14- Down to Earth

table of contents

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Yeah, I went back to Earth.

I don’t know why,

there’s very little

to use for magic there.

There used to be,

according to some old demons and monsters.

But all the roads and cars and cities and warehouses and lights

sucked it up

dug it out

and stirred it in

hot oil

until it gummed up

to a useless mash,

and on the other side of the portal

from the Realm of Green Dragons

my skin broke out

with the dryness of it,

and I got why the demons

described my homeworld like that,

as a gummy, useless mash,

and I got why the school was here;

without much magic,

the students couldn’t do anything too crazy.

But I didn’t immediately run back for the magic

of the Realm of Green Dragons,

I just let the portal close behind me,

because maybe this was why I returned.

I didn’t want myself doing anything

too crazy.

So I inhaled the outback air

deeply.

My sponge lungs crackled.

Then I thumped my copper stick to the rocks

and put my hood up to the winter sun

and

walked.

Welcome home, Isabel.