Maximojo and the Wand of Light

by Julianne Bien

  Glitta exploded with energy when she saw Mojo with her friends, and sent solar flares into the shadows of the waves. “I can always count on finding a stray current to charge me up!” Maximojo, now back to his regular size, was bouncing about, while Clarenette secured herself onto his back.

  Everyone swam towards her signal. The dolphins helped guide them. Woofster dog-paddled and let out an inconspicuous yelp, as Kelcius clawed onto his ear. Whinniston imitated Woofster’s stroke to keep afloat, while Mannie backstroked behind them, Maximojo and Clarenette following. Meowlen, now in a wet suit atop Whinny’s head, said, “Keep your head above the rising water level, Whinn. You should know I dislike getting wet.” Smelka, exhausted, took off her bathing cap and lay sprawled out on the horse’s mane close to her friend.

  The whale grew at an incredible rate, crowding everybody else in the flooded chamber. Just when they thought they would all be crushed against the walls, the whale turned and opened its mouth. “Time to jump in,” it said.

  The others looked at each other and then doubtfully at the gaping mouth. “It’s okay,” Maximojo said. “I think we can trust that this fellow is on our side.”

  One by one they all paddled into the whale’s mouth. “Wait for me!” Rutty squeaked, paddling behind them, his skinny legs pumping as fast as they could. He slipped in just before the whale’s gigantic jaw closed. “Raticulous! Made it!” The whale gently swallowed them all, and began fanning its tail faster and faster. Pressure mounted in the chamber until it could no longer contain them. Then, with a mighty crash, the ceiling split open, propelling the whale and its dolphin escorts up through the layers of rock and out into an open sea.

  Down below, the chamber repaired itself and drained as if nothing had ever disturbed it. In the center, all that remained was one rickety table and a faceless coin rolling and rolling until it became embedded into the rock wall. Widow Wynder peered in through a tiny crack. “Where did everyone go? At least they didn’t leave a mess. Very noisy-noisy. Must go. Busy schedule. Fast-fast.”

  ***

  On their way to rescue their families, the Treptalonians halted on a signal from Sutrina. “Wait,” Sutrina said. “What about the Mammolias?” A small group quickly formed and followed the elder into the shaft. Approaching the giant creatures cautiously, they cut their chains with a swipe of their claws.

  “Go now,” Sutrina announced, not knowing if the Mammolias could understand. “You are free to roam in your homeland.” The Mammolias began climbing up to higher ground as water began pouring out of the hole above them.

  “Their race always existed inside the planet,” Sutrina said. “Their instinct will guide them, and they will escape this flood. There is no way to seal up that escape hole in the chamber now.” The Treptalonians hurried to join with their own, and prepare to leave their rest caves forever. Just before they disappeared into a tunnel, they turned and waved good-bye. They knew they would encounter the giants again in the future.

  Chapter 24

  Gusts of wind whipped the waves into a frenzy. Hail pelted Daltoid’s ship and its crew. Unable to control the ship any longer, Daltoid watched as they were sucked toward the swirling vortex ahead. His voice rang out. “Hold on tight, the storm will pass. It always does.”

  A strong undertow grabbed the bow of the ship, rocking it side to side.

  “Kerten, I can’t straighten the rudder,” Daltoid shouted.

  “Something is caught in it, Captain.” Kerten shouted back.

  “Throw out the anchor and climb over and see what got trapped.” He threw a sword that Kerten caught in midair. “Clear it away quickly. We’re being drawn into a whirlpool.”

  “We’re taking on water,” a crew member yelled up to him. “There must be a leak.”

  “Make sure all the cabins are sealed tight,” he said. “Use the buckets to bail from below deck.”

  Daltoid strained to see past the hail. “Are those dolphins? Impossible. It must be a hazy reflection.” The parrot jumped from a spoke of the steering wheel onto his shoulder. “Shoo! Shoo!” he said, waving his arms at the orange-tail. The parrot flew to the deck behind him and began singing a familiar tune.

  “Remember me? Zelzo, your friend at sea? You brought me along and don’t forget it … or your wish. Aaawk!”

  For a moment, Daltoid thought he heard the voice of his beloved Clarenette. He turned to face Zelzo, who leveled in at shoulder height flapping its wings against the rainstorm.

  “Daltoid! Daltoid!” the bird sang. “I am over on the other side of the deck. I know you can see me and I know who you are.”

  No one but Clarenette had ever called him Daltoid. He looked at Zelzo, then all around him, for the source of this mystery. “It must only be the whistle of the wind,” he said aloud. Memories of the hospital came back to him now. He recalled with a pang how Clarenette sang so sweetly to him there. He began to wonder why he had even brought the parrot along.

  Stung by the memory, Daltoid flailed his arms at the parrot. “Just fly away anywhere. Go! I have the safety of my crew to worry about.” The bird took flight and perched on the top of the watch post. It stretched out its wings in order to help stabilize the ship.

  “Captain!” Kerten shouted. “It appears there is a monster of a whale under us. It might be trapped or caught somehow in the rudder. It’s enormous and slow to move. I’ve never seen the likes of it before.”

  “Unheard of,” Daltoid replied as the hail stopped and the rain trickled its last drop. “I will see for myself!” He made his way to the lower deck. He peered over the bow, making sure that Clarenette’s hairpin was securely fastened before he bent over the railing. “It is a horned whale!” He took off his cap. “Well, I’ll be! It doesn’t even appear to be injured. It must have been disturbed by the shifting of continents. Perhaps a newly-opened waterway awakened a mystery.”

  He looked into the whale’s eye. “So who do we have below, a stowaway who cannot hide from us? Someone your size must have been roaming these waters forever. A whale that has history under its fins is certainly of interest, but you must be off.” The whale slapped its tail, almost capsizing the ship. Daltoid was drawn in to the whale’s stare and held on to the rail, lowering himself for a closer look. “How do we get you to go on your way?”

  “I’ve made it as fast as I could,” the whale said. “It was a long way up from the chamber.” All Daltoid heard, however, was a series of clicks and whistles.

  Daltoid estimated the size of the whale’s jaw, which almost exceeded the width of the ship. Without warning, the whale disappeared below the water’s surface. With a mighty thrust, the whale rocketed out of the now-calm sea, flipped over, and dove back in. The resulting wave rocked the ship so hard that the crew nearly went overboard.

  “No whale acts like that!” Kerten exclaimed. “Whatever it is, we must have disturbed its sleep, Captain!”

  Daltoid and the crew warily watched the surface of the water. Then, just as suddenly as before, the whale launched itself out of the water on one side of the ship, arched over the ship’s bow, and splashed down on the other side. Cries of amazement arose from the crew.

  It surfaced again, this time nearly standing on its tail as it balanced next to the ship. “What is that mumbling noise?” Daltoid said. “It sounds like voices coming out of it’s blowhole.”

  The parrot hopped onto his shoulder. It picked at his hair and began loosening Daltoid’s eye patch. He adjusted his silver-tipped cap.

  “Losing it. Aaawk. Time to go home!” the parrot said.

  The sun broke through the clouds, drying off the hull and warming the crew.

  “How can it possibly still be morning?” Daltoid said, bewildered that time seemed to have stood still.

  ***

  The Council was monitoring the situation from the satellite stationed just beyond the clouds.

  “The crystal hairpin that was given Daltoid when he was born is waking him up,” the Commander said. “He is beginning to remember. The
mission is almost over. We just need a little more time for Clarenette to complete his awakening.”

  ***

  As the whale playfully torpedoed back into the sea, the Mojo Team and the others held on to each other, or anything they could find. Meowlen and Smelka were thrown into a pile of fish inside its stomach.

  “Eeww,” Smelka said, holding her nose for the first time. “The sweet smell of the tastiest delicacies,” Meowlen said. “Savor each whiff of luxury, Smelka. This is a taste of heaven. You’re with me now, sis.”

  Mannie yelped when he discovered a bunch of sea crabs had latched onto his tail. “Yo! My nightmares about scorpiolas are coming true.”

  “I’ll help you, Manford,” Woofster said formally, picking the crabs off one by one. Rutty sat across from the two dogs, up against the whale’s ribs. “Are you really going to keep me captive? Can’t we just be buddies?” he said. “I’m a changed rat! Honest. If you can’t trust a rat who can you trust?”

  “What are we going to do with that shape shifting rat?” Mannie said.

  “Let’s just throw him to that storekeeper when we get back to Kavalon,” Woofster said. “I hear they have some unfinished business.”

  “You can count on me to drop him off!” Whinniston flared his nostrils and tried to stand heroic and tall, but whacked his head on the whale’s backbone.

  “You might want to sit,” Maximojo said. But Clarenette just paced back and forth in the whale’s stomach. Nestled in her hair, Kelcius said, “I’m glad I’m up here rather than dodging her feet.”

  Glitta flittered near Maximojo. Maximojo whispered to her, “Clarenette is no longer the Clarenette described in my mission report. She is far from meek, but charming nevertheless. The Council doesn’t disclose every possibility. But she is acting strange for a local resident.”

  “I don’t think she is from this Galaxy,” Glitta said. “Look at her hair.” Clarenette’s hair was slowly changing into glowing ringlets. “If she’s not from Zalturn, neither is Daltoid. Maybe they are planetary visitors that the Council slipped into our mission. The Council sometimes does that.”

  Clarenette overheard them. “You are right,” she sighed, “and I have waited so long to go home. I don’t think it will be long now. Daltoid is nearly ready.” She gave the whale’s ribs a grateful rub. A beam of sunlight shone through the blowhole into her eyes, which began to glow brightly. She raised her arms and soaked in the rays, basking in their warmth. She wrapped the frayed pieces of her clothing around her, and they began to transform into a metallic jumpsuit, as she grew taller.

  “Now that’s trendy spacewear, Meowlen,” Glitta said, and sent out some sparks in order to see her better.

  “You’re tickling me,” the whale said. “Is this the thanks I get for rescuing the lot of you?”

  Rutty was astonished at Clarenette’s change in demeanor and stature. He began backing away from her, wringing his claws. “I’m sure it was the lady I carried her out of the palace gardens over my shoulder,” he thought, “but my, how she has grown into quite a … ?” Not sure what, but those eyes are shining like the sun.” He had to shield his own eyes from the glare. “You may want to dim the light a little lady,” he said. “Our host may be getting a little dizzy. I can see that you won’t be needing any more rescuing. I think you’ll be fine on your own, or that mojo dog will take care of you.”

  He continued backing away toward the whale’s mouth. “Meowlen take care of Smelka. She was never really an orphan, I mean, I tricked her because I needed her.” He waved at Mannie and Woofster. “We boys will catch up later on the next new moon or some festivity.” He turned and scrammed through the maze of whale teeth, and climbed onto the whale’s horn.

  “Raticulous! I have no one to take orders from anymore. I am my own big cheese now.” He waved up at the crew but they didn’t see him. The whale was laughing, his head rocking from side to side. “Easy does it, big fellow,” Rutty said, patting him. “I am getting off as soon as I’m noticed. Can’t a rat be treated with respect in these waters?” Rutty was overcome with emotion. “How can I possibly be missing the gang?” he thought. “How un-rat like.” He slicked his hair behind his ear and felt the spyscreen there. He plucked it up and threw it into the sea.

  “I don’t need this anymore,” he said, and smoothed his hair to his buckle.

  He saw a ladder above him on the side of the ship. He flicked out his wiry tail and caught one of its rungs. With a mighty heave he leapt, but smacked against the ladder and lost his

  grip. He caught hold of the last rung just before he would have plummeted into the sea, his feet dangling above the crest of the waves.

  “Hey you!” he squeaked up at the crew who were staring over the side of the ship, but not at him. “I need a hoist up! Can’t you see I’m a fine rodent, whiskered and all? I’m ruthless no more. Call me Rutland …” But even as he said this he knew he had lost his ability to transform himself into Rutland Ratkin.

  Zelzo, the parrot, looked up, cocked his head as if he were hearing something, and took to the sky. “Aaawk! Got the message, Commander,” the bird squawked. “Got the message. Aaawk! Aaawk!”

  He swooped low and plucked Rutty up by the tail and soared upward as Rutty thrashed about beneath him. High above them, the Starrings looked on and freely lit up in their constellations.

  ***

  Inside the satellite, a screen pulsated with light, reflecting on the faces of the Council members who watched the action on Zalturn from around the table. The second-in-command spoke, “Zelzo is dropping the rat back on land near Letcho and Scrapsie, who are wandering aimlessly in the city streets, covered in gunk. They will be happy to reunite with him since they are no longer able to return to their sewer grate. We have permanently removed it.

  “And as you can see, the vanishing mountain McFee used to smuggle the gems, that Rutty delivered to him, has now disappeared from Zalturn completely, and the tunnel is filling in nicely.”

  He read from a report, “It appears that at the end of the last millennium, Madame Kindel knew that her lost relative would one day return to Zalturn. Her crystal meteorite casting sticks must have served well for her to see the future so clearly.”

  One of the other Council members spoke up. “But what happened to the crystal stick that Daltoid received at birth?”

  The Commander smiled. “Haven’t you figured it out yet? Take a closer look at Clarenette’s hairpin.”

  Another member squinted at the screen. “It’s not a hairpin at all,” he said. “That’s the missing casting stick!”

  The second-in-command said, “It’s also an activator, and in the wrong hands it can destroy an entire galaxy.”

  “Correct,” said the Commander. “Now you are beginning to see the big picture. And now you know one of the reasons that we had to get Maximojo for this mission. The Mojo Effect magnifies the sense of independence in everyone the duo comes in contact with. The Treptalonians and Mammolias needed to remember a time from before McFee turned them into slaves, and the cosmic duo’s presence made that possible.”

  “So everything seems to now be falling into place,” another Council member said. “Kalapsis is installed, the memories that were lost during the last phase-in are coming back to the once slaved races who are now free. Zalturn is stable now that the chamber is deactivated, and the gang members are free to be who they are. Now it is just up to Clarenette to fully awaken Daltoid.”

  They all turned back to the screen and watched with interest.

  ***

  The pressure inside the whale was building to a crescendo.

  “Everyone head to the mouth,” Maximojo said. “I think we’re about to be blown out.” Maximojo held Clarenette’s hand, and they all made their way forward. IT affixed itself onto Maximojo’s collar, as Kelcius snuggled in the fur behind his ear. All the others grabbed onto Whinniston.

  “Hang on like this, girlfriend,” Meowlen said to Smelken as she wrapped her claws into his mane. Woofster and M
annie hung on tight to Whinniston’s tail.

  The whale took a final big breath and blew them all out of his blowhole. As they soared through the air, the bug elongated into a rope, and lassoed the stern of the ship, squashing itself into a good firm hold. Maximojo grabbed the end of the bug rope and swung onto the deck. Clarenette, barely hanging on, whirled around and landed beside him. IT let go and ballooned into a tugboat, and almost burst at the seams as the horse and the others climbed in.

  “I’ll be back for you soon,” Maximojo hollered overboard at his friends floating on the inflatable bug.

  Daltoid stood on the deck with his mouth open. “Clarenette! I thought I would never see you again.” He rushed to her and picked her up in his arms. As he did, Clarenette took the hairpin attached to his jacket, shook the seashells from her wet hair, rolled it into a bun, and inserted the hairpin. She began to glow.