BTW, I'm adding another followers widget to the side of my blog. I'm replacing the follow-by-email widget with it. Please tell me if it works, and use it!!!
---------
CHAPTER 7
Grace was silent as she walked toward Noinim with Russell. Her life had gotten so exciting so
quickly, she was in a mild state of shock. She started, and realized she had not asked Russell a very
important question.
“What kind of creature are you?” she asked. “When I met you I thought your hair was green. Does that have anything to do with your
creature....type....thing?”
“Yes, actually, it does,” said Russell. “I’m a gorgon.
Which, if you don’t know Greek mythology, means I have scaly skin, a
tail instead of legs, and snakes for hair. Oh, and wings.”
“Oh!” said Grace. “That’s.....startling. Why aren’t you....you know, gorgon-y? We’re in Fantasia.”
“That’s because I’m not a full-blooded creature,” said Russell. “I can show you my real form, if you
want.”
Grace thought. She figured
Fantasia would be full of startling creatures, so she may as well get used to
it. “Go ahead,” she said.
“All right!” Russell said, and he waved a hand in front of his face, grinning all the while. His figure waved and shimmered, and Grace’s eyes grew watery. She rubbed them, opened them, and gasped. Russell had changed, very much. His legs were gone, or had fused together, and in their place was a long, scaly tail, which started at his waist and continued down. His pants were gone, and he wore only a shirt. His whole body was covered in green scales, and his nails were long and sharp. Two shiny green bat looking wings unfolded from behind him. Russell’s hair had disapeared, and in its place were many snakes, only a few inches long. One hissed at her, and she squealed.
“All right!” Russell said, and he waved a hand in front of his face, grinning all the while. His figure waved and shimmered, and Grace’s eyes grew watery. She rubbed them, opened them, and gasped. Russell had changed, very much. His legs were gone, or had fused together, and in their place was a long, scaly tail, which started at his waist and continued down. His pants were gone, and he wore only a shirt. His whole body was covered in green scales, and his nails were long and sharp. Two shiny green bat looking wings unfolded from behind him. Russell’s hair had disapeared, and in its place were many snakes, only a few inches long. One hissed at her, and she squealed.
“Ronald, stop that!” scolded Russell. “She’s a friend.
Guys, this is Grace. Grace,
this is Ronald, Robby, Rachell, Paul, Scalera, DJ, CJ, Maya, Ginger, Nicholas,
Hottie, Poinsetta, Mark, Mack, David, Nathan, and Sequin. They named themselves when I was born,
so you know, I didn’t name Hottie....well, Hottie because I think she’s cute. That's ridiculous.” The snakes hissed at her in
unison. Grace stepped back.
“It’s okay, they’re really harmless,” Russell assured her. “So, what do you think?”
“I
think you look.....very different.”
“I
sure am,” he said. One of the
snakes hissed. “Oh!” exclaimed
Russell.
“What is it?” Grace asked.
“Oh,
nothing.” said Russell. The same
snake hissed again. “Just shut up,
Sequin,” he said. The snake turned
to the others, and they began a hissed conversation.
“What are they saying?” said Grace.
“You
don’t want to know,” said Russell.
“Do
they not like me?”
“No,
no, they like you, they’re just saying........nevermind. I’ll tell you later.”
“Do
they have personalities? Can you
talk to them?” she said.
“Yes
and yes, and they’re very anoying sometimes.” said Russell.
“Can
we keep walking? I want to see
everything,” said Grace.
“Sure, but I’ll change back first.
I can travel fast, but I prefer flying in creature form.” Russell waved his hand before his face,
grew shimmery, Grace rubbed her eyes, and he stood in human form in front of
her.
“Okay, let’s go,” he said.
They
began walking toward Noinim. They
hadn’t walked for long when they reached the trees bordering the meadow. A large shadow loomed before them, and
suddenly they came upon a very tall wall.
“Wow!” Grace exclaimed.
“That really surprised me!”
“Yeah, it looks like it’s sort of in the middle of nowhere, but this is
the back side. There’s a secret
door that some of my friends made, and we can go in there. Come on!” Russell ran beside the wall and Grace followed. Suddenly, Russell stopped. Grace screeched to a halt. “Woah! Don’t do that!
I almost knocked you over!” she exclaimed. “Sorry,” Russell said. “Here we are.”
Grace looked at him.
“You’re kidding, right?
This looks the same as the rest of the wall.”
“No,
I’m not kidding. This is it. Plus, what’s the point of a secret door
if everyone can see it? Look, I’ll
show you how to open it.” He knocked
rapidly two times on the wall, then made a motion with his hands like he was
opening two double doors. A small
section of the wall, big enough for a kid to walk through, slid to the side. Russell walked through the doorway.
“Well? Are you coming?”
Grace nodded and walked through.
“That was really cool. So
that’s all I have to do to get through?”
“Oh, no, not yet,” said Russell. “Come on, let’s keep walking. Aunna created the door, actually. She has really strong magic, as far as
fairy magic goes. She had to do
this little ritual thing, where you say, ‘My heart and intentions are pure,’
because this spell thing on the wall doesn’t let you do spells on it, you know,
so enemies can’t get in. So you
have to mean it when you say it. And
then she made the door, and the password and stuff, and then she put a spell on
me so I could get in. She’ll have
to do it to you, too.”
“Oh. Okay,” said Grace. She had just noticed her surroundings. They were walking through an
allyway. She didn’t think it
looked any different than any other allyway she’d seen. “Where are we?”
“We’re in the allyway between The Flabby Frog and Sandy’s
Apothocary. Aunna’s mom owns The
Flabby Frog.”
“Oh. Okay,” said Grace.
The
ally soon ended, and they walked onto a large street teeming with monsters and
mythical beings. Grace gave a
small gasp. Russell looked at her
and grinned.
“Let’s test your knowledge of mythology. See how many you can name,” he said. Grace scanned the crowded
street. “Hmmm....let’s see.....I
can see lots of fairies, a few wizards, and a gollem, two witches, that gnome
thingamajiggy, several elves, three saytyrs, five dwarves, some goblins, a few
ghosts, some flying carpets, a few small dragons, and that’s all I know.”
“Not
bad,” said Russell. “Hey, are you
hungry?”
“Yes, actually,” said Grace.
“What kind of food does Fantasia have?”
“Oh,
all kinds. There’s food for the
mons, and food for the creatures.”
“Um,
what are the mons?” she asked.
“They’re what we call the halflings, like me. Get it? Mons,
that’s half of the word monsters.”
Grace smiled. “That’s
clever. But do you mind being called a monster?"
Russell shrugged. "Nope. It doesn't have a bad meaning in Fantasia. We mostly call each other creatures, but mons are like a different group."
"Okay," she said. "So, do you need money for food or
anything?”
“Nah, I have some here. So,
where do you want to go?”
“Uh......” Grace looked
around. “I have no idea. Know any good ones?”
“Yep. Follow me,” Russell said, and they wove
their way through the monster crowd.
Grace saw many monsters that she identified, and some who were unfamiliar
to her. They turned left and right
so much, Grace lost count.
Finally, after what seemed an age, they came to their destination. She knew because Russell abruptly
halted in front of a Greek looking building. Grace was getting used to his habit, and caught herself from
bumping in to her.
“What’s with your habit of stopping so quickly?” she said.
“What? Oh, I usually hang out with Aunna, and
she just flies over my head. I’m
not used to having a friend who.....uses on their legs,” Russell said with a
ruefull grin.
“So,
where are we?” Grace said.
“We’re at the Greek Center.
All monsters in Greek mythology can find Greek stuff here. You know, like food, armor, clothes,
lodging, and accesories just for them.”
“Cool.” Grace studied the
building. It looked like pictures
of the Colloseum she had seen in books, with pillars covered in fancy designs,
many stairs, and a slightly slanted roof.
It was made entirely of stone.
Two cyclops guards stood on either side of a large doorway.
Russell tapped her. “Hello,
aren’t you coming?”
“Of
course!” Russell led the way, up
the steps and through the doorway above which loudly proclaimed the words, “Greek Center.” Below in smaller letters was printed the words, “A center for Greeks.” It was gaurded by two large wolves. But they were strange wolves. They stood on their hind legs, talked among themselves, and had an almost manly form. They wore armor proclaiming
a large crown, with a large saphire set in the highest peak. The wolves held intimidating spears
toward everyone who passed. Grace
watched as a harpy showed a slip of paper to one of them, and then they
let her in.
“Don’t freak out or anything, but I have to show these guys something,”
whispered Russell. He walked up to
the wolves.
“Hey,” one of them snarled.
“Where’s your papers?”
“I’ve got them right here,” said Russell, and pulled some papers out of
his jacket. The wolf looked at
them. “Well, they seem to be in
order. What about the little
lady?” he said, turning to Grace.
She swallowed.
“Oh,
she’s visiting,” Russell said quickly.
“This is her first time here, and she hasn’t got any papers yet. I’m going to get her some as soon as we
eat.”
“Okay,” said the wolf. “But
you’d better have papers before the day ends, or we’ll find you and take you on
a little walk.” He winked at his
partner, who snickered. “You can
go,” he said, pointing inside with his spear.
“What was that about?” Grace asked.
“I’ll tell you later,” Russell hissed. “It’s something we’ll go over in the library.”
They entered the
building and wove their way through the monsters flowing in and out. Grace saw beautiful women, which she
supposed to be sirens, and a few selkies, gorgons, Pegusi, harpies, satyrs,
nyads, and dryads. They walked on.---------
Tell me what you think and tell your friends!!! SPREAD THE LOKI LOVE!!!!!!!
~~Zoë Wingfeather
No comments:
Post a Comment