“I am setting my timer,” he said. “I am giving you two hours. During that time your wizard and your ice maker will be in the square chamber alone. And it will start to get smaller. Smaller and smaller. I am sure you will change your mind when you think about Dr. Pi and Mr. Moon stuck in a marble room that is slowly shrinking.”
“I don’t believe you,” Lucy lied. “That room doesn’t shrink. You’re just trying to scare us. So go ahead. No water, no rectangles. That’s the deal.”
Square Man looked extremely annoyed. “You’ve seen the reach of my powers, and you still don’t believe me? Fine. Anyway, both you girls can think this over together. It’s well known that girls your age rely on each other for everything and get so close you can’t possibly make a decision alone. So, Red Eye, take them off, please.”
Red Eye carted them off to another room, and when he put them down, they suddenly found themselves standing not on the floor but in the floor. More precisely, they were both caught inside square holes about four feet deep. Their feet were fastened to the bottom of the holes, as if by an invisible force field. Their heads and shoulders stuck out—Lucy’s just barely.
“I’ll be back,” said Square Man. “Meanwhile, Red Eye will watch over you with the greatest devotion. Right, Red Eye?”
The lobster nodded and crawled close to the girls.
“We weren’t going to try to escape,” said Lucy.
“Well, just in case.”
“The way I see it, this is your time-out, not mine,” Lucy said.
“How’s that?”
“When you come back, you’ll tell me I can make rectangles out of water.”
Square Man sighed. “You are truly a determined little girl. See you soon.”
And with that, he was gone. After a minute of silence Flor turned to Lucy. “We’re stuck. This is hopeless. Dr. Pi’s a wizard, but he basically said he’s not allowed to help us. It’s our adventure.”
“Don’t worry. My dad will think of something.”
“Like what?”
“He can charm the shirt off your back,” said Lucy. “And he’s super strong. He can tear up railroad tracks with a rubber hammer. He’ll just talk his way out of this, and before you know it, he’ll be back to rescue us.”
Flor rolled her eyes. “Right. Well, until your dad saves us, what do you plan to do?”
“I don’t know. I need water.”
Flor shook her head. Lucy was clearly a bit stubborn. No use in arguing with her. “Why do you want water anyway?”
Lucy looked around her carefully. “Why do you think?” she whispered.
“I have no idea,” Flor whispered back, annoyed.
“When you freeze water,” Lucy whispered, “you get ice. Get it? Duh. Like, a thousand blocks of ice a day. . . . ”
“Yeah, I get it, really I do, but that’s at your dad’s ice factory. What can you make here?”
Flor tried to move as best she could, which was just to turn her head, since her body was stuck. But after a while her neck hurt, and there was nothing to look at but a big marble wall, so she turned back. Lucy looked embarrassed.
“I’m sorry,” Lucy said. “I just know, somehow I’d make it work.”
They were silent. Flor looked around her.
“A square peg in a round hole,” she said suddenly. “That’s the usual saying. So what’s a round peg in a square hole like this one?”
Lucy shook her head. “Don’t know.”
“Me neither, but it’s still a peg that doesn’t fit. It means you’re a misfit. A rebel. Maybe a bit of a troublemaker.”
“We always follow the rules on Planet Square,” warned Red Eye.
“Oh,” said Flor politely. “I thought you were napping.”
“So nobody here ever breaks the rules, lobster?” asked Lucy.
“Everything is uniform,” said Red Eye. “Squares are everywhere.”
“Why do you serve him anyway, Red Eye?” asked Flor.
The lobster was silent for a long time. Finally he said, “As he told you, he likes my eyes.”
“You mean the square tubes inside your eyes?”
The lobster nodded and said haltingly, “And if I leave, Square Man will destroy my eyes and I will be blind.”
“Free but blind,” sighed Flor. “That’s no good. Was this planet always square? Are there other square people on this planet?”
Red Eye bowed his big, scaled head. “There was a Time Before the Square, and now we are in the Time After the Square. In the Time Before the Square, we had water, of course. I lived in the water. We had more water than land. We had never seen a man before, in any shape or size.”
“What happened?” said both girls in unison.
“Square Man came and destroyed every thing with a curve. Every thing that flowed. Every wave. All the water dried up. All the fish died. The trees grew ugly. He let me live because I have special eyes, but I had to become his faithful servant.”
“You must miss the water terribly?” asked Flor softly.
“My scales itch and it’s hard to sleep.”
“You probably feel as dry as an old berry wrinkling up in the sun,” Lucy said.
“That sounds about right,” said Red Eye.
“I wish I could help you. Get you back to water, where you belong. Down in the deeps, where you can swim all day and your eyes can see like they were meant to. You don’t know why Square Man came here?”
“He goes from planet to planet, one after another, getting rid of curves,” said Red Eye. “He was born in the place where lines begin.”
“I don’t understand what that means,” said Lucy.
“I read about it in my book,” said Flor. “A place of great power. Every line in the entire universe begins there. He himself is made entirely of lines. He has no curves, inside or out.”
“Yeah, and he’s so small he has to stand up twice to cast a shadow,” Lucy added.
“This can’t be the end of the story,” Flor said. “Dr. Pi told me this was all going to happen, and it was up to you and me, Lucy, to fix it.”
“Well, I can’t think of anything. Right now I feel about as helpful as a back pocket on a shirt.”
“He said I had more to learn about blowing fire. I wonder if I can blow fire into something living. What would happen?”
“It would burn to bits and float away like a bunch of charred scraps of paper,” said Lucy. “Or you’d cook someone to death.”
“You and your crazy imagination,” Flor laughed. “It’s not fire like on your stove or in your fireplace. It’s a kind of cosmic fire. It keeps everything alive. What would happen if I blew fire into Red Eye, for instance?”
“Don’t blow it into Red Eye,” said Lucy. “Blow it into me.”
“Are you serious?”
“Definitely.”
“And what if the fire does something weird, like blast you into a thousand fragments? I’m sure your dad would love me for that.”
“Well, just blow a little, then, and see what happens. I’m not scared. I’m ready for the fire!”
Flor frowned. “The thing is, I have to call the winds of the four directions. Last time I did it, we all held hands and went around in a circle, chanting. But here I’m completely stuck in this stupid square hole.”
Red Eye had been listening carefully all this time.
“How long does it take to blow this fire?” he asked.
“A minute or two,” said Flor.
“I can let you out for one minute.”
“You can?”
“There’s a switch on the wall that releases the magnet holding your feet. But if you can’t do this really fast,” he warned, “I have to put you right back.”
Flor gulped. She looked at Lucy. “You’re sure, Pipsqueak?”
“As sure as a month of Sundays. As sure as a new boat before it gets wet. I am as sure as a bullfrog with wings. As totally and absolutely, completely and forever sure as . . . ”
“Okay, okay!”
<
br /> And Flor nodded to Red Eye, who clacked across the floor and quietly pulled the switch.
“You’re both free now,” he said.
The girls climbed out of their holes. Flor fished her magic key out of her pocket, turning a small knob and removing a tiny scroll.
“It says to light the cosmic fire, everybody must hold hands, facing outward. Red Eye and Lucy, that’s you. Red Eye, be gentle with your claws, okay? Everybody ready? We’ve got to turn to the east, north, west, and south. We’re calling the winds of the four directions. The winds will start blowing. And we have to repeat this magic phrase: Eadem mutata resurgo semperdem.”
“Those words are even uglier than the ones on my key!” Lucy protested. “They’ll sound like stones in my mouth.”
“They’re in Latin, just like yours. And Latin is not ugly, just different.”
“What do they mean?”
“They mean, ‘I shall arise the same, though changed.’ The fire will change you. It’s like you’re rising up out of your old self into a new self. And yet, you are still the same person, deep down. Anyway, the winds will blow until the fire appears. Are you both ready?”
“This is going to make me feel like an idiot,” Lucy complained. “Like a goofball.”
“Ready or not?”
“Well, I guess nobody else is here to see, so . . . okay. I’m ready.”
“Ready,” said the lobster, gently taking Flor’s and Lucy’s hands in each of his pincered claws.
“Ready,” said Lucy.
And so they joined hands, each facing outward, repeating the strange words as they turned in a circle and called the winds of the four directions. And it was just like the first time Flor had done it—a pure, blazing happiness flowed like current from their hearts through their hands and back to their hearts. The huge marble emporium grew warm and seemed to fill with light. They danced like one creature. Round and round, faster and faster, dancing and singing, “Eadem mutata resurgo semperdem. Eadem mutata resurgo semperdem. Eadem mutata resurgo semperdem.”
And then the fire appeared. A small flame in the center of the circle. The flame became a heavenly fire, a pale fire, gold and white. The fire rose up in long licks. Flor let go of the others’ hands. The power was in her alone now. Once again, she knew what she had to do. She turned to Lucy and blew with all her might.
LUCY CATCHES A MOST UNUSUAL HORSE
Holy cow,” Flor breathed.
“Double holy cow and add a holy wow,” said Lucy, looking down upon herself from a great height. The bottom half of her body had transformed itself. Instead of two legs she had four. Instead of feet she had hooves. “I’m half horse. Look at me. All white.”
She switched her tail.
“A mighty fine creature,” agreed Flor, gazing up at Lucy’s head. “Were you by any chance thinking about horses when I blew?”
“I’m always thinking about horses. Seeing as I’m going to be a world-famous horse rustler.”
“You know you’re a centaur, don’t you?” Flor said.
“What’s a centaur?”
“It’s a legendary creature that’s half horse and half human. From the hips down, you’re simply all horse.”
“I have this unbearable urge to gallop.” She stomped on the floor. “I’m going to tear up the halls of this palace. I’m going to smash doors with these hooves.”
“Ahem.”
It was the lobster.
“Flor,” said Red Eye.
“What?”
“Could you blow me some fire too?”
If the lobster wasn’t so scaly, Flor would have said he was blushing. “Why, certainly.” She hesitated. “Hold hands, everybody. And Red Eye, think hard about what you want to be most, while I blow.”
A few minutes later, as Flor blew the fire at Red Eye, he shriveled up to nothing, and then out of his crumpled scales stepped a large, long-legged bird, all white, with great, enormous wings and a long, thin beak.
“My gosh. A snowy egret,” said Flor.
“What’s a snowy egret?” asked Lucy.
“I’ve seen them in Central Park in Manhattan,” explained Flor. “We would take rowboats onto the lake, and watch the egrets walk like ballet dancers in the marshes.”
Red Eye said, “They used to soar in the sky in the Time Before the Square. They would dive into the water to catch fish. I always wished I could be like them.”
“Can I touch your feathers?” asked Flor.
He nodded.
“They’re so soft. Not like scales at all.”
“Yes,” he said shyly.
“And your eyes? The squares are all gone. Does the world look different?”
“Very different. It’s strange and wonderful.”
“Sheesh, I wish I could blow fire into myself,” said Flor. “But I guess nobody can do that.”
Then they heard a familiar, if distant, voice.
“One, two, three, four!”
“Just in time,” said Red Eye.
“Nevermore and nevermore! Hello, girls, I’m back. I gave that square chamber a little squeeze. Just a little one. Lines and angles, let’s unite—”
Square Man stopped cold. He stared first at Lucy the centaur, then at the snowy egret, and finally at Flor, who was still pretty much herself, though her face was flushed with a new courage.
“Wh-what have we got here?” he stuttered.
“Transformation,” said Flor.
“The end of squares,” said Lucy.
“Girl power,” Flor added.
“The revenge of the round,” said Lucy, giggling.
Red Eye lifted into flight and soared in smooth circles around the marble emporium.
“See him fly?” said Flor. “Very un-square of him. Then again, you got rid of all the birds here, because birds don’t fly in rectangles.”
“They fly round and round,” Lucy added. She could see Square Man was red with fury. His tiny eyes welled up with tears.
“How dare you—,” spluttered Square Man. “How dare you joke about squares and circles! Laughing at me again, like they all do. I have been to two hundred planets this year alone, and slapped the Rule of the Square upon them all! And just like you, they all laughed at me first.” He looked around him. “Where is Red Eye? What have you done to Red Eye?”
“He’s an egret now,” said Flor calmly.
Square Man stared at the white bird. “That can’t be Red Eye.”
“It is,” said Lucy.
Square Man squinted.
“I simply don’t believe it. I don’t know where that bird came from.”
“I am truly Red Eye, just transformed,” the snowy egret said, luxuriously stretching his wings.
“Red Eye was devoted to me. He was there by my side day and night. You are a strange bird who could not possibly be my lobster.”
“You thought I was devoted. I was only lost and alone,” said Red Eye. “I hated every minute I served you. I hated being on dry land. You gave me no other choice. You even threatened to blind me.”
“I wasn’t really going to do it,” said Square Man.
“Then why did you try to scare me?”
“I was afraid at first, that maybe . . . you’d run off.”
“To where? You took away all the water.”
Square Man shrugged and turned now to Lucy. “Rectangles?”
“Water?” she retorted.
“No. Not water. There is no water here.”
“Who said we have to do it here?”
“Where do you expect to do it?”
“At the ice factory, naturally.”
“The rectangles need to be here on Planet Square, where I can store them safely and use them to unwind spirals when I need to.”
“No deal.”
And with that, Lucy got up and stomped her forelegs, and when she stomped her forelegs, she suddenly remembered she was no longer a pipsqueak, the shortest girl in her class, the tiniest future horse rustler in the world.
She
was a mythical creature.
“Let’s go!” she said. “Flor, get on Red Eye’s back. Red Eye, fly! Take us straight to the square chamber!”
“Nevermore!” Square Man shouted. “Nevermore! Nevermore! Nevermore!”
But they didn’t stop to listen.
“All the windows will now be walls! Done! The whole place is a prison. There is no light anywhere. It’s black as night. Nobody can stop me. So fly wherever you want. You are flying to your doom!”
Red Eye was soaring down long, cavernous stone halls with Flor clinging to his back.
“Who cares if the windows are walls. I know these halls by heart, Lucy,” called Red Eye. “I don’t need any light. Just follow me.”
And Lucy did, galloping with a speed and power she had never in her life imagined she could feel. She felt the impact of the stone floor in thrilling shivers through her body each time her hooves hit the ground and lifted off it. She knew she could outrun anybody, and that no creature, wild or human, would ever be able to catch her.
A MOST UNUSUAL DRESS
It’s just a little setback,” Lucy said.
“I don’t understand,” Red Eye murmured, feeling along the wall once again with his wing. “This was exactly where the square chamber was. This is where we were all standing just two hours ago.”
“Could he have moved it?”
“I suppose. Squares always do his bidding.”
“I hope he didn’t shrink it down to nothing and—” Flor couldn’t finish the thought.
“How are we going to find them?” said Lucy. “It is blacker than a crow on a moonless night.”
The bird, the centaur, and the ten-year-old Brooklyn girl were silent, listening to each other breathe.
“We don’t have much time,” Lucy said finally. “He’s going to show up again, no doubt about that.”
“I’m going to stay here,” said Flor, sliding down against the wall and hugging her knees. “I’m going to wait for Dr. Pi.”
“What does that mean?”
“I need to be sure he’s safe,” she said stubbornly. “I’m going to wait here until he finds me or I find him.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“I have no clue.”
The Golden Rectangle Page 5