PREPARING AGAIN TO LEAVE
Well so, that’s done. My wand is encased for good and all. I’ll visit from time to time, turn the pearl up to see if it wants to chat or rage or fling itself about. I’ll take Kar with me. She’ll like that. She’ll … ah, Kar. So such I was to visit her this morning … if this morning is truly this morning and not some other morning. Boff! Wake up, Bek! Of course this morning is this morning. A dream. A dream is all it was. Long and strange, though. I stepped to the brick chocolate table and nodded at the Golden Shoe resting next to the crystal ball.
I won’t be needing you again, will I, Golden Shoe? I think I’ll put you in a place of distinction, a place of memory, a place of your own. A decoration. That’s what you’ll be. Hmmmmm… I gazed around the cottage looking for a likely spot. The long black licorice mantel above the cauldron’s fireplace seemed so such to shout, “Choose me!” Simply said, it was done. I placed the Golden Shoe there, and as I did so such, I noticed my witchly lavender hands adorned with their twenty-two magic glittering rings.
This time ALL rings are going with me. The dream was a warning not ever to leave any of my rings behind. If I plan to practice chanting spells without resorting to ring use, I’ll just vow not to allow frustration to tempt me so such to use ‘em. Simple! I am Harick! What I vow is vowed fair and true! I vow to practice chants without using rings. There. Done. And I’ll have my rings in case of … anything. Yoss! That’s it! I passed by the spearmint cupboard and approached the butterscotch. I opened its doors. I lifted my pouchbag from where it hung on a hook and prepared to fill it with vials, potions, powders and amulets from the various drawers in the cupboard.
In the dream I took only two rings. Big mistake. A warning, probably. Let’s see … all of the shaped vials? All of ‘em! Yoss. Amulets? All of ‘em! Everything? All! I emptied the drawers into the pouchbag, and what didn’t fit I put into the inner pocket of my blackest purple cloak. I reached for the crystal ball before a thought stopped me.
You don’t need the crystal ball. You have your crystal ring. The wand is encased. You aren’t going down the Well. You’re going to Fan Wa’s Island to visit with your best friend from ever, Kar. You don’t need to carry your whole cottage with you. You’re simply going to practice chants and jump on the trampolines and have pie fights. You’re going to romp with the Acrotwist Clowns. Ah … romp … like jesterbeasts … I slowly bent to take my broom in hand.
What a dream it was! I’ll share it with Kar. She’ll be the first to hear it. She’ll like that. Reeb … a new Chronicler … a creature from the dangerous world down the Well … so such strange, but how real it felt! Jerrandal the jesterbeast … jarbot, so said. And I … the Jaha? Jaha … Ha! How strange it was in the empty dreamy Cloud Castle City. The scrap of oat parchment said ‘Reeb of Cloud Castle City’. It did. Clear. Real. Truth, so such it seemed. I shrugged like we do.
What was it, the dream? A warning about the wand, so said. That’s what it was. It was Prophesy warning me about the wand. Pushing me to realize that it needed to be encased. I never should have freed it from its island vault in the Wide Great Sea. Such. So. There it is. That’s all. And now the wand is encased. No more mischief. No more patches of tar. And yet … and yet … I shrugged again like we do, silently ordered my broom to fly, and off we went through the window and up into the sky.