“Perhaps in other places on Veloran. What is it?”
“A bug that flies. It has black and yellow stripes, and it carries pollen between flowers so that they can grow more flowers.”
Gruffy’s feather brow furrowed. “Truly? How could a bug carry seeds of this size?”
“They don’t … It’s not…” I shook my head. “Never mind.”
“Well, if you are ready, we now have food. Shall we go?”
“Please.”
I took off my jean jacket and wrung it out.
“I don’t suppose you brought a towel?” I asked.
“What’s a towel? What’s a towel?” Pip squawked.
“Never mind.”
CHAPTER 12
Gruffy lowered a wing and I eagerly got on his back.
“Sweet!” I said.
Ripple, though, looked less than thrilled. “Fly?”
“Come on, Ripple. It’ll be just like swimming,” I said. “Except through the air!”
“I shall not let you fall,” Gruffy said.
The princess hesitated. I extended a hand. After a moment, she took it and I helped her up.
“Hang on tight,” I said.
“Twill have my most fervent attention, I assure thee,” Ripple replied, squeezing my waist tightly.
Gruffy leapt into the air.
Ripple screamed and practically squeezed my guts out. I gasped, then laughed, trying to catch my breath. I looked down and could see everything, from the desert around Azure City to Urath’s rocky ravine. It was like being in an airplane, except the wind was all around me.
“Tis not like swimming,” Ripple said, clinging tightly, her head pressed against my back. “Not in the slightest.”
“I shall not let you fall,” Gruffy repeated.
I reveled in the rushing air. The forest below was a riot of color. In Colorado, forests were firs and spruce, all dark green and uniform, with the occasional patch of light green aspen clusters. This looked like a painter’s palette: some green, but also bursts of red and purple and yellow and silver. Thick stalks with no branches rose up like Greek columns, fat leaves growing straight out of the trunk. Slender silver trees rose above the canopy of the forest on lacework trunks, branches arcing out over the top of everything else. Their leaves glinted like silver coins and they seemed so fragile that the wind might shatter them.
There were also black-limbed trees, looking like they had been burnt. Their sinuous limbs shifted back and forth as though testing the air, seeking something. Each black tree stood in its own clearing; the other trees kept their distance.
And some weren’t even trees, like the Tasting Tulips. They were something else, either giant flowers or, in some cases animals who were trying to look like trees. One of the animals had to be as tall as a two-story building. Its back was leafy and purple, but it was no tree. It was shaped like a giant horse.
The forest captivated me. The princess and I just stared and stared.
But after a few hours, I started shifting one way and then another, trying to find a spot I could sit that didn’t make my butt numb. Gruffy’s back was so feathery and soft at first, but now it seemed all backbone. I looked over my shoulder at Ripple, who rode in silence. The princess was much better at hiding her discomfort than I was. I shifted again, looked up at the sky. The fiery red line I had seen last night was still there. It was ugly and mean-looking.
“Are we landing soon?” I asked.
“My wings are beat. My wings are beat,” Pip squawked.
I looked at Squeak for his inevitable “squeak” that I couldn’t understand, but the little mouse’s gaze was fixed below.
“A rest would be prudent,” Gruffy conceded.
“How much longer until we reach the sea?”
“Another full day of flying,” Gruffy said, and then, “There. That looks like a good spot.” He indicated with his claw one of the clearings that held a shifting black tree.
“That’s where you want to land? That’s where you want to land?” Pip said dubiously.
“I must have space. If I dive straight down through those branches, it would strip my noble passengers right off my back.” He nodded at me and Ripple.
“Squeak.”
“I shall be careful, my friend.”
“I agree with Squeak,” I said. I didn’t understand the mouse, but I got the gist: black trees were bad news. If the rest of the forest kept clear, we should, too.
“I shall land outside its reach. Will that suffice?” Gruffy asked.
We swooped low, and as we neared, Ripple’s grasp on my waist tightened. We landed at the edge of the clearing around the black tree. I kept my eyes on the thing, but it just waved its sooty branches back and forth, side to side.
It reminded me of the octopus shadow from the camping trip.
“How are you faring, Doolivanti? Princess?” Gruffy asked as we dismounted.
“Thourt a prince of the air,” Ripple said. “A creature of unfailing strength and courtesy.” She took a half-step back and dipped into a curtsey, lifting the hem of her sparkling blue gown and spreading it to the side like a jeweled wing. She inclined her head.
“Well, it was nothing any griffon would not do.” He cleared his throat. “Please,” he reached back with his beak and undid the pack strapped around his middle. “You must be hungry. There is plenty of food.”
We sat down on the sparse grass at the edge of the clearing and opened the pack. It was full of different pouches: a skin of water, seeds and nuts, a big bag of bright green apples, and scaly orange egg things. They were about the size of a chicken’s egg, and just as hard. I tapped one with my fingernail, and it clicked like a countertop.
“What’s this?”
Pip cocked his head toward me. “It’s a goolaroose. A goolaroose.”
“How do you eat it?”
“Ah,” Gruffy said. “The goolaroose is most pleasing.” He took one and tapped his talon hard against it. The scaly surface cracked, and a bright red, feathery sprig billowed up out of the crack, growing quickly. Gruffy put it to his beak and scraped the feathery thing into his mouth.
“Wow!” I looked at the egg, then cracked it on a little rock next to me. The sprig rose out of the crack like a curl of red smoke. I held it at arm’s length.
“Quickly! Quickly!” Pip squawked.
“But, it’s growing!” I said. “Is it going to keep growing inside my mouth?”
But even as I spoke, the little sprig stopped growing at about the width of my hand, and then faded to yellow. The feathery fronds shrank. It turned brown, then gray. The feather became brittle then burst into a puff of dust.
“Goolaroose gone bad. Goolaroose gone bad.” Pip shook his head, let out a little breath. “So sad. So sad.”
“I’m sorry!”
Gruffy chuckled. “It’s Pip’s favorite fruit, in case you could not tell.” He tossed me another and I caught it. “Try again. This time a little quicker.” He winked.
I cracked the fruit again, and this time, I immediately put the billowing fruit in my mouth. Sweet and lime and a touch of spice spread across my tongue.
“Flippin fluffy feathers,” I murmured around the dancing flavors in my mouth. “It’s womderfuw!”
“Best taste in all of Veloran. In all of Veloran.” Pip deftly cracked a goolaroose on the edge of his beak and scooped out the feathery sprig.
The princess tried next, and squeaked with delight. We all set to eating. As I munched on some of the nuts that Pip called “bahamaknockanuts”—which looked like blue almonds and tasted like chocolate cake—I noticed Squeak had not joined us for the feast. I spotted him halfway toward the black tree. He would scurry forward, lift his nose to the air, then scurry forward some more.
“Gruffy,” I warned.
Gruffy looked over at Squeak, then back at me, unworried. “Squeak is always curious.” Not for the first time, I regretted that I couldn’t understand the little mouse when everyone else could.
“Aren’t you afraid
he might get hurt?” I asked.
“By what?”
“That tree.”
Gruffy looked at the tree, then back at me. “Squeak is quite fast.”
Jimmy was right about Gruffy. He was not curious about the world. Pip was the same way. But Squeak, perhaps, was not.
I looked the other way, into the deep dark of the forest. It seemed so peaceful. When I finished eating, I got up to explore a little. Pip and Ripple were talking about the coastline of the Eternal Sea, and Gruffy had begun to preen his feathers again.
I walked into the forest. It was darker in the shade of the trees, and I spotted some little golden fruits underneath a gnarled bush in the shadows. The bush’s limbs were curled and covered with thorns of all sizes. Some were tiny as hairs, and others were long as my pinky finger. The golden fruits, full-to-bursting and shaped like peaches, nestled among the thorns. They glinted, and I couldn’t tell whether the fruits were glowing, or catching some ray of light I couldn’t see.
They seemed so right, to pluck and … not eat. No, not that. But to hold. To keep close.
I approached the bush and, carefully avoiding the thorns, plucked one. It came off easily in my hand, and it was fuzzy all over. I stroked the light fur and turned it over. It felt good; it felt right—
“So you messed with the Starfield,” a soft voice came from the shadows.
I jumped, clutching the golden fruit so tight my fingers sank into it. “Jimmy!”
Except it wasn’t just Jimmy. It was Jimmy and … something else. His face seemed to darken, as though a cloud had passed overhead.
“What’s on your face?” I asked.
“You’re such a cheater. You break all the rules.” He shook his head, and I could hear the anger in his voice. Shadows slithered over his face and hands. He balled his hand into a fist. “You don’t belong here.”
He had sent me to the Starfield. He knew what it would do, what it almost had done before I made it stop.
“You tried to kill me!” I said.
The shadows covered him completely, and black tentacles grew out of his sides. “This is your last chance, Loreliar. Leave the Wishing World, and I won’t hurt you or your friends.”
The shadows on his body were the same ones that had reached over my tent on that rainy night my family vanished. “It was you! You took them! You’re the Ink King.”
“They are the parents I should have had. The kind who come to school even to see you lose a stupid spelling bee. I should have had them, not you. And now I do.”
I couldn’t catch my breath. Jimmy had used the Wishing World to steal my brother, my parents! I squeezed the fruit so hard it should have been crushed. But as my fingers dug in I felt the firmness of the center, like there was a sphere of steel inside.
“You know how many times my dad came to the school to watch me at anything?” Jimmy asked. He held up a hand and made a zero. “None. Never.”
“You…” I managed to say in a breathless tone, “can’t just do that.”
He smiled, oily black skin next to white teeth. “In the Wishing World, I do whatever I want. Here, I’m the strongest Doolivanti ever.”
I thought about what Gruffy had said, about the Ink King removing other Doolivantis. Even killing them. The Sky Captain. The Tree Bender. Maybe the Sand Spinner, too.
“There were other kids from Earth, weren’t there?”
“Go home, Loreliar. I’m warning you. Go home or you’ll wish you had.”
“Give my parents back!” I shouted.
“Stupid girl,” Jimmy said. “You always were a stupid girl.” He waved a hand.
“Squeak!”
I heard Squeak’s cry and spun, looking back through the forest. Gruffy stood in a brilliant opening of light, bordered by leafy limbs and bushes. I was much deeper into the forest than I’d realized.
“Doolivanti!” Gruffy called, not seeing me. Ripple was already on his back, ready to fly, and behind him dozens of giant roaches swarmed down the black tree. They were as big as dogs and the color of burnt butter. Squeak darted across the meadow, a gray streak of light, and he leapt onto Gruffy’s head.
The roaches sprang onto the clearing. They glistened like they were wet, and their feet were hooked claws that tore up the ground. Yellow eyes glowed in their tiny heads.
“Doolivanti!” Gruffy called. He growled in frustration, then leapt powerfully into the air, flattening Ripple against his back. The roaches hissed at the suddenly flying griffon. The nearest jumped like a giant flea and sank its hooks into Gruffy’s side, but he ripped it off with his beak and spat it down at the rest.
“Nay! We cannot leave her!” Ripple said.
“She might have gone through one of her portals,” Gruffy said. “I must get you to safety first.” The roaches scaled the trees, reaching Gruffy’s height and jumping at him. He batted one to the ground, beat his wings backward and batted another down with his lion legs.
I watched them as I clutched the golden fruit, and I let out a low growl. They were leaving me! My friends!
The golden fruit purred.
Whatever. I didn’t need Gruffy. I didn’t need any of them. Jimmy had my family. That was all that mattered.
I turned back to him, but Jimmy was gone.
“Show yourself!” I shouted.
The sallow roaches clicked and turned toward my shout, seeing me for the first time. They sprang from the tree and scuttled toward me, hissing.
What the heck was I doing?
With a shriek, I turned and sprinted.
“Gruffy!” I shouted, pushing through the forest. Bushes tore at my jeans. Thin limbs slapped my face. “Gruffy!” I shouted.
“Doolivanti!”
I heard his voice somewhere above the darkness of the tight, leafy canopy.
The roaches were right behind me. One of them hissed next to my ear.
Tree limbs cracked like thunder, and bright light burst into the forest as Gruffy tore through the canopy. His wings flared and he landed like a falling bomb, screeching at the roaches.
The foul bugs pulled up short, clicking and hissing. They spread out in a circle around us, rustling through the grass.
“Quickly, Doolivanti,” Gruffy urged.
I clutched the golden fruit to my chest, squeezing it until I could feel that satisfying hardness underneath.
“Where were you when I needed you?!” I demanded. “You left me!”
“Doolivanti—” Gruffy looked at me, surprised and confused. “We must fly now—”
But there was no more time.
The roaches leapt upon us.
CHAPTER 13
A giant roach flattened me and I hit the ground hard. Its hooked feet poked into my back, and I screamed.
Then Gruffy’s strong talon was there, yanking me upright and batting the roach aside. He tucked me underneath his feathery, furry belly, unfurling his wings and settling them protectively on either side.
I could see the roaches through his front legs, circling again. They wanted me, the small one, not the giant griffon. I tried to still my chattering teeth and clutched the golden fruit even harder.
“I cannot fight them all and keep you safe.” Gruffy uncurled his talon. “We must flee.” He grabbed me around the middle and leapt straight up.
But the roaches were ready this time. Many of them had already climbed into the nearby trees and leapt onto Gruffy’s back. He screeched and fought them, but for every roach he snatched away with his beak, three more jumped on him.
He faltered, his wings straining. He canted sideways and hit a tree, struggling to flap, trying to catch the air, but he was tangled in branches and covered in roaches. He screeched, clawing against the trunk to shove himself upward. The roach nearest me opened its mouth, revealing two pointed pincers, and sank them into Gruffy’s arm. Gruffy’s talon spasmed and he dropped me.
I tumbled through the branches, smacking each harder than the last, and landed on the ground with a thud. The golden fruit rolled across
the forest floor.
Gruffy hurtled sideways, trying to fight two dozen roaches that covered him. He crashed into the trees and was borne to the ground under the swarming attack. Gruffy fought them, but he was losing. They were biting him so many times!
“Gruffy!” I screamed.
Roaches dropped to the ground all around me. I spun about. Yellow eyes and pincers clicked everywhere I turned. They closed on me, hissing.
Doolivanti, I thought. I am a Doolivanti. I broke a wall. I can stop these bugs.
I could make a wall of my own, block them out. I could—
Behind me, undergrowth burst open and a flash of light charged into the clearing. It was the mirror knight from the edge of the forest! He was the tallest man I’d ever seen, with wide shoulders and a round shield on his arm.
The giant pug he rode churned the earth with its paws. Atop the pug’s wide head rode Squeak.
“Squeak squeak!” Squeak leapt to the ground.
The pug’s smooshed face opened and he gave a thunderous bark as he stepped on the nearest roach, squishing it with a loud snap. The knight leapt to the ground and charged the roaches on Gruffy, bashing three of them away with one sweep of his shield. He smacked another with his fist, sending it hurtling into the bushes.
The pug lunged at the roaches surrounding me, barking and snapping and scattering them in every direction.
Between the ferocious griffon, the giant pug, and the knight, the roaches had had enough. They fled, and the battle was over that quickly.
“Gruffy!” I shouted, running to the griffon and throwing my arms around his neck. “I’m so sorry!”
“It is all right, Doolivanti,” Gruffy said.
There was blood on his fur. “They hurt you.”
“Not as much as we hurt them.” He inclined his head to the knight, who stood silently a few feet away. “Thanks to you, friend.”
The knight nodded, and the giant pug padded up behind him, his enormous head towering over all of them. Squeak dashed across the forest floor and stopped in front of Gruffy.
“Squeak.” Squeak’s whiskers twitched.
“You were quite resourceful,” Gruffy said, nodding, and there was admiration in his voice. “When I asked you to find help, I only hoped you might find the Mirror Man in time.”
The Wishing World Page 8