Olly, Olly, Oxen Frey

by Paul Manchester

  “Try it,” suggested Meryth.

  Finn nodded encouragingly, so Jack tried creating a picture of what he wanted to be in his mind. Instantly, Jack transformed into a merboy with a golden tail and dropped with a splash between Finn and his mom.

  Jack inspected his new tail with interest and quickly split it into two so that it matched Finn’s fish legs.

  Meryth and Finn were laughing so hard at his transformation that they couldn’t swim. Waves playfully buffeted them about for a bit.

  Jack knew that Jenny was feeling left behind when the three slipped below the surface with the cannister of antidote.

  Jack’s head popped back up. He called out to Jenny, “Do you want to come too?”

  Jenny shouted, “Yes!”

  She jumped over the rail before Jack was ready, but before she hit the water she sported a beautiful pink fish tail.

  She bobbed back up to the surface and looked for Jack. He was there beside her.

  “Jack? Pink! Can’t I have a black tail?”

  “Black! Are you going goth on me!” He laughed, “You don’t like pink?”

  “Pink is nice... but, I’m a pirate!”

  “Of course,” Jack gave her a funny grin.

  Jenny suddenly wore a red bandanna around her hair in an Argh-swab-the-decks-ye-lubbers sort of way, her existing red and white striped t-shirt, and a glittering black tail. She didn’t even notice the jolly roger imprinted on her butt.

  * * * *

  Jenny could now breathe under water! She swam three somersaults just to see if she could. She could, but it made her rather dizzy.

  She was giddy with excitement. She and Jack dove down to join the others who waited some distance below.

  Swimming through a twisting maze of coral and colorful plants, the four finally came upon the derelict mermaid city.

  Jenny thought it was even more spectacular close up.

  Even in disrepair the towers, arches, and statuary were glorious. Beyond the city she could see what looked like a giant cave in the side of a vast cliff.

  As they approached, Jenny recognized it as the same Hall of Judgment that she’d been in before. But this time there was no glass. The four swam right in. Jenny could now see that the room was designed for water. Plants that had been shapeless floppy things when surrounded by air, reached up with life, movement, and vibrant hues.

  Jenny and Meryth swam towards the wall that opened to the lab.

  * * * *

  Jack and Finn swam to inspect the tubes one end of the chamber. They held a wide assortment of odd creatures. Some did not look like they would turn into merfolk –more like mer-animals. The shrunken sleeping creatures came in all shapes.

  Finn carried the capsule with the antidote. He nodded towards the lab which was now open. “I’m going to join my mom.”

  Jack was startled to hear words underwater. The words had a warbled quality but were understandable.

  Jack nodded. “Okey doke!” came out his watery reply.

  Finn swam off.

  Jack continued to swim above the rows of glass tubes looking for clues. One of these might be Finn’s grandfather, the king. Crossing to the other end of the chamber he inspected the tubes there. Finally on an elevated sculpture of marble, he saw a unique tube. It was a bit bigger than the others and was protected on three sides.

  Inside the tube slept a shriveled little sea chimp with a straggly beard which resembled kelp roots pulled from the sea floor.

  “What do I want from you?” thought Jack. “Do I want the rest of my life to be decided by an old man who doesn’t even know me? He might not even like me! He might not want to help me.”

  Jack floated in the water as he stared at the king. To all appearances Jack was now a golden merboy with two undulating tails. But inside... what was he? Was he an immature fifteen year old boy – not capable of choosing his own life? What did Jack want? Did Jack want to spend his life (if he was lucky) writing stories of extraordinary adventure in an ordinary world? Or did he want to actually live those extraordinary adventures? What would his parents want for him?

  They would want him to be safe. With them. After seeing what his parents went through when Jenny disappeared, he could not do that to them again. Even if they weren’t parents who hugged their kids.

  He lost track of how long he’d floated there but jumped when the king’s eyes popped open.

  A sparkling green solution had entered the king’s tube. Around him he could see it swirling through all the tubes.

  Movement. Change. Colors. More change! Bubbles everywhere! Within moments curious water creatures spilled out of their tanks as their tubes dissipated into the water around. He spun around to look. All about him – creatures that boggled his imagination. Giant sea horses and sea pigs! Small aqua-dragons and human bodies with fish heads. And lots of mermaids and mermen! The water was bubbling with happy celebration in languages he could not understand.

  Jack felt a stillness behind him. He spun again to see the king. The king had transformed as well. The scrawny creature had expanded with vitality and muscles. His silver beard had grown in fullness across a broad chest. Muscles on top of muscles and a sinewy long tail that glittered with purples and lavenders.

  The king gazed at Jack with surprise. He clearly wanted to know about this golden merboy with two tails.

  Jack realized he should probably bow or something, but his enthusiastic bow turned into a somersault and he unintentionally slapped the king in the face with webbed feet.

  Jack was mortified but the king broke into hearty laughter. Big bubbling rolls of laughter that filled the room with its contagion. The whole room was suddenly laughing at him.

  Jack’s face had turned orange with blushing. “I’m so sorry sir!” He blurted out. “I didn’t mean to do that! I’m Jack. I’m here with your daughter and your grandson!”

  * * * *

  Jack quickly learned that merfolk love to laugh. Apparently laughter was such an art among sea people that they’d cataloged a total of five-hundred and fifty two distinctly different laughs – each with quite unique meanings. As laughter is a virtual language among the merfolk, one has to be careful with exactly how one laughs. A simple giggle done wrong might commit you to a roll in the seaweed beds.

  The Wisherman kids had mentioned that merfolk could be rather peculiar. Jack could see that if one didn’t understand their culture it could appear quite silly. But it did have an order of its own. And Finn’s mom was right when she’d said that merfolk were not particularly modest. He had wondered before in an abstract sort of way where mermen kept their you-know-whats. Now he knew. Not shy at all.

  But Jack liked the MerKing right off. King Posei. He was a jolly sort who giggled quite a lot for such a big muscular man.

  Jack had asked if Posei was short for Poseidon, but the king had just laughed and laughed instead of answering. Jack didn’t repeat his question. The name was pretty much pronounced like the name of the flower – if you had a mouth full of marbles.

  The reunion between father and daughter was touching, as was the meeting between Finn and his grandfather. King Posei looked quite serious for once when Meryth formally introduced Jack as Finn’s consort. Jack blushed again. The king giggled.

  It was downright awkward.

  * * * *

  Meryth and King Posei sat comfortably at the water’s edge. Footbe had swum over to sit by Meryth. The king greeted Footbe warmly. Everyone had grown used to calling James, Footbe.

  The rest of the merfolk population were impatient to see their old homes again and swam off to begin the long task of cleaning the underwater city and making it habitable again.

  Sitting at the water’s edge, King Posei listened soberly as Jack and Finn asked for his advice.

  “Is there any way for kids to go home again if they’ve eaten Frey food?” J
ack had asked.

  King Posei sighed with his impossibly deep voice, “There be a cost, my boy.” The king was quiet as if unsure how to explain.

  “What type of cost?” whispered Jack.

  “Frey be woven from the strands of fancy. Everything here be infused with imagination. If ye’d no imagination, ye wouldn’t have ever been able to cross over to begin with –no matter what traps the impostor queen had set.”

  “So –” Jack reflected.

  “So, my boy.” The King continued, “Merfolk only do water-magic. But, water-magic could be enough. Humans are mostly water ye see. I could adjust the children’s minds and remove their imagination. With no imagination, they’d be back home immediately. If they don’t believe in Frey, the Frey food won’t be pulling them back. But, they can’t ever come back. And I can’t speak to their happiness without a creative spark in their soul.”

  Jack sighed. “That’s not a good option, is it? So, we can’t go home again?” His gut was twisting at all the complicated feelings he felt.

  The King held a finger up. “That be for the other young ones. You’re a different matter all together. You’ve become a creature of the air. When the wishes’ power entered you, it changed you. Magic now rests in every bit of your being. No one like you has ever existed in Frey – but, I’m thinking that you can turn yourself back to your human state once you’re on the other side. But your magic would be gone. I don’t think you’d be able to come back.”

  Jack looked at the King’s concerned face, as well as the other faces. Finn’s. Jenny’s.

  “One other thing, the impostor queen might have put changelings in your place. Standard faerie practice. They might not take kindly to your coming back – if they survive it. Depends on if they’d time enough to settle in.”

  “What’s a changeling?” asked Jenny.

  Footbe scoffed. “Jest a replacement sort of person, walking fungi if you ask me... usually selfish sorts that don’t last long anyway. You won’t need to worry about them!”

  Jack had so many questions, but no words would come out but, “Thanks your Majesty.”

  * * * *

  The next couple of days were spent unwinding from all their adventures. Jack and Finn spent as much time together as they could. Jack found he wasn’t in a rush to make a decision. It was too hard.

  When the situation had been explained, every child chose to stay in Frey - though not without a few tears. Some of the older ones had been missing from their families for many years, but had not grown appreciably older. So, it would have been odd if they did return.

  The Wishermans suggested that the b’Trixers without homes and the now homeless children could travel to Whippledell. There were empty homes and a friendly community in the village to welcome them. Mamy and Papy’s attitudes about the b’Trixers in general had changed with more familiarity and more in common, so they offered to escort them all and introduce them to the village. Mamy was bustling about the island’s kitchen putting together food for the journey. Even Bromley brought over bundles of blue carrots for the hundred and forty-five kids to snack on while they waited to leave. They were running all over the beach playing and laughing like they’d never been through the horrors at the castle. He wondered how the influx of humans would impact Frey. But what else could they do?

  Jack wondered about the kids he sent back that day in the castle. Were they each going to be pulled back to Frey at some point? Where would they appear? Would they be safe? Frey was a big place.

  Footbe was packed for the journey down into the caverns of Frit. He was not only delivering the baby frit but also hoping to do some healing and repair work while he was there. He had the basket of wishes that Papy generously offered him.

  Finn packed to go with his dad.

  Jack had settled the floating island softly into the embrace of the lagoon’s waters. Finn was going to make his home on the island when he returned. It wouldn’t fly again without Jack to lift and steer it, unless they figured out how Mordette did it.

  The pirates were moored near the beach and Jenny was crying and saying goodbye to Gibbie and Nibs and her crew of pirates. The brownies crowded around her and assured her that they’d never forget her.

  Jack created a portal at the island’s cliff edge. He hadn’t known he could do that. But Meryth again had suggested that he give it a try. It is amazing what is possible when one tries impossible things.

  Bilbe, Lilbe, and Dilbe were hugging Jack’s shins. He squatted down and gave each one a hug. He looked the same as when he arrived. The glamour was easy to hold on to now.

  A crowd of familiar faces crowded around Jack as Jenny returned from the beach followed by her pirates.

  Jack and Finn had said their goodbyes more times than they could count. They had no words or goodbyes left, or perhaps too many words that could not even be formed.

  Jenny took a big breath. In her pirate hat and red galoshes, her striped shirt and shorts – she stepped through the portal and disappeared.

  Jack took a last glance at the company. He took a last look at Finn, embedding the vision of Finn’s tear stained face in his memory.

  Finn rushed forward for a last embrace. Then, Jack tore himself away and stepped through the portal and disappeared.

  Jack was gone.

  Finn suddenly shouted, “Jack, WAIT!”

  Chapter 55

  Changeling

  The Ending

  At six o’clock, Millie stepped into the silence of the barn. Outside it was not yet twilight but the world was quiet with the expectation of night. The barn was dark except for a square of light emanating from the open trap door to the cellar.

  “Finn?” Millie whispered. It was curious. Even though she knew he was not the real Finn, he’d become real to her. She worried about him. Finn wouldn’t have asked her to meet him unless it was important.

  Millie crossed to the open trap and cautiously descended the creaking steps.

  “Finn, are you here?”

  The bare bulb at the base of the steps pushed the rest of the cellar into blackness.

  “Don’t you mean Not-Finn?” mocked a voice out of the shadows. Not-Jenny’s voice. “You do know he isn’t the real Finn.”

  Millie stopped two steps from the bottom and tried to locate where the voice was coming from. “He’s real enough... to me.”

  Now Millie could see her. Her eyes were adjusting to the gloom. Not-Jenny’s shadowy form stood a few feet from the bottom of the steps.

  “Where’s Finn?” Millie continued down the steps. “He’s going to meet me here.”

  “Yes – about that,” said the small form in the darkness. “The changeling that was known as Finn isn’t really able to talk with you right now.”

  “Why?” Millie stomach lurched. “What did you do? Where is he?” she demanded.

  The cellar rang with a manic, seven year old laugh. “You’re wasting your time thinking that he’s real. He’s just a changeling. He didn’t have the strength to become anything really real.”

  Millie’s eyes were processing more now. She edged away from the wild-eyed child. The back of her foot hit something and she looked down. Not-Finn’s foot.

  Not-Finn was sprawled awkwardly under the steps. He seemed to be unconscious.

  “What did you do to Finn!” She stepped towards the body.

  “He was going to die anyway,” Not-Jenny scoffed as she watched Millie kneel down. He was still alive, but there was an ugly gash across the back of his head.

  She caressed his forehead. “Finn –” she whispered, then to Not-Jenny, “How you could do this? He would never hurt you. He’s kind!”

  “He wasn’t going to let me do what I need to do!” Not-Jenny’s voice deepened and became harsher. “I think the only way to become real is to consume real things! And you know too much anyway –” she laug
hed.

  Not-Jenny’s dark form expanded in the darkness. Millie was not sure what she was seeing – it was like something out of a monster movie.

  “What are you doing?” she uttered in horror at the giant albino creature with drooling jaws.

  “I’m going to eat you,” it said.

  * * * *

  Upstairs in the house, Not-Jack lost another brawler to streams of green acid. He couldn’t keep his mind on the game.

  He didn’t know exactly what Not-Jenny had planned in the cellar, but he suspected that it wasn’t going to be very nice. She’d intimidated him into stealing Not-Finn’s phone. No one but Not-Jack had seen the creature that she became when she swelled with hate and anger. He liked Not-Finn. He liked Millie. But he was terrified of Not-Jenny. He couldn’t disobey her. Those teeth!

  Yet now every time a big-boobed-banshee dissolved another brawler, he couldn’t help but worry about what was happening down in the mushroom cellar.

  He jumped up. He raced out the door of his bedroom and took the steps downstairs two at a time.

  Mr. and Mrs. Saunders looked up at the footsteps thumping down the staircase.

  Not-Jack hollered, “Something bad is happening in the mushroom cellar –”

  Not-Jack tore through the kitchen and left the screen door banging behind him.

  Mr. and Mrs. Saunders exchanged looks and chased after him. The Sunday evening sports played to an empty couch for once.

  * * * *

  The white creature grasped Millie by the throat and its fangs were inches from her soft skin when the pounding boards above them culminated in something leaping on the creature’s back from the stairs above.

  Not-Jack was screaming and shouting, “NO NJ! Stop!” With one arm around the creature’s neck and the other underneath its jaw, he tried to keep its fangs from connecting with Millie.

  The slathering nightmare shook itself wildly and dislodged the boy who’d been attached to his back. With one back handed whack, Not-Jack flew into a crumpled heap at the base of the steps.

  “Coward!’ hissed the creature at the still form of the boy.