by Kim Thompson
She cruised along for a while, inspecting the sea life, the brilliant patches of coral and the fish of infinite variety and hue.
How could all this be in our pool? she wondered briefly. Gazing down, she caught sight of the time holes: two silver bubbles below her, nestled in the rocks and coral. The idea of a gateway to another time filled her with a giddy desire to plunge into them. Her mind was light and easy. It was as if all gravity had been sucked out of the world, and she laughed suddenly, sending up sparkling clouds of bubbles.
Looking up, Willa saw the light above her, and it all rushed back into her mind. Up there, somewhere, was Everett. She had to find him and make sure he was all right.
She rose up, and the patch of daylight grew larger. When she could make out figures and faces peering down into the water, she paused.
I don’t want to go up. I want to stay down here.
She suddenly understood Belle’s obsession with the pool. It was definitely not the pit of muddy water and slime it had seemed before. This was a whole new world.
With a bubbly sigh, she gave a last kick, and her head burst into the sunshine. She was momentarily blinded but heard gasps from all sides.
“Willa! Are you all right?”
“Thank heavens!”
“I told you she was fine!” crowed Belle, leaning forward in her chair.
“You’ve been down there for ages!”
“Seventeen minutes,” offered Argus.
“Seventeen? Psh! She could stay down there all day if she wanted to!” cackled Belle.
Willa felt the sides of her head again, felt the bumps behind her ears. A hand was offered, and she grabbed it. Argus lifted her out of the water and gently set her on the grass. Someone draped a towel around her. It was warm in the sunshine.
“What was that black thing in the water?” Willa asked.
Tengu stepped forward with the shiny, horrible wriggly creature. The head looked like a chicken, but it wasn’t fluffy; it was smooth and black. A strip of cloth covered its eyes. The body was vaguely chicken-like, tapering into a long black snake tail.
“It’s a basilisk!” announced Tengu proudly.
“Don’t they turn you to stone just by looking at you?” yelped Willa.
“That’s why I put the blindfold on.”
Horace looked at him sternly. “That is what Tengu has been hiding in his room, ever since it dropped out of one of the time holes.”
“He was just a baby when he fell out of that hole, a poor little orphan. His eyes hadn’t even opened yet.”
Willa looked up at Horace. “Why did you throw him in the pool?”
“We shouldn’t be messing with such a dangerous creature. I thought he’d go back through the time hole.”
Tengu grinned at her. “Thank you for jumping in after him, Willa, but you needn’t have worried. Basilisks are very good swimmers.”
“I, um … I didn’t really….” started Willa nervously. I jumped in because I thought Horace was trying to drown baby Everett. She sighed. No need to go there. “You’re welcome.” She looked around the group. “Has anyone found Everett?”
She heard a screech as a shadow passed overhead. Willa looked up, shielding her eyes. “Roshni! Have you seen him? Where is he?”
Roshni answered with a squawk and swooped up to land in a nearby treetop.
“Way up there? Good grief. Someone get me a ladder!”
Argus found one in the stable and held it against the tree while Willa climbed to the top. Poking her head up through the leaves, she found Everett snoozing in a hammock of vines under a leafy umbrella held by Oberon. Mab was there, too, trying to shoo Roshni away.
“Shush! Get lost! Scram!”
“Mab!”
Mab froze for a moment, then turned sheepishly to face her. “Willa! Hello!”
“You stole baby Everett!”
“Baby Evvie-wevvie needed fresh air and sunshine.”
Out of the corner of her eye Willa saw Oberon slip something behind his back. “What’s that? What are you hiding?”
He reluctantly pulled out a tiny plate of berries.
“Is that fairy food? Did you feed him fairy food?” Willa demanded.
Oberon frowned. “We didn’t get a chance! He’s been asleep the whole time!”
Just then Everett opened his eyes, looked around, and let out a happy gurgle. Oberon groaned. “Now he wakes up!”
Willa gently lifted Everett and pressed him to her as she carefully descended the ladder. Argus rescued the baby carriage from a nearby bush, and Willa tucked Everett into it before turning back to Mab.
“You cannot steal babies, Mab! What were you thinking?”
Mab pouted. “We used to do it all the time.”
“I don’t care!” Willa shook her finger at both fairies. “You must never, EVER come near Everett again. Or any other human baby! EVER! Do you hear me?”
“I told her it was a bad idea,” said Oberon.
“What?” Mab turned on him. “The whole thing was your idea! You said stealing human babies reminded you of the good old days!”
“All I said was, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to steal a baby’… I didn’t really mean it.”
“Liar!”
“Kidnapper!”
“Troll!”
“Harpy!”
As the two fairies glowered at each other, clouds crowded in front of the sun.
“And there goes the sunshine,” Willa observed with a shiver. The crowd around the pool dispersed into the house. Mab and Oberon flew off, glaring daggers at each other. Only Argus remained behind.
“This is all my fault, Willa. I will pack my things and go.”
“Argus, no! I really need your help. Please, please stay,” begged Willa, picking one of his eyes to look at. “Please?”
Argus blushed. “All right. But from now on, when Everett is in the house I will not leave his side. And I will no longer believe anything the fairies tell me.” He held out his hand, and Willa shook it.
“Don’t worry about Everett. I’m going to tell Mrs. Norton I don’t have time to babysit anymore. Not trusting the fairies, though, that’s a good idea.”
As they pushed the carriage toward the house, Willa gave him a sly smile.
“Pack your things? You didn’t bring any ‘things.’”
Argus pulled a toothbrush from his pocket. “I didn’t say it would take long.”
Tengu’s bedroom door was ajar. Willa peeked in to see Tengu and Horace watching the baby basilisk, still blindfolded, batting a ball of string between its long black tail and its chicken feet. Horace was shaking his head.
“I don’t know, Tengu. It’s absolutely unprecedented.”
Willa joined them. “What is?”
“Keeping a basilisk as a pet! Unprecedented and insane.”
At Horace’s words, the basilisk hissed at them, revealing a long black snake tongue within its beak. Then he began sharpening his talons on Tengu’s dresser, leaving deep scratches in the wood.
Willa turned back to Tengu. “What about this ‘turning to stone’ business? Are you going to keep him blindfolded forever?”
Tengu whistled between his teeth. The basilisk hopped up onto his arm and rested his head on Tengu’s shoulder, making an odd gurgling sound.
“Hear that? He’s purring!” said Tengu proudly. “He would never turn me to stone.” At Horace and Willa’s doubtful looks he added, “I don’t think.”
“Tengu—” started Horace.
“I’m working with him and training him, and I think I can teach him to not turn us to stone. I’m pretty sure I can, but I would love to have your help, Horace.”
Horace looked at him in surprise. “Me?” He scratched his head and stared at the basilisk. “It would be an interesting experiment, I suppose….” His voice
trailed off in the way it did when he was immersed in a problem. Willa smiled and turned to go. Tengu gave her an excited thumbs-up as she shut the door behind her.
She turned to find Belle parked there, looking very smug. They looked at each other for a long, long time. Belle reached her hands up to Willa’s ears, but Willa pushed them away.
“Yes, they’re there,” she said crossly.
Belle sat back with a satisfied grin. She patted the sides of her own head. “Just … like … me.”
“I’m going home,” said Willa. “I’ve had enough weirdness for one day.”
When Willa returned home, her parents were still in the kitchen preparing her birthday breakfast. Time at Eldritch had slowed so much that she’d only been gone for about twenty minutes.
Willa ducked into the bathroom and took a quick shower to get the last of the algae out of her hair. Then she stared at herself in the mirror. Her hair positively shone, the silver streak even brighter than before.
Is swimming good for my hair, or is it just the algae?
She turned her head from side to side, making sure her hair totally covered the gills. If her mom saw them ... Willa smiled. The swimming business would be her own little secret, for now at least.
At dinnertime, Grandpa arrived for a little birthday celebration.
“Willa the Wisp!” he called from the front door, and Willa ran to give him a big hug. Tonight Grandpa was his usual boisterous self, brimming over with jokes and stories, and Dad tried his best to keep the mood light, but Mom remained distant and wouldn’t meet Willa’s eye. Willa wasn’t exactly in a party mood, either; she was so exhausted, she could barely keep up with conversation.
After dinner, Grandpa sat on the sofa beside her, and she laid her head on his shoulder.
“You seem pretty tired, kiddo. Homework keeping you up at night?”
“No, not really. I just had a long day.” She looked into his kind eyes and felt a sudden urge to unburden herself and tell him that she knew about Mom’s swimming, that she had jumped in a pool today and could breath underwater! It was all so new and exciting that she desperately wanted to share it with him.
Her mother, however, was watching from across the room, and Willa was just too tired to go through any more drama today. It was all she could do to stay awake for the usual birthday rituals: the cake, the singing, the candles, and her presents — a new sweater and a couple of books. After Grandpa left she announced that she was going to bed.
“Goodnight, birthday girl,” said her dad, giving her a hug.
“Bed at eight thirty? Do you feel all right?” asked her mom.
“I’m just tired.”
Her mom hugged her, then looked her in the eyes. “Happy birthday, hon. I love you.”
Willa nodded and went to her room. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.
She was swimming again, and ahead of her was the leafy face. The great, grey eyes bordered with leaves watched her quietly. She sent him her question once more.
Who are you?
The whole world fell silent. Willa waited. The mouth opened slowly, revealing an inky black void. Then there was movement within the darkness, and snakey masses of vines burst from the mouth, pouring out with a roar and a crash.
Willa started awake. Her room swam into focus. The clock said 2:00 a.m.
April Fool! she thought.
Chapter Sixteen
A dolphin leads the way
The day after Willa’s birthday, she walked to Eldritch Manor with only one thought in her mind: I want to swim again.
She intended to go straight to the pool and dive in, but Argus was sitting on the front porch, so she joined him.
“Eldritch Manor surveillance report, April second. Mab and Oberon are sulking about the baby fiasco and blaming each other, hence the cloudy weather. Baz is in the parlour staring at Tabitha, which is making everyone nervous. Horace and Tengu spend all their time locked up with that thing….” Argus didn’t think much of the basilisk. “The dwarves are working on the second floor rooms and getting a lot done because of the long days, which by my calculation are now approximately eighty-two hours long. All those extra hours are tiring everyone out. We’re setting some world records for napping around here.”
Willa thanked him and hurried to the backyard. Even though the pool was still murky and streaked with algae, to her the water now appeared soft, shimmery, and inviting. She couldn’t even remember how she’d thought it looked gross. Trembling, Willa stripped down to a T-shirt and gym shorts and dove in.
She had a moment of panic when she tried to inhale and couldn’t, but then she felt her gills pull open, and she breathed easily. She looked around at the coral and plants and fish that were invisible when she was out of the water. The time bubbles lay far below her, and she decided to keep her distance. She wasn’t sure if things might still pop out of them. What if another basilisk tumbled out? Or something worse? No, today she just wanted to enjoy being in the water; the grace and ease of motion was exhilarating. After an hour of drifting, spinning, swooping, and dancing, she grabbed on to a vine growing up the side of the pool and climbed out.
Standing there in the grass, she felt heavy, shackled once more by gravity. Her limbs were awkward and unwieldy. Her mind, too, felt leaden and slow under a blanket of dark clouds. She dried herself off, slowly becoming aware of a figure in the window watching her: Belle.
She turned away and pulled dry clothes on over the wet. She slapped a ballcap over her wet hair, stuffed her towel into her backpack, and strode out of the yard.
It turned out that Tabitha’s extra-fine stitchery and the resulting extension of time helped Willa conceal her visits from her mom. If she hurried over right after school, she could stay for a couple of hours, then come home, where barely any time had passed.
So Willa visited Eldritch Manor every day, first stepping inside to say hello, checking in with Argus, maybe tidying up a bit, and then going out to the pool for a dip. After that, a quick hair-rinse in the sink to remove the algae, and she was on her way home. Her mom sometimes commented on how slowly she walked home from school.
“I was hanging out with my friends,” she’d answer, which was technically true and pleased her mom, but she still felt guilty about lying. I’m mad at my mom for lying to me, so I’m lying to her in return, she thought sadly. She wanted to tell her the truth, and every day she resolved to do it, then lost her nerve. She knew her mom would freak out, and right now she couldn’t bear to give up her visits to Eldritch and her daily swim. So the days went on, and the deceit continued.
Willa swam a little longer each day and began diving deeper. The size and depth of the pool varied from day to day. Some days it retained its rectangular shape and felt more like a pool, but on other days the sides receded, revealing caves and tunnels. Some were bright with rainbow coral and neon fish, while others were darker, home to jewelled seahorses and lurking octopi. Since she didn’t have to return to the surface for air, she became totally immersed in her exploration and lost all track of time. The longer she swam, the stronger she felt, and the more relaxed she was when she returned to the world above.
Green and more green surrounded her. Willa swam through the leaves until she came face to face with him again. She looked into the grey eyes, eyes empty of meaning, and once again she asked—
Who are you?
—hoping for a different result, but once again the mouth opened and foliage came crashing out, a fury of thorns and branches that swept Willa backward. She tumbled over and over as vines snaked around and past her, carrying her along in their current. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the greenery calmed, and Willa was lying in a forest.
All was still, but Willa felt she was being watched. She looked up to see brilliant violet eyes peering back at her from the darkness. These eyes weren’t like the grey ones. These eyes were full of kindness and concern,
and Willa was comforted.
The dream faded peacefully, and Willa slept on. In the morning she woke with the image of those violet eyes imprinted on her mind.
One day Willa was floating above the time holes, thinking about the weird dreams she’d been having, when a dolphin slipped out of the larger bubble. He slid past her, slowing just enough for her to rub his side and take hold of his dorsal fin. The dolphin took her for a thrilling ride, bucking and banking around the rectangle of the pool at top speed. Then, accelerating out of a loop-de-loop, he zoomed down toward the time holes. A silvery blob loomed before them, and before Willa knew what was happening, they had slipped into it.
It was dark. Willa let go of the dolphin, who swam off without her. When her eyes got used to the gloom, she saw she was in a tunnel with proper walls, floor, and ceiling. It was wide enough that she couldn’t touch both sides at once. The dolphin was now just a slip of grey disappearing into the distance. She reassured herself that the bubble was close at hand; from this side it looked like a disc of smoked glass with daylight filtering through. Willa touched it and her hand easily passed through it. Then she poked her head through, just to make sure her own pool was still on the other side. Drawing back into the darkness of the time hole, Willa could just make out a light at the far end of the tunnel. Her heart thumped in her chest. She hesitated, caught between fear and curiosity, until the distant chittering of the dolphin persuaded her to take a quick look.
Willa swam cautiously toward the light, which turned out to be another disc just like the first. She could hear seagulls. Taking a deep breath, Willa pushed her head and shoulders through to the other side.
Sunshine beat down on her face. Her eyes adjusted, and she gazed out at a sparkling lagoon, complete with an arc of white sandy beach and a lush jungle beyond. She saw her friend the dolphin leaping in the air and splashing down again. She took a deep breath of fragrant summertime air and gazed around once more before withdrawing and swimming back through the tunnel.
