Ellanor and the Search for Organoth Blue Amber

by K T Durham

  Thunderstruck, Elly stared at her. “Yes,” she said hoarsely.

  “How is it that a little girl like you would know about something as obscure as blue amber, anyway? Diamonds are supposed to be a girl’s best friend,” Victoria joked.

  Elly gazed down at the necklace that she was now wearing. “I was told that a certain type of blue amber is at least a hundred times more priceless than diamonds,” she said softly.

  Victoria laughed. “Well, if that’s true, then I would be a right old fool to give this away!” She smiled, thinking that Elly would one day become grown-up enough to look for diamonds instead.

  “Anyway, it’s awfully hard to find, because it’s the rarest type of blue amber. Pure-grade, that tour guide told me. He probably wanted to snitch it for himself!” She grinned. “Under direct sunlight, it’s a gorgeous ocean blue. When you put it up against sunlight, it’s a brilliant yellow. Quite extraordinary.”

  Victoria stepped back and smiled. “It’s an old necklace, but it’s meant a lot to me. Since blue amber is something you’ve been looking for, I hope you like it!”

  Elly’s head was spinning. She gaped at the pendant in her hand. Even in the dark, she could see that it had a highly polished surface. She shook her head wonderingly. Then something dawned on her.

  “Wait… The old lady who gave you this necklace… what did she look like?”

  Victoria knitted her brow in concentration. “Hmm, I don’t remember much. Only that she was really tiny, and she had this creepy ferret around her neck. I was young, and found her a little scary.”

  Dumbfounded, Elly thought about the tiny old lady with the ferret back at Berry Grove Park. Who was she?

  Her hand shook as she touched the cool surface of the pendant. “You have no idea what this means to me. Thank you,” she whispered, her heart pounding hard. Greymore stirred.

  You have found it, Ellanor.

  Her heart leapt with joy.

  You see, Ellanor, some things cannot be bought with money. Some things do not happen in the way we expect. Life does not always go according to plan, does it?

  You can say that again, Greymore!

  Maddy had jumped out of the car. “Wait, all this time you actually had this blue amber?” she asked her mother incredulously.

  She turned to Elly and shook her head in amazement, then slapped a palm against her forehead. “That’s right! No wonder I thought it sounded familiar! Years ago, my mum told me about a necklace she got in the Caribbean as a kid. I didn’t think much of it, and I had totally forgotten about it after all this time.”

  She grinned at Elly. “See, it was meant to be! You helped Teddy get Hobbes back, and we got you your blue amber. It’s all worked out for the best!”

  “You can say that again,” Elly said, and Maddy laughed.

  After Maddy had made Elly promise to call her, and Victoria had driven off, Elly grasped the pendant and raced like the wind into the house.

  “Elly, is that you?” called Miriam from the kitchen. The delicious smell of baking lingered in the air. “It’s nearly time for supper!”

  But Elly hadn’t heard; she’d raced past without a word and dashed into her room, slamming the door behind her.

  The room was dark. She gazed into the mirror. The necklace gleamed in the dim light. Trembling, she opened up her Royan and murmured in Elvish. The broken portal rose from the pages. Then she took off the necklace, held the pendant between her fingers, murmured a prayer to Freya, and gently breathed on the dark, shiny surface.

  It glowed an unmistakable bright golden yellow.

  It was Organoth blue amber.

  She laughed, so overjoyed that she didn’t realize she was crying. Then she placed the glowing pendant between the two broken pieces of the portal and held her breath.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Fly Me to the Moon

  Elly stared hard at the broken portal and pendant. It seemed to her that every second was a minute and that every minute was an hour.

  “Are you sure this is Organoth blue amber, Greymore?” she asked softly, her heart sinking.

  Be patient, Ellanor.

  Miriam was calling for her again. Tick-tock, tick-tock. The clock on her nightstand seemed to be mocking her.

  She buried her face in her hands and started crying quietly. The tears trickled down her hands and splashed onto the pages of her open Royan. “It’s not working. I’m never going to see my family again, am I?” she sobbed.

  Suddenly, Elly saw an eruption of dazzling light. She gasped.

  The broken portal and the pendant were glowing blue.

  She watched in awe as the pendant began melting into a little puddle. Like small magnetic fragments, droplets spread out slowly towards the two broken halves of the portal. After every droplet had been absorbed, the broken halves burned a fierce golden yellow, emitting such a blinding light that Elly had to shield her eyes with her arm. Then she was plunged into darkness again. She opened her eyes.

  The two broken pieces had come together seamlessly. The Tree of Alendria that was carved into the surface was now glowing a bright blue.

  With trembling hands, Elly clasped the repaired portal as she cried out with unbridled joy.

  Greymore! It’s worked! The portal’s been made whole again!

  Yes, Ellanor. Everything has its timing. Magic follows rules, too. For magic to work, certain ingredients are needed. You can bake a cake without sugar, but it will not be as sweet. In this case, to repair the portal with the Organoth blue amber, your tears were needed to initiate the repairing process. Remember, the portal is alive. Once it sensed your desperation, your sincerity, it regenerated.

  So her tears had acted like glue for the broken portal to repair itself? The thought made her smile even more broadly.

  Elly then cast the unbreakable enchantment on the portal, as Greymore had instructed. Her enchantments were not very strong yet, but this would have to do for now.

  Suddenly, she was startled by a heavy pounding on the door. She hadn’t even realized she had locked it!

  “Elly! Are you all right?” Miriam sounded alarmed.

  Elly threw the door open. Miriam and Horace were standing there, looking very worried and frightened. Then they saw her sunny smile and the slab of blue stone she was clutching in her hands.

  The old couple stood staring at the stone for several moments. “Oh, Elly!” Miriam gasped.

  Horace grinned and patted Elly on the back. “Bravo! You managed to repair it!” Snowy purred at their feet.

  They went into the living room together. Clutching the portal to her chest, Elly knelt down on the rug and told them how she had finally come upon Organoth blue amber in the most unexpected way.

  Miriam and Horace exchanged looks. “Are you going to be leaving right now, Elly?” she asked quietly. She had just spent several hours baking goodies for Elly to take to the reunion dinner at Lily’s. She wanted Elly to be reunited with her family, but she wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye so soon.

  Elly caressed the portal. The blue light was fading. “To be honest, I’m not sure what’s going to happen. I don’t know when and how the portal will take me back,” she admitted, staring down at the blue slab in her hands.

  Ellanor, I do not know how the portal will transport you back. But remember what I said. Everything has its timing. Be patient and wait a little longer. As long as the portal is with me, you need not worry. Just do not ever let me out of your sight.

  Of course, Greymore! I have always kept you with me, have I not?

  Then we have nothing to worry about.

  Elly glanced at Miriam and Horace, who both looked more anxious than she did. “I think I need to wait for something to happen with the portal, but I don’t know what it is. I’ll be staying put for now. Besides,” she added, “I’d find it hard to say goodbye if I had to leave s
o suddenly.”

  Miriam’s eyes teared up, and Horace put an arm around her. Elly went to hug them both, wishing there were sufficient words to express how much they both meant to her.

  “I suppose this means you won’t be going to the Dominican Republic with us,” Miriam said through her tears. She tried to smile. “I’m sad that you might be leaving us soon, but I am so happy that you finally got the portal repaired!”

  Horace cleared his throat and nodded in agreement, then got up and hurried into the kitchen, mumbling something about a fish bone being stuck in his throat.

  Elly smiled at Miriam, but she still felt uneasy. After all, she had no idea how the portal would teleport her back home. What if she had overlooked something important? What if, for some reason, the portal won’t teleport her back?

  She could not bear to think that it was a distinct possibility.

  As the sun started to set the following day, Elly got ready to walk over to Lily’s house. She had wanted to wear a black dress with gold trim, but Miriam objected. “I’m not an expert, but I do remember my Chinese friend once telling me that it’s considered unlucky to wear black during Chinese New Year,” she said as she put the black dress back into the closet and took out a red one.

  Miriam tied shiny red and gold ribbons in Elly’s hair to match the red boots with gold trim that Horace had made for her. Elly put on a red coat and wrapped a red scarf snugly around her neck. Miriam stepped back to admire her. Elly’s green eyes were offset even more brilliantly by all the red she was wearing.

  “Now you’re all set!” Miriam declared as she handed Elly two large tote bags bulging with tins of home-made red velvet cupcakes, pavlova, and strawberry jam-filled donuts. Elly grinned; she knew Lily and her parents would love them.

  Horace insisted on driving her. “There’s no need, it’s only a few blocks away! Besides, I want to get some fresh air. I like the smell of fallen snow!” So off she went, looking very much like Little Red Riding Hood as the wind wuthering down the street sent her red coat and scarf billowing. Swallows swooped over a landscape turned pink and gold by the setting sun.

  When she reached Aunty Mabel’s Bakery, the sky was already fully dark. Lily had made her promise to get there a couple of hours earlier so that they could catch up before the guests arrived. “Elly, you must watch The Sound of Music with me! That film really inspired me to try out acting and singing. Without it, I wouldn’t have had the courage to audition for Cinderella!”

  A queue snaked out from the bakery to the pavement outside. Some pedestrians threw the customers dirty looks as they squeezed past.

  Inside, there was a clamour of chattering, as the throng of customers exchanged Chinese New Year greetings and well wishes. Many of them wore something red. Elly overheard one round-faced woman exclaim in Cantonese, “Thank goodness Mabel doesn’t close shop on New Year’s Eve! I wouldn’t know what I’d do without her egg tarts and pineapple buns. My nieces and nephews can’t get enough of them; they demanded that I get some for our reunion dinner tonight!”

  Elly smiled, pleased to hear that Mabel was so well-liked in the neighbourhood. She wondered whether Mama was doing all right with her business. What were they all doing at this very moment?

  “Hey, Elly!” Lily came bounding towards her and did a double-take. “Whoa, look at you! You really took it seriously when I said you ought to wear some red!” she exclaimed, then looked at herself in dismay. Her mother had made her wear a garish red dress with puffy princess sleeves and a frilly skirt. Lily had protested, but that was the only new item of red clothing she had, so she had no choice but to go along with it.

  “It’s some sort of unspoken rule to wear new clothes for Chinese New Year, preferably red,” she had explained to Elly a few days ago. “The colour red and the newness of the clothes are symbols of good luck, like leaving behind all the bad stuff from the previous year.”

  She sighed as she glowered at her own dress gloomily. “Mum bought this for me when she went shopping by herself last week. As you can see, she doesn’t realize that I’m thirteen, not eight. Even my costume for Cinderella looks way cooler than this!”

  Elly giggled. “I know what you mean! My mother keeps on wanting me to wear pink, even though she knows I detest it!”

  Lily laughed. “I guess all mums can be a little overbearing, huh?”

  As they tried to squeeze through the crowd to get to Mabel, Lily frowned. “You know,” she whispered to Elly, “Chinese New Year’s Eve is a public holiday in China. It would’ve been perfectly understandable if mum had taken the day off today! But like every year, they all come at this hour to get last-minute gifts for the reunion dinner.”

  When Elly handed her the tote bags and told her what was in them, Lily gasped and clapped her hands. “Oh, wait till I tell my mum! Finally, we’ll get to taste the famous Miriam Cobble pastries!” She hugged the bags to her chest happily. “Wait here, I’ll pop them into the fridge by the counter!”

  As Elly waited, she looked around the small bakery wonderingly. The delicious aroma of baking hung in the air, mingled with the sweet fragrance of fresh marigolds, lilies, and peonies arranged prettily in colourful Chinese ceramic vases in every corner of the shop. The customers were greeting Mabel with even more enthusiasm than usual, handing her bags bulging with fresh fruit and other boxed goods, as they exclaimed the same things over and over again in Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese: “Happy New Year!” “Wishing you great prosperity, good health, and good business!” “May your children grow up well and excel at school!”

  Mabel was saying similar things and smiling broadly at everyone, looking pretty in a red sweater and beige skirt. She was busily putting pineapple buns, egg tarts, and other pastries into pink boxes, which were then hastily shoved into pink plastic bags. In between serving the customers, she handed out red envelopes to children who happily received them with both hands. Even Lily received red envelopes from the customers.

  Then some of the customers started looking at Elly curiously. “Who is that pretty girl?” they asked in whispers.

  One old lady with permed white hair hobbled over to Elly on a walking stick and squinted at her. Elly smiled uncertainly. Then the old lady turned to her young granddaughter and spoke loudly in Cantonese. “Is she a white girl? Her hair is even blacker than yours, but her eyes are like emeralds! She looks like a very lucky child, indeed.”

  To Elly’s surprise, the old lady handed her a red envelope and smiled kindly. “Here you go! Grow up nicely and study well!”

  Elly smiled, and received it with both hands and bowed. “Thank you! Happy Chinese New Year to you, and wishing you a wonderful Year of the Monkey with good health and happiness!” she said cheerfully, repeating what she had heard Lily say whenever she received those red envelopes.

  A hush fell over the crowd. The old lady was stunned. “Why, you can speak perfect Cantonese!” she cried. Before Elly could say anything, Lily had grabbed her arm and yanked her away.

  “We have to excuse ourselves, thank you! Happy New Year!” Lily called out to the bewildered customers.

  Under her breath she muttered, “You can say hi to my mum later. Let’s get out of here before they all realize you speak better Cantonese than I do!”

  Elly giggled and waved at the astonished old lady before they made their escape. When they had closed the door behind them in the family room, Lily sighed with relief.

  As they were walking upstairs to Lily’s bedroom, Elly asked, “What are those red envelopes for?”

  Lily flicked a piece of lint off her shoulder. “Oh, it’s another tradition. Those red envelopes, or laisee in Cantonese, symbolise prosperity and good luck, that sort of thing. There’s money in the envelopes.” Lily chuckled when Elly’s eyes widened. “It’s usually not a whole lot of money, probably just six or eight pounds if you’re lucky. The numbers six and eight are considered lucky because they rhyme with
the Cantonese words for ‘prosperity’ and ‘wealth’.”

  She grinned at Elly. “For me, apart from all the good food and family time, getting all this laisee is one of the best things about Chinese New Year! I’ve bought quite a few things on my wish list just from saving up my laisee money every year.”

  Lily’s room was decorated with plush cushions and a lovely quilted blue bedspread. One side of the wall was dominated by a huge bookshelf holding rows and rows of books.

  “What a pretty room!” Elly exclaimed, fingering the velvety dark blue curtains. They stretched out on the rug at the foot of the bed and chatted easily, looking and giggling through family photo albums and flipping through old picture books and novels as they nibbled on freshly baked pineapple buns. Then they started talking about Lily’s day at school.

  Lily tried putting hair clips in Elly’s curly hair, and scowled when they bounced off.

  “Maddy came up to me during lunch to say hi. I was sitting by myself. You should’ve seen the dirty looks she got from Clare Andrews and her Space Cadets. Afterwards, they refused to let her sit back with them. I almost cheered when Maddy got this disgusted look on her face and told them good riddance. She came back and sat with me, and we chatted for ages! Turns out we have tons in common, except that she hates English literature and I love it, and she loves sports and I’m hopeless at it.” She sighed happily. “Oh, it was just the best day ever!”

  Then she smiled at Elly. “Maddy really likes you. I so wish you were going to our school! The three of us would be the best of friends. We would be invincible. The Space Cadets wouldn’t stand a chance against us!”

  Elly giggled, trying to imagine what that would be like. But all that came to mind was Aron’s face. Oh, how she missed him!

  Then she thought about Teddy. “I’ve been meaning to ask… Have you already returned Hobbes?”

  Lily tried the hair clips on herself. “Yep! My dad dropped me off at Maddy’s place early this morning before school. You should’ve seen Hobbes. The moment he saw Teddy, he went berserk! Got up on his hind legs and it almost looked like he was smiling! Do hamsters actually smile?”