"Are you there? Can you hear me?" Her voice was like beautiful music echoing in my head. It was the dream again, only this time, sharper, clearer than it had ever been before.
It suddenly occurred to me that the musical language was the same one my dad had forced me to learn.
"Yes, I can hear you!" I called back.
"Where is the charm? Do you have the charm?"
The charm? Did she mean the pendants? I held up the twin pieces, glowing in the light of the full moon. She nodded quickly.
"I will return shortly," she intoned, as her image slowly faded.
True to her word, she was back before I could fully awaken, this time in a room of some sort, overlooking the beach.
"The charm, you must repair it - like this."
I watched in fascination as she waved what could only be described as a magic wand in a series of complicated patterns.
I attempted to wave my hands around in imitation, but my efforts only garnered a small tinkling giggle from the white-haired girl.
"Again - like this." She repeated the pattern again and again, until she was sure I knew it by heart.
"Farewell now. Dawn is almost upon us. Come as soon as you can. We need you desperately."
The dream faded then, leaving me wide awake and pacing the floor.
The dream seemed surreal in the harsh light of day. Magic wands? Mending spells? It was something out of a fairy tale. I had almost convinced myself that the dream was all a figment of my imagination, when Sunflower slid onto the bar stool next to me.
"Whatcha doing, Oak?"
"Checking out the seeds that Uncle Mel gave me for my birthday."
"Uncle Mel? Oh, you mean the magic man? The magic man brought my magic brother magic seeds." She nodded sagely.
"Uncle Mel isn't magic, silly. He's a vampire. And I'm definitely not magic. And the seeds aren't magic, either, they're just seeds." I poked one of the roots for emphasis.
"He is too magic. Not like you, though. Vampire magic is different. Mmhmm." She eyed me with that knowing look of hers.
I shook my head. "There's no such thing as magic."
But Sunflower just hopped off her stool and skipped off to school, all the while chanting, "Is too, is too, you'll see, magic Mel, magic seeds, magic Oak, magic magic magic."
That night, when she begged me for a bedtime story, I figured she wanted an excuse to continue our conversation, if you could call it that.
"So, you saw her last night, didn't you. She always comes at the full moon. That's when the magic is the strongest. Didja show her the pendants?"
"Yeah."
"Just 'yeah'? Well? What did she do? Did she say anything?"
I shrugged.
"I dreamed she showed me how to fix the pendants. Like this."
I demonstrated the pattern.
"But see? I've tried it a dozen times. Nothing happens. It was just a dream. No magic at all."
In the days that followed, I began to plan my travels. I wasn't sure where to start, but I knew I couldn't stay. The only thing keeping me around so long was my best friend, Lucky. He was getting so old and arthritic, I couldn't take him with me, and it would break my heart to leave him.
Old as he was, he still loved his favorite game of fetch. He'd bounce like a puppy when he saw the stick in my hand, and race after it as soon as it was in the air.
Then one morning, he woke up moving even slower that usual.
"Come here, boy!" I called gently. But death had other plans.
My eyes filled with tears when I saw the Grim Reaper pull a stick out from under his robe. Lucky bounced with anticipation, his eyes on the stick. Grim tossed the stick, Lucky jumped after it, then he was gone.
I had hardly recovered from the grief at loosing my best friend, when the time came for Grandpa Denis to leave us as well. We had all been enjoying an afternoon on the waterslide, which Grandpa declined to join, complaining he was cold. Dad tried to reach out to him, but his eyes were on Grandma.
"I love you Dilly....I'll see you soon!"
"I love you, too..Oh Denis, please don't leave me!"
But he was gone.
I dreamed of the faraway beach again that night, but the white-haired girl was nowhere to be seen. Sunny was right, she only came at the full moon. I couldn't sleep, as usual, and wandered down to Sunflower's Pond.
"Whatcha doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing? And why are you up so late?" What with Lucky's and Grandpa's deaths on my mind, and not seeing my white-haired girl, I was not in a good mood.
"Can I fish with you?"
"I guess."
"So, I been thinking, you know how your girl only comes at the full moon?"
"Yeah," I replied. I wasn't in the mood for talking.
"Maybe you should try your spell at the full moon."
"It's not a spell."
"Hah, yeah, whatever, bro."
"Besides, I did try it - after I woke up from the dream that night. No dice."
"Well, maybe you need a magic wand, like she had."
"Well, I don't have one, now, do I, Miss Smartypants."
"Hey! I'm just trying to help. Maybe you need a magic - um - something else."
"Okay, a magic something else what?" I really couldn't believe I was even having this conversation, let alone taking it seriously.
"I dunno - what's the most magic thing you know of?"
"I guess it'd be the hidden spring."
I started turning the idea over in my mind, and the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. I'd never really thought through the process of how the spring was hidden except for the pendant holder. Maybe there really was such a thing as magic in the world.
I knew now where I was headed - back to Hidden Springs. I carefully packed up all my perfect seeds, that I'd been working on so long - the fruits and vegetables that had been in the family for ten generations, the nectar grapes from France, and the strange seeds from Uncle Mel and Aunt El.
There was only one thing left to do. I conspired with mom to make it happen - we planted a small cypress tree near the back fence. Did I say small? Overnight, it towered over the rest of trees in the yard.
Dad was overwhelmed at the garden we had planted, centered on the cypress tree. We gathered there at dusk to say our goodbyes.
"I'm going to miss you son. Keep in touch, okay? Let us know what you find out about your white-haired girl."
"I will dad," I fibbed.
Then came the goodbyes to Grandma Daffodil. I had the impression my departure barely registered with her, though. She still missed grandpa something fierce.
Mom looked so distraught is almost broke my heart.
"Hey, Hey.. don't worry so." I tried to cheer her up, to no avail.
"Oh, Oakheart. Why do I have this sudden premonition - that I'll never see you again."
"I'll be alright, I promise."
"I wish I could believe that."
I couldn't let that be our last memory together. So I did the only thing I could think of.
"Hey mom - What did the grape do when it got stepped on?"
"I don't know." The beginning of a smile appeared at the corners of her mouth. I knew it. I could always get her with one of my corny jokes.
"It let out a little wine!"
We both giggled and laughed at the corniness of it all, then I hugged her for the last time.
Last but not least, I squeezed my little sister close.
"Liar liar liar," she whispered fiercely so only I could hear. "You aren't coming back. You can't get back from where you're going and you know it."
"Hush baby girl," I whispered back. "I know it and you know it, but it's better this way. Okay? I love you Sunny. You be good. The White Rose Nectary will be yours someday."
"I'm gonna miss you Oaky." *sniffle*
As the sun set, I took one last look back at old family place, then hopped in the cab and was off to the airport.
I had timed it perfectly, arriving in Hidden Springs late afternoon on the eve of the full moon. I was glad I had time to stop by Granny's before heading out to the spring. I filled her in on the reason for my visit, and asked her to hold on to my small suitcase for me. My seeds were tucked safely inside my shirt, but I knew I wouldn't be needing the suitcase. She didn't say much, but I could tell she was worried about what I was about to attempt.
Still, she smiled as she pulled me into a hug, and softly said, "May you find your heart's desire."
I smiled back. "I hope so. This is my destiny. I can feel it."
Just as the sun was setting, I made my way across the old wooden bridge to the hidden spring, now glowing eerily in the light of the full moon. Slowly I dipped my hand into the sparkling water and raised it to my lips.
At once I could feel it - almost like a tingling sensation - that something I'd been missing all along, something that was meant to be a part of me. Sunny calls it magic. To me, it felt as if I had been blind, but now I could see. I held out my hands, and they were glowing ever so slightly in the pale moonlight. I checked my inside pocket once more. Yes, the seeds were still safe and secure.
I'm ready now. Ready to fulfill my destiny. Ready as I'll ever be.
*******************************************************
The last journal ends here. But if there were anyone around to watch (which there wasn't), this is what they might have seen:
Oakheart carefully placed his journal on the ground at his feet. Perhaps somehow Granny would be able to find it. Concentrating hard, he slowly began to trace the now familiar patterns in the air.
Faster now, with growing confidence, he smiled, ecstatic, as the spell took shape.
Suddenly there appeared, in the air in front of him, a glowing representation of his pendants. He watched, mesmerized, as the two ethereal fragments gradually meshed. Finally it was finished. Where there had been two, there was now one large perfectly round piece of amber hanging on its sturdy chain, a tiny flower embedded slightly off center. And it was glowing more brightly than Oakheart believed was possible. He reached his hand up to his chest to touch it.
As his hand came into contact with the golden gem, the light began to spread from the pendant until he was fully engulfed. He heard the white-haired girl's breathless musical voice calling to him again, no longer in a dream.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes." It came out almost a whisper, but it was enough.
Lightning crackled on the nearby rocks, the pendant flashed bright as day, and suddenly Oakheart was gone.
Early the next morning, Granny anxiously bicycled to the little park. She was surprised to see that the impenetrable hedge had disappeared as if it had never been. She stepped cautiously over the little wooden bridge, a trip she had not been able to make since giving up the pendant so many years before.
She stopped in alarm when she came to the place that had once held the magical hidden spring. There was nothing there now but cracked and blackened rocks, piled one on top of the other. But what was this nestled in the grass?
Granny bent down to retrieve the small notebook, and smiled as she read the last entry. The spring had fulfilled its purpose, and she somehow knew that Oakheart had finally found his beautiful white-haired girl. And so it was, that on that day, real magic faded forever from the world.
The End
***************************************************************
The story of the Greenbows and the White Rose Nectary is over. However, Oakheart's adventures with the white-haired girl will continue in a new story. Details will be up soon.
-Kirajay
No comments:
Post a Comment