June and I tried to resist the urge to scream for great grand-daddy, but it was hard, even though Coconut had covered our mouths with her strong, thick hands. June and I had let out a small squeak, but then Coconut had put her hands to our mouths. I knew Coconut was trying to save our lives and her own when Coconut had covered our mouths, but I still couldn’t help feeling a bit annoyed. Where was great grand-daddy when we needed him?
Although I knew it was absurd, I started silently wishing great grand-daddy would come, just suddenly appear, and fend off the scary Uncle Liam guards. I hoped and hoped, but no matter how hard I concentrated, great grand-daddy would not come. Maybe the horrible guards wouldn’t notice us? I silently prayed for the best, shutting my eyes tight as possible, not wanting to see what was happening. After what seemed like an eternity, I slowly opened them again. Wait…, was that Uncle Liam's nephew? And why was he blue? Why were June and Coconut blue too? Groggily, I rubbed my eyes, and, sure enough, there was the horrid nephew, in the middle of a circle the guards were forming. I squinted my eyes to see more clearly.
Why couldn’t everything stop being blue? Finally, my wish came true, well not the first one anyway, but I could see normal again, and the colors faded back to me. “Please, only bring me to the King. Spare everybody else. I would rather die for everyone else’s lives.” the nephew was saying. I noticed he wore a sad expression, but I also noticed that the wretched man was kind of crazy. He must be, for he wouldn’t really defend us, would he? He was probably just talking nonsense.
“We will never stop killing. It’s the law. Bla Bla Bla, Fine! We won’t kill anyone now. We’ll spare everyone in this cave, but we'll be taking you, Samuel, to The King of the World!” The guard then shouted right in front of Samuel’s face, “He is The King of the World. You hear me?” I heard him. Coconut did. June did. So why did the guy have to yell in Samuel’s face! The poor guy was probably feeling some stinky breath right this moment, and he was losing his life for us! I suddenly realized that I was feeling empathy for him, and quickly shut it down. After all, the villagers at home were always cursing him, telling us he was the worst person in the world, and no other man was as bad as him! They said that after King of the World had become king, uncle Liam’s nephew had grown horrible. But, in The Holy Bible, two books were named after a mighty prophet for the Lord named Samuel. We had been one of the few people who had a bible. We used to memorize scripture when we were young enough to not have to line up.
A sudden pull on the arm snapped me out of my thoughts. Coconut was dragging June and I out of the small hole into the main part of the owl hole, and, June and I flying behind her like propellers on an airplane, she ran down the passageway, and right into a featherless, flightless baby Macaw.
“This is how you feed and handle Emerald,” Coconut explained to June and I. We were on the Island that I had seen off in the distance before. When we had found the baby Macaw, Coconut had explained that the baby had probably been abandoned, because its mother was killed by the cruel guards of Uncle Liam. She said they killed macaws for their beautiful feathers, and because then the baby would feel abandoned, and they would try to find the babies to take to Uncle Liam because Uncle Liam loved to look at Macaws. She explained that was why Uncle Liam’s guards had come into the so-called owl hole, in the first place, to steal the baby, not to take us. She had a good laugh at the thought of Uncle Liam's guards knowing we were in this tree. “They are rather dim-witted humans,” she had told us.
After she explained everything to us, like the villagers who despised uncle Liam’s nephew were horrible spies for Uncle Liam, wanting everyone to think poorly of Samuel, and that she was Samuel’s sister, we had taken the baby macaw with us, and fled to the Island, by flying. Yeah, that’s what Coconut’s wings were for. Flying. It had felt awesome, holding her hand, and actually flying. I hoped we might get wings too, but that would be too much to ask for. I kept my mouth shut.
She helped us put the baby macaw back into its nest, that swung from Coconut’s arm like a basket, and we took flight up, up into the sky. We landed on a high branch and ducked into another hole. “This is where we keep all of the food. I thought that you might want to help me make these cool blue vegetable desserts. They’re so delicious, but we have to use a special kind of vegetable. Blue ones are rare, but they do mainly grow in this part of the island,” she said. June and I nodded and were soon smelling a very good smelling dessert. It smelled like a mix of everything yummy you could imagine! We got to try it and it literally blew me off my chair. I tried it first.
“MAY!!!!”, June gasped. I gave her a frown and then ate some more. “ You ha-ha-have wi-wi-wings!!!” June sputtered. What???, I screamed in my mind. “I have wings? “Are you sure?” I asked. “Positive,” she answered.
“Both of you guys have wings. You see, we make this dessert whenever Isabella 1 and 2 and Clara 1 and 2 bring newcomers. They are selected by the people who give food for free. They watch everybody, while they eat. You two were chosen because of how you loved each other. We could tell because of the way you ate. A lot of families despise each other. As you know, there is usually only one column of people stretching for miles. That is why it takes so long to get to the front of the line,” Coconut explained, as calmly as ever, while we nodded and tried to fly around the room, without much success. Then she continued talking, “As to your wings, you passed the test of going past the first man for the first time.”
We nodded, understanding that the first man was Samuel. “It is a relief that he came to help us”, I told Coconut gratefully. June nodded, and said, “While you were getting coconuts, May and I made something for you.” This time it was my turn to nod, which made Coconut say, “Well, that was nice of you. Can I see it?”
I realized there was a tone of impatience in her voice, and me and June each took a straw-woven basket out of our pockets. It was tiny, but, at our touch, they grew to the size of normal baskets. Me and June touched them again, mine turning aqua, while June’s turned lavender-colored. We put our baskets together, to form an orange, straw-woven basket, to which we presented to Coconut.
She just stared at us in awe. June and I shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. Finally, she managed to stutter, “H-how did you d-do that?” We both smiled a small smile, and I said, “Well, while you were collecting coconuts, June and I experimented with the straw that was scattered all over the wheat field, and, just at our touch, it would form something, like a straw hat, or a mat.” I paused, and June continued explaining.
“We were fascinated by what was happening, and we experimented with it. We both liked the intricate basket, and I thought it would be useful for you when you collected coconuts. May agreed and was planning on just giving you both our baskets when we sat down, and our baskets touched to form another basket! We were confused, and we didn’t really want another basket, and then the basket disappeared. We realized when the baskets touched together, it would form another basket! We decided that we would touch our baskets in front of you, and want the basket to stay, so then we could keep our baskets, and you could have your very own basket!”
We smiled at her and picked up the basket she had dropped. Together, we shoved the orange basket into her hands. She managed a smile and said that we should go to her cottage. She silently led the way, June and I hurrying after her. Soon, we arrived at a thick, dense, forest, and she led us through, telling us to watch our step when June and I were about to trip on a root or fall into a pit.
After what seemed like a million years, we finally emerged from the forest, into a little clearing, where a modest cottage with a straw roof and stone walls sat. There was a small stream bed on one side, with lots of colorful flowers dotting the whole clearing and a cobblestone path that led to the cottage. She flew to the house, and June and I both tried, tried, and failed. After our attempt, we glumly walked on the cobblestone path, the hard rocks slamming into our nimble feet.
June and I held hands as we stepped up the cottage’s front porch, observing the baskets of wildflowers dangling from the top of the porch. Coconut flew down from the roof, and she led the way into her cottage.
The interior of the house looked a lot more spacious than the exterior. June, Coconut, and I had walked into the living room, which had a big, square carpet, a wooden desk with a turquo ise ceramic lamp on it, and a long, wide couch, sat next to yet another lamp. The living room was connected to the kitchen, with a long, wooden counter, with a sheet of marble spread on top. There was also an entryway that led to the kitchen, and on the shelf sat a fruit bowl and some cereals and granolas.
Coconut ushered us through the entryway, to the kitchen. I looked around, trying to find anything odd, but everything looked pretty normal. There was a refrigerator connected to a freezer that lay below the refrigerator. Next to the refrigerator/freezer, there was a white oven with a small stove on top. The stove had a few small saucepans on top of it, and one pot, but there seemed to be nothing boiling. I sighed, suddenly feeling hungry. I guess I just had to wait. After my gaze passed the stove, it landed on a cupboard squished next to the stove. Coconut saw what I was looking at and hastily opened the cupboard. June walked over to me, and together we explored the inside contents.
The top shelf of the cupboard was filled with ingredients for food, like cocoa powder, sugar, flour, rice, and other dried ingredients. I licked my lips when my eyes landed on a bag labeled Dried Fruit, but I knew better than to steal some. There was a bin of chocolates below the top shelf, and I took it out. “What are these?” I asked Coconut, showing her a big bag of little chocolates shaped like a ball.
“Those are chocolate balls,” she said.
“How did you make them?”
“There is a cocoa tree in the forest. The back door leads to a path that goes to the Cocoa tree.”
“So?”
“Well, it's complicated. Hard to explain.”
“Can you tell me?”
“It’ll take a long time, and I do still want to show you the rest of the house.”
“Okay.”
I was kind of disappointed that I wouldn’t get to explore the rest of the cupboard, but Coconut told June and I that we should move on. We closed the cupboard, and Coconut opened a sliding door that led to the Animal Care Center.
The Animal Care Center was the biggest room that Coconut had shown us so far. It was practically as big as 10 FULL GROWN ELEPHANTS! I didn’t know how this humble little cottage could fit the whole animal care center and all the other rooms, but I was amazed!
Coconut gently set down the little nest-in a basket, that Emerald was curled up in. Then she whispered softly, “Animals of The Amethyst abyss, reveal yourself.” Uh, why were all these animals suddenly appearing all over the place? Let’s see, there was a giraffe with a variety of colored polka-dots all over the giraffe’s body, an elephant with wrinkly skin the hue of a soft coral, a little frog with leafy-patterned spikes growing on its back, and a litter of baby wolves that all had fur the red shade of summer poppies.
Coconut gestured to me, and then to the animals. I got this feeling I should do something, but I didn’t know what. I looked at June. June looked at me, with a questioning look on her face, as if asking, “What are you staring at me for?”
I shrugged, sighing, and turned to Coconut. “What am I supposed to do?” I asked her. “You're supposed to get out your basket and pull out some food for the animals, May. June, you do it too.” “B-b-but,” I stuttered. What did Coconut mean, pull out some food for the animals?
“Your baskets are magical,” she explained. “They are made from Sorcery Straw.” Coconut gave us a warning look. “Be careful, for sometimes Sorcery Straw can be used in black magic.”
Coconut shuddered, and explained, “Sometimes obnoxious Uncle Liam and his followers will go out, and use the Sorcery Straw to make themselves more powerful. Of course, only a few can possess the power of Sorcery Straw. Some of those few people, like Samuel, you two, and myself have such goodness in our hearts that we can possess pure Sorcery Straw. But, some as bad as Uncle Liam himself, like his guards, possess evil Sorcery straw. Although, I must tell you, once upon a time, although of course not princess time, Uncle Liam was the greatest man on earth. He was a duke, but he could have served as king. Then, there was a horrible incident, although I’ll explain more about that lat-.”
Coconut was cut off by June, who said, “I want you to explain it now, okay?”
By Coconuts’ impatient and exasperated expression, I could tell Coconut did not want to explain it right now, so I quickly cut in. “June, I really do want to know more about this Sorcery straw, so maybe we can talk about the horrible incident later.”
Coconut flashed me a relieved smile, and said, “Only the evilest and the best humans on earth possess the power to use Sorcery Straw. There are about one-hundred humans on earth that possess its power, although over sixty of those people are on the dark magic side. Maybe even less than thirty good people possess the pure power. But, even though we have the pure, good type of Sorcery Straw, the straw can sometimes possess you for short amounts of time.
“I know you guys do want to know about the thing that made Uncle Liam change, so I’ll tell you, after a good night’s rest.”
June and I immediately started protesting against it, but she shushed us, saying, “I’ll show you guys to your bedrooms, oh, and, since we got so carried away discussing Sorcery Straw, I think I’ll feed the animals after you two go to bed.”
June and I blinked. We had forgotten about the animals, and now we had missed another chance to learn or do something interesting! June and I sighed at the exact same time. Then we laughed at each other and said, “Jinx,” at the exact same time, followed by another round of, “Jinx again!” We laughed our bellies off and kept on saying, “Jinx” but eventually Coconut interrupted us and reminded, “It’s bed-time, I’ll show you where the beds are.”
June and I grumbled about having to go to sleep so early, after all, it was only 6:00pm, but we eventually gave in. Coconut led us through the kitchen, into the living room, and through yet another door.
We walked into a small bedroom, with two small cots, and each cot had a red plaid blanket lazily thrown over it. There was a long, cedar wood drawer, with two drawers. It was positioned lop-sidedly, so one side jutted out dangerously. I shivered, remembering the time I had accidentally got a vicious cut from a long, diagonal icicle that stuck out from the roof of the food stand. Hopefully, I wouldn’t get a cut from this.
There was a shiny white closet organizer leaning against a wall, and to the right of the closet organizer there was a small desk, with a chair sitting next to it. On the chair was a small table lamp. I was confused. Why is the lamp on the chair, I thought. Shouldn’t it be on the table?
Coconut, as if reading my thoughts, answered my question. “Sorry,” she said with a sheepish grin. “I kinda had only a few minutes to complete the guest room for you. You see, each day we bring in around a in Maybe a hundred or so people. Usually I prepare the cots at night, and I prepared lots of cots, but all the cots were taken, and so you had to stay at my humble cottage.”
She said that like it explained everything. It did NOT. For one thing, now I wondered how she had pushed and pulled all the furniture into the room in a matter of minutes. And now, she added the fact that there were tons of other people all over the island. How come I hadn’t seen anybody? I sighed, and willed myself to be patient. Just wait, I told myself. Just wait, and everything will piece together. Just wait and Remember. Remember Grand-daddys advice. Remember how he always said patience is the key. Remember how he always scolded us when we were so impatient, but then soothingly would say, “May, June, remember that mistakes are okay. It's okay to want to rush things. But, it’s also okay to follow your mistakes to a greater path.”
Oh how wise great grand-daddy was! I wanted to find him and hug him, but I knew it was not possible. Sighing, I walked over to the cot opposite of the one June was sitting on. “Good night, sweet dreams,” Coconut said softly, “Lights out.”
In the blink of an eye, the room was full of pitch black darkness. I tossed and turned in my cot, although there wasn’t very much room. I felt like I couldn’t fall asleep, and I never would! Of course, the small cot was much nicer than any other sleeping condition I had ever been in. The other sleeping conditions were, well, rather absurd. At night, one or two of the king’s guards, or uncle Liam’s guards, as everybody called them, would come to our station (there were stations every half mile) and round everybody up. Then, they would make us press our heads against the ground, hard or soft, and that would be that. I was very relieved to not have to press my head against anything that I didn’t want to have to press hard on my head, but there was just so much things. Things I learned, things I wondered, things I hated, things I loved. And things just in between. All those things swirled around in my head, balling into a big ball of questions. All my wonderings, my feelings, my everything, they all turned into questions. Was I dreaming? I pinched myself just to make sure.
“Ow!” I woke up with a start. Phew, I had been dreaming. If I hadn’t pinched myself, my head probably would have exploded, although only in my dream. (Reminder: Isabella is still in a dream, so she is just dreaming in her dream.)
I looked out the window. It was still dark out. Hmph, I thought. Why can’t it be morning already? Annoyed but determined, I flopped down on the cot, thinking, Sleep, sleep, sleep. I hadn’t fallen asleep. Suddenly, I heard a terrible groaning sound coming from the insides of my stomach. Aha! I thought. Maybe I was just hungry, and needed a snack.
I decided to go to the kitchen to get a snack from the cupboard packed with deliciousness. I threw off my plaid fleece blanket, and slipped off the cot. Slowly I crept out the room, the floorboards quietly creaking.
Once I was out of our room, I silently tiptoed past the sleeping animals. Then, I slid the door open, making sure to close it behind me.
After the door had been securely locked, I tiptoed over to the cupboard, and, grabbing the handles, pulled the cupboard open. The fresh, yummy aroma’s flooded out, into my nose, and deep into my belly. Mmm… I reached out to grab a container full of small little squares of chocolate. I opened the lid, and grabbed a piece. Taking a dainty bite, I let the heavenly chocolate squares flood through me, and into my veins, a feeling of great comfort.
After I finished the chocolate square, I slid the container back onto the shelf. Then I grabbed the plastic bag full of dried fruit strips, and stuffed one into my mouth. Yum! I carefully zipped the bag back up again, but first I took out a strip for June. I put the bag of fruit strips back into the fruit basket, and closed the cupboard, creeping back to my room.
As I was about to leave, I saw a figure creeping up behind me. Frozen in fear, I felt paralyzed, with one foot about to thud to the ground. The figure crept closer and closer, and I was so terrified that I couldn’t even manage a tiny peep. The figure was only a few feet away now, and I flicked on the light switch to see in the better light, dreading who it could be. I was about to run for it, when I looked up, shouting, “It’s you!”
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