The Last Rabbit

by Shelley Moore Thomas

  I supposed I should change into a girl. It might be easier to find Caragh if I could walk on my own. Not to mention, I didn’t want to be threatened with a stew pot. I leaped from the Boy’s arms to find someplace a little less public. I dashed behind some bushes and thought hard about changing into a girl, about who I was before. There really couldn’t have been more to it than that, could there? The Boy had taken me to my destiny (finding my sister), and now I wanted to be a girl again. Easy peasy.

  But something was wrong. I remained just me.

  “Change your mind?” asked the Boy when I returned after a few minutes.

  I nodded. No sense in worrying him.

  “Just as well,” he said.

  No one looked familiar to the Boy. He kept looking for Maxine the Bearded Lady, but she wasn’t there.

  What if Caragh had been recaptured? What if something had happened to her while she was still a rabbit? What if she hadn’t become human again?

  In those few minutes, I felt a thousand kinds of awful. Caragh had never liked being a rabbit. Not at all. And it was all my fault.

  I said little prayers under my breath, hoping she was okay.

  We made our way to the tent, taking one of the few seats left high up in the risers. As the Boy was tucking me back inside his shirt, an amazingly tall woman made her way to the center of the ring.

  “Maxine!” I gasped. She was just like I had pictured her, except beardless.

  Maxine welcomed the crowd and bowed with a flourish, the tails of her coat flapping behind her.

  The Boy raced down the bleacher steps, nearly slamming into Maxine as she stepped out of the ring.

  She looked at the Boy and scolded, “Watch yourself, young man.”

  She looked at me and gasped. She cocked her head from one side to the other, her eyes never leaving me. “You look very familiar…but…no.”

  Slowly her gazed shifted to the Boy, and she gasped again.

  The Boy bowed respectfully. “Pardon me. It has been a while since I was here. Things have changed.”

  “Indeed,” said Maxine, a bit flustered. Then she regained herself and spread her arms wide. “Welcome to my circus.”

  She led us out of the tent and over to a large poster, pointing to it with her ringmaster’s whip.

  MADAME MAXINE’S CIRCUS:

  COME AND BE AMAZED!

  FELIX THE MAGNIFICENT

  WILL ASTOUND YOU!

  FERNANDO THE LLAMA

  WILL INSPIRE YOU!

  THE FELINE AVIATION SOCIETY

  WILL LIFT YOUR SPIRITS!

  CARAGH THE GLORIOUS

  WILL BLOW YOU AWAY!

  Caragh the Glorious. She was here! My little rabbit heart thumped in my chest. The first stop on my journey to complete my mission was going to be successful. I puffed up a little. Maybe this wouldn’t be so hard.

  But what did she do that blew the audience away?

  “So, the circus is yours now?” the Boy asked Maxine.

  “This is a completely different circus altogether. I’m the ringmaster.”

  “But Felix, he was the marmot, right?” the Boy asked. “How is it that he’s with you?”

  Maxine chuckled. “Felix, Fernando, and the cats all came to me because I’m a better boss and I pay them well. Besides, it’s more fun working for Maxine. Instead of trying to find the right circus, Caragh and I created one.”

  “She’s here?” I said.

  “This rabbit talks?” Maxine asked.

  “You can hear her?” the Boy asked.

  Maxine nodded.

  “Is she Caragh’s sister?” Maxine asked.

  It was my turn to nod.

  Maxine led us back into the tent. “I’m sure you want to see her, and you will, but first, she must do her two o’clock show.”

  Instead of sending us back up the bleachers, she led us to a fancy roped-off section that had seats with cushioned backs. “My private box seats. Enjoy. And, little one, you are safe here. No one will harm you.”

  I climbed out of the Boy’s shirt and took the seat beside him. We watched as the marmot rode on the llama and as the cats swung on the trapeze—they had moved on from tightrope walking.

  Then Madame Maxine went back to the center of the ring and called out, “Now we have come to what you have all been waiting for. Caragh the Human Cannonball!”

  The crowd went wild, and I felt sick to my stomach.

  Across the purple tent, I saw her. She was a girl again, tall and willowy, in sparkling silver sequins. Her hair was in golden brown waves around her head. Very grown-up. She sashayed from the tent opening to the enormous cannon that had been wheeled in by two gentlemen in tuxedoes. She was waving confidently, like she’d been shot out of a cannon a millions times.

  Nervously I tapped the Boy. “We can’t let her do this.”

  Annoyed, he whispered, “How can we stop her?”

  “I could scamper out, create a commotion, you could grab her, and we run away.” It wasn’t my best plan, but I’d had worse.

  “Albie, I can’t do that.”

  “Why not?”

  Madame Maxine had appeared next to the Boy with a box of popcorn. “Oh, you’ll want some of this. It’s my own secret recipe. Nothing makes you hungry for popcorn like watching some cannonballing.”

  Absently the Boy took a handful and stuffed it in his mouth.

  “Albie, I can’t because this is her choice, not mine. Remember what I said about choosing destiny? Caragh has chosen hers.”

  “It’s DANGEROUS!” I said, causing several people to turn around. A talking rabbit was not something people expected to see, even at a circus. Flustered, the Boy placed the popcorn box in front of me, and I made myself small.

  Madam Maxine recovered for him quickly. “Of course, this IS dangerous, young man! Only the brave Caragh can master the cannon.”

  Caragh was climbing up the side of the giant cannon now.

  I couldn’t let her do it.

  I slunk down between the fancy box seats and the ground. The Boy hadn’t noticed. But he would. I’d have to be fast. I raced through the crowd and across the giant ring. Caragh was at the top of the cannon, ready to lower herself in.

  She saw me.

  Her head tilted to one side.

  Then the other.

  She sniffed the air.

  “Albie?”

  I nodded.

  She climbed down the side of the cannon. There were boos from the crowd, who obviously wanted to see her explode across the sky. “Albie,” she said as she hugged me.

  As best as I could, I hugged her back.

  She scooped me up into her arms, then lifted me over her head.

  The crowd cheered.

  “Caragh! Put me down!” I squeaked.

  But she just shook her head and started back up the ladder with me under her arm.

  “Quit squirming, Albie. It’ll be fun. And besides, you deserve this.”

  She was seriously going to shoot me out of the cannon with her!

  “Caragh! No!”

  But my rabbit voice wasn’t nearly loud enough to be heard over the crowd. I looked to see if the Boy had any idea what was going on.

  His head was turned to Maxine, and they were both examining a kernel of popcorn. They had no idea my life was about to end.

  “Caragh! I came to stop you from this nonsense!”

  “Oh, listen to you, wild little Albie. Being so protective! Do you realize how funny this is, you being the scared and nervous one?”

  We were now at the top of the cannon. Caragh was climbing inside. I wanted to scream, but my scream would have been puny.

  Once we were inside the cannon, Caragh did something strange.

  She transformed into a rabbit!

  “It takes much less explosive to shoot a rabbit across the tent. And then on the other side, I’ll reappear. It’s amazingly spectacular.”

  “No, Caragh! I’m supposed to be saving you. The Boy and I came from Hybrasil to save you!�
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  “The Boy is here?”

  “Ten…nine…eight…seven…” Maxine led the countdown.

  “What is she doing?” I cried.

  “Six…five…four…”

  “What do you think? Now hold on to me. And really, Albie, after all you put me through, you can consider this payback.” She was holding me tightly with her rabbit paws, nearly squeezing me to death.

  “Three…two…one!”

  The sound of a cannon going off when you are inside is so loud, your teeth chatter. And then it’s so loud that it’s silent. But you don’t even care because you’re flying.

  I’ve never flown before. My father never took us up in his plane because we were too little, and then he was at war.

  There is nothing like flying. Nothing at all.

  We zoomed across the tent, skimming the ropes and poles that held it in place. It felt like we were in the air a thousand years. Spinning, swirling, twirling. I was glad I hadn’t eaten much before, because even though I was completely exhilarated, I was also a little sick to my stomach. And no one wants to be under a shower of regurgitated carrots.

  I think people were oohing and aahing and cheering, but I couldn’t hear it. My wonderful rabbit ears were completely nonfunctional.

  Then we were falling.

  And we were bouncing, up and down, in a big net, far behind the crowd. On the third bounce, Caragh was back to being Caragh again.

  She walked over and lifted me into the air. The audience was on their feet.

  I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time, which is probably what I did.

  My big sister was holding me, and people were cheering.

  My heart was lighter than I’d ever felt it.

  Later, after the show, the Boy, Maxine, Caragh, and I sat around a small table in Maxine’s tent. She had made vegetable stew and placed a bowl in front of me. I licked at it hungrily.

  I was starting to think my plan would work. But to get it off the ground, I’d need my sister’s support.

  “Well, I have to say, Albie, you did great for your first show. Are you planning to stay with us, then?” Caragh’s voice was tentative, like she wasn’t sure what she wanted the answer to be.

  “No,” the Boy and I said at the same time.

  He shrugged sheepishly. He knew this was my decision. Not his.

  “You know,” Caragh continued, between bites of stew, “if you changed into a girl, then a rabbit for the cannonball part, like I do, and then back to a girl, there would be no stopping us. We’d be the most famous cannonball sisters in the land.”

  “You’re not supposed to be able to do that. It’s not possible,” said the Boy.

  “What’s not possible?” asked Caragh.

  “Change back and forth, from a rabbit and back again to a girl.”

  “Well, it seems like you don’t quite know everything, do you?” said Caragh sassily.

  “I don’t want to be a cannonball sister. It’s not my destiny,” I said, interrupting whatever was going on between my sister and the Boy.

  She nodded, then tore off a chunk of bread, offering a bit to me as well, but I refused. Maxine and the Boy pretended that their stew bowls held the most amazingly wonderful things in the entire world. They were so polite, it was quite annoying.

  “And what is your destiny, Albie?” Caragh asked.

  The Boy’s eating had slowed down considerably. He was interested in the answer, too.

  “My destiny is to gather my sisters and go to our home in Cork. And I’m planning on bringing the Magician there before Hybrasil sinks.”

  Caragh was quiet.

  The Boy choked on his stew.

  “You could move your circus there,” I said.

  “Moving a whole life isn’t that easy, Albie,” Caragh cautioned. But she was thinking about it, I could tell.

  “Perhaps Cork doesn’t have a circus?” said Madame Maxine, already warming to the idea. “I’ve always heard wonderful things about Cork.”

  “I’m not sure if the whole circus can actually move to Cork,” the Boy whispered to me. “It might be difficult to manage. We’d have to use the boat and make many trips.”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” I said, hating the fact that I’d used the word bridge, because it made me think of the stick bridge and every mistake I’d ever made.

  And the Howler.

  I listened for it again. Nothing. Maybe I’d imagined that it followed me here.

  Caragh still seemed a little hesitant.

  “It’s the Magician,” she said. “I can’t believe he’d want to come and live with us. Don’t you remember how unpleasant he was when we first got there? It wasn’t until we turned into rabbits that he gave us the time of day. Maybe it’s best if he just—”

  “If he just what?” I asked. “Sinks with the island? No. No one gets left behind. I know he was a cranky old man when we came. But he changed. When we became rabbits and you all started to leave, he changed.”

  I didn’t say that the Magician was family. The only family we had left.

  Families should stay together.

  Caragh would understand. But I wouldn’t tell her the truth in front of the Boy. It would have to wait.

  “Very well, Albie. This is your destiny. You get to decide. The Boy will take us both wherever you want to go.”

  That was easy. Maybe too easy.

  But then I noticed the way the Boy hadn’t taken his eyes off Caragh—not really, anyway—and she didn’t seem to have trouble looking at him.

  And I realized that the only one who saw trouble was me.

  Caragh and the Boy walked and I hopped to the Boy’s boat at the dock.

  “I don’t understand why we have to get on the boat. We can go overland to Cork,” Caragh said.

  I decided to let the Boy answer.

  “Uh, the boat is special. We can actually travel faster,” he said, trying to sound important.

  “The boat seems bigger than I remember. Stronger.” But she was looking at the Boy when she said these things.

  I thought the cannonball had made me nauseous, but watching Caragh and the Boy flirt was about all my stomach would take.

  As we cast off into the Sea, with the Boy rowing and Caragh watching him with a stupid look on her face, I couldn’t help but feel that this had been too easy. I asked Caragh to come with me and she came.

  Would I be as lucky with my other sisters?

  It started to rain.

  The Boy had bought Caragh a scarf from a street vendor to cover her hair. It was navy blue, embroidered around the edges with lovely silver flowers. I didn’t think the Boy should be buying gifts for Caragh. And Caragh shouldn’t be accepting gifts.

  Caragh scooped me up and snuggled me, sort of like I was her pet, but I didn’t want to be a pet. I wanted to be her sister, her human sister.

  But every time I tried to change, nothing happened.

  There was the time behind the bushes. I’d tried again behind the scarf maker’s stall. Perhaps I wasn’t doing it right. But I’d chosen my destiny, what was the holdup?

  I thought about talking to the Sea. Back when she was Murien, she knew a lot about magic. But she didn’t seem the same here as she had in the waters by Hybrasil. She felt warmer, but distant. It was almost as if she wasn’t there.

  “Where to?” said the Boy, interrupting my thoughts.

  “We’re not going to Cork, not yet, anyway,” I said. “We have to get Isolde.”

  Caragh’s face lit up in a smile just as the Boy’s darkened into a frown.

  “Albie, this isn’t a good idea,” began the Boy. He saw me starting to protest and said, “Since you’re going to ask why, I’ll tell you.”

  Isolde wanted to go to a place that most people think isn’t real.

  She hopped into my boat and began talking right away.

  “I want to go to a place that I dream about every day, but there’s nothing like it in history books. Rather like Hybrasil, but
different.”

  “You’re going to have to tell me a little more than that,” I said.

  Isolde was young and brash and daring. To be honest, I was afraid she would choose unwisely. The Magician said it wasn’t my place to advise, though, so I listened, if a little leery.

  “I want to go where airships fly across the sky.”

  “Are you talking about Peter Pan? That’s just a story. I can’t take you into a storybook, Isolde. You know the rules.”

  She got angry. And you know what happens when a rabbit gets angry. Lots of thumping and kicking.

  “No. I do NOT mean Peter Pan. I KNOW it’s just a story. Where I want to go is like London but DIFFERENT. Like London but BACKWARD.”

  Isolde wouldn’t consider another choice.

  I shouldn’t even be telling you this, but I’m not the only one who travels the Sea in special ways. There are others who are far more knowledgeable than I. They know where the portals are. Please don’t ask me about the portals because I really don’t know too much. I can only say that when you enter one, it takes you to the same place but different, where one little change creates a whole other world. Up until Isolde got on my boat, I had only heard legends of portals. But somehow Isolde knew there was one that would lead her to a London with flying airships.

  I have to admit, it sounded like an exciting place to go, but I’d need a map to get us there.

  So, we anchored off the coast and waited until dark, silently rowing back to Hybrasil. You’ve been to the Magician’s Library, I think. If so, you know that he doesn’t organize things in any sort of order that would make sense to anyone but him. However, I didn’t want to ask him for it. It was my job to get the rabbits to their destinies.

  Isolde told me that she’d know what book to find by the way her dream smelled. I’ve never smelled things from a dream, but then, I’ve never been a rabbit. She sniffed and sniffed until she found it. She pulled the book out with her paw. Then she nibbled the map page right out of the book!