When Esse picked herself up, all was quiet and dark. Not even gunfire could be heard. It was also quite cold. “Luc? Luc?” Esse hissed. Esse felt a furry hand on her arm.
Esse snuggled up to Luc. He was usually warm, but even Luc was cold in the little room. Esse heard rats scurrying around in the dark shadows. A cold dark voice sounded nearby. “Which one of you is skilled in the art of nymph stories?” it asked. Esse let go of Luc as he stood up. “It-it was me. I knew the nymph stories.” he said. “You knew the stories of Queen Frida’s Dogs and Jennifer and Clara?” the voice asked.
“My-my parents helped me on Jennifer and Clara.” Luc stammered. All was quiet. A small chuckle sounded from the voice. “Don’t hurt them!” Luc cried. “And don’t hurt Esse either!”
Esse felt her cheeks turn red with embarrassment, but she was glad that Luc had said that. “I see.” the voice said. “Come here.”
“No.” Luc responded. “You are a stubborn little bear, are you not?” the voice chuckled.
“And what are you?” Esse asked, standing up too.
“Me? I am something you have never heard of, something you may one day wish to have, but will deny wanting right now.” the voice said mysteriously.
“And what is that?” Esse asked, crossing her arms defensively.
“I will tell you later, child. Now, let us see what you want.” the voice said.
“We want a way out of The Peace in Carlos. It is shrinking because for the Carlosians.” Esse told the voice.
“Ah, yes. The Running War, as they call it here.” the voice mused. “And how may I help you with that?”
“Can you answer a question?” Luc asked.
“It depends on the question.” the voice sang out.
“Is this house a gateway out of Carlos and The Peace in Carlos?”
The voice chuckled. “I’m glad you asked.” it said. “Look upon the door.” At once a flickering light lit the wall in front of Esse. A door was set into it the wall. It was made of steel and covered in strange symbols that definitely were not nymph writing.
“This, my children,” said the voice. “is the gateway to another world. To reach it, you must answer this question: What is my name?” And then Esse and Luc were no longer in the room. They were both standing under the window to Johnson & Johnson. The window was placed in it’s socket.
“Wow.” Esse said. It certainly was strange. “Did that even happen?”
“Yes.” Luc said certainly. “It must have. We meet tomorrow?”
“Yes.” Esse agreed. And they went their separate ways.
That night, Esse rushed to the museum. With her family asleep, she could go where she pleased. Esse thought back to when she wished she could enter an adventure. And here she was, in an adventure. She had decided to go back to the invisible house and locate the source of the voice. Esse didn’t know where Luc lived, so she couldn’t ask him to come along. Right?
Outside the Johnson & Johnson recreation, Esse took a running leap at the window. It popped out of the frame, and Esse took another running leap to get a hold of the frame to pull herself through the window. It was much harder without Luc.
Rushing to the little room with Weasel Water Lou’s painting in it, she licked her finger and entered Carlos. Once in Carlos, Esse rushed down the stairs to the room with the voice. Gunfire still sounded through the Carlosian streets even though it was late at night. She put her hand on the door. “Lucjusz Yu Iflandoonia and Quer Ty Iflandoonia.” Esse whispered. The door gave way. She stepped slowly into the dark room.
Maybe the voice wouldn’t notice. “Welcome back, Esse.” the voice said. “I’ve been waiting for you.” But the voice heard her anyway.
“I’m here to decode the door.” Esse said bravely. The light illuminated the door again. Esse knelt in front of the door. She ran her fingers along the symbols as if she could read it like braille. And Esse could. The symbols and their meanings blinked and buzzed inside her head. She murmured the meanings out loud. “Max… Nora… Nils… Su-Li… Ursula… Anica… Liesl.”
“Yes.” the voice murmured. “And who wrote that story?” Esse shuddered. But she knew the answer. She had to answer. “No one wrote the story. It is a true story.” Esse answered.
“And what is the title?” the voice asked, almost in a whisper.
“Queen Gretchen’s Choice.” Esse let out in a breath. And then she was no longer in the small room.
Everything was dark. All around was dark. There was no sky or ground. Esse was in dark, and only dark. She was floating in darkness. Suddenly, a movie seemed to play in front of her. A man and a woman at a wedding. The women was Nora. The man was Max. But there was just one thing. Max was a bear.
The scene changed. Nora and Max were now adopting a child. Two children. Two Earthen children. The African boy was Nils, and the Asian girl was Su-Li. The scene changed. And this time, there was another baby. This was no adoption. This was a real baby, one that Nora had given birth to. But the baby was strange. The baby was half human, and half bear. And then Esse was falling, falling. And everything was dark.
After English next Tuesday, Esse had to sit next to Price on the hour-long bus ride to The Museum of Time and Space. She could hear Mies and We talking happily together. They were the only people on the bus enjoying themselves. Even the bus driver was grumpy. He was constantly telling them to “Be quiet, or you’ll never see those heads of yer’s again!”
When they reached the museum, a tall elderly man led them through the many exhibits, telling them all about Dental Floss. “Dental floss has been going on since prehistory, but in 1815, Dr. Levi Spear Parmly thought of using waxed silk threads to floss teeth!” the museum guide exclaimed with enthusiasm. Too much enthusiasm in Esse’s opinion.
He talked and talked and talked until they got to a pair of double doors with CLOSED FOR RENOVATION written on them. The guide was now bursting with excitement. So were Mies and We. “And here it is students!” the guide said. He threw open the doors. “The history of Dental Floss!” Mies and We oohed and aahed. After about two minutes of walking around, Price announced that he had to use the restroom. And just like that, he was gone.
Mies and We were in a corner, huddled around a photograph of some guy named Dr. Charles Bass. Esse walked into another room. This room contained dental facts, not all of them about flossing. There was a door at the end of the room that also said CLOSED FOR RENOVATION. Esse figured if she was already in an exhibit that was closed for renovation, she might as well go in this one.
The room was lit by a flickering light, coming from a lit chandelier hanging from the ceiling. All was quiet. No one was around. Not even Mies, We, or the guide could be heard from the other room. It seemed that the door Esse had come through was the only way to enter the room. Esse walked farther into the room. Every noise echoed.
There were no exhibits in this room. The floor was carpeted, unlike every other room in the museum, which was covered in hard tile. The walls were lined with wallpaper, instead of painted white. A plastic mat covered some of the floor beneath a tapestry with gold tassels hanging down the sides. Pick axes lay on the plastic mat, as well as hammers and a small bulldozer that fit in the room. The wall around the tapestry was chipped and cracked, as if someone had been trying to excavate around the tapestry. The museum obviously wanted the tapestry gone. Why?
Esse got a closer look. It was very old tapestry, with ancient writing at the top. There was a large multi-colored swirl to the left. To the right was what looked like dogs with waterfalls and lakes on their backs. It was fascinating. In the bottom righthand corner was the artist’s name:
Weasel Water Lou of The Peace in Carlos
It was truly very mysterious. Esse knocked on the wall. Hollow sounds echoed through the room. Was the tapestry a door? Who was Weasel Water Lou? Why was this tapestry in The Museum of Time and Space? Of course, Esse couldn’t spend forever in the little room. But when she walked out of the room, Esse saw something unfortunate.
Difgih was standing across the way from Esse. She was obviously partnerless. Her back was to Esse and she was reading something about dental floss for braces. Esse slowly tiptoed across the room into the one with FLOSS OF THE PRESENT. Hiding behind the biggest dental floss container in the world, Esse got a look at the clock. 4:37. That meant that the bus would come in thirteen minutes to pick them up and drop them off at home.
The bus ride from the museum was possibly less fun than the bus ride to the museum. When Price and Takahiro showed up at the bus late, they got in trouble for abandoning Esse and Difgih. So Price and Takahiro had to sit next to Mr. Oliverst and Esse and Difgih were “lucky” and got to sit in the back of the bus. Together. Esse looked out the window the whole time, and Difgih looked at the ground.
It wasn’t that Esse disliked Difgih, she was just afraid of her. Difgih had this weird telling-the-future thing she was always doing. And maybe Esse just didn’t want to know that she would meet a bear and go on a book worthy adventure. Maybe she just wanted to stay away from Difgih.
Esse got home at 6:43 p.m. Mrs. Iflandoonia was washing the dishes. “How was it?” she asked as Esse came in.
“It was good.” Esse answered. “Price abandoned me to go hang out with his friend. I sort of went around by myself. He had to sit with Mr. Oliverst on the ride back.”
“Aha!” Mr. Iflandoonia exclaimed. “I thought so! Price is no better than his father!”
“Luc!” Mrs. Iflandoonia said with her hands on her hips. “Really?!” Mr. Iflandoonia guiltily slinked away, probably harboring more thoughts on Price’s father. Mrs. Iflandoonia rolled her eyes. “I’ll talk with him later.” she said. “Well, Esse, how was it anyway?”
“I saw this exhibit on Dental Facts, and one of them had the biggest dental floss container in the world.” Esse answered. “But I have English homework, so, bye.”
Esse went up to her room to ponder the questions she had thought of earlier. But who could think with all that racket that Illtyd and Sverre Jon were making? She could hear them fighting over who would be Sidfig. “I’m the one who bought the book first!” Sverre Jon was yelling.
“I know that Esse has The Magical Powers of the Bonnet!” Illtyd yelled back. “That makes me a Verarlium Partosium, and you have nothing to do with it!”
Esse got out of bed and walked out the door. “Where are you going?” Mrs. Iflandoonia asked. She was trimming bushes. Why was she always everywhere she shouldn’t be? “I’m going for a walk.” Esse answered. And so she walked into the forest.
After about 1 ½ miles, Esse rested off the trail. It was so peaceful. Esse usually didn’t like quiet and peaceful. She normally liked things happening. But the forest was her favorite quiet spot. It was meant to only be the sounds of the birds and the deer and rabbits and foxes and… that strange noise from behind her. Esse turned around. There sat a little bear. Well, not little, this was a bear after all. If the bear stood on its hind legs, it would probably be as tall as Esse.
“Oh, hello.” she said. Then thought, Maybe I do hate Difgih. “Hi.” the bear answered back. The bear crawled over to rest next to Esse. “My name is Luc. Short for Lucjusz.” it said.
“My dad’s name is Lucjusz!” Esse said.
“Cool.” said Luc. “Do you want to be friends?”
“I guess.” Esse said. “Just because my dad and you share the same name? But, okay. I think bears are probably better friends than people.”
Luc nodded. “Oh yes, oh yes. We don’t hunt nixies for sport.” Esse smiled. “You’re much better than the kids in my class.” she said. Luc nodded.
“I always thought bears were better than nixies.” he said. Esse tilted her head. “Bears have never actually talked to me.” she commented. “But I think it’s because my brothers are too loud.”
“Oh, it’s not you.” Luc explained. “It’s, an, um, bear thing. We, uh, call it , um, Don’t Speak With Murderers. No offence.”
“Oh, it’s okay.” Esse said. “And you’re an adventurous bear?”
“Oh yes. I am the second bear to talk to a nixie and survive. Nobody knows yet though. The first nixie is you.” Luc answered. “I thought that that’s how I would die, but. . .I guess I die differently.”
“I guess we’re friends then.” Esse said, only a bit weirded out by the last part of Luc’s sentence. Luc nodded. It was decided.
The next day, Esse decided she was going to go see Luc again. If she found him again, she knew she would have made a friend. During school that day, Esse caught Difgih staring at her as if she knew. It was creepy.
Luc told Esse some interesting news. “Esse, you’ll never believe what I heard!” he said. “The Carlosians are closing in on the West Side of Peace, and they just took it over!” “Who are the Carlosians?” Esse asked. “You don’t know?” Luc asked, shocked. “The Carlosians are the people in the country that surrounds us. They are evil, and violent, and deadly, and they’re slowly taking over The Peace in Carlos! Only not so slowly anymore!”
“Wow!” Esse exclaimed. “I can’t believe I didn’t know that!”
“Neither can I.” Luc said. “I wonder who else doesn’t know. The problem is, not everyone has a hiding place, a secret den like my family does, and so they can’t always be safe when they need to be.” He shook his head in disapproval. “They’ll probably all die or something.”
“No!” Esse cried, “We can’t let that happen! What will we do?!”
“You and I can try to find a place for everyone.”
“Oh, yes. That’s a good idea,” Esse agreed, “Do you know any places?” Luc shook his head. Esse started to sigh, then paused, remembering the tapestry. “I might know a place!” she exclaimed with glee, “Yesterday I went to the new Dental Floss exhibit in The Museum of Time and Space, and I found a really mysterious tapestry by someone called Weasel Water Lou. There were pickaxes and bulldozers, and things like that near it. I bumped into the wall, and it was hollow! Also, the room looks like a room in a old house, not a museum room. There’s real carpeting and wallpaper! Maybe they’re making a hiding place for us! I wish I could show you.”
“That sounds nothing like my den, but okay, I’ll take your word for it.” Luc said. “I wish I could get to it.” After a moment, he exclaimed, “Hey! Are there windows near it? Maybe I could get in!” He sounded excited.
“Well…” Esse mused. “There’s a wall of all glass in the Dr. Levi Spear Parmly exhibit. Does that help?”
“Are there any windows that you can open?” Luc asked. “Oh, well, in the recreation of Johnson & Johnson, there’s a window. It might fit you, but I should probably measure it.” Esse answered.
“That would take too long.” Luc said. “Roughly how big was it?” Esse showed him with her hands. Luc just fit. “Good!” Luc said. “Is the Johnson & Johnson recreation on the first or second floor?”
“First floor, but the window is high. I’ll help you.” Esse volunteered.
“Good.” Luc nodded his approval. “See you tomorrow, Esse.”
“You too, Luc.” Esse waved goodbye.
Illustration courtesy of Teepi Guest
The Royal Residence Room was a huge domed ballroom-like space. Beams of light ricocheted off the purplish yellow walls. Mist swirled around the feet of the bewildered Esse and Kennen. Kennen was on his feet because he had lost his ability to fly. “Esse!” Kennen gasped. “I can’t fly!”
“Must be security.” Esse mused. She had busied herself reading the labels by the doors. “Here we are!” Esse said, pointing to a label that read ORDERER GEMMA ELIZABETH’S ROYAL RESIDENCE. She knocked on the door. The door opened. And Orderer Gemma stood in the doorway. “Esse! Kennen!” she said in surprise. “What are you doing here?” Esse explained the idea she had had to come here, and Kennen told about Sir Anerapell and Sir Nek VI. Orderer Gemma sighed. “Those two.” she said, shaking her head. “I’ll give you a real tour.”
After Orderer Gemma’s real tour, Kennen felt better and Esse had gotten over Sir Nek VI’s terrifying ness. They had gone home, and they had told Nurse Moss their adventures, and they had slept, and woken up, until it was Wednesday. On Wednesday, Kennen awoke in his office, which Orderer Gemma had told him and Esse would happen. As Kennen sat waiting for Esse to wake up, he studied the walls. They were, in fact, not covered in scribbles, but in words that were overlapped on each other. Kennen stared harder. There were only three sentences written. The first, over by the window, said
I wouldn’t eat that if I were you.
The second, all clustered around the door, said
Don’t go! Stay! Stay!
Each of these was followed by a number, such as 28, 35, or 57. The highest number Kennen could find was 118. But the strangest message of all was written almost everywhere in the room, overlapped many times. It read
My name is Annaig, look up. ^
Very, very slowly, Kennen raised his eyes up to the ceiling. And he saw them. The two eyes stuck in his ceiling, which were staring at him right now.
Hello, Kennen
Anniag said. And Kennen noticed new messages he never noticed before.
Hello, Davide
Hello, Yam
Hello, Chico
Hello, Leugim
Hello, Luiza
Hello, Aidalac
And many other names, covering the ceiling around the eyes. Which were still watching Kennen. Suddenly, the door opened and in strolled Esse. “Hey, Kennen. Happy Wednesday!” Esse said. “What’s so interesting about the ceiling?”
Crabulul Iflanoonia worked in a small office with another girl named Nancyevelyn. Great-Uncle Crab glared at Esse as she walked through the door. Esse grinned at him. “Hello!” she said in a cheery voice. Crabulul began to growl. Esse shook her head sadly at him. “We are the police, and-” she began, but Crabulul cut her off. “You are not the police! You are that annoying childthat I see at family reunions!”
“Uh, huh. I see.” Esse turned to Kennen and whispered, “looks like we have a Code 5B2.” Kennen had no idea what this meant.
“Don’t you Code 5B2 me, missy!” Crabulul was shouting (actually, he was shouting a lot of other stuff as well that I will not repeat). As Crabulul continued shouting, (something about the police), and Esse was calmly pulling out from behind her back a paging device from who-knows-where, and all this was happening while Nancyevelyn slowly got up and told Crabulul, “Crabulul, steckte den Feuer-Blaster.” Uncle Crabulul sighed. From behind his back he pulled out a large hammer, and handed it to Nancyevelyn. Then he watched helplessly as Nancyevelyn handed it to a grinning Esse.
“What just happened?” Kennen asked as they walked back to the office. Esse grinned. “Well,” she began. “to begin with, I know Nancyevelyn because she is my 2nd cousin once removed and she’s a famous wizard. Code 5B2 means ‘angry relative wielding a fire blaster’, and so I took that pager from Nancyevelyn’s desk and paged Annaig to let him know we’re coming. Then, Nancyevelyn went up to Crabulul and told him to put down the fire blaster. She knows I’ll take good care of it.” Kennen just nodded. “How does it work?” he asked.
“Like this,” Esse said. She hit the ground with the hammer and flames shot out of the top. “This is our supplies” she said.
Annaig was amazed by the fire blaster, and agreed to get them a portal right away. “But what about your family Esse? And Nurse Moss?” Kennen asked. Esse shrugged. “We’ll only be gone for a little while anyway.” she told him. Annaig wrote a new message on the wall.
You have to jump into my eye.
“Okay…” Esse said. She jumped up on the desk and leaped into Annaig’s eye. Kennen flew in after her.
Kennen came back a little while later. “What did you find out?” Esse asked. “Well,” Kennen began. “Your friend Luc was talking to this strange bear-lady. But she was telling him how to let you out. He has to tell the door the bear-lady’s name. She keeps saying only you know her name, and that the door is sound proof.”
“Kennen!” Esse exclaimed. “You can tell him her name!” “Well? What is it?” Kennen asked excitedly. Esse beckoned him closer. “Her name is Ursula Kinns.” she whispered. “Okay.” Kennen said. “Ursula Kinns.” He stopped before crawling under the door.
“Esse?” he asked. “Yes? What’s wrong?” Esse asked him. “Will you take me with you? Wherever you and Luc are going, can I go too?” Kennen asked. “Of course.” Esse answered. Only then did Kennen crawl under the door.
A few seconds later, the door opened. Esse ran into Luc’s arms and cuddled in his fur. She felt Kennen land gently on her shoulder. “This is Kennen.” Esse told Luc. “I know.” Luc said. “He helped me save you.”
“Now,” interrupted Ursula Kinns. “Esse must go through the door alone, ahead of the rest of you.” “I’m ready.” Esse said. And she was. This was going to be the big reveal. Esse was going through the door.
“Ursula Kinns.” she said loudly and clearly. A thin force field zipped in front of Luc and Kennen. And Esse stepped through the door.
Esse was standing in a very strange place. There was wet dirt underneath her feet, while large piles of sticks loomed above her. The wet dirt formed a path. Esse could go left or right. She chose right. Esse walked for a little while. The sky was blue, and it seemed peaceful enough. She couldn’t hear much activity. This place wasn’t very exciting.
Presently, Esse came upon a fork in the trail. She could go left or right. Esse chose left. She soon came upon a flatten path of sticks that seemed to serve as a bridge. After crossing the bridge, Esse came upon a large log, that seemed to be set there for the purpose of keeping out intruders. On either side of the log, large walls of more sticks loomed above her. This seemed to be some strange land of sticks.
Esse climbed over the log. The wet dirt path continued through a plain of sticks. The path led to a doorway. At least, Esse decided it was a doorway. It was a break in the walls looming above her. The building had no roof.
Many rooms branched off of the one Esse was standing in. She walked into one of them. In the center of the room were three tall sticks, stuck into the ground. Three large rocks stood around them. As soon as Esse entered the room, the rocks started rolling toward her. They didn’t seem friendly. One of them knocked Esse down, while the other rolled on top of her. The other rolled off somewhere else.
“Hey!” Esse exclaimed. She pushed the rock off her and ran. By the time Esse was past the log, many rocks were after her. Small pointed sticks zoomed past her head. Ducking into a pile of sticks, Esse hid from them. But they still found her.
Wrapping Esse in rope-like strands of stick, they carried her off to a small room with a few rocks guarding it. They tied her hands and feet, then wrapped a long strand of stick around her entire body. Then, the rock people buried Esse into the ground, except for her head. And they left her there for the night.
December 2nd was a day of mourning for Luc. They had his funeral and made a grave. They filled a coffin with lots of things to represent him and then buried it deep into the ground. Esse told about their adventure. Kennen told of Luc’s death. Everyone understood that after Luc was dead,Kennen of course could not help him. Luc’s parents and siblings were given gifts. It was safe to say that Luc would never be forgotten. He helped Esse find out how to open the painting. He saved Esse when Ursula Kinns kidnapped her. Luc did lots of other wonderful deeds before Esse even knew him. Luc was truly a wonderful bear. Esse cried through most of it. But Kennen comforted her by gently landing on her shoulder. “Thanks, Kennen.” she whispered in his ear. “Throughout my whole adventure, I’ve had friends. I’m glad you’re here now that Luc is gone.” And that is how Esse survived the funeral of her best friend. With a friend, who will always be there for her. And she will return the favor, and always be there for him.
THE END
Breton was very tired all morning. The first half of the Thursday school day was less than pleasant. He didn’t even bother skipping through any of it.
Breton reached English class at 12:11 pm that day, and he was not feeling in the mood. Sixth period’s job was to write a chronological and sequential paragraph about what they had done so far that day. So far, Breton had tried to sleep and had been interrupted no less than thirteen times by none other than Christian. Sixth period was no exception.
Breton’s eyes were feeling droopy. Very droopy. He could barely keep them open as he rested his head down onto his desk. He was about to drift off into sweet, sweet slumber . . .
“My Day, by Christian Aubry. There! What do you think, Breton? Breton! Breton!” Christian was forcfully shaking Breton to the point where he almost fell out of the chair. “Breton! What do you think of the title of my piece? My Day, by Christian Aubry. Isn’t it studious?”
“Mhm,” Breton agreed tiredly. There were many times when Breton wished he was in fifth period English. This was one of them.
“I was thinking I could start out with the breakfast I had this morning: bacon, with eggs (over-easy), and three ounces of orange juice! A ate it while surveying my vast lawn (which is visible from my dining room window).”
One reason that Breton wished he was in fifth period English was that Rose was there and Christian was not. Even if he didn’t sit beside Rose, at least he wouldn’t be sitting to the right of Christian.
“And then after breakfast, I walked to school. Wait, even better, I’ll say I walked to Field High School! Doesn’t that just sound scholarly?”
A second reason Breton wished he was in fifth period English was that fifth period English had written a compare and contrast paragraph. Breton had the perfect idea for one of those. It could be, The Similarities and Differences Between Christian Aubry and His Puppet Counterpart, by Breton Bauerbecken.
“After arriving at school, the bookish boy (that’s me!) made his way to his first period class, where he used his academic brain to construct an A+ model in first period Science class!”
One similarity between the two entities was their efinity to bother Breton when he very much didn’t want to be bothered. A second similarity was the fact that both creatures were constantly trying to get him to agree with whatever words happened to spill out of their speaking gullets.
“Second and third period went just as well for the intellectual teen, and as he sauntered from class to class, he began to think ahead to Friday, when he would dress as the noblest of birds for the First Ever Annual Field High School Masquerade Ball!”
A third similarity between Christian and his puppet pal was the fact that they only seemed to be around him because he was possibly famous. Neither of them knew that he was actually a time walker, but they both knew that Ashley Sonjan was his aunt.
“At the Friday Masquerade Ball, the learned young man would amaze the beautiful Nashaadh Sonjan and finally free her from the filthy Roosevelt Otterton!”
Really, the only difference between the two was that one was a narcissistic sixteen year old boy, and the other was boastful, sloppily constructed children’s toy.
“What a hero he is, that brainy Christian Aubry!”
Too bad he was in sixth period English.
Illustration courtesy of Teepi Guest
Illustration courtesy of Teepi Guest
“Yikes!” Esse said, following Kennen’s gaze upward to the ceiling. “Kennen, whose eyes are those? They’re humongous!”
“And they talk to me too.” Kennen told her.
“Really? Kennen, are you insane? Maybe we should call your sister, Heavenly Evenly.”
“No, Esse, look at the walls.” Kennen said.
“Yikes!” Esse said, looking around. “Kennen, did you do this?”
“No.” Kennen answered. “Annaig did.” Suddenly, Esse let out a little squeak. Kennen looked up.
Hello, Essy. Are you a friend of Kennen’s? My name is Annaig.
“Um.” Esse said. “it’s E-S-S-E.” Annaig corrected his mistake. Esse nodded approvingly. “He seems nice.” she told Kennen. Annaig drew a large heart around Esse’s name. “I think Annaig likes you too.” Kennen answered her.
Soon, Esse and Kennen had moved all of Esse’s work into Kennen’s Office. “The floor is too slippery.” Esse said. “Besides, I need more company to work happily.” Kennen’s job that day was to was to go through everyone’s files and see who had a criminal record. Esse’s was to go through the files of the people just moving to The Land of Nimm. “Hey,” Esse said, pulling out a file. “Here’s your sister.” Kennen leaned over to read. It said:
The File of:
Heavenly Evenly likes to eat at elevenly LALALALALA Pie. DODODO, NANANA, Tickle some type of fly Mamamel Pastamaker
“What in the world? Is that really her full name?” Esse asked.
“I never told you?” Kennen answered.
“Does she like pie?” Esse asked. Kennen shrugged. “I would think so. Can’t you look in her file?” he asked. Esse opened it. There on the first page it read:
Likes Pie:Yes/No/Limited
Job: NonDominant Animal Psychiatrist
“Huh.” Esse said. “The pie a bit of a strange thing to put in a file.” Kennen shrugged. “Not if you’re Heavenly Evenly.” he said.
Some time later, Kennen found his first criminal record. “Hey, Esse, did you know that Emelea and her children have a criminal record?” he asked. Esse leaned over to see. “Well, I guess Luc never told me the story.” Esse answered. “Then I will.” Kennen began:
The Story of Emela’s Children
Once upon a time, there lived a girl named Emelea Grapis, one of the most criminal masterminds to this day. Emelea’s husband had run away after she threatened to drop 16 bananas on his head, leaving Emela with her two children. Their names were Heteb and Zoeabby. When Heteb was 16 years old, and Zoeabby was 3, Emelea launched the Great Kidnapping Thing. Queen Alissa lived in a beautiful palace on top of the hill, and because Emelea was the evil twin of her sister, Mistress Amelia, she was invited to live with Queen Alissa. Queen Alissa had three children; Aras, Tanyaasha, and Izzy, who were all kidnapped within a week. Here is how Emelea did it: Zoeabby, even though she was only three, could already speak fluently in English, Lithuanian, and German. So every night, Zoeabby would go through the hall outside Queen Alyssa’s part of the castle with her mother’s cloak on, and sing: “Aš miręs nuotaka aš sakau ‘boo!’ jums bus išsigandęs. BOO!” (the spell works better when said in Lithuanian. Besides, everyone there was from New Forkie, and so saying it in a language no one probably understood was a good idea.) Zoeabby would happily knock out anyone who was within three feet of her (this usually got a nosy princess listening at the door). Zoeabby would then grin and run off to get her mother. Emelea would take the cloak from Zoeabby, and go kidnap the nosy princess at the door. After the first three kidnappings, Emelea decided to kidnap all the other children in the building. She started with Queen Eneel’s children; Meuh and Raychell, and then to everyone else's children. Unfortunately, Emelea made the mistake of kidnapping Judge Anna’s granddaughter, and Judge Anna arranged a meeting with Neemzay, the genius of the castle, who was kidnapped soon after that, and working on means of escape. Judge Anna’s daughter, Queen Airuhbelluh, took a wild guess and got Heteb arrested. One of the queens, Queen Avarose, went insane and kidnapped Zoeabby. Emelea knew that she could either give herself up, and help the children, or run away and leave them. Emelea, knowing how a good parent should act, threw square-shaped dogs at anyone who tried to ride an elephant, and ended up escaping with her children as well (the kidnapped children were found two weeks later by Judge Anna and Inspector Ollie).
“Wow.” Esse said. “I had no idea.”
“Neither did I.” Kennen agreed. They continued while talking about Emelea’s children.
But soon after that, Kennen picked up a new file. “Hey Esse, look at this.” he said. Esse leaned over to see. The file read,
File of Lucjusz Bnmq Erty
“Oh.” Esse said. She looked confused and sad. “Luc has a criminal record? What does it say?”
“Yeah. About that. It’s weird because, you know, no one but us a Weasel Water lou are supposed to touch these but, well, I’ll just show you.” Kennen flipped open the first page and handed the file to Esse.
Status: Deceased LIVING!!!
Or else prove that he’s dead!
“Whoa.” Esse said. “So Luc isn’t a criminal. Who would do that?” Kennen shrugged. “Well, he sighed his name at the bottom.” Kennen said, showing her.
Helpful Comments by Ulul Iflandoonia
“WHAT?!” Esse said. “My Great-Uncle Crab wrote this? Uh!” Kennen looked puzzled. Esse explained for him. “My great-Uncle Crabulul is so rude. But somehow he became a critic, and since he’s a quickwolf, he’s made it his business to go everywhere people want him out of.”
“What’s a quickwolf?” Kennen asked.
“Quickwolves can go so fast, that they vibrate through walls and stuff like that.” Esse answered.
“Wow. So he got into our files?” Kennen said, leafing through the others to see if Crabulul had made any other comments. “Hey, um, Kennen, Annaig is talking to you.” Esse said. Kennen looked up.
Are you sure Luc really is dead?
“Well, um, yeah, right Kennen?” Esse answered.
“Well, yes, I saw it happen! Wait, no. I mean, I saw him go all limp but maybe…” Kennen said, thinking hard.
Maybe you should find out. If you go get supplies from Crabulul I can teleport you wherever you want.
“Oh, Annaig! I want to hug you!” Esse said, jumping up and down. “C’mon, Kennen, let’s go to Great-Uncle Crab!”