The Journal of Angela Ashby

by Liana Gardner

  I didn’t want to spook the gnome. Since he kept waving and grinning at me, I hoped when I talked to him he wouldn’t run away screaming.

  As I reached the trees behind the building, I slowed. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea in the world. Maybe I should go get Mallory, in case I annoyed the gnome. I spun on my heels and headed toward the lunch tables.

  Mallory would come with me. She hadn’t seen the gnome the last time he showed up.

  As I looked around the tables trying to spy Mallory, Cynthia glared at me.

  Oh, great. Mallory sat one table away from Cynthia. I swore she stalked us. When I stopped next to the table, Mallory scooted to make room for me. I dropped my backpack on the ground and straddled the bench.

  Mallory stopped mid chew. “Where’s your lunch, Angela?”

  I flung my arm toward my backpack but didn’t turn my head. “I don’t have time to eat.” I scanned the tables to make sure no one paid us any attention. Only Cynthia and she looked thoughtful. Everyone else still chattered about the explosion while they ate or pelted food at one another.

  I cupped my hands around my mouth and leaned in to whisper in Mallory’s ear. Or speak softly. A whisper would never be heard by anyone in this uproar. “The gnome is back and he’s behind the English building.”

  Mallory’s head swiveled toward mine and her eyebrows rose. “Really?” She motioned me to bring my head close to hers. “I thought he disappeared the other day.”

  “He did. I haven’t seen him since.” My eyes swept the surrounding tables again. “But during reading time I saw him in the bushes.”

  Mallory arched back, her eyes widening. “Wow.”

  I leaned closer. “Will you come with me? I want to talk to him and learn why he’s here.”

  I sensed, rather than heard, the flutter of Tatiana’s wings.

  “Angela, quit whispering. You’re tickling me.”

  My head whipped around to see whether anyone heard. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Fortunately, her voice didn’t carry.

  Mallory put her hand on my arm. “Are you sure?”

  I nodded. He had to be here for a reason. I wanted to find out.

  With scrunched mouth, Mallory packed her lunch.

  “Thanks, Mal. You’re the best.” I stood and slung my backpack over my shoulder.

  Cynthia sneered as we walked past her. “So what’s the big secret?” She stood and lumbered toward us. “The two of you were whispering nonstop. What gives?”

  I matched her sneer. “Like we’re gonna tell you.”

  “I think you’re up to something, so I’m gonna follow and find out.”

  I made a big show of sighing and rolling my eyes. “Geez, Cynthia. I gotta pee. You really wanna follow?” I shrugged. “Be my guest.” I tugged Mallory’s arm and headed toward the bathroom.

  Cynthia called after us. “You’re so joined at the hip you can’t pee alone now?” Her laughter followed us across the quad.

  Once inside the bathroom, Tatiana piped up. “M, when are you going to let me take care of her? She’s such a witch.” Her squeaky voice bounced off the concrete walls and metal stalls.

  I covered my mouth to hold back the laughter. Tatiana and I were on the same wavelength. Someone should do something about Cynthia.

  “We already talked about this, T. I won’t lower myself to her level and I don’t want you to either.”

  Tatiana flew up to the air vent to check whether we could leave without Cynthia following us.

  I avoided going in the school bathrooms as much as possible. Hanging out in one made me twitchy.

  A cigarette butt floated in one of the toilets and toilet paper wads covered the floor. And the graffiti covering the stalls was nothing like the rainbow-graffiti art I had on my walls at home.

  “Okay. Quad is clear.” Tatiana zoomed back to Mallory and hid under her hair.

  I pushed the door open a crack, poked my head out, and crept out of the bathroom, with Mallory right behind me.

  Chapter Twenty-Two - Glimrick

  We dashed around the corner of the English building before slowing our pace. I held my arm out to hold Mallory back. “I don’t want to scare him.”

  She nodded.

  Moving forward, footsteps slow and quiet, we made our way to the back. At the edge of the building, I stood still.

  The bushes rustled and Mallory gasped. I didn’t understand why Mallory was so keyed up. For all we knew, it could be Malachite hiding in the bushes getting ready to pounce on us. But at her gasp, the bushes went silent.

  Tatiana crawled out from her hiding place and peered into the bushes. She zoomed off.

  Mallory reached for her and missed.

  At the edge, Tatiana squeaked and flew back to Mallory, wings flashing.

  A quivery voice came out of the bushes. “My princess?”

  Princess?

  Tatiana whispered, a sound barely louder than a leaf hitting the ground. “Don’t tell him I’m here.”

  The tip of a red-pointed hat showed briefly above the bushes then disappeared. Reappearing after a moment, the branches shook and the tip moved toward us. At the edge of the bush, the gnome audibly inhaled and stepped forward.

  Malachite came out of another clump of shrubbery and stalked toward the gnome.

  “Malachite, no.”

  She ignored me and continued to move stealthily toward her prey.

  The gnome glanced at Malachite. “You’d best keep that beast away from me. Or I won’t be held accountable for my actions.”

  Like I had any control over Malachite.

  She stopped about six inches from the gnome and stretched a paw toward him.

  He held up his hand and with a crackling noise, a blue light shot straight at Malachite. She hissed and backed up a few paces, then sat and twitched her tail.

  Since Malachite didn’t appear to be hurt, I couldn’t get too mad at him. Besides, shooting blue light from his palms was pretty cool. He faced me again.

  His face, wrinkled with age, still had rosy cheeks. His white tufted brows rose in the middle and down at the corners as he shifted his weight from foot to foot. His snowy-white beard covered half his chest, neatly combed and trimmed. What happened to his flat cap?

  Oops. I caught myself staring and heard Mom’s voice in my head reminding me to be polite. “Hello, little gnome.” He came up to my knee, but his hat stretched halfway up my thigh.

  “Humph.” He frowned and the wrinkles cascaded down his face. “I don’t address you as little girl. I do have a name, you know.” He crossed his arms.

  My cheeks burned. “I’m sorry. My name is Angela and this is my friend Mallory, what’s yours?”

  “I am Glimrick.” His arms dropped to his sides.

  A breeze swirled through the leaves. Glimrick lifted his nose in the air. “My princess is near. Where have you hidden her?”

  My eyes slanted toward Mallory and she raised her shoulders. She didn’t know either.

  “Glimrick.” Tatiana poked her head next to Mallory’s chin. “What are you doing here?” Her tone demanded an answer.

  Glimrick bowed so low the tip of his hat touched the ground.

  Tatiana, a princess?

  “My princess, your mother, the queen, has become concerned with your absence and ordered me to find you.” His muffled voice sounded like it had bubbles in it. He straightened.

  Tatiana fluttered her wings and paced in midair, arms crossed.

  Mallory held up her hand and Tatiana landed, sat cross-legged, and rested her chin on her fist.

  He whisked his hat off revealing a small bald patch, and twisted it in his hands. “Might I convince you to return to allow the queen to see you are well?”

  Tatiana shook her head. “I can’t go back now. Mallory and I are in the middle of an experiment.”

  Pain crossed Mallory’s face. “Um, T? If you have to go, I understand.”

  “No, M. I’m going to stay with you.” She hopped up and faced Mallory. “Rememb
er when you said if I got caught they’d keep me in a jar? Well, that’s what my mother wants to do. Keep me in a jar.”

  Glimrick’s hands curled into fists and he stiffened. “Princess Tatiana.” His voice shook. “Your mother, the queen, does not want to keep you in a jar.”

  She looked over her shoulder. “Call me T, Glimrick.” Her head spun back. “I should call him G.” She giggled and did a flip. “Can I call you G?”

  Glimrick ran a hand through his snowy hair. “You may address me as Glimrick, as you have always done. And I shall continue to address you as Princess Tatiana.”

  She pouted. “Oh come on, G. Lighten up a little.”

  Before Glimrick could open his mouth, Tatiana snapped her fingers. “I almost forgot. What happened to Nobkin? Why are you here and not him?”

  Nobkin? My jaw dropped. This just kept getting more and more interesting.

  Glimrick popped his hat back on his head. “Nobkin was tasked with finding you, but your mother, the queen, felt he didn’t exert himself.”

  He pierced me with his blue-eyed gaze. “You might appear a little less loutish if you’d close your mouth.”

  My jaw snapped shut and Mallory snickered.

  His eyes grew sad. “It didn’t help when the sentries found Nobkin sleeping in the toadstool field.”

  Tatiana’s hands flew to her mouth. “Has he been tried yet?”

  Glimrick shook his head.

  “Good. You go back and tell my mother I ordered Nobkin not to look for me before I left. She cannot fault him for following an express order. And I won’t have Nobkin turned to stone and put in someone’s garden because he did as I asked.” Tatiana muttered and paced back and forth on Mallory’s hand.

  After a few moments, she stopped pacing. “Glimrick, please return to my mother. Tell her you saw me and I am well, but choose not to come home for now.” Her lavender dress swirled in the breeze. “If you need to reach me, you can catch Angela’s attention and she will let me know and we will come see you.” She waved her hand in the air to indicate the audience was over.

  Glimrick raised a bag. “Before I go, I brought you some pennycress to entice you back home.”

  “You brought me pennycress?” Tatiana zoomed down to him. “It’s my favorite.”

  Glimrick handed her the bag. “You should have something to remind you of home.”

  Tatiana threw her arms around him, well as far as she could reach, and kissed his cheek. “You’ve made me happy, Glimrick.” She reached in the sack and pulled out a plant with a white flower just coming into bloom. She took a big bite.

  I stepped forward. “Uh, Glimrick? May I ask you a question?”

  Glimrick glanced at Tatiana, who waved her hand to give her permission.

  He scowled and crossed his arms. “Very well.”

  “When I saw you before you wore a flat cap, why didn’t you wear the red hat then?”

  His face brightened. “Ah, perceptive of you. The queen requested that I search for Princess Tatiana in disguise, to eliminate the possibility of capture.” He stroked his snowy beard. “I thought about putting together an elaborate costume, but have noticed humans don’t pay close attention to what they see. If I wore a simple flat cap instead of a costume, most people would see me as a short, old man, and not the strapping gnome that I am.”

  I grinned. It was true. The cap made me question what I saw. “It was a good disguise.”

  He beamed.

  Tatiana flew back to Glimrick. “Thank you, Glimrick. This is heaven on a stick. And thank you for your service.”

  This time Glimrick’s shoulders slumped at the dismissal and he turned and walked back in the bushes.

  Tatiana landed on Malachite’s back and the cat ran around in circles while she stood there like she were riding a circus elephant, all the while chomping her flower.

  Mallory stared openmouthed at Tatiana enjoying her flower. Too bad Glimrick wasn’t still here to call her a lout.

  I nudged her. “Mal. Come on, we should get back to the lunch area before it’s over.”

  I took a step and Mallory grabbed my arm. “Stinkweed.”

  “What?”

  “It all makes perfect sense. I wonder how long the effects take.” Her eyes took on the dreamy quality of when she had an idea brewing.

  “Earth to Mallory. It may make perfect sense to you, but I’m still in the dark. What are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about Tatiana’s fairy farts. I think we’ve just discovered what makes them smell so bad.”

  I looked at the bliss on Tatiana’s face as she continued to eat the pennycress.

  “You’re going to break her heart when you tell her.”

  “I have to confirm, but it makes total sense. Did you know another name for pennycress is stinkweed?”

  I shook my head.

  “And they’ve started using it to make biodiesel, too. Being plant based, it makes sense that it gives T gas, and stinkweed is named that way for a reason.”

  The geeky science girl was in full control of Mallory. Her eyes lit up as she thought through the cause of fairy flatulence.

  Tatiana giggled. “Oopsy. Excuse me for farting.”

  Sure enough the stink bomb reached us moments later. Instead of gagging like she did before, Mallory grabbed her notebook and jotted a few things down.

  I grabbed my nose. The stench made my eyes water.

  “T, come here for a minute.”

  Tatiana fluttered back up to Mallory’s hand.

  “You know the experiments we’ve been doing with different foods to find what causes you to fart?”

  Tatiana nodded.

  “I think pennycress is the answer. And that means you won’t be able to come to class with me this afternoon. Because you’ll stink too much. But it’s warmer now, so you can play on the athletic field like before.”

  Tatiana narrowed her eyes. “You won’t forget to come get me, will you?”

  “I’m not going to forget. We still have to finish getting your house ready. And we need to find an antidote for the pennycress so you can eat it and not stink.”

  Tatiana flew next to Mallory’s ear as we made our way toward the building with Malachite following behind. When we reached the corner, she hid again to make the trek to the athletic field.

  Chapter Twenty-Three - Missing Journal

  When I reached the athletic field, Tatiana used the branches of the shrubs like a diving board, bouncing off the end then dashing about. Good thing no one was around.

  Malachite tracked her progress and then pounced—missing her. I’d worry about Malachite hurting her, but it was a game for them both.

  Moments later, Mallory rushed around the corner. Tatiana waved at Mallory and zoomed off. She became a sparkly glint moving through the sky.

  “Hey Mallory, can I ask you something?”

  She joined me on the wall. “Sure.”

  Heat crept up my neck. “Before I understood about not hurting people, I wrote one more journal entry. Now I don’t know what to do.”

  “What did you write?”

  I bit my cheek. “That I wanted my folks to get back together so we could be a family again. I didn’t think about it hurting Holly.” My cheeks turned hot and the memory of the panther haunted me because it wasn’t exactly true. I didn’t care that it would hurt Holly.

  Mallory pinched the tip of her chin, which she always did when puzzling something through. “I think it depends on how you wrote the message. What exactly did you say?”

  I grabbed my backpack and reached inside for the journal. Huh, it wasn’t where I thought. I rummaged a bit more. I didn’t see it.

  Panicked, I dumped the contents of the bag on the ground.

  “Angela, what’s wrong?”

  I spread the books out. “The journal. It’s not here.”

  Opening each book, I shook it to make sure the slim journal wasn’t somehow trapped in the middle. “How can it be gone?”

  Mallory squatted
and helped me look through each book.

  “Where did it go, Mallory?” I slumped against the wall, tears ready to fall.

  Tatiana returned with an armful of flowers to weave in our hair.

  “Not now, T. We have a situation.” Mallory handed me the books to put in the pack.

  “What’s the matter, M?” Tatiana landed on her leg.

  “Angela’s journal is missing and we’re trying to figure out where she lost it.”

  Tatiana sat in a single fluid motion and laid the flowers on Mallory’s leg. “Is that the book the big girl who is always picking on you wanted?”

  Mallory and I exchanged a look. Cynthia wanted the book. She thought it was suspicious. What if she took it? But when?

  Glasses sliding down her nose, Mallory shook her head. “Forget about that for a minute.” She pushed the glasses back in place. “Think about where you’ve been today and when you last knew for sure you had the journal.”

  I cast my mind back. Definitely had it through the heat wave and after the boiler blew. I didn’t look at it in Fine Arts, so no help there. English class. Seeing Glimrick knocked everything out of my head. But I didn’t see him until the end of class time. Did I do anything with the journal before I saw Glimrick?

  I rubbed my forehead with my knuckles. Think. I closed my eyes and imagined walking through the door. My disappointment with not seeing Mrs. Clark, getting called out by Mr. Farber for putting my head on the desk, and ... wait.

  I rubbed my thumb against my fingertips, remembering the feel of the leather cover. My eyes flew open. “I had it in English before I saw Glimrick.”

  Mallory nodded. “Okay, what about after lunch?”

  I mentally went through each class and shook my head. “Nope. I never looked for it until just now.”

  “Was there any place it could have fallen out?”

  A tiny bubble of hope sprang up. “Let me think.” Tears welled as I mentally went through the afternoon again. “I’ve got nothin’.”

  Hanging around the athletic field wasn’t going to help us find the book, so we began the walk home. Tatiana still wanted to adorn Mallory with flowers.

  “T, why don’t you save those and make a bouquet for your new house?”