The Princess and the Pearl

  Seeing the bubbles start to fill the room, Annie lurched forward and grabbed the box. She was turning to leave when the driving sand started to make the bubbles pop and she spotted a small blue bowl. Remembering that Ting-Tang had asked for a blue bowl, she grabbed it as well and hurried out of the room as the oily liquid started to turn everything dark. After stuffing the box and the bowl into the sack that Ting-Tang had given her, Annie swam as fast as she could down the corridor toward the opening at the end. She was almost there when suddenly the squishy, warty creature was in front of her, blocking her way. Annie had to back up as the creature started swimming toward her. Frantic, she was looking around for another way out when the power of the two sea witches collided and the resulting BOOM! blew her down the corridor and into the body of the terrifying creature.

  Annie spluttered and flailed her arms and legs. She felt as if she’d been dropped into an enormous bowl of thick, viscous jelly, but it was jelly that was alive and didn’t want her in it any more than she wanted to be there. With nothing solid to push against, she was beginning to panic when the creature contorted itself, pushing her out with a loud ploop! As soon as it was free of Annie, the creature started to swim away, undulating through the water.

  Remembering Ting-Tang’s warning to hurry, Annie swam out of the hold and started toward the surface. She was only partway there when a dark shape emerged from the murky water, heading straight at her.

  Annie put every bit of strength into her arms and legs, trying to propel herself to the surface, but the shape was far faster. And then it was close enough that she could see Audun the dragon carrying Liam on his back. With a cry of relief, Annie darted toward them, hugging Audun’s neck, then lunging at Liam and nearly knocking him off the dragon. Liam had been holding his breath, and he gasped now, as much from the hug as the amulet’s magic.

  “I’m so glad to see you!” she cried. “Let’s get out of here. Pearl is going to notice that the giant pearl is gone any second now.” Audun nodded even as he turned around. And then, with the power of a dragon beneath her and Liam’s arms around her, Annie finally shot to the surface.

  CHAPTER 13

  The moment Audun reached the shore, Liam slipped off his back and helped Annie down. Audun hurried over to his wife, who was sitting on the beach, moaning. “Are you all right?” he asked.

  “She will be as soon as she takes more of that potion I gave her,” said Ting-Tang. “I told her she needed to rest. Why don’t you escort her back to my camp so she can take the potion? We’ll meet you there in a little while.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Audun told Millie. “Climb on my back, sweetheart. I’ll have you there in two shakes of a dragon’s tail.”

  Bending down in front of her so that his chest touched the ground, he waited for Millie to climb on and get settled. He walked carefully so as not to jostle her until he had room to spread his wings. A moment later he was airborne and circling around until he was headed back to Ting-Tang’s huts.

  “Dragons!” said Ting-Tang. “Who would have thought?”

  “I got your blue bowl,” Annie told him. “It was right by the pearl, so I grabbed them both.”

  “How did it go? Did you have any trouble?”

  “Not until I was leaving. Nastia Nautica had some sort of squishy beast with her. It got in my way as I was swimming out of the ship. When Nastia Nautica’s and Pearl’s magic hit and blew up, the power of it threw me into the beast. Talk about disgusting! But I don’t think it was mean or anything, and it had the sweetest eyes, sort of like Edda’s.”

  “Who’s Edda?” asked Ting-Tang.

  “My dog,” Annie said, liking the sound of it. She didn’t know when she’d decided to keep her, just that she wasn’t going to give her up. Edda was the first dog she’d ever had, and she realized that she really missed her. However, thinking about Edda reminded Annie of her father and uncle and the whole reason she was there. “I have the pearl, so now I need pure water. Do you know where I can find some?”

  “The spring near my camp has the purest water I’ve ever found,” said Ting-Tang. “It’s why I built my camp there. We’ll head back now. It’s going to be dark in a few hours.”

  “Did the sea witches notice you?” Liam asked her as they started walking.

  Annie shook her head. “No, but Nastia Nautica’s beast did. I don’t know how intelligent it is, or if she can communicate with it, but it knows I was in the ship.”

  “I wonder if sea witches can come on land,” said Liam.

  “They’re mermaids, so I doubt it, although if they’re witches, who knows what they can do,” replied Annie. “I just want to get this potion made and go home. I wonder where Clarence is.”

  “Audun will find him if anyone can,” said Liam.

  “I might be able to help with that,” Ting-Tang told them. “That blue bowl is my scrying bowl. When we get back to my camp, I can look into the bowl and see if I can find Clarence. You’ll need to ask Audun to fetch him back, though.”

  “I don’t think he’ll mind,” said Annie. “He was ready to do it earlier.”

  They walked only a little farther before Annie turned to Liam and asked, “Why did you come after me? You weren’t able to breathe underwater without the amulet. If you hadn’t found me when you did, you might have drowned!”

  “I knew I’d find you,” said Liam. “And I couldn’t leave you by yourself. When I saw that Audun had come back without you, I insisted that he take me to you. You mean everything to me, Annie. I should never have let you go without me!”

  Annie went willingly when he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. The sounds of the jungle seemed to fade away until Ting-Tang said, “It’s going to be dark soon and I have no desire to tromp around in the jungle at night. Are you coming with me?”

  Liam pulled back from Annie enough to look into her eyes and say, “We’ll continue this conversation later.”

  Annie smiled up at him and nodded. This was a conversation that would never grow old.

  The shadows were getting long and the gloom was deepening when they finally reached Ting-Tang’s camp. Annie was about to check on Millie when Ting-Tang said, “I’ll get my water jug and we’ll fetch the pure water you need. Bring the sack with you. We’re going to need the pearl and the bowl.”

  Annie followed him to the hut, where he collected a large clay jug and left Chee Chee happily munching a juicy piece of fruit. Rounding the hut, they walked only a dozen paces to a pool of water that fed a small stream. “This spring flows all year long,” said Ting-Tang. “It’s the best-tasting water you’ll find anywhere. One jugful should be enough for what both of us need tonight.”

  Ting-Tang knelt at the edge of the pool and half submerged the jug. While water gurgled into the clay container, Annie raised her head and looked around. It was nearly dark and the sounds were different now as some animals prepared to sleep and others to hunt. Something shrieked deeper in the jungle, making Annie wonder what might be out there, watching them. She glanced back to the huts, outlined in the fire that Audun and Liam were feeding from Ting-Tang’s woodpile. The light drew her, making her wish that the witch doctor would hurry. Ting-Tang was right. The jungle was no place to be at night.

  Annie was relieved to follow Ting-Tang back to the fire and the company of Liam and her friends. She took a seat beside Millie while the witch doctor poured half the jug into a large copper pot, which he then hung on a hook above the fire. “Now for the pearl,” he said, holding out his hand to Annie.

  Reaching into the bag, Annie pulled out the box containing the pearl. She had yet to get a really good look at it. When she held the pearl up to the firelight, she and her friends all exclaimed over its beauty.

  The giant pearl was lovely. Although it was the size of a large melon, it was as perfect as its smaller cousins. Not quite white, not quite cream, it had a luster that made you want to hold it and never let it go.

  “It looks like an angel rolled moonlight into a ball and sealed
it with a kiss,” whispered Liam.

  “I’ve never heard you say anything like that before,” Annie told him.

  “That was really cheesy,” said Audun.

  “I could hold it for you,” Liam said, reaching for the pearl.

  “He must be under the influence already,” Ting-Tang said. “Give the pearl to me.” Taking it from Annie, he set it into the nearly boiling water. “Because you’re immune to magic, it won’t do anything to you, Annie. Millie and Audun will be fine, too, because they’re dragons. But no one else should look at the pearl for more than a second or two. And make sure no one else touches it. That means you, Liam. Pearls like this one have a lot of power, and it can do things to your mind. That’s why Annie should return it to the sea monster that Millie’s mother stole it from. In the wrong hands, the pearl could be very dangerous.”

  “I know where the monster lives, or at least where it lived before Mother took its pearl. It’s near the island where the witches made their home,” Millie said.

  “We’ve visited that island!” said Liam. “We know how to get there, too.”

  “Mother said that the monster used to live in a gap in a huge coral reef near the island. The reef is just past Nastia Nautica’s shipwreck. The monster should still be somewhere around there,” Millie told them. “The creature is huge. It has short arms and a pronged tail. Mother said it has a tall fin on its back, too. Oh, and my parents had to go into its mouth and back through its throat to get the pearl. They didn’t realize they were inside the monster until they were trying to leave. At first they thought it was just a cave.”

  “We have to go inside the monster?” said Annie. “I don’t know about this.”

  “Ah, good; a roiling boil,” said Ting-Tang. “We let it do that for an hour and we’ll be all set. Now we can look for Clarence. I’ll need that blue bowl, Annie.”

  Annie pulled it from the sack and handed it to Ting-Tang.

  “Very good! We’ll fill it about halfway,” he said, pouring water into it from the jug. “And wait for the water to grow still. There, that should do it. Please be quiet, everyone. I need to concentrate.”

  They all watched as Ting-Tang leaned over the bowl. An image formed on the surface of the water, but Annie couldn’t see it well enough to tell what it showed. When the witch doctor grunted and sat back, he rubbed his eyes as if they were tired.

  “He’s on a ship that’s under sail,” said Ting-Tang. “Are you familiar with a ship called the Sallie Mae? She’s heading across the ocean as we speak.”

  “That’s the ship we came on!” said Annie. “He stole our ride home!”

  “Not for long,” Audun announced. “I’ll find it and bring it back.”

  “Would you like your supper first?” asked Millie.

  “No, thank you, love,” said Audun. “I’ll catch some fish on my way.”

  “Uh, I wasn’t planning to feed so many people,” said Ting-Tang. “I thought you’d leave as soon as you had the potion. I really don’t have enough food.”

  “We’d love to leave, but we can’t go without our ship,” said Annie.

  Audun sighed. “If it’s not one thing, it’s another. I’ll be right back with something for supper.” He took off into the air with a whoosh of wings that blew the flames into a wild dance and made the trees bend and sway.

  “Where did he go?” asked Ting-Tang.

  “Hunting probably,” said Liam.

  Millie got to her feet, looking shaky. “I’m going to lie down for a while. Please wake me when you’re ready to leave.”

  “Are you all right?” asked Annie.

  Millie nodded. “I will be. Ting-Tang’s potion should start working soon.”

  Liam sat down beside Annie, adding sticks to the fire now and then, while Annie and Ting-Tang kept an eye on the boiling water. “You told us why you left Treecrest,” Annie said to Ting-Tang after a while, “but have you ever thought about going back? I’m sure you’d be treated with respect now. You’re very good at what you do and you’d have as many patients as you were willing to take on. Most of the doctors who came to treat my father were fools, and the herbalists had no idea how to handle something as serious as the creeping blue. We could really use someone like you in our part of the world.”

  “I hadn’t really thought about it,” the witch doctor replied.

  “You might want to consider it,” said Annie. “You’ll always be welcome in Treecrest. I’ll make sure there is a place for you.”

  “Or you could come to Dorinocco,” said Liam. “You could live in the castle if you’d like. We could use a good royal physician like you.”

  Ting-Tang shrugged. “Maybe someday, when I get tired of living in paradise. Thank you for the offer. I’ll keep it in mind.”

  All three of them looked up when the foliage rustled and a dark shape descended from the sky. Audun strode toward the fire with a large fish clamped between his jaws. It was a big fish, at least twelve feet long, and it wore a swordlike fixture attached to the front of its head.

  “A swordfish!” exclaimed Ting-Tang. “I love swordfish steaks!”

  The fish was still alive and it flopped from side to side when Audun dropped it on the ground. Annie backed away from the heaving fish and its nasty-looking sword. “It’s awfully big,” she said.

  “Biggest I’ve ever seen!” Ting-Tang said, rubbing his hands together. “I usually ask for some sort of payment for my potions, but this fish takes care of that! Plus you rescued me, which counts for a lot. This fish is something else, though! We’ll have steaks tonight and I’ll start smoking the rest in the morning.”

  “Is Millie all right?” Audun asked, looking around for his wife.

  “She’s lying down in the hut,” Annie told him.

  “I want to get her home as soon as I can,” said Audun. “I’ll go fetch Clarence. I should be back by morning, if not before.”

  “The pearl has steeped long enough,” said Ting-Tang. Slipping a glove made of woven grasses on his hand, he poured the water from the pot into a bottle. After shoving a cork in the bottle, he handed the potion and a silver thimble to Annie.

  “Give each patient a thimbleful of the potion. You should see results right away. There’s enough in that bottle to last for many generations, although you probably only need it for one or two more. The Blue Death, or creeping blue, as you call it, is hereditary, but never lasts more than a few generations. Be sure to keep that potion somewhere safe.”

  “Oh, I will!” said Annie.

  “We have to let the pearl cool before we put it back in the box,” said Ting-Tang. “But it looks as if you’re going to spend the night here anyway.” He glanced at the swordfish, which was no longer moving. “Tell me, who wants a swordfish steak?”

  Audun returned shortly before dawn the next morning. Although Annie and Liam had intended to wait up for him, they had finally gone to sleep in one of the patient huts. Annie woke enough to hear Liam’s and Clarence’s voices, but not enough to actually get up. She woke again a few hours later to the sound of Clarence shouting.

  “I’m not staying here!” he cried as Annie left the hut. “What am I supposed to do, weave grass mats all day?”

  Annie noticed that he was bound hand and foot again. She thought it was a good idea, considering everything he’d done.

  “I wasn’t asking what you wanted,” Liam told him. “I want to hear what Ting-Tang has to say. Is it all right if my brother stays here with you? He can be your assistant or whatever you need.”

  “I don’t really need an assistant,” said Ting-Tang. “Although it would help if someone fished and set snares for food. Picking fruit would be good, too. And maybe clean the huts after my patients leave. Then I could spend more time on my studies. I guess I could use some help after all. Sure, your brother can stay.”

  “If you decide to come back to Treecrest or go someplace with people around, please take him somewhere he can’t escape,” said Annie. “We don’t want him ever coming home agai
n. All he does is cause big trouble when he’s there. He’s tried to take over Treecrest twice.”

  “I promise,” said Ting-Tang. “I left Treecrest because it wasn’t right for me at the time, but my family still lives there and I’m fond of the kingdom. Now you’ve given me real incentive to keep Clarence here.”

  “One other thing,” said Liam. “Please don’t untie him until a few hours after we leave for the beach, just to make sure he can’t follow us.”

  “I won’t,” said Ting-Tang. “He can sit right here with me while I smoke the swordfish. We’ll be eating swordfish steaks for months!”

  “Please take me with you!” Clarence cried to his brother. “I don’t even like fish!”

  “You lost any hope of gaining my sympathy long ago,” said Liam. “Maybe this experience will help you learn how to be a decent person.”

  “You think you’re so great!” Clarence shouted, his face turning red. “But you’re nothing! Mother was right!”

  “Let’s go, Annie,” said Liam. “Thank you for everything, Ting-Tang. Don’t be afraid to make Clarence work for his keep.”

  “Oh, I won’t,” said Ting-Tang. “I’m starting a list. I keep thinking of more things he can do!”

  The others had to raise their voices to be heard over Clarence’s shouting, but they all thanked the witch doctor and said good-bye as they started into the jungle. Audun had stayed a dragon, so he went first, swishing his tail back and forth to widen the path that Liam, Millie, and Clarence had used the day before. The birds flew away as they approached and if there were any animals in the underbrush, they stayed hidden.

  The Sallie Mae was anchored in the cove just where they’d left it when they’d disembarked. The captain was waiting for them at the railing when they boarded the ship. “I’m so sorry!” he said, bowing to Liam. “Your brother came on board and convinced me that savages had killed you all. If I’d known that he was lying, we never would have left you behind.”