could see my light companion.

It was satisfying to watch her face change, like her emotions had gone limp before perking up in surprise. “Theo didn’t lie?”

She took me from Father’s arms. I used that to look over her shoulders at the bedroom behind her. A wood dresser with intricate flowery designs etched into the drawers sat by a bed on a magnificent wooden frame. The fineness of the furniture didn’t match the cozy size of the house.

She looked from me to the light, more and more confused. “How is this possible? Theo hasn’t even exhibited signs of an element, but Madeline has light magic?”

“Told you so!” Theo popped up beside us. “I didn’t lie.” He made an angry pouty face.

“It’s unbelievable so of course we didn’t believe it.” Father knelt down to be on his level. “I’m sorry for not trusting you. Can you forgive me?”

Theo grinned. “I forgive you! Isn’t Madeline amazing! She has magic before I do! And light magic to boot! She can heal me after I battle monsters!” He picked up a small, wooden sword and swung it around the living room.

Mother cradled me close, worry furrowing her brow. “This is unheard of. What if someone finds out and the magic tower takes her?”

“We won’t let them. We’ll keep this a secret.” Father set his hand on her shoulder as he snuck glances at the light orb that I decided needed to go bye-bye soon. It proved a sort of drain on myself. A mental one? A magic reserve one? I released my hold of the light and it snuffed out.

Along with that, I lost my grip of awareness and missed out on whatever discussion followed.

***

Months passed with intermittent moments of clarity and control that I used to practice my magic and learn more about my family and this world. When I awoke alone, I summoned my light and bounced it around for entertainment. I tried not to use magic around anyone because I didn’t want to worry my parents, and I certainly didn’t want to be taken from this loving family. I enjoyed listening to them telling me stories. They never had a story book to read from, but their tales of princes and dragons, tricky elves, and princesses and balls always entertained me.

Eventually I gained more motor control of my facilities and got washes of happy embarrassment as my family cheered my little successes from flipping onto my stomach to crawling.

It seemed I was destined to amaze my family. It taxed me acting as young as my body was. The sooner I could move around and talk, the sooner I would feel more like myself, even though I didn’t know who I was before.

As I crawled around the living room towards Mother, I spoke my first word. “Mama!”

Her face scrunched in touched emotion before she scooped me up and smothered me in kisses that had me cackling in delight. She took me outside for the first time I could remember where Dad carved a piece of wood as he sat on a log set into the ground. As mother praised me for my choice of first word, Father wheedled away at the wood with no tool at all. Fascinated, I watched Dad run his thumb over the log, wood peeling with the motion.

“Is that right, Maddie? You said mama?” Father gave my short hair a rub.

“Papa!” I said to his infinite delight.

They enjoyed this stage of my progression sitting side by side as I took in the forest surroundings on Mom’s lap.

There were mostly trees in view. Down the dirt road it seemed it branched out to other places, probably other cabins and maybe a proper town. Did we live by a city? A royal castle? A bustling metropolis? When I gained full use of my speech, I would pepper them with such questions. I eagerly waited for all my questions to be answered, to discover what world I was a part of. I hoped Theo’s talks about fighting monsters was all pretend.

Theo and Elliot raced towards us down the road. I frowned, dislike for Elliot resurfacing as it often did upon encountering him.

My brother took the lead, but a powerful gust of wind lifted and pushed Elliot to victory.

“No fair! You cheated!” Theo accused, stomping his foot for good measure.

Elliot smirked. “We didn’t say anything about magic. So there.”

“Tee-oh!” My clumsy third word made his loss a fleeting disappointment as he rushed to me.

“She said my name! She said my name! You’re so smart and talented and amazing! Way better than Elliot!” Theo gave Elliot a smart aleck smirk. “You aren’t the only talented one. Madeline is a million times better than you.”

“That’s enough of that. Why don’t you go wash up? I smell the dirt on you.” Mother ushered Theo towards the door as Father watched on in amusement. The wood in his hands had transformed into a toy bunny that he passed to me. I held on to it, annoyed at the urge to teethe.

“Bye Elliot!” Theo waved to his friend, grievances forgotten.

Elliot, however, scowled in suspicion at me. I couldn’t help some childish tendencies that compelled me despite my wisdom, and I didn’t fight this one. I stuck my tongue at him over Mother’s shoulder. His eyebrows lowered in affronted response.