Chapter 18
The ball went clear again. “Did you see that?”
“A daddy longlegs?” Winnie said in awe.
“Is that how they looked in your dream?”
“Nope. More like giant tarantulas. Do you think the crack in the crystal ball did that?”
“Not sure.” He rose and returned the ball to the cabinet. All he knew for certain was his focus on the crystal ball had given him a headache, and he wanted to relieve it. “Fancy some tea?”
Her eyebrows lifted in surprise. “You have tea?”
He removed the boiling water from his Bunsen burner and spooned ground bark into two mismatched teacups. “I probably should warn you it’s not typical tea.”
“Not a problem. If it’s warm, I’ll take it. It’s chilly in here. Oh, by the way, after you put me to sleep, I had another dream message. We should have a couple weeks before the lurk in get here. Hopefully, that’ll give us time to figure out how to stop giant spiders.”
Kip poured the steaming water. “Wouldn’t it be a lark if they were normal-sized and we’re getting worked up over nothing?”
“I wish, but I doubt this world works that way.”
“Haven’t you ever agonized over a test at school, and when you got to the classroom, it was open book and stupid easy?”
“This is war, Kip, not a pop quiz. We better ‘study’ just in case. I think it’s weird, though, that the lurk in in your crystal ball and the ones in my dreams look so different. And while we’re on the subject, how come we’ve seen two kinds of spiders and the oracle hasn’t seen anything?”
“Maybe you’ve got special powers that helped us see a future the oracle couldn’t.”
She laughed. “Me? Special powers?”
He stirred the tea. “Why not? I’ve got some. We needn’t grapple with it now. A banquet and the hunt are coming up. The queen won’t discuss the war now anyway.”
“What is the hunt?”
“No idea.” He held up a bowl of beige granules. “Sugar?”
She perked up. “You have sugar?”
“It’s something of a substitute that tastes sweet.”
She nodded. “Sure, why not?”
He tipped a spoonful into each mug and brought them to the table. He sat on the ottoman, knee to knee with his guest.
She sipped his version of herbal tea and nodded. “Not bad. What’s in it?”
He grinned. “Probably best if you didn’t know.”
She smiled back. “Powdered eye of newt?”
“With a touch of dried bat dung,” he teased.
She didn’t just laugh; she gave him a captivating smile. His cheeks blazed with heat. He took a quick sip of tea to hide his blush behind his teacup.
The storm ended as abruptly as it started. Sunlight streamed through the window, brightening the room.
“We should keep clear of the queen while she’s planning her banquet,” he said.
“Fine with me. She gets on my nerves anyway.”
He laughed. “She gets on everybody’s nerves. Why do you think I taught her to play cards? To stop her pestering me about making the lurk in disappear.”
She hunched forward, suddenly intent. “You could, right? That wasn’t a trick when you made the rat-bunny disappear. It really vanished, didn’t it?”
“It really vanished. And they call them hoppers.”
She smirked. “They would, wouldn’t they? Where did it go?”
“I might’ve accidentally sent it to an adjacent world.”
“Like ours?”
“I honestly don’t know. That’s why I’m not too keen on making big things disappear, especially enemies.”
She groaned. “We’re in serious trouble.”
“Not necessarily. We’ve got Takka on our side. I took your advice and met with him in that dream place. He believes in us. So do I. We can win this. Spiders are just insects, right? They won’t have bombs or guns.”
“Ooh, I know. We’ll build a giant catapult that sends enormous boots at the spiders to step on them.”
He laughed, enjoying this side of her personality. “I’ll bet the queen’s technicians could do that. They made your tune play through the speakers.”
Her playfulness changed to concern. “In my dream those insects broke down the castle door to that tune.”
“Let’s not think of that just now. We’ll let things simmer at the backs of our minds. Something cunning is bound to pop up, right? For now, why don’t I show you the sights?”
“Are there any sights?”
He beamed. “Surprisingly, yes. I know a perfect place.”
He had hoped to take her there right then, but she wanted to jog. She claimed to be in training for a foot race. Unexpected visits to alternate worlds wouldn’t interfere with her workouts. In her defense, she invited him to jog along. He declined, remembering how fast she’d run the day he accidentally nicked her favorite locket back home. While Winnie jogged, Kip stopped at the kitchens to order a picnic lunch for the next day.
****
On their first outing, Kip proposed a hike to the top of Mount Kee. Winnie, who’d already run for the day, suggested they travel by wiggets. He agreed, eager to give it a go. At the wig get sanctuary, the trainer fitted them both with vests and straps.
“This is brill!” he called as they glided through the air.
Winnie laughed. “I know, right?”
The birds set them down at the highest point where they ate cold meat pies. Over the treetops, past the castle, lay farmland and several mel-yew villages far beyond.
“We could set up another lookout post here,” Winnie said between bites. “You can see for miles. So far, no spiders, which is awesome. Plus, it’s so peaceful.”
“Agreed,” Kip said. The pastoral scene, however, couldn’t compare to his newfound fascination with Winnie. Not that he’d admit it to her just yet. He couldn’t tell if she had changed or if he had.
“So,” she said, drawing out the word.
His heart pounded to an eager beat. Was she feeling the same interest in him? “Yes?”
“Do you think we’re speaking Framan or English?”
His shoulders sagged. Okay, maybe not. Fortunately, he too had considered the language topic. “Framan. I believe something in the time tear adjusted our brain, allowing us to communicate easily. Anyway, that’s how I explain the headache I had when I first came here.”
“I got a headache too. You’re right. That could be a side effect of being able to communicate.”
“Verbally, anyway. Their written language looks like nothing I’d ever seen before. The only way I can read their books is with an enlightenment potion.”
“Mikey never explained language. They have a few weird words though, like ‘tia-tia’ to make the army turn. What’s that all about?”
“Dialect?” he guessed.
“Weird stuff in a weird place shouldn’t surprise me, but I still want to understand, ya know? Like, what made some people look like horses and others look like toads?”
They actually looked like frogs, but he kept that to himself. They were getting on too well to ruin it by correcting her. “Genetic experiment gone awry.”
Her eyes widened. “Agree. Look at their ocean. Only an advanced civilization could make a mess like that.”
He grinned back. “Exactly.”
She laughed and nudged him. “Did we just agree on something?”
Their new camaraderie led to a second date, a palum-cart ride to the west forest. Kip ordered the palm to stop quite a distance from their destination. He had discovered it alone and wanted to keep it private.
He guided Winnie along a narrow path cut through the forest. At the palm cart, he’d taken charge of the cumbersome picnic basket and instantly regretted it. When he offered her the much lighter ground cloth as a chivalrous gesture, he’d forgotten how swiftly the blasted girl walked. The rolled-up cloth tucked under her arm allowed her to move at a speed he could barely match. Thankfully, she ambled along in silence. It took all his effort to hide his panting breath from her.
Finally, a quarter of a mile later, she pointed at a gray shimmer between the leaves. “Is that water?”
He grinned, encouraged by the excitement in her voice. “It’s a lake. Well, a really big pond if I’m honest.”
She let out a gleeful hoot and raced toward it.
Kip, weighted by the picnic basket, moved at a slower pace. By the time he reached the lake, she had already dropped the ground cloth and unlaced her Framan sandals. She scuffed her bare feet through black sand at the edge of the oval, half-acre expanse of blue-gray water.
“Look how clear this is.”
“I think it’s fed by an uncontaminated spring.”
“I’m surprised the queen lets you come out here. This place is awesome.”
He silently agreed. “I don’t believe anybody knows about it. It’s too far off the path for palm to come this way. And there aren’t any mel-yew settlements nearby.”
She looked back. “How’d you find it?”
He shrugged. “I get around.” He chose not to admit that he first visited the area after Willum had bragged about succulent worms that lived at the water’s edge. He’d never seen any, but the swimming was bliss.
She hesitated at the water’s edge. “You said uncontaminated spring. Are you sure?”
“I’ve swallowed a bit whilst swimming with no ill effects. So far.”
Except for the sandals, Winnie wore her Earth clothes today. She waded to her knees and splashed water on her face. “It tastes just like spring water!”
He unrolled the ground cloth. “Don’t know if we can trust it too much, though.”
“Too bad Mikey didn’t remind me to pack my suit.”
Kip, dressed in shorts and a Manchester United T-shirt, didn’t let the lack of swim trunks dissuade him. He kicked off his sneakers. “Pretend you’re already wearing one. Race you to the other side.”
He plunged into the water.
She quickly overtook him and reached the opposite bank five strokes ahead. They swam back to the deepest part of the lake and treaded water, facing each other.
“What are you,” he teased, “part fish?”
She grinned. “I’m surprised you didn’t put a spell on yourself to swim faster.”
“Me wand doesn’t work outside, remember?”
She giggled. “You’re the nuttiest wizard I’ve ever met.”
He gave her a flirtatious smile. “How many wizards do you know?”
She laughed and dove underwater. He tried to grab her foot, but she was still too fast.
Back on the beach, they dried in the sun and ate lunch. Trilling birds and chattering insects in the trees serenaded them.
Winnie broke the silence. “My mom loved the lake.”
Kip opened his mouth to agree. Her solemn tone stopped him. Even the leaves, shushing in a soft breeze, joined the respectful silence. He hadn’t forgotten that she’d lost her mother.
She stared out across the water. He waited. The stillness stretched on.
“Dad sold our lake house last year. We just couldn’t go back without her.”
“I’m so, so sorry.”
She sprang to her feet. “Gotta swim now.” At the deepest part she dove under.
He sat up, watching and waiting. He held his own breath until his pulse pounded in his head from a lack of air. She didn’t resurface. He gasped for breath and leaped up, scanning the still water for her.
He charged into the lake just as her head popped up. Now that he knew she was all right, he pretended he’d only come in to cool off. They swam for a bit, but the comfortable atmosphere had changed. He wanted to make it right again but didn’t know how.
On the ride home, he wanted to offer comfort by draping an arm around her shoulders. Winnie, in her usual fashion, had other plans. Due to her strict exercise regimen, she chose to race ahead of the palm cart. Kip rode alone, silently hating her marathon training.
At the castle she wasn’t even winded. “Thanks, it was fun, see you tomorrow,” she said in one breath and turned away.
“Wait. Do you want to see the queen’s gardens? I could show you.”
“Maybe tomorrow.” She sprinted off without looking back.
Willum lit on his shoulder. “Kiss her yet?”
Kip shrugged the bird away. If he couldn’t be with Winnie, he’d rather be alone.