Emma and the Minotaur (15 page)

Emma spent the rest of the evening in her bedroom, practising the meditation that Domino had taught her, the trick of finding her inner light. She practised speaking to Mr Jingles, who was very enthusiastic about helping out. Her progress was slow but she could tell that she was getting better at it already. It was a great motivation that the jackalope became extremely happy whenever she was able to say a simple “hello.” Emma wondered if this had been the real purpose behind Domino inviting the jackalopes into the clearing.

At some point in the night, both Emma and Mr Jingles became tired and she lied down and hugged the jackalope close to her chest. The creature nestled himself against her and closed his eyes.

Emma smiled, and then they both slept.

11

Dinner and a Unicorn

Emma woke up early the next day and went down to the kitchen with Mr Jingles. She put out some vegetables for the jackalope to eat and a bowl of water for him to drink before she fixed breakfast for herself and her family. For Will and her father she made eggs and bacon, while for herself she made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

The smell of food brought first her father and then her brother out of their rooms. They sat and ate breakfast while Mr Wilkins read the morning paper.

“What’s the occasion?” he asked of Emma.

“I don’t know,” she said. “Well, okay, I do. Dad, my principal, Mr Clarence, he said I shouldn’t go to school for a few days. That I should take some time off. I’m not sure what he was talking about but I think it’s probably a good idea with all that’s going on and I need to practise—”

“Absolutely not,” he said. “How could you even consider that? Why would he suggest it? What kind of principal is this man? There is no way you are missing school, young lady.”

Emma blushed. “But, Dad, it’s like the end of the world or something!”

Will opened his mouth to say something but before he could speak, Mr Wilkins cut him off.

“No, Will, you can’t skip school either. You’re both going even if the world is burning.”

Will closed his mouth and then continued eating.

“Well, this is curious,” Mr Wilkins said. “They are halting operations at the Paigely site. I wonder what caused it. Maybe they had more problems with disappearing workers.”

“They won’t build anymore?” Will said.

“Well, it’s temporary,” Mr Wilkins said. “Until they sort out ‘unforeseen complications,’ they say.”

“It has to have to do with the minotaur,” Emma said. “I’ll ask Domino. He probably knows something.”

“I’m sure he does,” Mr Wilkins said. “By the way, dear, though ‘the minotaur’ refers to any member of his species, this one is the proper ‘Minotaur.’ There are none quite like him.”

“Dad, you seem to know a lot,” Emma said. “I think there are things you aren’t telling me.”

“Maybe too many things,” he said.

After breakfast, Emma took Jingles out into the backyard and tried to tell him that she had to go to school and that he couldn’t come. Because she wasn’t able to speak more than one word at a time to him, and because it took her a long time to even get into a state where she could say it, the entire process was laborious. She was able to get through to him eventually by pointing at herself and miming climbing into a bus and driving away. It seemed that Mr Jingles had been outside of the forest before and that he wanted nothing to do with motor vehicles. She assured him that she would be back by saying the word “return” and pointing around to the yard.

When she arrived in her classroom later that morning, she saw that there was a substitute teacher sitting at Miss Robins’ desk. He was a thin, wiry man and he was wearing thin, wiry glasses.

Emma spent the morning recess, as well as lunch time, with Jake. She told him everything she could about all that she was learning and all that Domino had told her. He was amazed and amused and couldn’t wait to meet the jackalope.

When it was time for afternoon recess, Emma went down to the administrative area of the school. She was going to tell Mr Clarence that her father had forbidden her from staying home but his door was closed. She went to the main office to ask about him. The secretary was there and she was typing behind her counter.

“Excuse me,” Emma said. “Could you tell when I could see Mr Clarence?”

The woman stopped typing and looked down at Emma.

“Who?” she said.

“The principal,” Emma said. “Mr Clarence.”

The secretary gave her a skeptical look. “Clarence? There’s never been a Mr Clarence here, little girl.”

Emma’s eyes went wide with shock. Who had been the man that she had spoken to before? It was true that he had been very strange, but she hadn’t expected something like this.

The woman behind the counter looked at her for a moment and then chuckled. “I’m just playing with you, little Miss Wilkins,” she said. “George— Uh, Mr Clarence, I mean, has gone away on a family emergency. Don’t you worry. He’ll be back before you know it.”

“Oh,” Emma said. “Thank you, Missus.”

“Call me Dory,” said the woman.

“Okay, Mrs Dory,” said Emma.

After school, Emma found the jackalope napping under the shade of the tree in the backyard. She sat down beside him and he opened his eyes and jumped up when he saw her.

Emma pointed toward the forest and the two of them set out to meet Domino. The jackalope didn’t say much but he seemed happy as he bounced on his way beside her.

Halfway down the road, they came upon the little dog with the big ears that Emma had seen before. He was lying on the porch in front of his house but, when he saw the girl and the jackalope, he sauntered over to them and stood in their way.

Jingles went ahead and said, “Good day to you, good sir.”

The dog tilted his head at him. “Hi, Mister,” he said and got closer to the jackalope and sniffed him all over, walking right around him. When he was satisfied, he licked Jingles’ antlers before trying to chew on them in a bashful manner.

“Mister, please don’t do that!” said the jackalope and the dog backed off.

“Sorry,” he said. “Have you seen any squirrels? Or a cat maybe? There is a cat that comes from that house down yonder and lies under the car but I always chase him off.”

“No,” Jingles said. “I haven’t seen any cats today.”

“Okay, goodbye,” the dog said and walked back to his porch.

Emma and Jingles resumed their walk toward the forest.

“That’s funny,” Emma said.

When they reached the clearing, Domino was not surprised to see that Jingles was accompanying Emma.

“It appears that he has fallen in love with you,” he said.

Domino had Emma show him the progress that she had made and he was impressed with it. They practised communicating using the music for a long while before he let her have a break.

She sat with her back to the ancient oak and felt his warmth giving her strength. Emptying herself and becoming a vessel for the light was a tiring thing, but it was becoming easier the more that she did it.

“So you said that the missing people are in another world, Mr Domino,” Emma said. “But how does Minotaur get them there?”

“This tree has a twin,” Domino said. “In another place in this forest.”

“But why would the trees help him?”

“The trees all have their own identities and their own motives,” Domino said. “No one truly understands why they do the things they do, not even the Lord of Light. They are not with or against him, but only choose to do what they will. Not all the trees can make portals. In this forest there are only two, this one and his twin. Many of their brothers who once could are now dead.”

“Because of us?”

Domino nodded. “Because of you,” he said. “There will come a time, if we don’t stop him, when the Lord of Light will return. He will come through here because here lies his portal of old, and this ancient tree and his brother will open it once again.”

“But I thought Mr Oak wanted to help me stop him.”

“He does,” said Domino. “And he will. And when the time comes, he will help open the portal for the Lord of Light.”

“That’s very confusing.”

“It’s the way of the trees.”

Emma frowned. She looked up into the leaves of the great oak and sat for a moment watching them dance in the wind.

“So is it our fault? Is he coming back now because the forests are getting chopped down?”

Domino smiled. “Indeed, I think that is the case.”

“Then why can’t we chop down the other tree? Wouldn’t that stop him?”

“I think you’d find that to be impossible, at least by normal means.”

After the break, Domino made her stand close to the edge of the clearing.

“Now I want to teach you to call the creatures of the world,” he said. “To reach them from afar you need to use the aid of your flute. You must become the vessel of light, and the flute must become an extension of you through which the light will flow.”

“Like a teapot!”

The faun laughed and it was a sweet, rich, and strange sound to Emma’s ears. “Yes,” he said. “Like a super-powered teapot.”

He instructed Emma to close her eyes and do what she’d been practising. It only took her a few minutes this time to become the vessel with the dancing spark inside it.

“All stories are true,” said the faun. “Do you know of Cerynitis? The Golden Hind? He now inhabits this forest. You must know his name if you are to call him.”

The voice of the faun changed and Emma knew that he was now speaking using the music. “Cerynitis,” he said, and the spark inside Emma danced in response.

Emma saw the creature in her mind’s eye and it was like looking at the wind, golden antlers in flight propelled by bronze hooves.

She said the name of the hind using the light that was inside of her and she directed it toward the flute that she held in her hand. The word flowed around her vessel and out through the instrument, and then the light exploded and shone forth into the world.

As soon as she said the word, she felt the wind. When she opened her eyes she saw first the creature, the Golden Hind, standing before her. He was like a great deer but for the antlers and the hooves made of metals. Next, she looked toward the faun and saw that his eyes were wide with something like fear.

Domino noticed her looking at him and he composed himself quickly but did not say anything.

Emma looked back to Cerynitis and reached out to touch him. Before she knew it, the creature was gone and it was as though he had vanished into nothingness, but for the wind of his departure.

“That was extraordinary,” Domino said. “It will do for today.”

The next week followed the same routine.

When Emma wasn’t at school, she would spend her time in the forest learning from the faun until it was time for dinner. Then she would go back home to be with her family and do homework and practise the things that she had learned.

Though Jake was becoming restless about going to the forest, Domino was not interested in meeting him and forbid Emma from bringing him. Jake was somewhat pacified when he got to meet Mr Jingles, the jackalope. The creature made Emma’s stories seem more real. Meeting Jingles gave Jake hope that his father really was alive in another world, waiting for rescue.

Emma made the time every day to call Lucy Leroux to see how she was doing. Lucy was appreciative of Emma’s phone calls and she seemed to be doing as well as could be expected. Emma decided that they had to have Lucy over for dinner very soon and so, when Friday came, Emma invited both Lucy and Jake over to the house.

It was on that day that the forest started to leak.

Lucy arrived an hour before dinner time.

Emma was in her bedroom with Jingles when she heard the front door open. She took the Christmas hat from her bedside table and put it on the jackalope to conceal his antlers. The two of them went out to greet Lucy and found that Mr Wilkins was already leading her toward the living area.

“Hey, Emma!” Lucy said when she saw her. Her eyes lit up with delight when she saw the jackalope walking along beside her. “And you!” she said. “Hello, little guy… or girl?”

“It’s a boy,” Emma said. “His name is Mr Jingles because he loves his hat.”

“Hello, Mr Jingles,” Lucy said and she knelt to the ground.

“Good morning, Miss,” Jingles said. He moved close to the girl and sat down in front of her. Lucy pet him and scratched the side of his neck.

“He just walks around like this?” Lucy said. “No cage or anything?”

“Yeah, he’s well trained.”

“I’ll start dinner, girls,” Mr Wilkins said. “You two have a seat. Would you like something to drink, Lucy?”

“No, thank you, Professor.”

The girls sat down and talked about animals.

Half an hour later, there was another knock at the door. Emma jumped up from where she was sitting.

“That must be Jake!” she said.

“Is that your boyfriend?” Lucy said. Emma went red and looked toward the kitchen and saw that her father was watching her.