Guardians of Water

I am pleased to announce the publication of my new novel Guardians of Water. The book is available from all the usual sources. The paperback is $18 and the hardcover is $35. I suggest ordering it through your local bookstore. Tell them it’s available through Ingram. Please help me get the word out about this book. If you like it, tell some friends about it. Thanks for supporting me as a creative writer 

Here's a little bit about Guardians of Water:

Six diverse women friends meet for the weekend at a beach house to celebrate the year in which they all turn forty. Two weeks later, a petroleum-eating bacteria unleashed in the Gulf of Mexico to contain a spill goes rogue and devours all the raw petroleum products in the world. After the Systems Collapse, each of these women follows her own path to try to survive in a previously unimaginable altered life. From a Washington, D.C. suburb to a survivalist community in Kentucky, from Manhattan to a working class neighborhood in a town in upstate New York, from Oakland to a Native Rancheria in rural northern California, these women, their families, and their communities summon extraordinary ingenuity, resilience, and vision in the hopes of forging a viable future. A genre-bending work of speculative fiction, Guardians of Water is combination eco-fiction, humanistic sci-fi, and disaster fiction told from women’s perspectives.

This narrative explores relationships between people and communities, with each other and the environment, when the established infrastructure and systems fail. As new ways of being emerge and people rethink their values and cultural norms, which communities will survive in the new ecology and which will crumble? The characters must engage with their communities in new and challenging ways if humans hope to survive as a species. Priorities, relationships, cultures, ethics, and assets shift. Guardians of Water reveals the things that truly matter for human survival while honoring the resilience, resourcefulness, and brilliance of the human spirit.

The Conclusion of Changing the Prophecy -- Chapter 27 What Happened at Angel's Gate

For those following along, this is the last chapter of Changing the Prophecy, serialized here on the blog. Changing the Prophecy can be purchased online or at your local bookstore. If you want to read it for free, start at the beginning by searching back to the first chapter, first episode. You can do this by typing “Chapter 1 Episode 1” in the search box in the upper left corner of the landing page for The View from Amy’s World. For those of you who followed along here on the blog, here is how the story ends (below). Thanks for reading.

Chapter 27 What Happened at Angel's Gate

Doshmisi wanted to rejoice because Faracadar had escaped the prophesied destruction, but she couldn’t summon the necessary level of joy to feel celebratory with Crumpet and Buttercup dead and the moment of the return looming. On the morning of the return, she and her siblings joined their closest friends for a quiet breakfast in the dining room at Big House City. Elena had warmed up the muffins (blueberry, not mouse) that she had baked with Comice the night before and they tasted delicious with melted butter.

Nearly everyone at the breakfast table was tense and subdued, with farewells and separations on their mind. Only Sonjay did not seem fazed by the fact that the day of the return had arrived. He wolfed down his pond snake and goose-chicken eyeballs as well as a chocolate-chip pancake and several of the blueberry muffins. Doshmisi ate one muffin. She had no appetite, especially after watching her brother devour the pond snake.

Jasper slipped into the chair next to Doshmisi and took her hand, holding it in his lap. She felt guilty because she had not told him her secret, which she had harbored since the first night in the stable after she discovered Dagobaz. She had decided to stay in Faracadar. But how could she tell him when she had not said anything yet to her sister, brothers, and father about her decision? She didn’t know how to do it. Her family would probably understand, but that would not make it any easier for them to say goodbye to one another at Angel’s Gate. When Momma had died, Doshmisi had made a vow to look after her siblings because she was the oldest; and even though Momma’s spirit had come to her at Akinowe Lake the previous year on the night of the lesser sun to release her from her vow, she had continued to feel responsible for Denzel, Maia, and Sonjay. But now they had their father to look after them. Nothing prevented Doshmisi from staying behind in Faracadar, except that she would not see the others for a year until they returned.

She briefly forgot her worries when Mole and Iris appeared, bashfully holding hands. Denzel laughed out loud as he hurried over to them and clapped Mole on the back. “Good thing you hooked up with him, Iris, before he managed to blow up a building or start a fire because of his crush on you.”

Iris laughed. “He did start a fire,” she replied.

“He did?” Denzel asked with concern.

“In my heart,” she told him, with a shy smile aimed at Mole, who was probably blushing, but who could tell for sure since he had such reddish-brown skin to begin with?

“We came to see you off at Angel’s Gate, mon,” Mole said.

“And we want to tell you our news,” Iris added.

“Yeah, mon,” Mole continued. “We be gettin’ married, but we be waitin’ until next year when you return because I want you to be the best mon at the wedding.”

“I’m honored,” Denzel said, with a little bow.

“It’s time,” Cardamom announced.

The Four gathered their belongings. Bayard perched on Sonjay’s head. Maia picked up her travel drum. Doshmisi slung her bag of herbs over her shoulder. She still could not get used to the absence of the herbal. Denzel shrugged into his backpack.

The polished wood of Angel’s Gate glittered in the sunlight cast by the ancient greenish sun shining cheerfully in the brilliant blue sky. The Four, Elena, and Reggie walked up the hill to Angel’s Gate for their departure. Cardamom, Jasper, Honeydew, Mole, and Iris accompanied them. Elena carried Guhblorin, who clung to her forlornly, whimpering. On the path to Angel’s Gate, Comice, Hyacinth, and Saffron joined them, as well as Jack, who floated along above the ground. The group gathered solemnly in front of the doorway that led back to Manzanita Ranch and their Aunt Alice.

Cardamom handed Doshmisi a ring. “For her,” he said. Everyone knew he meant for Doshmisi to give the ring to Aunt Alice, the love of Cardamom’s life.

Doshmisi took the ring and looked around at Sonjay, Maia, and Denzel. She would miss them so much. And she would miss her father, with whom she had barely spent any time in her life so far. She had finally gotten him back only to be separated from him once again. But she had made up her mind and stood firm in her resolve. She brushed tears from her cheeks as she handed the ring to Maia. “You have to take it to her Maia, because I’m staying. I’ve made up my mind and nothing will convince me to change it so don’t try.”

Jasper threw his arms around Doshmisi and kissed her right on the lips in front of everyone. Doshmisi laughed and cried at the same time.

Maia stared down at the ring in her hand and then she passed the ring to Denzel and said, “I made up my mind while I was drumming to call the algae home. I’m staying as well. You take the ring to Aunt Alice.” Maia went to Doshmisi’s side and took her hand.

Denzel held the ring gingerly between his thumb and his index finger. “Well, this would be goodbye then,” Denzel told his sisters solemnly. Then his face broke into a smile as he continued, “if not for the fact that I vowed when Sissrath and Shrub imprisoned us on the North Coast that if we survived I would never leave Faracadar.” He passed the ring to his brother. “It’s up to you,” he said to Sonjay. Denzel was determined not to cry, even though he could hardly imagine going a whole year without seeing his brother.

Sonjay clutched the ring in his hand and began to laugh. He laughed so hard that he couldn’t even talk. Bayard squawked, “Promise, promise, promise.”

“What’s so funny?” Denzel demanded in exasperation, forgetting that just a moment before he had struggled to hold back tears.

When Sonjay finally caught his breath, he explained, “I promised Bayard last winter that we would stay in Faracadar this year. But only if he kept his beak shut about it until I was ready to tell.”

“You mean, you knew before we even came this year that you didn’t plan to go back and you didn’t say anything?” Denzel accused.

“I didn’t know how to tell you,” Sonjay defended himself, and the others understood exactly what he meant. “I’m glad I waited because now all of us have decided to stay.”

“I have no reason to return if my children plan to remain here,” Reggie announced.

The group erupted in excited exclamations, with much laughing and crying and hugging. Denzel teased Mole and Iris that they might be getting married sooner than they had thought. Hyacinth mangled quite a few words while expounding on the situation and no one bothered to correct him. Cardamom beamed. Honeydew threw her arms around Maia. In the general commotion, the sadness of one girl, one geebaching, and one man formerly known as Compost went momentarily unnoticed until slowly each of the Goodacres turned to Elena and fell silent.

Elena attempted to speak, but nothing more than a sorrowful squeak emerged from her mouth as she tried unsuccessfully to stifle a sob. Guhblorin had wrapped his arms around her neck and his legs around her waist and buried his face in her hair. The two of them clung to each other. Comice stood next to them, staring wretchedly at his feet. Staying was not an option for Elena. She had a large and loving family at home and she could not disappear one day from their midst without causing a great deal of pain, not to mention a lot of questions about her whereabouts that could potentially land Aunt Alice, Uncle Bobby, and many others in a heap of trouble. Also, much as it saddened her to leave her friends, she did not wish to be separated from her family.

Then a most unusual thing happened. First, Guhblorin began to cry. His shoulders shook and his face contorted with grief while tears oozed from his eyes. Comice rubbed the geebaching’s back to comfort him. Guhblorin’s tears became bigger and bigger and they dropped on the ground like rain, like hailstones. They dropped on the ground where they became hard diamonds the moment they touched the soil.

“Geebachings don’t cry,” Iris informed the others matter-of-factly. “It has never happened. I have read it in the history books. Geebachings never, ever cry.”

“Well it’s happening now,” Comice said.

Cardamom squatted down and picked up one of the diamonds to examine it. “A deep enchantment from the long-ago resides in this teardrop,” he noted quietly.

“I recall something I read once,” Reggie said distractedly, as he rummaged in his bag, withdrew a frayed maroon book, and thumbed through it.

More and more diamonds formed and Guhblorin’s whole body shook with sobs until Elena could no longer hold him and she placed the miserable creature on the ground. Comice gently wiped Elena’s tears from her cheeks with his thumb, but she barely noticed. She, and soon the others, became mesmerized by the transformation of the geebaching occurring before them.

As Guhblorin cried and his tears bounced around him, becoming larger and larger diamonds, his feet morphed into human feet. The transformation spread up his legs to his torso. Then from his fingertips, up his arms, to his neck, and finally to his head as he turned into a human, with the human face and the human body of a fifteen-year-old boy. The new Guhblorin had clear honey-brown skin with a hint of orange to it, and piercing dark eyes. His straight black hair fell in a thick cascade down his back almost to his waist.

Doshmisi thought he resembled some of her Native friends from her life at Manzanita Ranch. Nothing about him resembled a geebaching anymore. He held his human hands up before his face and turned them this way and that in amazement. He grabbed a fistful of his human hair and rubbed it between his fingers. He lifted his feet one at a time to examine them and hopped a little jig. He laughed in delighted astonishment at his miraculous metamorphosis.

“I’m a real boy,” Guhblorin exclaimed with exaggerated glee. “I can wear shoes!”

“Still a bit of a geebaching in him,” Sonjay said.

“Here it is,” Reggie announced. “I found it in the Book of the Khoum. The geebachings fell under a curse in ancient times.”

“And to break the curse,” Cardamom continued where Reggie left off, “a geebaching must feel sorrow.”

“Exactly,” Reggie confirmed.

“Makes sense,” Cardamom said.

“That’s what this is? Ewww. I don’t like sorrow,” Guhblorin stated, with a shudder. He stretched himself up to his new full height, which wasn’t particularly tall, but it was a lot taller than he had been. “Wow. I can see all the way to the Wolf Circle from here,” he claimed.

“More than a bit,” Denzel said to Sonjay and Jasper. “He still has a lot of geebaching in him.”

Guhblorin took Elena’s hand gallantly. “This changes everything. I’m going with Elena,” he announced.

“Not a good idea,” Honeydew asserted with a groan.

“What if you change back?” Maia asked worriedly.

“Not likely to happen,” Reggie asserted. “According to the book, the restoration to his human form is complete and permanent.”

Cardamom crawled around on the ground, hastily collecting Guhblorin’s diamond teardrops in a little leather pouch. Saffron kneeled down next to him to help.

“Diamonds are forever,” Guhblorin commented with a chuckle. He had a rich baritone voice and Maia wondered if he was still tone deaf or if he could sing.

“I can’t call you Guhblorin on the other side,” Elena insisted. “You need a more normal name. How about Gabe?”

Guhblorin winced. “Gabe? What does Gabe mean?”

“It’s short for the name Gabriel. It’s a regular name people use,” Doshmisi reassured him.

“Gabriel was a messenger of God in our most holy book in the Farland,” Reggie informed Guhblorin.

“Who’s God?” Guhblorin asked.

“I’ll explain some other time,” Elena answered hastily.

“Man, you’re going to get into so much trouble at school,” Sonjay warned Guhblorin.

“Why?” Guhblorin asked, worriedly.

“For joking around. The teachers don’t like it when you disrupt the class by making people laugh,” Sonjay explained.

“Then I’ll remain entirely serious,” Guhblorin said with resolve. “Always. From now on. Forever. Until my teeth fall out.”

“Good luck with that,” Denzel replied.

“I won’t go to school,” Guhblorin muttered.

Just then the freestanding wooden doorway that formed Angel’s Gate quivered, flashed with bright light, and filled with green smoke. As the smoke dissipated, Aunt Alice, Crystal, and Ruby appeared framed in the doorway. Aunt Alice clung to one end of a leash and on the other end of the leash stood her favorite goat, Fannie Lou. Her beloved dog Zora nestled in the crook of her arm.

Cardamom looked thunderstruck and then he stepped forward and held his arms out to Aunt Alice, who stepped easily into his embrace. Cardamom held Aunt Alice and Zora close, while Zora yipped excitedly. Aunt Alice bent over to put Zora on the ground and when she stood up, Cardamom tipped her back and kissed her on the lips for a long time, as if they were movie stars.

“Ewww,” Sonjay said as he covered his eyes.

“Shut up,” Maia told him. “It’s romantic.”

“But she’s Aunt Alice,” Sonjay complained as he peeked out from between his fingers to see if the two had stopped kissing yet.

They hadn’t.

Bayard flew to Aunt Alice’s shoulder and pecked her on the head. She stopped kissing Cardamom and laughed. “Are you jealous?” she asked Bayard.

“Get a room,” Bayard said several times in his monotonous voice.

“We will, in good time,” Cardamom told the bird.

“Ewww,” Sonjay repeated even louder.

“What are you doing here?” Cardamom asked faintly.

“I’m staying on this side,” Aunt Alice replied. Doshmisi noticed that Crystal had set Aunt Alice’s battered old suitcase down next to Fannie Lou.

“Well it’s about time,” Iris stated.

“Yes indeed,” Hyacinth echoed Iris’s sentiment.

“Uncle Bobby and Uncle Martin are at Manzanita Ranch waiting for you children,” Aunt Alice told the Goodacres. “So don’t you worry. They will take care of you from now on. Uncle Bobby is going to…”

Doshmisi interrupted her. “We’re not going back,” she informed her aunt. “We’re staying too.”

“All of you?” Aunt Alice asked.

“All of us and Daddy too,” Denzel replied, pointing to Reggie.

When Aunt Alice cast her gaze on Reggie, she gasped and brought her hand to her mouth. “You found him! You really found him. Oh my goodness gracious.”

“Did you ever doubt that Sonjay would find him?” Denzel asked.

“Sonjay found you?” Aunt Alice asked Reggie as she gathered him in a hug, patting his back and then his face in delight with her work-worn hands.

“Sure enough,” Reggie replied. “He’s somethin’ else, that boy.”

“Sure is,” Aunt Alice agreed. “Debbie all over again.”

“Wait what? Don’t you see some of me in him?” Reggie asked.

“Yes, of course,” Aunt Alice quickly affirmed.

“I hope you and Cardamom will settle here at Big House City,” Saffron said.

“Yes, yes,” Hyacinth added.

“Actually, I would like to go to Whale Island to help my mother with the library.” Aunt Alice’s words met with an awkward silence.

Iris placed a gentle hand on Aunt Alice’s arm. “Clover passed on last week. She went peacefully, surrounded by her grandchildren. But I could use some help with the library now that she has gone. I would welcome your assistance.”

“This is too much, just too much,” Aunt Alice said, her eyes welling with tears. “Reggie alive and my mother gone. The children planning to stay. Seeing Cardamom again. It’s just too much.”

“Take your time,” Saffron said gently.

“Yes, indeed,” Cardamom agreed. He put his arm around Aunt Alice’s waist. “Saffron is exactly right. Take your time.”

Aunt Alice took a deep breath and let it out. “I will take my time,” she said. “However, there is one young lady who is definitely going back to Manzanita Ranch right this minute.”

“I know,” Elena said wistfully. “I will miss all of you so terribly much, but Mami and Papi expect me home today.”

“They certainly do,” Aunt Alice confirmed. “Bobby and Martin will see that you get home safely. Bobby and his wife plan to move to Manzanita Ranch, and they have two lovely daughters just about your age, who will need a good friend like you to make them feel welcome in their new home. His daughters know about Faracadar, even though they have never been here, and they will be eager to hear your stories about your adventures here; as will Bobby and Martin. I promise you that every year on Midsummer’s Eve, we’ll come back to visit and to tell you what is happening over on this side. So you be sure to go to the cabin in the woods next year when the time comes.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Elena said.

“I’m going with her,” Guhblorin informed Aunt Alice.

“Who are you?” Aunt Alice asked.

“That, my dear, is a long and ancient story that I will tell you later at our leisure,” Cardamom answered.

“You are not from my world,” Elena warned Guhblorin. “You might be unhappy there. Are you sure you want to come with me?”

“I’m adaptable,” Guhblorin reassured her. “I’ll be happy wherever you are.”

“You can’t live with me,” Elena said. “I wouldn’t be able to explain you to my parents.”

“He could live with Bobby at Manzanita Ranch, right?” Comice suggested.

“Why yes, he certainly could,” Aunt Alice agreed. “Elena, when you get back, discuss this with Bobby. He’ll know what to do.”

“Gracias, gracias all of you,” Elena replied.

Denzel felt a pang of jealousy. Guhblorin had transformed into a handsome boy. He would get to see Elena practically every day. Once upon a time Denzel couldn’t wait to be rid of Elena. He had come to feel quite differently about her. He almost wished he was going back to Manzanita Ranch so that he could spend more time with her. But in his heart he knew he couldn’t give up his family and his life in Faracadar and she couldn’t give up her family and her life in the Farland. It was strange the way a person could change their opinion of someone when they really got to know them. Denzel put his hand on Guhblorin’s arm and instructed him, “Take good care of her. Keep her laughing.”

“You can count on me for that,” Guhblorin promised.

Denzel unzipped his backpack and took a laptop computer out of it. He handed it to Elena, who asked, “What’s this?”

“It’s my laptop. I thought I might show it to Mole and see if we could make a computer here together. But I’ve changed my mind. I don’t see how computers would improve the quality of life here. Take it back with you and use it. I don’t need it anymore,” Denzel explained.

“I already have a computer,” Elena said.

“Then give it to Uncle Bobby. If I kept it here, I’d just throw it into the Whispering Pond.”

“No, mon, wait a minute,” Mole begged. “Please let me look at that thing.”

“Sorry,” Denzel told him. “We’re not going down that path. But I have a better project for us. I want to go back to the North Coast to have a look at some abandoned vehicles left behind by those Corportons. I noticed them parked in the compound; you know, those things shaped like a giant golf ball. It’s time for me to learn how to drive.”

Mole chuckled and bobbed his head happily so that his dreads popped around gaily. “Absolutely. Golf ball vehicles. Bring it on! What’s a golf ball?”

Elena handed the laptop to Guhblorin and proceeded to hug each of her friends in turn in farewell. She hugged Comice last. “I will miss you especially much,” she said.

“As I will miss you compadre,” Comice replied. “You have made an incalculable difference not just for me but for all the People of the Mountain Downs. They will speak of you with respect and gratitude for generations.” Comice raised his hand to affectionately brush Elena’s hair back from her face. “Never change your heart,” he said.

Elena and Guhblorin stepped reluctantly into the doorway of Angel’s Gate.

“Ready?” Crystal asked.

“Just a minute,” Elena cried out. She ran lightly to Denzel, kissed him on the cheek, and whispered in his ear, “Abrazo amigo. Siempre te recordaré.” Then she ran back, took Guhblorin’s hand, and nodded to Crystal, who threw a handful of colorful powder over the two figures in the doorway. Billows of smoke surrounded them, obscuring them from sight. When the smoke drifted away, Elena and Guhblorin had vanished.

“What does siempre te recordaré mean?” Denzel asked Maia.

“I will always remember you,” Maia translated.

Denzel could not reply because of the lump in his throat.

The group turned away from Angel’s Gate and directed their steps back toward Big House City, chattering excitedly to one another. Jasper leaned close to Doshmisi and said something that made her laugh. She poked him playfully with her elbow. Cardamom’s arm firmly encircled Aunt Alice’s waist. Iris and Mole walked hand-in-hand. Bayard flew overhead squawking, “Berries, berries, berries.” Hyacinth and Comice fell comfortably into an amiable conversation. Maia gently tapped her travel drum and hummed softly. Honeydew spoke with Saffron about her plans to return to the Wolf Circle to continue her studies.

Denzel hung back at Angel’s Gate for a moment because something had caught his eye. He walked over to the doorframe and inspected it closely. His inspection confirmed that he had seen a raw spot on the wood, a gash that ran about a foot long and a couple of inches wide. A piece of wood had been torn away from Angel’s Gate. Elena, he thought; she had taken a shard of the magical wood from the doorframe, just in case she needed to come back one day and couldn’t wait for Midsummer’s Eve. That hot-chili-pepper girl was pretty clever. He glanced at his father and brother, who lingered near Angel’s Gate, and he nodded in their direction. Then he hurried to catch up with the others.

Reggie put a hand on Sonjay’s shoulder. “Walk with me,” he said.

“You don’t seem surprised that we decided to stay,” Sonjay commented.

“I am a Prophet of the Khoum, Sonjay. I had already seen that you would stay,” Reggie replied.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“It was not my place. Besides, the future comes in its own time whether I predict it or not,” Reggie replied.

“So what else have you seen in the future that you have chosen not to predict?” Sonjay demanded. “Tell me something about me.”

Bayard had stopped calling for berries and had circled back to Sonjay, where he perched on the boy’s shoulder.

Reggie smiled mysteriously.

“What?” Sonjay did not like the look of that mysterious smile. He stopped walking and waited for an answer. He stroked Bayard’s head. “Tell me.”

“Well, I suppose it would interest you to know that I have seen it prophesied in the Book of the Khoum that you will be the High Chief one day.”

Although Sonjay had often sensed that he was destined to become a leader in Faracadar, he had never spoken about it out loud. “What about Honeydew?” he asked his father with concern. “Isn’t she supposed to inherit the throne?”

“According to the prophecy, she will be your wife,” Reggie informed him.

 “But we’re cousins,” Sonjay protested uncomfortably.

“Not that close. Your great uncle Charles had no children, so when he died the throne passed to a different branch of the royal family entirely. I know your sisters and Honeydew like to call each other cousins, but in truth they are barely related. You two could get married.”

“But she’s older than I am,” Sonjay pointed out, still attempting to refute the prophecy.

“Only by a couple of years. That won’t make much of a difference when you have grown up. Trust me on that,” Reggie reassured him.

Marriage seemed far off and uninteresting to Sonjay. He didn’t even want a girlfriend. He looked forward to spending the next few years at the Wolf Circle learning about enchantment, eating deep-fried goose-chicken eyeballs, and skateboarding with Jack. “Well, not all prophecies come to pass as expected,” he reminded his father.

“True that,” Reggie agreed. “But I have a feeling about High Chief Sonjay.”

“High Chief Sonjay,” Bayard called loudly on the crisp morning air, so that the others, who had gone on ahead, turned, startled, to glance back at Sonjay and his father. Hyacinth asked Comice if the bird had called him. “I thought I heard him say ‘high chief’,” Hyacinth said.

“He could have meant me,” Comice noted with a pleased little smile.

“Yes, yes, I suppose so,” Hyacinth conceded, since, for the time being, and depending on the deliciousness of a daily batch of muffins, both of them held the title.

“I think it will come to pass as prophesied,” Reggie told Sonjay. “I have seen greatness in you since the day you were born.”

“Chief Parrot Bayard,” the bird called out.

“That too, I suppose,” Reggie said with a laugh.

“If you behave,” Sonjay cautioned Bayard.

Bayard happily gave the future high chief a love-peck on the head.

“Ouch,” Sonjay complained. “Cut that out you heap of feathers.”

“Blueberries,” Bayard replied.

Changing the Prophecy Chapter 26

 

Chapter 26 Muffins for Hyacinth

The Four and their traveling companions would have returned to Big House City in unbounded celebration and triumph had Crumpet and Buttercup not lost their lives to the struggle. The death of the two enchanters weighed heavily on everyone’s heart. Doshmisi felt bone-weary as she rode Dagobaz, who insisted on taking the lead, always out in front of the tigers. She could not hold him back nor did she have the desire to do so. The air had continued to clear steadily and it felt good to breathe easily again.

In the evening, when they reached Big House City, they discovered the residents of the city lining the road leading to the main entrance. Doshmisi pulled herself together so she could wave and smile to the people, who cheered, clapped, and danced alongside the returning royals and their entourage. No one had yet reported the fate of Crumpet and Buttercup. Their daughter Daisy would need to hear the news first and the dreadful task of informing her would fall to her Uncle Cardamom.

The High Chief’s cooks had prepared a feast to celebrate the return of the heroes from the coast. But before participating in any celebrations, the Four felt they needed to decide what to do with Compost, who remained a prisoner. Elena had ensured that the high chief’s guards had removed Compost from the dungeon and installed him in a comfortable room (securely guarded) before she and the others departed for the North Coast. Behind closed doors, in the royal council chambers, the Four, Hyacinth, and Cardamom met to consider their options for dealing with Sissrath’s former right-hand man. Cardamom suggested that Hyacinth assemble a decision-making committee to come up with a plan and Hyacinth readily agreed since he didn’t like making important decisions on his own. A discussion ensued regarding who belonged on the committee. In the end, they settled on Hyacinth, Cardamom, Reggie, Honeydew, and the Four.

When they emerged from the council chambers, and Elena learned that they intended to exclude her from the committee, she unleashed her Latin temper. “Exactly what kind of justicia will you accomplish with no one to represent Compost?” she demanded. “False justicia! You are pretending at making a fair decision. I am the only one here who does not hold a grudge against him. I don’t see how you can give him a fair hearing without representation. He should have a lawyer, but since there is none, then give me a place at the committee to speak on his behalf.”

The others weighed her words, hesitant to respond, until Denzel spoke up. “She’s right,” he said. He had seen the devastation of the burning of the Passage Circle the year before and he knew that Compost had a hand in its execution. The images of the gutted buildings, burned flesh, and grieving faces would never leave him and he realized the truth in Elena’s words. Those images would always color his perception of Compost. “I hold it against him that he led Sissrath’s troops when they burned the Passage Circle. I’m not an objective judge.”

“He must take responsibility for his role in burning the Passage Circle,” Reggie pointed out.

“Don’t you think that anything you say about Compost should be said to his face, not behind his back?” Elena suggested. “He knows what he did. I expect he has some thoughts of his own on punishment for his crimes.”

The others reluctantly agreed. They disliked the idea of having Compost present as they discussed his fate.

Doshmisi wished they could make their decision in the morning, after she had eaten dinner and had a good night’s sleep. On the other hand, she wondered if she would rest easy until Compost’s fate had been decided. Reggie went to fetch Compost as the rest of them took their seats around the High Chief’s large oval council table.

Before long Reggie returned with Compost following behind him flanked by guards. The High Chief dismissed the guards at the doorway. This discussion would remain private. Elena motioned to an empty chair next to her at the council table. Compost would sit as an equal member with the others.

Doshmisi noticed the dramatic change that Compost had undergone since his capture. He had vastly improved his personal grooming and he looked like a normal person. He wore his hair extremely short and it was clean. His face seemed clear and he had noticeably lost some weight so his stomach no longer jiggled so much. He smelled pleasantly of musk and vanilla. The old repugnant Compost had virtually vanished. Doshmisi would not have recognized him if she had not known who he was.

Compost sat beside Elena, who smiled at him encouragingly and patted his arm.

“I assume you have heard what transpired at the North Coast,” Cardamom began.

Compost nodded his head to indicate that he knew. Still he did not speak.

“And now that Sissrath is gone and the alien creatures gone with him, we must decide what to do about you,” Cardamom continued.

“I have told him that Elena convinced us that he should participate in this discussion,” Reggie informed the others.

“And I am grateful to you for it,” Compost said quietly.

“You have committed crimes against the people of Faracadar,” Cardamom reminded Compost. “What have you to say for yourself?”

Compost looked around thoughtfully at everyone who sat at the council table. “My actions were not unprovoked, but I do not wish to hide behind that as an excuse,” Compost said.

“Expand yourself,” Hyacinth demanded.

“He means to explain yourself,” Honeydew quickly clarified.

“My people, the People of the Mountain Downs, have long been treated as second class citizens. We are unwelcome wherever we go, despite the fact that we have produced some of the most skilled enchanters and our clever people have contributed a great deal to the advancement of Faracadar. We realize that we sometimes fall short when it comes to social graces; but that does not qualify as a justifiable reason to deny us a place at the table. Do you not think it a natural consequence that my people would resent such shabby treatment, would chafe at the lack of representation of the People of the Mountain Downs among the leadership of the land?”

“We have never laid siege to any of your circles as you did to Big House City,” Cardamom reminded him sternly.

“Have you not? What of the fact that you deny us access to participation in your market, your colleges, your festivities, because of your suspicions about us, your preconceived notions?” Compost asked.

“He’s talking about prejudice,” Elena said firmly. “You have made assumptions about him and his people. That’s called prejudice where I come from.”

“We have based our opinions of the People of the Mountain Downs on our past experience of dealing with you,” Honeydew said.

“Dealing with us?” Compost echoed. “Communication between people and dealing with people are two very different beasts.”

“Bad habits. Destructive patterns,” Elena said softly.

“How do we break that pattern of mistrust?” Maia asked. “It doesn’t serve any of us well.”

“We need to get to know one another better,” Compost said.

“You need to share your stories with each other,” Reggie suggested.

Despite her exhaustion, and the aching sadness she felt at the loss of Crumpet and Buttercup, Doshmisi saw in a flash with perfect clarity that the only way to heal Faracadar was to forgive Compost and his people. She didn’t need her grandmother or the whales or the trees or the herbal to help her figure this out. She knew what all of them would say and the right course to chart. She could hear them speaking in her head, internalized, a part of her forever. She said, “Remember last year when the whales told us that violence would only lead to more violence and that we had to find a nonviolent way to defeat Sissrath? To break the cycle of violence?”

“Of course,” Maia murmured, while Denzel and Sonjay nodded their heads in agreement.

“Well it continues. It didn’t stop there. The only way to build trust and make the land a peaceful place for everyone is to forgive one another and make a new start,” Doshmisi explained. “We have to let go of grudges and we have to give people the benefit of the doubt. We have to release our anger about past crimes for the sake of the future.”

Compost cleared his throat. “Forgiveness usually follows an apology,” he said in a husky voice. “So I wish to tell you that I am sincerely sorry for my wrongdoing.”

Doshmisi set an example by accepting his apology. “I forgive you for burning the Passage Circle, for harming our friends there and destroying their homes and their fields. I believe in my heart that you have changed and I wish to give you a chance to be a better person.”

Compost bowed his head for a moment and stared at his hands folded in his lap and then he lifted his head and held a hand out to Doshmisi, who was shocked to see tears sparkling in Compost’s eyes. “And I forgive your uncles for exiling my father from Big House City in the old time, for refusing my people a seat at the high council, for treating me like a fool instead of the intelligent person I am, and I forgive you for making fun of me and thinking you are better than I am.” Doshmisi, Denzel, and Maia had never known that their uncles had done such a thing to Compost’s father so Compost’s words came as a shock to them. Sonjay knew of it because he had read about the history of Faracadar. Even so, he had not given that part of the history much thought and he had never considered the impact of such a deed on Compost. He had viewed all of it as ancient history, but it obviously remained very much alive for some people.

As Doshmisi solemnly took Compost’s hand and shook it, she said, “I apologize on behalf of those who have wronged you and your people and denied you a seat at the table. I did make fun of you and I am sorry for it.”

“If I may, I want to suggest a way to begin to fix this,” Reggie offered. “You won’t like it Hyacinth, but I think that you and Compost should rule together for a time, as a team.”

Compost cleared his throat and appeared almost shy as he said, “I no longer use the name Compost. I have returned to using my given name, Comice. Please make the adjustment.” A wave of astonishment crossed the faces of those present, and Sonjay’s jaw actually dropped open. Elena chatted brightly, “I know how to make an exceptional dessert with Comice pears. Sweet and light. I will make it for you one time if I can find the ingredients.”

“I will enjoy eating it,” Comice, who was once Compost, said politely. “Every bite.”

Sonjay closed his mouth with a snap as he tried to accept everything he had witnessed in the council chambers so far.

“How will we rule together?” Hyacinth demanded. “How is that possible?”

“Well, to begin with, you will have to include some of Compost’s, sorry, I mean Comice’s, people on the high council. And then you must establish a system for discussing things and coming to a decision that you and Comice can both agree on. Perhaps you will need a mediator,” Cardamom said.

“I’m supposed to share being the high chief with him after everything he’s done?” Hyacinth asked incredulously.

“Try to forgive him, Daddy,” Honeydew said.

“That’s the only way. You can see he has changed,” Doshmisi elaborated.

“How do I know he really changed?” Hyacinth asked suspiciously.

“Well, he did tell us about Sissrath’s fear of cockroaches and it did come in handy at the North Coast,” Denzel reminded Hyacinth.

“It certainly did,” Sonjay agreed. “Crumpet used cockroaches to throw Sissrath off balance and it made all the difference when I tried to restrain him with the Staff of Shakabaz.” Cardamom winced at the mention of his dead brother.

“That’s true,” Hyacinth conceded, though cautiously. “But I’m not totalitarianly contrived. I mean convinced. I’m not totalitarianly convinced.”

“I don’t blame you Hyacinth,” Doshmisi replied.

“Comice needs to make restitution for his past actions,” Reggie said. “So what should he do to show you that he has changed and that you can trust him?”

“Restitution. Absolutely,” Comice agreed gravely.

Hyacinth leaned his head to one side and thought about that. “OK, well, yes. I want resuscitation. I like the way that sounds.”

“Restitution,” Elena corrected.

“Resuscitation is when you are revived from being unconscious, Daddy,” Honeydew explained, as patiently as ever. “Like if you stopped breathing and someone gives you mouth-to-mouth.”

“Ewww. No, that’s not what I want from Comp, er, Comice,” Hyacinth said, wiping his lips.

“We know, Daddy,” Honeydew replied and then she continued to explain patiently to her linguistically impaired father. “Restitution is when someone does something appropriate to make up for past injuries or wrongful actions.”

“Exactly,” Reggie confirmed. “Restitution is a key component of restorative justice, which means restoring justice through apology and forgiveness demonstrated by actions. The person who committed the crime demonstrates his remorse to the victim of the crime by doing something to make amends, to make it up to the victim.”

“I understand,” Hyacinth said. “I like this very much.”

Maia addressed the question to Comice. “So, what do you think you should do to make restitution to the people of the Passage Circle?”

Comice thought about the pain he caused in the years during which he served Sissrath. Despite the wrongs perpetrated on his own people, he wished that his people had risen above all of it and shown themselves to be better. He wished that his people had not succumbed to anger and had not sunk to the level of those who persecuted them. It dawned on Comice that he wanted to become the real leader that the People of the Mountain Downs needed and deserved, the leader that his people had hoped for these many long years. He wanted to succeed where Sissrath had failed. Sissrath had been selfish, destructive, and hurtful. Sissrath had never actually cared about the People of the Mountain Downs. Comice resolved not to fail his people, he would seize this chance to serve them well. To get to that opportunity, he first had to walk through this trial. “I will go to the Passage Circle and meet with each family who lost a loved one in the attack. I will apologize to them in person. And I will dedicate two days every month to working in the Passage Circle to build, repair, or make something needed in the community.”

“That sounds good,” Reggie approved. “What does everyone else think?” The others agreed to Comice’s proposal, although Hyacinth still appeared doubtful.

Elena noted Hyacinth’s hesitation so she asked Comice, “Don’t you think you should also do something for the High Chief, to make restitution for all the trouble you have caused him?”

“That seems fair,” Comice replied. “What should I do for you Hyacinth to demonstrate that I am prepared to collaborate with you?”

Hyacinth’s brow crinkled in thought. Sonjay worried for a minute that the high chief might hurt himself by thinking so hard and wondered if Hyacinth was up to this task. Hyacinth pondered and then he announced, “I have come to a derision.”

“Oh Daddy,” Honeydew burst out. “Derision means you are ridiculous and have become a laughingstock. You mean a decision. You have come to a decision.”

“Yes, a decision,” Hyacinth said. “About the restitution.”

“Restitution, good,” Cardamom echoed, encouraging Hyacinth to continue.

“I want Comice to bake me muffins,” Hyacinth informed them.

“You want him to bake you muffins?” Doshmisi asked in amazement, wondering if she had heard Hyacinth correctly.

“As an act of goodwill,” Hyacinth stated with satisfaction.

“That’s all?” Denzel questioned him. “Just to bake you muffins?”

“They must be deliberate muffins!” Hyacinth continued.

“Deliberate?” Honeydew questioned. “You mean he must make them on purpose?”

Hyacinth threw her a puzzled look. “No,” he said. “Well, yes, that too. But they must be, I know the right word; they must be delectable. That’s what they must be. Delectable. That’s what I mean. Delicious. They must melt in my mouth. He must bake magnificent muffins.”

“I’ll try,” Comice said sincerely although somewhat uncertainly. “But I don’t know how to cook.”

“I can help you with that,” Elena offered enthusiastically.

“Not really,” Maia said gently, as she laid a comforting hand on Elena’s arm, “because you will be leaving tomorrow to go back home.”

“Tomorrow?” Elena responded, taken aback. “Already?” She put her arms around Comice and hugged him as tears welled up in her eyes. Comice patted her back with such affection that the others had no remaining question in their minds that he had truly changed.

“I can show you how to make at least one batch of muffins tonight, before I have to go,” Elena suggested with a sniffle.

“That would be lovely,” Comice replied.

Cardamom cleared his throat. “I have a proposition then,” he said. “We will release Comice from his imprisonment and allow him to begin to work with Hyacinth to rule Faracadar. He will make his visit to the Passage Circle to apologize and upon his return, each and every week, he will bake a batch of muffins for Hyacinth. He will bake muffins every week until Hyacinth says he can stop. At first, they might not be the most delectable muffins, but practice makes perfect. We will form a taste council. I will serve on it. Hyacinth and everyone on the taste council will taste the muffins each week, until Hyacinth releases Comice from this task. What do you think?”

“I love it!” Hyacinth shouted. “What an extrapolaneously magripescent idea.”

“See what I’m saying,” Comice muttered under his breath to Elena, but he smiled indulgently at his language-mangling co-ruler. “I’m going to need an interpreter to discuss important decisions with this man.”

“Not a problem,” Honeydew assured Comice. “I can do that.”

“I release Comice from imprisonment and he will go directly to the kitchen with Elena to work on his first batch of muffins,” Hyacinth announced with his boyish enthusiasm. “Blueberry would be good,” he added as he rubbed his hands together.

“Blueberry, blueberry,” Bayard repeated enthusiastically from his perch on Sonjay’s shoulder. He had remained quiet throughout the proceedings, but when presented with the thought of berries he could not keep his beak shut.

“You may no longer command him,” Doshmisi informed Hyacinth firmly. “He is your partner and co-ruler. You do not command one another.”

“I volunteer to go to the kitchen to bake blueberry muffins with my friend Elena,” Comice offered. “It would give me the greatest pleasure.” A smile spread across Comice’s face and Doshmisi noticed for the first time that he had an adorable little dimple on his left cheek.

When Elena and Comice appeared in the kitchen soon after the council dissolved and informed Guhblorin that Comice was required to make restitution to Hyacinth by baking muffins, Guhblorin fell over laughing. He could not help himself, and in true geebaching fashion he suggested that they bake “mouse muffins” for Hyacinth as the first batch. Elena had to pull on his ears to make him behave.

Changing the Prophecy Chapter 25

 

Chapter 25 Singing Home the Algae

Sonjay ran to Doshmisi’s side and fell to his knees. He shouted, “No, no, no, you stupid book! Give them back. Figure it out. You have to give them back!” Kneeling beside him, Doshmisi put her arms around him and together they sobbed for their lost friends, while everyone else, who had remained on the crest of the rise at the edge of the beach, made their way across the sand to join them. Maia had her arm around Cardamom, who wept silently. Many of the others were crying as well, but none of them more noisily than Hyacinth, who could not control his great, wet sobs. Saffron held him close and Honeydew patted his arm.

“What will become of Daisy?” Maia asked softly. Daisy was the golden-haired twelve-year-old daughter of Crumpet and Buttercup. The Four had met her on their previous journey in Faracadar and they knew how much she adored her father.

“I will take care of her,” Cardamom replied. “She’s my niece. I will see that she receives her training as an enchanter. Coming from such talented parents she is destined for greatness.” Cardamom’s voice broke as he declared, “Oh Daisy, Daisy, how can I bring you this news?” He had trouble catching his breath since the air quality had deteriorated so much. Elena took his hands in hers and made him look into her eyes and breathe in rhythm with her until he stopped gasping for air.

“It’s a mistake. It’s not fair,” Denzel mourned.

“There’s no rule that says life must be fair,” Reggie said quietly, with a note of bitterness in his voice, as he put a hand on Denzel’s shoulder. Denzel thought about his mother Debbie, who had died so young.

Jasper hovered over Doshmisi and stroked her short, short hair. Iris rubbed Mole’s arm comfortingly. Bayard perched silently on Guhblorin’s nearly bald head and, for once, remained silent. The intuits bobbed dejectedly in the air beside them.

“I wish we had time right now to mourn, but we don’t. There’s work yet to be done,” Doshmisi said firmly. “The herbal provided a final message.” Sonjay wiped his eyes with the end of his T-shirt and, after a deep shudder, stopped crying. Hyacinth stopped blubbering but still clung to his wife. Everyone listened attentively as Doshmisi shared with them the words provided by the herbal.

Cardamom wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his robe. “The herbal has made it clear,” he said resolutely. “We must mobilize the people. We need to enlist the aid of as many people in the land as possible. We have to let everyone know what happened here because no one knows that Sissrath is gone and the Corportons with him. No one knows of the brave sacrifice of Crumpet and Buttercup. And no one knows about singing home the algae.”

“Or why the air grows unfit to breathe,” Iris added.

“Exactly,” Cardamom affirmed.

“We be needin’ to communicate,” Mole stated, as the wheels in his head began to turn toward problem-solving.

“The Dome was down when Dosh and I were there,” Jasper pointed out.

“We don’t know what might be happening at the Dome now,” Denzel said.

“But we can find out,” Sonjay told them, with a knowing glance at Reggie.

“True that,” Reggie agreed, as a smile flickered at the corners of his mouth.

“Locomotaport,” Jack and the intuits began to call out. Bayard circled up above and echoed the word, squawking it over and over again.

“I can locomotaport to the Dome Circle and see what’s going on there and hopefully manage to find Violet or her technicians, who can help me send out the message about singing home the algae,” Sonjay explained.

“How does that work? Does your body stay here?” Denzel asked.

“Yes, his body will stay here,” Honeydew confirmed.

“Watch Bayard,” Reggie instructed.

Sonjay punched his fist in the air and proclaimed, “For Crumpet and Buttercup.” Then he walked a short distance apart from the group and sat down facing the water. Bayard circled above him as Sonjay crossed his legs yoga-style and rested his hands on his knees. He sat up straight as a pencil and closed his eyes. Bayard swooped in the air in several graceful loops and then he landed in front of Sonjay on the sand. The large, bright bird stood perfectly still in front of Sonjay, watching him intently out of one eye and then turning his head abruptly to watch him out of the other.

“He’s gone now,” Reggie told Denzel, as he headed across the sand to sit protectively by Sonjay’s body.

“C’mon,” Mole said to Denzel. “There be a transmission screen at the compound. If they get the Dome working then we can pick up a message on it.” Mole and Denzel headed swiftly back up the beach to where the tigers milled, alert, on the edge of the sand.

“I’ll go with you,” Doshmisi called after them. The others followed more slowly behind Mole and Denzel. As they passed Reggie, Bayard, and Sonjay’s body, Honeydew informed Reggie that they were headed to the compound to keep an eye on the transmission screen.

“I’ll stay here to look after Sonjay until he returns,” Reggie said.

Elena and Guhblorin sat down beside Reggie. “We’ll stay to keep you company while you wait,” Elena told him.

“You don’t have to,” Reggie said. “You can go on with the others.”

Elena shrugged. “De nada,” she assured Reggie. “That means it’s nothing, easy to do,” she explained to Guhblorin.

“Easy,” Guhblorin agreed.

Having left the others behind on the beach with his body, Sonjay arrived at the Dome in his locomotaported self. At first, he thought something had gone drastically wrong with the locomotaport and that he had become stuck in a time warp or a hole in space because the Dome Circle appeared completely deserted. He saw no special forces there, but he saw no one else either. He walked around the entire Dome Circle and didn’t see a single person. Cautiously, he entered the Crystal Communication Dome through the main doorway. The enormous crystal at the center of the Dome remained covered in canvas in the dim room. Sonjay hated to see the crystal like that. He remembered the year before when the Goodacres had first witnessed the inside of the Crystal Communication Dome and it had sparkled and danced with light and rainbows, dazzling and exhilarating. The gray, dull room before him stood in stark contrast to the memory he had of the magnificent crystals sending messages far and wide.

Sonjay left the Dome and walked down the road leading to Jelly’s Tollhouse. The circle seemed like a ghost town. For a terrifying moment he wondered if Sissrath and the Corportons had not been the only people in Faracadar swept away with the oil when the herbal did its housecleaning. What if all the other people in Faracadar had disappeared at that moment too? What if the prophecy of the end of the land had already come true and he and the few people left behind at the North Coast were the only ones left? Sonjay forced himself to stop picturing such a horrible outcome.

He stopped in the middle of the road, stood still, and listened. In the eerie quiet of the vacant street, he thought he heard a muffled sound. He wondered if he had imagined it. He listened harder. He felt certain that he heard a sound. Two sounds, in fact. One was a faint thumping and the other was a barely audible tone, a single droning note. But where did it come from? He closed his eyes and concentrated on listening. He walked away from the center of the circle and toward the hillside that rose from the edge of the circle. He could hear the thumping and the steady tone more clearly as he walked in the direction of the hillside.

He found himself in a small park with swings, trees, and a climbing structure. Along one side of the park the hill sloped upward sharply. Sonjay saw an enormous boulder, twice the size of Aunt Alice’s Toyota, embedded in the hillside. The thumping and the tone came from behind that boulder. Sonjay floated up the hill to the boulder where he paused and then he locomotaported right through the boulder and into a giant cave on the other side of it.

The instant he appeared inside the cave, a dozen people surrounded him and raised a cheer. A couple of women burst into tears and a man attempted to thump Sonjay on the back, but his hand went straight through Sonjay’s locomotaported body. “What is this? Who or what are you?” the man exclaimed in astonishment.

“I’m Sonjay, the youngest son of Debbie, one of the Four, and I have locomotaported to the Dome Circle to find Violet. Why is the circle empty? What are you doing in here?” Sonjay demanded.

“Locomotaported!” one of the women repeated excitedly. “Only Hazamon could do that.”

“Correction,” Sonjay responded. “Hazamon and me. Where’s Violet. Where are Mr. and Mrs. Jelly?”

One of the men called out, “Violet! Jelly! Come quick.”

As Sonjay’s eyes adjusted to the darkness lit only by a faint glow-lamp, he noticed several hammers lying on the ground. “Were you trying to pound your way out?” he asked.

“Not really,” one man answered. “We were trying to make enough noise to attract attention.”

“How long have you been in here?” Sonjay asked.

Just then Violet appeared from the depths of the cave. She recognized him immediately, even though he was transparent. “Sonjay, thank goodness. How did you find us?” she asked.

“It’s a long story and I haven’t much time. I’m locomotaporting. We need to get the Dome back online and send a message out. What happened here? What’s up with the Dome? Why did you come in here?”

“We didn’t come in here on purpose,” Violet answered. “The Special Forces imprisoned us in here. They trapped everyone inside this cave. Did they go away? Did you see any of them out there?”

“Not a single one,” Sonjay replied. “They are most definitely gone. I’ll explain about that later, but right now we need to get you out of here.”

“What a good idea,” Jelly said as he materialized behind Violet. “Good to see you Sonjay. We’ve been in here for two days and we have no food, only some water from an underground spring. The boulder blocking the entrance is too heavy for us to move, even when all of us push together.”

“Everyone who remained at the circle after the Special Forces shut down the Dome is trapped in here,” Violet added.

“And no enchanters?” Sonjay asked.

“None,” Jelly answered mournfully.

“Hang on,” Sonjay told them. “I have to go back to my body at the North Coast and talk to Cardamom. He’ll know what to do. The Corportons got sucked into the herbal with Sissrath. That’s a long story, but they’re gone. Now we need to work quickly to bring the algae back across the water before the air becomes too polluted to breathe. This must sound totally confusing. Sorry. Listen up. Stay here and I’ll come right back.”

“We’re not going anywhere,” Jelly said. “Trust me. Hey, do you think you could bring us some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or some mannafruit or something?”

“I’ll do what I can. See you soon,” Sonjay called over his shoulder as he disappeared from the cave and sent himself back to his body on the North Coast.

Sonjay found it easier to return to his body this time than he had the last time he locomotaported. For one thing, he had not remained out of his body for as long as he had on the previous occasion. For another, he was getting the hang of it. When he returned, he found himself sitting on the beach with his father, Elena, and Guhblorin. Bayard alighted on his shoulder. He stroked the bird’s chest absently and Bayard squawked appreciatively.

“We’ve got a problem,” Sonjay began, and he told the others about the Dome Circle people trapped inside the cave.

“Cardamom can help with this,” Reggie assured Sonjay. “He can tell you how to move that rock. He went to the compound with everyone else. Let’s go discuss the situation with him.” The fact that his two teachers in the art of enchantment had died weighed heavy on Sonjay’s heart as he and the others accompanied his father to the compound to consult Cardamom.

Once they arrived at the compound, Sonjay wasted no time. He explained what had happened at the Dome Circle. “I wish I could locomotaport you with me,” Sonjay told Cardamom. “You could probably move that boulder in a hot minute with enchantment.”

“You can move it too,” Cardamom told Sonjay.

“I’ve never moved an object,” Sonjay argued.

“Yes, but you will have a powerful tool to help you,” Cardamom said as he produced the box that contained the Staff of Shakabaz and opened the lid. He pointed his finger into the box, swished it around in a circle, and scattered sparkles of light in all directions. The Staff of Shakabaz emerged from the box, rising to its full height. Cardamom gripped it in the middle and handed it to Sonjay.

“How do I take it with me?” Sonjay asked.

“It will follow, it is an enchanted object. It defies the laws of physics,” Cardamom reminded him.

“OK, then how do I use it to move the boulder?”

“This is a matter of life and death if I ever encountered one. The Staff of Shakabaz specializes in matters of life and death. Aim it at that boulder and send it a message in your mind about what you need it to do to free the Dome people,” Cardamom instructed.

“Anything else I need to know?” Sonjay asked as he sat down on the floor and settled the Staff across his lap. Reggie quietly sat behind his son.

“Before you use the Staff, remember to clear your mind as Buttercup taught you,” Cardamom said. His voice quavered slightly at the mention of Buttercup.

Sonjay nodded solemnly and then he closed his eyes. It took him several minutes to calm his thoughts and his breathing since he felt apprehensive about the task at hand and also because he could barely contain his excitement about the possibility of freeing the Dome people with the Staff. Reggie, Cardamom, and Honeydew meditated with him. He listened to their breathing and the four of them brought their breathing into alignment so that they breathed in and out together. He cleared his mind as much as he could and sent the stray thoughts that entered his head on their way as they passed through. He used his secret word “feathers” to help him and he recalled the first time he had locomotaported, when his father had told him there was a great enchanter in him.

Eventually, with his mind calm and his breathing even, his ability to locomotaport came to him. Once he left his body, he went quickly to the cave at the Dome Circle. He stood in front of the boulder and aimed the Staff of Shakabaz in its direction. It did not seem necessary to speak out loud. He focused his thoughts on the people inside the cave and the need to free them so they could eat and regain their strength and he banished all extraneous thoughts from his mind as Buttercup and Crumpet had trained him to do. Sonjay’s arm became one with the Staff. He felt his hand tingling and lightning flashed overhead. His amulet glowed with brilliant golden light, which traveled down his arm and into the Staff. Then it flew from the top of the Staff to the boulder, engulfing the boulder in golden light. Slowly, steadily, the boulder slid to one side, revealing the opening to the cave.

Among the first to emerge, Violet and Jelly cheered loudly.

“You rock!” Jelly exclaimed.

“You unrock!” Violet joked with a joyous laugh.

The light in the Staff of Shakabaz extinguished itself and Sonjay’s amulet glimmered faintly for a minute before going dark. “We have no time to waste,” Sonjay said urgently. “Violet, gather your technicians and let’s get that Dome back up and running. Walk with me and I’ll explain.”

“I thought it was just because we were inside that cave,” Jelly wheezed, “but the air out here is dreadful too. In fact, it’s worse than the air in the cave.”

“We have to sing home the algae to clean the air and we have to do it before the air becomes too ruined for us to breathe,” Sonjay explained. Jelly nodded silently. Meanwhile, Violet rounded up her chief communications technicians. Jelly stood at the mouth of the cave and told the people as they emerged that anyone who worked at the Dome should proceed there immediately. Mrs. Jelly announced that she would bring them something to eat as soon as possible.

Sonjay joined Violet, who turned to him expectantly as they walked down the slope away from the cave. Sonjay informed her, “I can’t stay here. How long do you think it will take you to get the crystals in the Dome operating so that you can send a message out to all the circles in all the settlements?”

“I don’t know what damage has been done. If the Special Forces simply powered everything down and didn’t do any damage then I’m thinking maybe two days,” Violet replied.

“We don’t have two days,” Sonjay stated flatly. “We need to send a message to all the people no later than sunrise tomorrow. It will take time for the message to travel to further locations and we need as many people as possible to set out by tomorrow morning for the coast. Doshmisi doesn’t know what the tipping point will be in terms of how many people need to participate. Mole figures that we have two days at the most before the air becomes completely unfit. Those most vulnerable to the poor air quality, like babies and old folks, will start having trouble sooner. The minute you can send messages, tell the people that we will begin a collective sing at four o’clock tomorrow afternoon. Anyone who can get to the beach or within sight of the ocean should go there. Those who can’t get to the beach should participate from wherever they are. Drumming will probably help, but Doshmisi says the main thing is to hold a musical voice tone. One note. Tell people to choose one tone and to hold it and to keep at it, to keep sounding that tone. While they sing, they should send out thought-messages to the algae requesting that it return to our aid.”

“How will we know if it’s working or not?” Violet asked anxiously.

“How long must we sing the tone?” one of her technicians added.

“You’ll know if it’s working if you can breathe,” Sonjay said grimly. “By tomorrow the air will be in even more terrible shape. Keep singing until the air begins to clear.”

“We’ll do our best,” Violet promised.

“You have to do better than best. You’ve heard the prophecy, haven’t you?”

“Of course,” Violet responded, with a note of fear in her voice.

“Don’t believe it,” Sonjay told her. “Treat the prophecy as a warning. We can make it happen differently. Get that Dome working to send the message and the people will do the rest. Now I have to go.”

“We’ll begin sending messages to closer places soon, maybe by sunset today if we can do it. May the work of the Four continue,” Violet said with resolve. Sonjay smiled encouragingly at Violet before he vanished.

When Sonjay returned to his body, he found the others prepared for travel. Maia had her drum over her shoulder and Reggie had buckled up his knapsack that bulged with books.

“How did it go? Did you free them from the cave?” Reggie asked.

“Yeah, they’re out. Violet and her technicians will get the Dome working as soon as they can. They don’t know how fast they can get it back up and running, but they’ll give it their best shot. What’s up? Are we going on a road trip?”

“We see no point in staying here,” Denzel replied. “We’ve decided to ride to the Passage Circle. If Violet can’t get the message out then at least we can bring out the people in the Passage Circle to come together to sing.”

“And drum,” Maia added. “I feel certain that drumming will help bring the algae back. You know how good those drummers are at the Passage Circle.”

“Sure enough,” Sonjay agreed. “I told Violet to encourage people to drum when she sends the message.” Maia nodded approvingly.

“How do you feel?” Doshmisi asked Sonjay. “Are you strong enough to ride?”

“I’m good. I’m getting better at locomotaporting,” Sonjay boasted.

“Excellent,” Cardamom said, as he folded the Staff into its box. “Your tiger awaits.”

With not quite enough tigers to go around, some people had to double up with others. Doshmisi rode Dagobaz. They galloped away from the North Coast in a cloud of dust kicked up behind them and no one looked back at the abandoned prison compound or the former site of the oil rig that had poisoned the ocean. The tigers and Dagobaz could not travel as quickly as usual because of the poor quality of the air. No one could fill their lungs with a good pull of oxygen and it exhausted them to breathe the nasty air. The travelers rode slowly but steadily down the coast and arrived at the Passage Circle in the middle of the night. Governor Jay greeted them after being roused from his bed upon their arrival. Once they had explained the situation and the plan to follow the instructions in the herbal and attempt to sing home the algae, Governor Jay found beds for the weary group to catch a few hours of sleep. He dispatched a messenger to Big House City to inform the people there about the need for them to travel to the coast for the collective sing.

Denzel, Jasper, and Mole slept on cots in the Passage Circle’s communication center, where the crystal communication screen remained dark. They hoped that it would light up with a message from Violet any second informing them that the large crystal at the Dome was working again, and that messages would then stream from the crystal throughout the land.

No one slept well, despite their exhaustion. Everyone felt anxious and they all had difficulty breathing.

A vivid orange and gold sunrise exploded on the day. The particles of dirt in the air caused the colorful sunrise. Just as they sat down to a waffle breakfast that Elena had masterminded with the help of her trusty helper Guhblorin as well as Governor Jay’s kitchen staff, Denzel, Jasper, and Mole rushed into the dining room whooping with excitement. Violet had the Dome working well enough to begin transmitting the message. While many circles had not yet received the transmission, others had already received the news about the reason for the problem with the air and how to fix it by singing home the algae.

Soon after breakfast, people began to arrive at the circle from Big House City. Throughout the day, people from places near to the beaches appeared and the circle swelled with those who came to help. The air had become so thick and smutty that people would frequently begin coughing and then have trouble catching their breath afterward. Doshmisi discovered that inhaling steam from boiling water gave her lungs some relief from processing the filthy air and she passed the word to the people that they should boil water and breathe the steam for a few minutes to help their lungs. The steam method proved particularly helpful after someone had a bad coughing fit.

Maia and her drummer friends started drumming on the beach shortly after noon. There they remained, drumming as if in a trance. Elena managed to get Maia to drink some juice and eat a sandwich for lunch. Otherwise she drummed nonstop.

Tents and temporary shelters sprang up along the coast as the beach filled with people. Sonjay stood the Staff of Shakabaz upright on the sand where everyone could easily see it. He chose a dry spot, well out of the reach of the waves, and he sat down on the beach, ready to sing. But Doshmisi said it was too early to start. She insisted that they begin at the appointed time of four o’clock. She thought they should begin when as many people as possible across the land could join them. As the hour approached, they gathered at the water’s edge. Jack and other intuits hovered nearby while Bayard swooped overhead. Bisc paced near Princess Honeydew like a caged lion. At four o’clock, Doshmisi nodded her head to signal the beginning and each person selected a tone and gave it voice, sending a message with their combined voices across the water to the algae.

“Come home to us and clean our air so we may breathe and live,” Doshmisi thought as she sang her tone.

“The Corportons are gone now so you can safely return,” Sonjay thought as he sang his tone.

Maia had no concrete thoughts in her head as she surrendered herself to the beat of the drums and projected her message in that way.

“Please save Faracadar,” Denzel thought as he sang his tone.

All over the land, people thought about their hopes and dreams for a future. Each person sent their own individual thoughts and messages to the algae. The thoughts of each of them combined, blended, and joined in the musical tone that traveled across the water in a song sent to the algae, begging the algae to return and restore balance to the fragile ecosystem of Faracadar. “For our children and grandchildren,” the mothers and fathers thought. “For the animals and plants that share the land with us,” the children thought. “For the beauty we have created with our work, imagination, and ingenuity,” the enchanters and leaders thought. “For the possibilities of things to come. For laughter and joy. For the love that we share. For the gardens we have planted and the dances we have danced. For all that we hold dear, please preserve our lives and our world,” the people thought.

Was it her imagination, Doshmisi wondered, or had the air become slightly easier to breathe? She stared at the water so hard that her eyes ached. She sought a sign, any sign, of a change in color from slate-blue to the bright-green color indicating the presence of the algae. She thought perhaps the water had started turning slightly green. Or maybe her eyes just played tricks on her.

Then, as Doshmisi gazed out to the horizon, she saw a whale spout. Soon another spout followed and then another. Tears coursed down her cheeks. The whales would not have returned alone. They would only have returned if the algae came with them. Moments passed and then she heard the whales singing in the distance. Soon the dolphins joined them, and Doshmisi heard them singing together. She could not make out the words yet, but she recognized the whale and dolphin voices.

“It’s working,” Doshmisi cried in excitement. “We’re going to be OK. Look there!” She pointed toward the horizon, to the spot where she had seen the whale spout appear. “Watch right there.”

Only Reggie and Elena could hear her over the loud musical tone and the drumming. But everyone could see her pointing. They looked in the direction in which her finger pointed and they saw the whales spouting far out on the water. The word spread up and down the beach and soon everyone laughed and cried and hugged each other all at once because they saw the whales spouting and they realized what that meant. Meanwhile, the water had started showing signs of green color as the jubilant people of Faracadar continued singing the algae home across the water.