Maddie Shirkoff: World of Odds

by Danit Knishinsky

  Finally, he blurted out, “I knew it!”

  Maddie looked up, her eyes were red and splotchy, but she didn’t care, “What?” she asked, face the same color as her eyes.

  “I know how to get out! You guys! Listen up!” Ragon said quietly. Samara and Maddie came to listen. They agreed to fill Brido in once he had woken up.

  “So, what do you plan to do? This guy can’t be too hard to beat but…the family?” Maddie shuddered to think about it.

  “See the guard?” Ragon asked. The two girls nodded, “He’s in a deep sleep. He hasn’t woken up from any noise. He is already beaten if you think about it.”

  “Yes…but he’s really far away…how would we even get to him?”

  “We’ll wake him up. He will walk over here, and I will distract him. Once he is over here, you need to grab his keys. I watched him when he transitioned us from the last guards. He isn’t very bright. By the time we remove his keys, he will have run upstairs to tell the king. We will have just enough time to break open this cage.”

  “That will never work!” Samara cried.

  “Give it a chance, Samara, otherwise, how else do you plan on leaving this place?”

  “It-it’s just a dumb plan. The guard is going to be smart, hold us back, and guess the plan right away.”

  “Samara,” Ragon began, “give it a chance. If it doesn’t work, do whatever you want to me. But if it does work, well at least just try having some hope. Otherwise, we won’t get out of here…”

  “Fine,” Samara grumped, reluctantly agreeing.

  “Alright…then what?” Maddie asked, trying to break the awkward tension that filled the room.

  “Then, we grab all the potions and bottles. I noticed that they left them on the dining table. Probably planning to do something with them, so we will have to act fast. Once we have done that, we should be good to go.”

  Maddie shouted to the lazily sleeping guard, “Excuse me? Excuse me?” no answer, “EXCUSE ME!” she yelled loudly. The guard, startled by the noise, suddenly opened his eyes.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “You don’t mind coming over here, do you?”

  “Well…I’m nah s’posed to. But I guess I could come for a l’ttle…”

  “Look at me. And please, don’t look at Ragon.” Maddie asked, knowing the guard’s lack of brain cells.

  “Mmk. I won’t.” Man, this guy is stupider than he lets on, Maddie thought with a grunt. Maddie was grateful, however, since he seemed to be the only guard down in the vast dungeons.

  When the guard approached the cell, Ragon abruptly grabbed the guard by his shirt collar and snatched the keys around the guard’s belt.

  “Got ‘em!” Ragon practically yelled. Samara shushed him angrily. Ragon snatched the guard’s keys from his hands.

  “Hey! Y’all took my keys! Can I have ‘em back please?” the guard asked. Samara rolled her eyes and laughed coldly.

  “In your dreams, buddy. Right now, I have an appointment with FREEDOM!” Samara said happily. The guard ran, just as Ragon had predicted, up the stairs, yelling for the king.

  “Ok. Now, we have to open the cage. Maddie, your hands are small enough. Take the key and open the door from the other side,” Ragon directed her. Brido began to wake.

  “I have a headache…” he moaned.

  “I know. For now, follow our lead. We will take care of you once we are out of here.”

  “Ok,” Brido agreed although he didn’t know what was happening or what he agreed to. He wasn’t too pleased with the situation, but he could hold his pain inside long enough to at least escape the castle. Because at the moment, the Royalis castle was enemy territory. The door swung open. Maddie cried out in delight.

  “Run!” Samara cried, “I hear a voice!” there was indeed a voice. Many of them. And they were getting closer every second the group stood there in the same place.

  “Run! Follow the plan!” Ragon cried. The group took off running up the narrow staircase, occasionally ramming into one another (“Ouch!” Samara had cried when Maddie had accidentally smacked her in the arm.) They ran into the hallway.

  There, stood four beefy guards. Maddie was flexible. She could do a really high, pretty kicks for ballet and skating. In this case, it had to be high, pretty, and painful. Maddie kicked one of the guards in the face, knocking him out cold. Samara punched another guard in the groin. The guard fell to the floor. two down. Two to go. Ragon was going to be attacked from both sides. Left and right. As the guards ran towards him, Ragon stepped back, allowing the guards to run into each other instead.

  “We’re doing great!” Samara said, high-fiving Maddie.

  “Yeah, we are!” Maddie said with a grin. The group ran down the hall and into the dining room. Ragon had been right. Everything Maddie had taken was left on the table. Nobody seemed to be in the room. Maddie scooped up the ingredients and the key (why they had left everything there, unwatched, confused Maddie) and put them in her backpack, which had been left on the chair in which she sat.

  “Where is Sparky?” Brido asked. Maddie’s face fell.

  “The king has him,” she replied, on the verge of tears.

  “…And you may not ever find him!” a voice bellowed. It belonged to the king.

  “Ok. Here is what to do. Samara, Brido, and I will be hiding under the table. The tablecloth is long, so nobody will suspect us. Maddie, you will run and grab Sparky. The king is coming into this room, so nobody is watching the dog. I will throw this croissant I found on the table. It will make a nice distraction. And yes, I could only find this croissant if that is what you are going to ask.”

  As if on cue, the king walked into the room, and sure enough, behind him, in the kitchen, sat Sparky, in a crate. Ragon threw the croissant, and Maddie took off running towards the other room.

  “Hurry!” Ragon whisper-yelled. The king stared at the croissant then looked at the table. Maddie was opening the crate. The king began walking towards the table…Maddie grabbed Sparky! The king began to lift the tablecloth…magic already swirling in his hand…

  Maddie quickly hid under the table with the others, clutching Sparky in her arms.

  “Why-why would you come back here?!” Samara whisper-yelled to Maddie.

  “We can still go through with the plan!” Maddie replied nervously.

  “Oh no…” Ragon whimpered, sounding exactly like Sparky. The king shot a ball of magic under the table, almost hitting every member of the group. Another ball shot right afterwards, under the table, hitting Maddie in the chest.

  Maddie tried her best not to make a sound and ignore the pain now forming in her chest. The king began to speak, “I know you are all under there,” he said with an evil smile, “but I’ll wait…after all, I have all I need,” he said, brushing the magic book with his fingers.

  Maddie felt the burning in her heart, and she collapsed. Her head would have hit the hard floor if Samara hadn’t caught her.

  “You guys,” Maddie could hear the panic creeping into Samara’s tough voice, “something is wrong with Maddie!”

  The king stood near the table, chuckling. He knew they were under the table and he didn’t seem to care.

  “The plan,” Maddie managed to say, her breaths becoming shorter.

  “Ok. Let’s go!” Samara cried. Samara rose out from under the table, swiftly pushing the king back, causing him to topple over. Maddie grabbed the book and the magical ingredients. She tried her best to follow the group. The group ran to the entry doors of the castle where they reached the gates of the king and queen's land. Maddie hoped that the key she had stolen was would be of any benefit. After all, the key may have worked with the door, but that did not mean it would work with anything else. Maddie silently prayed inside her head, hoping the key would work.

  “Well don’t just stand there!” Samara cried as Maddie fumbled with the key, “put it in already!” Samara snatched the key out of Maddie’s hand and shoved it into the gate’s keyhole, and it opened!
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  Maddie felt herself charge through the royal garden, not taking a second to look around her.

  “Seize them!” shrieked the voice of a female. Queen Rosa. She had changed. She no longer wore a ball gown but instead, a beautiful outfit that came with leggings and a poofy shirt, one that reminded Maddie of medieval times. To be honest, this whole word reminded Maddie of medieval times. The Queen’s hair was done up in a braid, leading down to a ponytail. The beautiful Dutch braid fit her perfectly. But, Maddie did not have time to gawk at her beauty and attire. The queen was not here to receive compliments.

  The group hustled, avoiding guards as much as possible. The chase seemed to go on forever. Maddie, being a child with a low attention span, seemed to have forgotten about the chase for a minute, since she stopped by a tree to catch her breath.

  “What are you-RUN!” before Ragon could finish his sentence, he turned around and shoved Maddie forward.

  “Go,” Samara urged them, “and Maddie, don’t think I’m done with you!” she growled. The guards were right behind them. The rest of the night had been a blur. There was a lot of shouting and ‘Left! Right!’. Maddie had tried her best to run, occasionally giving in to the pain in her chest from the magic, but she never stopped completely.

  Maddie felt herself getting dizzy, the world starting to fade to black. She could hear the screams and shouts of the townspeople, and wondered: what could possibly be going on? She thought of Kaya, the little girl whose story got her into this mess. Then again, how could she blame Kaya when it was her choice to go looking for the magical ingredients in the first place?

  Guards followed the group, weapons ready. Sparky was unaware of what was going on. He simply began to rest his head against Maddie’s shoulder.

  “No no no no…come on little guy,” she said as she stopped to pet his head, “stay conscious for me.”

  Ragon stopped to look at Sparky, “Give him to me. You are in no condition to hold him,” he said sternly.

  “I guess that’s true,” she began, “don’t let him doze off.”

  Ragon gave a nod and picked up the tiny puppy from his owner. Sparky was starting to fall asleep, but Ragon began to move the pup’s head in an attempt to keep the dog awake.

  They had been chased for a long time but by night fall, the royal guards had given up and returned to the castle. The goblins had set up a nice fire with tree bark they picked up in the area in order to not only protect themselves from monsters by using light, but to also keep themselves warm because in this place, a quick night time chill set in.

  “Look guys,” Maddie said through shivers and tears, “I had no clue he would find out. I-I just wanted to save Sparky,” she cried. The pain in her chest seemed to relax, which was a relief since that meant the spell was just a shock but nothing long term to be concerned about.

  “Oh, Maddie. I understand that this dog means so much to you. But you also need to think about the fact that there were others with you. You stole from royalty. And sometimes, you forget, you will be leaving, never having to worry about this world again. But us? We stay. And now what do we do? We wanted a good life, not something like THIS. And…the king and queen were gracious enough to allow us to stay in THEIR castle, and let’s be honest, you stole their stuff and destroyed the trust of everyone. I mean, look around,” Ragon quietly remarked as he took a sip of warm tea.

  This tea had been created with the leaves of the mint plants that surrounded them. Maddie used the bark to prepare a small-sized cup, in which she poured in the lake water. After, she heated it up with the mint leaves she found and voilà!

  But Maddie was immediately brought back to reality. After all, you can’t just remind yourself about making tea and expect everything to be perfect when you come back to the world again.

  Maddie turned to see high grass, strange howls, and man-eating plants just a few feet away. She proceeded to look at the tattered green tent in which they were staying in. “Not to be mean but if you hadn’t gone around snooping, we would still be in lovely conditions,” Samara said, coldly. Maddie looked down at her feet, ashamed of herself. The area around them was scary. If it wasn’t for Ragon, one of the man-eating plants would have chewed her up.

  Maddie recalled the memory. They had been walking a long time. They found a river and a clustered group of edible plants nearby, so they figured they would set up a camp with what they had. Apparently, Samara had brought blankets at the beginning of the trip. The same thin and dusty ones from the cave. They each set up a blanket on the floor. No pillow. Just a blanket. When Maddie got hungry, she had told the group she was going to search for some food. She found the ingredients to make the tea, and she was about to grab a juicy looking plant when someone yelled, “Don’t! Those are Fang Plants! You need to be careful around those! They might not be able to move, but if you get to close, THEY WILL EAT YOU UP FASTER THAN YOU CAN SAY ‘I HATE PLANTS.’ So be careful,” Ragon warned, “Just pick the apples out of this tree.”

  “Isn’t it alive?” she had asked, remembering the encounter with the wise and grumpy tree.

  “Some, yes. This one technically, no. But yes. As you know trees have cells-”

  “Shut up, please,” Maddie begged. Maddie was relieved that this tree wouldn’t yell at her like the last one. She clearly showed her relief since it made Ragon chuckle.

  “Um, Maddie. I just asked you a question. Hello. Can you hear me?” Samara asked, annoyed at the lack of response. Her cold voice brought Maddie out of her memory.

  “Sorry. I was just recollecting my thoughts.”

  “Well, that’s nice. I don’t really care. Anyway, since we are here, what did you steal from the family? I didn’t get the chance to look. We will have to make amends eventually though…”

  “Well, I did steal a book of magic and took a few magical ingredients,” she said hoarsely. Samara bolted up.

  “No way!” Samara went to snatch the bag, but Maddie stopped her, “I thought you only stole ingredients!”

  “Wait, I want my necklace back,” Maddie said.

  “What for?” Samara asked suspiciously. Maddie had stayed up all night examining the key after waking up ten minute after having gone to bed. Turned out, the key she stole from the castle was the twin to her grandfather’s key (she had figured this out earlier on). To Maddie, the only useful information in the book was if these two keys were put together using certain ingredients, they would combine to make such a powerful magic that could be used to open an important door. Sadly, the book didn't say which door was part of the legend. Also, it would take all the magic Maddie had stolen.

  “Look, it is technically mine and I don’t need to always tell you,” Maddie said this partially out of anger; this was due to the disrespect doled out by Samara when Maddie only wanted to know what was in the trapdoor. Samara agreed and handed Maddie the necklace that had been in her coat pocket. Maddie handed Samara the book and then crawled to the opposite end of the campsite, where nobody could see what she was doing.

  She took out the homemade teacup and started to mix the ingredients together. The recipe required the following:

  RECIPE FOR THE TWIN KEY GLUE

  - Syrup from the Maple trees of the

  Woodland civilization

  - Salt from the desert of Cacara

  - Spices from the River Valley civilizations

  - And a Quartz-Diamond mix from Enchanted

  - Acid from Lupia

  Maddie had to admit, it was cool hearing the names of other kingdoms in this strange world. After all, these odd and out of place names felt like a whole different area that wasn’t even near Enchanted. Maddie couldn’t help but think of home, the normal name that made her think, a country, not a kingdom. Maddie dragged her self reluctantly out of her thoughts of home, and proceeded to make her potion.

  Although it was her entire supply, Maddie felt that if she had the ingredients…why not? As Maddie poured and blended each ingredient, she became more excited. Once she finished, she couldn
't wait to open that door if she found it. Maddie got ready to pour the last ingredient in…acid. None of the ingredients were the normal kind you would think of. They all seemed to be magical versions of it. After they’re all melted together, it will immediately be transformed into a super glue tube with the magic glue inside. Maddie poured in the acid and watched in awe as the mixture turned into a tube filled with glue so strong that it could glue an elephant to another elephant and keep it stuck there!

  Maddie grabbed the two keys and held them together. They immediately latched onto each other becoming a different shape. The shape formed the head of a dog. But, what could that mean? Maddie was too tired to think anymore so she headed outside and grabbed the book from Samara, while hiding the key in her backpack. Maddie took the cup and placed it in her backpack as well, just in case she needed to prepare another potion. In an instant, Maddie fell asleep. Outside however, the howls of the animals kept the night loud and noisy while the land waited to be explored the next morning.

  Chapter 10

  Queen Lilith’s Palace

  Maddie watched as the strange birds made their calls to one another. The glare of the sun hit her eyes with a stunning force that made her want to crawl back into bed and sleep more. After all, when you spend some time in a dark dungeon, and the first form of light you see is the moon…the sun does not greet you very well.

  Maddie wanted to believe there was nothing more to do in this odd world. That she would have the ability to go home, see her parents and sister, and hopefully visit some friends. She was quietly thinking of what had just happened when Samara stepped into the homemade tent Maddie had made out of sticks.

  “You know, it would be nice if you weren't so boring and came out to talk every once in a while,” Samara grumped.