I covered my mouth with my hand.
“Thou wouldst have destroyed the Robsombulous,” she said. “This, I could not allow, not until thou didst fully understand thy actions. So I took thee away that we might converse, that thou might knowest the consequences of thy power.”
“The Robsombulous didn’t send me here?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Twas I. There are far reaches of this land, and to some only I have traveled.”
“You took me away so I wouldn’t hurt the Robsombulous.”
“Only this once, yes.”
“And what about Jimmy?”
Vella gave a little sigh. “Alas, Jimmy,” she said. “As with all children called here, he is wounded. His hurt doth run so deep it grips the heart. His wrath spills over to those around him. Yet through all this, some things he sees most clearly.”
“He’s horrible.”
“Twas Jimmy who kept his father from returning. That was no small thing.”
“So he’s a hero for doing the obvious? Mr. Schmindly is horrible, too.”
“All creatures harbor creation and destruction alike,” Vella said. “Hast thou never spit thy venom at another in thy pain, Lorelei? Hast not thy brother?”
“Jimmy isn’t throwing a tantrum. He’s killing people! It’s psycho. Double psycho with magic on top.”
Vella sighed. “Each piece of this world arises from a different child’s heart. Each with their own need and their own lessons to learn. Witness thy friend, Sir Real.”
I didn’t like the way Vella took Jimmy’s side. “Sir Real said the Wishing World created the Flimflams for him. He didn’t steal them. Or kill someone to get them.”
“They didst rise from his need,” Vella said. “They didst become his family. As did thine own companions.”
I remembered what Sir Real had said. I shook my head. “Gruffy, Pip, and Squeak were here before I got here. Gruffy was there in the rain, a year ago.”
“Gruffy and his friends have been a curiosity of mine, tis true. They didst come to be after Jimmy’s storm formed around the Eternal Sea, yet I knew not where from. Twas this Wishing World, Lorelei. Thou didst need a protector in that storm. An’ with Jimmy’s doorway open, the world did hear thee and respond, and thy griffon was born, e’en though thou had not been invited. Never have I seen this, in all my years as steward. And then thou didst go e’en further, thou didst pull thy griffon into thine own world. Thy imagination, thy will … Thou dost break rules I thought immutable. Thou opened thine own passage from Earth. I first felt thee then, the might of thee, straining against the fabric. Twas then I knew from whence this Gruffy the griffon had come, and this Pip and Squeak. Hastily did I attempt to invite thee. But thou didst refuse, and this Wishing World was unable to make thee into the Loremaster.”
“That was you?” I said.
She nodded. “A scant few children have refused before, and this Wishing World did close the door to them, but thy will was indomitable. The door could not be closed. Thou wert stronger, an’ thou didst come ahead regardless.”
“You’re saying Gruffy and the others are my replacement family, like Sir Real thinks.” Gruffy my protector. Pip the parent. And Squeak the indecipherable book of wisdom. “So I made them for what I needed, and they’re not real. Just like Jimmy said. They’re paper cutouts. Video game characters.”
“Oh, Lorelei. Thy passion makes noble Gruffy the most real creature in all of Veloran. Bright imagination crafts the real. Has he not grown beyond your original intent, changing more with each passing moment? Does he not deepen? Does he not ask more questions about his life and the world?”
I thought about the barrage of questions Gruffy had asked just before the Robsombulous. He’d not been curious at all when I first arrived, only filled with the need to protect.
“I’m so confused,” I said.
Vella’s eyes sparkled. “Thou didst come to this Wishing World already knowing what other children come to learn: how to dream. How to make dreams real. Children need this place to paint their own paintings and write their own stories, and perchance to return to their own worlds with certainty and strength.” Her lavender gaze held me. “None may simply point their fingers and alter this scape as thou dost. None have defied the fabric of this Wishing World and stayed.”
“Jimmy opened a doorway to Earth!”
“He is the Ink King, shaped by this Wishing World. His ability is linked to his inky shadows, which opened the veil to Earth. He doth speak into the conversation as others before him. He didst bring adults here, which is unusual, but it has been done before. I’faith, he didst bring them under the power of this Wishing World, and so they sleep as though in a dream. Children such as Jimmy have been seen before.”
“Oh, good. So because he’s using the Wishing World the right way, he gets to kidnap people? He gets to take my parents and sling my brother into the Kaleidoscope Forest to fend for himself or die?!”
“Theron didst fend amazingly well.”
“That is so not the point.”
“Milady Lorelei, didst thou know I was a child like Jimmy when I did first arrive? Angered and helpless. Tis why this Wishing World does invite children. Here might Jimmy learn to see beauty, to feel strong and safe again. Given this dominion he believes he craves, soon shall he discover his true craving: respect and love.”
“So how long does he get to figure it out? How many other people does he get to hurt before you stop him?” I asked.
Vella looked down, her pale toes digging into the grass. “We have had arguments between children before.”
“Arguments? Jimmy is killing other Doolivantis! Just send him back to Earth!”
“Until the next Jimmy doth arrive? Or the next Lorelei…?”
“The next…” Her words hit me hard, like she’d punched me in the chest, and I actually took a step back. “The next me?”
“Thou art exciting and terrifying and driven beyond any child I have ever seen. Thy will cuts through the wills of others as if they were paper. What thou dost dislike, thou dost change, no matter the consequence.”
“I never wanted to hurt this place.”
“Ah,” Vella said softly. “But what dost thou wish e’en more?”
I felt hollow, and I couldn’t speak.
“Yes.” Vella looked down at her toes again, picking at the grass. “Thou wilt not leave without thy brother or thy parents. Thou art fiery and noble and unstoppable. Every moment thou doth persist, the fabric strains e’en more. Every command thou makest rips the world wider. And there are none who can stop thee.”
“If Veloran rips, what happens to the children?” I asked.
“They shall return to their own worlds, but the conversation shall be over.”
“What about Gruffy? Pip and Squeak? The Flimflams? What about those who were born here?”
“They do but live through the dreams of children. Without the children…” She opened her hands.
“They’ll die,” I whispered.
“Yes.”
“Then you take my parents away from Jimmy. I won’t use my powers and I’ll … I’ll just go,” I said, and my voice broke. I held onto the feather Gruffy had given me. My link to him.
“I cannot force Jimmy to release thy parents,” Vella said.
I looked at her. “But I can.”
“This remains to be seen.”
“What if … What if I could use just a little power to stop him, to get my parents back?”
“A little power to stop the Ink King?”
I turned away. “So what happens now?”
“Thou dost make thy choice.”
“Why is it my choice?” I shouted, turning on her. “Why not Jimmy?”
“Because it is thy choice.”
“And if I don’t listen? If I say I don’t care?”
“Then perhaps tis here, now, where this conversation between children and this Wishing World must end.” Vella gave no indication whether this made her sad or mad
or anything.
I clenched my fists.
Vella gazed at me steadily. “What dost thou wish to do?”
I looked through my tears at the beautiful meadow. I thought of Gruffy, Pip, and Squeak. HuggyBug. All the Grumpalons and the Flimflams.
Then I thought of my brother, lost for a whole year because of Jimmy’s selfishness. I thought of my poor mom and dad, locked away who knows where in the sleep of the dead.
I set my jaw.
“Send me back to Jimmy.” I didn’t look Vella in the eyes.
She paused a moment, then said, “As you wish.”
* * *
The sunflower meadow began to change. It became flat, like I was stepping back from a painting, and then thin strips peeled away, one after the other until the meadow was gone, revealing a blackness. I tumbled in, falling …
Then I was swirling through dark water. I kept my mouth shut and didn’t try to breathe. My hands did not feel webbed. My feet did not feel like flippers. I fought my way upward and broke the surface, gasping for breath.
Rain came down, pocking the top of the sea, and an island loomed in front of me. Ripple’s palace stood dark against the gray rain, seven spires pointing skyward. A wide staircase swept down to the water. I swam to it and stood up on the first step, water dripping off me from the sea, water falling down on me from the sky.
This was the palace inside the storm that stole my life away. And the Ink King was its heart. Jimmy, who started all of this, who took what he wanted no matter who it hurt. I couldn’t just let him do that. Not with my family.
The falling rain didn’t scare me now. I knew what was real and what wasn’t. I knew who was to blame, and this time I could stop him.
CHAPTER 21
The steps were empty, and I climbed. Even through the falling rain, I could see where fire ripped the sky. It heated the clouds and bathed the white marble palace in an angry hue.
I took the steps up until I stood on a wide landing in front of an archway as tall and wide as a house. Water sluiced down both sides, pouring out of the mouths of carved fish and rushing alongside the steps.
I walked through the archway into an immense throne room. Tall windows were set in the walls, letting in the red light. They had all been opened, and rain fell onto the floor. There were seven pools, so deep they must have gone all the way down to the bottom of the sea. Each was cut in the shape of a different sea animal. One was unmistakably a Grumpalon. Another a Swisherswasher. There was a sea horse. A turtle. A squid. And something that looked like a jellyfish. The last was some kind of hook-nosed creature with fins.
Perhaps that was how Ripple—or Vella—met with all of her subjects. Did each undersea kingdom have its own audience pool? Thinking about Ripple made my stomach clench, and I shoved the thought away.
In the center of the room was Jimmy. He sat curled upon the throne, high atop a steep incline of pink coral. He was a clot of black with his octopus pumping ink around him, a rotten spot on the Wishing World. And Ripple was just going to let him take over.
Jimmy jumped to his feet.
“I knew you’d cheat,” he said. “Just like you did at the Starfield. Your friends cheated, too. They kept on fighting. Not supposed to do that. Not sure why the Robsombulous didn’t suck them away. I’m sure you had something to do with that, too.” He held up a hand. “Doesn’t matter. We showed them.”
“Where is Theron?”
“I taught the brat a lesson. I showed them all that I am king here. Not you or the stupid fish girl.”
I wanted to thump him like a big Whac-A-Mole. I could write a giant mallet into existence. But I didn’t. I tried to stay calm. “Give me my family, and I’ll…” I faltered, thinking of Gruffy, Pip, and Squeak. I cleared my throat and pushed the thought away. “Give them to me, and I’ll go. We don’t need to fight.”
He shook his head. “Gotta get every little thing you want, don’t you? Couldn’t just leave it alone. You’re too selfish.”
“It’s my family!”
“So? Just because someone wants parents who love them doesn’t mean they get them!” He flicked his hand at me. “You’re not fair, Loreliar. Not a bit of you. You win, and you get what you want. You lose, and you still get what you want. But not me. You would think a father would want me to be happy, but no. My father only cares about what he wants. ‘Take me to the Wishing World, son. Take me there and I’ll get you an iPad.’” Jimmy clenched his teeth and his eyes blazed. “Well,” he said. “He can keep his stupid iPad, and you can go home empty-handed.”
“Give them back.”
The ink pumped around him, deepening the shadows, framing him. “How did you describe the spelling bee at school? Oh yeah, ‘The spelling bee where I lost.’” He said it in a whiney voice, like that was supposed to be my voice or something.
“So what?”
“You came in nineteenth out of twenty. You were horrible,” he continued as though I hadn’t said anything. “And what did your parents do? Patted you on the head. Told you how great you were anyway. And you pouted and hugged them and mwah mwah mwah.” He made exaggerated kissing noises. “Did you ever think about anyone else? Someone who might have won?”
“I don’t care who won—”
“It was ME!” he shouted, and black billowed out far enough to touch the walls. “Your parents hugged you even though you stunk. You were the worst speller ever. Do you know what my dad did?”
“Jimmy—”
“NOTHING! He wasn’t even there. No one told me good job. I got to take my ribbon home and throw it in the garbage. ‘Take me to the Wishing World, Jimmy,’ that’s all my dad ever says.” Jimmy clenched his fists, panting. Then he shook his head. “Well, he doesn’t matter anymore. And neither do you.”
He pointed his finger at the shadows by the base of the throne. The darkness peeled away, revealing a cage of black bars. My parents were lying inside. They seemed unharmed, except for the fact that they were pale and still, sleeping like vampires.
“It’s about what I want now. They belong to me.”
“Mom! Dad!” I ran forward.
“They’re not leaving. But you are. Finally.” Jimmy pointed at me.
A long shadow tentacle coiled around my leg from behind.
“You lose, Loreliar. Get it? You lose and I win. And this time it’s going to matter!”
“Jimmy! Please! They’re my parents—” I cried. The tentacle yanked me off my feet and pulled me toward the shadows.
“Not anymore. I’m not patting you on the head and giving you what you want. You can live my life and I’ll live yours. You can have my dad.” He laughed. “Take him! I hate him!”
“Jimmy!” I shouted.
“Go back to Earth!” He gestured again. I could feel the Wishing World shimmer around me, fading into a painting. I saw a flicker of my basement in Jimmy’s shadows. The tentacle dragged me closer.
No!
I ignored Jimmy and his craziness. I closed my eyes and imagined things the way I wanted them to be. I was staying here. I was staying until my family was safe.
I wrote one word on the air.
Stay.
Flames seared the inside of my ribs; I clenched my teeth.
I opened my eyes. The tentacle released my leg. The palace rumbled; the floor shook. Jimmy’s portal faded.
“You have to go home!” Jimmy yelled. “This is my world!” His fists trembled. He stopped on the stairs, halfway between the throne and the floor.
“This place is for all children—”
“Not you!” he shouted. “It hates you so much the sky is ripping apart just to get rid of you. Your friend told me everything: how you tore open the Wishing World because you’re so selfish. How you’re killing it.” The black cloud at the base of the throne pillar parted to reveal another cage. Sir Real slumped inside in his winged fox form. He wasn’t moving. He didn’t look like he was breathing.
“I found him sneaking,” Jimmy said. “Looking for you. Looking to c
heat.” He stroked the octopus that hovered over him. “But we fixed him. Just like that stupid griffon.”
“Where is Gruffy?”
“My Ratsharks finished him, and that stupid parrot, too.”
“No!”
“This is my world! You don’t get to have friends here!”
A mighty screech made me jump.
Gruffy swooped through the archway and landed like a cannonball. The marble popped under his claws, chips flying as he slid to a stop. His left wing drooped, and he had long scratches on his lion’s flanks. He started up the stairs toward Jimmy. Squeak rode on the top of his head, and Pip flew in after them.
“Your Ratsharks are brutal,” Gruffy said. He was limping. “But they have no heart. They were no match for the Mirror Man.”
Darthorn strode through the archway. Water dripped from him, and his mirrors gleamed orange and red, reflecting the sky. His gaze fell on the cages at the base of the throne.
“Mom! Dad!” Darthorn’s deep voice changed into Theron’s. The mirrors slid aside, and he shrank to normal size. He sprinted toward their cage.
“No!” Jimmy shouted. A dozen ink tentacles slithered out from the giant ink cloud, catching Theron just as he reached Mom and Dad. The shadows formed another cage around him.
Theron growled and began to grow again, the mirrors sliding back into place. But the cage changed, becoming coils of black that bound him, just like they had bound Gruffy in the tunnel in Azure City. More ink pumped from the octopus until Theron was completely covered in black. He struggled and fell forward onto his face.
I hastily wrote on the air.
The Mirror Man broke free.
Jimmy grunted, and I felt his will push against mine like a flat stone on my forehead. I pushed harder.
A crack ran across the marble floor. The ground shook again like an earthquake.
Gruffy launched himself at Jimmy, but the octopus shot from Jimmy like a bullet and met Gruffy in midair. Shadow tentacles sprouted in every direction and grabbed Gruffy, slamming him against the wall. They vanished in a cloud of ink.
“Gruffy!”
Jimmy’s concentration was broken. I turned back to Theron.
The Wishing World Page 14