Leslie Conzatti's Blog

Part 2 "Compost and Consequences"
I saw the lines of students flowing from one classroom to another, and felt a rush of relief. I wasn't late for my next class until I heard the bell. I joined a file of Level 9 students headed toward the Science classrooms. I liked having Science after History, because the instructor, Madame Hephreny, was infinitely more interesting than Scholar Mikel--and she was certainly not as adamant about students taking specific notes and never bringing up questions in class. For all his touting of the "scientific method", I couldn't help feeling that, judging by the teaching methods, actual science seemed very much more of a lax subject than history was!
I took my place behind a small table with a row of plants laid out upon it. Beside me, a new student fiddled with the stems--something Madame Hephreny had warned us time and again that we were never to do. I couldn't blame her though; her family had just moved to Mirrorvale, and by "just", I meant "back when I was young, and she barely a toddling." There were a lot of families like mine, who had lived in Mirrorvale for generations, and so anybody who couldn't claim that was regarded as "new" and such a reputation was very hard to outlive.
I suppose the other reason I still considered her "new" was that I hardly knew her. I learned from attendance that her name was Sheranne; she'd only just attained Level 9 in Science, and she was still at a lower level for many other classes, so there weren't very many places we could interact.
WHAP.
I flinched along with everybody else as Madame Hephreny's long pointer slapped across the table in front of Sheranne. Her curly golden hair bounced in time with her movements.
"Students should not be touching the items on their desk without direction," Madame declared in her customary sing-song voice. "Please listen and follow directions while you are in my class!"
Sheranne colored bright vermillion, and hid her face at the gentle reprimand. The students who had been in this classroom for many seasons snickered at her embarrassment. We'd all experienced it at one time or another. I didn't laugh. We moved on through the lesson, on the concept of photosynthesis and the correlation between chlorophyll and sunlight, its effect on plants, and the various creatures involved in the life processes of plants.
Madame Hephreny calmly read through the textbook, directing us in the dissection of the various flowers and leaves before us--until she came to the topic near the end of the lesson. At her direction, a pair of assistants brought in a putrid bucket of what could only be described as sludge of varying consistency. Most of us held our noses. Sheranne covered her face.
"Now we arrive at an extremely important part of a plant's life cycle. Ordinarily, a plant that has been used and consumed is considered waste, as are the bits that cannot be consumed--but that, my dears, is not the end!" She set aside the book and eagerly plunged her bare hands into the bucket. We all heard the squelch. I noticed Sheranne start to tremble beside me, wavering on her feet.
"Behold," Madame Hephreny held up a mound of black and blue goop in her hands, "Compost!"
I heard the noise Sheranne made, saw the splatter hit the floor--and the whole classroom dissolved into chaos. Younger students screamed, some boys jeered, and poor Sheranne--vomit all down her dress, looking like she wanted to faint.
Madame Hephreny stood at the front of the classroom, eyes wide, doing her best to try and raise her voice over the clamor as her hands full of compost rendered her immobile. She did her best, but everyone was all over the place, crying, and laughing and yelling.
A ringing bell arrested everyone's attention, and we all faced the front, where an assistant held the brass bell Madame Hephreny kept at the front of the class for emergencies. She let the pile of compost drop, as the other assistant brought a towel.
"You are all dismissed!" she said, rushing over to Sheranne. The poor girl's face was pale, and she quaked from head to toe.
"B-but the bell hasn't rung--" Someone started to protest.
"I don't care!" Madame Hephreny's voice had lost its songlike quality. She waved her arm at all of us. "Get out of this classroom this instant! I have nothing more to say to you all!"
We all filed miserably into the empty hallway. The other classrooms were filled with students still--until that bell rang and we could shift classes, the whole group had nothing to do.
Well, everyone who wasn't me, that is.
I pulled out Scholar Mikel's permission slip, and headed down the hallway toward the south wing, where the library was located. I passed by the Etiquette classrooms on the way--a Level 8 group was just arriving at the door. My eyes immediately focused on a certain head of dark hair, and I felt a smile and a warmth spreading over my face before I could stop it. Of course I stared too long, and just as I passed, the dark head turned to face me, and the clear blue eyes smiled.
How much had changed in only four seasons! I hardly believed I was looking at the same Matthias I had known almost all my life.
There was once a time when we were inseparable: me, Matthias, and our friend Terra Jonsyn. We grew up together, joined Academy together, and it felt like it had only been since achieving Level 9 in all my classes that I stopped seeing Matthias so frequently. At least Terra and I still spent time at each other's houses outside of Academy, but Matthias, I barely saw at all, except at social events. Lately, I'd depended on hearing from my mother's reports of the latest news from the neighborhood gossip grapevine--but now here he was again, looking every inch the eligible young man, training to become a competent tradesman like his father.
I recovered myself as I rounded the corner and approached the library door. Why am I suddenly beset by nerves? I asked myself. I have permission to be here. I'm not skulking about like some rebellious young--

"Callista!"
For the second time, the sound of my name interrupted my own thoughts, but this time, a slender hand landed on my shoulder.
I knew exactly who it was. Without turning around, I pushed the hand off.
“Let me guess,” I turned to face the owner of said hand. “You skipped Etiquette again?”

Terra Jonsyn, a spunky redhead with deep dimples, unruly hair and far too many freckles, rolled her sparkling blue eyes at me. “It’s so boring! I know how to be courteous and how to not make a fool of myself in social gatherings, why should it matter which fork I use to eat my entree with, or which corner of the napkin I use to wipe my mouth?”
I sighed and shook my head. There was plenty of inspiration for the nickname “Tearaway Terra” that she had earned for herself; she pursued life with reckless abandon, and it was that very recklessness that frequently got her into trouble.
"Well, be that as it may," I murmured as she jigged to the soft strains of music issuing from the Dance classroom, "I hope you don't get into too much trouble before the next class. Too much idle time can lead to some unintended consequences." Particularly for someone as curious and brazen as Terra! I thought to myself.
I turned away and handed my permission slip to the Senior Archivist in charge of the library.
When I glanced over my shoulder, Terra still stood beside me, a stunned expression on her face. "Callista!" she breathed. "How did you get permission to go to the library?"
I shrugged, wanting to make as light of the situation as possible, here in the hallway. "Special assignment for History class." I turned back to the doors as the Archivist swung them open for me, and Terra grabbed my wrist.
"Can I come with you?" she begged.
The two of us were friends, but most people, from watching us, felt that our personalities couldn't be more opposite. I was methodical and straightforward; she had far too much energy than was considered proper for a lady, and she tended to err on the scatterbrained side. I could be content with focusing on one single task for an extended period, while Terra required considerably more active involvement and thrived with rapid changes in pace. She tended to seek me out and follow me around whenever our paths crossed, but I could usually deter her by heading somewhere she didn't want to go, or get settled into some mundane task until she wandered off out of sheer boredom, leaving me to pursue my own agenda in peace.
Today, I could tell, was not going to be one of those days.
I shook my head and tried to pull away. "No, Terra--the permission slip was for myself only. They don't just let--"
"Please? I could help you!"
"I don't need help--"
"Are you going in or not?" The Archivist cut short our little tug-of-war, staring down his nose at me.
The more I argued with Terra, the less time I had for doing the research I needed. The aggravating girl had put me in a spot where I had no choice.
"All right, come on!" I said, and the two of us followed the Archivist together.
<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>
<<<< Previous                        Next >>>>>>

Part 1 Lessons In History

A gust of wind caught the edges of my cloak, even as I pulled it closer around me on my way toward the large Academy building. The class bell tolled loudly over my head as I entered the foyer, and I picked up my pace through the hallways, to the History classroom. I joined the file of students similarly garbed in thick robes over their clothes. The last Waning of Greyfrost still kept a chill in the air, although not much snow had fallen this season.

I sank into my seat and pulled out the pencil and the bound book of parchment pages we used to take notes during all the lectures. Scholar Mikel stood behind the podium at the front, flanked by a chalkboard on one side, where an assistant created an outline of all his points, which we were expected to copy and memorize, and a large map of Gramble on the other. A royal crest in the eastern region marked where the capital, Gramble City, stood, and a scattering of other large cities beyond it, marked with simple turrets or stars. The Fforgan Mountain Range sliced through our portion of the continent like a billowing sash, from northwest to southeast, and all the region west of the mountains had were only a few turret "cities" and mostly simple houses denoting smaller villages--and at the extreme westernmost edge, separated from the other towns by a wide swath of empty space, was my hometown, Mirrorvale.

"Today, I will read from the Chronicles of Exploration," he said, prompting a flurry of rustling parchment as everyone turned to the appropriate pages in their note books. At The Academy, the instructors functioned under the truism, “Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it.”

Of course, it couldn’t possibly apply to any place as dull and predictable as Mirrorvale. Here, repetition was a way of life, as natural as the weather.

I focused on the map as Scholar Mikel droned on the same dreary passages about the colonization efforts of King Phillisto, who was responsible for turning Gramble from a single enclosed city into a power state comprised of many walled cities and covering most of Western Hemptor.

I had only managed to record a few lines of notes when, in the middle of his recitation, I blinked and my eyes saw something other than the classroom.

"Not again..." I whispered to myself as a second image usurped what was right in front of me.

It occurred as naturally as a thought, or a memory. One moment, I was watching the portly instructor with his wavy silver hair, round glasses, and brocade vest reading from the thick book on the lectern. In the next breath, I watched soldiers storm into houses and push people out of them. I saw whole villages cleaned out, the people loaded into large wagons, and taken away, leaving the buildings empty, hollow, and ready to collapse.

I took a deep breath and concentrated on listening for Scholar Mikel's voice.

"... The process of incorporating the small, scattered settlements throughout the vast western lands was not an easy one, but King Phillisto developed an effective method of convincing the indigenous population to move into the fortified cities."

I blinked in horror at the stream of text now covering half the chalkboard. How long had I been in the throes of a memory that wasn't even mine? I gripped my pencil and commenced scribbling as fast as I could to get all the notes copied down. If I failed the the exams due to insufficient or inaccurate information, I didn't want to imagine what that would do to my grades!

The whole time, the sounds from the image-scene haunted me--whinnying horses, crying children, and shouting soldiers echoed in my ears.

I finished the last line as the Scholar arrived at his next point. Industrial Factories Established, wrote the scribe.

"That method was the development of industrial factories which mass-produced everything Gramble's citizens needed, from foodstuffs, clothes, and furniture, to houses and even entire neighborhoods. If it could be made, the factories made it, and distributed it to specially-organized Factory Markets in every town."

Factories produced everything, I wrote. Mass-manufactured goods distributed via Markets. Quality control = safety and equality guaranteed.

An itch developed behind my eye. I blinked several times, and did my best to keep writing. Specialty products deemed unnecessary. Ability to reach more people served to bolster humanitarian efforts of the Crown.

I blinked again--and instead of my parchment-book on my desk, I saw a crowd of people streaming toward a Factory Market building. As they moved, I saw another structure beside the large building, a smaller booth. Under the colorful tent, a strange woman called out in an unintelligible voice, holding up her blankets and waving to a pewter tea set on display. Not one person stopped by her, and I saw a pair of soldiers march across the street and begin shouting at her, tearing the blanket and kicking over her tiny stand.

They were going to hurt her--I felt myself hurtling forward, heard my voice shouting at the soldiers as I reached out to get the crowd's attention to the injustice happening right in front of them--

"Callista?"

I returned to the present with a deep gasp, and a shudder that shook my whole body.

Scholar Mikel had stopped reading, and now he fixed his gaze on me, not saying anything. The entire lecture hall had fallen silent. Everyone looked at me.

Feeling returned to my limbs, and I realized that I had my hand stretched up in the air, like a confused student drowning in a sea of information.

Scholar Mikel uttered the words no student--least of all one who had been attending the Academy for as long as I had--wanted to hear.

"Do you have a question?"

Just the idea of it drove the power of speech from my mind. I had interrupted a Scholar in the middle of a lesson! What was I thinking? What could I do now, to save myself from this embarrassing situation?

Ask, the voice in my head urged.

I opened my mouth, frantically searching for a query that would demonstrate an appropriate level of comprehension.

"Do not be afraid, Callista," Scholar Mikel assured me as the class began to whisper to each other over my hesitation. "Inquisitive minds deserve answers, and it is by filling in the gaps in our own understanding that we increase our intelligence."

The question... "These natives you referred to," I began, finding my voice at last, "the ones indigenous to the land that is now the nation of Gramble--are these the ones known as Wordspinners?"

All whispers died. I felt the burning horror of the stares around me--but it wasn't as if I'd said a bad word! I hastened to flip back in my parchment-book, to an earlier lecture Scholar Mikel had given.

Meanwhile, the esteemed Scholar took advantage of the delay to deliver his explanation. "Some would call them 'word-spinners', yes--but that term isn't even in use any more, as Gramble's Golden Age of Reform brought such advancements in philosophy and intellectual fortitude in general, that the archaic beliefs in a nebulous absolute faded into oblivion, and the Wordspinners and their kind were lost to history long ago."

I found the page and traced my finger down the text as the students around me scribbled down this extra information.

"Here it is," I said, reading from the page. "In a previous lesson, sir, you said that the ones known as Wordspinners were merely a guild of crafters and artisans, and that the reason they declined was because of the advent of Factory Markets, and the fact that people were more inclined to purchase from the mass-produced goods in season and out of season, rather than hand-made merchandise and locally-grown produce that was only available on a limited basis."

A few other students flipped back in their books, as I had read this description verbatim from a Level 7 lesson. I looked up at the teacher--his face betrayed no emotion, but his eyes fixed on me with a heated stare.

"Something you should understand, Callista," Scholar Mikel spoke with a dangerous calm to his voice, "is that the Academy prides itself on accurate, necessary information. That means that the material is tailored to what a student at each level would need to know. At Level 5, the student need not even know that this primitive group of pagans were known as Wordspinners. I presume you are speaking based on your Level 7 notes--and at that level, students are expected to know that yes, Wordspinners existed, but here," he swept his arm to indicate the entire lecture hall. "At Level 9, you have been made aware of the fact that these were not just simple crafters and gardeners, but insubordinate rebels who objected to any outside influence for purely religious reasons." He closed the book and let his words hang over us.

The murmur rippled through the classroom, and could guess the topic of whispered conversation among desk neighbors. A heat rose in my cheeks as I felt their surreptitious stares, how the Scholar's gaze fixed on me, who dared call him out in the middle of a lesson, and try to confuse his own words. Was that really what I wanted to do? What more of an explanation did I need, than the one he gave?

The bell tolled high over our heads. Scholar Mikel closed the book on his lectern, and his assistants began wiping down the massive slate behind him. "This concludes today's lesson," he announced. "We will resume at the next Level 9 History period." He waved us all out of the room.

I gathered my materials and filed into line with the students around me, my mind full of dread as I replayed the whole class period in my mind, wondering what went wrong, and what else I could have said that would have brought a different outcome. The trouble was, there was only one other alternative that I could see.

"Callista." The sound of my name before I'd even reached the door of the lecture hall brought me and a few other students in my immediate vicinity to a halt. Scholar Mikel stood with his eyes trained directly on me. The others shuffled out of my way as I moved to stand on the floor before him. We might have been the same height--he wasn't a very tall man--but he still stood on the elevated dais at the front of the classroom, so he loomed head and shoulders over me, his disapproving frown weighing me down even further.

"Would you care to explain your behavior today, Callista?" he asked, as the last few students filed out of the room behind me. He folded his hands behind his back. "In all my years as Scholar, I have prided myself in ensuring against misinformation, and you--nine academic levels, nearly ten fourseasons, and not once have you spoken out like you did today. Why?"

I opened my mouth, willing some semblance of an idea to come forth. It seemed that words would just pour out of me sometimes, at inopportune moments, and yet now, when I very literally had the floor--

Nothing.

"I--"

Scholar Mikel pursed his lips and clicked his tongue. "Something you must learn, Callista, as you are set to graduate from your Academy studies, is the virtue of sufficient evidence. If you are going to challenge the accepted view of something, you must put in the research first, so that you have the proof you need to validate your point. Perhaps the evidence is there--or perhaps it is in the course of trying to prove your hypothesis that you find information to the contrary, and it is your view that must change, not the historical records."

He turned to the long table with all his teaching materials and began writing on a piece of parchment. Was he recommending that I repeat the level, to ensure that his version of these lessons really stuck this time? Was he writing the Headmaster to decline my graduation because of insubordination? Was it really all that bad that I had expressed a dissenting point of view?

I gulped, took a huge gasp, and blurted, "I'm sorry, Scholar!"

"Oh?" Scholar Mikel looked up, a smile on his face and the parchment in hand. "Never fear, Callista--it is not an apology I seek. Merely that next time, I would like you to be better informed." He handed me the parchment.

"Permission for: Callista Rubinsyn; Location: Library; Material: Korstan Senevere And The Exploration of Western Hemptor

I stared at the title. The Library was normally off-limits to students, without either accompaniment by a Tutor, or written permission from a Scholar. "What is this, sir?" I asked.

"A special assignment, just for you," said Scholar Mikel. "Korstan Senevere was one of the first explorers sent out under King Malacuse--King Phillisto's predecessor--who, it is said, lived among a community of Wordspinners out in the wilds of Western Hemptor, and chronicled what he could understand of their daily lives, their practices, and the events leading up to their near-extinction. Perhaps there, you will find the information you seek, which I am so ill-prepared to deliver to your satisfaction."

He had lost his disapproving frown, and now smiled at me, although it didn't make me feel any better.

"You are assigning me an extra reading assignment?" I asked, fidgeting with the paper in my hand.

"More than that," Scholar Mikel answered with a nod. "I want you to write a report on your findings concerning these ancient natives known as Wordspinners. See if you can find a way to reconcile the material in my lesson that you found so objectionable today. This slip gives you permission to requisition the book from the Library Archives, and by the end of my Level 3 lesson tomorrow, I expect to see you back with your report in hand, to present to me your findings." He rapped his knuckles on the table. "That will be all, Callista."

I exited the room and took a deep breath. Some of the lecture halls could get quite stagnant, even in Greyfrost, but out in the hallway, a profusion of high windows and the open doors leading to the outside kept the fresh air flowing.

<<<<<>>>>>

Part 28 "One Last Encounter"
Lewis had only spent a few hours asleep when the ringing of Ashwyn's voice awakened him.

"Lewis!" She chimed, swirling around his face with her glowing wings. "It's time! The portal is opening, and once it's fully open, we must hurry to go through it before it closes again!"

The mere mention of it jogged the young man into action. He threw off his covers and scrambled for some clothes to wear instead of his pajamas. Once he was fully dressed, he opened the window and, supported by the fairies, climbed out of it to land on the grass.

The sky was just barely changing to pale purple on the horizon, so it was far earlier in the morning than he'd hoped, but at the same time the wee hour worked well for sneaking out without drawing too much attention. Behind him, Little Folk poured out of the window, the fairies taking to the sky while the elves scampered down to the ground like a trail of large ants.

Queen Evalia drifted forward and came to land on Lewis' shoulder. "Everyone's here," she informed him. "Let's go join the others."

Lewis headed for the bus stop, timing his arrival precisely. He stepped off the bus and entered the public park where Rawlings Point was located. His eyes scanned the top of the tree line for any sign of Lisa's massive silhouette, but there was no sign of her.

Beside him, Ashwyn delivered the latest update, "The portal is about halfway open by now. It will be fully open when the sun reaches its highest point."

Halfway open, and still no sign of his friends. Lewis reached the base of the outcropping, wondering why at least Gathlen hadn't come out to greet them. Had Krasimir beat him to the meeting spot? How did he know where it was?

A screech split the early-morning air, but it wasn't Kharrie's cry. Lewis looked up to see a black winged shape soar through the pink-clouded sky. The Chain around his neck alerted him to danger, and he realized he was looking at a huge vampire bat nearly the same size as a gryphon, with Krasimir Schlimme upon its back. The vile man wore his self-made Phantasmagyth around his neck, and by the rumbling sounds he heard, Lewis ascertained that a whole horde of Underworlders were charging through the forest toward him.

"It's a trap!" he yelled, sending the cloud of glowing fairies dispersing in all directions. They formed a sparkling protective barrier around their human guardian, attacking and repelling any ogre, goblin, or troll who tried to take a swipe at Lewis.

Meanwhile, Krasimir Schlimme taunted him from a tree branch overlooking the skirmish.

"So nice of you to come, Lewis," he chortled. "How commendable is your commitment to ze Feenvolk, zat you vould not even kvestion how a giant might be able to leafe you a note saying they'd succeeded in only a day, vhat you could not manage in a whole veek!" He cackled and raised his hands, and immediately all the Underworlders bellowed along with him. "But zey failed, and now you are here, vis only ze tiny fairies to defend you, just ripe for my clutches!" He willed the vampire bat off the branch and headed straight for Lewis.

The young man cringed, waiting for those savage claws to rip him apart--but instead of claws he felt a smooth, muscular shape jostle him, and a powerful whinny accompanied by a flash of red light. Lewis gasped as Gathlen stood in the middle of the throng, fending off the Underworlders with his silver hooves and jagged red horn. 
A howl rang through the early-morning air, and Adolf jumped into the fray, along with a few other werewolves. They lunged for Gathlen, surrounding him as the goblins and ogres backed off. Gathlen reared and let out a furious bellow, and with a cracking sound, Lisa rose out of the trees. Kharrie followed close behind, swooping in with talons and claws bared. 
Lewis scrambled backwards to get away from the werewolves, while one of them tried to jump on Gathlen's back. The unicorn bucked, flinging the werewolf into a nearby tree, and his powerful silver hooves stamped dangerously around the crouching wolves. He twisted and turned, giving no quarter and injuring several werewolves. Adolf rose up on his hind legs and tried to sink his teeth into Gathlen's neck, but the unicorn twisted his head and ducked, stabbing his horn into Adolf's unprotected flank. The werewolf snarled in pain.

Lisa started swatting aside great piles of goblins and ogres, while Kharrie bounded toward Lewis and allowed him to grab her ruff and swing himself onto her back. An enterprising goblin tried to attack Lewis with a rapier, but he caught the creature around the wrist, and Kharrie reached around with her beak to nip at its body. The goblin let go with a scream, leaving the rapier in Lewis' hand as Kharrie took to the skies. 
Huge trolls trudged in, trying to hem the battle in place with felled trees, but Lisa swept them aside as quickly as they could gather, smashing goblins like little beetles under her hands and feet.

Kharrie circled like she wanted to carry Lewis away to safety, but he tugged her ruff to direct her toward the vampire bat.

"We've got to get that Gyth off his chain!" he said.

Kharrie screeched and veered toward the creature, talons outstretched.

Krasimir raised the sword in his own hand, laughing at Lewis' feeble attempts to gain an advantage.
"Don't you see I am vinning zis battle?" he crowed. "Ze swords my army carries are poisoned vis ze venim nectar--just vonne touch and your fairy friends are infected!"

Lewis chanced a glance downward, and saw that it was true--he couldn't see as many twinkling lights flying around as he could before.

"No!" he gasped, and in that moment of distraction, the vampire bat struck. It flew very close to Kharrie, its claws nearly reaching Lewis, if the gryphon hadn't twisted away at the same moment. Lewis clung tight as Kharrie executed some intricate evasive maneuvers, twirling and tumbling through the air to try and shake off the persistent vampire bat.

"Don't bozzer trying to run, Lewis," Krasimir growled, brandishing his sword, "you vill not escape me zis time!" Just when he nearly reached Lewis, Kharrie launched straight upward and flipped upside-down. Lewis saw his head nearly touching Krasimir's, and he reached out his hand toward the man's chest. He felt something cold and hard, and he grabbed it as tightly as he could.

"Nein!" Krasimir yelled, and both the vampire bat and Kharrie screamed at the same time. 
Lewis didn't let go of the thing in his hand, but that meant that the vampire bat and the gryphon were in close quarters--close enough for the bat to sink its fangs into Kharrie's flank. Lewis felt her whole body shudder, and she began spiraling toward the ground. The grip of his knees slipped with the force of her fall, but he gripped the Chain at his neck and fought to bring his two hands close together. 
Krasimir had ceased shouting and was now actively choking, until finally Lewis felt something snap, and the hand holding the Gyth suddenly bore much less resistance. He held it against the Chain around his neck, and at once, the familiar magnetic pull brought the two pieces together. Kharrie stopped falling and flexed her wings in a burst of renewed strength, while every infected fairy rose up to rejoin the fray.

"Quick, Kharrie," Lewis instructed his mount, "we've got to find--"

Lewis didn't finish what he was saying before a savage pain lanced through his back, knocking him off Kharrie's back and into the open air, right into the clutches of the vampire bat just behind him. The beast grabbed him by the shoulders, hauling him into the air.

"Nein, du feindlich kind!" Krasimir screamed in German. "You vill gif me ze Gyth, or you vill die!"

Lewis winced at the pain he was experiencing, but he was too far away from anyone to receive help. He worked his grip on the rapier in his hand, aiming the point toward the round black body above him. It screamed and raked its claws down his back, throwing him up in the air where Krasimir reached out and grabbed his collar.

Lewis was too disoriented by the height to realize what the man was doing until he felt his grasp on the Phantasmagyth.

"Zis is mine!" Krasimir fumed.

Lewis saw Kharrie swoop in underneath him and tried to push away from Krasimir to grab onto her back, only to feel a small tug as he did so, and the empty Chain settle against his collarbone. The feeling of power emanating from the Phantasmagyth ended just as suddenly, and Lewis immediately looked up toward Krasimir, but the artist was swearing in German and staring toward the ground. The sunlight glinted off the Gyth as it fell toward the ground.

Both Lewis and Krasimir directed their beasts toward the spot where it landed, Lewis jumping down before Kharrie had touched the ground so he could get it first. Krasimir tried to do the same, allowing the vampire bat and the gryphon to viciously attack each other as the two humans vied for control. 
Krasimir hovered over the Gyth and was about to pick it up when Lewis, in a burst of desperation, tugged the Chain from around his neck and swung it toward the Gyth. It struck Krasimir across the back of the hand and he recoiled with a yelp of pain, while the loose end of the Chain reconnected with the Gyth, and Lewis could pull it back to himself and reconnect the Chain around his neck.

Krasimir raised his sword, but Lewis worked the tip of his rapier around and pierced the artist's wrist. The sword clattered to the ground as Krasimir's arm flopped limply to his side. Angrily, he reached toward Lewis with his other hand, but the young man pricked that arm with the rapier and it had the same effect. Try as he might, Krasimir couldn't touch Lewis. He tried kicking at him with his legs, but Lewis simply stepped back. He responded to the surge of power rushing through him from the Phantasmagyth and commanded, "STOP!"

Everything stilled in an instant. The Underworlders and Phantasmians alike froze in place.

Whoever holds the Phantasmagyth will have power over all living creatures of this world and the other, Lewis remembered Gathlen saying something like that. Then he recalled what Queen Evalia had said to him: Until we return to Phantasm, you are its Guardian...

"The fighting ends now," he announced to the crowd of creatures in front of him. "All you Underworlders, surrender to the Phantasmians!"

At once, every Underworlder threw down their sword, allowing the little folk to swarm over them and bind their hands. Lisa helped restrain the trolls, and as things calmed down Lewis saw Adolf taken prisoner. He scanned the battlefield. "Where is Gathlen?"

"Here I am!" called the strong voice, and the milky-white unicorn stepped into view.

Lewis removed the Phantasmagyth and held it out. "I believe this belongs to you, sir," he said.

Gathlen dipped his head to receive the gem, and it began to glow brighter than ever.

"The portal is opening!" Ashwyn's voice piped up from somewhere yonder.

The unicorn sauntered deeper into the forest, until he came to a very thick tree. Lewis watched him touch the tree with his horn, and a burst of energy coursed down the ruby-red channel and surrounded the trunk. It split right down the middle, and in the space between the sides of the trunk, a rippling view of another world could be seen.

"Phantasm!" Queen Evalia's voice resounded near him.

Lewis smiled at the Fairy Queen. "Go ahead," he said, "you and your kin have been waiting long enough."

With a cacophony that sounded like a chorus of sleigh bells, the Little Folk surged through the portal.

Once they were through, Gathlen announced, "The next ones through will be all the Underworlders. It is high time you returned from whence you came as well."

Kharrie and Lisa herded the prisoners through the portal, and Lewis watched as the moment they touched the soil of Phantasm, a great chasm opened up and dropped them all into the caves and underground passages where they belonged.

Kharrie only hesitated a little, turning to Lewis and bopping him with her head as she approached the portal. He stroked the top of her head, and she immediately stretched out her neck to allow him to wrap his arms around her in a hug. She gave a happy squawk, bounded through the portal, and was gone.

Lisa put her hand flat on the ground to lift Lewis up before her face, where great tears swelled in her eyes and dripped down her cheeks.

"You're the most amazing human I've ever met," she said softly. "I hope someday I can visit your world again and see more of it."

Lewis hugged her thumb and said, "If I ever get the chance to visit Phantasm, I hope we find each other and you can show me all the wonderful things your world has to offer, as well."

Lisa smiled in spite of her tears, and set Lewis back on the ground. The portal expanded to admit her stature, and she crawled through.

Now there were just three figures standing in front of the portal: Lewis, Gathlen, and the partially-paralyzed Krasimir. Gathlen nodded to Lewis. "You have done well, young human," he said. "I did not think this world could--Look out!"

Lewis was too focused on Gathlen's words to realize what was happening, but as the unicorn broke off with the warning, he turned his head to see Krasimir raising a knife sandwiched between his useless hands, aimed straight at Lewis' back! Lewis grabbed the rapier from beside him on the ground and aimed for Krasimir's left knee. It crumpled, and the knife fell from the former artist's grasp as he collapsed onto the ground.

Lewis turned back to Gathlen. "Thank you for the warning."

The unicorn nodded. "Once the Phantasmagyth passes through the portal, the effect of the venim should start to wear off. I recommend using some of the nets and ropes discarded by the Underworlders to bind him before he can attack you again."

"I will do that," said Lewis.

"Also," Gathlen continued, "speaking of the Phantasmagyth, bring me the false chain."

Lewis walked over to Krasimir, who did not even attempt to resist as Lewis lifted the chain from around his neck.

Gathlen directed him to place the chain upon a rock, and with his silver hooves the unicorn smashed the chain until not a single link remained intact. "Take up the pieces and toss them through the portal," he said.

Lewis swept every bit of that destroyed chain into his hand and flung it through the gap inside the tree. He could see it sparkle as it fell.

"No more will a human have dominion over Phantasm," said Gathlen, "but that does not mean we will continue to live as we were, in ignorance of humans. It has been an honor to know you and join you in defending your world, Lewis Grant. Tales of your courage and forthrightness will be spoken throughout Phantasm for many generations to come. We will not forget you."

Lewis felt his face flush, and he ducked his head. "Thanks; I feel the same about you," he mumbled.

Gathlen tossed his head. "It is time for me to leave. Once I have passed through the portal, it will close, and the connection between our world and yours will be severed." He bent his head over the Phantasmagyth, and Lewis heard a sharp clicking sound. When Gathlen raised his head again, something glinted between his teeth: a single link of the Phantasmagyth Chain. He dropped it into Lewis' hand and said, "In honor of your nobleness while you served as a temporary Guardian of the Phantasmagyth, I will allow you to keep this token of our gratitude."

Lewis grasped the smooth metal. Tears began to itch behind his eyes. The most amazing year of his life was coming to a close.

Gathlen turned toward the portal, looking back at Lewis one last time. "Farewell, Lewis Grant."
"Farewell, Gathlen," Lewis responded.

The unicorn entered the portal into Phantasm, and at once the tree began to fold back together, until the light of the portal died, and all that was left of the final confrontation was a torn-up clearing, a paralyzed gentleman, and Lewis.

He sighed and trudged over to the nearest bit of rope he could find. He wasn't that good at tying knots, but he figured he didn't really have much to worry about, now that Krasimir's access to Phantasm was cut off. He tied Krasimir's wrists together and propped him up against the tree.

The man began to blubber shamelessly. "You vill not leaf me here, ja? Vat vill I do, now zat my most important verk has been destroyed?"

Lewis stood back and stared at the man. "You're going to have a lot to answer for, both the damage to the house you were renting, and the fact that you can't keep up the Phantasmenagerie anymore. Once the paralytic wears off, you are free to try and escape the rope and contact anybody to help you go back to wherever you lived before you came to America, but I'm going to tell the security office at Browning Academy that you were the one who attacked my dorm, so you'd better not show your face around there ever again."

"But visout my art, I hef no money!" Krasimir complained, squirming against the tree. "How vill I afford transportation back to Germany?"

A small smile played around Lewis' lips. "You could get a job to raise funds for yourself. Try being a janitor somewhere, it's not so bad." He turned and walked back toward the entrance of the public park, leaving Rawlings Point behind.

He walked through the doors of Chester Hall with his stomach rumbling. It was nearly the middle of the day, and he hadn't had anything to eat! He crossed the threshold of the common area, headed for the hallway where his room was located, and somebody called his name.

"Lewis!" Danielle sat on one of the couches, slouched like she'd been waiting there for a while, but she seemed surprised to see Lewis coming from the opposite direction of his room. She stood up and stepped toward him. "Where were you? Did you go somewhere for breakfast? Or..." she glanced up and down, "a really intense hike or something?"

Lewis looked down. His shirt was ripped, stained, and rumpled, and he did have streaks and grass stains on his pants. His hair felt like it probably looked like a mess as well. "Well, um, I kinda... Yeah, I guess I went for a walk or a hike or something." His jaw tightened as he felt his cheeks flushing again. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh..." Danielle's face flushed as well. "Um, well, I wanted to come over and invite you to see a movie with me... but if you want to, like, go somewhere to eat first, that would be okay..."

"Yes, I do," Lewis replied quickly. "Just let me change my clothes and freshen up a little and then we can go."
"Sounds good," Danielle sat back down on the couch. "I'll wait here for you."

Lewis scurried to his room, a renewed determination invigorating him. He shed his dirty clothes, tossing the dirty shirt in the hamper.

"Oof!" a tiny clang rang out.

Lewis froze, his eyes scanning the room. His shirt seemed to take on a life of its own, shifting and shaking until a small bead of light rose from the hamper and zipped toward him.

Lewis' breath caught in his throat. "Ashwyn?" he gasped. He put out his hand, and the small fairy in the purple dress dropped into his palm.

"Hi, Lewis," her tiny voice jingled.

He forgot all about getting dressed as he sat on the bed, staring at the sight he never imagined he would ever see again. "Wh-why did... How are--What are you doing here?" he spluttered.

Ashwyn fidgeted with her hands in her lap. "Well, I didn't go through the portal with everyone else," she admitted. "I almost did, but I wanted to stay here with you more than I wanted to go back. I hope that's okay."

Lewis rolled his eyes. "I mean, I'm not angry or anything, it's just... You know that Gathlen said that our worlds are not connected anymore, right? That means that you'll never see Phantasm again, and neither will I."

Ashwyn huffed and crossed her arms. "What about that thing you said to Lisa? About wanting to see Phantasm, or welcoming her back if another portal ever opened?"

Lewis dropped his hand so Ashwyn could fly over to his desk while he donned fresh clothes.
"Oh, good grief, it's not like I will be going around looking for portals like Krasimir did!" he groaned. "Gathlen made it sound pretty permanent, you have to admit." He reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled out the Chain link. "He gave me this as a memento, but that's all there is left of the Phantasmagyth. You're basically trapped here forever."
Ashwyn picked up the link, twice as big as a bracelet for her tiny hand. Her wings flickered. "As a matter of fact..." she said slowly, "there is a way for me to go back home anytime I choose."
Lewis frowned. "How?" he asked.

Ashwyn flew into the air with the link, which she dropped in Lewis' hand. He noticed that somehow she'd stretched the metal so that it formed a ring that fit around his little finger. He could wear it rather inconspicuously right on his hand.

"With that," the fairy said. "That little bit of Phantasmian metal still holds the power of the Phantasmagyth, even on a small scale. Humans don't know it, but magical portals happen every day, all over your world. I can sense them, remember? When I've done all I want to do, seen all I want to see, and been everywhere I want to go in your world, I can just sense the arrival of the next portal, and use this link to open it just wide enough for me to go through it."

Lewis sighed and wagged his head. "So... you're staying, huh?"

Ashwyn settled on his shoulder, where he could just make out her satisfied expression. "I'd like to, if you'll let me," she said. "I promise I won't be a bother and I'll stay hidden and I won't make too much trouble!"

Lewis shrugged. "Okay, if you can stay out of sight, I'll let you stay with me." He paused at the doorway. "Speaking of which, I'm about to go on a date with Danielle. Do you mind giving us some space for now?"

"Really?" Ashwyn chimed happily. "Oh, that's wonderful! I'll go exploring today and return when the sun goes down. Have a great time, Lewis!" She zig-zagged toward the window at the back of his room.
Lewis opened it a little ways to let her out, and the little fairy disappeared into the sunshine.

He went out to the common room where Danielle was still waiting for him. She stood as he approached.
"Ready to go?" she asked.

"Ready," Lewis responded, and in that moment he knew that although the adventure of the fairies under glass had come to a close, his next great adventure was just beginning.

THE END
<<<<<< Previous                                 >>>Back To The Beginning<<<
Click >>HERE<< For More Serial Stories!

Synopsis from Amazon:
In near-future 2094, Earth is on the brink of nuclear winter. A secret evacuation is already underway, and Solomon Reach and his crew have guaranteed passage on the last ship to leave for colonization and exploration of a new planet in the Andromeda galaxy. When Solomon learns of a betrayal that will have catastrophic consequences, he is faced with an impossible choice: who will live and who will die?
>>>>>>>>>>>
My Review:

This book read like an Asimov novel—which, if you know how much I enjoy Asimov’s work, should come as high praise indeed!

The premise is simple: Earth is dying and most of humanity has relocated to a space station orbiting the planet, but even that is running out of room and resources. There is a shuttle intended to transport a bunch of people to the region of a few moons intended to set up a new colony to expand and terraform… but Solomon Reach, one of the chief designers and builders of the shuttle, learns that there is a plan to replace the hundreds of builders and engineers like him who dedicated their work to building the place with the promise that they would be guaranteed space on the ship—with another population of administrative and executives who believe they have more compelling reasons to leave instead, and the financial backing to buy their precedence. Solomon and his closest team members concoct a plan to prevent the overreach and ensure that all those promised a place on the ship have them. It's a deadly and desperate race for survival, and there's no telling who Solomon and his crew can trust!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The world-building is masterful and meticulous (although I did begin to wonder at the author's prolific use of the word fenestella) and the characters are vivid enough to be compelling from the moment they're introduced. Once the slow and gradual build-up started to pay off, about the halfway mark, I found myself unable to stop reading, and I swiped through those pages with my eyes glued to the ebook screen, many a night reading until I couldn't keep my eyes open. The plan Solomon Reach enacts to get his crew and the other workers off-world without letting the executives kick them off was ornate, with lots of moving pieces and very little communication available between the group members. At one point there's even a space-walk and the risk of characters ending up free-floating in space had me holding my breath as I read feverishly!

All things considered, I'd say Sideris Gate earns itself a *****5 STAR***** rating. Lasota does a ripping sci-fi just as well as she does historical fantasy! This book is perfect for fans of Isaac Asimov and The Expanse. A rousing good time!


Further Reading: (Also By The Author(*)/Space-Based/Dystopian/Stellar World-Building) -Immortal Codex: Petra--Cheri Lasota* -Countless As The Stars--Steve Trower 
-The Secret King: Letháo--Dawn Chapman 
-The Arena--Santana Young 
-Excelsior--George Sirois Starstruck Saga--S. E. Anderson       -Starstruck        -Alienation The Children of Dreki--N. R. Tupper
       -TYR The Chronicles of Lorrek--Kelly Blanchard
        -Someday I'll Be Redeemed 
        -I Still Have A Soul 
        -I'm Still Alive 
        -Do You Trust Me?
        -You Left Me No Choice 
        -They Must Be Stopped 
        -Find Me If You Can 
        -You're Not Alone The Cadeau Series--Connie Olvera
       -Who Can You Trust?-Abiding Flame--Pauline CreedenThe Untamed Series--Madeline Dyer
       -Untamed 
       -Fragmented -Anamatus--Derrick Tribble

Part 27 "Final Examinations"
Silence hung over the lecture hall in a thick cloud. Lewis moved with automated precision, scrawling his sentence responses and filling in bubbles under that overbearing sense of being carefully watched by the proctors standing at the corners of the room. His eyes remained locked on the page. As far as he was concerned there was only him, his pencil, and the Final Exam in front of him. Every lecture he'd heard, every textbook he'd pored over, every Study Hall he'd attended all led to this moment, the moment he'd make the transition from sophomore to junior. Nothing else mattered as he turned the last page and kept marking down answers.

"Time!" The proctor's announcement reached him from a great distance, and Lewis saw the welcome words "END TEST" on the page just below his last answer. He'd finished! He and forty others in the room let out a collective sigh, and followed the proctor's directions to form a single-file line to turn in the completed exams.

Lewis set his test booklet down and the girl behind him in line joked, "Now we just have to do this four more times and we're finished for the summer!"

He peeked over his shoulder with a laugh on his lips. She had curly brown hair and bright-blue eyes, and today she wore a plain white t-shirt under a soft green linen romper.
"Hi, Christine," Lewis greeted her.

"Hi, Lewis," Christine responded. "How did that one feel?"

Lewis tilted his head back and forth with a noncommittal expression. "History hasn't been one of my stronger subjects, but I think I did all right."

Christine chuckled. "At least if you can't remember the particulars of an event, it helps that the questions kind of lead you to the information the professors who grade our tests will be looking for," she said.

Lewis nodded. "If you can't answer the test, at least answer the professor, right?"

"You got it!" Christine flashed him a thumbs-up. "Good luck at your next class!"

"You too!"

Lewis headed down the corridor to the mathematics wing with a straightness in his spine and a lightness in his step that definitely hadn't been there last semester. He caught the eye contact of passersby and gave a smile or a nod as they passed each other. Those he knew by name, he waved to--and that number had even started to grow.

Perhaps nearly becoming a freak show display did wonders for one's desire to connect to other people.
It helped that the last bout of chaos (which he caused) at the carnival, coupled with his "weekend disappearance", prompted yet another change in employment. Melanie delivered a letter from Dean Rushford that officially recognized Lewis' efforts at fulfilling the required number of work hours, instead offering him a position on the Academy's social committee, in charge of networking with students and welcoming newcomers. Danielle happened to be on the committee already, so Lewis willingly accepted the position.

He reached Intro To College Algebra and immediately glanced to the corner typically occupied by Quincy, Jesse, and Henry, but all the seats around them were already filled. The opposite corner was still mostly open, while groups of students clustered around the middle tables in the room. Lewis found a table with one more open seat and took it.

The four students already sitting there gave him uncomfortable glances. He was pretty sure the boy with the thin face and shaggy dark hair was named Toby, but he didn't know the others.

"Hi," he said softly, as the professor still conferred with his teaching assistants over the particulars of test administration. "I'm Lewis. How's everybody doing today?"

"All right," said the girl, and Lewis realized that he'd seen her a few times at the carnival. "This is my first final of the day, and I'm really nervous!"

The dark-haired boy rolled his eyes. "It's just math; it's supposed to be hard! I'm just going to blow through it as quickly as possible, and maybe next year I'll actually get some tutoring."

Lewis wagged his head. "It's Toby, right?" When a nod confirmed his guess, he continued, "I remember taking my finals at the end of last year, and I definitely felt the same way! Taking classes at a private Academy like Browning is way different than grade school. But my advice would be to take the time to really focus on each question as if it's something you were already taught, even if you hadn't been paying attention that day. Approach it just like you would any other math problem, make sure to write down your methods--show your work--and even if you get it wrong, at least you might get closer than just blind guessing. Who knows, you might actually get more problems right than you think."

"That's good advice," the nervous girl said. "Thanks!"

Lewis reflected on that moment as he left the classroom in the company of his usual friend group. Where once he felt inadequate and excluded, he now had something to offer, and that helped him branch out from his usual habits.

Lewis’ stomach let out a gurgle, and he willingly headed toward the cafeteria. Lunchtime consisted of a choice between taco salad or soft tacos, and Lewis chose the latter. Drink, side of fruit, and meal secured, he surveyed the array of tables at the center. He saw Danielle sitting with a group of girls at a table that still had a few open spaces, notably one next to Danielle herself. She laughed at something one of the girls said, the sound of her voice breaking through the hubbub of chatter around her.

“You should go over there,” a voice said behind him.

Lewis flinched guiltily and turned to see Quincy, Brayden, and Jesse standing behind him. Quincy had a knowing grin on her face.

“I think she likes you,” she said to Lewis. “Or she is starting to. I don’t know how much you interacted at the carnival, but you should have seen how worried she was when we didn’t know where you were.”

Lewis squirmed uncomfortably. Did he have a crush on Danielle? Was it that obvious? “I dunno…”

“Dude, just go talk to her!” Jesse chided. “A year ago you were so awkward and reserved that you wouldn’t have even wanted to interact outside this friend group, but now? You’ve changed, man.”

Lewis felt his heart racing. He knew if Ashwyn was watching him right now she would probably be halfway to creating a situation to attract Danielle’s attention by now.

“Maybe later,” he confessed. He nodded toward an empty table across the auditorium. “My arms are getting tired of holding this tray. Let’s sit down over there.”

“Suit yourself,” said Quincy, and nobody pressured him anymore.

As Lewis finally left the table to dispose of his trash and head to his next class, a small winged creature zinged right for his neck and fluttered between his collar and his shoulder.

Ashwyn’s gentle, twinkling voice reached his ear. “I found one!”

Lewis shied away from the people milling around him, putting some distance around himself before he whispered back, “Found what?”

“A portal to Phsntasm!” Ashwyn replied. “There’s one due to open either tonight or tomorrow morning, not far from here.”

Lewis felt a surge of energy. “How close?” he asked.

“Somewhere with lots of trees,” said Ashwyn. “I’d be able to find it on a map.”

Lewis stopped in at the computer lab to select a kiosk and open a digital map. He pointed to a series of rooftops. “Okay, here is Browning Academy. Where are these trees you speak of?”

Ashwyn directed him to move the cursor around the screen till she chimed, “There is where it’s going to be!”

Lewis checked the location. “Magnolia Park, it’s only a mile from here.” He smiled. “Okay, that is definitely doable. I guess one benefit of knowing ahead is that we can be getting things ready before it actually happens—“

“Before what happens?” Quincy’s voice floated over his shoulder.

Lewis flinched and almost knocked the keyboard off the computer desk. “Um, I was just—“

“What’cha looking at?” Quincy asked, squinting at the map on the screen. “Magnolia Park? That’s a nice view. Are you looking for a date spot?“ She stared hard at Lewis and noticed his flushed cheeks. “Are you planning a date with Danielle?” Her eyes sparkled and she twisted a lock of her long dark hair around her finger. “That’s a great idea! I hope it goes well for you.”

Lewis muttered an incoherent response as he closed down the computer and bolted. Let Quincy make all the assumptions she wanted; at least it would keep her from digging for the actual truth!

Once he was outside the building, he called out, “Ashwyn!”
She flew out of his collar and hovered invisibly in the sky. “Yes?”

“I have one more class to get to, but I want you to send a fairy or two over to Rawlings Point to tell the others that we’re going to try and make it to the portal either tonight or tomorrow morning. They can meet us in those trees at Magnolia Park, okay?”
Ashwyn saluted. “You got it, boss!”

Lewis watched her zip away. A few months ago he wouldn't have accepted being the “boss” of anything, but just hearing Ashwyn say it gave him a burst of confidence that made him smile. He headed in for his final class of the day, Language Arts. The professor handed them back their final essays from the week before, each marked with their final grade, and since they had no other assignments, he allowed everyone to leave early with a book to spend the rest of the class period reading.

The only book Lewis had on him at the moment happened to be a murder mystery, so he made sure to find a sunny spot to read it. He was barely two chapters in when a voice said, “Shouldn’t you be in class?”
He looked up to see Danielle standing in front of him, a satchel over her shoulder and a grin on her face.
Lewis shrugged. “We finished all there was, so the professor let us go outside to read.”

Danielle chuckled. “Sounds like the faculty is as ready to be done with the school year as we are!” she joked. “My Classic Literature professor just did the same thing. Mind if I join you?”

Lewis glanced to the space beside him in the bench. “There’s plenty of room,” he agreed.

Danielle sat down and pulled out her book, a cloth-bound hardback copy of Peter Pan.

Lewis felt his interest perk when he saw it. “You like fantasy novels?” he asked.

Danielle nodded. “Oh yeah, anything with dragons or fairies in it is totally my jam! That’s really why I had wanted to see that Phantasmenagerie show, to see how realistic those creatures were… except the part where they started attacking the audience.” Her face fell and she shuddered.

Lewis gripped his book and fought the urge to broach the subject of the reality of the fantasy world after her horrified response. He focused on his book and the two friends said nothing more.

Lewis headed toward his dorm after finishing the last class period. He reflected on the week before, when he’d been relegated to reserve housing after Adolf had trashed his room. What a relief to be getting it back again! He almost didn’t mind the added security features it now had. At least he could still have some privacy!

He lay back on his bed, relieved at not having to study or think about tomorrow’s classes tonight at least. His eyes drifted shut, and he might have even dozed off a little, when a rap on his window jolted him awake. His room was dark because the sun hadn’t yet set when he’d walked in the room, and now night had fallen. He flipped on the lamp and peered at the window. A wide something like a bedsheet of canvas hovered outside, surrounded by many pricks of light. He opened the window to allow in the fairies carrying a blotchy piece of what looked to be canvas from one of the carnival tents.

“Special delivery!” Ashwyn jangled as they spread the dirty tarp over his bed. Lewis could see that some of the blotches were words written on the canvas—or they used to be. Most of the substance used as ink had washed away, except the words at the bottom of the note, “Your Giant Friend.”

“The fairies Queen Evalia sent found Lisa like you said,” Ashwyn explained. “And when we delivered your message, she told us to wait while she and Gathlen abandon Kharrie all set off toward the captor’s castle.” She settled on the desk as the whole throng of fairies and elves came out from their temporary village in the closet to learn what happened.

Ashwyn continued, “I was worried we were going to have to wait all night, but then Kharrie came back with the note, and we brought it to you.”

Lewis frowned. “Please tell me you read the note when it was fresh; the words have all but disappeared by now.”

The little fairy fluttered her wings apologetically. “I know, I’m sorry! Just so you know, I actually did read it. It said that she has the Gyth and they will all meet you at the park first thing tomorrow.”

Lewis smiled and yanked the canvas off the bed. “I knew they could do it!” he gushed. “They’re not afraid of Krasimir anymore; and now that I have the Chain, there's nothing he can really do to exert control over them!” He got ready for bed as the little folk celebrated with cheers and dancing.

“The portal is opening soon!” Ashwyn informed him with a drowsy half-loop. “I can feel it coming.”
Lewis nodded and yawned. “Wake me the moment it opens,” he said. “I don’t want to miss it in case it’s a long time till the next portal arrives.”

“Don’t worry,” Ashwyn reassured him. “The plan is all coming together. I won’t let you down.”

That thought comforted Lewis as he drifted off to sleep, little dreaming of how tomorrow could change his whole reality.
<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>
<<<< Previous         Next >>>>>>>

Part 26 "I'm Not Your Mummy"
“Lewis? Lewwwwissss…”
Lewis groaned as his consciousness returned with a pounding headache. His body felt like someone had weighed it down with sand. It took incredible effort and concentration to simply turn his head and prize his eyes open in response to the voice calling his name.

He saw bars, and a bare concrete floor. On the other side of the bars, Krasimir Schlimme sat in a chair and grinned at him.
A surge of alarm gave him the energy to lift his head and work his way up to a sitting position.

“I’m sure you’re vondering vhat you are doing here.”

Lewis looked around the space. The cage wasn’t very big, like a human-sized crate. He could stand up, walk a few paces, and lay down on the ground, but it was very much secure. Across the fairly large basement room, a second cage housed the unicorn, whose paint job had mostly melted away, next to a floor-to-ceiling cage holding Lisa, cramped as she was with her knees up near her chin and barely enough room to lift her head all the way. A leather gag strapped over her face kept her from opening her mouth. Suspended from the ceiling was a fourth cage holding the gryphon. A shelf across from the unicorn held many jars and bottles containing glittering fairies and milling elves.

Dominating the center of the space was a huge work table littered and stacked with vials and beakers and small distilling machines and scientific paraphernalia. His eyes traveled back to Krasimir, and he croaked the word, “Where?”

Krasimir spread his hands. “Velcome to my lab! I haf used zis space for my many experiments and developing my… artwork.”

As more of his faculties returned, Lewis began looking around for any windows, any sign of a phone besides the antique sets standing on the long table. He even patted his own pocket for his cell phone, but Krasimir must have anticipated this move. He held up the familiar device with a savage grin. “Looking for zis? You von’t be needing it till I am done vis you. If you must know, zis house is several miles avay from ze academy, and since it is ze veekend, no one vill miss you until you do not show up for your classes… vich I haf also prepared for.” He patted a stack of papers on the small table beside him. “A series of letters Adolf vill dispatch for me if ze Academy starts asking kvestions. All seem to be written by you, and zey merely say zat you haf been doing some soul-searching and haf taken a week-long trip into ze mountains to escape ze grind of studies and meaningless verk.”

Lewis rubbed his face, noting the shackles around his ankles attached to one side of the cage. “How long do you expect to keep me like this? My parents will get worried, or the Academy might send out a search party for me—“

Krasimir chuckled darkly as he reached into his pocket and drew out the Chain to the Phantasmagyth. “Oh, you stupid boy! You seenk you are zat important? Zat your existence is meaningful to anybody but you? No, I must keep you locked down here until my verk is done, and zen… who knows?” he shrugged his shoulders. “I have ze time to decide vat is to be done vis you vonce I have ze full power of ze Phantasmagyth at my disposal.” He turned to the table and began fiddling with papers and substances as he muttered to himself.

“My own mutter und pater, rest zeir souls, taught me to develop zis restless spirit I have now. My pater vas a renowned explorer, traveling all over ze verld to see ze most amazing sights zat no one else could reach. Mein muter taught me to appreciate beauty in all its forms, to capture it on paper, to create my own designs and not to shy avay from realizing vat my mind could dream.” He paused and looked back to Lewis. “But neizer of zem could amount to much. History forgot zeir names. But ze histories of two verlds vill remember my name!” He threw back his head and laughed.

Just then, a stray sunbeam entered the room at just the right angle, glinting off Gathlen’s horn. Lewis watched a small red bead like a laser pointer glide along the wall behind the unicorn. An idea formed in his head, and he waited till Krasimir turned back around to lift his hand and wave to the unicorn.
“How did you even discover Phantasm, anyway?” Lewis layered his voice with disgust and despair. His words had just the right effect. Krasimir saw the question as an invitation to brag, and Gathlen’s head came around quickly, his dark eyes full of concern. Lewis gestured to reassure him as Krasimir jumped on the topic, seizing his field journal notes.

“You vant to know how I did it? I vas looking for somesing no one had yet found, just like my pater. I happened across zese journals of an explorer named Pierson MacPherson in ze late eighteen-hundreds, who described crossing into a verld so different from our own, vere unicorns roamed and fairies danced. He disappeared long ago, leaving all of his research behind. I discovered it, and I studied it very closely until I found a portal of my own.”

While Krasimir talked, Lewis subtly coaxed Gathlen to turn his head till the beam of light flashed on Lisa’s face. When she lifted her head to see what was glinting in her eye, Lewis used the beam of light to show her the part of her cage that was not quite as secure as the rest. He then led Gathlen to indicate the gryphon cage. He figured if Lisa could break through the top of her cage, she could reach the chain holding the gryphon’s cage, and the resulting debris would fall and smash much of the jars holding the Little Folk.

Krasimir prattled on, unaware of the conspiracy happening behind him. “I used ze portal many times, learning zat zese creatures who had never seen a human before were also very suggestible, prime to be ruled by one as knowledgeable as myself, and ven I had captured enough creatures to lure ze red-horned unicorn out of hiding—“ He looked toward the cage and Lewis attempted to freeze in place.

Adolf emerged from the shadows at the back of the room. “Hey!” He barked, pounding on the bars of Lewis’ cage. At a frown from Krasimir the henchman yelled, “He’s doing something! He’s signaling the others somehow. I caught him waving to the unicorn!” Before anyone else could react, Adolf wrenched the door of Lewis’ cage open and grabbed the young man by the collar. “What’re you tryin’ to pull here, eh?” He lifted Lewis off the ground and shook him like a child. “You tryin’ to sabotage my master like you did at the circus?”

“Calm yourself, Adolf!” Krasimir ordered. When he turned away from the table, Lewis saw a hefty hypodermic needle in his hand. “Bring ze boy here.”

Adolf dragged Lewis toward the middle of the room. At least he could see Lisa’s massive hand pushing on the bars where he had indicated. Sure enough, they seemed to bend quite a bit at her touch.
He couldn’t watch her anymore as Krasimir loomed over him. “I had hoped it wouldn’t come to zis,” he said, as the vile green-blue liquid sloshed in the needle’s shaft, “but I can’t have you messing up any more of my plans!” He plunged the needle into Lewis’ shoulder and depressed the plunger.

Lewis felt the cool rush of liquid enter his bloodstream at his shoulders and spread everywhere. With the coolness came a numbness that encompassed his entire body before spreading to his face as well. Within thirty seconds he could not move.

“Zere, you vanted to be vone of zem, now you can!” said the artist, as Adolf pulled Lewis upright, stiff as a board. Krasimir raised Lewis’ arms and folded them across his chest as easily as posing a wire doll. “I can wrap you in antique bandages and seal you in a sarcophagus, and no one would ever know you were not anozzer mummy!” The mad artist cackled.

CLANK! 
Over everyone’s head, the chain suspending the gryphon’s cage snapped under Lisa’s grip, and the mythical beast screamed free in a whirlwind of feathers and claws. As Lewis had hoped, the cage and chain fell on the shelves of jars and shattered enough of them that the free fairies could break the rest and free all the little folk—including Ashwyn. Lewis could only watch from the ground as Lisa finished pushing her way out of her cage and promptly collapsed the nearest wall. Chunks of plaster, brick, and support beams came crashing down, exposing the room to daylight.

The gryphon was absolutely furious at being cooped up for so long. It launched across the work table and tore at anything it could grasp in its talons. A mass of goblins poured into the space as Krasimir ducked under Adolf’s protective stance. The warty Underworlders leaped and snatched to try and reclaim the Little Folk, but if they leaped too far, it put them at risk for being grabbed by the gryphon. Lisa, meanwhile had smashed a hole big enough for her to stand.

The whole time this was happening, Lewis lay stiff on the ground, his arms folded, unable to move or speak. The gryphon’s murderous gaze narrowed on him as a vulnerable target, and Lewis could only brace himself for the vicious talons, when a bright-white shadow swept over him.

“Calm!” Gathlen commanded. “He is a friend, you must not hurt him!”

The gryphon responded at once, veering toward the cluster of ogres surrounding Krasimir. With a screech of wild glee it dispersed the Underworlders, lashing with its talons directly at Krasimir Schlimme himself. The artist ducked and Adolf morphed into a wolf to lunge at the animal, who skidded across the work table with a cry of disappointment. Lewis watched the last of the Phantasmians escape, even Gathlen, who managed a soft, “Hang in there, Lewis,” before he vaulted the broken wall. Would they really leave him behind like that? After all he’d done for them?

Seconds later, before the goblins could overwhelm his helpless body, Lewis watched Lisa’s huge hand descend into the open space. She lifted him into the air as Ashwyn swooped and dived around him.

“You did it! You did it!” The little fairy twinkled. “I knew you would come back for me! We’re free! We’ve escaped the Captor, all of us!”

She landed proudly on his chest as Lewis wished he could tilt his head, or smile, even, to show his relief. Lisa seemed to walk as if she knew where she was going, which baffled him. Did they all agree on a place without his input?
Ashwyn answered his unspoken question. “We even planned a meeting place where we can hide safely away from other humans: the Rolling mountain place!”

Rolling mountain? Lewis didn’t recall any rolling mountains in the vicinity, until it hit him: Rawling’s Point! It was a bus ride and a long hike away from the campus, several miles from the carnival, and surrounded by tall trees. It was definitely a great hiding place for the fugitive Phantasmians, even Lisa.
Sure enough, Lisa stopped and set Lewis on a high outcropping in the midst of lots of crags, difficult to hike to from the bottom, but easy to access from above. The fairies all gathered around him, jabbering excitedly, while Gathlen patiently chomped on some grass the fairies had gathered for him. Lisa crouched at the entrance, concern on her face as she watched the immobilized Lewis.

“Can we do anything for him?” she asked.

“What’s wrong with him?” asked an elf.

“He was poisoned by the same venim that the Captor used on all of us,” Ashwyn declared.

“Oh, you mean we can do this?” A group of fairies tugged at Lewis’ arms, pulling them out straight, while a crowd of elves bent his legs in a sitting position, all the while Lewis remained on his back. The Little Folk giggled as they massaged his face into a baffling expression, stretching the corners of his mouth and fiddling with his eyebrows.

Even Gathlen couldn’t resist a nicker at the playful fidgeting. “Careful now,” he warned. “Deal gently with him.”

Lewis couldn’t feel it, nor resist it in any way. Overhead, the gryphon came in for landing with a screech, sending the cloud of fairies scattering. It held something in one of its taloned foreclaws. When it hobbled over to Lewis, he could see the gleaming Chain dangling from the gryphon’s grasp. Hope surged as the gryphon transferred the Chain to its beak and leaned over. The Chain dropped neatly around Lewis’ neck, and he felt a jolt like a gentle electric buzz down his spine and through his whole nervous system, and at once his muscles relaxed and his limbs dropped to be under his control once again.

He sat up at once, and all the Little Folk cheered.

“Welcome back, Lewis!” said Lisa.

He stretched his arms and sighed with relief. “It’s good to be away from Krasimir and out of danger!” Lewis smiled up at Lisa. “Thank you for rescuing me.”

The gryphon gave a squawk and edged toward him. Lewis watched it carefully, in case it decided to try eviscerating him again. It blinked at him, swinging its head back and forth to focus on him with each eye.

“And thank you for getting the Chain back,” Lewis said. It tipped its head toward him, so he slowly reached his hand out to stroke the gleaming feathers. “Good boy—“

Before he could connect, the gryphon suddenly bucked forward, bowling Lewis over with a head butt. It screeched in his face, but did not scratch him.

Gathlen chortled. “I think you’ve got the wrong impression, Lewis.”

Lewis blinked. “What do you mean?” He looked at the gryphon, who chirped again and bucked its head. “I was just trying to thank him—“

Bonk! The gryphon clocked him in the head a second time. The connection fell into place.

“You’re a female?” he asked. “So I should say… Good girl?”

The gryphon’s talons skittered against the rock as she ducked her head and raised her feathery tail playfully. This time when Lewis reached out to rub her head, she didn’t evade him. His fingers sank into the downy feathers. The texture reminded him of his mom’s plush microfiber fleece blankets. There was almost no real texture, just silky smoothness. A low rattle like a purr emitted from the gryphon’s beak. She rubbed her head against Lewis’ chest, not hard enough to knock him over this time. She squawked again, and this time, Lewis noticed a pattern in the sound. “Kkkahh-rree! Khaw-ree!”

He looked down at the golden head resting against him. “What was that? Are you trying to speak to me?”

The gryphon pulled away and positioned herself facing Lewis. She bobbed her head and repeated the cry. “Khaa-ree! Khaa-ree!”

Lewis watched her. “Kharie,” he mimicked the sound she made. “Is that your name? Kharie?”

She bucked excitedly, repeating the sound with more energy. “Kahrie! Kahrie!”

Lewis imitated her nodding. “Lewis,” he introduced himself. “Lewis.”

Kharie stood still and tilted her head back and forth. Lewis repeated his name once again, and she blinked twice and whistled, “Oowee… Ee-wiss… Wee-wiss… Oowis! Oowis!”

She settled on the closest approximation she could manage, and Lewis felt goosebumps spreading over his skin. A wild creature just learned his name!

Kharie wasn’t done interacting, though. After a quick spin after her tail, she made a teasing dart around beside Lewis. Just before he could spin around to face her, Kharie’s head appeared between his legs, and when she lifted to stand upright, the move tossed Lewis back over her feather ruff and onto the tawny fur of her back.

Lisa’s eyes lit up at the sight. “Better hold on, Lewis!” she warned.

He grabbed the feathers over her shoulders just in time. Kharie bounded forward to the edge of the rock cliff and leaped over it, spreading her wings at the same time. He felt his stomach flip as the gryphon soared through the air, swirling on an updraft and gliding in a wide loop over the whole forest. Lewis could almost see all the way back to Krasimir’s house from that height. Up and up Kharie pushed with powerful strokes, through a bank of clouds that left a sheen of moisture on Lewis’ skin, and spiraling down toward the ground in a move that made him dizzy. He clung to her with his hands and knees as she banked upward again and looped around Lisa’s shoulders. The giantess held out her arm and Kharie latched onto it, perching like a bird of prey and cheeping happily, “Oowis! Kharie! Oowis! Kharie!”

“That looks like so much fun!” Lisa gushed. “I wish I was your size so I could try it too.”

Below them, Gathlen paced uncomfortably. “We will be safe here, you need not fear, but there might not be room enough for everyone to stay out of sight.” His waving ruby horn indicated the sparkling fairies who were becoming more visible as the evening set in.

“I can keep the Little Folk in the dorm with me,” Lewis said. “Queen Evalia and Ashwyn can help keep everybody organized and hidden when I’m not around.” He glanced back to Lisa. “Krasimir’s going to do whatever it takes to keep the Gyth and reclaim the Chain, so I think it’s best if we keep those separate as much as possible, till we can figure out how to find a portal back to Phantasm.”

Ashwyn sprang up next to him. “That’s not going to be a problem,” she said. “I’m a Meadowglade fairy, and as such, I am equipped with a sense of when and where a portal will be. As soon as one opens up, I’ll know about it.”

Lewis blinked at the little fairy who continued to surprise him. “Well,” he stammered. “I guess all we would need to do then is wait till you three—Kharie, Lisa and Gathlen—figure out how to steal the Gyth from Krasimir.”

Lisa grunted. “Hmph! Why don’t you do it?”

Lewis rolled his eyes and shook his head. “I think we’ve established that Krasimir is always expecting me to try something. I think if I just stay away from him for a while it will be for the best—and you are all much better equipped to withstand him if I’m not in the mix, anyway.” He patted Kharie on the head and nudged her with his knees. “Okay, girl, take me back to the ground again.”

Kharie lifted off Lisa’s arm and came to rest in the grass beside Gathlen, at the foot of Rawling’s Point. The Little Folk soon swarmed around him. He waved to the three Phantasmians staying behind. “We'll wait for your message that you have the Gyth again, and get the nearest and soonest location for a portal where we will meet up to send you all back home again.”

A chorus of bells rang over his head.
“Did you hear that, everyone?” Ashwyn’s happy jangle stood out from the rest. “Lewis is going to send us home!”

The young man smiled. “I’d better find the nearest bus station to get me back to my dorm,” he said. “Best of luck, everyone!” He headed toward the road and absently reached for his pocket—only to remember that Krasimir Schlimme had confiscated his phone. “Great,” he mumbled. “I’m probably never getting that back again.”

A chatty group of elves gathered at his feet. “Hey!” one of them shouted, “Won’t you be needing this?” 
Lewis looked down at them, only to see his phone in their midst, supported by at least thirty elves and looking none the worse for wear. He reached down and grabbed it. “Oh no way!” he cried. “Thanks guys!” Armed with his phone, he saw multiple missed text messages and calls from his coworkers and his classmates, wondering where he was, and if he was okay or not. He texted a few of them back to let them know he was fine, and then swiped over to the bus routes to find the nearest stop.

The minute he landed at Browning Academy, he saw Quincy, Brayden, Danielle, Jordan, and Henry waiting for him.
“Where were you?” Quincy demanded as Danielle wordlessly threw her arms around him. “You’ve been gone for a whole two days, Danielle says you were supposed to come back with her last night but you never did. What happened?”

Lewis didn’t have the energy to come up with a convincing story. “I got lost,” he said. “And it took me a while to figure out where I was. I’m okay now. It shouldn’t happen again.”

“You’d better not, man!” Brayden chided. “All our professors are going to give you extra assignments to catch up on everything you missed today.”
Lewis nodded. “I know; sorry for freaking everybody out, I just needed… A mental health day; you know, to figure some stuff out.”

“Just warn us next time!” Danielle nudged him. “I was worried that you might have been trampled to death!”

Lewis nodded. “Next time this happens, I’ll make sure my friends know about it.” Unless it has anything to do with Phantasm, he thought to himself. As amazing as they were, he could not wait to have everything put back to normal again!
<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>
<<<< Previous           Next >>>>>>>

Part 25 "A New Show"
Attention carnival fans! The bullhorns blared. The next show at the Phantasmenagerie will begin in twenty minutes!

Lewis felt his stomach turn yet again. He stood by the entrance to the rollercoaster, glaring in the direction of the large, imposing gate separating the fun and exciting carnival from the spooky and horrifying freak show.

Queen Evalia carved anxious patterns overhead. "It's worse than we feared!" she jangled, using the noise of the ride to cover the sound of her voice. "It seems he has found a way to use the Gyth without the Chain!"

Lewis felt his cheeks burn with indignation. "He didn't bother trying to get the Gyth from me before, since he probably assumed it wouldn't work without the Chain. I'll bet that's the information he tortured out of Ashwyn, and once he knew that he could, he sent Adolf to steal the Gyth from me!" He had to shake the fury from his face as a fresh group of riders approached the coaster. Maintaining a welcoming manner became harder when he realized the three people in the front of the line were making plans to see the new show at the Phantasmenagerie afterward.

"I mean, I thought it was all just art displays and side shows," one of the girls said.

"It was," a guy responded, "but then one of the tents collapsed and shut the whole thing down for a couple days. You'll like the new show; I've already seen it twice today."

"What is it, like a bunch of puppets and animatronics? From what I hear, they're not using any live acrobats or stunt performers." another guy asked as they walked past Lewis to sit in the cars. He pretended to check his controls extra-thoroughly to let them finish their conversation.

A second girl asked, "So it's not like an actual circus show?"

"No, it's definitely circus-like, although it's got mostly animals performing tricks instead of people," said the first guy. "But the animals aren't like anything you've ever seen before. They actually look like mythical beasts spliced in a mad scientist's lab or something! It's crazy! They even have a 60-foot giant in the show!"

"I call hoax!" cried the first girl. "That one's still just a puppet, I think."

"Okay, but the gryphon hybrid is awesome!" said the guy with all the knowledge. "It looks just like the ones you've seen in pictures from Greek mythology, with a lion body and it actually flies through flaming hoops on eagle wings, and perches like a bird of prey."

"Now that I'd pay to see!" his buddy declared.

Lewis had heard enough. He flipped the switch to initiate the voice-over countdown and launched the group down the track. Flaming hoops? Spliced beasts? True, he and the gryphon hadn't started out on the best of terms, but he still felt sorry for the creature forced to perform like a prized pet.

He felt Queen Evalia settle on his shoulder while he stood alone. He could almost sense the waves of anxiety radiating off her tiny body.

"He really can control them somehow," Lewis whispered, reaching toward his collar to brush the Chain with his fingertips.

"No matter how much he tries, it still does not compare with the power of the True Phantasmagyth," said the Queen. "You must never forget that, Lewis."

The roller coaster returned, and Queen Evalia had to leave, but her words stayed with Lewis for the rest of the evening.

His shift ended as it was starting to get dark. The show had been announced several times, but as Lewis prepared to clock out and head to the food court for dinner, he heard the bullhorns announce that the final show of the night would begin in the customary twenty minutes' time.

Danielle joined him on his way to the food trucks. She smiled as he fell into step beside her.

"These extended hours make you really feel like summer is almost here, don't they?" she gushed.
Lewis nodded. "That, and all the final assignments we're doing!" he replied.

Danielle laughed. "I won't miss those, for sure!" She broke away to order from the truck selling chicken fingers and french fries. As they waited, she asked, "Well, it's the end of the week, have you been to the new show at the Phantasmenagerie yet?"

Lewis shook his head, trying not to let the revulsion he felt show on his face. "No, I only come here to work. I haven't really had any interest in going there at all."

Danielle gave a shy half-grin. "Oh, the squeamish type? I get it; spooky vibes and horror stuff is not for everybody."

Lewis paused at the pizza truck and ordered a slice. "It's not that," he retorted.

"Then what?" Danielle prodded as they walked together to a table. "Do you have classes first thing tomorrow? If not, will you go with me? I was curious about the show, but I didn't want to see it alone."

Lewis mulled the offer over. "I don't have Saturday classes this semester, but won't we miss the bus if we stay late? I seem to recall it tends to arrive right after we finish dinner."

"Yeah, normally," Danielle gestured with the fry in her hand. "But, c'mon, man! It's Friday night! There's another bus line that stops later a few blocks down the road, and it goes right by the main entrance to Browning Academy campus. We can take that one, ask the driver to drop us off there, and just walk to our dorms."

Lewis winced. "I don't know about walking around there so late at night..."

"Don't tell me you're scared that the creepy man and his weird dog will show up again," Danielle said as she rolled her eyes. "There are more cameras on that side of campus anyway, and we'll be walking together. Please?" Her gaze held his with a level of enticement that surprised him. "Just come; we might actually end up liking it!"

Lewis didn't want to tell her that he seriously doubted he would ever enjoy something so heinous, so he covered his hesitation with a bite of pizza.

Worse than we feared... The memory Queen Evalia's words returned. How hard he tries... he'll never match the power of the Real Phantasmagyth...

Lewis chomped a bite of pizza crust between his teeth. As much as he abhorred the idea of being a spectator to Krasimir's cruelty, he knew he couldn't sit by and ignore him as he tortured the Phantasmians into oblivion. In fact, agreeing to go with Danielle gave him an excuse he'd been looking for to go in there without having to sneak in. The time for keeping his head down and avoiding contact with the arrogant artist was coming to a close.

"All right," he said with a sigh, "I guess I can stay a bit extra tonight."

Danielle grinned and held up two tickets printed with admission to the Phantasmenagerie. "I was hoping you'd agree. Finish up and let's go so we can get good seats." She left to throw away her garbage.

Lewis touched the Chain around his neck. "Evalia, can you hear me?" He whispered under his breath. A flicker of light blinked twice, too bright and deliberate to be a random firefly. "Tell all the other fugitive Little Folk that we are sabotaging the show tonight, once and for all. For Ashwyn's sake, I'm going to try and use the Chain to save all the Phantasmians trapped in the circus. Maybe with the power I have, I can break his control from the audience." As he breathed the words, Lewis could feel his confidence building. He was feeling reckless, almost daring--

"Ready to go?" Danielle stood beside him.

Lewis smiled and wiped his greasy fingers with his napkin. "All set," he replied.
>>>>>>>>>>
The lights in the tent were sparse, but plenty of light illuminated the space. This was mostly due to the numerous glass orbs filled with swirling, flickering lights that appeared at first glance to be wandering sparks. On closer examination one might notice that the “sparks” had arms and legs. When one looked harder, one might see the dim shapes of tiny humanoids passed out from exhaustion at the base of the orb.

Krasimir brushed a dust mote off the lapel of his crushed velvet coat. He switched on the microphone clipped to his ear and declared to the crowd, “Welcome, one and all, to the mystical Phantasmenagerie, a place where the impossible takes shape!” He thought about the Gyth hanging around his neck underneath his shirt, and a warming burst of power reflected his attention. Armed with this power, he focused on his first team of goblins. They moved reflexively, switching on the floodlights to focus on Lisa the giantess.

The audience gasped as the goblins worked the pulleys attached to her limbs and head. Her arms waggled and her head nodded, sweeping her hair back so her expressionless face and hooded eyes were visible.

“Tonight you will see things that you could only imagine before!”

Krasimir cued the trolls flanking the large cage, and the gryphon burst out with an ear-piercing shriek.

“It’s flying!” somebody yelled.

Krasimir kept his gaze fixed on the creature, reaching into his shirt to hold the Gyth. “Perch on the platform, just like the rehearsal,” he whispered under his breath.

The gryphon gave another angry bellow and made an extra loop around the tent ceiling before landing on the perch as instructed.

“And now, for your viewing pleasure, a bit of a light show!” Krasimir waved his hand to signal the ogres standing in front of the cage full of fairies. The lights from their wings sparkled like glitter under the floodlights, and when the ogres pulled the lid off, Krasimir again held the Gyth and commanded them to come out in a shining cascade.

The cascade ended up as more of a gentle trickle in the eyes of the audience. Krasimir frowned at the cluster of docile fairies hovering in the center of the ring. Wasn’t it bigger when he rehearsed? He moved on with the performance, cuing the goblins in the sound booth to start the music, and waving his hand to guide the fairies into position. They made geometric designs, wove dancing and spinning patterns, and sparkled over the enchanted faces of the audience. As the music swelled, Krasimir swept the fairies into a group again and began cycling through the shapes—but as he did, there seemed to be a problem with the sequences. The gaps seemed bigger, the fairies seemed sparser, the shapes they made weaker and less defined. What was happening? The third pass confirmed that something was wrong; there weren’t even enough fairies to make the same number of shapes anymore. Krasimir hailed his goblin assistants with the Gyth.

“Let out the rest of the fairies,” he murmured.

“There are no more,” grunted the goblin as the music reached the middle of the sequence with only a mere handful of fairies left, compared to the vast amount that had started the show.

Krasimir squelched his frustration and signaled the sound booth. The music started fading and the artist directed the fairies back into their cage. The gesture took a bit longer than it had before, but Krasimir was too concerned about continuing the show.

“Behold!” he shouted to the crowd, “From the enchanted space between reality and dreams, a unicorn roams!”

He summoned the goblin dressed in disguise as a dwarf-sized human, perched in a small chariot harnessed to the gleaming unicorn, draped in sheer, tattered fabrics like decomposed funeral robes.

“But beware,” Krasimir’s amplified voice purred, “These dreams aren’t all sunshine and rainbows.”
The music took a darker turn, and the goblin cracked the whip in its hand, pushing the unicorn into a smooth run. The people applauded as the goblin yanked on the reins, pulling the unicorn into a rearing pose with a whinny that sounded more like a wailing scream. Krasimir watched with calculated glee. Finally his show was proceeding as it was supposed to, and getting the right response.

In the middle of the unicorn’s run, the gryphon suddenly screeched and crouched on its perch, as if waiting to pounce.
“Stay!” Krasimir commanded, holding the Gyth. He needed the audience’s attention on the unicorn for a few minutes longer in order to get the flaming hoops into position without burning the gisnt or the unicorn in the process.

The gryphon howled in protest, but did not rest on its haunches.

Krasimir opened his shirt collar so the Gyth could catch the light of the few lanterns, as if that could reinforce its power. “Do not move,” he remanded the creature.

Unfortunately, the gryphon’s desire to hunt seemed to supersede any submission to the Gyth. It launched over the heads of the audience, no longer playful nor grandiose, but a predator on the hunt. It looped the perimeter of the tent, flying low and honing in on something at the middle of the ring. It didn’t matter what Krasimir said, even if he was speaking directly to the Gyth itself, the gryphon narrowed in on its target: the disguised goblin.

“Nicht zuschlagen!” Krasimir spluttered, but it was too late. The gryphon’s talons reached out and caught in the ruffled costume. The goblin yelped as it was hauled into the air.

Panic settled into the audience, and at once they were on their feet and shoving to get to the nearest exit. The unicorn kicked with its silver hooves till the flimsy chariot burst into smithereens, and worst of all, the giant began thrashing and pulling the ropes that were no stronger than pieces of twine to a normal human.

Krasimir Schlimme surveyed the chaos with simmering anger. He had almost demanded that the gryphon drop the goblin, when he realized that doing so would reveal the hideous creatures to the public, and what a scandal that would be! Every attempt at using the Gyth to regain control of the situation only revealed the limits of his power: the only creatures that responded to his influence were the Underworlders, but they could not be seen by the carnival attendees. Everyone was already beside themselves over the freedom of the Phantasmians.

“Get outside and make sure the Phantasmians don’t escape!” he told the goblins on the catwalk. They followed his orders without question; but what use was their blind submission when he really wanted to control the creatures everyone could already see!

The gryphon screeched gleefully now that it could dive-bomb the heads of the few audience members who remained. The giantess had come detached from her harnesses, and although the reservoir remained strapped to her back, the hose had broken, slashed by the gryphon’s talons and now dangling in front of her face.

Krasimir withdrew into the shadows, heading for the secure back exit. Most of the crowd had made it out, it seemed, except a few in the foremost rows. His keen eyes noted one area of the bleachers the gryphon avoided in its attacks, and as soon as he married his gaze, he figured out why: the boy, his former janitor, the constant meddlesome thorn in his plans for ultimate control over these creatures he had claimed, sat there in tense concern. Lewis Grant! According to the captive fairy back in his lab, he carried the Chain on his person. That must be the reason the Gyth had failed. It was all Lewis’ fault! He pointed through the chaos of flailing giant and swooping gryphon. Those audience members left were too scared by this point to ever blab about what they might witness.

“Get him!” Krasimir roared, and the Gyth flared brightly over his chest. Goblins and ogres came crawling out of underground caverns and dropping from the tent rafters, but Lewis had already made his way out of the bleachers within the last of the crowd. Krasimir sneered; no doubt his command had reached the Underworlders outside and they would all be on the lookout for Lewis. He wasn’t getting away this time! Krasimir slipped away toward his vehicle. They would capture the boy and bring him to the lab, or they would not dare present themselves to him at all.

For his part, Lewis was only just beginning to realize the fatal flaw in his rescue plan. It had been deceptively simple to use the power housed in the Chain to overwhelm Krasimir’s influence over the fairies, a few at a time, so they could stop flying, drop to the ground, and simply walk away by virtue of being too small to see in the shadows of the tent. The gryphon’s rebellion hadn’t been intentional, but Lewis surmised it could have been helped by the Chain’s presence. When the show fell apart at the seams, Lewis had been elated, noting how the gryphon ripped the hose forcing venim down Lisa’s throat, and how the dispersing crowd would be the perfect distraction to allow him and the newly-freed captives to race out into the night…. and then what? Lewis watched Lisa thrash and demolish the tent above her as concern mounted over where a sixty-foot girl could hide in this flat part of the country—and he didn’t realize Krasimir had spotted him till it was too late. He saw Krasimir’s hand come up to point at him and he grabbed Danielle’s hand.

“Let’s get out of here!” he said to her.

“What is even happening right now?” she wailed at him.

Lewis fell in with the crowd and emerged under the night sky—and his heart lurched to see the vaguely humanoid shadows carrying jars with handfuls of lights in them. Some fairies had escaped for good, but not all of them. The Underworlders could move about in the darkness of nighttime without fear of being spotted by the terrified spectators racing for their cars and jockeying for the parking lot exit. Lisa’s body unfolded from the tent roof, yelling, “I’ve got him! Where do we go now?”

Lewis looked up to see Gathlen dangling rather ignominiously from her hand and knew he hadn’t done much to free his friends at all. Without anywhere else to hide and regroup, they were all just as trapped as they had been.

“Wait! That’s no animatronic!” Danielle shrieked.

A gruff voice barked, “Hey you!”

Lewis felt his body temperature drop and his skin grow clammy at the sound of Adolf’s snarl. He couldn’t let himself be caught again, especially with an outsider nearby! He released Danielle’s hand and pushed her toward the exit. “Head for the bus!” he told her. “I’ll be right behind you!”

She didn’t hesitate, abandoning him at once. Lewis turned to locate Adolf, but the werewolf wasn’t where he had been before. Lewis kept running, eyes scanning the shadows around him, but then he wasn’t watching where he was going. His shoe caught on something, sending him sprawling to the ground. He had just gotten his feet back under him when he heard the raspy cackle of an ogre and something hard connected with the back of his head, knocking him out completely.
<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>
<<<< Previous            Next >>>>>>>

Synopsis from Amazon:
A selkie’s song can enchant a man and tame the sea . . .

Naia’s unusual love for human things led her to become the sole artisan in her clan. But when this passion leads to her abduction, she loses more than contact with the sea when her pelt is taken. Unable to shift forms or return to the sea without it, she knows she will die if she cannot recover the pelt soon. Cut off from her family, Naia must appease the human king while persuading his lovesick son to honor past arrangements.

Malik has loved and lost before, an experience leading him to shy away from love. When Naia is stranded, however, he risks everything to find her. Together they uncover a plot that would sweep up humans and selkies alike in a war that would destroy the Five Kingdoms and possibly all of Sonera.

When the enemy acts, can they save sea and land . . . and each other?
>>>>>>>>>>>
My Review:
Kimberly Rogers is an author I've followed since the early days of this blog. I read her Therian Way series (currently being updated to get included into her Rogue Spotter Universe) and quickly got OBSESSED with the main pairing and absolutely devoured her storytelling voice. I find her books enthralling and her characters so charming and her plots are absolutely riveting.
Her magical take on the Little Mermaid is no exception!
Naia the middle daughter of three sisters, dismissed as a "runt" and "too human" in her looks. Since they are Selkies, not mermaids, there is a lot less stake in the transformation, in fact they really only wear their seal-pelts in cases of swimming long distances or quicker than they could be in their human forms. But even in their human forms, they must always keep their pelts nearby, because if anything happened to the pelt, it could be fatal.

Naia can use her apparent mundanity to her advantage, withdrawing from her younger sister's overt flirtatious behavior around good-looking Selkie males, and dreaming of one day being recognized for her skill in artistry, particularly jewelry-making and gardening. Then one day she is dancing on the shore with her sisters, and a pair of strange humans discover them almost at the same time as a sea serpent attacks the girls onshore. Her sisters end up being able to escape, but Naia is injured and before she can retrieve her pelt, one of the men takes it, and the man that carries her off the beach happens to be the crown prince. Naia and her pelt are separated, and the prince seems to know a thing or two about Selkie myths: namely that their voice is enchanting and he is smitten by her beauty, insisting that she stay in the castle until she can learn to requite his adoration!

My favorite part of this novel was that it wasn't wholly a Little Mermaid retelling, but there were enough subtle hints and references to it, in and around more Selkie-centered lore and some unique twists that expanded the tale and raised the stakes more than just "fall in love in three days or lose your human legs forever." Naia doesn't trade her voice away, but she is so pained at losing her pelt that she does spend a long while without speaking. Her father isn't the ruler of the Selkie kingdom, but he is certainly high-ranking in the community, such that the Great Selkie will visit the family, much to the delight of her overly-sociable sister. When Naia is taken away, he comes ashore to seek after her well-being, but neither is able to rectify the situation without knowing who has taken Naia's pelt and hidden away, why they took it, and where it might be.

I love all the imagery in this book, I felt Naia's longing every time she thought of swimming while she didn't have her pelt, and every wholesome moment between characters was delightful. I would definitely give Selkie's Song a full *****5 STAR***** rating, and add in the Upstream Writer Certified WHOLEHEARTEDLY RECOMMENDED . This book is wonderful for those who enjoy clean, well-written fairy tale retellings with light romance and plenty of peril along the way--and great news, it's only the first in a whole series of these retellings called Love's Enchanted Tales, and I definitely will want to read more of them!

Further Reading: (Also By The Author/Clean Reads/Superb World-Building/Fairy Tale Retellings) The Therian Way--Kimberly Rogers
       -Leopard's Heart 
       -Wolf's Path 
       -Tiger's ShadowRogue Spotter Universe--Kimberly Rogers       -Threats By NumbersVerona: The Complete Mermaid Tales--Pauline Creeden
       -Scales 
       -Submerged 
       -Salt 
       -Surfacing Talented Series--Amy Hopkins
     -A Drop of Dream 
     -A Dash of Fiend 
     -A Splash of Truth 
     -A Promise Due The Chronicles of Lorrek--Kelly Blanchard
        -Someday I'll Be Redeemed 
        -I Still Have A Soul 
        -I'm Still Alive 
        -Do You Trust Me? 
        -You Left Me No Choice 
        -They Must Be Stopped 
        -Find Me If You Can 
        -You're Not Alone The Fair Folk Chronicles--Jeffrey Cook and Katherine Perkins
        -Foul is Fair 
        -Street Fair 
        -A Fair Fight 
        -All's Fair -The Wendy--Erin Michelle Sky The Bhinian Empire--Miriam Forster
     -City of A Thousand Dolls 
     -Empire of ShadowsWonderland Guardian Academy Series--Pauline Creeden
       -Red The Wolf Tracker 
       -Belle The Beast Tamer-Severance--M. A. Smith-Beauty and Beastly--Melanie Karsak-Wolves And Daggers--Melanie Karsak

We are more than halfway through 2025, and I thought everybody deserved an update with how I'm doing!

Life Stuff
2025 is proving to be a pretty intense year! The school year ended and I felt more relief than I had in a while. I don't know what made it so difficult this year but I admit I struggled a lot more than in years past. But summer arrived and we didn't have to go too long into June, so I am grateful for that! Regardless of the fact that I am able to sleep better with a CPAP after my sleep apnea diagnosis, I can confirm that I am still NOT a "morning person", so those 5:30 wake-up times just to be able to be at work when I was supposed to were no joke! Luckily that expectation will ease up in the next school year, so I won't have to be so stressed out over it.

That being said, outside of work times I had so much fun being an auntie to all my "niblings", and participating more in things with family and friends over the year than I had been in the past when battling that near-constant fatigue. Right now we're into blueberry-picking season at my house, which is my favorite berry to pick! The bushes in our backyard got absolutely fried in the heat wave of '21, and every year since I've been waiting and hoping for the bushes to recover. The last few years have been rather slim pickings, I especially got discouraged last year when it took almost the whole season just to pick a few dozen pounds of berries, whereas in years past I could pick several pounds a day for weeks! This year, I'm happy to report that the bushes are loaded! I've harvested nearly thirty pounds, and with this heat we're having, there are still so many green berries ready to ripen, I am pretty sure we can stock up pretty well at this rate!

Writing
Last year, taking a break from novel-writing to work through new and old short stories was really fun, but it just stings not having anything to show for it by now. (They were only limited-run anthologies anyway, so now all I have are a few short stories that are indeed publish-worthy but nowhere to house them...) But now that they're done, I still wasn't really ready to dive into editing Fugitive of Crossway yet, and I needed something else to hammer out...

Enter Fairies Under Glass. I'd started rewriting it in 2022, again after finishing the first draft of Fugitive, but stopped when interest seemed to wane and I knew really ought to focus on other things. But randomly this year I got inspired to get back into it and finish off the project, because that's something that I think I ought to get better at: finishing things. It's just refreshing when I don't have things hanging over my head like Damocles' sword. Plus, I started reading it to a writer friend of mine, we're sort of accountability buddies. She motivated me to finish the second draft of Fugitive, and it's largely through reading that to her that I realized how much I definitely needed to tweak, and what I could do about it. So as I was going back and reading through Fairies Under Glass with her, I pulled up my notes, opened up the draft, and finished the thing! I know I haven't been very consistent in posting it, but you can read the latest part >here< by clicking the hyperlinked text, and trust me, the end is coming! If you haven't read it yet, you can find the first part of the story >here< at the hyperlink, and read it all the way through from the beginning. (I try to link the parts together at the end of each post, so if you encounter a post without a link to the next or previous part, do comment there and let me know!)

Now that I've finished Fairies Under Glass, I felt ready to take on Fugitive of Crossway. I'm almost halfway through the book, and much to my chagrin, it doesn't seem to be getting any shorter. And the few notes I could remember from reading it through with my accountability buddy, weren't altogether that helpful. (When I've noted that a particular scene is "too vague, needs fixing".... Where exactly did Past Me expect Present Me to go with that supreme lack of information?!?!?!?) As much as I feel like I need a third party to tell me what is needed and what I can remove, I was hoping to at least achieve the bulk of that myself, but it doesn't seem to be happening. Either I'm too close to really know what needs to be said and what is redundant, or the story is too complex and I need to just embrace the complexity and give up on trying to have consistent book lengths for the Undersea Saga. I've spent almost a month now arduously trying to rephrase things and tweak it to bring the word count down, and I've only been able to pare down by the hundreds, not thousands of words. Either it means I need to hire an outside editor to restructure the story to be shorter (like maybe the way I swapped between the two plot lines could be done better), or I just need to embrace the fact that this book is absolutely going to be DOUBLE the length of Princess of Undersea, and let you all have at it! Either way, this is definitely the hardest part of the process, but once it's done, I'll feel so much better about setting my sights on finally publishing!

Meanwhile, I'm still open to the idea of finishing A Writer's Tale and/or The Last Inkweaver. Especially the latter, I'd been stumped on a certain part of it, and it took discussing it with another writer (and an enthusiastic supporter) to make the breakthrough that might yet prove helpful. One of the most basic points I needed was to be able to write the male secondary character in a believable way, not make him completely unlikeable, but just very much clueless at the start, so that I can build his character arc in a way that actually helps the reader like him as the story unfolds. Only time will tell if I have what I need to pull it off, so wish me luck!

In Wattpad news, I finally returned to regularly updating things, I've started posting Fairies Under Glass on there, and I'm thinking about all the other half-finished projects (the ReBible series, Merely Meredith , etc.) I could start adding as well, just to motivate myself to complete them! One issue I've noticed once I started posting regularly, though, is the rampant slew of scammers leaving solicitous comments on my chapters. They are lavish in their compliments but then follow it up immediately with contact info, usually via Discord, Whatsapp, or Telegram--all platforms known to be used by international scammers. I would, of course, respond with questions as to the veracity of their interest. I caught two scammers using the exact same script. The second one, I asked point-blank "Are you really interested or are you just a marketer scraping recently-updated posts for clients?" and they responded "a marketer scraping for clients" and then deleted their profile mere hours after creating it. That's usually the red flag for me, if I receive a comment and click on the profile, only to be greeted by a blank page hours or days old, with no engagement--that's a scammer.

My personal goal of "FOCUS" is yielding some satisfactory results, and lots of things are coming along nicely, so long as I don't get distracted on my way through to the end of the year!

Reading
Now we come to the exciting part... I had been discouraged by the gradual decline of books I was able to finish reading over the last few years, compared with the rate I continued to acquire books through book sales, free libraries, gifts, and bookstore gift cards. I had a list of more than 50 books, and although I had planned to read at least three books a month last year, it didn't happen and I found myself constantly restructuring the list and adding books and taking them off... I needed a new solution to visualize my TBR and a way to motivate myself to keep reading!

Enter social media video clips, and in particular one that showed a reader who had filled out a grid with the covers of all her TBR books and covered them with scratch-off stickers. Each time she finished a book, she could scratch off to reveal the next one. I really liked that idea and immediately started searching for the cover images of every book in my TBR. That's when I ran into a snag: I couldn't use a grid system like the one in the video, because my reading style tends to be more haphazard than just a straight grid. I didn't want to completely randomize my TBR, but at the same time, I craved a sort of variety. I rarely consent to blaze through an entire series consecutively (much to the chagrin of indie authors waiting for me to finish reading the epic series they've spent so much time on!) but I also wanted the option to either "branch off" to continue through a series, or keep it sort of "controlled randomized" by not overloading my imagination with too much fantasy, an abundance of sci-fi, or too many whodunnits in a row. That "branching off" inspired me to arrange my scratch-off "chart" more like a map, a map of my Reading Journey.

Feel free to zoom in to see the books I've read so far!I had already discovered a monthly reading challenge shared by my local library that happened to list categories into which I could fit books from my TBR, so that was a straightforward given, but the rest I arranged along a winding path. The branches are series. Some of them are complete, sometimes I'll have a book on the "main path" that happens to be the first in a series, so I left myself room to add to its "branch" if I choose. The empty line on the right of the page is called "Library Lane": these are books that I want to read, that I would want to borrow from the library. Once I finish the book closest to that branch, I can start placing those holds, and as the books come available, I will check them out, add their covers to my "map" and keep on reading! As you can see, it's done wonders in keeping me on track and continuing to read! I'm already 16 books in, and I've got a few more that I aim to finish before the month is done, which means I'm already miles ahead of how many I'd read by this time last year or the year before! Out of those 16 books, there have been a handful that were sheer delights to discover and read--I can't wait to give the rundown at the end of the year! (Have you read any of the books you see in the picture? Comment below to tell me if you have, or if you've been interested, and I'll let you know what I thought of it!)

So that's where I'm at so far. Thanks for coming along with me for the journey, and I hope to keep you apprised of my progress as things unfold. Leave comments if you read anything you'd like to respond to, I make sure to respond to each comment as it comes in! As ever...

Catch You Further Upstream!

Part 24 "Connections"
Two days. The realization pounded through Lewis' head for the umpteenth time that day. Ashwyn had been missing for two days.

Lewis knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Schlimme must have captured her somehow, but the question of where he was keeping her was one the young man couldn't answer. The Phantasmenagerie contained ample hiding places for a six-inch fairy, but after his failed rescue attempt, Lewis didn't dare go in to blindly snoop a second time. He did notice that Krasimir Schlimme wasn't anywhere in the vicinity, which led him to the conclusion that he must be staying somewhere off-site--in the city, perhaps? But that also meant he wasn't hounding Lewis, looking for more opportunities to accuse him of things, and for that Lewis was a little relieved.

Lewis passed by the arcade on his way to the rides. Casey was there, and he smiled and waved to Lewis. "Good luck with the monkey cages today, dude!" he called.

Lewis found a small comfort in the greeting. At least the staff here at the carnival were slowly warming up to him. They did seem to genuinely enjoy having him around.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for his peers and professors back at Browning Academy. Without Ashwyn to distract him, Lewis felt each and every surreptitious glance and whispered conversation directed at him. How had so many opinions changed from bland indifference to sudden and pointed judgment? Had something happened that he wasn't aware of, since he worked off-campus instead of inside one of the businesses frequented by other students? There was a nebulous report he overheard about a shifty man seen on campus the day before, but nothing had come of it, and Lewis hadn't noticed anything amiss in his vicinity.

The "Monkey Cage" ride consisted of enclosed pods on a rotating track that each also rotated on their own horizontal axis, creating a spinning, turning, completely unique ride for each pod. Lewis dutifully checked the safety belts on each rider and secured the cage doors before hitting the start button. The ride groaned to life, accompanied by the screams and yelps of the riders as the pods tumbled around the track.

A furious cackle behind him made him jump, but it was only the canned sound-effects coming form the motion-activated animatronics mounted in front of the gates of the Phantasmenagerie. A big CLOSED sign barred the entrance still. Lewis wondered what the cruel man might be doing, since he couldn't make money off the Phantasmians as attractions just now, nor could he move them to a different location now that they were alive and out of his control unless they were fully restrained. A chill ran down Lewis' spine at the memory of seeing Lisa and the gryphon, and he shivered.

"Hey, stranger!" a cheery voice called.

Lewis whirled around. A familiar face framed by dark hair grinned at him over an armful of the stuffed animals used for prizes at the arcade. She wore a staff polo, but he didn't recall seeing her there in the last few weeks he'd worked there. He could remember seeing her somewhere else, but where could that be?

"Hi..." he responded slowly.

She blinked, a quick realization happening on her face. "Danielle--do you remember me? We worked--well, I should say, almost worked--at Moulton House together." She gestured to him. "It's... Lewis, right?"

Lewis nodded. "Oh, uh, hi, Danielle!" he stammered. Had she seen him staring at the Phantasmenagerie as one possessed? "I didn't know you worked here."

Danielle shrugged, adjusting her grip on the fluffy unicorn in her hand. "I started working last week, but only a couple shifts a week," she said. "I've also got a job at the consignment shop on campus, but they had so many applicants that they couldn't give out week-long shifts. Besides," she shifted her gaze to indicate the the people staggering happily away from the Monkey Cages, "this place is way more exciting than working on campus!"

Lewis nodded as he again went through his safety checks and launched the ride for another couple minutes. "You could say that again," he replied.

Danielle caught the hint. "Well, we can talk later. See you around, Lewis!" She turned to make her way over to the arcade.

Lewis spent the the rest of his shift posted at different rides, and when he finally finished for dinner, he found Danielle in the food court, just finishing a Greek rice bowl.

She waved, and Lewis sat down with a bowl of chili and a cornbread muffin."So," she started the conversation off, "What's your academic focus?"
Lewis shrugged. "I guess I'm just taking some generic classes, I might go into some sort of business field." He paused to take another bite of chili. "How about you?"
Danielle grinned. "I'm just doing general classes at Browning, too, but I'm focused on the topics that have to do with the fashion industry. I want to be a clothing designer." Her eyes sparkled as she spoke. Lewis watched her toying with a lock of her hair. He found himself wanting to hear her talk again."When did you figure out you wanted to be a designer?" he asked.
Danielle plunged into her story, and asked questions about Lewis' family, and the two ended up chatting back and forth for so long, Lewis almost forgot that he was sitting in the carnival food court until the floodlights flickered on, marking the arrival of dusk. How had time flown by so fast?Lewis checked his watch to discover that the last bus to Browning Academy would arrive in only a few minutes! "Oh wow, I guess we'd better go," he told Danielle.
She chuckled and cleared up after herself along with him.

In contrast to dinnertime, the bus ride back to the campus was relatively quiet. Lewis allowed his thoughts to wander over to his Phantasmian friends. Without Ashwyn to interrupt him randomly all the time, and without having to look over his shoulder for Adolf throughout the day, time had passed unusually fast.

The bus pulled up to the stop adjacent to student housing on campus, and Lewis glanced at Danielle. "Are you in Chester Hall?" he asked. Wouldn't it be the height of irony to find out that this girl was staying in his building?

She shook her head. "No, I'm staying over in Baum Hall. I guess this is good night, then!" she patted him on the shoulder and headed away from Lewis.

The young man walked down the block toward his dorm, watching the twinkling stars till they reminded him of something that made him stop in his tracks.

The fairies! He didn't realize how much he had grown accustomed to having them flock around him as soon as he was alone--now that it didn't happen, he missed it. Where were they? Dare he call out for Queen Evalia, in case she hovered somewhere just out of sight?

A flicker of multicolored lights caught his eye, coming from the front of Chester Hall. Lewis jogged closer, his heart thumping as he rounded the corner to see a whole squad of police cars converged on his building. What had happened?

A handful of officers milled about the entrance. One saw Lewis walking up and pointed to him. "You! This building is closed. Please be on your way!"

Lewis was a little taken aback. "Well, ah, I live here," he told the officer. "What's going on?"
The officer's mouth set in a grim line. "There's been a security breach in one of the dorms. We're accounting for all the residents now as we evacuate the ones in the rooms surrounding the affected room due to the mess. What's your name, son?"

"Lewis Grant, sir." Lewis swallowed hard under the officer's scrutiny.

The cop pulled up a roster of everyone in Chester Hall and ran his finger down till he said, "Ah, Lewis... Oh no." The grim expression softened into concern. "I have bad news, sonny."

That much Lewis had already guessed. "What is it?" Had they discovered the refugee community of fairies in his room?

“Well, it seems your room got the worst of it. Seems a stray dog got loose in the building and bolted down the hallway. Not sure how it ended up in your room but it tore things up pretty bad while campus security had the bright idea to try and barricade it inside to wait for animal control."

"What?" Lewis gaped, eyes wide in real terror as he stared toward the building. "You mean it's still in there?"

The cop sighed and scratched the top of his head. "No, it jumped out of the window before the proper authorities arrived. We're still trying to find it, but in the meantime, I’m afraid you’re going to have to stay in one of the reserve rooms till they can get another room set up for you.”

Panic set in, and Lewis grimaced. “Can I at least go in and see what I can salvage for tonight?”

The officer’s expression had “NO” written all over it, but he didn’t say it. Instead, he hailed his team on the radio. “Hey, the kid wants to come in and grab what he can for tonight. Has the investigator got at least some of it cleaned up so he can do so?”

The reply came back, “I suppose if it’s only a few things that are absolutely necessary. You can send him in, and we’ll supervise so he doesn’t get hurt.”
“Thank you!” Lewis blurted, ducking under the caution tape around the hallway.

The security team on site were already evacuating the students most traumatized by the event. As the officer said, Lewis saw the destruction even in the hallway: deep gouges in the walls, any furniture fractured and overturned. His door had been taken off its hinges. Lewis felt his heart drop as he witnessed the chaotic scene.

A security guard beckoned to him from inside the room. “We’ve cleaned the glass from the window off the floor, and you can find all the things from your closet we could salvage on the bed there,” she pointed to the small heap of clothes and his travel cases jumbled on his bed. Somebody with a large trash cart wheeled it out, and Lewis saw the shapes of half a dozen smashed misti piled inside. There were articles of clothing mixed in, blotched and soaked with a substance the same color as the misti flesh.

He wandered inside and began shoving the clothes into his suitcase. When he picked up his shower bag, he felt a cluster of sharp, hard shards and stopped. Immediately, the memory of the special puzzle box holding the Gyth sprang to mind, and Lewis looked closer.

The zipper had been wrenched off, leaving the bag wide open. Inside were the shattered remains of the box, but no gem. His heart racing, he reached into his collar to reassure himself that the Chain was still hanging around his neck, at least. He piled whatever toiletries he could into the bag, and followed the security officer back out to the hallway.

“Head out to the courtyard and to the building on your left for reserve housing,” she told him. “Someone will let you know when you can return to using Chester Hall, once the extent of the damage has been assessed and repaired.”

Lewis had to clasp his hands together to keep from shaking. “Any ideas on who might be responsible for the break-in?” he asked. "Maybe the random guy who's been lurking around campus had something to do with it."

The guard gave him a confused squint. “It was a wild, stray dog that got in. The only enforcement we are working with would be animal control. Nobody’s at fault--and that stranger hasn't been seen since yesterday.”

If only she knew! Lewis followed the directions to a plain grey building. There were fewer rooms here, and none of them private like the dorms. Lewis passed by a room with five bunk-beds and several people chatting amongst one another, making friends in spite of the bleakness of being in “reserve housing.” The next room had many beds, but no one else. Lewis chose a bed near the window. He set everything down just as a cluster of swirling lights appeared in the dark outside. Surreptitiously, he cracked the window and Queen Evalia entered alone. The other fairies remained outside.

“It was horrible!” she chimed, landing in the light of Lewis’s reading lamp so her fluttering wings wouldn’t be seen. “We got out of there as soon as Adolf neared the building, or he might have caught all of us, too!”

Lewis groaned and covered his face with his hands. “So it was Adolf!” he sighed.

“We tried luring him away when he first began shadowing you, the day after he caught you at the carnival,” the Fairy Queen explained. “We could lead him away from you and your living space at first, but he kept returning to follow you, and tonight he found his way into your room, tearing everything apart.”

“And now he’s got the Gyth!” Lewis complained. “How did he figure out where I hid it? I never told anybody where it was!”

The Queen’s eyes were large and serious. “There is only one way he would definitely know to follow you and only you to figure out all the places you go, rather than following the false trails we gave him,” she said.

Lewis nodded miserably, having already concluded the same thing. “Ashwyn.”
“I cannot imagine how they tortured her to get that information,” the Queen almost sounded like she could be weeping a little.

“I promise I will do whatever it takes to find her,” Lewis said.

Just then, a junior staff assistant poked his head in the door. “Hello? Oh, I knew I heard somebody.” He crossed the room as Queen Evalia scurried out the window without activating her shimmer. “My name’s Todd, I’m the liaison for the building. You one of the students from Chester Hall?”

Lewis nodded.
The assistant clucked his tongue. “Terrible luck, that. You just let me know what set you need, and I’ll help you get it.” He shut the window and locked it.

Lewis shrugged. “I think I have everything I need for now,” he said.

Todd smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. “My room is just down the hall. Sheets and blankets are in the drawer under your bunk. If you need anything just holler. Good night!”

Lewis waited till he was alone to dig out sheets, a pillow, and a blanket. His sleep that night was filled with all the grisly ways a ruthless man like Krasimir Schlimme might torture a captive fairy over and over and over again.
>>>>>>>>>>>

In the basement of a secluded house at the edge of town, strange things were happening.
A wiry man in a thick leather apron plunged a drooping, glowing object into a bucket of water. Jets of steam erupted as it hissed. When he lifted it with the tongs again, a silvery chain glinted in the early morning light.

Krasimir Schlimme smiled. He laid the chain on the surface of his work table, quickly using pliers to attach a clasp to one end. Once he was sure it had cooled, he removed his fireproof gloves and connected the clasp to the end of the chain. It fit perfectly. For all intents and purposes, Krasimir Schlimme had managed to forge his own chain.
"Yes..." he muttered happily. "Yes!"

In the house above him, a door slammed. Heavy footsteps thudded down the basement stairs.
"Master!" Adolf called. "I've got it!"

Schlimme held the chain in one hand and extended the other to his henchman. “Bring it to me.”

Adolf reached into his pocket and produced the baseball-sized gem. Schlimme slowly brought the two pieces together. They touched, but wouldn’t immediately melt into one another as it would on the real chain. A jolt of power as they touched told Schlimme that his theory had been correct, but it just needed some adjustment. He grabbed a blowtorch from his work table and heated the chain till the metal softened and glowed hotly. Carefully laying the searing metal over the back of the Gyth, he held it till the two metals bonded. It wasn’t a perfect seal, but when he lifted the chain, the Gyth hung from it. Krasimir Schlimme draped it around his neck. He smiled at the power emanating up and down his spine.

His Underworld minions sensed it too, for they came flocking to the lab, gazing in awe at the gem around their master’s neck.

Krasimir chuckled. “Now I really am your master!” he gushed. “Bow to me!”

Every single goblin, ogre, and troll bent the knee, groveling on the ground before Krasimir. The artist spread his arms over them like a benevolent leader, basking in their deference. He caressed the Phantasmagyth with his hand. “Time to see vhat I can do with zis!” He surveyed the crowd of Underworlders till he spotted a small goblin. He pointed imperiously. “You!” His finger wandered to an ogre easily twice the goblin’s size. “Fight him! Take him down!”

The goblin fairly leaped over the warty grey heads around him. The ogre barely reacted, swatting at the goblin with huge paws as the smaller creature attacked him relentlessly.

“Stop!” Krasimir commanded, and immediately the combatants stilled. He gazed around at the crowd. “Everybody clean yourselves up! Let me see your best behavior.”

Immediately, the Underworlders scrambled to comply. In minutes they went from disorderly, slovenly monsters to sleek and modest creatures, standing straight and in tidy rows and columns, their spindly limbs at their sides and blank expressions on their faces. They even arranged themselves in height order, the shortest goblins at the front, all the way to the looming trolls at the back. Not a single creature twitched as they waited for their next command.

Krasimir waved his hand. “Dismissed. Everyone back to vhat you vere doing before.”

The Underworlders scattered, and Krasimir and Adolf had the lab to themselves again.
Krasimir eyed the wilted Ashwyn still in her glass prison. “I need to know how it vorks on ze Phantasmians,” he mused. “Adolf, are zere some of ze little ones still in storage here?”

The werewolf shrugged. “I think there were a few jars we used to recapture the ones that revived at the museum somewhere.”
“Go get them.”

Adolf obliged, returning a few minutes later with a jar sparkling with pricks of light. Krasimir loosened the lid just enough for the eager pixies to hear him. “When I remove ze lid, you vill not try to escape. You vill do vhat I say.” He watched them. “Blink your lights if you understand.”

Little flurries of colored lights winked off then back on again. Krasimir removed the lid, but rather than trying to flee, every fairy remained inside the jar.

“Come out and assemble before me!” Krasimir Schlimme commanded.

The fairies obeyed at once, forming a neat array before him, just as the goblins had done.
Seeing the screen of light, Krasimir couldn’t resist reaching a hand through it and pushing the fairies aside as they hovered. They didn’t resist him either, staying put in their displaced positions. Krasimir pushed together groups of fairies, turning them into larger clusters of light. “Zis is fun!” he chuckled to Adolf. “Make yourselves into a three-dimensional pyramid matrix!” he commanded.

The fairies flew into formation with speed and accuracy.

“Make a car vith vheels zat spin.”

The fairies even included two who represented passengers in the car. The fairies forming the wheels spun slowly.

“Can you make an animal?”

They did so, first a fish, then an elephant with a curling trunk. They moved in unison, like an extremely intelligent school of fish. He knew the ability of the counterfeit Phantasmagyth was fading when a few fairies started drifting out of formation. Krasimir held up the jar. “Fly back into ze jar, if you please,” he told them.

All the fairies swept inside, allowing him to fasten the lid on once more and hand it to Adolf. “Back in zey go, but zey haf given me ideas for a whole new show.” He seized a notebook from his work table and began jotting down a plan.

“A new show?” Adolf grunted. “You’re going back to the carnival? What about the kid?”

“Never mind him!” Krasimir snarled at the reference to Lewis. “He is not allowed anywhere near my menagerie. He vill not be a problem. Ve return tomorrow to ze circus. I have a new show to rehearse!” He grinned to himself as the musings took shape in his mind. “It will be shocking, terrifying—I’ll give zem a show that everyone’s going to be talking about for years to come!” He lifted the fake Phantasmagyth and rubbed a dull spot with his handkerchief. “And it is all thanks to my own genius in replicating ze most powerful magic item in zeir world! Oh, how clever I am!” He threw back his head and laughed.
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
<<<< Previous         Next >>>>>>