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.