"What direction?"
"South, Grandpa! Head south!" Winter was shouting at her grandfather. A snow storm had set in, causing everyone to have to shout to hear each other. The joys of being born in January, Winter kept saying over and over again in her head.
"Why can't it be Summer?" Summer was complaining. Winter gave her a dirty look. "Sorry!" Summer said. "I know this is your namesake season, but I was named after summer and it's my favorite season. Besides, we could die here!"
"We're not going to die," Winter reassured her. Summer just nodded, wrapping her coat tighter around herself.
Suddenly, Winter felt a strange feeling. She couldn't explain it or understand it, but it was almost like a gut feeling that she felt she should trust.
"Grandpa, turn right," Winter said, almost in a strange trance.
"What?"
"Turn right!" Winter shouted. Her grandfather tried to argue, but she silenced him. He turned right.
"Now turn left. Okay, okay... Keep going straight... Now turn left again. Okay... Turn right... Okay... Go straight. Okay... Now, stop right here!"
Michael slammed on the brakes, stopping the car. Winter was immediately out of the car, racing up the steps and onto someone's front porch.
Winter rang the doorbell, somehow knowing that this was the right house. She was greeted by an ancient-looking man with a long white beard.
"I've been expecting you," the man said. "I just got off the phone with my dear friend Emma. She told me you were looking for me?"
By that time, Michael had already started climbing the stairs up to Julian's house. "Michael," Julian said, "I see you have come to fulfill your end of our deal."
"I have, Julian," Michael said. "Here are my granddaughters. Winter," he said, gesturing to his brunette granddaughter, "and Summer." His gesture moved to his blonde granddaughter.
"Pleasure to meet you," Julian said. "Please, come in. It's quite frosty; we wouldn't want you to stay out there longer than you have to. Would you like some coffee or tea?"
"Tea would be nice," Michael said. Julian led them into a beautiful grand foyer with an ornate staircase. He then led them to the very big and modern kitchen, which, for some reason, surprised Winter.
"How can you see?" Winter asked. "The journal said you were blind."
"I can see in many other ways," Julian explained vaguely.
He handed Michael a cup of tea. "So I'm assuming the girls know about," Julian started, then glanced nervously at the girls, "it?"
"Yes, they do," Michael said. "We can openly discuss it."
"Good," Julian said, putting a tea bag into his cup. "Winter, Summer, I am going to share with you some of the history of the amulet." The girls nodded. "Because of your special... situation, there is actually two necklaces created to represent the amulet."
"What are you talking about?" Winter asked.
"Well," Julian began, "without the amulet, you girls won't have your powers. But since there was only one amulet, we needed individual symbols of the amulet for each of you girls to wear." He pulled a fabric pouch out of a drawer in the kitchen. He tipped over the pouch, and two necklaces fell out into his open palm. "Winter, you get a snowflake," he said, handing Winter the necklace with a beautiful snowflake charm. "And Summer, you get the sun," he said, giving Summer her necklace.
"Wow," Summer said. "Of course. Winter has snow, summer has sun. So original." She sighed.
"So what if we weren't twins?" Winter heard herself saying, though she barely realized it. "I mean, if we weren't born twins, and there was only one of us, would that person just wear the amulet all the time? Or would they wear a different necklace as well?"
"It depends," Julian said. But he didn't give any details. "I will keep the amulet here with me to protect it. If someone was able to destroy it, it would strip you girls of your powers."
"Tell us about the woman who created the amulet," Winter said. She knew she was probably going to regret asking, but she couldn't stop herself. She was curious. She needed answers, and she needed them now.
"Her name is Emma," Julian said.
"We know an Emma!" Summer exclaimed. "She came to the front door when went to visit you in your old house. She gave us directions here."
"Yes," Julian said. "Emma is an old friend of mine. She's a very powerful sorceress. She created the amulet in hopes of using it to protect her powers. She thought she could hide it, and her powers could never be taken from her. When the amulet didn't work, she needed someone to harness its power, or else the amulet could destroy itself, and possibly all magic."
"So," Winter said, "if no one contained the power inside of the amulet, it could destroy all magic?"
"Yes, and it could kill people like Emma," Julian said. "When they've built their lives around magic, and magic became a part of their being, not having magic could paralyze them, or even kill them." Summer's eyes popped wide open, but Winter stayed calm. She feared if she showed any emotion about the situation, she would lose it again.
"Anyways, Emma needed someone to wield the powers of the amulet," Julian explained. "So, she chose your family. Why, I don't know. But that was her decision, and I have learned that it is best not to question Emma's decisions.
"Your grandfather, Michael, was supposed to have the powers of the amulet. But, as you know, his wife was pregnant with your father at the time. He wanted to take care of his child without worrying about the magic. And he didn't want his son to have to deal with magic. It is a wonderful, but also very dangerous, force. So I told him that he could refuse the powers. But the burden would have be bestowed upon his granddaughters. The two of you.
"I also told him that he needed to bring you to train with me," Julian said. "Hence why you girls are sitting at my table right now."
"Wow," Summer said. "Magic is so confusing."
"This is insane," Winter examined. "I'm just supposed to believe all of this? You're crazy!"
"That may be true," a voice said from the front doorway. Winter heard Julian's front door close. Then a young woman with long black hair that reached her waist appeared in the kitchen. She wore a jeweled silver headpiece to keep her hair back and a long, violet colored dress. "Julian has had a visit or two to the psych ward."
"Ah, you always make me laugh," Julian said, greeting the woman.
"Hello," the woman said with a thick British accent, greeting the twins. "I just came to see Julian's little prodigies. I'm Emma, by the way. We met earlier."
"We... did?" Summer asked, confused. "I think I would've remembered meeting you earlier."
"Oh, we did meet," Emma said, "but I was an old woman then." Summer eyes went wide, and then she laughed.
"Oh, you must be all-powerful lots-of-magic sorceress Emma," Summer said.
"Yes, that would be me," Emma said, laughing. She turned to Julian, who had been quietly standing off to the side. "How are they doing, Julian?"
"Oh, I... uh..." Julian stammered.
"You haven't started teaching them yet."
"Not exactly."
"Tsk, tsk, Julian," Emma scolded. "I am very disappointed. Oh well, I suppose we can start training now." Emma snapped her manicured fingers. Winter and Summer gasped as they were blinded with brilliant white light.
When the light receded, Winter took a look at her surroundings. She saw green grass underneath her feet. She appeared to be on some sort of cliff, and a river rushed beneath her. Strong winds were pushing her towards the edge and making it impossible to hear.
"Where are we?" Summer screamed over the howling wind.
"I am going to teach you how to use your magic," Emma said calmly.
"Are you insane?" Winter shouted. "We are going to die here! You need to get us off this cliff!" This only made the wind blow harder. Winter felt herself losing her balance. "Help me! I'm gonna fall!"
"You want to get off this cliff?" Emma asked. "Use your magic and get yourself off this cliff!"
"I can't!" Winter yelled. She glanced over at her sister, who was safely holding onto a tree branch. "Summer! Help me!" Summer tried to reach for her sister, Emma cut in between them.
"No," Emma said harshly. "Winter must do this on her own."
"I can't!" Winter screamed. That's when she lost her balance. Her foot slipped off the edge of the cliff and she tumbled into the darkness below.