“Wait,” Loki pulled the Alicorn away from her. “OK. I get it. I have to be worthy of the unicorn it came from to use it to kill that vicious vampire in Sorrow. Truth is; I need anything that will help me overcome my fears, especially this one. What do I have to do to get the Alicorn to choose me?”
“First, there is spell that makes it work,” Babushka said. “You gaze at it with determination, and say, ‘Ora Pedora’.”
It was a mystery to Loki why the things had to be so complicated. If the Alicorn was magical, why did controlling it have to be so hard?
“Ora Pedora—“Loki started saying.
“The spell won’t work unless you fulfill the second condition,” Babushka said.
“Which is?”
“You have to believe in the Chanta,” said Babushka sternly.
“Chanta?”
“The Chanta, Loki,” she reached with her skeleton hand over his heart. “It used to be called the Enchanta, but Chanta sounds easier.”
Loki thought it was a bit odd that a dead mother talked to him about using the Chanta, which seemed to have to do something with his heart.
“The Chanta is the unseen power of hearts that enchants us all. It’s the secret of wills and the conjurer of miracles,” Babushka elaborated, reminding him of the way Charmwill used to talk to him. “It’s the human power that science can’t explain. No one can prove it exists, but we all know it’s there.”
“English, please?”
Babushka leaned forward again. She neared his right ear then whispered, “If you believe, I mean truly believe and desire something with a true heart, the Chanta coaxes the whole universe to conspire with you and help you get what you want.”
“The whole universe? Even Forks, Seattle?” Loki wondered; trying to neglect the fact that if the world did conspire to do something, then it was making sure his life in the Ordinary World was miserable. Still, he hoped his mother’s words were true. Wouldn’t it be amazing if he desired something and the world conspired to help him achieve it?
“The whole world is on your side, Loki,” she whispered in his ear. “All you need is to follow your bliss and the world will walk in your footsteps.”
“Did you talk to Charmwill lately?”
“Stop asking silly questions and ask the right ones,” Babushka scowled.
“Right ones, like how am I supposed to follow this bliss you’re talking about?”
“When you learn to care for others the way you care for yourself,” Babushka sounded serious for a ghost who scared others.
“I don’t want to care for someone else. Why should I care for any of those Minikins?”
“I don’t know, Loki, but I think you keep saying these things despite what you truly feel in your heart. I can’t imagine you walking away from helping someone in need.”
“Well, if it’s a helpless animal that Minikins keep hurting, I agree, but none of those Minikins deserve my help. This is not my world. It’s only temporary.”
“It’s your life, son. You will choose what’s right for you. I’m telling you what I think is best for you,” Babushka said. “Just promise me you’ll always remember this conversation.”
“If the Council of Heaven doesn’t wipe it away from my memory, I promise you I will.”
“That’s my Loco. Now close your eyes, breathe deeply, and desire what you want,” she demanded. “Make sure it is what you really want before you say it.”
“I’m kinda driving, mom. I can’t close my eyes.”
“If you believe in the Chanta, you can.”
“Look, mom, I know you’re a ghost and that life isn’t precious to you anymore, but boys like me don’t close their eyes while driving. The Chanta can wait.”
When Loki looked back in the mirror, his mother was gone. Sometimes, when Babushka disappeared like that, Loki began to think that he didn’t really have a mother. Maybe, she was just a figment of his imagination that he’d invented to ease his loneliness in this Ordinary World.
But if he was hallucinating, what was the Alicorn doing next to him in the passenger seat? He reached for it to touch it and make sure it was real.
Loki kept staring at the Alicorn for a while, wondering how he’d make it choose him—and if all that hocus pocus was true.
“Ora Pedora,” Loki whispered to it as if trying to wake someone up.
Nothing happened; it was just a dead unicorn’s horn lying in the seat.
“Ora Pedora,” Loki raised his voice a little, the way you do when someone you are trying to wake doesn’t hear you the first time.
Still, nothing happened.
“Ora Pedora,” he straightened up his back and talked as if he were a wizard master in the sixteenth century.
Nothing.
“Crap,” Loki stopped messing with the Alicorn and began focusing on the dark road ahead.
Carmen had stopped playing music. He drummed the radio with the palm of his hand, but still no tunes came vibrating from the radio. It was as if the few people he talked to in this world, didn’t want to talk to him anymore, and he felt an eerie loneliness creeping up his spine.