They were silent a bit as the whoops and hollers erupted from a sudden chase in the nixies’ game below them. Mamy and Papy had gone into the little cave nearby where they would be staying the night. Jenny had been told not to stay out too long.
“There’s something I don’t understand,” Jenny began. “At the nixie feast down there, they served a big roast something.”
“And, did you eat any of it?” asked the Phooka.
“No, I can’t because... well, I just can’t. I have my own food. Um... allergies. But, I thought all the animals in Frey could talk?”
“They do.”
Jenny stared at him.
“Then what... er... who were they eating?” gasped Jenny.
“Some sort of gator ah ‘spect,” answered the phooka.
“Alligators can talk too?”
“If ye’re brave enough to in’t’ate a conversation, ah s’ppose they do.” chuckled the deep voice.
“But, doesn’t mean that they are a person if they can talk?”
“Do ye consider plants ‘persons’?” came the reply.
Jenny laughed, “But plants can’t talk. Of course, they’re not persons!”
“Maybe ye can’t understand ‘em, but plants talk. I ‘ssure ye. ah’ve met some very talkative-like shrubs. And trees be lovely ta spend time with. Nicer than a lot o’ other folk ah could mention.”
Jenny was horrified. “But, what about carrots? And, uhm... Brussels sprouts?”
Footbe mused. “Well, perhaps for yarself, if ye can’t understand a critter, it’s okay ta eat it?”
Jenny was confused. “That doesn’t make sense. I can’t understand Spanish or Japanese but my mom wouldn’t fry ‘em up for Sunday night dinner.”
“Maybe. But. p’haps on some level that’s what we all do.” muttered the phooka.
She gave the phooka a questioning look.
He continued, “Eatin’ be a part o’ life. We get nour’shment from eatin’ other livin’ things. Everythin’ eats somethin’.”
“But...”
The phooka stopped her. “Ah’ve no partic’lar answers for ye. Ah s’pose we all just do what we think be best.” Then muttered darkly, “It be a hard world – more bitter than sweet.”
Jenny didn’t find that answer at all satisfying. “Did you have any of the gator?”
“No,” he chuckled. “Too chewy for me likin’.”
Jenny lapsed into silence.
The gravely voice purred again from the darkness above. “What are ya? If ya don’t mind me askin’?”
“What? Oh...” she stretched, finally feeling her lids to be a bit droopy. “I’m just a girl – uh, swamp witch. I mean a girl swamp witch! As opposed to a BOY swamp witch,” she ended lamely.
“Ah see,” the phooka said thoughtfully.
Jenny yawned. “Well, I’m thinking that it’s time for me to turn in, before Mamy and Papy start worrying. It’s been nice to talk with you Mr. Phooka.”
“Footbe.”
“Yes, okay. Mr. Footbe,” she yawned again. “Good night!”
“Good night, Pirate Jenny,” murmured the phooka, who sat contemplatively on the root for sometime after that, staring after the little “swamp witch”.
The phooka was remembering something.
* * * *
Apparently, the nixies hosted various sized guests somewhat regularly, so Jenny and the Wishermans were tucked safe and comfortable within a Fluffball sized tree-root hollow – a smaller version of the phooka’s. It was a bit small for Jenny, but it was kind of fun at the same time.
She had made it through the evening without anything disappearing, though the Wishermans did lose a pair of socks.
“Why’s everyone so unfriendly to Footbe?” Jenny asked while she rolled herself up in her cloak on a not entirely soft mattress of leaves and stuff that she didn’t want to inspect too closely.
“Footbe? The phooka?” questioned Papy.
“Why don’t you like him?”
“Well, phookas in gen’ral are most-wise lookin’ only for their own good, an’ that part’clar phooka is cursed with a shunnin’. He ain’t ‘llowed ta live ‘round good folks. He gotta brand on his behind given him by the Blue Queen, herself.”
“The same Blue Queen that you don’t like?”
Mamy growled. “Yeah, but sometimes even she be knowin’ what she be doin’. Phookas are no good. They be just born that way.”
Jenny watched while Papy pulled out the long stick, some netting, and the Hula Hoop that he’d bargained for with the nixies. He started weaving them together into what looked like large butterfly nets.
“Are those for the big wishes?” Jenny asked.
“That’s what they be!” Papy answered.
“If nixies go back and forth between Frey and my world, couldn’t I just hitch a ride with them when we’re done rescuing your kids?”
“Nah. The doors they go through be much too tiny fer ye ta fit!”
Jenny sat up and looked out a round window that was framed by roots. She watched the nixies climb into their socks for the night. They reminded her of little sleeping bags on a clothesline.
Jenny wasn’t sure she could ever get used to all the back and forth of possessions, but it seemed to work for the nixies.
She lay back on her lumpy bed.
“Good night,” she murmured.
“See ya in the marnin’,” mumbled Papy.
Mamy was already sound asleep.
* * * *
Morning came with a BOOM!
Jenny gasped and sat up. Outside their door she could hear screaming.
Papy was at the window hollering, “Pirates!”
Chapter 15
The Mermaid
Finn had heard nothing of what had happened up top with Jack. With the roar of the water hitting the lake below him, Finn carefully maneuvered his way across the wet and treacherous rocks towards the waterfall. A glowing cavern could be seen behind it.
It was obvious that the chamber was not created by Mother Nature. Marble columns flanked the entrance and the floor was a checkerboard of violet marble. In the center of it all, a crystal tube stretched from floor to ceiling. Its base was marble as well but sculpted to look like intricate undersea plant life. The tube gave off the gentle pink glow that he’d seen from outside.
Within the glass – floated a mermaid. Asleep?
Finn couldn’t believe his eyes. She was the most beautiful being he’d ever seen.
Her hair was a pale shade of blue – nearly white. It floated around her like she was in some sort of underwater hair commercial. Her tail was a soft shade of lavender with sparkley depths in its scales. And her skin – well it was hard to describe. It was fair and similar in color to Finn’s own skin but opalescent like the inside of an oyster shell.
She floated. Thick blue lashes rested on high cheek bones. It was as if Finn had waited all of his life to see her – and she did not disappoint.
Finn loved all the undersea flowers and sea flora, along with the winding tentacles wove through the design in the pink marble base. It was beautifully fitting for the creature inside the glass. Worked into the sculpture was a brass steam-punk sort of injection device that seemed designed to add nutrients or something to the water. And in the center of the base, right in the front, was a round flat surface with a keyhole in the center.
And he knew right then, like it was all tied up with fate, or a parent’s last wish, or whatnot. He didn’t understand how events conspired for him to be in this place in this moment. But, the keyhole was for HIS key. It didn’t make any sense. The key knew the key had brought him here. The key around his neck with Finn carved into the top. The one that he’d had since he was a baby, which matched the carvings around the keyhole.
He looked around the rest of the
small cave. There was nothing but the tube. There were no clues as to who she was or what was going on.
Finn couldn’t wait to get Jack down here. This was amazing. He dropped his bag on the floor, took a last glance at the imprisoned sleeping mermaid and edged his way out from behind the waterfall (getting wet again in the process) and crawled up - this time on hands and knees- back to where he’d left Jack at the top of the waterfall.
No one was there. No Jack. No Pinkie.
“Jack! JACK!” he called.
Then he saw the red on the ground. Red like blood, but thick like –ß snot? It was disgusting. But – he didn’t think it was blood. Or was it?
Finn ran down the path following the trail of goo till it disappeared into a crevice in the rock.
He looked about. “Jack! JACK! JACK!”
He could only hear the roar of water.
NO! His heart was beating so hard he couldn’t think. Jack! He couldn’t be gone. Jack! Finn sank to the path. It was like he’d been punched in the gut. Jack! He almost couldn’t breathe.
Finn was alone. Just like that.
He couldn’t believe that Jack was gone! Did Pinkie eat him and escape into the crack? He disliked her, but he didn’t think she’d do that. She might’ve eaten Finn. But, not Jack. Damn this place! How was he to know what the rules were?
If Jack was still alive somewhere... and Jack had to still be alive somewhere... he couldn’t think otherwise! Finn had to find him.
The mermaid. She looked nice. Of course, she could be a sociopathic man-eater. He’d read the stories where mermaids were homicidal. But, she looked nice? Maybe, she would help? He’d try to wake her up.
Finn raced back down the trail and half slid, half skidded down the embankment, nearly falling into the lake himself. Splashing through the edge of the waterfall, he found himself in the mermaid’s chamber again.
His bag was lying where he’d left it. The mermaid was waiting for something. For Finn? There was the keyhole. He hoped it did something useful.
He removed the pink jade key from around his neck. Holding his breath, he slid it into the keyhole. It fit perfectly. He turned it gently and heard a small click beneath the floor.
Finn grabbed his bag and stepped back from the tube as the light sequenced through a rainbow of shades in the bubbling water.
The tube began retracting into the floor, and as it descended he could see that the top lip of the tube was lower in the front - causing the water inside to pour frontwards in a waterfall. He grabbed his bag and jumped out of the way. The checkered floor’s slight grade (which he hadn’t noticed until now) sent the wash of water out towards the lake.
But alarmingly, as the tube descended into the floor, the mermaid who’d been so beautiful - began to shrink and distort! By the time the tube had fully descended into its base, the dazed creature sitting in the shallow pool looked like a... a humanoid monkey with a polliwog tail. Like the old advertisements for Sea-Chimps in Finn’s vintage comic book collection. The real Sea-Chimps were just brine shrimp that terribly disappointed the kids who ordered them. But here... right here in front of Finn... was the real deal. It was obviously female. She had boobs. Long dangling boobs. And she had straggly white hair. She was about three feet long... high... he wasn’t exactly sure how one would go about measuring it. Her.
She looked at her body. She was looking at herself in horror and almost hyperventilating.
She screamed at him, “What have you done!! This isn’t how it was supposed to work!!”
Finn was speechless and just stared at the little creature. He sat down and put his head in his hands. He’d never been so stressed out before in his entire life. He didn’t know what to do.
The creature was clearly exasperated. “The cure! You’re supposed to add the cure before you turn the key!”
Finn exploded, “How the HELL am I supposed to know about a frickin’ cure! Did you leave any instructions! NO! Look around! I am so sick and tired of this ridiculous place!” He plunged his face back into his arms. “This day can not get any worse!” He shouted.
The little sea chimp with the boobs gazed at Finn and gave a loud sigh, “I think I’m your mother.”
Chapter 16
Blood Hall
Jack woke up in a very scary place. His arms were manacled out to either side like in a crucifixion, and he was almost naked! His head jerked down to see that he was wearing diapers! With a baby blue diaper pin. Diapers?!!! He was completely freaked out on so many levels. Someone had taken his clothes off! Someone and had seen him naked! Where were his clothes?
He was manacled half way up an enormous stone wall. There was a little outcropping for his butt to sit on. The ground was far below him. His feet rested on a narrow ledge. To either side he could see other diapered kids for at least three rows above him and then another three rows below him. There were a lot of children manacled on this giant wall.
Jack looked down again and his heart beat at the distance between his feet and the floor.
The light was dim. He was in some sort of golden spotlight. Across the room, he could dimly see a stone wall with cages stacked to considerable heights against it, but it was too dark to see what was in the cages. Being almost naked made him feel particularly vulnerable. At least it wasn’t cold. The kids around him were pale and of a variety of ages. Mostly his age and younger. None of them seemed very alert.
Jack gradually became aware that the light around him was coming from himself! He was glowing! His skin was golden and radiant like he’d just leveled up in a video game. In a flash, he remembered Pinkie bursting into a giant, golden, fluttering wish and zooming down his throat. He remembered the pain. Then awful red creatures. Then nothing. Finn! Where was Finn! Did they get him too? Could this be what happened to Jenny?
He strained his neck to look for either of them.
Jack didn’t see them, but that didn’t mean anything – it was a big wall. They could be here somewhere. He didn’t know what to do! He wasn’t even sixteen! How was he supposed to know how to deal with stuff like this! This is the stuff they should be teaching in school instead of stupid football and baseball. They should teach kids how to escape from manacles and dungeons!
Would his parents ever know what happened to him? To Jenny?
And he was crazy hungry.
He began to be aware of small creatures climbing up and down the grout line in the wall. They looked a bit like large beetles, but they had little human-like faces. They wore pointed red hats that cantilevered off the back like woodpeckers.
Tubes ran along the grout lines. Red tubes. These tubes ran up to little buckets under the wrists of each child. Hanging under each child’s wrist was a little swing situated under two little nipples that hung from the veins in each child’s wrists.
Little beetle-men sat in the tiny swings and merrily milked the children’s blood. They sang as they milked:
“Red may be the milk from thee!
And whiter each morn ye prob’bly be.
Thy face be white, thy neck be white,
Thy hands be white, thy feet be white,
Yet ye’ve no need to take much fright —
We take not much, so dream ye free,
While we milk yer blood from thee!”
Jack was more freaked out than he’d ever been in his entire life. The children seemed half asleep and unaware of what was happening to them.
Just then came a wee voice. He turned his head to see one of the little creatures step off of the grout-line running behind his head and step onto his forearm.
Ouch!
“So, how ye be doin’ this fine morning!” asked the beetle-man with a cheery wave.
Feeling tiny pin pricks as this bug-like person walked across his skin gave Jack uncontrollable heebie-jeebies and he shook his arms and body wildly. “Get off of me!!” He screame
d.
But horrifically, the creature did not fly off. The bottom of the creature’s feet had curved little prongs that hooked into his skin like a mountaineer. The little prongs hurt more than ever after shaking his arms like that.
The beetle-man smiled. “Don’t ye be like that with me, me friend! We’re goin’ ta be havin’ a nice time tagether! I’m goin’ ta be givin’ ye some nice dreams! Won’t ye be likin’ that? Now, what be yer name?”
“Uh, Jack? Where am I! Where’s Finn? Where’s Jenny?” Jack’s panic was increasing so fast he could hardly speak. He could hardly breathe!
“Oh, calm yerself down, me-boy. Jack. Yer a guest of the Blue Queen! Now, don’t ye feel lucky at that! Ye arrived by yerself, but who knows, thar may be Jennys and Finns on the wall here. I ain’t learnt all their names as we’re each special assigned so we c’n get ta know the right sorta dreams ta make ye most happy. Ain’t that thoughtful of the Queen?”
It was a nightmare that Jack couldn’t wake up from. All of the events that led up to this moment piled up in Jack’s head and he simply broke. He fell apart and started sobbing uncontrollably.
“Hey, now don’t ye be goin’ like that! Uh, me name be Pricker. Don’t cry.” The little creature looked around rather embarrassed. He whispered in a panic, “I’ll be losin’ me job if ye dinna pull yerself tagether. I’ma here ta make ya happy – not sad!”
Jack sobbed harder. His shoulders shook with gasping breaths that he’d lost every bit of will to control.
“Thar, thar... ye know ye be mighty special – what with yer glowin’ and all. We’re act’ally not quite sure jes’ what ye be - all golden-like. Who’s ta say what’s goin’ ta be happenin’ ta ye. And the Blue Queen herself is comin’ all ta way here ta see ya! Ain’t that an honor for ye?”
The little creature with the red pointed hat took another apprising, conspiratorial look at Jack. “Ye seem to be a strong stout lad – perhaps ye’d be likin’ dreams of this Jenny lass ye be mentioning? I could give ye some sweet dreams ‘bout her – eh?” He grinned devilishly.
Jack gasped mid sob and gaped at the little man in horror. “She’s my little sister!”
Olly, Olly, Oxen Frey Page 9
