There! It had moved! And another had too! They were re-forming themselves to look exactly like the pictures in the book. He reached and was able to slide the book over without removing the light from the circle. With a good deal of effort, he managed to pick up the book and balance it so he could read it. What am I doing? A silent alarm went off in his head, but the moment was absolutely magical and he didn’t want it to end.

Henry imagined what might happen if he were in a movie, and he began to read the mystery text aloud, sounding out the unfamiliar words. He was halfway through before he realized he didn’t need the book. The words were in his head! If he closed his eyes, it was as if he could read them on his eyelids.

As he neared the end of the passage, the words on the page began to illuminate, whiteness now shining where black ink once appeared. And as he chanted the final word, he imagined himself a wizard and waved the wand with a flourish … just as Brianna reentered the room, dressed in her blue fairy-princess costume.

She stopped in the center of the circle with a smile on her face as bright as the light around her. She was on stage and reveling in the moment—a star performer!

A brilliant flash of whiteness exploded from the wand. The circle of light solidified into a cylinder that extended to the ceiling, trapping Brianna in the center of it. She screamed silently—as if the light had imprisoned the sound.

Henry panicked and began waving the wand in any and all directions, trying to undo whatever he had unleashed. “Brianna! Get out of there!” He tried to reach for her, but the light formed an impenetrable wall that singed his hand.

Her mouth formed the word “Henry” as she screamed his name over and over. Henry threw the wand on the bed and, in desperation, began rummaging through the footlocker.

What did I do?

He tossed out books, toys, and photos until there was nothing left but a lining of thin green fabric. In a rage born of desperation, he tore at the fabric, ripping it clear from the glue that bound it. A bright gold stone that had been stuck to the fabric flew across the room and began to glow.

A thin tendril of light—so thin and wispy it looked like bright smoke—snaked away from the cylinder of light and toward the stone. The tendril touched the stone tentatively—then pulled back like a mouse that realized it had entered a trap.

But it had already been ensnared by the stone. Not a stone, Henry realized—a nugget of gold. And the nugget was winning the battle.