by Amy Neftzger
“Then perhaps we should look for something less expensive,” Kelsey agreed. “Is this a custom of yours? Do you buy gifts every time you see each other?”
“Not always,” Megan replied. “But it’s a good idea to stay on his good side.”
They walked past a few tents selling hats, scarves, water, and other supplies. Several tents were selling roasted meats that smelled wonderful, but Kelsey knew there would be plenty of game in the forest. She couldn’t afford to spend her money on prepared meat, no matter how good it would taste. Kelsey turned away from the food and spotted a tent selling bags of small pebbles in various colors. The sign had the words, “Miracle Seeds” stenciled on it in block letters. Her pulse quickened, and she raced over to it. She had no idea that miracles could be grown. She’d always had the impression that they just appeared like magic.
Kelsey quickly read the list of items for sale and saw she could purchase a small bag of seeds for less than a tenth of a silver crown. At that price she could afford the seeds of a whole lot of miracles. How perfect! Not to mention that if she had a miracle in her hands, or at least the seeds, then she could turn around and go home where people were still waiting. This would save so much time. She would get home so much sooner than if she went all the way to the orphanage. She didn’t even know where the orphanage was located, anyway.
“Can I help you?” asked a small girl. She was wearing a neatly ironed blue dress that reminded Kelsey of a girl in a story she had once read. The girl looked a little too clean and proper, but Kelsey was too excited about her discovery of the seeds to notice.
“I didn’t know that miracles had seeds!” Kelsey exclaimed.
“Of course. Miracles are a part of the natural world, so it only stands to reason that they would have a natural origin.”
“On the other hand, if they have a natural origin, then how can they be supernatural?” Megan challenged the girl politely. The young girl began to morph and rapidly turned into a middle-aged woman with brown hair pulled tightly into a bun at the back of her head.
“I’m using logic. Natural things have a natural origin,” the newly aged clerk replied in a tone similar to one a schoolteacher would use. Megan turned up her nose.
“These are fake,” Megan announced. “All of them. You don’t farm miracles like a vegetable. It takes more than water and soil to create something that didn’t exist.”
“All of life is something new that didn’t exist before.” As the clerk spoke, she transformed back into a small girl. Her voice became higher in pitch as she quickly shed height and age. Her hair went from drab brown to shiny, golden yellow. She turned to Kelsey once she was a young girl again. “Is it a miracle that you need?”
“Yes.”
“Then you should grow one of your own. If you grow it yourself, then it will remain uncontaminated by other things. Impure things. An unsanitary environment can damage the effectiveness of a miracle,” she paused for Kelsey to consider her words. Once she was satisfied that Kelsey had followed her logic, she continued, “If you get a miracle that’s already fully grown, then you don’t know where that miracle has been or how healthy it is. You also don’t know what sort of problems you could have with it later on. And if a miracle isn’t strong enough, it will die easily. You don’t want that, do you?” Her voice had a sweet sound and an innocent quality about it that made Kelsey want to trust her. Everything she said sounded good, especially the part about being able to grow your own miracle. If she only had to plant a few pebbles to get a miracle, then she wouldn’t have to continue wandering around as she had been. She could settle down and rest while the miracles were growing.
“Snap out of it,” Megan barked as she tapped Kelsey roughly on the shoulder. Her claws were extended just enough that Kelsey could feel the sharpness in the jabs. “Don’t listen to this person. She can’t even decide how old she wants to be, so how can she know anything for certain? She’s too easily distorted by the message she wants to send to hold onto any facts.”
“Facts come in all shapes and sizes,” replied the girl as she grew into an even older woman with graying hair. Her clothing morphed into a business suit that made her appear more authoritative. The suit deepened into a conservative charcoal gray color that matched her hair. “There are as many facts as there are points of view. It’s a matter of selecting the right ones to fit the situation and discarding the others. Facts are very useful this way.”
“Facts become useless when they’re chosen to fit a purpose instead of being taken altogether as a whole,” Megan insisted. “Facts are meant to be objective.”
“Objectivity is so impersonal,” the old woman stated. “And who can trust anything that’s impersonal? It’s just not right. The seeds are so much more practical. Not to mention faster.”
“Yes, Megan,” Kelsey agreed as she turned to face the leopard. “This could speed things along.”
“Speed things along to where?” Megan asked skeptically. Kelsey thought that sometimes patience could be a very annoying trait in others. “Even if these did work and you could grow a miracle with magic seeds, what would you get in this hurry of yours? A beanstalk?”
“Answers,” Kelsey replied. “Solutions to problems. I wouldn’t need to go all the way to the orphanage.”
“Oh, you don’t need the Orphanage of Miracles,” the older woman said, shrinking into her smaller frame again. “Why bother going to the orphanage? It’s just a building. We have what you need right here. Besides, you’d have to cross the sea to get there. You might get seasick. Think of your health.”
“Yes,” Kelsey agreed, “my health is important. I have to think of myself.”
Megan suddenly stood up to her full height and roared loud enough to rattle the gold jewelry off the table across the street. The tent walls flapped rapidly in response to the sound waves coming from the giant leopard. Kelsey cringed from the deafening noise and then reached for her knife without thinking about what she was doing.
“No, you don’t!” Megan roared at her. “You may not abandon Silence!” She pushed Kelsey away from the tent with a swat of her massive paw and then continued snapping at Kelsey’s backside as Kelsey ran for the forest as fast as she could. This sudden change in behavior had confused Kelsey. Just when she thought that Megan was trying to be helpful, the leopard had turned on her. As she ran through the streets and toward the forest, Kelsey wondered if Megan intended to kill her.
“I thought you were a healer!” Kelsey screamed as she tried to stay one step in front of the leopard chasing her. It never occurred to Kelsey that Megan had longer legs and could have overtaken her at any moment. Instead, she was thinking about the leopard’s angry eyes and sharp teeth that were only inches from removing one of her legs. When they had left the trading post, Megan slowed to a walk and stopped sneering. It was as if someone had flipped the switch of Megan’s anger into the off position. Megan’s expression softened so quickly that Kelsey began to wonder if she had imagined the chase.
“What are you seeking at the orphanage?” Megan asked as she flopped onto the ground. Kelsey felt the ground tremble and her own shaking legs nearly gave out.
“A miracle,” Kelsey replied as soon as she had caught her breath.
“What kind?” Megan continued to inquire. “What do you hope to gain?”
“The war has caused a lot of problems in my village,” Kelsey explained. “There’ve been shortages of food, and some people have lost their jobs. My parents can’t get the wheat they need to bake bread, and without bread to sell, they can’t buy food to feed themselves. They can’t afford to buy anything they need to live. There’s a lot of poverty. So many people need so many things.” Kelsey realized that she was still holding her knife. She put it back into the sheath and took a deep breath. She hadn’t told this to anyone. She hadn’t talked to anyone about her parents or her village.
“So you left to find an answer?” Megan asked.
“I left so that my parents would have one less mout
h to feed. I left because I wanted to do something to help the situation instead of being a part of the burden. I left to find them a miracle so that things could go back to the way they used to be when no one was hungry.”
“Those weren’t real miracles back there,” Megan explained. “They were magic pebbles.”
“That’s the next best thing to a miracle,” Kelsey insisted.
“No, it’s not the same. It doesn’t last,” Megan explained. “Magic is temporary. Miracles last forever. Magic fades, but miracles never die.”
Kelsey looked over at Silence. He was talking with the birds again. She watched him motioning to a small gray bird, but she knew there was something wrong. The bird appeared sick as it chirped angrily back at Silence. Kelsey wondered if he bird was wounded or angry. Megan noticed the scene and watched, also.
“Can you help it?” Kelsey asked Megan.
“No,” she replied. “This is something else. The bird doesn’t want healing. Besides, I can’t heal anyone against their own desires. That would be wrong.”
Kelsey stood back with the leopard as the bird flopped to the ground at the feet of Silence. Feathers were dropping as it thrashed in the dirt. Then Kelsey was sure that she saw it change. The bird became larger and darker than it had been. As it tumbled on the ground, it doubled in size, and the feathers turned black. When it stood upright again, it had turned into a crow.
Megan began snarling and softly growled as the bird changed. It must have been a reflex, but the leopard’s animosity toward the bird made Kelsey uneasy. As soon as the bird began hopping about on two feet, Megan lunged at it, but the bird flew off and escaped. Kelsey ran to Silence to see what had happened, even though she couldn’t understand his way of speaking. From what she saw on his face, she knew he was upset over the strange incident. She could also tell that something bad had happened because Silence was crying. Kelsey stood next to him and took his hand, just as he had done for her when she was crying in the desert. She knew she didn’t understand what was happening and she couldn’t help him, but she could be with him. She could hold his hand as his tears washed away his feelings of despair.
“The sorcerer did this,” Megan said quietly. “His spell creates misunderstandings that can quickly turn friends into enemies.” Then she gently licked a tear from the boy’s face and added, “Melancholy always tastes bittersweet.”
Chapter Fifteen
Aftermath
Junko was enjoying her celebrity and causing all sorts of trouble for Nicholas, Jovan and Maggie. First of all, she continually bragged about how she had created a full miracle and that she didn’t “do the work of an amateur, who only makes half-formed miracles.” She also stated how it was nothing less than sloppy work to begin a miracle and not complete it. “In fact,” she said loudly from across the lab, “I think it’s better not to create a miracle at all if you can only make one that’s undeveloped and useless.” It certainly looked as if she was going out of her way to start these conversations with anyone who would listen. In only a few days, she had become the authority on creating miracles. In addition, Junko and her friends had T-shirts made that said, “I only believe in real miracles.” Almost a third of the children in the orphanage were wearing them. The excitement of the second miracle was contagious and even apprentices from other mentors were congratulating Junko. It was as if she had become a rock star overnight. Luckily, Maggie got a break from Junko’s obnoxious behavior in the evenings. It may have been the first time that Nicholas was grateful for the orphanage policy of separating the apprentices. Junko had become unbearable.
While Nicholas and Maggie were distracted and irritated during the entire time they were in the lab, Jovan had an excellent ability to concentrate on his work and ignore the other people. He did his best to keep Maggie and Nicholas on task by asking questions and trying to recreate the events leading up to their alleged miracle.
“It seems that it doesn’t matter,” said Maggie. “No one cares about our miracle anymore. Everyone thinks Junko is the answer. They think Junko can do anything.”
“I care,” Jovan answered. “And you should, too. So don’t be jealous.”
“She probably copied us,” said Maggie.
“Then we can copy ourselves and make another miracle,” Nicholas replied. “That would shut people up. Maybe some of this insanity would stop.”
“I find it odd that she made a fully formed miracle and hasn’t worked since,” Jovan remarked.
“Why should she?” Maggie asked.
“Because the work isn’t done,” he answered. “This orphanage is supposed to be making miracles to help the king win the war. We have the opportunity to save people, and we’ve come closer to reaching this goal than anyone else in years, except Junko.”
“Yes,” Maggie agreed. “But Junko was more successful than we were, and she’s not doing anything at all right now.”
“I don’t know why she’s not working,” said Jovan, “And I also think it’s not right. You know they say that the king walks among the people.”
“So?” Maggie asked. “I’ve never seen him.”
“That’s the point. He walks among the people, but the people don’t know that he’s there. He’s in disguise. So, what if he’s watching us right now? What if he’s Mr. Pontiff or someone else here in the orphanage?”
“What if he is here?” Maggie retorted. “I don’t see how that changes anything. Junko still isn’t working. She’s not even helping the rest of her group. She’s just enjoying being popular and making us look bad.”
“If the king were here, would you want him to think that you were just like Junko or better than Junko?” Nicholas asked.
“Better.”
“Then let’s be better than she is and keep working,” Jovan insisted. He continued to arrange everything on the lab table the way he remembered it from the day the miracle appeared. Maggie grudgingly turned away from Junko and tried to focus her attention on the lab table.
“I just want to punch her,” Maggie said as she glanced over her shoulder to see Junko enjoying her celebrity.
“Is there anyone you don’t want to punch?” Jovan asked.
“I didn’t want to punch you until you just said that,” she answered. “But now I want to punch you for assuming that I want to punch everyone.”
Nicholas had never actually seen Maggie punch anyone, but he had seen her angry, and so he wasn’t about to mention this to her. All he knew was that he would rather see her happy instead of angry or sad. She was much safer when she was happy.
“Are they testing her miracle like they’re testing yours?” Maggie asked as she balled her hand into a fist. She couldn’t stop thinking about Junko’s smug expression.
“Our miracle,” Nicholas corrected her. “And the answer is, I don’t know. We haven’t heard anything yet. I suppose it will take them some time.”
“So let’s get back to work,” said Jovan. “Do either of you remember anything being on the table that I’ve forgotten?” Maggie looked over everything carefully.
“You forgot the gunpowder,” she said. “That’s the most important thing.”
“It’s not the most important thing,” Jovan objected in an annoyed tone.
“We were making fireworks, so it’s pretty darn important,” she countered.
“When we don’t know what we did, then everything we did is important,” Nicholas interjected in an attempt to keep the other two from fighting.
“Maybe we should go back to the supplies and look them over. Maybe we can remember what we took from there if we’re standing right in front of the shelves,” Jovan suggested. They followed this advice and found several items that they remembered they had with them on the table that night. Jovan placed the ingredients on the table after receiving directions from the other two children on where to place everything. Nicholas stepped up to the table and ran his fingers along the grooves in the edge as he visualized the day of the event. His mind was lost in thought for several min
utes before he spoke again.
“I think that I remember mixing a liquid with a gas and that I got a powder as a result,” Nicholas announced as he physically picked up two vials from the table and re-enacted his actions from the day of the miracle. He watched carefully as he poured the liquid into the gas. The contents of the vial swirled and slowly dropped at the bottom in a purple powder. The falling grains of particles inside the vial reminded Nicholas of the autumn leaves falling outside.
“You were mixing things,” Jovan repeated thoughtfully.
“Yes,” Nicholas said as he looked up with an amused smile, “That’s what we do in the lab. We mix things and create reactions.”
“Exactly,” Jovan said with growing excitement. Something was on his mind, but the other two weren’t following his train of thought. Maggie looked from Jovan to Nicholas and back again.
“Are you getting dumber?” she asked Jovan.
“I’ve been thinking about what was different that day. What did we do that was unlike any of the other days we were here in the lab? We mix things and play with chemicals and burn things, but something wasn’t the same,” Jovan explained quietly.
“What was different?” Nicholas asked.
“You left,” Jovan explained. “Both of you.”
“Are you trying to say that you created the miracle while we were gone?” Maggie asked with irritation, but Jovan only grinned back at her. “This is nothing to be happy about. I had a crisis!”
“I know!” Jovan agreed, still smiling.
“Stop being happy!” Maggie hissed. “Nicholas was holding the beaker when the miracle appeared. You were with me, making fireworks, so there’s no way you’re going to take credit.”
