The others rushed out from the alleyway. Annie’s hood fell as she ran to the car. Jamie flung open the doors and tossed Johann the keys.
“Brilliantly done.” Bloom slapped Jamie on the back.
“Fearless. Never would have thought it of you,” Eva agreed, smashing herself into the backseat after clapping Jamie’s back in a show of dwarfy commendation. Annie squeezed his hand and gave him a small peck on the cheek. Jamie’s hand went right to his face, stunned. No girl had ever kissed his cheek before. SalGoud’s eyebrows raised up so high that they almost hid in his hair. Jamie quickly removed his hand from his face and got in the car. Johann had settled himself back into the driver’s seat, but every time he tried to put the key in the ignition, he collapsed with giggles.
“Johann. Stop it,” Eva sputtered from the backseat, leaning forward and smacking the other dwarf in the back of the head. “We need to go. We are off to the Cliffs of Moher and the Ballinackalacken Castle! To Annie’s grandparents! Do you still have the feather, Bloom?”
“You keep asking, Eva. Of course,” Bloom answered.
Johann just kept laughing.
“It looks like I am going to have to drive,” SalGoud stated.
“It’s okay,” Bloom assured everyone as SalGoud and Johann switched seats. “SalGoud has been driving tractors and all sorts of things since he was a baby. Stone giants are very good drivers.”
“I think it’s illegal.” Annie snickered. She clamped her hand over her own mouth, obviously frustrated by the continuous laughter.
“Illegal-smeagal.” Eva snorted. “We stole a police car before.”
“I try to forget that,” Annie said. She giggled inappropriately. “And we borrowed it.”
“I’m not sure we officially ever gave it back,” Jamie added. “I’m sure they found it, though.”
“It doesn’t matter!” Eva stormed. She punched the back of the pink upholstered headrest of the driver’s seat.
SalGoud turned on the pig car. It oinked happily. “Okay, everyone buckle up. We are off!”
SalGoud turned out to be an incredibly good driver who stayed in the lane, never honked the horn, and didn’t seem to have issues with being on the opposite side of the road.
“In Maine, we tend to drive in the center of the road anyway,” he said. “So this isn’t much of a stretch.”
Annie and Johann’s giggle fits and polka-dotted skin gradually faded. So they would only burst into laughter once every fifteen minutes or so, and then not at all. The biggest problem they had was figuring out exactly where they were going. Luckily the car had its very own GPS system, composed of tiny flying pigs who kept pace with the vehicle and sent out scouts. They’d oink directions into the car’s antennae and the directions would translate onto a screen that showed the pig car looking like a regular pig running down roads, heading toward a giant feed bucket, which when you zoomed into the screen said, YOUR DESTINATION IS HERE; GET THERE, YOU HUNGRY PIG!
“I would like this car better if it didn’t remind me of Walden,” Annie murmured without one single giggle.
“You still like it because it’s cute,” Bloom disagreed, and he was right. But Annie was having a hard time. They’d already dealt with so much. Trolls. Miss Cornelia’s abduction. Walden. Bugbears. How could they deal with more? As if he read her thoughts, Bloom whispered, “It will be okay, Annie. We’ll rescue them all.”
“And we’ll survive?” she whispered.
“Of course we are going to freaking survive!” Eva yelled, waking up Jamie who had fallen asleep. “For brounie’s sake, Annie. Don’t be such a doubting dork.”
But Annie didn’t know how not to be a doubting dork.
“I’m just being realistic,” she said, flushing.
“Realism gets you nowhere,” SalGoud said. “You’ve just got to believe.”
They drove through the countryside on narrow highways as late day became early night and then middle night. The little pig GPS flyers oinked out directions. Eva fell asleep, snoring heavily, and Johann joined her. Annie nestled herself in between Bloom and Jamie and strangely, felt safe.
Jamie, however, was silently freaking out. He didn’t trust a magical GPS system and was totally terrified that the Snatchers would find them even though both Annies and Johann’s giggles had stopped and their polka dots were 100 percent gone. And who was this Secret Society, actually? And those books? How did someone know enough about Annie that they could write books about her?
Annie stirred in her sleep and then jolted awake.
“What is it?” Jamie whispered.
“I had—I dreamed I was falling.” Annie stretched her arms over her head. “It’s … it’s not a big deal.”
They both kind of felt that it was, indeed, a big deal, but neither of them said so. They were both far too polite.
“Are you stressed about meeting your grandparents?” Jamie asked.
Annie realized she was sort of wringing her hands together. She tucked them into her pockets instead and said, “That and everything. I worry we won’t be able to …”
She didn’t want to say that she was terrified that they wouldn’t be able to save the elves, because she didn’t want Bloom to doubt her. Plus, when you say your fears, that somehow makes them more true.
“I keep wondering which one of us will go missing next,” she said, fidgeting with her thumbnail. “Or get spots.”
There was an awkward silence. Annie imagined that both Bloom and Jamie were frantically hoping, Not me. Not me.
“Do you ever think,” Annie asked, “what the point of it all is? If we fight the Raiff and manage to save Miss Cornelia and the elves, do you think that will be the end of it all? Will we be safe? Will Aurora?”
“Even if we aren’t … even if Aurora isn’t … It’s still worth it, you know, because to not fight … to not try …” Jamie’s words trailed out.
“Would make us as bad as him?” Annie suggested.
Jamie exhaled. “Exactly.”
Just a little bit later three tiny, winged pigs flew out of the heating vents and into the car announcing, “Oinky Oink Oinkki Oink. Snort.”
“Huh?” said Eva, waking up and rubbing her eyes.
“We are here!” the pigs announced in heavily accented English.
They then disappeared back into the heating vents, and who knows where else, as SalGoud steered the car up a tiny drive that ascended a hill. A large Georgian house with two small strips for parking was all lit up and glowing—welcoming.
“Is this it?” Annie whispered, unbuckling so that she could lean forward and stare out the window.
“The pigs say so and they’ve never gotten me lost before,” Johann said, stretching and yawning. “Ah, and it’s nice to not be giggling anymore.”
Jamie expected Annie to agree, but she wasn’t really saying anything. She seemed paler than normal and a little shaky around the edges.
“According to MagicVacationAdviser, it is the number one hotel or bed-and-breakfast in the Doolin area, known for being a “model B and B experience, full of charm and character, surrounded by grassy hills and views of the sea … One can spy the distant Cliffs of Moher from the dining room where the wine selection is exquisite. The appetizer selection—”
“Enough, SalGoud. Please …,” Annie said quietly. “Thank you, but I’m just … I’m not … Sorry. I don’t mean to be rude.”
Jamie opened his mouth, ready to see if she needed anything, but she bolted out of the car, leaping over Bloom’s legs rather gracefully.
Bloom’s surprised face turned to Jamie. “Well, I guess she’s ready, then.”
Annie strode up the grassy bump that separated the two parking areas. Modest spotlights lit up the smooth, yellow front of the manor house, which was one story but sprawling, with large windows and a curved portion that seemed to house a restaurant. People were dining inside, seated at nice tables with white linen tablecloths spread over them. The seven short yellow chimneys that she counted quickly felt so
rt of impressive, she reasoned. She didn’t stop to savor the moment, though, because inside her chest was the thought beating away at her, My grandparents live here.
They were the first relatives she would ever meet. At least that she remembered. She must have met her mother and father, but she couldn’t remember them at all.
“It will be fine,” she said to herself. “And if it isn’t fine … Well, I’ve dealt with un-fine before.”
And she had. In so many foster homes. So many times.
Three long stone steps led up to the front door. To the left, on another rolling hill was a bench, also lit up with a spotlight, and beyond that the ruins of a square tower castle claimed the area. She’d always imagined castles to be bigger, but it was still impressive and foreboding, perched at the highest point. She could almost imagine well enough that she thought she spotted archers at the windows, arrows pointed, ready to thwart invaders.
She shook the image away as the others tromped up the hill behind her.
“Wait up, Annie.” Eva snorted, huffing. “My legs haven’t woken up yet.”
But Annie didn’t want to wait. She didn’t even want her friends to be with her. She wanted to do this alone.
“Stay here,” she said, turning around, spreading out her hands to make them stop.
“What?” Jamie asked, coming to a halt.
“Just stay here, please. I need to do this myself.” Her heart raced.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Annie,” Bloom began, but Annie turned back around, ignoring him even as she felt bad about it, and pushed open the manor house’s front door.
The reception room had two doors leading out. One, immediately to her right, led to the restaurant where the happy chinking sounds of glasses settling onto tables and silverware meeting plates filled the air. The other door seemed to lead to the bedrooms and was situated right next to a broad, heavy wooden reception desk. Upholstered chairs, stuffed grandly, were scattered about, and a large table full of flyers advertising things to do in the area dominated the room. Across a wall hung a large ancient-looking mirror. A huge fireplace, framed in granite, sat below a thick mantel that held two huge stuffed buzzards and an assortment of books, including the Time Stopper graphic novels.
Annie resisted the urge to touch the books and flip through the pages. They were all about her. Or a version of her. So strange … She checked her reflection in the mirror. She hadn’t even combed her hair. She was hardly presentable enough to meet her grandparents for the first time. She nervously pulled her fingers through the limp strands of hair, trying to straighten it out.
“Ah … You’ve seen the mirror, then, have you? As old as the castle, it is. There’s tales that the mirror is one of the first ever created, but you know how tales are …” The voice ended in a hearty, knowing chuckle.
Annie turned quickly, knocking her hip into the table, which was so solid it didn’t even move. The voice belonged to a woman, a tall woman with thick silver hair braided and then balanced on the top of her head. The braid defied gravity and stood straight up toward the ceiling. Annie’s mouth dropped open.
“It takes a lot of hair spray to get it just so,” the woman said, smiling. She zipped up her green fleece vest and eyed Annie. “So, will you be needing a room for the night? Are your parents staying here?”
Annie remembered her manners. She reached out her right hand. “I’m Annie.”
The woman took her hand and shook it. “And I am Aislinn Tullgren. It’s a pleasure to be meeting you.”
“The pleasure is mine.” Annie remembered to say the right things, the polite things, but her hand trembled and the woman seemed to notice.
She cocked her head and didn’t release Annie’s hand. “You’ve much magic running through you, don’t you, lass?” She turned Annie’s hand over and examined the palm. “So much magic and so unused … It’s ready to overflow at any second. Do you have a hard time taming it?”
Annie was so taken aback that she didn’t know how to respond. “Yes … no … I …,” she sputtered and resisted the urge to take her hand away from her grandmother. “I only … just … I just … I didn’t realize that I was magic until recently …”
The woman’s eyes drooped at the corners the tiniest bit, in the same exact way Annie’s did.
“I … um … I draw things and then …”
“Do they come out of the paper? Alive?” The woman’s voice lowered to a whisper. “Sorry. We have some regular people in there—non-magical.” She motioned toward the restaurant. “Will you be needing a room, lass?”
“Yes … I think so.” Annie pondered the woman who had suddenly tensed up.
She released Annie’s hand and turned her back to her. “Are you from America?”
“Yes.”
“Whereabouts in the States?”
Annie didn’t want to lie. But she didn’t want to say. “New England.”
“Anyplace in particular in New England?”
“Maine.”
The woman’s shoulders began to twitch. “What did you say your last name was?”
“I don’t think I did.” Annie watched the woman grab a room key. But the woman didn’t turn around again. Did she know? Did she figure out who Annie was?
“Ah, well, I need it for the records, dear.” The woman’s voice had gotten high, raised a whole octave. She was nervous. She knew. She had to know.
“Nobody,” Annie said. “I am Annie Nobody.”
The woman’s right hand pressed a yellow button. The restaurant door and the door to the rooms slammed shut, locking without anyone touching them.
“Wait … What?” Annie sputtered out as the two giant buzzards leaped from the mantel above the fireplace and snatched her arms in their talons. They flapped their wings, going airborne toward the ceiling, which had opened, giving way to the star-filled night sky. “Wait?! What?”
“No vacancy!” her grandmother yelled below her, waving, still holding the room key. “Please go away now and don’t come back!”
The cold air whooshed against her face as the buzzards whisked her up and away from the manor house and closer to the old, deserted castle. They flew over Eva, Bloom, Jamie, Johann, and SalGoud, who began shouting and running after Annie and the birds. Annie struggled at first, but then realized she was much too high to be able to drop down safely.
Bloom notched an arrow on his bow.
“No! Don’t!” Jamie yelled. “She’s too far up. They can’t drop her.”
And the birds just kept flying; it was not graceful, nothing like soaring eagles, but more of a lumbering sort of flight. Annie didn’t know if she should close her eyes or open them as they soared past the ruined castle and toward a herd of cows, all staring up at her with big moony eyes.
The buzzards started to descend, gradually getting lower. And then just as they were ten feet or so above the cows, they let her go. Annie tumbled to the ground, not making a sound until she landed—oomph—in a cow patty. Well, only her left foot, but it was enough.
“Uck!” she yelled, trying to scrape the cow dung off her shoe and onto a rock as the cows watched and the buzzards flew off. “Uck. Uck … Uck …”
The closest cow turned her head toward Annie and mooed.
“I’m not mad at you,” Annie said, satisfied that most of the bad-smelling substance was gone from her shoe. “It’s just smelly. I know it’s a natural part of the digestive cycle and everything. It’s—yeah … Wow.” What just happened hit her, the realization grasping her heart with a horrible sadness. “My grandmother just threw me out of the house. She didn’t even say hi. Not that I was expecting a hug or anything. Only Miss Cornelia hugged me. Ever. It’s just—I was … Wow.”
Eva bellowed her name from beyond the fence.
“Wow,” Annie repeated. “I’m talking to a cow.” She nuzzled the heifer on her nose. “No offense. You’re a very good listener.”
Eva yelled her name again and added, “YOU BETTER NOT BE DEAD OR I WILL KILL YOU!?
??
“I’m not dead!” Annie yelled back, but Eva didn’t answer. She might not have heard Annie, whose voice, even when she was yelling, was never as loud as Eva’s.
Annie gave the cow one more fond pet. It followed her as she weaved her way around the cow patties and back toward the manor house. The other cows trailed behind them, and they skirted the outside of the castle. Annie kept glancing up at the dark rock walls, partially covered with ivy, and the gaping holes where the windows once were. She swore she could almost smell meat cooking and hear laughter, but they were just memories of the past, she assured herself. Weren’t they?
Finally, she got to the fence and gate. Bloom had climbed the fence and hopped over, while Eva was trying to pick the lock. He rushed to Annie, scooping her up in his arms and inspecting her. There … there was a hug … a real hug … She may not have family, but she had friends. Friends could be even better than family, couldn’t they?
“What happened? Are you okay?” Bloom’s ears twitched as his questions rushed out.
Annie did her best to answer them as the others listened through the gate. Finally, Eva managed to pick the lock and they all slipped through, the cows trying to follow behind.
“Um … Guys … What about the cows?” Jamie asked as the cows barreled through the hole, one after another after another, all suddenly silent as if they were afraid that mooing would hinder their escape.
“We should free the cows!” Eva bellowed. “They are prisoners here.”
“They are cows,” Johann said dismissively.
“PRISONERS!” Eva insisted. She left the gate open and dared them all to shut it.
The cows meandered through, following them back to the manor house. One of them expelled some gas.
“My kind of cow,” Eva said, slapping its rump. “I name you Eva the Cow of Glorious Glory.”
The cow expelled some more gas, which inspired Eva to dance around singing a Magical Toot song that she explained was known to all dwarfs since they were born, taught at the cradle and so on. But none of the others were listening (except Johann, who recited the Irish dwarf version, which was much naughtier) because Annie had just been evicted by buzzards via her grandmother and that was kind of a big deal.