by Payal Doshi
“To the best of my knowledge,” replied Rea.
She had taken for granted that a tree was just a tree, that no flower would ever bite, that grass would never turn into an animal, and a twig would not morph into a weapon. She eyed the frightening but alluring Nightshade, which was showing off its ruby, jade, sapphire, and pearl flowers. Despite looking like a tree, it commanded respect and Rea stepped back so as to not intrude its personal space.
Xeranther turned to the hole in the trunk, barely visible under the sheen of starlight. “Overseer of the Hollow of Hex, may we be granted entry?”
The tree-creature sashayed its fluorescent flowered branches and blew a gentle breeze. The blossoms broke out of their branches, waiting in the wind.
“The passphrase?” emerged a gurgled voice, coarse as bark and deep as a rolling wave, and Rea and Leela inched closer together.
After a quick glance down the road to make sure no one was watching, Xeranther murmured:
“Catch a witch to make her twitch,
Bewitch a witch to make her itch!”
Xeranther waited until the blossoms flew ahead and he ran behind them. A little ways away, the flowers halted in the air. Standing under the twinkling blossoms, Xeranther peered into space, his eyeballs moving up and down, left and right, as if searching for something.
All of a sudden, in the air before him, a thin line appeared. Gradually, it widened into a tear. The tear was made of light and if Rea hadn’t been paying attention, she might have thought it was the golden-white trail of a glowing firefly.
Xeranther stepped closer. Pinching its edges, he stretched it open. Rea watched spellbound as he kept going until the tear was as long and wide as him. Giving her and Leela a nudge, he stepped into it and behind the cloak of night. When all three of them were through, the seam stitched close and Rea and Leela’s mouths fell open. They had walked through a hidden doorway, and into a secret bazaar.
Tents hovered above the ground, reverberating with music. Looking up, skirts flared, hats soared, and the bottoms of shoes tapped away on the floor of the night sky. Cerulean moons and sapphire flowers floated about, bursting into sparkles. Merchandise followed sellers wherever they went, food and drinks chased after people much to everyone’s delight and giggles, and the strangest inventions and fashions were being showcased along with contraptions that would have Rea and Leela scratching their heads for days.
Pari glow streaked through the air like mini-rainbows, and each time a sale was made (which was very often), a display of fireworks went off. Under a tree, wispy like cotton-candy, a boy sat turning leaves into snowflakes. People, pari-folk and all sorts of whimsical creatures (flying toad-like ladybugs, a cow-monkey dressed in jewels reciting poetry, a half woman-half giraffe operating a rolling Ferris wheel ride) milled about, and Rea and Leela, not fathoming what their eyes were beholding, blindly followed Xeranther through the maze of alleyways and gullies.
“Wait here,” he instructed when they reached an intersection of sorts. “I’ll be back soon.”
Within seconds, vendors accosted Rea and Leela, selling enchantments that could make one walk on water, fly, or grow taller. There were hexes to freeze one’s parents, or grow a wart on an enemy’s face (the effects of which could last from two hours to two days). Rea had to hold Leela back when a lady levitating in the corner of the street enticed patrons by spritzing an array of concoctions on her face. One turned her lips, eyes, cheeks, and hair a sparkling maroon. The other turned the maroons into swirling shades of orange! The shoppers tried the trixters and fished out a series of copper and silver marble-like coins. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Firecrackers exploded in the sky.
“I want that swirly orange stuff,” exclaimed Leela.
“Look at that!” Rea pointed at a creature resembling an ogre, who was dabbing a creamy ointment on his leg. In a matter of seconds, part of his leg disappeared and in minutes, it reappeared. Rea clapped her hands in glee.
“I can’t believe you’ve decided to cross the lake,” cried Flula, materializing out of nowhere.
“Floo, you came!” Leela said.
“Xee, told me to meet you here. Oh, you petals are flying into a trap and... I... I can’t even think about it.” Infinitesimally tiny tears slipped over her cheeks.
Hex Hollow had made Rea forget her troubles for a while, but after seeing Flula, the dazzle of the market faded, and reality came rushing back.
“He’s my brother... I won’t leave him imprisoned in the castle,” she said.
“I know, but it’s all so terrible.”
All of them were silent for a moment, thinking of what was to come. They watched as a man wrapped in sheepskin pants and an arrangement of dahlia-like flowers for a shirt jumped into a puddle in front of them. Mud and water splashed over him. He turned in a circle, showing off the mess, and then held up what Rea thought was a coin. He tossed it in the air, where it burst into a fountain of rain. The rain drove steadily down on the man, like his own personal storm. The mud and damp were whisked away, and the man was clean and dry in seconds. As incredible as the magic trick was, it no longer amazed Rea. She turned towards Leela and Flula and saw the long looks on their faces, too. Their time to enjoy the market had come to an end.
“Good, you’re all here,” Xeranther said, materializing out of the crowd. His manner was brusque.
“Everything go smoothly?” asked Rea.
“Yes, the boat should be there when we arrive.”
Rea sighed, relaxing her shoulders a bit. She had been worried something might go wrong with the boat. Without it, she would have had no way of crossing the lake and reaching the castle—and then she’d have to portal back to Earth without Rohan. Now that all the arrangements were in place, she hid the relieved smile that nearly creeped across her face. If Xeranther saw it, he would not take it well. His anxiousness was already contagious. Leela had turned quiet and nervous. Flula’s wings flitted without a sound, and a tense silence descended over them.
Annoyed, Rea trailed behind to stop their mood from denting her confidence. She was the one who should be allowed to wallow in fear. After all, wasn’t it her brother’s life hanging in the balance? Shouldn’t they be encouraging her and raising her spirits instead of being so glum? As if she wasn’t battling enough, it was now on her to cheer them up.
“Maybe Xee is worried about himself and his family?” the little voice behind her ribcage prodded. “He’s revolting against the Queen for you, the Queen they fear so much.”
Rea ignored her conscience. Then, in a snarkier tone, it asked, “Would you put everything on the line for someone you barely knew, like how Leela and Xeranther are for you?”
Argh, cursed Rea. Her conscience was right. She blamed Leela for awakening it by being such a good friend and suddenly, she felt awful. She realized how much Xeranther was doing for her when he could easily have refused. Rea walked briskly to the front of the group, and matched his steps with her own.
“I know you’re risking your life to help me, and I want you to know that . . . I—I promise to make it up to you somehow.”
Meandering past groups of laughing teenagers trying their newly bought trixters, they finally reached the spot of the tear. Xeranther glanced at her. “Just make it back alive, okay?” he said in a quiet voice. “That will be payment enough.”
The words smacked Rea hard in the chest. Her heart ached in a way she hadn’t felt before. Not sure what to say, she nodded. Xeranther murmured the passphrase in reverse, bringing them out of Hex Hollow and back to the rocky path. The tear in the night air sealed shut.
“How far are we from the lake?” asked Leela.
“About a lege.”
“Lege?” repeated Rea. She remembered, with a strange prickle down her spine, how Bajai always mispronounced ‘league’ as ‘lege.’ No matter how often Rea corrected her, she never learned. Another wave of guilt passed over Rea. She wished Bajai knew where she was.
“Say half of an hour,” he clarified, and Rea co
uldn’t decide what was worse: being at the lake that might kill her soon, or spending the next thirty long minutes thinking about how she was potentially going to die.
“Will there be other travelers, too?” she asked.
“No. We’re going to the most isolated part of the lake. It’s where Floo and I will be safest. If anyone sees us helping you, we’ll get our heads done in.”
“Or our w-wings,” chirped Flula.
Rea’s heart sagged with the weight of fear they were carrying because of her. She shivered, drawing her petal-sleeves close to her body. The cold night air had developed a sharp freshness to it, like a peppermint burst open. With each breath, it burned the insides of her nose with a chilly sting.
“Um guys...? WHERE’S LEELA?”
Xeranther swiveled around. When he didn’t see Leela, he turned to Rea shouting, “Close your eyes!” and ran back the way they had come. Flula bolted into the trees looking for Leela.
I’m not going to close my eyes! thought Rea in panic. But as she searched for Leela, her calls got lost in her throat as though she had forgotten who she was looking for. Instead, her eyes fixated on dozens of orbs, glowing mist-blue, coal-red, fire-yellow, and weed-green. They floated towards her, appearing out of thin air. They moved slowly at first, and then darted from spot to spot like fireflies playing connect-the-dots. Rea chased after them, first the red ones, then the green, now the yellow!
“BLINK!” Flula shouted in her ears.
Rea blinked and sneezed. The daze cleared and the orbs snuffed out like candle flames. “What just happened?”
From behind a knot of trees, Xeranther brought out a confused-looking Leela and Rea ran towards her.
“Are you okay?”
“Um, I think so.” Leela rubbed her eyes. “I think I hallucinated.”
“Oh, it was our fault,” cried Flula. “We should have warned you about the pari-golis.”
“Do you feel better now?” Xeranther asked and Rea and Leela nodded, partially sure.
“We must get going then. When you spot the pesky pari-golis, you know you’ve entered Pariland—pari territory.”
“It’s where we paries live,” Flula said, twirling with pride.
As if on cue, the ground glowed in ribbons of fallen glitter and clusters of paries within gold-tinted bubbles floated into view. Rea spotted a cricket-sized pari folding his wings behind his back and stepping into a dew drop without popping it. Pushing his arms out, he stretched the drop until he fit within it, and giving the dew-bubble a good shake, he spread open his wings and the bubble took flight.
“They’re water sprites,” said Flula as they wandered past a leaf as large as a donkey glittering in pari shimmer. “A mere drop of rain can be fatal for them, and the heat can burn them if they aren’t careful.”
The sprites were tinier than Floo, practically half her size. A group of them flew by, and Leela watched them go, her eyes mesmerized. In the distance, waterfalls crashed against the rocks.
“Those of us on foliage duty have no choice,” continued Flula, ducking under vines strung across the trees like thick wires. “We’re experts at dodging rain or snow or harsh beams of sunlight. I was first in my foliage-report-training class! Water and moor sprites are delicate pari and need dew-bubbles to protect themselves from getting injured by natural elements.”
Rea and Leela nodded, entranced by the dreamlike landscape. Tiny nest-like houses appeared within the trees decorated with flowers, leaves, and glowing mushroom caps. Paries of all types flitted in and out, shimmering in every color.
“Anyway, pari-golis aren’t dangerous,” defended Flula. “It’s just a bit of mischief, really.”
“Easy for you to say, seeing as pari-folk created them and you’re immune to their effect,” said Xeranther.
“There now, we’re allowed some innocent fun.”
“Innocent?” he grimaced. “When you stare at the pari-golis for a moment too long,” he explained to Rea and Leela, “they latch onto your gaze and lure you places. If you don’t blink, you could get lost following them like you both did, giving the paries much to snicker about.”
“All right, all right, you must be careful,” Flula said and doubled over in laughter. She flew ahead, facing the girls, the pari mischief alive in her face.
“Sometimes, I toss a few pari-golis at Xee and watch him wobble around like a googly-eyed sod until I shoo them away. He gets a sneezing fit—and oh my, Xee’s sneezes are some of the loudest I have ever heard,” she teased.
Xeranther turned a shade darker. Rea and Leela smiled at each other, trying not to laugh. Releasing her own fit of giggles, Flula flew ahead of them like a shooting star leaving behind a shimmering trail. By the time, the last speckles of her pari dust melted, they had arrived at the shore of the lake.
Chapter 18
The Sea of Serpent Lilies
A rowboat moored to a rock bobbed lightly in the water. It was painted a school-bus yellow. The same yellow as in her nightmare, Rea realized with a chill. Against its side rested two paddles.
Rea walked to the edge of the lake. It was enormous, at least twenty times the size of Senchal Lake. It may as well have been a sea. Dewy mist rose from the water like wisps of smoke. Without a word, Xeranther nudged the boat into the lake. Dark ripples licked its sides.
“Good luck,” he said, barely looking at them. “Don’t forget what Poppy said about a motionless second—keep the boat moving at all times. Don’t stop paddling at any cost. The castle is in the center of the lake. You can’t miss it.”
Rea nodded her head. “We won’t forget,” she said, holding his gaze.
Without warning, Leela threw her arms around Xeranther and wrapped him in a hug. “Thank you, Xee,” she said.
Stunned for a moment, he eventually lifted his arms and hugged her back.
Leela turned towards Flula, ready to say goodbye. The little pari shook her head. “No. Don’t say goodbye. I’m coming with you as far as I can.”
“Are you sure?” Xeranther asked. “It’s close to the edge of pari territory. You can’t go too far into the lake.”
“I’m sure,” Flula said bravely. “I know where the boundary is.”
Rea gave Flula a gentle hug between her fingers. “Thank you,” she said.
“I will see you both soon,” Xeranther said, his eyes turning to rest on Rea once more. Solemnly, the two girls walked down toward the lake.
The night’s darkness expanded around them, and the moon, rotund as an ostrich’s egg, spilled its light onto the inky waters. Rea and Leela stepped into the boat, taking their place on the wooden beams—Rea in the front and Leela at the back. Xeranther untied the rope from the rock and gave the boat a push. Flula flitted overhead, following along. Rea watched as Xeranther grew smaller on the shore, his troubled expression growing harder to see as they drifted out into the lake.
At first, Rea and Leela paddled slowly and awkwardly. It seemed to take ages for them to learn how to paddle in sync. Eventually they figured it out and rowing together the boat moved swiftly through the smooth waters.
“No one said paddling was going to be so hard,” said Leela. “It’s barely been ten minutes and my arms feel like they’re going to fall off.”
“Hush,” whispered Flula from high above. “You’ll wake them!”
“But where are they?” Rea had expected to find the lilies all around. “I don’t feel any resistance under my paddle either.”
“Same,” said Leela, and she dipped her hand into the water.
“What are you doing?” cried Flula.
“Checking to see if the lilies are submerged. It happens sometimes to lotuses back home.”
Flula’s glitter turned dark. “You don’t have to go looking for them. They will find you. Now keep your hands inside the boat. Both of you.”
They rowed deeper into the lake. As they found their rhythm, Rea and Leela paddled with greater ease. Pari-golis twinkled far away along the shore, the water shimmering with their r
eflections. It would have been beautiful if it weren’t so eerie.
“Glibbety gibbots…” quivered Flula. “I see them.”
The mist lifted, and a profusion of moon-white lilies surfaced above the water.
“Uh oh,” uttered Leela, as the boat cut through mats of flat, rubbery leaves.
Rea breathed in their soft floral scent.
“LOOK!” she said.
A hazy outline of a castle appeared in the distance, shrouded in moonshine. Rea couldn’t believe it. Before her very eyes was the Queen’s castle and somewhere inside it was Rohan. Flula’s glow dimmed in fear, and Rea and Leela paddled with all their might. But as time passed, they were no closer to the castle than before.
“Let’s slow down a bit,” Rea said, settling her paddle on her knees and leaning against the side of the boat. Her arms felt like they were weighed down with sandbags.
“DON’T STOP ROWING!” yelled Flula.
“We’re not, we’re not! We just took a nano-second break,” said Rea, paddling immediately.
“Ew, what’s that?” Leela asked, pointing.
A fetid smell curled up from the lake and one by one the lilies darkened with decay.
“Let’s not panic,” said Rea. “They’re only li—”
“AHHHHHH,” shrieked Leela.
A creature as long as her leg, fanned with petals, coiled around the shaft of her paddle. As Leela tried to shake it free, the creature’s tongue, forked like a snake, shot out of its mouth toward her. The boat wobbled precariously.
“Get off, get off!” Rea screamed, jabbing the clinging flower-snake with her paddle. The creature retreated and slipped back into the water. “Are you all right?” she asked Leela, continuing to paddle urgently.
“I—I think so...” said Leela. Sweat covered her face and she held onto the side of the boat, shivering.
Terror hooked its claws into Rea. If anything happened to Leela, it would be her fault. Just like losing Rohan was.
“I’ll do the rowing,” she said. “You try and stay calm—”
