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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.
