by E. D. Baker
As the electric feeling coursed through her, Tamisin grew tense and the sensation seemed to build until it was almost painful. She twitched her fingers, and electricity crackled off the tips. Trying to ease the discomfort, she relaxed her muscles and was surprised when the tingling seemed to dribble from her fingers and toes. When she felt normal again, she glanced down at her hands, then up at the sky. The storm was over. The clouds had thinned, the wind calmed to a gentle breeze, and the rain turned to mist. In less than a minute the storm was gone and the only evidence of Tamisin’s efforts was the storm-wracked beach, the stunned looks on the mermaids’ faces, and Tamisin’s knowledge that someone had tampered with her memory and her life.
“That was amazing!” breathed Squall. “I didn’t know fairies could do that!”
“Most of them can’t,” said Kryllus, giving Tamisin an appraising look.
Tempest leaned forward to slap Tamisin on the back. “Thank you. I’m sorry I doubted you before, but you’re the first fairy who’s actually done something good for us. They usually act superior and make fun of mermaids.”
“I can’t imagine why,” said Tamisin as the water began carrying them back to the ocean. “Where I come from, mermaids are considered exotic and exciting. Some people spend their entire lives wishing they could get even the tiniest glimpse of a mermaid.”
“Really? I thought you lived with Titania,” said Kryllus. “I know she doesn’t live anywhere near the ocean, but still . . .”
Tamisin shook her head as the water gently deposited her in the top of a swell. “Titania is my mother, but I only just met her. I grew up in the human world.”
“Really?” said Squall. “I’d love to go there!”
Tempest gave her sister an exasperated glance before turning back to Tamisin. “So how did you end up at Oberon’s court?”
“My father had me brought here,” Tamisin told her, then thought about what she’d said. Something didn’t feel quite right, although she couldn’t say what.
“Where do you want to go now?” asked Pacifica. “We can take you to see those pearls in the oyster bed. It’s just a little farther south.”
“No, thanks,” said Tamisin. She’d begun to feel a chill in the air, and noticed that the sun was lower in the sky. “I think it’s time I get back to the beach where you found me.”
“Then let me take you,” said Tempest.
“No!” Squall said. “I get to do it!”
“We could all take turns,” suggested Pacifica.
“Forget it!” said Kryllus as she swam to where Tamisin was treading water. “It’s my job.”
The other mermaids glowered at Kryllus as Tamisin wrapped her arms around the mermaid’s shoulders.
Squall pouted for a moment, then announced, “Well, I’m going to check on Swift. I’ll see you around, Tamisin!”
“I’m going, too,” Tempest said with a wave of her hand, and the two sisters swam off.
Pacifica sighed. “I might as well go, since you don’t need me.” She gave Kryllus a hopeful look, but when her friend didn’t disagree, she swam away.
“I thought they’d never leave,” Kryllus said, and with a swish of her tail, started swimming west along the shoreline. They traveled in silence for a few minutes before the mermaid began to angle closer to the shore. “There’s something I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t before,” she said over her shoulder. “Do you see that beach?”
The fog-shrouded beach lay just ahead. As Tamisin watched, a man and a woman appeared out of the fog. Their faces were sad and oddly familiar, yet somehow Tamisin was certain that she’d never met them. Then the fog swirled again and they were gone.
“What about it?” Tamisin asked.
“That white sand is the sand of time. You set foot on that beach and time no longer has any meaning for you. It doesn’t actually stand still, but it passes so slowly that it might as well. I was supposed to bring you to that beach and leave you there.”
“Why?” Tamisin asked.
“A fairy messenger brought me a note this morning. It said that a dolphin was stranded on a certain beach, and if we did as the author of the note said, he would free the dolphin before midnight tonight. If we didn’t do what he wanted, the dolphin would stay there until it died. Pacifica was with me when I got the note, so the two of us told Squall and Tempest, and they helped us find the dolphin. He was a good friend of theirs, which made it worse.”
Tamisin was incredulous. “And the author of the note wanted you to leave me on the sands of time?”
“That’s right,” said Kryllus. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t know what else to do. Whoever wrote the note had me send you the necklace so you’d come to the beach.”
“And you don’t know who wrote it?”
“I have no idea,” Kryllus said, shaking her head.
“I suppose we could ask the messenger,” said Tamisin. “Do you remember who brought the note?”
“Are you kidding?” said Kryllus. “There are more than a hundred fairy messengers, and they all look alike to me. I wouldn’t recognize that one if he bit me on the nose.”
“What should I do?” Tamisin said, mostly to herself, although she already knew the answer. Oberon’s forest was no longer safe for her, and her mind felt clearer than it had in days. Someone had made her think she loved Dasras, and blocked her memories—memories that were starting to come back. It was time that she went home.
“If I were you, I’d watch my back,” said the mermaid. “Somebody at Oberon’s court really doesn’t like you.”
Chapter 12
They arrived at the Great Ditch a few hours after dawn. “We’re supposed to climb down this?” Jak said, peering over the edge of a sheer cliff. It was a lot bigger than he’d expected.
Lamia Lou nodded. “You have to if you want to get to the other thide. There’th a path over there you can uthe.”
Jak eyed the path. It was only a foot or so wide in places, but he’d climbed worse. “I think I can handle it. Thanks for helping us get this far.”
“I’m glad we could help,” said Lamia Lou. “Thay hello to Tamithin for uth and come vithit ath thoon ath you can.”
“We should head back now,” Herbert told Lamia Lou. “If we hurry, we can reach the Sograssy Sea by dinnertime tomorrow.”
Lamia Lou laughed and patted his back. “Thometimeth I think you love me for my tathty grath.”
“You know that’s not true, Sweet Lips!” said Herbert.
“Let’s get out of here before they get all mushy,” said Tobi, shuffling to the edge.
After thanking his friends once more and saying goodbye, Jak started down the narrow trail. Tobi had already hurried ahead, scrambling past the parts where the trail got narrower or disappeared altogether while Jak climbed down the cliff using small cracks in the rock.
“There you are, Jak boy!” chirped Tobi an hour later. “That was fun! Say, did I ever tell you what a good swimmer I am? I bet I can beat you to the other side, just like I beat you coming down. What should we bet? How about if I get across first, you carry me on your back when I get tired?”
“No bets, Tobi. I don’t care who gets across first, as long as we get across. That water looks awfully fast.”
Jak had gone swimming only a few times in his life, but Tobi didn’t seem to be the least bit afraid, and plunged in without waiting. Unsure of how deep the river might be, Jak took a tentative step off the bank and was immediately yanked off his feet. He flopped onto his back, coming up a moment later spitting silt-flavored water and wishing he’d thought to transmogrify something into a boat. Although Jak tried to aim for the other side of the river, the current was too strong and he was dragged downstream, his arms flailing and his legs kicking wildly. He watched helplessly as the river carried his backpack and provisions out of sight. Then Tobi was splashing toward him, swimming circles around Jak and chortling in his face. Before Jak knew it, the little goblin had shoved him onto a floating log and hauled him to shore.
“I won!
I won!” the raccoon goblin cried, hopping up and down. “This is the first time I’ve ever won anything!”
Jak groaned and tried to pull his body onto the shore. The river was still trying to drag him downstream, and he was exhausted as he finally worked his legs onto dry land. “You didn’t win anything,” Jak croaked, coughing up water. “I never accepted your bet.”
“Don’t try to get out of it now, Jak, my friend,” said Tobi, rubbing his hands together. “Don’t worry, I won’t make you carry me up the cliff, although . . .”
“Forget it,” Jak said as he heaved himself upright, water sluicing off his hair and clothes. “Thanks for helping me, but I . . .” He sighed and shook his head. The raccoon goblin had saved his life. “All right, I’ll carry you, but not until we’re on level ground.”
“Sounds good to me! Now, which path do you think we should take? I like this one!” The little goblin disappeared up the faint hint of a trail, chuckling to himself.
Jak shivered in the shade of the rock wall as he climbed. His sodden clothes clung to him, his wet shoes made footholds slippery, and he had to force his numb fingers to work. When he finally reached the top, he flung himself down on the dusty ground, exhausted and eager to soak up the sun’s warmth.
“There you are, Jak! What took you so long?” asked Tobi. “Why are you lying there like that? Time’s a-wasting! We’d better get moving.”
“Now you’re in a hurry,” grumbled Jak, covering his eyes with his arm. “I’ll get up in a minute. You have no idea how tired I am. All I need is a little rest . . .”
“Jak, I think something’s coming. It sounds pretty big, and I . . .” Tobi’s voice faded off to silence, but Jak was only half awake and didn’t notice.
The ground shook under Jak. He made a waving motion with his free hand and grumbled, “Leave me alone, Tobi. I said I’d get up in a minute.”
“What is it, Doreen?” said a deep, rumbling voice. “Is it human? Poke it and see what it does.”
“I’m not going to poke it, Curtis,” replied a softer voice. “I don’t think it’s human anyway. Look at the shape of its face and those cheekbones . . . I think it might be a cat goblin.”
Jak grunted and rolled onto his side. He was having the oddest dream, yet it seemed so real. The strange timbre of the voices, the brush of warm fur against the back of his arm . . . Jak’s eyes flew open, and he sat up so suddenly that his forehead smacked the nose of the stranger bending over him.
Jak rubbed his forehead. His eyes grew wide when the stranger patted her now-bleeding nose with a lion’s paw. She was a sphinx, one of the monsters that inhabited the desert, and, with the head of a human and the body of a lion, it was a creature that most people tried to avoid.
“Ow!” the sphinx exclaimed, giving Jak a reproachful glance with long-lashed eyes the color of the sky. “That hurt.”
“Sorry,” said Jak. “You surprised me.”
“What happened, Doreen?” growled the sphinx with the deep voice. Jak shrank back when he saw the craggy face of an older man with a ruff of lion fur. “Did the goblin bite you? Let me at it!”
“Calm down, Curtis! He didn’t bite me. I just bumped my nose, that’s all. I have to apologize,” Doreen said, turning to Jak. “He fell off a cliff this morning and hurt his shoulder. He’s not usually this grumpy.”
Thunk! A small stone hit the ground beside Jak, raising a puff of dust. He jumped to his feet and spun around. Another stone whizzed past him and hit Curtis. “Hey!” the sphinx roared. “Who threw that?”
A small figure popped up from behind a low hill and hurled another stone at the sphinxes. Jak seemed to be the only one who saw Tobi. Doreen yowled when the stone hit her.
“Stop it, Tobi!” Jak yelled.
“Run, Jak! I’ll hold them off while you get away!” shouted the raccoon goblin.
Doreen whimpered as she tried to lick the spot where the rock had hit her. Curtis frowned and shook his massive head. “No one hurts my mate without answering to me!” he roared. The sphinx bounded forward, but his leg went out from under him and he crumpled to the ground.
“I’ll take care of this!” said Jak, and launched himself toward the hill.
He had nearly reached the boulder that Tobi was hiding behind when the goblin stood up again, a rock ready in his hand. Seeing his friend, Tobi shouted, “Run, scoot, skedaddle, Jak!”
“Stop throwing rocks!” Jak shouted. “You’re just making them mad!”
Tobi was looking behind Jak when the little goblin’s eyes suddenly went wide and he turned and darted away. Jak glanced over his shoulder. Doreen was running toward them in great ground-eating bounds with her eyes narrowed and a snarl on her lips. He turned to run away himself, but before he’d moved, she’d passed him.
“Please don’t hurt him, Doreen!” Jak yelled after her even as he tried to catch up. “He thought he was helping me!”
Jak had never seen Tobi run so fast. The goblin scampered across the uneven terrain as if it were flat. He soon reached a plain covered with low-growing grass.
Doreen stopped before the grass began and sat down on her haunches. “I wouldn’t go there if I were you!” she called after Tobi, who had crossed onto the grassy plain.
Jak caught up with her a moment later and ran past her after his friend. “Stop!” Doreen shouted. He kept going, but a moment later the sphinx tackled him, knocking him to the ground so that he sprawled at the edge of the grass. “But Tobi . . . ,” he spluttered.
“Just ran into the Land of Forgetfulness,” said Doreen, pinning him down with a paw. “You can’t follow him there. If you do, you’ll both be lost. I like you, young goblin, so I had to knock you down. You remind me of my youngest cub, and I’d want someone to knock him down if he was about to do something foolish.”
“Tobi! Come back!” Jak yelled as loud as he could. When the little goblin kept running, Jak struggled to get free of the sphinx. “He’s my friend! I have to stop him!”
“Don’t you understand?” Doreen asked. “You go into the Land of Forgetfulness and you’ll lose your memory. You won’t remember why you’re there, and you’ll wander around aimlessly until you starve or something else that’s lost in there eats you.”
Jak stopped struggling. Doreen was right; he couldn’t go in there, at least not now. He said, “I don’t have time to waste. I have to get to Oberon’s forest as fast as I can. Do you think Tobi’ll be all right until I can come back to get him?”
They both looked to where the goblin was scampering across the grass. Jak realized that Tobi was no longer running away when his friend flopped down on the ground and began to roll over, then stopped and kicked his feet in the air. “He’s playing!” Jak said in surprise.
“It looks as if he’s already forgotten why he’s there,” said Doreen as she took her paw off Jak. “He should be fine for a while. He’s a fast runner and can probably get away from most predators. I wouldn’t leave him there for long, though.”
“I won’t,” Jak said, getting to his feet.
They walked together back to where Curtis was lying on his side, licking his injured shoulder. Jak crouched down beside him and took a good look at the injury; it reminded him of something he’d seen before. “I think Curtis pulled it out of the socket,” Jak said, glancing up at Doreen. “I once saw a cat goblin who did the same thing. My uncle fixed it by pulling it straight.”
Doreen drew in a quick breath and glanced from Jak to her mate. “Do you think you could help Curtis?”
Jak nodded slowly. “Maybe, but it’s going to hurt, so he’s going to have to promise not to snap at me or anything.”
“Oh, he’ll promise,” Doreen declared. “Won’t you, Curtis?”
“I’ll do anything if you can make this pain go away,” groaned the male sphinx.
“Hold him down, will you?” Jak asked.
“Gladly,” replied Doreen, and sat on her mate.
Curtis lay his head on the ground while Jak took hold of his paw. Dig
ging his feet into the rocky soil, Jak leaned back and pulled. Curtis’s head snapped around and his lips curled back when he snarled. Jak tugged with all his strength until he felt the shoulder pop back into place.
Curtis shuddered. Turning his head to whuff at his mate, he said, “You can get off me now.”
“Are you all right, Curtis?” asked Doreen as she stood up.
Her mate clambered to his feet and shook himself. “Much better,” he said, testing his weight on his shoulder. “Thank you, young goblin. You are a cat goblin, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am,” Jak replied. It didn’t seem the right time to explain that he was also half human.
The sphinxes were taller than he was, and Curtis’s muscles were particularly impressive, though now that he was no longer in pain, he looked friendly and kind. Glancing at Doreen, Jak smiled. He thought that their faces could have been those of a middle-aged couple in the human world and was surprised by how comfortable he felt around them.
“He reminds me of our Tomi,” Doreen told Curtis, then turned to Jak and said, “Tomi is our youngest. You never met a nicer sphinx.”
Curtis tilted his head to the side and studied Jak. “I see what you mean, Doreen. There is a resemblance. Not to be rude,” Curtis said to Jak, “but what exactly are you doing here? We don’t get many visitors, cat goblin or not.”
“He said he’s going to Oberon’s forest,” explained Doreen.
Jak nodded. “Is it very far from here?”
“It can be,” said Doreen. “Unless of course you know where you’re going.”
“What my mate means,” Curtis told him, “is that it would be easy to get lost on the way unless one had a guide. We can show you if you’d like. We don’t have any more pressing engagements today, do we, Doreen?”
“Not at all,” she said, smiling brightly.
The sphinxes took up position on either side of Jak as they walked. “So,” said Curtis. “What happened to the rock thrower?”
“He ran into the Land of Forgetfulness,” said Doreen.
“He didn’t really mean any harm,” Jak told them. “He’s my friend Tobi, and he was just trying to help me.”