The Truest Heart

by E. D. Baker

  “That was a good, strong light,” said Blue. “I’ll have to get one of those. Oh, good, Cory’s up. Hey, sleepyhead. How are you today?”

  “I feel like something a woodchuck dragged in. Speaking of woodchucks, how are Noodles and Weegie?”

  “Noodles is fine, but Weegie is still complaining about her back. I let them out when I got up,” said Micah. “Poor Weegie wanted to sleep inside last night because she wasn’t feeling well, and now this.”

  “Did you want some breakfast?” Blue asked.

  Cory shook her head. “I think I’ll go visit my grandfather Lionel today. I want to talk to him about something. If I go in the morning, he always gives me breakfast. I think the putti would be disappointed if they couldn’t feed me.”

  “If you’re not going to sit down, I won’t dawdle any longer,” Micah said as he stood. “I woke up worried that I’d be late for work, so I want to head in a little early. Have a good day, you two.”

  “We will,” said Blue. “I should get going as well. Macks should be here soon. Today is Itchy Butt’s birthday party and I requested guard duty. After what happened at the last ogre party, the captain agrees that I should go. Now I’m worried that two guards might not be enough. Maybe I should request more backup.”

  “That’s what I forgot!” said Cory. “I knew there was something we were supposed to do. It’s Itchy Butt’s party!”

  There was a knock at the front door and Blue pushed his seat back. “I’ll see you in a few hours,” he said, and gave Cory a quick kiss. “I need to take care of some leaf work at the station before we go to the party.”

  Blue was on the porch talking to Macks when Cory heard the ping! of a message arriving in the basket. While Cory was on her way to get it, another message arrived. The first one was from Serelia.

  Cory,

  We’re heading back to Misty Falls today. Rina is going with us. She shows a lot of promise. Thank you for introducing us. I think she’s going to be the assistant I’ve always wanted and eventually the replacement I need. Let me know if there’s ever anything I can do for you.

  Serelia Quirt

  “Good,” Cory murmured. Rina was finally going to get the training she deserved.

  The second note was from Rina’s mother.

  Cory,

  Thank you so much for telling us about Serelia. Rina is leaving with her today to begin her studies. Everything has turned out so well because of you. Thanks!

  Minerva Diver

  “I’m glad they’re happy,” said Cory.

  Macks was waiting for her on the porch when she went outside. “Blue said you wanted to go somewhere this morning,” said the ogre.

  Cory nodded as she started down the steps. “You and I are going to see my grandfather Lionel. Have you ever met any putti?”

  “Any whatti?” he asked.

  “You’ll see soon enough,” Cory said with a laugh.

  Cory smiled at Macks’s expression when they arrived at Lionel’s home. His eyes were wide and his mouth hung open, making him look even scarier than usual. “Your grandfather lives here?” he asked as his gaze traveled over the vast lawn, heart-shaped driveway, and huge house.

  “He does,” Cory said, leading the way up the drive. “But he doesn’t live alone.”

  Macks hung back as Cory climbed the steps and pressed the heart-shaped doorbell. “I don’t think I should go in,” he said from the bottom of the steps. “Everything looks very grand. If I go in, I might break something.”

  Cory smiled and gestured to him. “You’ll be fine. I’m sure the putti will watch out for you.”

  “You never told me what putti are,” said Macks as he climbed the steps with reluctance.

  “You’ll know in just a minute,” said Cory. “Orville is a putti.”

  Macks reached up to scratch his head. “Who is Orville?”

  The door opened and a little man who looked like a bald-headed baby dressed in slacks and a shirt stood there. He grinned when he saw Cory, but his eyebrows shot up when he noticed Macks.

  “Orville, I’d like you to meet my friend, Macks. Macks, this is my friend, Orville.”

  The putti’s smile grew broader when he heard Cory call him her friend. He extended his hand to Macks, saying, “It’s nice to meet you” in a surprisingly deep voice.

  Macks had to bend down to shake Orville’s hand. When he did, the putti’s smooth babylike hand disappeared in the ogre’s huge, rough-skinned one. “It’s nice to meet you, too,” said Macks. “I’m actually Cory’s bodyguard.”

  “Very good,” said Orville before he turned to Cory. “Your grandfather just started his breakfast,” he said, and began to lead the way.

  When Cory glanced at Macks, he looked awestruck as he took everything in. They were walking down a long, marble-floored corridor when Orville opened a door and said to Macks, “You may wait in here. I’ll tell Creampuff that you’re hungry.”

  “How did you know that?” asked Macks.

  Orville shrugged. “Ogres always are.”

  The putti disappeared into the room. When he came out, he waved Macks in and shut the door behind him. “I assume that you may want to discuss things with your grandfather that you do not want to share with your bodyguard,” said Orville. “We’ll take care of him until you’re ready to go.”

  “Thank you,” Cory told him. “I doubt I’ll be staying long.”

  “Long enough for breakfast, I hope?” the putti asked her.

  “Of course!” she said, and her smile was rewarded with one of his.

  Her grandfather was seated on the stone terrace at the back of the house, just as he always was in the morning. He looked up as she walked through the door. “My dear! It’s good to see you. Please join me.”

  Cory took her usual seat across from Lionel. “I have a question for you. I’ve been having the same vision, but it’s for a match I do not want to make. I’ve tried to ignore it, but the same vision keeps coming back. My question is, if I don’t make this particular match, will this vision eventually stop?”

  “May I ask who is in this vision?” said Lionel.

  Cory made a face as if she tasted something sour. “It’s my mother and the goblin FLEA officer, Deeds.”

  Uncontrollable laughter exploded from Lionel until his eyes watered and he was holding his sides. It was not the reaction Cory had expected. He grew calmer and wiped his eyes when Orville emerged from the house carrying a tray laden with dishes. No one spoke while Orville set the glass of cider and plates of eggs, fried cod, fruit salad, and spiced grains on the table. It wasn’t until the putti had shut the door that Cory said, “I’m glad you think it’s so funny.”

  “I must apologize,” her grandfather said, stifling a chuckle, “but I’ve known Delphinium for years and never saw her in a vision with anyone. And for her to finally be in a vision with a goblin no less . . . I think it’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard!”

  Cory’s lips twitched into a smile. “It is pretty funny when you think about it. But that still leaves me with the question of what will happen if I don’t match them.”

  “I don’t know,” said her grandfather. “To be honest, I’ve never had a match that I refused to make, but then I’ve never had one I didn’t like that was so close to home. All I can say is that you should trust in yourself. I’m sure you’ll do the right thing, although it may not be the easiest. Aside from your vision, how are things going?”

  Cory took a sip of her cider before answering. “Not well, I’m afraid. I can’t go anywhere without seeing posters denouncing me. I try to disguise myself when I go out in public, but it doesn’t always work. On the way home from the pigs’ party, tooth fairies dumped rotting teeth on Blue and me. When we were going down the mountain, someone had dug a hole in the road that we narrowly avoided with the solar cycle.”

  “I heard about that when you testified in court,” said Lionel. “I think flower fairies probably dug it. They’re the experts on digging holes.”

 
“That’s what we thought, too,” said Cory. “And then just last night we had a visit from a member of the Itinerant Troublemakers Guild. Micah said he was a Worry That Won’t Let You Sleep at Night.”

  Lionel looked surprised. “Really? And how do you feel now?”

  “Fine,” Cory said with a shrug.

  “No new worries or concerns?”

  “Now that you mention it, I had a terrible time going back to sleep after Blue kicked the monster out,” said Cory. “I kept worrying about, well, everything! And this morning Micah said he was worried about being late to work, and Blue was worried about the security for a party this afternoon.”

  Lionel nodded. “That’s what a Worry That Won’t Let You Sleep at Night does. He doesn’t look frightening, but he is very powerful.”

  “But he didn’t do anything,” said Cory.

  “All he had to do was get into your house. He radiates worry like Cupids can radiate love. And that’s your solution right there.”

  “What do you mean about radiating love?” asked Cory. “I don’t do that.”

  “You can if you try,” her grandfather told her. “To get rid of the worry in your house, wait until it’s dark out, turn out all the lights in the room, spread your wings, and think about love. You’ll be using your true strength to banish the bad feelings that the Worry creature brought into your home.”

  “Have you ever done it?” Cory asked.

  “I’ve done it for any negative feelings that have been brought into the house,” he replied. “And it works every time.”

  Cory didn’t see Macks again until she was leaving. The ogre looked happy and satisfied when Orville retrieved him from the kitchen. “What did you do all morning?” Cory asked as they headed toward the solar cycle.

  “I ate,” Macks said, smacking his lips. “That little putti chef, Creampuff, is one good cook! We can go back there any time you want!”

  Cory laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  When they reached Micah’s house, Blue was there along with two other ogres. “These two gentleogres are my backup,” he said, gesturing to the ogres who were wrestling a new tree into one of the holes they’d dug. “The one with the green hair is Twark. The one with three hairs on his head is Skweely. They’re both old friends of mine. I asked them to go to the party with us for added security. We decided to work on the yard until it was time to go.”

  “When you said you thought you might need more backup, I thought you meant more FLEA officers,” said Cory.

  “Why would I ask them?” said Blue. “Ogres are much better at handling anything bad that comes along.”

  “Except ice,” said Cory.

  “Well, that’s true,” Blue said with a rueful smile. “But I doubt very much the guilds will try that again. So, now that you’re here, why don’t you tell me where you want these shrubs? Micah bought them the other day. I told him that I would plant them. They were delivered this morning right after I got back.”

  “Didn’t Micah tell you where he wanted everything planted?” Cory asked.

  Blue shook his head. “Just the one tree. He said that the rest would be up to you. So, where do you want them?”

  Cory and Blue walked around, trying to decide where to plant everything, while Macks helped the other ogres plant the tree. Noodles chewed a stick beside Weegie, who was making comments about how woodchucks dug better holes. When the ogres started laughing at her, she stalked off, insulted.

  “How is the trial going?” Cory asked after they’d decided where to plant the last shrub.

  “There’s not much I can tell you, other than that Miss Blunk has found other abused fairies to testify. The guilds have been making the members who quit miserable for years. But even with the new testimony, the guilds are—”

  Cory and Blue both looked up when a whooshing sound emerged from the forested park across the street. Something large and long was hurtling toward them. It wasn’t until it hit the sidewalk with a splintering crash that Cory saw it was an entire tree, roots and all. The three ogres became alert. Apparently, this was the kind of thing they understood. They had started toward Cory and Blue when a huge brown shape shot from the forest with an earsplitting roar. The ground shook as it thundered across the road, wielding another tree.

  “What is that?” cried Cory as the three ogres jumped in front of her and Blue.

  “That, my sweet, is a Bigfoot,” said Blue. “We learned about them in one of my FLEA classes. I’m glad I asked Skweely and Twark to go to the party with us. Either Macks or I might have been a match for a Bigfoot, but he doesn’t stand a chance against the four of us.”

  “He seems pretty handy with that tree trunk,” Cory said as the Bigfoot swung the tree over his head, making it whistle through the air.

  “You should go inside,” Blue told her. “It isn’t safe for you out here.”

  “I will,” said Cory, but she was so interested that she couldn’t move. Then the Bigfoot let go of the tree and she found herself on the porch where Blue had set her.

  Cory hurried to the railing to get a better view of the Bigfoot. The creature was only a little taller than the ogres and was covered with so much long, shaggy brown fur that it was hard to see his face. His movements were clumsy, and he shambled rather than ran.

  Cory watched as he came at the ogres who were standing between him and the house. Swinging with his right arm, he punched Skweely with so much force that Cory heard the thud. Skweely took half a step backward but held his ground. The Bigfoot roared again, loud enough to make the windows rattle in their frames. Blue ducked when the Bigfoot tried to punch him in the jaw. When the creature’s own momentum kept turning him, Blue grabbed his other arm and jerked it behind him, knocking him off balance. The Bigfoot fell to his knees and the ogres piled on top of him, smashing him to the ground.

  “Are you ready to give up?” asked Blue.

  The Bigfoot grunted and tried to get up, but was unable to move. He started to thrash then, flailing his one free arm and kicking his feet until the ogres pinned those down, too.

  “You ready now?” Macks asked. The Bigfoot panted from his efforts. Gathering his strength, he tried to heave them off one last time. The pile of ogres rose about a foot, then collapsed back on him.

  Cory was surprised when the Bigfoot began to laugh. “Well, ain’t this something else! I never fought ogres before. You guys are strong! When I saw y’all standing there, I thought, Melter, what have you gotten yourself into? Do you mind gettin’ up? I got a rock bigger ’n’ my backside diggin’ into me. Don’t y’all worry none. I ain’t gonna try to bother that little girl up on the porch anymore, you can take my word for it.”

  One by one the ogres stood up, leaving Melter lying on the ground. Then Blue offered him his hand and pulled him to his feet, and they all stood around, grinning like fools.

  “I hate to say it, but that was fun! Ain’t nobody give me a tussle like that before! Most often people see me and run away. What’s the fun in that?”

  “That happens to me all the time,” said Twark. “Of course, they’re usually screaming.”

  “That happened to me just the other day, didn’t it, Cory?” said Macks.

  “It did,” Cory replied. “When we went to talk to Rina.”

  Melter dug a leaf out of his fur and looked at it. “Cory Feathering. Yep, that’s the one I was supposed to scare. What did you do to get the guilds in such a tizzy?”

  “I quit the Tooth Fairy Guild and they don’t like it,” Cory told him.

  “Well, don’t that beat all! They sent a Bigfoot after a tooth fairy! I can’t wait to tell my buddies back home.”

  “Former tooth fairy,” said Cory.

  “Say, I’m hungry. Do y’all know of a good place to eat around here?” asked Melter.

  “I think we’re all hungry,” Cory said, glancing at the ogres. “I was going to make sandwiches for lunch. Would you like to join us?”

  “Sure! I’ll eat just about anything, and hope that
there’s plenty of it. Thanks for the invitation!”

  “It’s our pleasure,” Cory said as Blue took her hand. “It isn’t every day that we get to entertain a Bigfoot.”

  CHAPTER

  11

  Itchy Butt’s birthday party was being held on the shore of Turquoise Lake. Olot had told them to come early in case he needed help setting up, but by the time Cory’s group arrived, Zephyr’s new assistant had taken care of everything. Dillert had situated the stand close to the water’s edge. Although he had done a good job, he had set it up in reverse, as if he had held a diagram backward. Cory’s drums were usually set up on the left side of a stage. Today she would be playing on the right, closest to the water. No one else seemed to mind, so she didn’t protest, either. It was Dillert’s first day, after all.

  A big tent had been set up farther down the lake, and caterers were putting out food when Cory, Blue, and the ogres went to investigate. “These are Itchy Butt’s favorite foods,” one of the caterers told them.

  They saw pork rinds and frog rinds, pickled walrus flippers and pickled pigs’ feet. Blue pointed out an elf chef standing at one end of the tent. “He’s very well known,” said Blue, “but I can’t remember his name.” When they walked over to see what he was doing, they found him basting squirrels on a rotisserie.

  The sight and the smell combined were more than Cory could stand. Putting her hand over her mouth, she turned and hurried away. “I know ogres like meat, but I couldn’t eat any of that,” she told Blue when he caught up.

  “I’m sure the caterers have something else,” Blue told her. “I’ll ask them.”

  “Not yet,” Cory told him. “I think Olot wants me to come back now.” She had caught a glimpse of Olot standing by the stage, waving them over. Another ogre was standing with him, and it was one she recognized. Cory had met Itchy Butt on a pedal-bus once. They hadn’t talked much, but it had been enough to leave an impression.

  The party guests had started to arrive, and they were already in a partying mood. It took Cory and Blue a few minutes to work their way through the crowd because so many people recognized them and wanted to say hello. When Cory and Blue finally made it to the stage, Olot started to introduce them.