“Pleasure to meet you,” Jeremy’s father said in a deep voice, the baritone counterpart to Starry’s lovely soprano. He sounded as if he were singing opera. “I have never spoken with Lady Vell myself, but I know her estate lies just north of the capital of Firoth, New City.”
“Where’s New City?” Even asked.
“Due north from our current location,” he said. “A half-day ride. Perhaps you would be most comfortable traveling with a known companion? Shimmerglow, would you please join us?”
Extracting himself from the herd, Jeremy came over to them. He greeted his parents and then asked Even and Odd, “What is it? Are you going home? Is there another gateway open somewhere? Or is something new wrong? Is the hill going to move again? Last time my Farmcats poster got all bent up, and I guess there are worse things—okay, maybe a lot worse things. What happens to our home if it moves again? What if more caves collapse?”
“Shimmerglow,” Starry said gently. “Hush.”
“Or what if they don’t collapse, but everything gets all mixed up and no one knows what belongs to who?” He was still carrying his satchel, Even noticed. Given the cave-ins, he probably wanted to keep his precious soda and Farmcats cards close.
“‘Whom,’” Starry corrected. “And hush, Shimmerglow. Your friends want to try to speak to Lady Vell, a wizard just north of New City.”
“Oh, I love New City!” Jeremy said, relief in his voice. He’d clearly been expecting a new crisis, not another journey.
To Even and Odd, Starry said, “Shimmerglow has been to the city many times and knows the way. You could make it there and back by dinnertime, if you wish, but there is no guarantee she will speak with you. We can’t send word that you’re coming, and she may be unwilling to receive guests she hasn’t invited. Wouldn’t you rather stay here while we try to call her? Our hospitality—”
“Thank you,” Even said, “but we’d rather try than wait.” She glanced at Odd to make sure she agreed and saw that her sister was already climbing onto Jeremy’s back, ready to go.
* * *
It was, Even thought, much better riding a unicorn as a human than as a skunk. For one thing, she had a nicer view. She could actually see the road in front of them, instead of just Jeremy’s mane.
As Even, Odd, and Jeremy left Unicorn Hill (with instructions to return by nightfall for “a comfortable night’s sleep with delightful dreams”) and rejoined the yellow brick road, Even noticed that they were not alone. At first she spotted only a few other travelers, beginning with a woman with a snake’s tail instead of legs who carried a patchwork pack over her human shoulder. Slithering over the bricks, she outdistanced them quickly. Even never saw her face. They also passed a tortoise who was twice the size of a car. On his back he was carrying a small island with trees. She thought she saw tiny monkeys swinging from the trees.
Later they saw a herd of horses that looked as if they were made of liquid. As the horses galloped by, they sprayed water into the air and left hoof-size puddles on the bricks.
“Hey, you’re supposed to be by the sea!” Jeremy called to them. “Where are you going?”
“Away!” one of them neighed.
Another agreed. “It’s not safe anymore!”
They galloped on without answering any more questions.
Continuing, Even, Odd, and Jeremy passed a family of dogs, each with three heads. One puppy barked at them with two of its heads, and its mother shushed it and apologized. “He’s anxious,” the right head of the mother dog explained. “We’ve never left home before.”
“I know how he feels,” Odd said. She held out her hand so the puppy could sniff it. All three heads laid their noses on her palm. One head licked her fingers, and Odd cooed at it as if it were one of her shelter pups. Guess her knack for animals translates into a knack for magical beings, Even thought.
The puppy wagged his tail.
“Why are you leaving home?” Even asked the parent dogs.
“We’re going to stay with our cousin in New City, at least until things calm down along the border,” the mother dog said with her center head. “A pack of werewolves was seen outside our den, and I don’t want my pups to have that kind of influence in their life.” She lowered her voice so the pups couldn’t overhear. “I also don’t want them harmed.”
The left head of the father dog growled. “Rotten werewolves aren’t supposed to be hunting in civilized places—that’s why there are agreements. Give predators their own areas. But with the border magic still on the fritz, there’s no telling where they’ll pop up next.”
“Yes, I know, but we have to let the Academy of Magic handle it,” the mother dog said. “They’ll send wizards.”
“They’re overrun with complaints, too tied up in their own bureaucracy,” another of the father’s heads said. “We should have handled it ourselves, with or without their approval.” He snapped the air with his jaws, as if to demonstrate how he’d have handled it.
“That would have been foolish,” one of the mother’s heads told him.
The two dogs, all mouths talking at once, fell to quarreling. A few of the pups joined in, nipping at one another and occasionally at their own heads. Even raised her voice to wish them luck, but they were too involved to notice.
Jeremy carried Even and Odd until the sun was directly overhead. Rejecting his offer for a cupcake lunch—Jeremy quickly claimed he was joking—they stopped in the next town and bought food with a pouch of coins that Jeremy’s mother had given him.
The shop owner was a talking cat. His fur was black-and-white, and his tail had a plaid bow tied to the end of it. It twitched back and forth as if he was nervous. Out of the corner of her eye, Even saw Odd move as if she wanted to pet him but then restrain herself.
“Are you all right?” Odd asked him.
The cat shot glances right and left as if worried he’d be overheard. Also in the shop was a woman with a single eye in the center of her forehead and an older man with tusks protruding between his lips. They were hurriedly pulling together armfuls of loaves of bread and jars of fruit.
“Seen anything?” the cat asked in a hushed voice.
“What kind of anything?” Even asked. Truthfully, they’d seen a lot, but she wasn’t sure what the cat was asking. To him, water horses and three-headed dogs were probably normal sights.
“Lots of people coming through scared,” the cat said. His fur rippled as he talked, a cat version of a shudder. He glanced again at the tusked man and the cyclops woman. “Frankly, I’m thinking of closing up the store for a few weeks. Until the border magic is working properly again and this all blows over.”
“Um, we saw a dragon appear out of nowhere,” Jeremy said. “Also, my home switched places with a lake, stranding a school of mermaids and destroying many of our caves.”
The cat’s tail fluffed even more, burying the plaid bow in fur. “Truly?”
Even wondered if she was always going to recognize emotions in fur. He’s scared, she thought. Really scared. She’d been so focused on getting home that she hadn’t thought about how all the turmoil near the border was affecting others. Seeing the worried travelers, and now the shopkeeper, made her want to travel faster. If she and Odd could reach Lady Vell, maybe they could help a lot of people.
“You know I cannot lie, even if I really, really want to,” Jeremy said, and then winced. “Not that I want to lie to you. And there really was a dragon. Also, werewolves. A family of three-headed dogs said werewolves had been displaced too and were hunting outside their own territory.”
“Dogs! Werewolves!” The shop owner hissed and spat before composing himself again. “Things are worse than I thought. Take your food and go. I have a family I need to check on.” He scampered to the back of his shop.
“Oops,” Jeremy said. “Guess I shouldn’t have said that.”
They waited for a second, half expecting him to return, but when he didn’t, they took the food, adding it to Jeremy’s satchel on top of his soda and F
armcats cards, and retreated from the shop. “I don’t like this,” Jeremy said.
“Me neither,” Even agreed. “Let’s maybe go faster?”
As they continued on, Even watched the numbers of travelers increase. There were plenty of humans, many of whom could have passed for ordinary in the mundane world, as well as a deer with a hundred prongs, a trio of living gargoyles, and a family of horned snakes.
Not travelers, she thought. Refugees.
They were fleeing the borderlands, heading for the interior of Firoth, toward the heart of it, where the city lay. She wondered if any of them were also going to see Lady Vell.
She hoped they arrived soon. Surely, if Lady Vell was an expert on border magic, she’d be able to help them as well as everyone they’d passed on the road. Maybe she already knew and was trying to fix the gateways. But if that was happening, why were things worse instead of better?
* * *
As they continued to journey away from the border, the yellow brick road became smoother and better maintained. It gleamed when the sun hit it. In fact, all the colors seemed brighter, and it wasn’t just because the sun was rising higher in the sky. It’s the air, Even thought. It was crisper here, and it made everything feel fresher. The mood of all the travelers on the road seemed lighter too, the farther they journeyed from danger. A few were laughing as their children romped through the fields and meadows. She saw a troll with his child riding on his shoulders, fifteen feet in the air, as well as a group of dryads chattering as they walked along.
“Ugh, I hate the smell,” Jeremy complained. “The farther from the border you go, the more sickly sweet it gets.”
“It’s like everything’s soaked in perfume,” Odd said.
“I think it smells nice,” Even said. Honestly, did they have to criticize everything? “Where’s it coming from?”
“Flower fairies,” Jeremy said. “Overpopulation of them.” He nodded his head toward a field as they trotted past. It was blanketed in flowers, and they looked to be in motion. As Even stared, she realized that not everything that looked like a flower actually was one—a large number of the flowers were actually fairies with bodies made of petals. They flitted from blossom to blossom. With each plant they touched, more blooms appeared, great swaths of yellow then red then purple.
“I think it’s beautiful,” Even said. She glared at Odd and Jeremy, daring them to contradict her. Sure, maybe flower fairies bit, but they were still extraordinary.
“Want to do something fun?” Jeremy asked. He didn’t wait for them to answer. He abruptly turned off the road and ran into the field.
The flower fairies shrieked and rose up into the air. The mass of them was so thick that it was like a colorful cloud of pinks and purples and blues and yellows.
“Jeremy, what are you doing?” Odd yelled as she clung to his back. “We’ll get bitten!”
“Not if I’m fast enough! Hang on!” He ran in a circle. The flower fairies flew with him, circling until they formed a colorful cyclone. Laughing, he burst through the cyclone and ran back to the road. Within the cyclone, the fairies were laughing and singing, their voices like high-pitched bells. It sounded like a thousand wind chimes chiming all at once.
Even twisted to see behind her as the flower-fairy cyclone dispersed, all the colors mixed. Across the field, it was now a riot of every color imaginable, as if someone had flung many colors of paint onto a canvas at once.
“You just need to be quick enough so they don’t remember they have teeth,” Jeremy said.
He carried them back to the road.
Odd looked back at the field. “That was . . .”
Even expected her to scold him, say he could have trampled the fairies, say they needed to stay on the road and not be distracted, or say that the fairies were ridiculous, but instead Odd said, “That was awesome!”
“You think so?” Even said.
“We painted the sky! And look at the field!”
It was the first time in months that Odd had said she liked anything magical, and the second time she’d shown any excitement about something in Firoth. Five things I’m grateful for, Even thought. Number one: I’m here with my sister.
* * *
By mid-afternoon, they saw the city, and all Even could think was, Wow!
It looked as if New York City had been dipped in glitter. Gold and silver towers shone in the sunlight. A steady stream of magical beings walked, galloped, slithered, scurried, and flew on the yellow brick road into and out of the city.
“Never seen that before,” Jeremy said.
Even didn’t know if he meant the woman with antlers, the snake with nine heads, or the green-skinned two-foot-tall man who carried a singing briefcase. “Seen what?”
He pointed his horn at what looked to Even like a flying surfboard. “One of those. Must be new.” As they came close to another board, Jeremy called out, “Whatcha doing?”
The surfer, a hedgehog-like animal covered in golden scales, was reclining on his board with a book propped up on his soft belly. Lowering his book, he peered at them.
Jeremy adjusted his pace so he was trotting at the same speed as the board. “That thing you’re riding. You don’t seem to be controlling it. What is it? A new kind of magic carpet?”
Even expected the golden hedgehog to tell them to leave him alone—he’d been immersed in a book—but instead the hedgehog looked delighted to be asked. “This?” the hedgehog said, waving his hand at the board. “This is new! This is amazing! It’s not like a magic carpet. It doesn’t require a bit of your own magic. You just tell it your destination, then lean back and enjoy. State-of-the-art stuff.”
“Like a car!” Jeremy said.
“Not like a car,” Odd said. “You have to drive a car. That’s nothing like a car.”
“What’s a car?” the hedgehog asked.
“A car is cool!” Jeremy said. “Vroom-vroom!”
Even cleared her throat.
“Oh, sorry!”
“We’re looking for a wizard named Lady Vell,” Even said to the hedgehog. “She’s supposed to live near New City. Have you heard of her? Do you know where we could find her?”
“Ha!” the hedgehog said. “So you’re after one of these beauties yourself! I don’t blame you. Everyone wants one. What you need to do is go to Lady Vell’s estate and get on the list for a free board. You might get lucky. Got mine yesterday. Watch me zoom!” He spurted ahead, shouting, “Woo-hoo!”
Others cleared out of the way as he zipped past.
“Why did he think we wanted a floating surfboard?” Odd asked. “That was not what we asked.”
“I want one,” Jeremy said.
“He seemed to recognize Lady Vell’s name,” Even said, “so that’s a good thing.”
“But he didn’t give us directions,” Odd pointed out.
“Jeremy’s parents said she’s north of New City,” Even said. “So I vote we keep going through the city.” She pointed. The yellow brick road plunged straight into the heart of the city. “I’m sure someone will be able to give us directions.”
With Even and Odd holding on tight, Jeremy trotted between the silver shiny towers and plunged into the hustle and bustle of a magical city in the middle of an ordinary afternoon. Even didn’t know what to look at: the smooth pillar-like towers, the shops that sold potions and flying shoes and elaborate cakes with dancing decorations, or the wizards and mythical creatures who filled the streets and sidewalks. She craned her neck, trying to see everything at once.
Jeremy hailed a man with curled horns and goat legs who seemed to be waving traffic through with extra-hairy arms. “Sir? We’re visitors here, and we could use some help.”
“Happy to be of service!” the goat-man said. His voice was as high-pitched as a flute, and he sang each word. “What can I do for you?”
“We’re looking for someone,” Even said, “an expert in border magic. Her name is Lady Vell, but all we know is that we’re supposed to go north.”
“Ah, yes, of course! Lady Vell!”
“You know her?” Odd asked.
That’s lucky, Even thought. It was a big city and seemed stuffed with people and creatures, and so far two of them had recognized Lady Vell’s name. She seemed to be more well-known than Even had guessed. No wonder she wasn’t answering calls on her mirror.
“I’m thinking of getting one of those boards for myself!” the goat-man said. “They’re said to fly themselves, with no magic cost. Height of convenience. And of course my kids all want to play on one. Have you seen them?”
“We’ve seen them,” Even said, “but what exactly do they have to do with Lady Vell?”
“Everything!” the goat-man said. “Just head due north, and you’ll find her estate. Got a silver tower and lots of fancy gardens. She’s one of those business-entrepreneur wizards, always inventing new stuff. Anyway, you can’t miss it. She’s been giving away a bunch of boards each day for free, as an advertisement for her newest line of products. There’s been a queue outside her front door since sunrise. Everyone in New City wants one of her new free-magic contraptions.”
They thanked him, even though at least half of what he’d said made no sense at all. Business-entrepreneur wizard? Free-magic contraption? This was the person who was supposed to help send them back across the border, restore the unicorns’ and mermaids’ homes, and make everything normal again?
12
As they traveled through the city, Even saw more of the flying boards. A dog with tentacles zipped past them on one and performed a loop before riding up the side of a building. An elderly woman rode by on her board at a more leisurely pace. Instead of hair, she had snakes that writhed around her head and hissed at all the pedestrians.
“Those things are everywhere,” Jeremy said.
For an instant, Even thought he meant the snake hair, but then she realized he meant the flying boards. She sidestepped a centaur who was selling basketball-size oranges, while a flock of winged horses swooped overhead. Marveling at them, Even asked, “Is New City always like this?”
Even and Odd Page 11
