The Shimmering Stone

by Paula Harrison

  “What do you want to call him, Amina?” asked Lottie.

  Amina gazed down at the little cub who was watching her with his big golden-brown eyes. “I’d like to call him Sizzle. I think it suits him.”

  The cub snuffled at her hand and then licked it with his little pink tongue.

  “I think he likes that idea!” Isabella grinned.

  There was a knock at the door and the princesses jumped.

  “Quick! Hide all the shawls!” hissed Lottie, stuffing hers under Amina’s pillow.

  Rosalind and Isabella rushed to the wardrobe and threw their shawls inside.

  Amina looked around, her heart pounding. Where could the little cub go?

  “Amina? Are you in there?” called Queen Keshi.

  “Just a minute,” Amina called back. She lifted Sizzle back into the basket and kissed him on the nose. “Just be quiet, OK?” She covered him with her shawl again and then pushed the basket under her bed.

  “Amina! I really do think —” began the queen.

  “Sorry, Aunt!” Amina sprang to the door and opened it. “I was just cleaning up a little. Would you like me to help with the wedding flowers or the decorations?”

  Queen Keshi’s frown lifted. “It’s nice of you to offer, but the flowers are all ready now. I just came to tell you that the evening banquet will be at six o’clock. You don’t have very long to get ready.” She turned to go just as Sizzle gave a low mew from underneath the bed.

  “What was that?” asked Queen Keshi sharply.

  Amina bit her lip. Should she say something? But if she showed her aunt the cub, she’d be interrupting all the preparations for the wedding tomorrow, and they hadn’t even rescued the second cub yet.

  “It was me, Your Majesty!” Lottie butted in. “It was my stomach growling. I’m just so hungry. I can’t wait for the banquet!”

  “You won’t have long to wait.” The queen smiled. “Hurry up and get ready now, girls.” She closed the door behind her.

  Amina knelt down on the floor next to her bed and gently pulled out the basket from underneath. She smiled. Sizzle was stretched out comfortably on the shawl with his eyes wide open. He twitched his nose at her and yawned.

  “As soon as the banquet is over, we’ll find your brother,” she told him. “We won’t let him stay out there all alone.”

  Amina was sure that Sizzle would need some milk to drink, so she left the other princesses looking after him while she went down to the kitchen. She found an old baby bottle in a cupboard, filled it with warm milk, and took it back upstairs.

  Sizzle drank hungrily from the bottle. Then, with his tummy full, he settled down for a snooze while the girls got ready for the banquet. Amina put on a dark green dress that matched her emerald ring and a tiara made from arching loops of silver. Her bracelet with its golden-brown stone gleamed brightly on her wrist.

  The princesses left Sizzle sleeping and hurried downstairs to reach the dining room just in time. Amina went first. Rosalind came next, wearing a dark blue dress and a tiara decorated with sapphires. Isabella followed, wearing a long yellow dress and a swirly gold crown. Lottie came last, still trying to squash her ruby tiara on top of her red curls.

  The banquet went on and on, with more and more food brought out for the royal guests. The kings and queens seemed to eat so slowly and spent so much time chatting with one another that Amina grew impatient. She wished they would hurry up so that she could rush out to look for the other tiger cub! Prince Henry was sitting nearby and kept casting dark looks at her, but she tried to ignore him.

  “I can’t believe that boy over there is Samantha’s brother,” Lottie whispered to her. “She’s so friendly but he seems awful!”

  “I met him this morning before you got here,” Amina whispered back. “I tried to show him the tiger cubs and I let him use my binoculars, too, but he wasn’t very nice to me.”

  “I wonder what his problem is.” Lottie caught Henry watching them again and glared back at him.

  “Let’s just leave him alone,” whispered Amina.

  As the banquet went on, Amina looked out the window and noticed that the sun was setting. She bit her lip. Why did this dinner have to take so long? The missing cub would be getting lonelier every minute and it would be almost impossible to search for him in the dark.

  As soon as the last person had finished their dessert and the grown-ups were having coffee, the princesses rushed back upstairs. Sizzle was still asleep in the basket and Amina longed to pet him but she didn’t want to wake him up.

  “Let’s change into our ninja clothes and go back to the river,” said Lottie, pulling off her tiara and flinging it onto the bed.

  The princesses rushed around, finding black T-shirts and dark leggings to wear. They left their tiaras on the bed, knowing that they might glimmer too much in the dark.

  “Poor little cub!” said Amina. “It’s going to be so hard to find him now. It’s dark out there and if we use flashlights, the bright light could scare the cub away.”

  “But how will we find him without a flashlight?” asked Isabella.

  “We’ll just have to look as hard as we can,” said Lottie.

  “That will be pretty difficult.” Rosalind folded her arms. “Tigers have good night vision. They can see in the dark, but we can’t.”

  Amina opened her bedroom window and stared out into the darkness. The palace courtyard below was lit up but beyond the walls the countryside was black. There was no moon out tonight and she couldn’t see the river at all. She went to her nightstand and picked up her binoculars. Looking through them made no difference, so she put them down again.

  Sizzle woke up and mewed. Isabella picked him up and gave him some more milk. “He’s so hungry!” she said. “The other cub must be even hungrier, all alone out there.”

  “Let’s just go!” said Lottie. “We’re wasting time.”

  “No, wait!” Rosalind said sharply. “There has to be a better plan than just running out into the dark.”

  Lottie frowned at her. “Well, if you can think of one —” she began loudly.

  “Shh! You’ll upset Sizzle if you shout,” said Isabella.

  Lottie and Rosalind clamped their lips shut but glared at each other.

  Amina wished they wouldn’t argue. She smiled at Isabella and lifted Sizzle gently from her arms. Her bracelet with its golden-brown stone dangled from her wrist.

  “I love your bracelet, Amina. What kind of jewel is that?” asked Isabella.

  “It’s a tiger’s-eye stone,” said Amina.

  “It’s beautiful!” said Lottie. “It really shimmers in the light.”

  “It’s always done that,” said Amina. “I think it’s called a tiger’s-eye stone because it looks just like a real tiger’s eye!”

  Just then, Sizzle stretched and yawned. “You’re right! I can see a shimmering glow in Sizzle’s eyes that reminds me of the stone.” Isabella glanced curiously from the cub to the bracelet.

  Rosalind sighed. “Yes, but it’s not going to help us find the missing cub, is it?”

  “Wait a minute!” Isabella said suddenly. “I remember something about tiger’s-eyes in a rhyme my mom used to sing to me when I was younger:

  In the dark of the night,

  Use the tiger’s light,

  See what goes by,

  Through the tiger’s-eye.”

  “What a strange rhyme,” said Lottie. “What’s a tiger’s light, anyway?”

  “I don’t know,” said Isabella. “But it’s about seeing in the dark, and that’s what we need to do to find the other cub.”

  “See what goes by, through the tiger’s-eye,” Amina repeated, looking at her bracelet. “Tigers can see really well in the dark. So maybe this tiger’s-eye stone can help us do that, too!”

  “Let’s see if that works!” said Isabella excitedly.

  Amina put Sizzle down on the bed and undid her bracelet. Isabella took it, rushed over to the window, and held the golden-brown stone up to h

er eyes. “Oh! I can’t see in the dark any better than before,” she said, disappointed.

  “I just thought of something!” said Lottie. “Remember our special rings? My sister, Emily, told me that they didn’t work until they’d been shaped to bring the magic out of them.” She held up her ruby ring. “Maybe we need to use the jewel-making tools to make the stone the right size and shape, too?”

  “Did you bring the tools with you?” asked Rosalind.

  Lottie nodded. “They’re in my suitcase.”

  “Oh, please hurry, Lottie!” said Amina. “I want to find the poor little cub before it’s too late.”

  Lottie ran back to her room to get the jewel-making tools.

  “Do you really think this will work?” said Rosalind doubtfully. “I just don’t understand how a jewel can help us see any better.”

  “But the rhyme says use a tiger’s-eye and that’s what the stone is called,” said Isabella. “So there must be a chance that it’s right.”

  “I hope so.” Amina stroked Sizzle’s tummy. Having him curled up on the bed beside her made her realize just how small and helpless the other cub would be, out there in the dark.

  “Here it is!” Lottie burst in holding a large golden box. “I don’t really know what all the tools do, but I’m sure we can figure it out!” She put the box down on the nightstand, moving Amina’s binoculars to make room for it. Then she opened the lid.

  Inside were rows of small silver tools. Amina took the tiger’s-eye stone off the bracelet chain and placed it on the nightstand. Then she picked up a tiny hammer and chisel. She’d had the tiger’s-eye stone for such a long time that she felt a little sad about changing it. She lifted her chin. Finding the lost cub is more important, she told herself.

  The other princesses crowded around her. Even Sizzle pricked up his ears and watched.

  “Just tap it really lightly to start with,” advised Rosalind. “If you tap it too hard, then the whole thing could shatter.”

  Amina rested the chisel on the stone and tapped gently at one edge with the hammer. A large piece broke away, leaving the stone much smaller than before.

  “Oh no! It’s broken!” Isabella put her hand over her mouth.

  “It’s all right,” said Amina, “I’ve got an idea.” She looked carefully at the binoculars with its one broken lens. Then she chipped away the rough edges of the stone until it was completely smooth and round. Finally she picked up the binoculars, shook out the lens that had cracked that morning, and put the golden-brown stone in its place. The binoculars rested on the nightstand, with one ordinary lens and the other made of the beautiful tiger’s-eye stone.

  “There! It’s a perfect fit!” she said.

  “Awesome!” grinned Lottie. “Now we’ve got binoculars that let us see in the dark!”

  “We don’t know if they work yet,” began Rosalind, but as she spoke, the tiger’s-eye stone began to glow.

  The glow grew brighter and brighter, until a golden shimmer rose up into the air. It hung there for a moment like a cloud of glitter, before twinkling into nothing.

  “Wow! Why did it shimmer like that?” asked Isabella.

  Amina lifted up the binoculars, her fingers trembling with excitement. “Maybe that was the magic starting to work!”

  “Go on! Try them out!” urged Lottie.

  Amina smiled. “Turn the light off first and then I’ll use them.” Her heart pounded as Lottie flicked off the light switch and the room went dark. She put the binoculars up to her eyes and squinted through the side that held the tiger’s-eye stone. It worked! She could see everything as clearly as if it were day.

  “It’s fantastic!” She beamed. “Take a look!” She passed the binoculars to Lottie.

  “Wow! It’s so easy to see everything.” Lottie stared through them before passing the binoculars to Isabella.

  Isabella looked and then passed them to Rosalind, who took them and walked over to the open window.

  “I can see everything out here, too!” said Rosalind excitedly. “I can even see the river.”

  “Then we can easily find the little cub!” said Amina, smiling.

  “Finally! We can head out and use some real ninja moves,” said Rosalind, flicking back her blond hair.

  As they got ready to leave, Sizzle followed Amina to the door and mewed sadly at her.

  Amina knelt down next to him, put her arms around his neck and rested her cheek against his soft stripy fur. “I’m sorry I have to go, Sizzle,” she told him. “But we need to find your brother as soon as we can. I bet you really miss him!” She picked him up, carried him back to the basket, and put him down on top of the soft shawl. He sniffed at the binoculars that she’d hung around her neck. She stroked him a little, and he curled up and closed his eyes.

  After checking that there was no one in the hallway, the princesses crept down the back stairs and past the kitchen. Voices came from the dining room.

  “I bet the kings and queens are still chatting in there,” whispered Lottie. “If we’re lucky, the garden will be completely empty.”

  The girls slipped out the back door and through the garden. Orange lamps lit up the pathways, but the princesses kept to the shadows, hoping that their dark clothes made them hard to see.

  As they crept past a stone fountain, they heard a rustling in the bushes.

  “What was that?” whispered Amina.

  They kept still, listening hard, but the sound stopped.

  “It was probably just a bird,” said Lottie.

  They tiptoed toward the gate, until they saw a guard. They watched him walking back and forth. Then, when he turned his back, they dashed toward the gate. Amina fumbled with the bolt and pulled it open, hoping that it didn’t creak. They crept through and Rosalind closed it behind them. Then they hid on the other side of the wall, trying to catch their breaths.

  Out here, beyond the palace walls, it was even darker. The only light came from a scattering of stars in the night sky.

  Amina lifted the binoculars to her eyes and suddenly she could see everything clearly. She could see moths fluttering in the air and a mouse scurrying through the long grass. At the bottom of the hill she could see the river, sparkling faintly in the starlight.

  “You’ll have to lead us down the hill, Amina,” said Isabella. “I can’t see a thing.”

  “Hold on!” Rosalind frowned. “Aren’t we going to share the tiger’s-eye binoculars? What was the point in all of us coming if we don’t get to try them?”

  “Don’t argue, Rosalind!” said Lottie. “Let’s just get down to the river and find the little cub.”

  Amina smiled at Rosalind. “You’re right, we should take turns! When we reach the end of this path, you can have the binoculars.”

  Rosalind led the way from the path toward the river, stopping now and then to scan the landscape with the binoculars. Amina came last, listening carefully. She was sure that the lost cub would be feeling scared and alone by now, and she was determined to find him.

  They climbed up onto the bridge that spanned the river. Rosalind passed the binoculars to Isabella and Lottie.

  “There’s something moving over there!” Lottie pointed excitedly along the riverbank. “Oh, it’s just a deer.”

  Amina took her turn with the binoculars and she was amazed at how clear everything was using the magic tiger’s-eye stone. There was the deer, walking away into the bushes. Then there was a flicker of movement just beyond.

  She felt a tingle running down her neck. Was that a little paw poking out from behind a rock? Could it be the lost tiger cub?

  “I think there’s an animal over there, behind a rock,” Amina told the others.

  “Is it the cub?” asked Isabella.

  Amina looked again. This time a small head with two furry ears poked out. “I think so!”

  “Then we’ve found him! We can take him back to the palace and look after both the cubs together!” Lottie said triumphantly. “Phew, I was worried we’d never find him!”