The main line of students heading for the game gave the stone a wide berth, but enough of them were going over to gawk at it. Cary led the way over there, more curious about the sword than anything that was happening in the game.

"What is that?" Cary asked, as she got closer to the stone.

"It's the broken sword," Siobhan said. "One of the artifacts of magic. The only one that's known to exist."

"Oh, they all exist," Nelgomi insisted, in his usual gruff tone. "All eight of them exist out there. This is just the only one that's out in the open."

"Well, it's only out in the open because no one can take it," Sam said. "It's the sword in the stone. Excalibur. No one but the rightful descendant of King Arthur can draw it forth, and all that. Of course, it was placed back into the stone a hundred years after his last descendant died off, so..."

"But the other artifacts are just hidden away, and only a select few know where they are," Nelgomi said. "That's why people are starting to believe that they don't exist."

Most of the students that had dropped off to look at the sword were already falling back into the line heading for the field. But Cary, Nelgomi, Siobhan, and Sam all stayed there, staring at the sword. As the crowd faded away, Cary noticed a plaque standing up in front of the sword. She headed over there to read it, but it didn't say anything that her friends hadn't already told her.

"Why do they call it the broken sword?" she asked.

"It was broken during King Arthur's last battle," Sam said. "That didn't make it into the storybooks. If someone managed to take it out of the stone, it's only a few more inches of blade than what you can already see there."

"And it's an artifact of magic? What are those, exactly? I remember Nelgomi saying something about the heart of the woods or something."

"The heart of the forest," Nelgomi said, counting them off on his fingers. "The broken sword. The golden goblet. The ivory mask. The fifth tome. The sixth seal. The flaming sphere. The obsidian olgroht. They're the eight artifacts that led the four races to discover magic in their own way and allows for continued access to the realm of magic. For instance, the heart of the forest is the only thing that can plant fairy mushrooms in any of the realms. And we all know why those are important."

"Uh, no, not-not really," Cary said. She suddenly felt like she missed out on so much while avoiding the witches that she kept seeing everywhere. Now that she saw them for who they were, real, normal people like her, she was suddenly awake and playing catch up.

"How did you come to be in the magical realm?" Sam asked.

"Through a portal," Cary said. That much she knew. "But I don't know how fairy mushrooms have anything to do with portals. Isn't the forest around the school fairy mushrooms?"

"That's the forest," Sam said. "The original mushrooms, most of which are as old as the magical realm itself. The heart was first found deep in that forest, back when fairies still existed. They were the ones to plant the first few fairy rings in the other realms."

"And fairy rings are portals between the realms," Siobhan said. "The portals we use to get around the magical realm? Those don't go to the other realms. Even here, you need a fairy ring to go to the other realms. And because of what's happening in the other realms, the old rings are dying off. Soon, no one will be able to head between the realms."

"Not without the heart of the forest," Nelgomi said.

"But... But I didn't come through a fairy ring," Cary said.

All three of them stared at her in surprise. In confusion. Clearly, none of them were expecting that. And as oblivious as she had been those past few weeks, she was just as surprised that David hadn't told them that.

"What do you mean?" Siobhan asked. "That's not possible. Fairy rings are the only portals between realms."

"I mean... It... It looked like mushrooms."

"Yeah, that's–" Siobhan started.

"But it was a painting. Graffiti on the side of a wall. Not real mushrooms."

"What? How is that even possible?" Siobhan asked.

"It's not," Nelgomi said. "Maybe some kind of trick. An illusion that only made it seem like it was a painting. But it was a real fairy ring, hidden behind the wall or something."

"Maybe," Cary said, shrugging. "I don't know how this all works. But when David touched it, nothing happened. It was just a wall. It was only when I touched it that the portal activated."

"You just touched it?" Siobhan asked. "That's it? No spell or incantation?"

"No, why? Do you usually need something like that? I don't know. Greg seemed to come through it just fine, and he's not smart enough to use any of those."

"Honestly, I don't know how it works," Siobhan said, shrugging. "I grew up in the magical realm. I've never been to any other. But everyone knows you need a fairy ring to travel between. Always. When leaving the magical realm, I think you just touch it with your ring hand and it activates. But without a ring–"

"Oh," Cary said. "I already had this one." She pointed towards the ring on her hand. When she looked at it, the ring looked a little different than she remembered, but she couldn't quite put a finger on how. It was just always there, not something that she looked at most of the time, and would often forget it was there.

"Wait, you had a sorcerer ring before coming to the magical realm?" Sam asked. "There aren't many of those in any realm but the magical realm. Someone must have brought it there and left it. Maybe left it there for you. Did you inherit it or something?"

"No," Cary said, shaking her head. "Inherit it? Like from my parents? No. They... They weren't sorcerers. They were just normal people. At least... I think they were. I think my grandparents would have said something if they could cast magic. Well... They probably would have disowned them, refusing to acknowledge their existence. They might not have even taken me in, afraid I'd be like them. I probably would have ended up living with my aunt."

Cary laughed a little at the thought of living with her aunt. Aunt Linda was too much of a flake to be a decent guardian. She had come in and out of Cary's life over the years, every once in a while coming to stay with them for a month or two. She didn't seem to have a permanent address, and Cary had never heard of her having a job.

But as Cary thought of it, thought of her aunt, she was suddenly worried about what her grandparents would think if they knew the truth. If they knew that she was a sorcerer. That she was casting spells. With how Cary had first reacted to the idea of magic, of being surrounded by people that performed it, she knew that her grandparents would be the same. They would instantly think that Cary was a witch. That she somehow sold her soul to do magic. They'd turn from her instantly. Maybe even turn on her, turn her in to be burned alive.

Suddenly, staying with her aunt didn't seem so bad.

"I, uh, found it in this old house at the end of my street," Cary said. "People said it was haunted."

"Oh, that makes sense," Siobhan said. "Probably an old sorcerer's haunt. A place to hide out when in the human realm. I've heard people don't take too kindly there to people that can do magic."

"That's for sure," Cary said, nodding.

Cary looked between the sword and the field in the distance for a moment, suddenly realizing just how late it was getting. As the conversation dropped off, she started to hear cheering from the field in the distance, suggesting that the game had already started. Without any of them saying anything, they all started off towards the field, leaving the sword behind them.

"I still say that the heart is somewhere in Thorbjorg," Nelgomi muttered as they headed towards the field. "And I'm going to find it. If you guys hear anything about it..."

"Other than that it doesn't exist?" Siobhan asked.

"Oh, it exists alright," Nelgomi said. "And I'll prove it to you."

"Sure," Cary said, shrugging. "I'd like to see that. Maybe create a fairy ring in TPS somewhere. Could we use that to go home?"

"Go home?" Sam asked. "Why would you want to do that?"

"Are we still on this?" Siobhan asked. "I thought you were over the whole 'I'm surrounded by evil witches' thing."

"I don't think I ever thought you guys were evil," Cary said. "But, yeah, I was more thinking about going home to visit my grandparents. Maybe talk this whole thing over with them. I don't really want to drop the whole 'I'm a sorcerer' news on them at Christmas."

"Uh... Cary, you, uh, you can't go home this year," Sam said. "Not even for Christmas. It's too dangerous."

"What? How? You guys never told me how it's dangerous for me to go home. And what? I'm never allowed out of here? I'm stuck on a campus for the rest of my life?"

"No, no, no," Sam said. "We get to go home for summer vacation, but not before then. At least, none of us that aren't turning eleven before then. I think some of the older fifth graders are allowed back sooner. But, if it makes you feel any better, I'm stuck here just as much as you are. I turned ten back in July."

"Wow, that only makes me want to go home sooner more," Cary said. "Nelgomi, count me in on the search for that heart of the forest thingy."

"Uh... sure," Nelgomi said. But he looked between Cary, Sam, and Siobhan for a moment, clearly uncomfortable about something. "How-how dangerous is it for us to go to those other realms right now?"

"Very," Sam said. But, still, he didn't clarify. He didn't seem to know any more than the others just why or how it was dangerous for them to return to the human realm. And as they made it to the field, Cary was starting to think that no one knew. That it was all just an excuse to keep them trapped there.

But as they started to climb the stairs on the stands, she had to remind herself that she wasn't surrounded by witches. That people weren't conspiring against her there, working to fatten her up to eat her or anything like that. They were normal people, children learning to access the magic that came to them naturally and the adults that were helping them. There were no witches there, no evil people, no conspiracies.

Except, of course, the coven. As the four of them sat down on the top row of seats, Cary couldn't help but look towards the four self-proclaimed witches, just three rows in front of them. All four of them were looking back at her with knowing smiles. It was like they knew that Cary was going to join them. That she would be easy to corrupt to their side.

Cary just shook her head, trying to ignore the coven, as she turned to the game in front of her. Much to her surprise, David was up at bat, standing by the plate. He seemed oblivious to Cary and her friends as he stared down the pitcher. Unlike when Reggie pitched, the Merlin Prep player was throwing the ball by hand. But when he pitched, there were still five balls heading for David, just like the pitching machine did. David managed to hit the right ball just fine, running off towards first base. However, halfway there, the ground opened up in front of David and he fell into the pit below.

"Out," the umpire called out, throwing his thumb over his shoulder.

Half the crowd started cheering the end of the play. Cary wanted to join in, but she reminded herself that she was supposed to be cheering on her own team. Still, she couldn't help but smile at her ex-best friend's issues with the game.