What could be so bad about a few cackling crows? And why did I wear a dress? I couldn’t swim with it on, and I wasn’t going to take it off. I glanced at Baruch—a talking, male donkey. So tempting, but no, I wasn’t going to swim in my underclothes.
I slipped off my shoes and lifted up my dress above my knees. After tiptoeing to the water’s edge, I stepped into the cool river. I waded out a few feet before the water came up to my knees. Golden rocks covered the river bottom and dazzled in the sun—like an enchanted pool. I started to pick up one, but then I remembered the flower stem that turned into a snake. My fear returned.
More crows gathered, but they had become quiet. Dozens sat in the trees. “Is that their rookery?” I asked.
Baruch shook his head. “We never have any crows here—except when we’re invaded by the underlings.”
I was enjoying the water too much to worry about underlings. After a few minutes, I got out and climbed up on a flat rock. As I lay on my stomach, I dangled my arms out over the edge of the river. A blue bird darted up and danced over the water.
“She’s so cute,” I said, fascinated by the small-winged creature.
“They are terrible,” Baruch said. “Not the bird, I mean the underlings. Most of the time, they don’t have real bodies, they shape shift, although they look similar to large black bats. The acrid stench always precedes their appearance. I smell them coming now.”
“I don’t smell anything,” I said, absentmindedly.
Cherios nervously twitched her ear to one side. “I hear the cackling again.”
Which was cuter, the bird or the bunny? The tiny creature moved its wings like a hummingbird, although it was slightly bigger. After a few minutes of graceful gyrations, the bird landed on my shoulder.
“I’m Nevaeh, and you are a daughter of the king,” the winged animal whispered, and then he flew away.
Why did it tell me that?
I scooted forward. Cupping my hands, I gulped several sips of water.
The golden rocks glittered on the bottom and cast a golden reflection on the surface of the water, but the sun’s rays immersed the river in a shimmering white light. I reached down and picked up one of the nuggets. I gently turned it over in my hand. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this is gold.”
“Take as many as you want,” Baruch said. “But hurry.”
The trees creaked as the wind picked up. Overhead, more crows circled.
Baruch turned. “We better hurry to find cover. I smell the underlings.”
I slid off the rock and tried to put the golden nugget in my pocket, but the egg was in the way. I set the rock on the grass. When I pulled out the egg, I opened it to make sure the bunnies were still there.
Cherios hopped over to look. “Oh, they are so cute. It must have been a very unusual chicken to lay that egg.”
I laughed. “It’s not real. I just wish the rabbits inside weren’t broken.”
Cherios nudged closer to me to see. “I didn’t know chickens have bunnies in their eggs.”
“No, you’ve got it all wrong. The artist sculptured the egg to hold the bunnies inside.”
Cherios still looked baffled. “If you ever decide you don’t want the egg and the rabbits, will you give them to me?”
I nodded.
Baruch brought over another nugget in his mouth and plopped it on the ground. “You can put that in my knapsack, and you might want that white pearl. Then we must leave the area as that is the underlings’ entrance to the garden.”
The knapsack was too full with Baruch’s apples, so I didn’t pick up any more. What a shame to leave them if they were worth something.
Where was I, talking to prissy rabbits and bossy donkeys? Unbeknownst to me, the dark magic grew. Floating over the river, an ominous cloud approached. When I turned and saw it, fear swept over me. A misty fog seeped from the pea soup and overflowed the river’s banks. The garden shimmied and quaked, and the mist spread in all directions.
Soon lightning bolts struck the ground. The bolts splintered the trees, and limbs fell around us. My eyes burned from the acrid smell, and I grabbed Baruch’s mane and covered my face. The sweeping murkiness was like a glove that groped everything in its path.
Shadows crept into the hidden pockets and tiny crannies, and scampering animals rustled through the leaves. The garden became quiet. Suddenly Baruch leapfrogged over a clump of rocks, knocking me backwards.
“Wait,” I cried. Baruch paid me no attention. I shouted louder. “I want to go back. Get my shoes.”
Baruch scowled. “You get them yourself.”
Me? I bolted over to grab them. Seeing Baruch’s knapsack, I scooped it up along with the blanket. I ran back and dumped everything beside the panicked animal.
Cherios panted heavily as she hopped over to catch up. “Baruch, you’re stepping on me,” she said shrilly.
“You’re under me,” Baruch complained.
“I’m hiding,” she said, as if under his belly was a good place to hide.
I wanted to put Cherios on Baruch’s back, but I needed to drape the blanket on him first. I slipped on my shoes—yuck. Wet sand coated them.
I couldn’t stop shaking, although I wasn’t sure if it was because I was cold or because I was scared. Fighting the wind, I got the blanket to stay on Baruch’s back long enough to put Cherios on it, but when I went to pick her up, I couldn’t find her. Where did she go?
The howling wind knocked more limbs to the ground. I climbed on Baruch’s back. “Take me to the door, I want to go home.”
“Grab my knapsack,” Baruch said, “and hold it for me.”
“I don’t care about your knapsack. Let’s go.”
“Not without my apples.”
“We’re going to die—go.” The stubborn donkey wouldn’t move. I slid down and grabbed the bag, which seemed unusually heavy. “What do you have in this thing?”
Baruch stomped his hindquarters. “Hee-haw. Hurry.”
“All right. I am.” I tied the knapsack around his neck and hopped back up. The wet blanket was cold underneath me.
“Don’t fall off,” Baruch shouted.
“Do you see Cherios anywhere?” Then I saw her bonnet flattened in the wet sand. My heart sank.
A rancid odor turned my stomach, and I started breathing through my mouth. We wouldn’t make it back if we stayed to hunt her down.
Every living thing had vanished. Some headed into the woods—maybe they knew a shortcut— others took the path as we did to the grassy knoll.
“Cherios?” I called. Perhaps she hadn’t waited for us.
Baruch bolted up the trail as I struggled to keep from falling. I had never ridden on a donkey, and it was nothing like a horse. Not that I had ridden on a horse either, except at a camp with a handler walking beside me.
I glanced back and saw the mysterious cloud from the river following us—chasing us from the king’s garden. The blob was thick and impenetrable, and it acted as if it were alive. No ordinary cloud, the pursuit left me breathless and terrified.
As we neared the grassy knoll, the door of escape reappeared. A vortex of swirling, distorted images faded in and out. I searched for Cherios, but the shifting cloud crept closer.
“Baruch, what should we do?”
The donkey ignored me. I clung to his back as he leaped into the portal. The once magical garden faded behind us. We passed through shadows eclipsed by stars on a moonlit night, arriving at a garden unfamiliar to me but not to Baruch.
Chapter Seven
SURPRISES