Extraordinary October

by Diana Wagman

  I smelled sulfur. We were close. The clouds rolled in and the sky was gray and heavy. We came over a muddy rise and saw spread out in front of us the industrial wasteland, the mud, the damaged and dying trees with their roots exposed, and the desperate fairies sniffing and vomiting as they dug in the once beautiful ground. Jed grimaced. Luisa must have told Jed, as Walker had told me, that this was a paradise, the true fairy glen, lush and flowered and beautiful. Instead it was all dying trees and rusted gray buildings and giant trucks and cracked pavement. I heard the backhoe revving up to dig deeper. With my added powers, I knew it was not an illusion. Madame Gold had made this happen. I knew how the mushrooms made me feel. No wonder Madame Gold wanted more of them. And more and more. She was addicted. Maybe it had something to do with whatever secret she was hiding—maybe it was just about power. I saw her in my mind and again she seemed to waver, become almost transparent. Something else was behind her or under her or inside her. She glanced up as if she heard me.

  “Vanilla.” I turned to Jed and pointed at my head. “She’s using our thoughts to search for us. Imagine ice cream cones.”

  We walked slowly down the hill toward the warehouse. She knew we were coming, but I didn’t want her to know how soon. What if my mother died? What if my father couldn’t return to normal? I stretched out my hands, concentrated, and tiny flames, like birthday candles, flashed from each of my fingers. Ha, I thought. She can’t stop me.

  I worked on throwing an illusion over us, blending us into the background. If Madame Gold could do it, so could I. I listened to the plants and the birds and animals trying to survive in the damaged forest. I felt their pain and struggle and it made me angry and the anger made me stronger. I combined that anger with the heat and fire I already had inside. I pictured myself bigger and I was. I could feel myself growing in my veins, in my muscles, in my bones. I motioned to Jed to go around the back and I strode right through the front door into the storehouse fully ready to confront my nemesis.

  No one was inside. It was cold and there was a low hum from the refrigeration units. The cavernous room was badly lit, the sun almost invisible through a high bank of narrow filthy windows. And it wasn’t a warehouse; it was a laboratory. All around me were shelves of mushrooms in various states of decay. In rows down the center of the room was table after table filled with laboratory equipment and trays of mushrooms. They sat under grow lights beside test tubes and beakers filled with clear and colored liquids. The mushrooms didn’t look good. They were misshapen and had blotches from some kind of blight. None of them were glowing green or red. Most in the stacks on the shelves were dead or dying. I could hear the mushrooms moaning. I knew Madame Gold could too. Wherever she was, I knew she was angry. She needed these mushrooms to survive and they were no good to her dead. Maybe she was powerless without them. Maybe she wanted them all so she would be all powerful. I shuddered. The mushrooms I had eaten had smelled sweet and delicious like chocolate and marshmallows. This place smelled only of fertilizer, mold, and rot. I felt Madame Gold’s worry. Worse than that, I felt her desperation.

  I heard voices outside. Madame Gold and a lower pitched, obsequious, apologetic voice. Enoki. I ducked behind a stack of empty boxes as the door opened. Four people were silhouetted against the light from outside. The middle one, the tallest in the billowing, diaphanous dress was Madame Gold. Her thoughts were like tentacles spreading, searching for me. All she would find was ice cream. Vanilla. Vanilla. Vanilla. On her right, tall and surprisingly slim, was my father. Beside him, short and muscular, was Enoki. Who was it on Madame Gold’s other side? A fairy. Tall and thin with curly hair that caught the only bit of sun and glittered gold as he stepped further into the room.

  Walker? Walker! My vanilla ice cream cone splatted on the floor.

  My skin went cold. I shivered. I tried to conjure up the heat and strength I had felt before, but all I could think about was Walker.

  Another person walked in the door. She flipped her long hair back over her shoulder and stopped beside Enoki.

  Luisa! Madame Gold did not seem surprised to see her. She barely glanced at her. She was busy peering into the shadows trying to find me. She waved her flapping sleeves and the room wavered and faltered. I saw different boxes stacked up replacing the clear Plexiglas trays filled with mushrooms. I saw cage on top of cage of fairy prisoners. Like chickens in a truck on the freeway on their way to market. Some of them were obviously dead. I looked at the center tables. Instead of mushrooms and dirt under the grow lights, they held fairies, stretched out as if they’d been operated on, with tubes running into their veins and medical equipment surrounding them. The walls vacillated between prison and laboratory. Prison and laboratory. Which was true? Which was illusion? I put my hand on the box of mushrooms closest to me. It felt real. But I had climbed on the rock piles in The Pits and they weren’t real at all. There was a terrible pain in my hand and I almost cried out, sure some awful bug had bitten me. I watched big red welts emerge all over my hands and arms, my Madame Gold disease.

  No. The fairies weren’t real. She wasn’t experimenting on fairies. This was another of her tricks.

  “Walker. Darling,” Madame Gold said loudly. “My right hand man. Thank you for bringing her here.” She turned to Luisa. “Luisa. Head of my disciplinary forces.”

  I had been betrayed by everyone I knew.

  23.

  My heart stopped beating. I was a block of ice, unable to move, to speak, to think. He had told me he loved me. He had stared right into my eyes and said, “I love you.” Those astonishing blue eyes looking into my plain, ordinary, brown ones. Faintly I thought I heard Walker calling to me, saying he was on his way, but I saw him standing just across the room, looking at Madame Gold with a little smile on his face.

  Enoki said, “Now you want Walker? He’s your darling? First her dad, then Trevor, now her boyfriend? Fine with me.” She started for the door. “I’m going to find my brother and tell him you made your choice.”

  Madame Gold roared. “Don’t you dare.”

  “You can’t have everything,” Enoki said.

  “I can and I will. Do not move!”

  Enoki’s shoulders slumped and she stayed where she was. It was odd that neither Walker nor Luisa had moved or spoken. Where was Oberon? Where was Jed? Luisa was here, so that meant my mother was alone… or worse. I tried to find my mother with my mind. Nothing. I was afraid to think what that might mean. Walker. Luisa. Walker. My heart was broken, smashed, shattered into a million pieces. I heard Madame Gold in my head. “Love you?” She snickered. “How could he love you?” Despite the mushrooms, I felt my confidence draining. Impossible to concentrate on ice cream.

  Someone new bounded in so quickly, leaping and turning somersaults, I knew it was a troll. Some kind of old man troll in a long robe. “Wedding?” he exclaimed. “Are we having a wedding?” He smiled at Madame Gold. “As you humans say, let’s get this show on the road.”

  Wedding? Madame Gold turned to my father and put out her hand. He took it without looking at her. No! Madame Gold was marrying my father.

  “How does it begin?” asked the troll Reverend. “Dearly beloved or is it Beloved dearests?”

  “Get on with it.” Madame Gold snarled like an animal.

  I tried to find my dad with my thoughts. Wake up. Don’t do it. Wake up! He didn’t respond.

  I couldn’t allow this to happen. “Stop!” I leapt from my hiding place. “Stop!”

  Madame Gold smiled and turned to me.

  Enoki’s eyes narrowed. “I thought I smelled a half-breed,” she said.

  Walker and Luisa didn’t move. Walker, I screamed with my mind, but he was frozen with that strange little smile on his face. Under some kind of Madame Gold control. My father didn’t react. Luisa did nothing. I felt Madame Gold inside my head. Vanilla, I thought. With sprinkles. I filled my mind with the cool creamy goodness of my favorite ice cream. Ice cream. Ice cream. Ice cream. I needed more of those special mushrooms. The heat w
as less, my power wearing off. I looked at the center tables. Would any of those experiments help me? I salivated thinking of the mushrooms’ taste and aroma and the power they gave me. Enough of those and I could stop Madame Gold for sure. Then, faintly, like a very bad cell phone connection, I heard Luisa telling me my mother was asking for me. I looked at Luisa standing next to Enoki and not moving. I sent her a thank you, but she didn’t even look at me, even though she had told me my mother was still alive.

  “You can’t marry my dad,” I said. “My mother is still alive.”

  Madame Gold shrugged. “Details, details. She’ll be gone soon.”

  She and I both heard Luisa tell us, “She’s getting better.”

  Luisa was still at my mother’s bedside. I saw her as plain as day. I looked again and the Luisa standing beside Madame Gold wavered. She was just an illusion and when I realized that, she dissolved. Madame Gold hissed at me through her teeth. My mushroom power was wearing off, but I could still feel her mind seeking Luisa and not finding her. I heard her calling to me, but I pushed her out by chanting all the flavors I could think of. Strawberry. Chocolate. Coffee Almond Fudge. Her dress floated around her. She was frustrated. Perplexed. Annoyed. With her every frown, my strength returned. As I studied her, Madame Gold became insubstantial, almost see-through. I tried to see what she was underneath.

  Suddenly she solidified. Her mind was too strong. I had to look away. “Enoki,” she said. “Your turn.”

  “With pleasure.”

  In a flash Enoki took off toward me. The Reverend hid his face. I braced myself for her attack. I knew I couldn’t fight her. I was no match for her years of practice. I held my breath, I tried to deflect her with my mind, but she barreled forward. Just before she got to me, Green jumped out in front of her. Enoki yelped in surprise. She grabbed his arm, pulled him off his feet into the air and threw him hard against the closest wall. His head made a sickening smack and he slid to the ground, stunned or dead, I wasn’t sure which.

  “Oops,” Enoki said with a smile at me. “I’ve been working out.”

  “Chris!” I ran to his side. Once again little Green had shown up when I needed him most. Luisa, Green, how did I deserve such friends? Maybe Walker had betrayed me, but they were still on my side. But Walker still wasn’t moving. That I couldn’t believe. No reaction, nothing, still staring up at Madame Gold with that simpering smile. That’s when I knew it wasn’t really Walker, just like it hadn’t been the real Luisa. I concentrated and the Walker standing beside Madame Gold faded. My stomach calmed and in the midst of all it I felt the tiniest joyful warmth. He hadn’t betrayed me. I could see right through him. So that’s where that expression comes from.

  Madame Gold turned to the Reverend. “Do it,” she cried. “Marry us right now!”

  “But his wife isn’t dead,” the Reverend squeaked.

  “Close enough!” Madame Gold grabbed the Reverend’s arm. The Reverend began reading the marriage vows. They were different than human vows, but I admit I wasn’t really listening.

  “Stop!” I shouted again.

  “Keep going,” Madame Gold hissed.

  Enoki laughed. Green wasn’t moving. Walker, I screamed his name in my mind. Half a second later he and a beautiful black and yellow bird—Oberon in his true form as a Western Tanager, Piranga ludoviciana—literally flew into the room. In his arms he carried my mother. Still alive.

  “Reverend,” Walker said touching down. “This marriage is illegal. This woman is far from dead.”

  My mother lifted her head slightly to look at the troll Reverend. He knew her and he dropped to one knee. “Your Lowness,” he said.

  Madame Gold stamped her feet. “Get up. Get up! Forget this woman.” She whispered in my mother’s ear and my mother writhed in pain, then fainted. “She’s as good as dead.”

  I ran forward and grabbed her arm. “You will pay for this.” I shook her hard. “I am stronger than you!”

  And it was true. The anger, the frustration, the indignation, and the fear of this terrible conniving manipulating woman had made me invincible. I grew taller, but I wasn’t slim like a fairy, I was muscled and fit like a troll. I shook Madame Gold and she wobbled in my hand back and forth like a rag doll.

  “Enoki!” Madame Gold commanded.

  Walker gently set my mother down to one side and leapt in front of Enoki before she could touch me. “Dirt eater!”

  “What did you call me?”

  “You know what you are.”

  “For once and for all,” she said. “I hate fairies.”

  Enoki had her legs around his neck so quickly I didn’t see her move. She squeezed. Her legs were very strong, but before I could even begin to worry, Walker seemed to elongate, become taller and even skinnier, and slipped right out of her hold. She tumbled to the ground, rolled and and jumped to her feet.

  Madame Gold tried to wiggle out of my grasp. I held on tighter. Her arm was odd, almost pipe cleaner skinny inside her big sleeve. I squeezed and her arm seemed to disintegrate and she was free. She pushed Walker toward Enoki, throwing him off balance. Enoki took the advantage and kicked him hard. He flew and hit one of the center tables shattering trays and beakers. When he got to his feet his sky blue eyes had turned a shiny, dark cobalt and his face was all hard angles. A tougher, scarier version of himself. I would not have wanted to cross him.

  They circled each other. Enoki laughed. From my spot clear across the room I could smell her slightly muddy sweat and feel the adrenalin zipping through her veins. She wanted him to die. If she wasn’t able to actually kill him, she wanted to hurt him so badly he would not survive. Her mind was an easy one to visit. She had only that one thought. She didn’t care if her brother got married. She didn’t care who was King or Queen. All she cared about was her hate. Hating fairies. It made her a very simple target for me. Madame Gold could feel what I was doing, but in my enhanced state it was amazingly easy to shut her mind out of Enoki’s.

  I showed Enoki one of my memories of my dad taking six-year-old me out to the woods to show me the birds and the flowers. Mom was along and she pointed out weeds and fungus and beautiful, tiny bugs in the earth. We were all three holding hands. My dad was grinning and he was fun and he looked at my mother with so much love. A fairy and a troll together and happy. Another time when I was eight. And another out in the woods when I was eleven. All good times. All times when a fairy and a troll got along.

  Enoki faltered. She shook her head as if to clear it. She looked at Walker and in her mind I saw her begin to see him in a new way. As if he was smiling at her. I sent her pictures of Walker helping Trevor plant a tree, Trevor and Walker playing ball in a field of flowers, driving in a fast car. I had no idea what they might do together, so I had to make it up, but it wasn’t hard to imagine. Two guys doing things. I sent the same scene to Walker—and to Trevor wherever he was.

  As I concentrated the walls of the warehouse disappeared and a forest materialized all around us. The sun was shining. An image of Walker, Trevor, and Enoki laughing together at a picnic flashed in the center of the room. I was kind of amazed and very proud. I had created this illusion, just as Madame Gold had created The Pits and then the dead fairies in cages. It wasn’t easy and I couldn’t hold it for long, not like Madame Gold, but it was long enough. Walker and Enoki stopped, straightened, blinked at the picture they were seeing of themselves. They weren’t so interested in fighting anymore.

  Before I could stop her, Madame Gold dug in her dress and pulled out a glowing red and green vial. Mushrooms! I tried to grab them, but she downed them before I could. She shook her head and laughed her screeching witchlike laugh.

  “Garbage! Lies! Trolls hate fairies and fairies hate trolls.” Madame Gold roared and my illusion popped and disappeared. “They always will.” New pictures appeared of Enoki fighting fairies and leaving them to die. Fairies in cages. Fairies fighting back, running through the underground and destroying troll homes. “Fairies hate trolls,” Madame Gold said agai
n.

  I tried to keep Enoki seeing good things, but hate was easier to foment than love. Much as I didn’t want to admit it, it seemed hate was the much, much stronger emotion.

  “Enoki,” I said. “It doesn’t have to be like that.”

  “It doesn’t,” Walker agreed and I loved him for it. “We both want the same thing for our worlds.”

  Enoki frowned. She blinked a few times. It wasn’t easy to give up a lifetime of warring. I heard a high-pitched zing. Luisa—the real Luisa—had snuck in the back and launched her tin plate Frisbee. “No!” I sent my thought to Luisa. But it was too late. The plate whipped across the warehouse in a blur and sliced into the back of Enoki’s head. She didn’t even yell, just crumpled.

  “That’s for Chris,” Luisa said quietly.

  Madame Gold swirled to face Luisa. “Good shot.” She sounded friendly and impressed. “Come over here. Seems I have an opening for someone like you. Since my General has been…incapacitated, I could use a good soldier.”

  She continued calling her by name and Luisa began to walk toward her.

  “That was wonderful,” Madame Gold said. “Wonderful. You are very talented with that old plate. Imagine what you could do with a weapon specially made.”

  “Luisa. Snap out of it. Listen to who’s talking to you.” Walker urged, but Luisa kept walking toward her.

  “I have a special, very special job for you,” Madame Gold continued. “A very important job that only you can do.”

  Walker ran to Luisa and grabbed her arm to stop her, but she pushed him away.

  I had to do something. I recognized Madame Gold’s gently persuading voice and the way her sleeves waved back and forth in front of Luisa’s eyes. It was what she had done to my dad. Not again, I thought. Not Luisa. Luckily Luisa was not as susceptible as my dad had been. Madame Gold had to use a lot of mind power to reach and control Luisa, leaving me free to concentrate on her. There had to be something she was afraid of, something she was hiding, and once I found it, I could use it to stop her.