The Adventure of the Magic Chia Plant

Chapter 7: Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

"Bench! Bench! Wake up!"

"Wha—what?" Bench sat up grumpily, rubbing his eyes and yawning so hard his jaws hurt. "Is it my turn now?"

"No! I mean, yes! I mean, that's not the point!" Brent was nearly incoherent in his excitement, which his groggy younger brother did not appreciate.

"Then what's the point of waking me?!"

"Look at this!" Brent thrust the Kindle under his nose. It showed the black and white cover of the ebook FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM.

"I swear if you woke me up just to convince me to read that again-"

"No, that's not it! Look at the author!"

"It's J.K. Rowling, of course—" Bench's eyes widened, and his irritation vanished when he realized what he was looking at. Why were their names on the Kindle? Hey, we didn't write that."

"That's not all." Brent flicked the ebook open. "There are a hundred pages, but they're all blank except for a few. Look at the first page."

The colored illustration, although simplified and rather childishly drawn, was unmistakable. It was their many-eyed, tentacled friend. It was captioned "The Blue Alien."

"Read the description," Brent urged. Blinking back his sleepiness, Bench bent over the Kindle.

The Blue Alien is composed of a bulbous blue head that measures around five feet tall and three feet across. It has twelve tentacles with white suckers that can reach up to seven feet long.  It has forty round black eyes all over its body, but it can only open them on one side at a time. It has a big mouth with three rows of spiny teeth on its underside, which it can use to eat almost anything except for plastic, which it can't digest. 

It is usually found in shallow water, pretending to be a boulder to lure unsuspecting organisms such as fish and crabs for its meals. Its favorite drink is Mountain Dew, but it can't open a bottle by itself. The only thing it likes more is a tea made from the boiled seeds of the Magichia plant.

Bench looked up, dissolving into a helpless fit of giggles. "That is the weirdest animal I've ever heard of!"

Brent wasn't smiling. "Read it again," he said intensely. "Don't you notice anything peculiar?"

Bench was still trying not to laugh. "Blue head...tentacles...can't digest plastic...likes tea..." He scratched his head. "Huh, why does that sound familiar?"

"Don't you get it?" Brent exclaimed in frustration. "You're the one who said those things, remember?"

"I did?" Bench squinted at the fire, trying to reflect on everything he had blurted out in the past several hours. It wasn't easy, but he had an excellent memory. "Oh, yeah.   I did. But I was just saying whatever came into my head. What are the chances that I would get anything right about an animal I'd never seen? One in a trillion?"

"No, I don't think that's what happened," Brent said slowly. "You're right; that would be nearly impossible.   I think what happened was that the Kindle heard what you said and made it come true."

There was a beat of silence. "That's crazy," Bench proclaimed flatly.

"We're on a purple planet with three moons that we accessed through a portal created by a magic plant. t can't be any crazier than that."

"But to imply that I helped create that stupid, slimy—"

Brent lunged and clamped a hand over his mouth. Bench's eyes bulged, and he gesticulated wildly.

"Mmmmmf!"

"Don't finish that sentence," Brent hissed. "Remember, if I'm right, whatever you say might come true. You don't want to accidentally say that the alien is poisonous or murderous or anything."

Bench furrowed his brows skeptically but nodded. Brent removed his hand cautiously. "If you're going to describe it, say something helpful."

"Um, okay." Bench thought for a moment. "Since it can't open the Mountain Dew bottle, the Blue Alien spits it out intact on the beach near us."

He looked expectantly over the ocean, waiting for the creature to appear, while Brent looked down at the Kindle, expecting the entry to update itself.   But the minutes passed, and nothing happened.

"Hmm, maybe it only works when we're not looking at it," Brent said uncertainly.

"Or maybe it only works the first time we see something," Bench said impatiently. "The point is, we don't know."

"So we might as well not say anything at all. We might make our situation worse." Brent stared at the e-reader in his hands as Bench seethed quietly at the gag order. "It likes tea made from the boiled seeds of the Magichia plant. What's that?"

Bench shook his head. "I dunno. I've never heard of such a plant."

Brent chewed his lower lip. "You were the one who said that it likes tea, so it has to be something you know. What plants can you name that have seeds?"

Bench threw up his hands helplessly. "I don't know. String beans? Peas? Peanuts?"

Brent surveyed their surroundings, although it was hard to see very far despite the light of the three full moons. "None of those plants grow here, as far as I can tell."

Bench held up a finger excitedly. "That's it! It has to be something we brought with us!"

The answer hit them both simultaneously, wiping the grins from their faces.

"Oh, no," Brent whispered. "Magichia. Magic chia."

"Seeds of the magic chia plant," Bench agreed, his stomach sinking.

They hurriedly squatted on the ground and pooled their remaining seeds. The little round balls gleamed in the moonlight, heavy as marbles. Brent still had six in his bag, while Bench only had five left in his pocket, having used one in their futile and misguided attempt to plant one earlier.

"How many seeds does it take to make tea?" Bench asked fearfully, looking at their small supply. Why, oh why, hadn't they thought to bring more? There had been at least a dozen pods on the plant back home. 

"I have no idea," Brent said. "Mama's the one who likes tea."

Bench thought to himself. "I watched her once. She soaked a tea bag in a cup of boiling water for around five minutes until the liquid turned a light brown. So maybe we should do the same. I  think three or four seeds should do it."

"You're forgetting something," Brent said grimly. "That Blue Alien is much bigger than Mama. I don't think it will be satisfied with something the size of a cup. It might want something the size of a bucket."

"And how many seeds will we need for that?" Bench exclaimed, appalled.

Brent sighed. "We might have to sacrifice nearly all of them."