Discovery

Molly Larkin was desperate to find something magical. She hadn’t managed it yet, though her daring exploration of the Earth was legendary. She had found tombs and creatures and other treasures all over the globe. Most people would be satisfied with the gold, wonders, and fame, but not Molly.

Molly had a friend once who had found something he claimed was evidence of magic. He promptly disappeared, and only Molly was convinced that he had found the inexplicable.

Her red, curly hair was frizzing out of its messy bun in the humid heat of the jungle. The growls of fearsome beasts would have sent a lesser explorer skittering away, but Molly didn’t even flinch. Molly knew this part of the jungle by heart. Her missing friend, Gerald Cooper, had his base here.

She would be the first to admit that Gerald had been an odd fellow. She scaled the planks nailed to the tree up to his elaborate treehouse. It was a thousand square feet and stretched across three trees. The entire place was littered with stacks of paper (maybe organized?) to which Molly had been adding her own research for a year.

Usually, she stumbled somewhat drunkenly to the base when she had failed another attempt to find the paranormal. Colleagues thought that was a good way to get herself killed. Today, however, her head was clear, and her nerves hummed with anticipation. Gerald had disappeared exactly a year ago, on the previous summer solstice.

He had texted her a hurried message: “I’ve done it! Molly, I did it. I love you.”

Inopportune time to leave, if you think about it. Declare your love to the woman who had been mooning after you for five years, and just disappear. No matter, she’d find him. She’d find the magic.

They’d be together.

She pulled up the most recent paper, the one that detailed precisely what he had planned to do. She’d collected everything she was supposed to. Molly knew she should be afraid of what she would–or wouldn’t–find, but she couldn’t bring herself to be. She would find Gerald or she wouldn’t. She would live or she wouldn’t. She would find magic or she wouldn’t.

She was sure that her failures would be over soon.

The paper indicated that she would be summoning a coven of faerie witches. Maybe Gerald had joined them. The thought sent a thrill through her. She pulled her video camera from her bag and set it on a table so it—and the future—could watch the proceedings.

“So,” she began, “My name is Molly Larkin and I am going to attempt to find the supernatural. It took me three months to find the base of Gerald Cooper, and now, I stand where he stood a year ago, before his disappearance. I have searched the world for some sign of magic and have found nothing. Today, that changes. Today I pass from a somewhat well-known explorer into a legendary discoverer.” Molly paused to smirk victoriously.

She pulled the hairband out of her hair, letting it cascade in red curls around her shoulders. She knew she was sweating through her white tank top and that her cargo pants were unflattering. Still, she intended to look good in the video.

She pulled a rug out of the way with a flourish, revealing a perfect circle surrounded by swirling runes etched into the floor. Molly gave the camera a knowing smile and began to place candles around the circle’s edge.

She lit each one and sat in the center of the circle, holding one candle in her trembling hands. She closed her eyes and began to speak in a language she hadn’t begun to be able to understand. The words were beautiful; even, on her clumsy mortal tongue, musical.

For a moment, she felt her gut clench in disappointment. Nothing was happening, but she kept speaking. Then, a wind began to swirl around her, making her hair dance like the flame it so resembled.

One by one, the candles winked out, plunging Molly into a darkness blacker than the evening should be. She opened her eyes and found a man before her, lit only by the candle she held.

His brown hair was long, pulled back off his face. He was tall, taller than any human. Taller than he had been before. His ears now came to a sharp point and his usual glasses were gone from his nose. Gerald.

His eyes were gentle, and he beamed, “Molly!”

She got to her feet with a joyous cheer. “Gerry!”

Molly felt no surprise at the confirmation that magic was real. She had believed it so vehemently for so long. She flung herself into Gerald’s arms and was glad when he embraced her.

“Take me with you,” she said.

“Always an explorer.” He seemed pleased. “Of course. You will be one of us! A witch, a fae. I really hoped you would find me. I missed you.”

“We can be together,” Molly breathed. “I love you, too.”

He kissed her, just a peck, but her knees went weak. Gerald waved and winked at the camera.

With that, he took Molly’s hand and they seemed to swirl out of existence.

It took three years for the camera to be found. Molly’s disappearance had been ruled a suicide over the loss of her friend. Molly Larkin and Gerald Cooper became nothing more than a sad story. Then, the tapes were found, and everything changed for the world.

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