Days passed without any sign
from the Tower and Magic Rock and Mr. Trinkets were growing anxious. Uncle
Friendly shrugged off their questions about Wonder, stating that the tower was
a confusing place and she was likely just lost. He never mentioned their
confrontation to anyone.
“I’m worried about Wonder,” Mr.
Trinkets whispered to Magic Rock a few days after she had entered the tower.
“I know, so am I. She should
have found her way out by now one way or another,” Magic Rock whispered back. Uncle
Friendly had become irritated at the mention of Wonder and they didn’t want him
over hearing their conversation.
“I’ve been thinking. Why couldn’t
one of us go in after her?”
Magic Rock shook his head. “You
heard what Uncle Friendly said; no one but a Glitch can get in the tower.”
“Yes, that’s what he said, but
what about Koro? She was in one of Wonder’s bags and she obviously made it
inside.”
“True, but I imagine it was
because Wonder took her in. And anyway, Uncle Friendly rarely leaves the front
steps and I doubt he’ll be too keen to send in a rescue party.” Magic Rock
watched Uncle Friendly pacing in front of the tower door.
“He has been acting strange
lately, hasn’t he?” Mr. Trinkets asked. “I don’t know if he’s really up to
something or I’m just feeling suspicious, but I don’t trust him. I think I’d
like to take a walk around the tower and clear my head a bit.”
Magic Rock nodded. “Yeah, OK. I’ll
stay here and keep an eye on things.”
Mr. Trinkets stood up and
shuffled through the crowd of Vendors around the side of the tower. He tried to
act like nothing was wrong even though he was beginning to feel very
uncomfortable there. He shambled around the side and began inspecting the tower
base. There was a door here, but it didn’t do him much good as it was locked
and had a sign reading “Coming Soon” hanging on it. Whatever was planned for
this entrance was never finished so he kept walking.
Around the next corner he still
didn’t find anything out of the ordinary, but he tried the door here too. This
one also seemed to be locked, though he thought he could see a hallway on the
other side through the dark windows. He jiggled the handle a few more times
before getting exasperated and moving on.
The last side of the tower
looked much like the other three, and like the others it had a door that he
suspected he wouldn’t be able to open, but he never got the chance to try
because as he was walking up to it he heard a voice from the trees whisper his
name.
“Psst. Mr. Trinkets! Mr.
Trinkets! Over here! In the trees!”
Mr. Trinkets turned toward the
voice, but he didn’t see anyone standing among the trees. “Hello? Where are
you?”
“Shhh! Keep your voice down!
Look up, Mr. Trinkets.”
He did as instructed and there,
among the branches of the tree closest to him, was Koro. She looked
half-crazed, eyes darting side to side like she was looking for someone, but it
was definitely Koro.
“Koro, what are you doing up
there?” Mr. Trinkets asked in a whisper. “Where’s Wonder?”
“Wonder’s gone! That big fat
slug with the tie sent her away!”
Mr. Trinkets tried to process
this. “What are you talking about? You mean Uncle Friendly? What do you mean he
sent Wonder away? Wonder never came out of the tower.”
“Yes she did. She came out days
ago! She came out of this door and talked to me and then that monster showed up
and yelled at her and asked her about the tower and then POOF! she was gone,
just like that!”
Mr. Trinkets wasn’t really sure
what to make of all this and it didn’t help that Koro was so panicked. “Koro,
you’ve got to calm down and tell me what happened. I can’t help if I don’t know
what’s going on.”
“I can’t! He’ll hear me! I
almost flew away for good when he told me to, but I stayed because I didn’t
know what else to do. Wonder’s gone and I don’t know where he sent her. I only
stayed because I thought you guys might know what to do, but I couldn’t risk
getting caught.”
“It’s OK, Koro. No one’s going
to catch you.” He thought for a moment. “Let’s move to a different street. No
one will hear us and you can tell me everything that happened. Then I can go
back and tell Magic Rock and we’ll figure out what to do next.”
Koro nodded and led him two
streets away just to be safe.
Once Koro calmed down a bit she
told Mr. Trinkets everything she could remember about what happened in the
tower and afterward. She recalled something about Wonder’s conversation with
Uncle Friendly, but she never got the full story of Room 23 from Wonder so she
didn’t know all of the details; she only knew that Wonder’s plan had changed
and she wanted to wake the Giants up, not put them back to sleep. Mr. Trinkets
seemed a little upset at that, but without knowing the whole story he was
determined to keep an open mind until he could discuss things with Magic Rock.
Mr. Trinkets thanked Koro and
before he went back to the front of the tower he told her to stay nearby and be
on the lookout for either himself or Magic Rock to return soon. She cawed an
agreement and flew back into the trees to hide.
When Mr. Trinkets returned he
found everything exactly as he had left it. Magic Rock looked up as he
approached.
“Find anything interesting?”
Magic Rock asked, slightly teasing.
“Yes, actually, I did,” and Mr.
Trinkets proceeded to recount his meeting with Koro as quickly and quietly as
possible.
Magic Rock was stunned to hear
what had happened between Wonder and Uncle Friendly, but he quickly made up his
mind. “We can’t let on that anything is wrong. I’m not sure what he’s capable of
and I don’t want to wake up one day to find myself teleported halfway across Ur
as well. We can do more good here while we try to come up with some sort of
plan.”
The days dragged on with no word
from Wonder and it was beginning to look more and more like she wasn’t coming
back. Magic Rock and Mr. Trinkets occasionally made trips to speak with Koro,
but the more they talked the less they were sure of what to do. They tried to
make sense of the little bit that Koro heard during the exchange between Uncle
Friendly and Wonder, but they couldn’t understand her new plan. They were
trying to save the world, why would Wonder want to end it?
With nothing to go on Magic Rock
decided to change tactics. He and Mr. Trinkets began spending more time talking
to the Vendors; trying to feel them out about Uncle Friendly’s new role as
leader. Unfortunately the Vendors seemed more than happy with the way Uncle
Friendly was handling things even if they weren’t entirely sure about his plan
to put the Giants to sleep. The main problem seemed to be that no one else had
any answers nor were they willing to take charge. Magic Rock hinted that he
might be up for leading them, but without a better plan of action no one seemed
very interested in supporting his coup.
After a few days Magic Rock sat
down with Mr. Trinkets away from the main group to talk about what should be
done.
“If we’re going to do something
we need to do it soon,” Mr. Trinkets insisted.
“I know that, but what would you
suggest? The Vendors all think Uncle Friendly is doing a fine job. No one
suspects him of anything and I don’t have anything better to offer them anyway.”
Magic Rock had become increasingly frustrated with the situation.
“Well, maybe taking over for
Friendly isn’t what needs to be done.”
“What are you suggesting, Mr.
Trinkets?” Magic Rock’s eyes narrowed.
“Maybe it’s time we left. We
know Wonder is gone and every day it seems she’s less likely to return. There’s
nothing for us here. Let Friendly have his group of Vendors. What harm can they
do?”
“That’s just it; I’m not sure
what harm they could do, but I’d rather be here to stop them from doing it! As
far as we know this is the last group of sentient beings in Ur and you want to
abandon them? No, we can’t leave. We have to stay and do what we can.”
“Do what we can about what, my
dear Magic Rock?” Uncle Friendly’s voice oozed with false sweetness from behind
Magic Rock whose eyes almost bulged out of his head at the sound.
“Uncle Friendly! I didn’t
realize you were standing there.” He stammered as he spun around.
“No, I should think not.”
“Whatever you heard, I’m sure it’s
just a misunderstanding.”
“And I’m sure it’s not. I heard
enough to know you’re conspiring against me. Now why would you do that?”
“Conspiring? We—I—no, definitely
not, it’s just—“Magic Rock was tripping over his words in a panic.
“Save it,” Uncle Friendly cut
him off. “I’ve suspected you ever since I saw the Glitch talking to that Rook;
I just hoped it wasn’t true. Well I’ve got more than enough evidence now.”
Uncle Friendly pulled a cage from behind his back and in it was a very defeated
looking Koro.
“You thought you were being very
sneaky about this whole business I’m sure, but I’m sneakier. I’ve been watching
you two over the last few days and the last time you met with this filthy bird
I followed you. As soon as you left I laid a trap for it and here we are.”
Koro looked up at Magic Rock and
Mr. Trinkets. “I’m sorry, guys. I tried to get away, but I wasn’t quick enough.”
“It’s OK Koro. You’ll be
alright,” Mr. Trinkets reassured her, though he wasn’t so confident himself.
Uncle Friendly smiled menacingly
at them. “Now, let’s go address the people, shall we?”
Uncle Friendly led Magic Rock
and Mr. Trinkets to the steps at the foot of Jethimadh Tower holding Koro out
in front of him like he might hold a lantern to light his path. Once they were
all standing at the top of the stairs he called for the crowd’s attention,
though it was unnecessary because the sight of a caged Rook was more than
enough to silence the group.
“Attention, everyone! Attention!
I’m afraid I have some dark news to announce.” He shot Magic Rock a sideways
glance. “It seems some of our own have been conspiring against us!”
The Vendors looked around at
each other confused.
“It seems that Magic Rock and
his butler here don’t want Ur to be saved! They want to see this world
destroyed, and you along with it! They want it so badly that they even
conspired against us with the Rook!” At this last exclamation Uncle Friendly
thrust the cage up high in front of him so that everyone could see. Koro
squawked in surprise and the Vendors all became agitated at the sight.
Uncle Friendly pushed on. “Even
worse, I’m afraid, is that young Wonder, who we sent into the tower with hopes
of saving Ur, has fallen under the sway of the Rook as well.”
At this the crowd let out a
collective gasp. It was one thing for butlers and Magic Rocks to work with the
Rook, but it was utterly unthinkable that a Glitch should ever even consider
it.
“Unfortunately our hopes of
putting Ur back together with Wonder’s help have been dashed, but that doesn’t
mean we are defeated. I have taken care of the Glitch-traitor myself and I am committed
to finding a way to save our world if it takes me the rest of my life!”
Uncle Friendly was feeling quite
pleased with himself, but before the crowd could react a voice interrupted from
the back of the assembly.
“You’re wrong, Friendly!”
Everyone turned to see who was challenging
Uncle Friendly’s authority, and there at the end of the street, with her own
gathering of piggies, chickens, butterflies, batterflies, sloths, foxes, heli kitties and
all other manner of creature, was Wonder.
“I’m sorry, but this world can’t
be saved. Not in the way that you think. If you really want to be saved the
Giants need to wake up, and I’m the one who has to do it.”
No comments:
Post a Comment