“He didn’t want to leave you or the Grim with the innkeeper, so we loaded you onto the back of a wagon and went to where the horns were coming from. People were coming and going; rushing back and forth as we went along the road. By the time we got there late in the day, there were hundreds and hundreds of people with axes and pitchforks and bows like that scene in Beauty and the Beast where they attack the castle. You know when Gaston is...”
“Ya. ya, I get it. Angry mob. Can we move along?” said Amanda impatiently.
“When we got there, there was a huge fight going on. Giants and monsters and even Celestra was flying around. Percy and me and you got taken into a giant purple tent. Uncle Everett was there with the pretty lady from the driveway, both of them were asleep on the table just like you. Then Percy ran out after telling me I was safe now.”
“That’s it? He ran out!”
“No, then Trevor came.”
“Trevor, your Uncle’s dog?” asked a surprised El.
“Over there he isn’t a dog. He’s a giant talking wolf as big as a horse. Uncle Everett rides him around. They’re best buds.” explained Amanda.
“Oh, I see.” said El. “I really need to cross the bridge sometime in the near future to check things out.”
“What about Trevor?” asked Amanda.
“He had Otto with him and a furry little guy who looked like a raccoon. He brought a potion for Uncle Everett.” replied Sarah as casually as she was describing her day at school.
“That was probably Igoss. He’s a g’noll doctor.” proclaimed Amanda.
“Otto, who’s Otto?” asked El. She was losing her place now.
“Otto is a sprite. He tricked us into crossing the bridge. But he’s really a good guy,” said Amanda. “Now go on.”
“So, Igor poured some nasty smelling stuff into Uncle Everett mouth, and he woke up. Then Uncle Everett woke the Queen.”
“Why didn’t you wake me?” asked Amanda urgently.
“Uncle Everett tried. They even gave you some of the nasty Igor juice, but you were totally out of it.”
“Uncle Everett even looked at the book from your bag. He told everyone that he couldn’t wake you. Only time would heal you. Then he hugged me and ran out.”
“What about the battle?” asked El and Amanda together.
“I got to watch it from a tall wooden tower with Aunt Windy,” explained Sarah.
“Aunt Windy? You call the Queen, Aunt Windy?!” exclaimed Amanda.
“She told me to. She said she was very sorry for what happened. She said that she was very glad to meet me. She made me promise that we would visit so she can meet you too.”
“What about Percy and the battle? Is he Okay?” shrieked Amanda impatiently.
“He’s totally okay. Can we have hot dogs for dinner and go to the movies later?” asked Sarah.
“Hot dogs? Do you know what’s in those? Ewww,” said El.
“Enough with the hot dogs. Yes, to the movie. I’ll buy your ticket with my allowance. What about Percy?!”
“The new Disney cartoon?” she said hopefully.
“Yes, the new Disney cartoon. What about Percy?” begged Amanda.
“So, we were up on the tower. It’s like the fire tower in Dorset. You can see forever. There were knights up there waving colored flags and blowing loud horns. They made my ears hurt a little.”
“So, Aunt Windy pointed out Uncle Everett to me. He was riding Trevor. There were tornados whirling everywhere. He even started throwing burning spears at the giants until they turned and ran away.”
“What about Percy?”
“I’m getting there… I’m getting there. Percy led the people who followed us into the battle. There were more little furry people too. He was far away so I couldn’t see a lot but he rode Lightning around - fighting and charging. He wasn’t doing very well, there were too many green guys. But then another green guy, I met him later, his name was Rib-sauce or something. He showed up on a pony.”
“Ribesal, he’s a friend of mine.”
“Sure, whatever. He shouted something and suddenly a lot of the green guys changed sides and joined up with Percy, then the rest of the green guys he was fighting, ran away.”
“We won the battle?” asked El. She’d become completely engrossed in the tale.
“Not yet. Uncle Everett got knocked off of Trevor by bolts of lightning, and Celestra almost ate him.”
“WHAT!?” screamed El.
“But he was ok. Trevor leaped up onto the dragon’s back and knocked some people off. Then Uncle Everett fought some guy who the Queen called Rufus. Uncle Everett was totally gonna win, but then a giant picked up the Rufus guy and carried him away. Then all the bad guys ran away.”
“That’s it?”
“No, there was a party, and Uncle Everett had some people carry you across the bridge. There is a bridge like the one in woods over there near the castle. He couldn’t come, he said he has to stay in Tarsinia for a while to heal properly. He said that he used a lot of magic. I could tell. He looked old, like Mr. Evans from across the hall at the apartment. Except he didn’t have a walker. He told me not to worry and that he’ll be as good as new and come home soon.”
“Percy?” asked Amanda. “You’re forgetting Percy.”
“He gave me a hug goodbye and said he hoped to see us soon.”
“That’s it?”
“Sorry. That’s all that happened,” said Sarah.
El wrapped her arms around her daughter and gave her a hug. Amanda soaked up the attention for a while. Then she grabbed the newspapers, her tablet and went off to be alone.
She found messages from her friends. There were a bunch from Devon. She’d missed his party. He was wondering why she wasn’t messaging him back. She was a little flattered that he was being so persistent. There were lots of posts of pictures from the summer she’d just slept through; kids hanging around the pool at the apartment without a care, having fun. She’d need to send him a note later. She’d need to take some time to think about what she should say.
School
Amanda caught up with the papers first. She read story after story about the devastation of the fracking fields. No one other than mom had seen the dragon, so the damage was attributed to the most intense summer storm in history. The roads would take years to fix, but the forest was safe from development.
She learned that since Royal Oil had been operating illegally, their insurance refused to pay for the costs to clean up the mess and return the land to its original state. The authorities were looking for Rufus King, but they’ll never find him, thought Amanda. According to the papers, all levels of government were in the process of seizing his assets to help pay for remediation of the land.
There was a side story about a truck blown apart near one of the drills that made her sad. They traced it to her father and some other men - the explosives used, matched those used in the North Dakota attack. He was probably going to jail. Probably for a long time. She found it hard to believe that someone she knew was a criminal. She promised her mom that they could have a long talk about it. She found it odd that she insisted that Amanda and Sarah write to him, at first. She promised that in time, they could make up their own minds if they wanted to continue contact.
“He was still her dad. Why wouldn’t she want to stay in contact?” she wondered.
She thought about Percy a lot. Every time she asked, her mom shrugged and said she hadn’t heard from Everett. Amanda thought about crossing the bridge to find him more than once. Her wanderings often took her past the bridge. There it was, hidden in the woods with the large padlock back in place. Sarah
caught her fiddling with the lock on the Saturday of the Labor Day weekend.
“You can’t go back. Not yet,” cautioned Sarah.
Amanda sighed and shrugged, and they wandered back to the house together holding hands.
Finally, she screwed up the courage to use the tablet and let her friends from the city know that she wasn’t
coming back. Devon promised to come visit. She said, “Okay,” but wasn’t sure if that’s how she felt. She browsed her usual favorite websites but her past obsessions with fashion and celebrities seemed trivial to her now.
-----
“Are you sure?” El asked on the Tuesday morning after the long weekend, the first day of school.
“I’m fine. It’ll give me something to do.”
“I’ll be in town all day, so if you need me, I’ll come get you.”
As they wandered across the drive to El’s new car, another blue Subaru, Amanda noticed that the garage door was open. She peeked into the empty building wondering where Papa’s truck was. Then she closed the doors before heading off to her first day at a new school.
It was a redbrick high school half the size of her old school in Toronto. The kids looked pretty much the same except there were more work boots and John Deere hats. Amanda arrived to find a large, boisterous crowd in the parking lot. She wandered over cautiously to see what was going on.
Her first indication of something unusual was the sight of Papa’s blue pickup. There were a group of kids admiring the vintage vehicle; caressing its lines and chrome with reverence. At
the center of attention, with his back to her, was a tall boy with jet black hair. He had on a plaid shirt, skinny jeans with black high-tops and backpack slung nonchalantly over one shoulder.
A perky redhead in a cheerleader uniform was making eyes at him and laughing like Jill did on that night of the BBQ.
As Amanda approached slowly, the boy turned just as the girl pulled his yellow cap onto her head.
“This hat is adorable. Can I keep it?” she giggled coyly.
It was Percy’s guardsman’s cap. Boldly, Amanda pushed through the crowd and snatched the hat off of cheerleaders’ head.
“That’s mine,” she said sternly. She put on the cap and turned to the boy with a smile so wide that it made her cheeks hurt.
“Hi,” she said meekly.
“Mil’… I mean Amanda,” he replied.
“You look nice. Who dressed you?” said Amanda as she tugged playfully on the hem of his untucked shirt.
“Do I? I feel like a bit of a mess. Are you sure I’m not supposed to tuck this shirt in and do up these buttons?”
“No! No, you’re not. This is the height of fashion here. Whoever dressed you did a good job.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” he said.
He appeared uncertain, and needing to do something with his hands, he ran his fingers through his thick hair. The bell rang, and the crowd moved away from the truck and headed towards the school. The two of them remained behind to talk.
“Where did you get the truck? When did you learn to drive?” asked Amanda in quick succession.
“I’ve been staying with a friend of your Uncle’s, a man named Jack. He taught me how to maneuver this mechanical marvel here. His sister, Jill, picked out my clothes. I’m going to be living with them and working in his shop on weekends. The Grand Wizard says I need to learn a trade if I'm going to remain here.”
“Why don’t you stay with us?”
“Your mother and uncle are worried that if I do, we’re likely to catch something called shenanigans. Whatever that is? Apparently, if we catch them, I have to go back to Tarsinia forever.”
Amanda laughed. It sounded like Uncle Everett.
“Why didn’t you visit? Why are you here?”
“They wanted me to focus on learning enough to fit in on this side of the bridge. I’m here to protect you.”
“Protect me? From what, who?” she exclaimed.
“From them,” he said as he pointed to a quartet of teens, two large boys, and a set of twin girls, moving towards them.
“There are still cracks in the barrier and some Tarsinians have been crossing over. Some of them are mad at you.”
Before Amanda could reply, the foursome arrived. They glared at Amanda and Percy, sizing them up as though preparing for some sort of confrontation.
“Hello there,” said a pretty girl with big green eyes and severe bangs who had somehow stuffed herself into a too-short green dress that barely covered the top of her thighs.
“Hello there,” repeated her twin.
Immediately Amanda recognized the voices as belonging to the dragons from Tarsinia. “Jade? Esmeralda?”
“So nice of you to remember.” said Jade.
“Yes, so nice of you to remember,” repeated Esmeralda.
“What are you doing here?” demanded Amanda.
“We’re here to learn about your world. Mother says that it might be more hospitable than ours,” said Jade.
“Yes, more hospitable than ours,” repeated Esmeralda. The boys grinned. One was tall and lanky like a basketball player while the other was thick and meaty like a linebacker.
“And you’re going to school here?”
“It’s where you learn, we’ve been told.” she smiled.
“Yes, what we’ve been told.” repeated her sister.
“Besides, if we’re ever to collect on that debt we owe you we should be close,” said Jade with venom in her eyes as she glared a Percy.
“Debt?”
“Yes, payback for sticking my sister with your sword,” said Jade.
Esmeralda turned and flashed under her skirt to reveal a
scar that led up to another scar higher up.
“Yes, payback.” warned Esmeralda.
The bell rang again. “See you around,” warned Jade.
“Yes, see you around,” repeated Esmeralda. Abruptly, the foursome turned and marched towards the school.
There was the ringing sound of a phone coming from somewhere as Amanda and Percy followed the others towards the school.
“Your phone is ringing,” said Amanda.
“No, it’s yours,” replied Percy.
Amanda didn’t have a phone that she knew of. But as she listened further the ringing was coming from her backpack.
“Uncle Everett?” she said as she answered the new silver phone with the picture of a piece of fruit on the back.
“Hi, Amanda. You ok?” he said.
“Ya, weirded out a bit, but I’m ok.”
“I meant to contact you sooner but I only just found a crack in the barrier.”
“Are you alright?” asked Amanda. “I heard that you have to stay in Tarsinia.”
“For a while. I have to find and seal all of the breaches in the barrier and then I need to find Rufus,” he explained.
“I heard about the cracks in the barrier from Percy.”
“He’s there to keep an eye on you. There are some who’ve crossed over from this world that partially blame you Rufus’ failure.”
“Ya, I know that too. Some of them are probably going to end up in my math class.”
“What do you mean?” asked the wizard excitedly.
“Jade and Esmeralda are here with some beefy guys who I’m guessing are a troll and an ogre.”
“Oh my! Well if you have to use your magic, you’ll find that it’s not as powerful. You may want to keep the Grim close.”
“I won’t need to. I have a picture of it on my tablet,” she said.
Before he could reply, the phone call dropped abruptly. Amanda stared at the phone expecting a call back, and after a moment shrugged and slipped it into the front pocket of her yellow summer dress.
As they were walking up to the school Amanda’s phone rang again.
“Uncle Everett?”
“No, it’s me Devon.”
“Devon? How did you get this number?”
“From your mom. You texted me from her phone, remember? She gave it to me.”
“Right…How are you? Sorry I missed your party.”
“No worries, where are you?”
“At my new school.”
“Ya, I know that, but where? I’m in the parking lot and I’m a bit lost. I could use a friendly face.”
“What?”
“I was drafted by
the Lions. I’m going to be at school with you. Wait… I see you. Don’t move.”
A large boy, moving with the precise grace of an athlete, jogged towards her from the parking lot.
He had an excited smile on his face that turned to stone when he saw Percy standing next to Amanda.
“Hey,” he said warily.
Percy returned the greeting with a stare and protectively moved half a step closer to Amanda.
The two muscular boys, both over six feet tall sized each other up.
“Percy, this is my friend Devon, from Toronto. Devon this is Percy, he’s from…” she stammered when she realized that no one had shared Percy’s backstory with her.
“I’m from across the bridge in the woods,” said Percy.
“Ok,” said Devon, “That it must be a local landmark of some sort?”
He pulled Amanda off to the side as the bell rang again.
“We should walk,” said Amanda. The three of them walked up towards the school, as a teacher waiting by the door impatiently tapped at a clipboard.
“You need to be more careful with your messages,” said Devon.
“Huh?”
“Your mom told me if there was any ass biting, we’d be having a talk.”
“Sorry,” said Amanda.
“Ass biting?” asked Percy.
Amanda looked at the two boys on either side of her, posturing like rutting bulls and wondered if things could possibly get more complicated.
Epilogue
Nana's Note
The soft incandescent glow of the vintage desk lamp purchased in the late 1940’s illuminated the pine desk in Amanda’s room; her very own room. No more being stuffed into a shoebox with Sarah - their beds jammed up against the wall - their clothes overflowing from the usually too small closet and the too small chest of drawers. This was her space now, somewhere that she could have a private thought without the constant, “What are you doing?” from her younger sister.
In some ways she’d miss their cohabitation; the familiar sound of Sarah’s breathing as she lay in the dark listening to make sure she was okay. The sense of security she felt, knowing that if Sarah started to wheeze in the night, she could wake her up to take her puffer.
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