by Laurence Yep
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The three rules of wishing are these: wish well, wish wisely, and then stop before you turn into a fool…or a goose.
MISS DRAKE
When Winnie told me to wait, I knew my pet must be up to something, though I didn’t know what. But she’d already proven on our other adventures that I could trust her. My pet was almost bold and clever enough to be a dragon. So I simply watched the gold coins gather higher and higher around Lorelei’s ankles while the mongoose streaked here and there.
Laughing, Lorelei stooped to scoop up some in her hands. She immediately looked puzzled, though, and when she dropped them, they didn’t clink.
When the tan blur entered the room, she scowled at the mongoose. “I don’t want candy in gold foil. I want real gold.”
The mongoose scampered up her leg and was on her shoulder before she could even begin to wiggle. When she turned her astonished head to look at him, he bowed neatly. “Then real gold you shall have.”
He was gone in the blink of an eye. “As long as you know who’s m-m-master.” The blur returned, and the next moment her eyebrows stretched all way up to her hairline and her eyeballs bulged.
“Ooh!” she said, giving a little hop. “Ooh!”
Suddenly her shoes skidded on the candy underfoot, and she fell to the floor. “Get them away! Get them away!” she screamed.
The kobolds, though, stayed where they were, too scared to get near the things wriggling inside her dress. The only one who wasn’t afraid to approach was the mongoose, who was moving so fast now I barely glimpsed the tan lightning. But in barely a minute, there were dozens of things squirming under her clothes.
When I heard the faint plop, at first, I thought it was a drop of water from a leaking pipe. But then I saw the goldfish flapping on top of the candy. I watched a second slide out of her sleeve to join the first.
“Do you not like real goldfish, master?” the mongoose asked, and didn’t wait for an answer. “Then I shall bring you more real gold.” And he streaked off.
Lorelei’s hair hung down around her face in a tangle, making her look wild and crazy. “Make that little rat stop,” she snarled at us.
Winnie nodded to the whistle in her other hand. “I’m not his master anymore, remember?”
Lorelei looked even more furious as she rose on her knees, but before she could say anything, her face disappeared behind a cascade of what first appeared as bouncing lemons but turned into a lively flock of bright yellow goldfinches. They twittered cheerfully as they flew in artful circles around her head. She tried to hit them with the whistle, but the little acrobats managed to evade it as they continued to spin around her.
“Help—” she began, but then made gagging noises.
She started to get up, and her head momentarily appeared from out of the fuzzy yellow cloud like a mountain peak. Ignoring the fish that now rained down from her clothes, she made spluttering noises before she finally spat out the feathers and then glared at the kobolds. “Help me, you foo—” She resumed choking as the flapping birds swept up to surround her head again.
Realizing that the goldfish weren’t that dangerous, the kobolds stomped over and began to wave their arms, eventually driving the birds up to the chandelier, where they perched and chattered gaily to one another as if nothing was unusual.
By then, all the goldfish were out of her dress, but damp golden feathers dotted her hair instead. “What’s going on?” Confused and angry, Lorelei stared down at the large bowl in which all the goldfish now swam, thanks to the thoughtful mongoose.
She had just gotten to her feet when the first sheet of music sailed in and hit her arm. It fluttered to the floor, and I saw the title “Silver Threads Among the Gold.” Soon there were hundreds of sheet music whirling through the air and striking her. There must have been fifty pounds of them. The ones I glimpsed had gold in the name.
“Stop, stop!” she shouted. “I order you to stop!”
But the mongoose was moving so quickly, he was invisible. There was only a series of little booms to mark where he had been. At first, I thought they were explosions, and then I realized the noise was made each time he broke the sound barrier. By racing faster than the speed of sound, he literally outran her commands to halt her wish. What a clever trickster Nanu Nakula could be! Thank heavens!
Thousands of postcards of Golden Gate Park and the Golden Gate Bridge fluttered down on the heap around Lorelei’s knees. Miniature souvenir bridges and snow globes began to pile up around her waist, mixing with stuffed animals like golden retrievers and golden monkeys from every toy store in the city.
She tried to stumble away, but by then, the mound of objects covered her to her stomach and her legs were trapped by all the debris. All she could do was stand there helplessly as bright yellow flowers quickly began to pile up toward her chest, hiding all the other golden objects. I had no idea where the mongoose had found that much goldenrod, since it wasn’t the season for it.
“Ah-choo!”
Even better, Lorelei was allergic to it.
Her weeping eyes started to widen in panic as she understood that her golden wish was going to suffocate her.
Rowan timed his leap for one of her sneezes, waiting for her eyes to close before he sprang from beneath my wing and grabbed the whistle from Lorelei’s hand.
“Give me that!” Lorelei could still move her arms, and she raised the fire charm threateningly.
But Rowan had already jumped back to Winnie and me, and I could wrap my wing protectively around him again.
“I believe this belongs to you,” Rowan said, handing the whistle to Winnie.
It must have infuriated Lorelei to gain her dream, only to lose it again. But her desire for revenge was so overwhelming that she forgot Winnie now had the whistle. Lorelei threw the fire charm at us.
I swung my wing over the hatchlings just in time. When the charm hit it, the flames slid harmlessly across my hide and then instantly died, but some sparks must have landed on the old sheet music and postcards and the paper caught fire. The flowers, which weren’t as dry, started to smolder and smoke, and chocolate began to run from the candy coins.
Lorelei flailed her arms. “Save me!”
“Be so kind as to bring me the binder,” I told Rowan.
The boy accomplished that with a leap forward and then backward. A quick look at the binder told me that the charms weren’t organized by the alphabet or theme or type. On a hunch, my claw flipped to the thickest pages. As I had suspected, Lorelei arranged her charms by the ones she was most likely to use, and I quickly found enough sleep charms to give an army nightmares.
I threw the first of the sleep charms, and it flew straight as an arrow toward her. She was struggling to extricate herself from the pile of golden objects that were now up to her neck, but as soon as the charm clung to her, she fell asleep standing up.
The sight sent the kobolds stampeding toward the door, and if they hadn’t all tried to run through at the same time, they might have escaped. Instead, they jammed together in a grunting, angry knot by the doorway. One by one, I put them to sleep so that they began snoring just like Lorelei. As a precaution, I dropped a sleep charm on the lamia as well, even though she was still unconscious.
Then Winnie held up the whistle. “Nanu Nakula, who is your master now?”
The mongoose leaned exhausted against her leg, chest heaving from his incredible effort. “You are…,” he puffed, “O kindest…and best of masters.”
Winnie pointed at the fire around Lorelei. “I wish for enough water to put out the flames but only that much.”
“Then water you shall have,” the mongoose said.
He was a blur again, and soon there was no blaze, only a puddle of water on the floor and the mongoose standing to the side with a sooty teacup in his paws.
“Well, that’s done,” Winnie said, dusting off her hands. She glanced at her ring and smiled, as if what she saw pleased her.
Rowan, though, gave a
sigh. “I wish I could take care of all my other problems this easy.”
“It’ll be quite a feather in your cap when you report Lorelei to the Council.” I nodded to the kobolds and the lamia. “I daresay Lorelei and her crew of thugs are behind a lot of other crimes.”
“How long will the Council put them in jail?” Winnie wanted to know.
I shook my head. “The Council has no jails. It will be cheaper and easier to wipe their memories and then place a compulsion upon them to stay away from San Francisco and never think of whistles, mongooses, or wishes again.”
Rowan shifted uncomfortably. “I’m afraid that I’ll have to bring in the mongoose and whistle too. The Council will probably want to change the mongoose into his pendant form, where he can’t make trouble.”
The mongoose had been licking the burnt spots on his fur. He looked up in alarm. “Was I not Helpful! Why can I not stay that way?”
Winnie scooped him up in her hands. “How could you do that to him? He saved our lives.”
Rowan slapped his hands helplessly against his sides. “I know, and I’m sorry. But what if someone worse than Lorelei stole the whistle and wished for an army of monsters or a warehouse full of bombs?”
Winnie made a nasal buzzing sound. “Wrong. Nanu Nakula would never let a wish get out of hand like that. The Heart of Kubera had a lot of other masters, and no one created a monster army.”
“That doesn’t mean someone won’t wish it in the future,” Rowan said unhappily. “As long as you have the Heart of Kubera, you’ll be a magnet for every power-hungry villain.”
Winnie folded her arms confidently. “Miss Drake will protect me like she always does.”
“Not even Miss Drake could keep away all the evil creatures who will want the whistle,” Rowan said, and looked at me. “And she knows it.”
I cleared my throat. “The real problem is that the mongoose has no free will. He must grant the wishes of whoever has the whistle. So the Council will want to prevent that.”
Winnie stroked the mongoose. “I’m not going to let that happen.”
She didn’t see the mongoose as a wish-fulfilling machine but as a small creature who needed her help. So she was ready to defy even me. I’d wished for her to be as caring as her great-grandfather, but this wasn’t quite what I’d had in mind. “You may not have any choice in the matter either.”
“Choice,” she murmured, and bit her lip thoughtfully. “The problem is that he has to do what his master tells him. But what if I could arrange it so he doesn’t?”
“You mean if he has free will? Well, the Council might relent,” I said, “but how are you going to do that?”
“The Heart of Kubera doesn’t belong to me or Lorelei or anyone. He belongs to himself.” She held the whistle in one hand. “Will you help me change this into a piece of fudge?”
I shook my head. “Disguising the whistle won’t fool the Council.”
“That’s not what I have in mind,” she said, and thrust her hand toward me. “Please.”
Even though I didn’t think it would do any good, I was curious to see what my pet was planning. It took me a moment to work on a spell and a muttered chant, and a few signs later, the whistle had become a big lump of fudge.
Winnie looked down at the mongoose on her palm. “Do you want to stay Helpful?”
The mongoose’s head bobbed up and down. “Oh, yes. More than ever.”
She held the fudge in front of his muzzle. “Then eat this.”
I thought it would take him a while to eat the fudge, but he downed it in three gulps, cheeks bulging.
“The whistle’s inside you now.” Winnie grinned at him. “So that makes you your own master. The only wishes you have to grant are your own.”
Proud of Winnie, I put my paw on her shoulder. Not many creatures would give up that power or that potential wealth, so perhaps Winnie would take after Caleb after all. But if she didn’t, that was also fine. No two pets grow up exactly alike. I’ll continue to encourage the best qualities I find in her.
Smiling at the mongoose, I couldn’t help gloating. “Ha! Have fun twisting your own commands.”
He scratched his head in puzzlement. “What do I do now?” he asked with a faint whistle to his voice.
I suppose that after all these centuries it was hard to stop thinking like a servant. “Whatever you want? Go for a walk. Read a book. Take a nap.” I pointed at the real gold coins, some of which were covered by a mess of chocolate and burnt feathers. “Though the Council might appreciate it if you might return the gold coins and valuables before anyone notices they’re missing.”
“But the rules do not say I have to clean up a mess,” he protested.
“There are no rules for you anymore, Nanu,” I said. “That’s the point.”
He folded his paws. “Yes, I suppose there are not,” he said, sounding a little scared.
The next moment, he became a tan blur again, and the gold coins steadily disappeared. And when the last bit of treasure was gone, so was he.
Picking up three Golden Gate Bridge paperweights, Winnie tossed them one by one into the air, then caught them and flung them up again. Juggling sometimes helped calm her when she was feeling anxious. “Do you think he’ll return?” Winnie asked.
“I hope not,” I said fervently, and then instructed Rowan, “Now that the Heart of Kubera can choose to do good or evil, tell the Council that the mongoose is no worse and no better than any other powerful magical creature. If they lock him away, they’ll also have to lock up every magical, including themselves.”
Rowan scratched his head with his twisted fingers. “I guess it’s for the best. I owe him my life after all. When I turn in Lorelei and her gang, I’ll also tell my superiors that the mongoose is no longer a threat…due to your actions.”
“Ask your aunt, Lady Louhi, to put in a good word for him too,” I suggested.
He nodded and then turned to Winnie. “You’re smart, but one day you’re going to take one chance too many and it’s going to get you in real trouble.”
She just laughed. “That’s already happened. I’m like Miss Drake that way.”
* * *
Winnie
With a spell on Lorelei and the kobolds, my ring had returned to its normal self, only changing color in indoor or outdoor light. I told Miss Drake about the eagle I had seen in it that had given me the idea for my perfect wish.
“Ah,” she said. “Colors to warn you. Shapes to aid you. The ring has many powers you can learn to use. It is beginning to bond with you, Winnie.”
I was going to ask her if it could warn me when a dragon was in a bad mood, but I had a feeling if I did, my dragon’s mood would turn bad right away.
—
A few days after we caught Lorelei, Mom’s cattle drive ended, so I was able to call and tell her all about my latest adventure with Miss Drake. Of all the amazing things that had happened, including traveling into the past, battling monsters, and finding a fabulous ruby, what most impressed her was that I had met Great-Granddad Caleb.
“Miss Drake says there’s a plaque downtown recognizing his work,” I said. “I think I’d like to see it and discover more about him.”
“So would I,” she agreed. “I could never get my father to talk about my grandfather.”
“Then it’s a date,” I said. When I turned off my phone, though, I noticed that my hands had turned bright pink. Even my ring was pink. Hurrying into my bathroom, I checked the mirror. My face and hair had changed to the same color too. I looked like a flamingo.
Leaning my head against the mirror, I gave a big sigh. “Well, you got me, Sir Isaac.” I had no idea how he had done it, but it was going to be awfully embarrassing when I went to school the next day.
I scrubbed my face with soap and water as hard as I could, but my cheeks stayed pink. So I went to ask Miss Drake for help. If she couldn’t do anything, I guess I could wear a sign to school saying that I’d been pranked by Sir Isaac. It would save a lot of
explanations.
I found her in the living room having tea with Rowan. “I was just about to get you, Winn—good heavens! Why did you dye yourself that alarming shade of pink?”
“Sir Isaac did this to me.” I didn’t have to explain about the revenge pranking. Miss Drake knew all about Sir Isaac’s sense of humor. “Can you make me less flamingo-y?”
“I’ll see what I can do after our guests leave,” Miss Drake said, always the proper host.
I was going to ask who else was here beside Rowan, when the mongoose suddenly sprang out of a teacake in a spray of crumbs and powdered sugar and landed on my shoulder.
“Hel-lo, former master,” he said.
I stroked a finger along his fur. “Are you moving into our attic again?”
Miss Drake reared her head. “He most certainly is not. The Council has decided that he needs to be under Lady Louhi’s supervision, so he’ll be staying with her and Rowan.”
“I can still visit you, though,” Nanu Nakula added.
“But not often.” Miss Drake held up a claw. “Remember: Absence makes the heart grow fonder, so I’ll be fonder of you the longer you stay away.” She glanced at the clock on the mantle. “Ah, nearly sunset.” She stretched her wings open a little and wriggled her shoulders to loosen her muscles. “I feel like a little exercise. Rowan, have you ever flown?”
“No,” he admitted. “Not even in an airplane.”
I twisted my head to look at the mongoose. “How about you?”
The mongoose began to bob up and down excitedly. “I was Beautiful when a former master rode a flying carpet, but I have never flown as Helpful.”
Miss Drake rose. “Then let’s go for a little flight.”
Rowan offered his palm to the mongoose. “Hop on board.”
I felt a little jealous as the mongoose jumped from my shoulder and onto his hand. Then, sliding Nanu Nakula into his shirt pocket, Rowan rose to get his coat from the hall closet.
He’d worn a thick one when he visited us, so we didn’t have to find something warm for him. All I would need was my magical scarf.