The Ankulen

by Kendra E. Ardnek

  Queen Tailya shook her head. “No, I didn't. The Polystoikhedron was the first, and that was after you left. Why?”

  I pressed my lips together. “Just something Chris and Tisha told me just now. Don't worry about it. On another note, would you like a husband to keep your daughters in line and help you rule over the mermen?” Queen Tailya's eyes went up, so I added, “I've been busy.”

  “If you think it best for me to have a husband.”

  “Oh, I do.” I rested my hand against the gems and closed my eyes. “I should have given you a husband before I gave you children.”

  When I opened my eyes, a second throne sat beside Queen Tailya's and in it sat a powerfully-built merman. In his hand was a smaller version of a trident, made of the same rainbow pearl that made the Queen's Necklace. This was the King's Trident.

  “Greetings, King Merlin,” I greeted.

  “Greetings, Lady Jenifer,” said he, rising out of his throne with a thrust from his powerful tail. “It is an honor to have you visit us.”

  “I enjoy visiting,” I answered. “Now, Queen Tailya, give your husband a kiss and I will be on my way. I still need to speak with the Old Woman today. I'll be back to fully repair the Ocean after the Polystoikhedron has been purged.”

  Soon I was making my way back to the surface. I had declined the offer of a merman guard, even though both Queen Tailya and King Merlin pressed me. Once on dry land again, I tapped the Ankulen to remove the water from my hair and clothing and took off running.

  When I reached the Old Woman's Cave, I raised the ceiling. I would walk unhampered by Glowbeetles in my hair.

  “Where would be the best place for me to build a second Dreams Castle?” I asked as I entered the pink chamber. “I must fight the Polystoikhedron within one, and Swinging Castle doesn't have a large enough door.”

  “Try Green Valley,” suggested the Old Woman. “But, Lady Jenifer, fighting the Polystoikhedron is a dangerous affair. Are you sure that you know what you're doing?”

  “I will take measures so that this world will be preserved even should I perish,” I said, holding my voice as steady as possible. “I will find a Len to take care of it for me.”

  “It will not be the same as having you among us,” said the Old Woman.

  “No,” I agreed, sighing. “But it'll be better than having the Polystoikhedron.”

  “I hope that you survive, Lady Jenifer.”

  “So do I.” I hesitated before I asked, “Do you know of anyone who didn't belong in my imagination who was here before I abandoned it?”

  “I do not know the identity of the person who convinced Sir Chirstofer and Fair Maiden Letitia to join the real world,” said the Old Woman, shaking her head. “I suspect that he was connected to the Polystoikhedron, though.”

  “That would make sense, wouldn't it?” said I, clenching my fists. “The Polystoikhedron certainly benefited from my absence, didn't it?”

  “That it did,” agreed the Old Woman. “That is why I suspect it. However … we will never know for certain.”

  “I know,” I whispered. “Well, thank-you for your advice, Old Woman. It has been good speaking with you again.”

  “It has been good speaking with you as well,” said the Old Woman. “You have been gone for a long time. But now you are here, and things are as they should be.”

  “I know.” I rubbed my Ankulen's band. “But even so, it won't be the same as it was before. I'm not a child anymore. My imagination is no longer just a fun place to play.”

  “All the better, Jen,” said the Old Woman. “Yet I fear that there are others who will feel the change sharply.”

  “The transition time was denied me. However, at least I won't be miserable, and I won't be disconnected from all of you. And … I really need to return to the Playground before Derek discovers that it's impossible to kill another person's imaginary friend.”

  Chapter 18

  In Which Megan Makes an Offer and Derek Doubts

  “OH, Jen! That Polystoikhedron sounds absolutely bad!” Megan cried as soon as I came into her line of sight. She rushed towards me and threw her arms around my neck. “Oh, how can you stand it?”

  I gave my sister a reassuring hug. “I can't stand it. That's why I'm doing everything in my power to get rid of it. Where are the others?”

  “Hiding,” said Megan. “Except Chris, who's counting.”

  “Ah,” said I. “Do you mind if I make sure that the two of us are the first found? I'm ready to do a bit of explaining. Oh, and eat supper. Tisha and Chris are hungry.”

  “I guess I wouldn't mind it too much,” Megan admitted. “But I was hoping to win this round.”

  “Well …” I tilted my head to the side and leaned against the nearest swing post. “I suppose we could hide separately if you'd like. Then I'd make sure that you're the last person found. But we wouldn't have a perfectly good opportunity to talk, just the two of us.”

  A line appeared between Megan's eyes as she considered my words. I bit my lip and drummed my fingers against my arm while I waited for her to decide. At last a smile broke across her face. “I'm sure we can play hide and go seek another day, can't we, Jen?”

  “Certainly,” I assured her, “provided I can get rid of the Polystoikhedron. And we'd better get hidden. Chris just announced ready or not.”

  Megan's eyes widened. “I didn't hear him.”

  Taking her hand, I led her to a hollow ball just perfect for hiding inside. “He's out of earshot,” I admitted, as I ducked through the small hole, “so I didn't expect you to have heard him. That's why I mentioned it.”

  “Then how did you hear him?”

  “In a way, I didn't,” I admitted. “But he's in my imagination, and he's part of my imagination. He's never so far away that I can't know what he's up to.”

  “How?” Her whispered words were full of awe.

  “The same way I know where my arms are when I close my eyes,” I explained. “It's part of me. I don't have to be able to see or hear to know what it's doing.”

  “This place is part of you?”

  “In a way. Having you and Derek here is kinda like having bugs crawling up and down my arms. That's how I knew where to find you.”

  “I'm a bug?” she asked, wrinkling her nose. “What kind?”

  “A butterfly,” I answered, grinning. “A tiny, beautiful butterfly. You're so tiny and airy, I don't mind having you here at all.”

  She giggled. “And what's Derek?”

  I lifted an eyebrow. “Honestly? He's a big, huge, annoying stinkbug.”

  She giggled harder. “I don't think he'd like being called that.”

  “I doubt he would,” I agreed. “But he's the one being a stink.” A sigh escaped me. “I'm sure he'll be just the sort of brother God wants us to have though. It's just …”

  “Of course he is,” Megan assured me. “Jesus always knows what he's doing.”

  I grinned. “He does, doesn't he? It's just us who have to stumble in the dark. Derek's not so bad, though. The Polystoikhedron feels like a blazing fire. It's not just annoying. It hurts!”

  “But you're going to get rid of it, right?”

  “If I can.” I set my jaw. “But it won't be easy.”

  “My daddy always said that if something's easy, you don't learn anything from it.”

  “Your daddy was a smart person,” I told her, solemnly. This was the first time she had spoken of her parents, so it wasn't something to be lightly treated.

  “Oh he was!” Her voice glowed, as if I had complimented her. Then her face fell, and so did her voice. “I miss him so much, Jen.”

  I didn't say anything, but slid a comforting arm around her shoulders.

  “I'll see him again someday,” she continued, in barely more than a whisper. “When I go to see Jesus … but it's so far away.” She sounded so young, so small. “Jen?”

  “Yes?”

  “Do … do you think that my Daddy was an Anka like you?” she asked. “He always to
ld me the best stories.”

  Her question caught me off-guard, so it was several seconds before I could reply. “He wouldn't have been an Anka, the Anka are always girls. He might have been an Anku, though. I don't know.”

  “Is an Anku like an Anka?”

  “They're practically the same thing,” I confirmed. “The Anku are all boys, Anka are girls. We all have Ankulens, and we all bring imagination to life.”

  “Anyone in here?” Chris's voice echoed into the ball, and his head appeared in the doorway.

  “No one but us chickens,” I replied, grinning.

  “Lady Jenifer!” Chris exclaimed. “You're back.”

  “So I am,” I confirmed. “Now you still have Derek and Tisha to find. Megan, who should he find first?”

  Megan tilted her head to the side as she considered, her eyes sparkling. “Derek,” she announced. “He already won once.”

  “Then that's settled,” I announced, as I started walking. “We'll find Derek first and then Tisha. Then I'll announce my exciting plans for supper.” I cast a meaningful glance over my shoulder in Megan's direction. “And let's not mention to Derek that I said he was a stinkbug.”

  “It'd make him not like you, wouldn't it?”

  “I won't say that, since he already doesn't like me. However, it would cause more problems than it's worth.”

  Once Derek and Tisha were found, we set up home base in a good-sized fort that overlooked a section of the playground. “So, who's hungry?” I asked, folding my arms over my chest. Laughing, I added, “Don't answer that, I already know. Tisha, catch!” I pulled the satchel off of my back, and tossed it to her. “I want some fruit salad. You and Megan are in charge of that. Chris, go fight a dragon and bring back Dragon Steak. Cook it first. Derek, you and I are going to make frog leg soup.”

  Derek's eyes followed Chris as my favored knight skipped away to do my bidding. Yep, skipped. It amused me, and what's the point of an imagination if it can't amuse you?

  “Why can't I fight the dragon?” Derek asked, his voice almost whiny. (Although he would say it wasn't.)

  I sighed and rubbed my Ankulen's gems. “Because, honestly, I don't know what happens when the knights fight dragons, ogres, or whatever it is they're fighting.”

  “You don't know?” Derek gave me another one of his skeptical looks. I was acquiring quite the collection of them.

  “Wasn't something I deemed necessary,” I said, shrugging, watching Tisha and Megan out of the corner of my eye. Their enthusiasm amused me. “I'm a girl. I didn't like picturing such gruesome details, so I didn't. I always ran away before Chris fought. He'd come back with dragon steak or ogre slime. End of story.”

  Derek snorted. “Typical girl.”

  I shrugged his comment off. “I do, however, know what happens when you catch a frog and pull its legs off.”

  Up went both of Derek's eyebrows. I believe I had truly surprised him for the first time. “Pull its legs off?” he repeated.

  “Oh, how can you be so cruel to the poor, innocent things!” Megan exclaimed, horrified.

  “It's not as bad as it sounds,” I assured her. “It doesn't hurt them, and their legs grow back.” I turned back to Derek. “So are you coming or not?”

  He drew in a deep breath and shook his head. “This, I've got to see.”

  “Follow me then,” I told him, as I skipped over to the nearest ladder and started descending. Derek followed me, but didn't skip.

  Once on the ground, I started skipping again. Derek followed at a quick walk, and the looks he shot me clearly communicated, Girl, you are crazy!

  “I'm in a skipping mood,” I explained.

  “I can tell.”

  “So what is it you don't like about my imagination?” I asked, turning around and walking backwards. “Everyone else I talk to likes the place. It's just you who has a problem. I'd like to know what that problem is so that I can fix it.”

  His eyes narrowed. “You're going to run into something.”

  “Why would that be a problem?” I asked. “I would have thought that me running into a swing set would have been the least of of your issues.” Without looking, I changed directions to avoid running into a swing set that I was rapidly approaching.

  “You should watch where you're going,” Derek warned me.

  “Why?” I asked, stepping out of the way of a slide. “Only once have I run into something while in my imagination, and that was when my eyes were closed and I was blindly following my Ankulen and I failed to –.”

  My explanation was cut short by a cry of pain, as the dull fire that was the Polystoikhedron suddenly flared into an unprecedented intensity. One hand flew to my head, while the other clutched the Ankulen's gems and I crumpled to the ground.

  The pain was gone as quickly as it sprung, but it left behind such an overwhelming sense of loss, I knew that it could only mean one thing. The Polystoikhedron had eaten one of my friends.

  “Jen, what's wrong?” I heard Derek say, but I couldn't bring myself to answer.

  I squeezed my eyes shut as a tear slipped out of my eye. No, it wasn't Tisha or Chris, thankfully. The Polystoikhedron was as far away as possible from my favorites.

  “Jen!” Derek grabbed my shoulders and started shaking me to get my attention. Not the best way to treat someone suffering from a headache … but he was trying, I'll give him that. “Jen! Talk to me!”

  I forced my eyes open and looked up at him. He immediately stopped shaking me as soon as our eyes met. “What's wrong?” he asked, in a whisper.

  “It ate Steve,” I moaned.

  “What?”

  “The Polystoikhedron ate Steve. In one bite!” I let go of my head, which was no longer throbbing, and launched myself forward, throwing my arms around him.

  “Hey!” he protested. “What's that for? Who's Steve?”

  I started crying. “S-sir Steve, the Green Knight,” I choked out. “He – he was Chris's best friend. He helped us solve mysteries – and now he's gone!”

  “Can't you just remake him?” Derek suggested.

  My tears stopped short and I pushed back to stare at Derek in horror. “Ankulen law states that you cannot make the same person twice.”

  Derek frowned. “Why not?”

  “Because everyone must be special and unique,” I explained. “How would you like to know that you're just the copy of someone else? No, it would never do. Every one must be made different.” I spun on my heel and started walking. “And we were going to make Frog Leg soup.”

  Now before you think me heartless or emotionally unstable, going from tears to this in seconds, and forgetting the tears almost completely, I'd like to point out that Sir Steve was my eleventh brave knight to be eaten by the Polystoikhedron, and I was also missing so many of my other friends, including three of the Wood Children, Brazil, Tangerine, and Lemon. Oh, dear, sweet Lemon …

  Neither of us spoke again until we reached Rushing River, when I turned to Derek. “I'll cook, you catch the frogs. Watch for the Water Babies. They like to grab ankles.”

  Derek turned to me with raised eyebrow. “Water Babies? You mean those things you mentioned when we were with the Wood Children?”

  “Yup,” I said, gathering some reeds to make a fire. “They won't hurt you, of course, but they do love ankles.”

  He eyed me, untrusting.

  “Well,” said I, pouring some fire starter over the reeds, “are you going to catch me some frog legs or are you going to wait until Blue shows up?”

  “Blue?”

  “Steve's dog. She didn't get eaten, so I homed her. She should be here shortly.” I tapped a pot into existence, filled it with water, then placed it over the fire. “But I'll need the frog legs even more shortly.”

  “Homed?”

  “She's headed my way,” I explained. “If I want to speak with any of my imaginary friends, and I don't feel like personally looking for them, I can home them and they'll come right to me – whether they mean to or not. It comes quite i
n handy at times like this.”

  “What if they don't want to see you?”

  I dumped some edible grass into the pot, then gave my brother a long, serious look. “They will still come to me. If they try to run, they only find me all the faster.”

  “What if they don't go anywhere?”

  “That's the only way they can avoid me – but I've never had it happen.” I glanced at Rushing River. “It's almost ready for the frog legs. Do I have any yet?”

  “No. If you're so keen on getting frogs, why don't you get them with that flashy bracelet of yours like you do anything else?” he asked.

  “That wouldn't be as much fun!” I protested. “If I wanted to just imagine them into existence, I would have stayed on the Playground with Tisha and Megan.”

  “Then why don't you catch the frogs?”

  I wrinkled my nose in distaste. “That's a knight's job, not a maiden's. Chris always does the frog catching.”

  “Then why isn't he doing it now?”

  “Because he's fighting a dragon.”

  Derek rolled his eyes, obviously disgusted with me. “You aren't making me like your imagination very much.”

  “I thought that all little boys liked catching frogs.” I gave Derek my best innocent face. “Look, if it's the Water Babies that are bothering you, I've sent them further downstream. You'll only find frogs in this portion of Rushing River.”

  I did, at last, convince Derek to step into the River and try to catch a frog. After his first success, however, he decided that it wasn't so bad. In fact, I started to worry that he might provide too many frogs, so I tapped my Ankulen to thin them out.

  He didn't stop until the ground started shaking.

  “What's that?” (Derek just told me that if I write that his voice was edged with fear, he'll never forgive me. So I won't. Draw your own conclusions.)

  “That's Blue,” I explained, as I tossed a legless frog back into the river.

  “That's Blue?” Derek turned to me in disbelief.

  “Yup,” said I. “Did I forget to mention that Sir Steve's dog is as big as a house?”

  “As big as a …”

  “Give or take.”