“Morning, Anni.” Mackenzie beamed. “You’ve good timing. I just baked a loaf of my famous pelta bread, which is excellent toasted. Would you like some?” Anni nodded. “Keep her company, Jay. I’ll just pop in the back to get some more.”
Jay waited until Mackenzie went into the kitchen. Then, in a low voice, he said, “Haven’t seen you around, kid. Did you find out where you’re going yet?”
“I’ll know in a couple days,” said Anni determinedly. “Why haven’t I seen you picking up guano at Fortensia’s?”
“I thought you’d know about the Funk leak. They shut down the road to Spadu Hills. Haven’t been able to contact Fortensia, so I’ve no idea if that was true.”
“Or if Spongincork made it up,” added Anni.
“Exactly. Anything’s possible when it come to Leach.”
“How can I contact you?”
“There’s a pitchfork outside Fortensia’s office. Leave a note.”
“Yeah, but Fortensia’s not in town.”
“No worries, kid. I’ll find you.”
“Here we go,” said Mackenzie, carrying a large plate of steaming toast that looked a lot like cinnamon bread, and a small tray of condiments. “Jay, you know where the extra plates and silverware are. Anni, try some Chadulcis tea. It’s outstanding.”
“He’s not kidding,” said Jay.
Mackenzie poured a luscious, foamy, caramel tea that looked so good it made Anni’s mouth water. A symphony of aromas wafted under her nose, but when it touched her lips, the tea tasted so creamy and decadent, she thought she might fall off her chair. It was by far the most delicious thing she had eaten on the Zephyr.
Famished, Anni was careful this time to mimic how they prepared their toast, not wanting a repeat of what had happened at Diana’s place. She watched as Jay and Mac put the different spreads on their toast. One looked like sweet buttercream honey nectar, and the other, a bluish jam with huge, round, gummy-like seeds. After one bite, she thought that this breakfast was better than anything she had ever tasted at Waterstone Academy. Ever.
“Anni! I haven’t seen you in days! Stupid Leach wouldn’t let me leave the Manor,” said Squirt, bursting into the room and thumping down next to Anni at the bar. “Chadulcis tea and pelta toast! Mac, you read my mind. This is a great morning!”
She couldn’t help but smile. Even with the gloomy rain and her worries mounting, Squirt was a ray of sunshine. Still, Anni had dozens of questions. “I haven’t seen you or Daphne for days,” she whispered to Squirt so Mackenzie and Jay didn’t hear. “Did you guys find out anything about the…thing?” She knew she couldn’t risk saying it aloud, and she also wanted to know about his Eaves-Dropus, which had to be ready by now. “Why did Miranda take you back to the Manor?”
Between large mouthfuls, he said, “We’ve been locked up at the Manor and forced to clean it top to bottom to get ready for some fancy Elofficium party Krizia’s hosting before the…” he winked, “new moon. Daph and I have to wait tables and stuff, and wear these ridiculous uniforms that make my neck itch.” He chewed. “Daphne’s at Haberdashers; they’re crazy busy and she’s been slammed with orders.”
The bell on the door jingled. Before Anni turned to look, Jay waved and Mackenzie said, “Hey Oliver, want some pelta toast?” There was no way Anni could express her concern to Squirt about needing time to work on their plan.
Squirt waved at Oliver as he swallowed. Then he whispered, “We’ve been pulling all-nighters working on, you know…stuff. Yesterday was the first day we were able to leave the Manor, I slept all day, but Daphne found something. She wrote something up this morning, and told me to head over to Spadu Hills and show you.” He pulled out part of what looked like Daphne’s Omninav from his shorts pocket so she could see, then slipped it back inside. He shoved one last piece of pelta toast into his mouth and said, “Ready to go?”
“Yes, please,” Anni said, relieved to be doing something. “Thanks for breakfast.”
“Sure,” said Mackenzie. “And I’ll see you this afternoon? Diana told me that if I didn’t see you today, I should walk over to Spadu Hills and get you myself.”
“Yup, see you then.” Anni nodded. Anything was better than being stuck alone at Spadu Hills with only Fort or Knox as her company.
Bubbling with excitement Squirt dashed out of Basil Boggle Tea Shoppe, but in his rush he plowed into Miranda, who was on her way in. She dropped her umbrella and cursed.
“Oops! Sorry. Didn’t mean to make you mad, Mir. How about a little fairy jig to cheer you up?” Squirt started singing as he did a funny little dance, which involved a lot of twirling around Miranda, who stood there tapping her foot with folded arms. Jay and Mackenzie caught sight from the bar, both pointing and laughing, and if it was possible, Miranda looked even more annoyed than before. To spare herself more shame, she pushed past Squirt and headed to Mooncakes Café instead of Basil Boggle’s Tea.
Anni didn’t know what it all meant, but it was one of those great life moments that she wouldn’t forget, and she’d bet all the money in the world that Lexi would have enjoyed it, too. She waited until she and Squirt both stopped laughing and said, “Fairy jig?”
“You know, human folklore? Those stories about how we dance humans into the fairy world,” he said, still giggling. “Yeah, I got moves, I know. Elementals don’t normally do stuff like that, but that silliness was just for her. Fire Elementals loathe those stories and get really mad when they hear anything to do with a fairy jig; it drives them nuts, mostly because they’re a bunch of hotheads, that and most of their kind live in the human realm. She totally deserved it. I heard that Braterons comment. So, so, so not cool. And, I might be wrong, but I think she’s following you.”
“Great. I’ll add her to the list along with Oliver, and the window peeper.”
On the way to the Manor, Anni explained what had happened that morning.
“That’s creepy! We shouldn’t talk out here, but my special plant is ready to go; only I haven’t been able to do any of my usual deliveries until today, and you can help, but first let’s go to Yugi’s.” Squirt took her to the smallest greenhouse, the same one they had used the day she arrived. Inside, there was a bump, bump, bumping sound on the ceiling that came from above the secret passageway to Yugi’s place.
“Wonky hover cart has a mind of its own. Just duck underneath; it won’t bite.” He led her through the dark, damp tunnel into Yugi’s immaculate workshop. He pulled two chairs over to the biggest table and they flipped on Daphne’s Omninav.
Several documents opened and spilled out in the form of a projection onto the table. At the very top of each one were yellow Post-its with scribbled notes, and beneath the documents was a huge blueprint of Moon Manor.
The first note from Daphne said, “Anni, we really need to fix your Funk. Early this morning, I saw Yugi and told him that you needed more tonics.”
Squirt searched the room until he spotted them. “Did you read Mind Your Funk and Get Funktastic? It’ll help you get ready for LimBough.”
“I’ve been spinning clockwise, twenty times, three times a day.”
“Good. Here, take this now,” said Squirt. He handed one of Yugi’s tonics to Anni. “Daph’s like a mad genius or something. Look at this…”
Daphne’s note said, “It’s so obvious, I don’t know how I missed it before in Brat’s song. A circle binds gathering minds opening with a rune. That means only one thing. The room we are looking for will have some kind of portal with a rune inscribed on it. And The time Esright to understand, Esright confirms this because he was the first Elemental on record that studied Runes and their meanings. Hopefully, we can narrow it down to a few rooms in the Manor, but we don’t have a lot of time.”
Daphne’s third note said, “We should use the air ducts to listen in on the meeting. They travel along all rooms, plus the Metal will mask most of Anni’s Funk. It’ll be easy to sneak you inside, Squirt, but with you, Anni, there is one problem: Moon Manor’s Funkometers. It
’s like a huge vacuum that turns on every night after 7 p.m. It sucks out any form of Funk from all the nooks and crannies of the Manor.”
Squirt snorted. “Did she forget that the meeting is in the afternoon?”
Anni shrugged. He had a point. They continued reading.
“I know the S.E.C. meeting is at noon and you’re probably saying, ‘what’s the big deal?’ But ever since you arrived, Anni, the Funkometers have been going on and off all week at different times. Anyway, see what you come up with. I may have another idea, but we can only use it as a last resort.”
Squirt and Anni poured over the plans. Even though it was a projection, the blueprints were the hue of old parchment. The Manor was dated as built in 1545. Anni realized she’d never seen anything five hundred years old.
It took a while for them to figure out the drawings and that, with the flick of a finger, they could see a 3-D model of the building and dissect and bisect it to get a bird’s-eye view of the inside. Squirt tossed out several ideas, but Anni nixed them all because every entry point had alarms attached to them.
It took Anni less than a minute to figure out the solution, even though it was the absolute last idea she wanted to pitch, purely because of her pride, but there was no time to waste. After she was sure it would work, she had to concede and tell Squirt.
Carefully, Anni showed him by tracing her finger over the air ducts, so that Squirt could see how they all intersected with each maintenance room on every single floor. The maintenance room was her best entry point.
“I get it, but how do we get you into the maintenance room?” asked Squirt.
Anni moved her finger down the blueprint to the third-floor level. There was only one other metal contraption that fed directly from the maintenance room and directly to the outside of the building. “Oh, yeah, yeah, that’ll work,” he said. “That’s genius, but wait, no. Anni, that means…”
“That I’ll have to climb in through the garbage chute? I know, but it’s our only option,” she said. “I never thought I’d agree to this, but this is the only way in and the metal will protect my Funk. I just don’t know how to get up there; it’s three stories high.”
Squirt jumped up and said, “I know! We’ll use the wonky hover cart; all it does is go up anyway. It’d float into outer space if I didn’t tie it down. You’re a genius, Anni.”
There was one last note left under the final blueprint. “I was extremely lucky to get hold of these blueprints from Brittle Books Archiva & Scriptorium without signing them out publicly for all the Elemental world to see. Squirt, Betty Brittle will be waiting at table eleven to have tea and dessert at 6 p.m. tonight at Mooncakes Café with you.”
“No, no, she didn’t! Not that, not her,” said Squirt, pulling at his hair and looking desperately at Anni. “She likes to smell hair, my hair. She’s so weird. She said she wanted some as part of her collection. Her brother Alton’s not much better. He collects fingernails. For Elsakes, Daph, you did this on purpose.”
“Can I see the Omninav?” Anni took it and found that it was almost as easy as using a computer. She scrolled through its search engine, looking for news—especially The V.O.I.C.E.—and clicked on Penelope Potboiler’s articles. She reread the first one about Lexi, and then the others again. It was as she remembered. Questions bubbled up in her mind, but none more than one specifically. What was the Fectus? She searched it on the Omninav. Hundreds of terrible images popped up one after another, but they didn’t explain anything until she came across one definition.
“Fectus—an unspeakable evil force plaguing humans and Elementals alike. The Fectus have headquarters in every country known to man. They burrow into the recesses of the Earth, where they are better situated to divide and conquer human thoughts, emotions, and ultimately the essence of all living things. Their primary goal is to create chaos and destruction. Responsible for and fully associated with the Vile Trade, the trading of cracked Opus Stones is solely directed by their feared Queen, the Naga Yaga, whose growing militia has a strong adult contingency, largely grown from the abduction of human children and wayward teenagers, who are manipulated and turned into denizens. They are used to ferret out and target Elemental children living in disguise in the human world. The Fectus harvest Opus Stones from Elemental children, who later are rumored to turn into grotesque monsters* with detachable souls that spread chaos and Funk across the land.
“*It has been reported that in rare cases, the Fectus have been able to force some human children into producing an Opus Stone, age being a huge factor. Most die in the process, but the living bear a worse fate, as they are forever enslaved by the Fectus army.”
Anni couldn’t read any more; it was better not knowing. Lexi wouldn’t meet that fate because Anni would find her before then. She didn’t notice Squirt had stopped complaining about Betty Brittle and agonizing over his tea date.
“You shouldn’t read about that; we don’t know if it’s true,” said Squirt. “Whoa, we better hurry. I’m supposed to be in the Manor. It’s Eaves-Dropus time. Remember?” He smiled. “Let’s get ready.” He grabbed the tonics Yugi had made. “Almost forgot these.”
It was then that Anni realized they looked suspiciously like the phosphorescent greenish medicine Lexi used to take, which made her wonder if Lexi was in fact an Elemental after all.
Together, they loaded up Squirt’s hover cart. It was laden with individual varieties of flowers, each one sticking out of a glass test tube filled with glowing water. The Eaves-Dropus had its own separate glass case. Anni disguised herself as best she could with overalls and a garden hat to tuck in her ever-changing colored hair. Squirt checked that his ear bud was secured and then gave Anni hers. When she put it in her ear, tendrils sprang to life and wrapped around her earlobe. It was an odd sensation, but once it settled, it was easy to forget it was there.
They reached the Solarium, but before they crossed the threshold, she said, “What if the Funkometers are on?”
“There’s only one way to find out,” he said with a twisted grin.
This was definitely beyond the category of staying out of trouble that Diana would approve of. They passed the threshold without incident and made their way to the second floor outside Krizia’s office. Anni was still nervous. There were no Manor guards and everything was a bit too quiet.
“Okay. I’ll go inside,” said Squirt. “Pretend to work on those.” He pointed to a floral arrangement on a nearby table and opened the door to the office, holding a small tray of four tubes filled with three flowers and one Eaves-Dropus. “Hi Verity…” And the door closed behind him.
Anni kept her head down, even though there was no one in the hall, until Krizia’s office doors burst open and someone yelled, “GET OOOOUUTT!”
UNCLE TEDDY?
Lexi locked eyes with the servant who looked exactly like her Uncle Teddy.
“Ha ha, that thing is not your dear departed uncle, girl. It’s just my little party joke. Slug, take off your ring. Leave it on the table,” said the man sitting in the chair, his back to Lexi, as he still faced his window.
The servant pulled a silver ring with a glowing stone off his finger, and just like that, his body transformed into a slimy slug creature like Mortimer, the Fectus ambassador, with the same blood red eyes. Lexi shivered. She was so disgusted it left her speechless, but this day of tricks wouldn’t end. The man behind the desk turned his chair around.
“Alexa Waterstone, isn’t it? Hm, judging by your reaction, I’m sure I need no real introduction, but I would still prefer for you to call me Mr. Murdrock.” He turned to his servant and said, “You may go.” He turned back to face Lexi. “I like my monsters to look a touch human, especially when they handle my food. You understand, I’m sure.”
Lexi opened and closed her mouth a few times, but no words formed. This didn’t appear to surprise Mr. Murdrock.
“I’m sure you’re wondering why you’re here. That’s what I would want to know if I were you.” He lifted her necklace off
the table and examined the pearl pendant. “But you see, the main question I’d like to ask you, and feel free to lie if you wish because the truth always comes out…” He was staring intently at the pearl between his thumb and forefinger. “Is this your Opus Stone? Were you spirited away as an infant to live in secret, concealed within the human world, but all the while an Elemental living as a human in disguise?”
Lexi felt a fresh wave of panic overwhelm her; her legs started to quake and her knees knocked. “No,” she lied. “I don’t know what Elementals are.”
Mr. Murdrock watched her. His eyes smiled as if he expected her answer, and his charismatic charm never left his face when he said, “Of course, whatever you say, but I’m going to keep this,” he motioned to her pearl, “to be sure this isn’t someone else’s Opus Stone. You understand.” The double doors opened behind her and two sentries waited. “Back to the Brouwen now. The Plantanana juice doesn’t make itself, and it seems we can add some new ingredients.”
Lexi was ushered out of Murdrock’s room, but on her way out, she saw the proud, pale-faced Elemental boy walking in—but he didn’t look as proud as he had before. Spike escorted him in by one of his chained wrists. Lexi gasped when she saw that his other wrist had broken free of the chain, his right hand had transformed in to a bear’s paw.
Then it dawned on her. What would she turn into? She didn’t have long to ponder that question. A terrifying man that was half bear―half gorilla stopped right in front of her and roared at her escort, “I’m in charge of taking her back. Go back to your post.” The creature-man watched the guard leave, and he said to Lexi, “Move!”
Terrified, Lexi followed along in silence. She had no idea where they were headed, and none of it looked like the way she had come. Her legs felt like jelly as they descended farther into the bowels of the underground until they reached the prison block.
Anni Moon & The Elemental Artifact: An Elemental Fantasy Adventure Series: Book For Kids Ages 9-12 (Anni Moon Series) Page 19