“Are you sure you want to do
this?” Wonder asked, looking at the key Mr. Trinkets held in his hand.
“Of course.” Mr. Trinkets held
the key out a little further. “You saw the note. I am my own master and this
house is mine to do with what I wish. Right now my wish is that you go inside
and gather some supplies for our adventure.”
“Well, if you’re sure.” Wonder
was not at all sure, but she reached out and took the key from the butler
anyway. “So I just fit it in that hole in the door and turn?”
“That’s what master used to do.”
Wonder turned and walked up the
steps to the front door of the house and placed the key in the lock. It fit
snuggly and turned with little resistance. She heard a click and tried the nob.
This time it turned and the door swung open! She removed the key and looked
back over her shoulder at Mr. Trinkets with a smile.
She stepped in the house but
stopped just inside the entrance. There was so much to see! She didn’t know
where to begin. After a minute or two of taking it all in she heard someone
clear their throat at the far end of the room. It was Magic Rock sitting just
outside the back wall! But she was certain she had left him sitting next to the
front steps.
“Can I offer some assistance?”
he asked.
“But you were just—how did you…?”
“They don’t call me Magic Rock
for nothing. So, what do you need?”
Wonder tried to rearrange her
thoughts and get back to the task at hand. “I’m not sure. There’s so much stuff
in here. What is all this?”
Now don’t get the wrong idea.
When Wonder asks about all the “stuff” in the house don’t imagine there were items
and foodstuffs strewn about everywhere like the rest of Ur. No, not at all.
Sebastian kept a tidy home, even when he knew the end was coming. What’s more,
Wonder wouldn’t have been phased by a lot of random bits and bobs lying around
willy nilly. She’d seen that on every street she’d visited. What amazed Wonder
was something she hadn’t seen: furniture and decorations.
Having never been inside a
Glitch home, or even an abandoned apartment building, she had never thought
about how Glitchen lived or where they kept their belongings. Now seeing the
neatly wallpapered room with matching carpet and all the tables, chairs, lamps,
cabinets and paintings hung on the wall she was understandably taken aback. She
couldn’t say why, exactly, but she immediately felt at home.
Magic Rock smiled kindly and
replied, “This is our master, Sebastian’s, home. I suppose you’ve never been in
a Glitch house before have you?”
Wonder continued to look around,
her eyes touching on all the things she hadn’t seen. “Nope. This is a first for
me.”
“Well, I can tell you they’re
not all like this. I’ve seen a lot of Glitch homes and some of them are
dreadfully cluttered and have no sense of style. Sebastian was much more
inspired when it came to keeping a fashionable and tidy residence.”
“What is all of this stuff for?
It’s too big to pick up easily and certainly too heavy to carry with me.”
“Yes, I should think so. These
things are what we call furniture. They adorn the house and make it more
comfortable to live in. This is a table; you set things on it. These chairs are
for sitting on; they go with the table. The lamps will give you light when it
gets dark. That shelf is kind of like a table, but on the wall and more out of
the way, sort of for more ‘long-term stuff holding.’”
Wonder followed him around the
room as he explained the uses of everything. Finally they reached the large wooden
cabinet.
“In here you can store things to
be retrieved later.”
“What kinds of things?” Wonder
asked. Her mind was racing with possibilities.
“Any kind of thing you might
want to keep.”
“So, what’s in there?”
“I don’t know. Why don’t you
open it and see?”
Wonder gave Magic Rock a
sideways glance to check if he was serious before opening the doors. Inside was
a great hodge-podge of things: seeds, food, drinks, music blocks, some tools
Wonder didn’t understand, and what seemed like a hundred other items. “I’m
still a little out of my depth here,” Wonder admitted. “Would any of this be
useful on our trip?”
“I’m sure it would, but you
won’t be able to carry much right now. Let’s go upstairs and collect a few
things first.”
Magic Rock led Wonder through
another door to the second floor of the house which was another entirely new
experience for her. Who would have imagined you could stack rooms like that? Upstairs
was the bedroom. Magic Rock again explained the pieces of furniture and their
different functions, leading Wonder to stand in front of another cabinet.
“This one is a little
different,” he explained. “This is a wardrobe. It’s full of clothes. Now, don’t
get me wrong, I saw plenty of Glitchen running around in the buff before all
this craziness started, so it’s completely up to you if you want to wear
clothes or not, I just thought you should have the option.”
Wonder, being imagined without
clothes and living her entire life up to this point without seeing another
Glitch, was still a little confused until Magic Rock showed her the inside of
the wardrobe and all the shirts, pants, dresses, jackets, shoes, hats and masks
found within. Keep in mind, Wonder wasn’t embarrassed to be naked, no Glitch ever should be and she didn’t even have a concept of the word until this moment,
but she couldn’t help but be overjoyed at all the possibilities before her. “It’s
like decorating a house,” she thought, “but the house is you!” She tried on
combination after combination and eventually settled on a look that suited her.
“Excellent!” Magic Rock
exclaimed. “Now there’s one more thing you need before we start loading up for
the trip. Follow me.”
Magic Rock led them up one more
level to what he referred to as the attic. In the attic there were many more
cabinets and shelves and several large bags stuck in a corner.
“Here we are! Grab those bags,”
Magic Rock instructed. “They’ll let us carry far more supplies than normal. Oh
and grab that red box marked ‘Tools’ as well. It may come in handy. I’ll see if
I can’t teach you a thing or two while we’re on the road.”
Now Wonder and Magic Rock set to
the task of deciding what to bring and what to leave. Mostly they packed a lot
of the pre-made food and drinks they found since Wonder wasn’t capable of
making her own, but they also packed a few odds and ends like a few music
blocks Wonder especially liked, some powders and potions and a toy that Magic
Rock called a Cubimal. He explained it was mostly useless, just for entertainment
purposes, but Wonder liked its translucent body and the little fire inside it—she
thought it looked cheery—so she named it Firedog and found a spot for it in a
bag.
Now fully loaded and ready to go
they walked out of the front door to collect Mr. Trinkets. They found him
sitting near a garden plot. When he heard them approaching he quickly stuck
something he had been examining into one of his secret pockets. Wonder thought
it might have been the note from Sebastian, but she couldn’t be sure.
“Are we all ready to go?” the
butler asked.
“I think so,” Wonder replied.
“Yes, yes, we’ll be fine. And
you, Mr. Trinkets? Are you ready?”
Mr. Trinkets took a look around
at the plots and crops growing there. “Yes, I think I am, though I don’t quite
know what to expect out there. This is uncharted territory for a butler, you
know!”
“This whole situation is
uncharted territory, so I wouldn’t worry about it too much.” Magic Rock
reassured him.
“I suppose you’re right as
usual,” Mr. Trinkets offered. Then in a slightly lower voice, “By the way, I’ve
gone ahead and harvested the Purple Flowers, just in case we might want some
during our adventure.”
Magic Rock’s eyebrows lifted
imperceptibly and he quickly turned to Wonder. “Alright, then, Wonder, are you
ready to return to the street from which you came?”
Wonder began to feel a tingle of
excitement at the idea of reuniting with Koro even though it had only been a
couple of hours at most since they had been separated. “Yes I am!”
“Alright, all you have to do is
concentrate on where you were and imagine yourself returning to that spot. Once
you go we can follow along.”
Wonder closed her eyes and
concentrated on the street and the tree she had left Koro perched in. She saw
the Visiting Stone and the mountains in the distance. She imagined herself
there with Magic Rock and Mr. Trinkets and suddenly she felt that instantaneous
squeezing and expanding sensation from before.
She opened her eyes and found
she was right back where she had been standing before she touched the Stone.
She looked around quickly to find Magic Rock and Mr. Trinkets standing behind
her and not a second later she heard a loud cawing noise from the trees
followed by Koro shouting her name.
“Wonder! You’re back!” Koro came
swooping down from the trees and began flying excited circles around the three
of them.
Wonder broke out into a wide
smile and was just about to greet her friend and offer an apology when from
behind her she heard a terrified Magic Rock start yelling.
“Wonder, run! It’s a Rook
attack!”
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