Aunt Janet’s Point of View

Excerpt from Chapter 1 of Maryalise and the Singing Flowers

The roar of the storm outside the window could not hide the tinkle of the crystal prisms on the lamp. I stepped to the door of the parlor. I saw Mary Alice—no, it was Maryalise. She was holding a prism between herself and the angry storm. She didn’t see me. I didn’t hear the words she spoke, but saw the ray of sunshine break through the clouds, shoot through the window and enter the prism. The room was filled with rainbows. I was motionless, unable to move because of the wonder of it all. Maryalise began to dance. I watched as she held the crystal high and moved from rainbow to rainbow, gathering their magic into herself.

She is coming into her magic, I thought as she danced around the room. She feels the magic that is in her. She is so beautiful. She is so like her mother. At that moment I remembered Maryalise’s mother—remembered that I had promised to protect her child. This is wrong—so wrong, I thought. Marryalise must not be allowed to use magic. I have protected this house, this garden, but to keep her safe, her magic must remain hidden within a mortal child.

I stepped into the room. “Mary Alice! Mary Alice! Whatever are you doing?”

She stopped dancing. I watched Maryalise vanish. She was Mary Alice once more and she knew that she was in trouble—again! She was motionless as she looked across the room into my eyes. Mary Alice lowered the hand with the crystal and hid it behind her back.

The sky above the garden was as dark as it had been before she summoned the sunshine. The rainbows were gone and the music was gone. Maryalise was gone. Fear had driven her magic deep inside. I regretted the loss—but I believed that this was how it had to be. The wind continued its angry howl.

“Just what did you think you were doing?” I asked.

Mary Alice hung her head and whispered, “Dancing.”

Rose Owens