“Ah, we’re looking for something,” I said slowly.
Juan grinned. “Well, I hope it’s fish related. Because that’s kind of my specialty. I do give the best tours in the city, if not the world. I not only show people what they want to see, but also what they need to see.”
The floor of the shack began to shake violently. A pile of brown mud burst through the floor.
“Hmm, now that is different,” Juan said, remaining surprisingly cool.
I pulled out my staff. Art, Mika, Gail, Bart, and Brett all pulled clubs out from their backpacks. Sebastian took a karate stance. Gail spit into her hands, getting ready to grapple.
“Interesting reaction,” Juan said.
A round ball of clay popped out of the main lump. The ball grew a large nose, mouth and one eye. Long thick mud arms popped out of the side.
“Hmm. I have not seen a mud golem in a LONG time!” Juan said. He pulled out his cane and jumped over his desk. He walked up to the strange golem, waving his cane. “Back to where you belong!”
The golem shot out a long mud arm sending Juan flying backward, crashing into the wall.
“Okay, maybe not…” Juan moaned.
I leaped forward and smacked the golem over the head with my staff. My blow put a dent in its head but the creature didn’t seem to mind.
It turned to me. It fired a fist at me. I ducked under it.
Bart and Brett jumped onto the golem, pounding on it with their clubs. Each blow dented the monster’s muddy body but didn’t seem to do it much harm.
Scanning the room, I noticed there were a lot of old water stains on the floor. I assumed this old shack must have really leaked in the rain.
“Gail, Mika, Art, Paulie, and Sebastian, grab a bucket and go fill them with water. We’ll splash this thing down to size.
“No need for that!” Sebastian said. He walked into the room holding a long green hose. “I figure anybody who works around fish must have a pretty powerful hose!” He squeezed the nozzle. Water shot out drenching the mud golem.
The golem eroded into a giant mud puddle on the ground.
Not wasting any time I shouted, “Myd Fraaza!”
A white coat of ice covered the giant puddle. Gail leaped up into the air and then smashed down on the frozen puddle, shattering it into pieces.
Juan stood up and smiled. He bowed. “Well, young queen I am glad you finally arrived!”
“So you are the keeper of the grail,” I said.
“Not exactly,” he replied, straightening himself up.
“What does that mean?” Art asked, leaning over me.
Juan smirked. “Oh Arthur, I see that time has not changed you much.”
I turned to Art. “Art, stand down!” I ordered.
Art considered my words. He pulled back. Juan looked at me. “Good job, future queen.”
“Can you please clarify?” I asked.
“Surely, I can,” Juan said, falling silent.
“Will you please clarify?” I asked.
“Of course. I can lead you to where the grail is being held.”
“Great! When can we go?” I asked.
“When you are ready,” Juan answered.
“We’re ready now…” I replied slowly. Somehow I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy.
Juan walked to the door and opened it. He stood to the side and motioned for us to leave. “No, you are not,” Juan smiled. He pointed at Paulie. “But he will know when you are ready.”
I thought about arguing but figured it wouldn’t do any good. “Thank you, Juan. We will be back.”
“Of that, I have little doubt,” he replied.
“Come on knights, I’ll buy you all fish and chips!” I said.
“Yum!” Sebastian grinned, as we turned and headed towards a little fish fry place on the water.
“So we’re just going to let him do that to us?” Art asked.
“Yes,” I said. “I don’t see any other choice.”
“Besides, if Fisherman Juan Prince says we’re not ready, then we’re not ready!” Paulie exclaimed.
Art looked at us both. He turned to the group. He sighed. “You guys are right. I just feel so powerless!”
“Agreed,” Gail nodded. “Hence the reason we’re going to eat fish and chips. It will give us power!”
My Notes:
Good news…we found the person who can lead us to the grail. Bad news…we’re still not ready. Good news…I am sure we will be ready soon. I knew we will! Bad news…I’m not really sure what ready means. Good news…the grail is now within our grasp. More bad news…I’m worried that we’re somehow helping Morgana.
I liked the way Sebastian used his head to go get the hose. It showed that he thinks fast on his feet. Good Knights know when and how to modify an order based on the situation.
Also, Art’s reaction today showed me that he truly isn’t the best one to lead. He can be too demanding and forceful. Like they say, you can catch more flies with honey, but then again who wants flies?
Chapter 10
On Sunday, I spent a nice relaxing day at home. Every once in a while, everybody needs to relax. I actually invited Mika and Gail over so we could have a girls’ day.
We just hung out in my living room talking, chatting, munching. Mom and Dad spent the day doing yard work and shopping just to give us some alone time, which was nice.
After a bit, we decided to head up to my room and paint our nails. Dad didn’t like me doing that downstairs as the smell of nail polish was too strong for him.
“Have you guys heard the new Christi Quick song? Be Mine?” Mika asked as we headed up the stairs.
“Oh, I love her!” Gail smiled. “She’s only 17 and she seems so sweet, yet she’s already so rich! I saw that her pool is lined with gold statues. But I heard she gives a lot of her time and money to charity. Somebody told me she gives puppies to families that need companions. And she even buys all their dog food for them.”
“I don’t know about that,” I grinned. “The gold statues around the pool are kind of freaky, so life-like.”
“Well, when you’re loaded with cash like Christi, you can do those things!” Mika told me.
“I guess,” I smiled. “And I do LOVE her music. It’s like she’s talking to me!”
“Me too!” Mika nodded.
“Me too!” Gail chirped in.
We all started singing the words to Be Mine…
“Be Mine! You know you wanna be mine!
I’m so fine. You’re so fine. You deserve to be mine...
We sang the last chords as we burst into my room, waking up Merlin who had been sleeping contently on my bed. Fern snuggled next to him also asleep, still asleep.
“Those two are so cute!” Gail said.
I pointed to Merlin’s bed in the corner of my room. “It would be much cuter if they slept on Merlin’s cat bed.”
Merlin growled at me, “Why are you here?”
I headed to my dresser, followed by Gail and Mika. “This is my room.”
Merlin groaned. “Acknowledged, but what is the purpose of you three being in your room? Please tell me this is not for girl talk and giggling. And why are you singing that dribble?”
“It’s not dribble,” Gail said being a little feistier than usual. “Christi Quick is a great talent. Some people say when it comes to wealth and power she may be just as influential as Morgana!”
“Now I don’t know if that’s comforting or scary,” Merlin said.
I had to admit that I agreed with him. But I wouldn’t tell him that. “We’re going to do our nails,” I said instead.
“As long as you can do them without singing, I need my rest!” Merlin complained.
“Dude, you’re a cat, you sleep like 23 hours a day,” Mika told him. “From what I can see you spend the other hour eating and farting.”
Merlin pointed to his head. “What you don’t see is what goes on in here! I, my dear, am always thinking, always processing.”
“Even when you’re asleep?” Gail asked.
“Especially when I am asleep! Sleep not only recharges the brain but some of my greatest ideas have come to me in dreams. When I was human, I would also get great ideas in the bath, but now, being a cat, I hate baths!” He stuck out his tongue. “Yuck!”
“Yeah, we noticed,” I said holding my nose.
“Ha Ha! Just because I don’t bathe like a human, doesn’t mean I’m not clean. The lick bath works perfectly well!” Merlin said.
“What about hairballs?” Mika asked.
Merlin pointed at her. “Okay, good point. The system isn’t totally perfect but it works well enough.”
I pointed to my dresser. “Come on, let’s let Merlin dream up more super ideas…”
“Is that how he thought up the idea of weaponized farts?” Gwen asked.
“I don’t know and I don’t care to know,” I said.
We sat down and painted our fingernails. I chose purple, I just love purple. Mika did her nails in a rosy red, they looked great. Gail painted her nails in a variety of colors. That was so Gail.
After we shook and blew our nails dry. Mika had an idea, “Let’s paint our toenails as well!”
“Great!” I said.
Gail sat on a stool and pulled her legs up, tucking them into her. “Ah, I’ve never painted my toenails,” She paused for a moment. “They are hard to reach, yeah that’s why.”
Mika dropped to the floor next to Gail. “No problem my friend, I can do them for you.”
Gail pulled back even more. “Okay, ah, Mom took me to a salon once to do my toenails…”
“That’s great!” Mika said.
Gail shook her head. “But ah, when I took my shoes off, everybody in the place fainted.” She sighed. “I guess when you’re really strong, you have really strong foot odor.”
“Ha!” Mika said, reaching for Gail’s shoe. “You are such a kidder.” Mika popped off Gail’s shoe.
“Wow!” Mika gasped and rolled over on the floor.
Looking across the room, I saw that Merlin and Fern had both fallen back to “sleep”.
I held my nose. “Man! Girl, you weren’t kidding!”
Gail nodded. “Sorry, I don’t like to take off my shoes unless I’m alone in my room.”
“Geol’s Fuut Udur Gu!” I magically ordered.
The room instantly smelled fresher. Gail sniffed her foot. She smiled. “I’m not gasping! I’m not gasping!” she shouted. She jumped up and hugged me, pulling me up into the air. “Thanks, Gwen! You’re even more awesome in this time than in the past.”
“I’m glad I could be of help!” I smiled. I pointed to the ground. “Now can you lower me?”
“Right!” Gail said, slowly lowering me back to the ground.
Gail picked up one of her shoes and sniffed it. “Man, if I could weaponize these, that could be helpful!” She looked at me. “Hey, why didn’t you faint?”
“I’ve always had a strong constitution,” I said.
I bent down and gave Mika a little nudge. “Wake up, Mika,” I said gently.
Mika mumbled, “Let me sleep, Mom. Just five more minutes…”
I shook her a little. “Get up, girl. Time for some girl talk!”
Mika popped up. She put a hand on her head. She looked at Gail. “Okay, you weren’t joking!” she said.
“I wish I was,” Gail replied. “But you can’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Mika stood up, her knees wobbled a bit but she stayed on her feet. She looked at Merlin and Fin. “Ha, I don’t feel so bad now!” She grinned at me. “So, what do you think of my bro?”
Gail leaned forward. “Yeah, pretty cute!”
I sat down on the floor. “He’s nice.”
“That’s it? He’s nice?” Mika asked.
“Are you still in love with Arthur?” Gail gasped.
“No way!” I said. “That was a long time ago. We were literally different people in a different world back then.”
“Are you holding out for Lancelot?” Gail asked eagerly. “I mean, you two always had sparks…”
“Once again, different people, a different world,” I sighed.
“But what if he comes and is just as noble and dreamy as he was back in the day?” Gail asked.
“Was he really that great?” Mika asked.
Gail nodded adamantly, “Yes!”
I let myself drift back to a day long ago… Lancelot was walking through the woods, hunting quail. “The woods smell so fresh this time of year,” I said.
“Yes my dear, queen,” he smiled. “It’s a relaxing walk, which is great for my mind and my body.” He pointed to his bow and arrow. “I can also hunt for food for the people in need. I can think of no greater way to spend my free time. That is when I am not serving you and my king.”
“Well,” Mika said, nudging me a bit.
I shook my head, bringing myself back to the present. “Your brother is cool.” I paused for a moment. “Art, has his good points, even if he does make me crazy sometimes.” I paused for another moment. “And Lance, I’m sure that when we do find him, he will be amazing!”
“But,” Mika said.
“Yeah, I’m sure he’ll have a nice butt,” Gail laughed.
I grinned at Gail’s joke. “But, right now I have a mission, a quest, a duty. I need to put that in front of anything else, except, of course, the safety of my family and friends.” I paused for a moment more. “These are modern times. No problem with a girl not having a boyfriend. Besides, I’m young. I have plenty of time.”
They both nodded.
I stood up. “Hey, let’s go make some s’mores!”
Gail jumped to her feet. “See, that’s why she’s the leader, she has all the best ideas.”
My Notes:
It felt so good to have some girl time with my friends. I’m a firm believer that downtime is great for everybody. You can’t take yourself too seriously in this life.
Okay, Gail’s feet really pack a kick… Ha Ha! (joke) But it felt good to be able to help her with my magic. Now we have to figure out how to use that foot power to our advantage.
As for my love life, there will time for that later… enough said for now!
Chapter 11
After the girls left, Mom and Dad went out for a romantic dinner alone. They did invite me, but I knew they could use some alone time. So that left me by myself in the house. Well, with Merlin and Fern. The three of us decided to order a pizza. Of course, it’s an interesting challenge ordering a pizza with a dragon turned into a firebird and a wizard turned into a cat.
“Okay, so what do you guys want on your pizza?” I asked.
“Mousetails,” Merlin answered.
“You always ask for that and I always tell you the same thing. One, that’s gross and two, there are no mouse tails because, well, that’s gross,” I told him.
“Can you be certain there are no mouse tails?” Merlin asked.
“Yes, yes I can, because of reason one,” I said.
“How about mouse bits then?” Merlin asked.
“I’ll get you pepperoni,” I told him.
I turned to Fern. “And what would you like, sir?”
“Hot peppers! Red hot peppers! The hottest peppers on earth! No, the hottest peppers on any realm!” Fern said.
“How about sweet green peppers?” I asked.
“Sweet is not the same as hot,” Fern replied. “Correct?”
“Correct,” I told him. “But the last time we ordered you hot peppers, your burp set the table on fire.”
Fern nodded. “That’s bad. Right?”
I nodded. “Yeah, really bad. Plus, that would be hard to explain to the fire department. So, can we please stick with green peppers?” I asked.
Fern smiled and flapped his wings. “Sure.” He paused to think. “Can you dab some hot sauce on it for me?”
“If you insist,” I said.
“Shall we get wings?” Merlin asked. “Cats love wings!!”
&nbs
p; Fern looked at him. “I do not condone the eating of wings, being a bird and all. Even when I was a dragon I did not like eating fellow flying creatures. I find it crass.”
“How about cheese sticks?” I suggested.
“That works for me!” Fern said.
“Cheese gives me gas!” Merlin said bluntly.
“So that’s a yes for you?” I asked just to make sure.
“Of course, I love having gas,” Merlin said.
“Okay, I’ll text in the order now!” I pulled out my phone and sent the text. “Done!”
“You kids these days with your texting and your LOL’s and your BRB! Is there no talking with words any longer? What happened to communication?” Merlin sighed.
“We’re still communicating, just faster,” I said.
“Why does everything have to be faster? Why can’t people ever stop and smell the roses?” Merlin asked.
Before I could answer, the doorbell rang.
“Wow, that was fast!” Fern commented.
Walking towards the door I told them, “No way this is the pizza!”
“You can’t be sure of that!” Merlin said. “Remember, you kids like everything fast these days.”
I opened the door. There stood a giant hairy ogre wearing a grey suit that made him look a lot like a silly sausage, the way he was packed into that suit.
“Greetings, young lady, I’m selling doors,” the ogre said with a bow.
He then showed me a whole bunch of doors that he was carrying on a trailer.
“You were right, not a pizza,” Merlin said. “Still, this is interesting in its own way.”
“May I enter?” the ogre asked. “These doors get heavy, even for me.”
Alright now, I really didn’t want this ogre in my house. Of course, I also couldn’t let the neighbors see me talking to an ogre. So, I stepped to the side and said, “Please come in.”
“Thank you,” he smiled, bending down as to not bump his head on the doorway. “I’m sure you will find a door that you love in among that lot.”
“And if I don’t?” I asked.
He grinned at me, the teeth he had were sharp fangs. “I will have to eat you.”
Good versus Evil! Page 5
