paradisa | page fifteen

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henry mills

page fifteen

[Henry's been riveted to all the information coming in from Terre Haute. He has friends there, people he needs safe.... He wanted so badly to go, but he remembers all the times he jumped in too early and had to be dug out of trouble. He's learning, now; he'll be able to ride and fight on his own soon. Until then, he can't drag people down. So he's been practicing on his own, going through basic motions to remind himself that he can make sure he goes, next time, if he works hard enough.

But reading all this....

He sits on his bed with his journal open in his lap. His tone is firm, for a ten year old.]

Will someone tell me about the Dead Zone? I know some, the basic stuff, but I always focused on the castle, I guess. The castle's magic. But...

[But now it all seems so much bigger than that.]

I just want to know more.

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I was told magic does not exist there.

Yeah, that's what I heard, too. And that things like flashlights and stuff don't work either.

But that's weird, isn't it? Magic can't just stop existing in one part of a world. You either have it or you don't.

Maybe it is tempered, rendered ineffective?

I don't know how you would do that, though, except with other, stronger magic. But it can't be the castle, can it? Why would it want to stop magic?

Something stronger than the castle? Perhaps it is the castle trying to push its influence while the world damps it.

So it might be the world's magic versus the castle's magic? But I've never heard of it working that way before.

[A pause.]

Unless... the castle doesn't belong here, either?

Maybe... Why do you wish to know, Henry?

If I'm going to go out into the Dead Zone eventually, I should know more about it.

That is no place for a child, even one as brave as you.

[indignant:] I'm not just a kid! I'm training so I can go out there and help everyone.

You were never just a boy, Henry, but I worry still.

It's okay, I'm not going to go before I'm ready. Robb and Arya are teaching me.

How to fight? Robb is kindly. [ Arya, on the other hand... ]

Yeah, he's teaching me how to use a sword. My grandpa started to teach me earlier, but he left before we could finish.

[Oh, oh, and!!]

Bunny taught me how to use a boomerang, too, and I've been practicing with that! So you won't have to worry about me at all.

I would worry even if you are the greatest warrior of all...

What do you wish to find?

... I don't know. [It comes out like a confession.] I don't know what's out there. But if it's going to help everyone in the castle, I want to be out there, too.

You would break this curse too. You said you would, do you remember?

Exactly.

[Though he's thinking less and less that it's a curse, these days. It's scary when the world isn't so black and white.]

I figured since it's the castle's magic the answer had to be here, but... maybe that's not the only answer.