Chapter 1 - The Magical Mystery of the Wanderprickle (Part 2)

He must have been dreaming. If he wasn't, then he was hallucinating from exhaustion. He had seen something so incredibly unbelievable that he couldn't forget it, and it occupied his mind for the entire day. He was unable to think of anything else, and even when he did, his thoughts inevitably wandered back to what he witnessed that night.

If he couldn't get it out of his mind, then he should do everything he could to get to the bottom of this.

Before he went to sleep, he set up his phone to record his desk. He expected to see either nothing, or himself sleepwalking and moving the cactus, which was the most likely explanation for this whole ordeal. It had to be!
He went to sleep, confident that the truth would be revealed and the mysterious event he caught sight of would be exposed as nothing but a scene straight from his imagination. He trusted science and facts above everything else, and knew he had won against this “mysterious phenomenon”.

So when he watched the recording the next morning and it wasn't what he expected, his jaw dropped just like his phone that slipped from his hands and landed on the floor. Slowly, he bent down, hesitating; as if picking it up would confirm what he just saw. As if he could just keep believing it was all a dream if he left it there.

What his phone had filmed during the night was the exact same thing he had witnessed before, and for the first time he felt like there really was no scientific explanation he could rely on. He looked at the cactus on his desk, then at the video again. It really was in the same spot – of course it was, what did he expect? That someone took his phone and edited the footage?

At a loss, Jade picked up the plant and went to ask his aunt. Maybe there was still a rational way to explain all of this, but at this point he couldn't deny that the cactus was moving on its own.

As usual, he found Aunt Laurel outside, tending to the garden with her daughter helping her. Myrtle was out taking care of the shop, and Ivy was in class, so it was just the three of them at home that day.

"Auntie," he called out, "there seems to be something wrong with the cactus you gave me."

"Something wrong?"

"How do I say this... It seems to have trouble sitting still."

Intrigued, his aunt put her tools away, quickly dusting off her clothes before taking the cactus off his hands to have a closer look at it, Olive watching with curiosity.

"Oh my!" The woman exclaimed. "I'm terribly sorry, there's been a mix-up. I meant to give you a regular cactus, not this Wanderprickle!"

"W-Wanderprickle...?" Jade repeated, confusion plain on his face.

"It's a kind of magic plant that looks exactly like a regular cactus, but its top branches are actually legs! It likes wandering around, hence the name."

Jade opened and closed his mouth a few times before he managed to get his thoughts sufficiently in order for them to come out coherently.

"What do you mean, 'magic'?!" He exclaimed, arms raised in confusion.

Aunt Laurel was just as confused as him, before gasping in shock. "Did your mother not tell you anything?" She shook her head disapprovingly. "That girl, she's always been such an airhead!"

It was at this moment that heard about magic for the first time in his life – and that his mother was a witch.

For generations, witches who took an interest in plants had been born in the Vinesong family – over time, it became their specialty. But unlike her sister, her parents and grandparents, and great-grandparents, – and many more generations before that –, Jade's mother, Fern, was more interested in science than magic. She left to study in the city, where she met her husband and settled down, and before they knew it, Jade was born.
Jade's father was also a scientist – albeit in a different field – and being born from parents like them, Jade had inevitably been fascinated by science since a young age. Perhaps it was because they were all into science, or because she genuinely didn't think to mention it, but Fern never told her husband or son about her heritage.
The Vinesong family's magic was also not the kind that would come in handy at family gatherings, so they had never witnessed a hint of magic in their entire life; with how down-to-earth they were, they wouldn't have believed in its existence without seeing it with their own eyes anyway.

No wonder we all have plant names, he thought when he heard the story from his aunt. All members of his family bore the name of a plant or of something green. He used to dislike his own name too, because he was often bullied for it – now, he was just indifferent. The Vinesongs loved nature so much they named their children after it.

"So..." The young man started, eyes on his cactus. "... this thing is called a Wanderprickle, you say?"

A little surprised, his aunt didn't answer right away. A smile formed on her face, and she began telling him all there was to know about this plant that just couldn't sit still.

"The Wanderprickle is what you could call a walking cactus. It gets bored of being in the same place very quickly, so it's always moving around. It likes seeing new scenery."

"Hmm. Sounds like me."

"In any case, I'm very sorry. This wasn't meant to happen. I'll take it back and get you a normal cactus."

Jade wasn't expecting this. "Huh? Why?"

"Well, you don't want to keep such a troublesome plant, do you?"

"Troublesome? Not more than a pet, I'd say. Magic or not, it's still a cactus, and it's a gift from you. I want to cherish it."

Aunt Laurel smiled warmly. "In that case, I'll find you some books so you can properly care for it. Speaking of which, a Wanderprickle's wandering shouldn't be limited to a single room. Its territory is usually much bigger."

"So," Jade surmised, "what you're saying is that there's something I'm doing wrong. To be fair, I only looked into caring for regular cacti, not magic ones... Is the soil not rich enough? Or maybe it needs more water..."

Deep in thought, Jade examined the Wanderprickle closely, and before his aunt could tell him, the realization hit him when he remembered how the little plant was staggering as it walked.

"Of course, it's the pot!"

The Wanderprickle flipped itself upside down to walk on its branches, which meant the pot would be above it; Jade figured that it was too big and heavy for it to walk properly, so it wasn't wandering as much as it should.

Aunt Laurel put a hand on his shoulder. "Come with me, let's pick out a suitable pot for your new friend."

Jade set down the cactus on his desk, back where he'd originally put it; although there was no doubt it wouldn't stay here long. Its pot was much smaller now, and it shouldn't have as much trouble wandering around. The young man even made sure to place his furniture to form stairs in case the Wanderprickle wanted to get off his desk.

Satisfied, he sat down and opened the first volume in the pile of books his aunt had selected for him.

"Time to do some studying!"