Singing and Powers

“And all along I believed, I would find you. Time has brought your heart to me, I have loved you for a thousand years. I’ll love you for a thousand more!” I finished the song and smiled at all of the people looking at me. 

“Bravo! Bravo! More, more!” I heard everyone echo this, but I shook my head while laughing.

“All of’ y’all know I can’t do another-on the piano. Who says we do a little line dancing? Cotton Eye Joe Time!” I had to raise my voice to make everyone hear over their loud shouts. I grabbed my guitar from its resting place at the side of my piano and stood up. Everyone else got up out of their seat and went onto the “dance floor”. It was really just an area rug we placed at the center of the room. I started playing my guitar for the introduction and more people went on the dance floor. 

“If it hadn’t been for Cotton-Eye Joe, I’d been married a long time ago. Where did you come from, where did you go? Where did you come from, Cotton Eye-Joe?” I strummed my guitar for the break and everyone did the dance. I did the dance as much as possible while still playing. I sang and sang and sang until the song was over. I had the same reaction to that song as I did to the last one, and everyone took their seats again.

“I gotta thank y’all for coming out tonight. You know it’s such a pleasure every time I come out here to sing in front of ya. Be expectin’ me out here tomorrow night as well. See y’all later!” I sat my guitar down and withdrew behind the curtain that led backstage. 

“Dixie!” I was yanked to the side to see my boyfriend, Will. I could tell that something was going on, just by the way he looked at me.

“What’s wrong?” He looked left and right, as if he was about to tell me something that no one else could hear. But instead, he dropped to one knee. I saw a twinkle in his eye.

“Will?” I watched his hand as it reached into his back packet and he pulled out a little case. A small smile played on his lips. Popping it open, he revealed the most beautiful ring I had ever seen.

“Dixie Jolene Tramor, will you become a Nilson and marry me?” I was suddenly aware of all of the people surrounding us, and the open curtain. Everyone was staring at me, waiting for my answer. My hands flew to my mouth and my palms were sweaty. 

“Will, I love you. I really do. And I want to still date you, but… I’m not ready for that. I’m not ready to make that big of a move in my life. I’m not ready to make such a big commitment. I still want to be with you, just...not…” I saw tears threatening to come out of Will’s eyes, so I pulled him up and pulled him into a hug. He hugged me back and I took that chance to strike. I moved my hand up until I was touching his scalp with my fingertips. I concentrated hard, and then he disappeared. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach, but I knew that he would be happier where I sent him.

“Dixie! You were great out there!” I looked around and saw Katrina, my friend, waving at me. The curtain was closed and everyone was doing their normal jobs. I smiled. I was getting better at this.

“Thanks, Katrina! You’re getting even better with how to set the lights!” She always worked backstage at my shows; doing all of the lighting. She smiled at me and then turned around to start talking to a man I didn’t know.

I walked around, thanking people, saying hi, until I finally got to the hallway that led to his room. I knocked on the open door. He was sitting cross-legged on his bed, reading a book written in a foreign language.

“Smart move. You would’ve been in deep trouble if you said yes.” I rolled my eyes. I knew that Adrian had to change his appearance so he could stick around, but it was still hard to take orders from a man that looked like he was eight. I leaned against the door and sighed.

“What’s my punishment tonight?” I crossed my arms and put my left foot behind my right. Adrian sat his book down face up on the bed.

“I have been giving you a lot of punishments. I haven’t given you a reward since the beginning of this year; 6 months ago. I’m going to teach you how to Switch.” He nods as if confirming this is what he wants to do. I look at him.

“What’s that?” I relieve myself from the comfortable position I was in and stand up straight while keeping my arms crossed.

“You will Switch. Switch from your mortal form to your natural form. Of course, you didn’t know until now that you have a different form than this. Let me explain further.

“You are born as a mortal with powers. But in reality, you have a mythical creature form; your natural form. In most cases, your parents teach you how to Switch when they think you are ready. In your case, that was not possible. Therefore, I will teach you what your natural form is and how to transform into it. Are you following along so far?” I took in his words and registered them in my head before nodding. I wiped my hands, which had suddenly become sweaty, on my dress and nodded again.

“Your natural form depends on your family heritage. As you already know, you are a descendant from the first of us, Pollu. His father was actually a wereful, his mother a mortal. That is how our race began. Pollu was also the first Switcher, but he didn’t know how to control it. That is why our race has evolved where your elders teach you how. 

“The only reason why you don’t look even remotely like a werewolf is because through the years, more and more mortals came into your family. That is why you can only be a werewolf by Switching. Now let me explain how you really Switch.” He took a deep breath and stood up. Adrian walked over to the closet that he stored his things in and opened up the door. He rummaged around in it before pulling out a baseball bat. He positioned the bat in his hands and took a swing. The bat immediately changed from a baseball bat to what looked like a stick. But the only thing that caught my attention was the top, which was twisted like a hair braid.

“What is that?” I walked towards Adrian (and the stick) and reached out to touch it. He immediately yanked it back.

“You can’t touch it yet. This is my family’s Switching Stick. It’s a stupid name, I know. When us kids would learn how to Switch, we would just call it Adrian’s Stick because it was our grandfather’s stick. If you couldn’t put it together, Adrian was my grandfather. Hence the reason I am named Adrian.

“Now, how do I teach you to use-You better go back. Your people will start to wonder where you are. I’ll teach you how to use the Stick tomorrow night.” With a snap of his fingers, Adrian disappeared into thin air; with the Stick. 

I sighed and closed the door behind me as I walked out. I went through the hallway and then got to the main room backstage. Most of the workers were still there, but Katrina wasn’t. I walked over to her close friend, Lillian, and asked her where Katrina went.

“Katrina left like five minutes ago because she said that she got a message from her sister asking her to come over for some tea or something. Katrina said not to worry because her sister does it all the time, so yeah. Whatcha need her for?” Lillian blew a bubble with her bubble gum then popped it.

“I was just wondering. Making sure nothing was wrong. Have a great night.”

“You, too!” Lillian waved as I walked away and towards the curtain. I parted it a bit and looked out. There were still about fifty people left in the seating, which wasn’t unusual. I took a deep breath and walked out. I grabbed the microphone that was resting on the top of my piano and put it up to my mouth.

“Hey, y’all! How about a couple more songs, huh? Come on!”

---

“Okay. You told me you would teach me how to Switch or whatever tonight. So, here I am. Ready to learn.” Adrian was sitting on his bed again, only this time he was tuning a guitar.

“Get out the Stick thingy and teach me how.” He continued to tune the guitar without even a glance at me. I was growing impatient quickly.

“Oh, Dixie. You may look like you’re twenty-two, but you still have the heart and soul of a fifteen-year-old.” I narrowed my eyes at him. 

“Look. You told me that my reward was you teaching me how to Switch. And you didn’t completely explain what I’m Switching into last night, either. Just teach me and I won’t act like a fifteen-year-old, alright?” I threw my hands up into the air in aggravation and Adrian finally stopped tuning the guitar and looked at me. He gently sat the guitar down next to him on the bed and he nodded.

“Very well. Get the Stick, please. It is leaning up against my desk over there.” He pointed to a desk that was shoved up against the wall in the corner. I looked for the Stick itself, but then remembered that it looked like a baseball bat until Adrian transformed it. I walked over to the desk and grabbed the baseball bat. I went back over to Adrian’s bed and handed it to him. He swung it around and it turned into the Stick. 

“Now, when I give you these directions, you must follow them exactly. Otherwise the consequences may be severe and or permanent. Now, grip the Stick like this.” He put his left hand at the top of the Stick, before it turned into a braid, and put his right hand at the very bottom. I took it from him and did the same.

“Exactly. Now, once you do the instructions I tell you to, you will say olove eleviv. But not until I give you the other instructions. You do those words last.” I repeated olove eleviv about a million times in my head and nodded and waited for further instructions. 

“Now, slowly move your hands together until they meet each other in the middle.” I moved my hands as slow as a snail up and down the Stick until they were touching in the middle.

“Now, when I say go, you need to slam the Stick down on the ground and once you do that you will speak the words; olove eleviv.” I nodded and waited-again-for him to speak.

“I’m ready.” I looked at Adrian and he looked at me. I could feel a sense of respect for him growing inside of me; I could sense he was feeling it as well.

“1. 2. 3. Go!” I slammed the Stick down on the ground.

“Olove eleviv!” Suddenly, my ears were ringing from all of the things I could hear. Water dripping from the tap in the bathroom one room over, Adrian’s breathing, and about everything else. I also was able to smell everything around me, such as the smell of old carpet and wood. I closed my eyes and took all of it in by instinct.

“Feel any different?” I snapped my eyes open and turned to look at Adrian. He was smirking and I furrowed my eyebrows. He pointed towards the window and I saw the moon. He pointed to the mirror that was sitting on top of his desk.

“Hhhhhhhooooooowwwwwwwlllllllll!”