Anni stared at the painting of a country garden, then looked back at Krizia’s foot.
“Let go of my wrist,” yelled Krizia. Half of her body came into view. Anni stopped breathing. Krizia yanked her arm back and almost lost her balance. In seconds, they would be face to face.
“Run,” cried Whiffle.
Anni ran. She didn’t know if she trusted him, but her legs were pumping hard.
“JUMP! ”
With a flying leap, Anni closed her eyes and threw herself at the picture. She braced herself for a crash into the solid wall. Her foot kicked the vase of flowers off the table and Anni hit the ground at the same time the vase shattered.
Krizia barreled down the hall like a freight train.
Anni’s lungs emptied. Her throat constricted. Krizia thrust her hand out, ready to seize Anni up off the floor, but Krizia’s hand only grabbed air.
“She can’t see you,” said Whiffle dully. “She has not what you have in your possession and so cannot pass.”
The alarms stopped. No matter how many times Krizia touched the painting with her hand, she couldn’t pass through it. Anni understood; she was on the other side of the painting, in a kind of a chamber that Krizia could not enter.
Able to breathe again, Anni lifted herself off the cold stone floor. She watched to see if Krizia’s eyes tracked her movements; Anni was invisible to her, but she still felt the threat of Krizia’s stern gaze piercing through the canvas.
Slowly, Anni backed away and followed a dim flickering light down a narrow cold cement corridor. Her somasuit grew so tight she had to pull it off. Her clothes underneath were drenched in sweat, and the chill in this hall made her teeth chatter. She sneezed.
“Gesundheit.”
“All right, Whiffle, enough with the secrecy. Come out and show yourself.”
Whiffle didn’t answer her.
She followed the light and discovered a candle resting on a small table in the center of a two-story room. Books enveloped one huge wall, interrupted only by three small wooden doors. A long, dusty communal table rested in the far corner next to a sizeable object covered by a thick canvas. In the center of the room sat a small cot made up with crisp linen sheets, a woolen blanket, and a nightgown.
A note was propped up on the pillow. Anni picked it up and read:
Anni-
It is not safe to roam the Manor tonight.
Sleep here. You’ll be safe.
-A friend
She dropped the note, spun around, and searched the room for this so-called friend. She ran to the doors and jiggled each handle, but they, too, were locked. Then she saw something familiar.
“A friend? I know it’s you, Whiffle.”
In the far, shadowy corner of the room, there was a staircase, the kind you see in very old libraries; the kind that runs on a wheeled track above. Each step closer brought a wave of goose bumps. Could it be?
She climbed the ladder. When she reached the top, all the little hairs on her neck stood on end. In the ceiling, there was a smooth wooden panel. Oak. Exactly like Mabel’s trunk.
This was it: the last piece of proof Mabel was an Elemental, and the ladder, which led to Mabel’s bedroom in Chicago. It also meant she could go back home. Right now!
Excited and scared, with trembling hands, she fished out Mabel’s key. She tried to find a latch or a lock, but there wasn’t one. The wood panel was completely flat. That didn’t stop her from tracing every inch of the wooden panel, but each time, she came up empty. There was no way to open it from where she stood.
She stepped down one rung at a time, running it all over in her head. Was she imagining things because she wanted everything to fit into a happy little fairy tale? Or was she so desperate that she couldn’t come to grips with the truth that Mabel was truly gone, and Teddy, and now maybe even Lexi, too?
“I beg you. Spare me from the melodrama inside your mind. More agents are at play than your capacity to comprehend.”
A red-hot poker flared in her gut. “Are you reading my mind? Stay out. Stay out! Stay out of it!” she yelled at him. “Tell me everything right now! Why am I here? Where’s Lexi?”
“Must we continue to have this irksome exchange? Listen to me, Child, and listen well. Direct all your queries regarding Mabel Moon to a better recipient, for I shall not ease your mind with the technicalities of her plans, which in my fine opinion are well beyond your comprehension at this juncture. However, after some duration, I will impart all my knowledge. Translation: you will know everything, but not until I deem so, and definitely not until after we strike an accord, which eventually you will agree to. Therefore, I ask you, please do us both a service and refrain from asking insipid questions! ”
Anni conceded to silence. Fatigue had taken its toll. Her hands and legs trembled with each step down the ladder. She went to the cot, pulled the dry nightgown over her head, and wiggled off anything damp. She pulled the woolen covers over her legs and sat there holding Mabel’s locket when she noticed a small hook on the back side. She snapped Mabel’s key onto the hook, and the locket clicked open.
Inside were two small slots: one was empty and the other held a tiny rock, rough and porous like lava stone. With the tip of her finger, she barely touched the stone’s edge when a searing flash of light blazed behind her eyeballs.
At a speed faster than light, a part of her—she didn’t know which—soared over darkness as images of a dreary underground world zipped by until she landed in a large room. Inside the room was a young blond boy standing in front of a mirror, clutching at his stomach as he yelled in pain. The door behind the boy burst open and armored guards rushed in and surrounded him. One in particular laid his armored hand on the boy’s shoulder. The boy snarled as his face grew red. He looked up into the mirror, and a chill overtook Anni. She was sure he was staring directly into her eyes.
She blinked and she was back in the room, sitting on the cot. She clamped the locket shut and pulled the covers the rest of the way up. Her body melted into the sheets, and the second her head hit the pillow, she was asleep.
OGGLEBOGGLE’S MAPS
A patch of bright sunlight peeked through a high window in a far corner of the room. The sun was too high in the sky to be morning. Was it afternoon already? The day before seemed like a blurred memory and, for some reason, last night’s sleep was the soundest she had gotten since she had arrived on the Zephyr.
Right away, she saw that her hair was back to its original dark brown. Her clothes—strewn on the floor the previous night—were laundered, even the Dwarrow-haired somasuit, and folded neatly in a little stack.
She dressed in a rush and wrapped the somasuit around her waist, under her shirt, to keep it hidden. The light made the room look very different. She raced up the ladder, but the wooden flat was still sealed. Then she tried the three doors again, but they were locked. She walked down the corridor toward the painting she had entered through the night before. Knox still stood guard, looking bored as his finger worked hard on something inside his nose.
“You won’t be leaving that way,” said Whiffle.
“Really? So, how am I going to leave?”
“First, I have but one request.”
“Why should I agree to do anything when you won’t answer my questions?”
“Always with this minutiae and the vexations of a human mind—incapable of perception outside the corporeal form. Bother someone else with your queries.”
“Why couldn’t Krizia follow me?”
“Details, details…your presence here is no accident. I share a hand in this encounter.”
“Why? What do you want?”
“This is not the moment to explore all the rudimentary particulars, however; I would like to submit my offer of assistance, providing you accept.”
“I just want to find Lexi and bring her back.”
“At last a convergence of wills, where we may assist one another.”
Anni wouldn’t get her hopes up, but she would listen.
“Go on, but speak normal.”
“According to my observations, you do not possess any other language skills other than a haphazard understanding of English. Therefore, I shall continue in your native tongue. I submit an offer, a binding contract, if you will. In this process, you shall recover something lost, more plainly, your associate.”
“You mean my friend Lexi, right?”
“Once you acquiesce I will bind the contract with a sacrifice. Before you recover your associate you will be required to fulfill your part, which will cure a longstanding anguish within the Elemental world.”
“You have the wrong person. I just want to find Lexi. That’s all.”
“You are free to do as you wish, but the totality of your learned independence is influenced largely by your humanity. As I explained before, I shall present this offer to you three times. This is the first…”
It started to feel like a game, like Whiffle was toying with her. She walked over to the wall with the doors, focused on getting out of this room.
“…I can feel your denial, and that is your answer. This knowledge would greatly pain your Guardians, if they were here to bear witness to your obstinate nature.”
“Egbert put you up to this?”
“That is not of whom I speak. For the gift of knowledge must be earned. The ending of a material form does not retire the entity’s presence in your life.”
“Er, right.” Anni didn’t understand what Whiffle was getting at, although the insult made itself crystal clear. “Can you please tell me how I’m supposed to get out of here? Knox is blocking the painting and these three doors are locked.”
“Of course. You may choose a door. The choice must be made by pure instinct and instinct alone. Only one exit is offered for each day. Choose wisely…”
She had three choices: try to sneak past Knox and find her way out of the Manor, pick the correct door and go through it to who knows where, or pick the wrong one and hang out with Whiffle for another day. There was no contest. She inspected each of the three doors, hoping for some differentiation. Glints of light reflected off the metal doorknobs, but they all looked the same.
Instinctively, she took Mabel’s locket and key and held it in her hand as she closed her eyes. She stood still and said to herself, “I need a door to take me out of here so I won’t get caught by Krizia, Leach, or the Manor guards.”
Anni opened her eyes and zeroed in on the door to the far right. She strode over and turned the handle. It opened. A surge of strength washed over her. The corner of her mouth lifted. She couldn’t help these good feelings. She felt empowered for the first time in her life, and she knew she could trust herself.
Without hesitation, she walked inside. The door slammed shut behind her. It was similar to the tunnels between Yugi’s shed and the Manor gardens—it was dark, damp, and musty. She walked for some time until she finally saw items lining the wall, items that accumulated as she moved forward.
The passageway grew tightly crammed with rakes, brooms, ladders, rolled canvas rugs, dusters, buckets, and cupboards filled with colorful bundles of yarn that budged up against her as she made her way toward a pint-sized door. She shuffled sideways, knocking spools of yarn from their perch. They tangled around her arms and legs. She tripped and fell through the door, along with all manner of items that heaped on top of her.
“Right on time,” said Ms. OggleBoggle with a smile and a twinkle of her eyes.
“Effie? What’s all that clatter?” asked a prune-faced woman who pushed her way into the pantry. This woman eyed Anni and said, “Is that a human?”
“Agatha, meet Anni. She’s my honored guest,” said Ms. OggleBoggle.
Agatha stared severely at Anni with a mixture of surprise and disgust. “None of your other guests came in with such a mess.”
“Everyone in the world comes with messes,” said Ms. OggleBoggle, still smiling.
Anni stood. She was inside Ms. OggleBoggle’s house. She remembered she had been invited to a party, which had to be today. It was strange that the door she chose brought her there. Diana appeared around the corner and said, “That’s all right. I will clean it up.”
Busted. Diana’s expression made Anni think that she knew all about what happened last night in the Manor. Quickly, Anni said, “Ms. OggleBoggle, I can clean it up.”
“Effie to you, dearest. Now, I’ll hear none of that. I’ve neglected my guests long enough and I want to show you off.” And with that, Effie OggleBoggle snatched Anni’s hand with a tight grip for someone her age and whisked her off into the next room.
It was a boisterous gathering. Effie OggleBoggle sat down at the table and gingerly patted an empty seat next to her, showing Anni where to sit as she started pouring her tea and offering wafer-thin biscuits.
Diana sat in the chair next to Anni and quietly said, “You didn’t have anything to do with the Manor issue last night?” Anni stalled, sipping her tea, searching the room for the best exit and noticed Manor guards walking around Ms. OggleBoggle’s property. She couldn’t go that way. Diana smiled. “Never mind. I have a feeling I don’t want to know.”
The long oval table was packed with at least fifteen guests. Several conversations were going, but one intense discussion lorded over the rest. Next to the loudest man sat someone she recognized: Oliver. He was seated next to a loud, burly man with a heavy South American accent who proudly kept clapping Oliver on his shoulder and saying, “Next to the lost Prince, the Auguriums gave my nephew the most outstanding prophecy, but he doesn’t live his life by it. He serves the Elofficium; no prophecies will decide his fate. Tell them, Oliver! Tell them how you’ve shunned tradition, unlike your parents. Tell them!”
When Anni caught Oliver’s eye, she shifted in her chair, not wanting to look like she was eavesdropping on his conversation. She was reminded of what Daphne had said about Oliver disliking prophecies. She couldn’t help but notice that Oliver hesitated before he nodded in agreement with his uncle, and wondered if he was being honest.
Avoiding his gaze, Anni scanned the group. What caught her eye was something she had heard about over and over, but had never actually seen up close: Opus Stones.
Several Elementals seated at the table were wearing their Opus Stones prominently displayed; each stone was inset in beautiful, ornate metal fittings fashioned as rings, belts, necklaces, bracelets, broaches, tiaras, and one sat atop the head of a cane. They all appeared to be distinctly different in color and size, but Anni found one correlation, the older the Elemental, the larger the stone. When it occurred to Anni that Effie OggleBoggle was the oldest one there, she turned to see what Effie’s Opus Stone looked like, but didn’t see one on her. In fact, she couldn’t recall seeing them on any of the other Elementals she had met like Leach, Krizia, Yugi, Diana, or Fortensia. She would have remembered, because the most striking thing about them was the way they glowed, like they were alive.
Throughout the tea brunch, Anni couldn’t help but catch glimpses of Effie smiling at her, and at one point, the old woman said, “I’m so happy you could be here today.”
Anni smiled back, but for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why she was there. Agatha scowled at her from time to time, but no one else noticed her. Truth be told, she was antsy and desperately wanted to leave and find Daphne, Squirt, and Brat. Her mind raced with questions she’d ask them: about the coordinates, where Lexi was and how they would get there, and when they could leave.
Her train of thought was derailed when Oliver’s uncle pounded his fist against the table, stood, and said, “A menace! How can you abhor my view? Those humans willingly find ways to destroy the planet daily. Their accountability is laughable. They murder our brethren, and continue to multiply like a plague. Humans are vermin; they are the enemy. Their nature is fueled by their egos and greed-driven vanities. Generation after generation, they continue to worsen, and all for what, I ask you? I’ll tell you: it’s their longing for total domination over the other, man against man, country against cou
ntry, it does not matter. I vote we should strip the Elements from them and make a new world without them.”
Oliver’s uncle harbored a weighty presence as he roared for attention. Everyone felt it, stunned into silence, but Anni swore she saw the ghostly image of a giant bear linger behind him, which prompted her to think that if this man were an animal, he’d be a bear.
“Ignacio, really,” piped up a woman sitting across from Oliver. “All this has been said before and will be said again.”
“Father, control yourself,” said a young man sitting on the other side of Ignacio, whom Anni assumed must be Oliver’s cousin. “There’s no need to draw your bile here. Ms. OggleBoggle, please excuse him.”
Effie, it appeared, had been following the conversation. First she smiled at Anni before she said, “Your feelings run deep, Ignacio.” Her eyes were glossy. Everyone was silent. “True, everyone must be heard. After all, isn’t life about discovery? Aren’t we all here to learn and make choices? The truth lies somewhere in between.”
Anni understood what Daphne had said about Elementals coming to Ms. OggleBoggle for advice because the guest sat in silent contemplation for some time.
“Ignacio has a point,” said a man across from Oliver. “We are not blind, and we do see the atrocities they commit daily. And though these humans have proven capable of change within each century, the change is too small and our needs are too great.”
“Yes, Marcus, but there are many humans that work in our aid. The Fectus has engineered the Funk to blind the fields of their minds, bodies, and emotions; the humans have little course to guide them under such duress,” said a woman next to the man Marcus.
“Speak nothing of the blindness, for my ears shall leave,” said Ignacio.
“Father, surely you must consider that humans are no less experienced than underage Elemental children. They lack understanding and need proper educating, not—”
“Children, yes, but children with deadly weapons, and idiocy for brains—”
Anni Moon & The Elemental Artifact: An Elemental Fantasy Adventure Series: Book For Kids Ages 9-12 (Anni Moon Series) Page 22
