Sorcerous Feud
A story of feuding magical families
Young Tony Wyzek woke up to a bright and sunny day on the West Side of New York City in Brooklyn where his family lived, and where his grandmother was the leader of all the Wyzeks from there to Queens. His grandmother was named Viola and she was their Gammer, in charge of the whole clan and governing magic usage among the young witches, warlocks, and other magic users in their family. Tony's family had been magical for generations back as far as they could remember. There were rumors that they'd had an ancestor or two who'd come from another world, but no one was sure how true those rumors were. Unfortunately now Viola was losing her mind and because she was a witch, this could be big trouble. One of Tony's many aunts was in charge of taking care of her at intervals because she'd spooked all her nurses with magical pranks and none of them would come back. She also had a habit of sending hostile magic up to Westchester and other areas, where their family's main rivals, the Carrows, lived. The unfortunate problem with this was that other innocent victims quite often wound up getting hit by her spells as well. The Carrows and Wyzeks used to work quite well together in using magic to help people, but then one of the Carrows had done some unspeakable thing to one of the Wyzeks (or so the story went) and the two families had been fighting ever since. The fact that Viola was now losing her mind didn't help matters at all. She often said crazy jumbled sentences and words that made no since, even to a witch, and had taken up some rather nasty habits, such as playing with ants or fleas. Tony's aunts and his mother Linda were taking it in turns to tend to her now that her mind had gone, but still the hostile magic continued. Every time Tony went into Carrow territory, they all tormented him and tried to beat him up. This was how Tony learned of the latest plague Viola had sent to them. Unfortunately, none of his family believed him and insisted she'd given up magic.
Tony began to realize that he was the only one who saw what was happening. The others seemed to be unable to think anything but the best of Gammer. It was a spell, Tony realized, a spell on every Wyzek for miles around! Why it didn't affect him, he didn't know, but the only ones who believed him were a gang of mortal boys, the Jets, led by one named Riff, whom Tony had befriended. He had told them of his family's magical secret after they had sought an explanation for why he never invited them over to his home. They suggested he enlist the help of the Carrows, but Tony didn't think they'd trust him after all Gammer had done to them. Having no other alternative, Tony approached the Carrow territory and asked to speak to their Gammer, Fiona. At first, they didn't want to let him, but when a search revealed no hostile spells, he was allowed to speak to Fiona. Tony told her the problem with Gammer Viola and that his own family wouldn't believe him when he told them what she was up to, all the things his aunts had said she did when they were there, about the ants and the fleas and the dirty water. He begged Fiona for anything she knew of that could stop Viola's mad behavior so things could return to normal. Fiona considered and then scribbled something on a piece of paper, which she then gave to Tony. It had one word on it, with its pronunciation written below it, along with the instructions to say it three times in a certain spot.
Tony was confused, but Fiona told him the spell had been handed down in the Carrow family for generations, supposedly only to be used only in an emergency, and that if he was truly serious about putting an end to Viola's madness, he should go to the shore at the end of Long Island and do what the paper said. So Tony went there and said aloud, "Chrestomanci, Chrestomanci, Chrestomanci!" Immediately a man in a very nice suit and top hat appeared. He asked Tony several very unusual questions in a British accent, such as what world they were on and what universe they were in. Tony didn't understand, but after a few history questions were answered, the man understood enough. He informed Tony that he was Chrestomanci and asked why Tony had called him. Tony, who wasn't sure what to make of this man, began to tell him everything about his Gammer and her madness and misuse of magic. Chrestomanci didn't seem all that surprised to hear a story like that and told Tony he'd been sensing hostile magic as far away as his own world, but hadn't been able to pin it down. From what he said, Tony gathered that nearly everyone on his world had magic, making him wonder if the stories about an ancestor from another world were true. Chrestomanci himself was an enchanter and informed Tony that he himself had enchanter class magic! Tony asked if that might be why Gammer's spell hadn't affected him and Chrestomanci said it was extremely likely, going on to explain that Tony could override any of his family's spells any time he chose! This was great news to Tony, who wished he'd known that years ago. They went to straighten out the mess caused by Gammer and ultimately Chrestomanci put an end to the madness with Tony's help.
The Wyzeks, now free from the spell, immediately started shouting and arguing about what had been done to Viola, but Tony shouted at them to be quiet and they shut up. Chrestomanci let the family off with no one in trouble since the main culprit had been Viola, but he made them promise not to do what she did or he would return and this time he would take action. He also informed them that he would be taking Tony to live with him in his world for awhile to recieve enchanter training, after which Tony would return to be his representative in this world (Twelve B (Chrestomanci's world was Twelve A)). Tony was excited by the idea and enjoyed living at Chrestomanci Castle, training alongside Marianne Pinhoe, Chrestomanci's children Rodger and Julia, and future Chrestomanci Eric "Cat" Chant, whose parents were Chrestomanci's cousins. He learned all sorts of things, met the Castle Staff, Chrestomanci's wife, Millie, and even met a real griffin named Klartch! Tony missed them all when it was time to come home, but he was happy to see his family and friends again too and watched over magic in world Twelve B for the rest of his life.
