The children followed Michaeleighnna halfway to the gate, when she noticed that some of them were limping or rubbing their arms or nursing wounds to the best of their ability. “Oh I’m sorry dearies—here let me heal those all up quick.” Michaeleighnna Whipped out her wand once again and incantated, “Wounds and sores be here no more! May hygiene be tenfold implored! Made them pretty, make them shine, fill them with great cakes and wine!” With a sudden blast of red and purple sparkles that poured over the children like rain, they all felt ten times better. They all had been filled with “great cakes and wine” and they no longer hungered. Their sores and wounds had vanished, and were replaced by perfect, smooth, well cared for skin. Their hair was washed and combed, and their robes felt softer; as if they had been dry cleaned many times. “Well now that’s better. You all feel fantastic, and now you look like suitable company.” And with that, she turned ‘round and continued leading the children down the carpet and into the castle. When they arrived at the gate, they viewed plainly the most complicated latch that they had ever seen. There was a small circle in the exact center of one of the bars near the bottom. Inside that circle was an indented line that divided the left side from the right. On the left side was a circular indent. On the right was a stick thin, two inch pole that swung on a hinge, and on the end of it was a small gold ball that had a bell on top. Michaeleighnna pushed the side with the ball toward the indent, and the ball clicked neatly into the notch and the bell rang. This action caused everything around the circle, which was a bunch of complicated bells and whizzers and gears and hammers and wheels, (which was made the latch look so complicated) and they all went off at once. The entire door was covered with them, so this went on for about two minutes but put on quite a show so as to entertain them while they waited.
One last spring twanged, and the gate opened grandly. They continued on, up the stairs and to the door, which didn’t have such a complicated latch. It was just a bar that Michaeleighnna pulled through a hole to open the door. The room which they swung open to reveal was a large, rectangular space. On the floor was an ornate, Aztec pattern circle, and on the opposing side were two large staircases that conjoined on a balcony on the second floor. In between those staircases was a spiraling staircase that went through the balcony and right on up all the way to the very top of the castle; although the children didn’t know that it went up that high because from where they were all they could see was up to the foggy vanishing point. “That staircase in the middle there is the Willet staircase. It’s well known because it is the only staircase in Bleethwoods that doesn’t move. We call it the Willet staircase, because it’s was named after Dr. George Henry Willet, who possessed the ability to transform into a willet bird.” The audience standing before her didn’t clap or pay any respect to Dr. Willet; some even picked their noses. Michaeleighnna glowered in annoyance. “Well then. Moving on. Grimilick, the students are here. Be polite and introduce yourself.” A digging sound could be heard, and suddenly the center of the circle wascovered in russet dirt, and more came and more came and more came—as if someone was digging himself out from the ground: and that was exactly what was happening. With one last gruff snort of impatience, a little man popped out of the hole, dusted himself off, and replaced the dirt before bowing grandly to the new scholars. He carried a short, black, knobby staff to support him because he was a short little man; he came no higher than ones knee. His staff looked like someone had taken a log and burned it to his height and to a proper width. It had a dirty sapphire atop it; it was rough, uncut. His bristly hair fell to his center, and his beard reached squat, petite knees. He wore a velvet green, long sleeved shirt, a big brown belt with a shiny gold buckle, and a velvet green kilt. He had brown leather shoes and brown nylon stockings, and his appearance made it not so hard to tell that he was a dwarf. “Oy,” He said in a coarse Scottish accent. “I be Professor Grimilick. I yull be teachin’ ye metal skeelworek. But as fer now, I bees yer escort to the wand room so ye can have wands to learn and play with.” And with that, he turned around and began to waddle off. He got about ten feet before spiraling on his heel 36o° and snapping, “Well don’t just mill around like moles and stand dair brankwee like statues who have no idea what they’re doin’! farruh me now, I dint arve all day so cum lon’ now let’s get goin.’” He cried impatiently.
The children followed along quickly. He led them toward the corridor, and they through that they were going to go through it, but they were wrong. When they reached the front of the circular floor pattern, Grimilick took out his little knobby staff, tapped the ground with it, and sort of waddled backward. A tile of floor sunk down where he had struck, and revealed an ancient cement stone staircase. “C’mon.” Grimilick waddled down the staircase; and it was even funnier to watch him wobble down the staircase then it was to see him walk. A few of the girls giggled quietly. He led them down the stairs and into a labyrinth. The labyrinth was of great monstrosity, and the star commonly known as beetlejuice probably would not be able to fitfully compare. It was also exceptionally complex and byzantine, That they probably would not be able to find their way out were it not for the incandescent fungus cemented to the walls, and oozing around the floor, as well as the wisps of luminous fairy dust floating through the air their eyes probably would not be able to peel the darkness to vaguely view Grimilicks short little figure waddling obstinately along. He led them through many tunnels, down many stairs and through halls, and occasionally they would meet a dead end because of Grimilicks capricious memory and they would have to turn around and go all the way back. Finally they got to the last corridor, and a barrage of doors were cluttered on both walls, and strangely, the ceiling as well. It looked as if they were all arguing over the few patches of wall that were left after their arrival.
They looked like they were competing for what few spaces of wall there were left. The spectacular sight of this barrage of doors and random portals on the wall was very distracting, but Grimilick seemed to not be affected by it. His sights were set on one little door in particular; a small green one at the very end. The door was about exactly Grimilick’s size. It was a forest-like green with shiny brass hinges and a gold knob. The keyhole was a gold, hollow, half-bubble shape on the door; the hole itself was in the shape of a moon. Grimilick, with much fuss and difficulty, retrieved a small key ring from his pocket. The ring itself was silver, and it held so many numerous and bizarre keys that Grimilick dropped it several times before actually using it. Gilda stuck a key with a moon shaped groove on the end into the lock, and he turned it, but it didn’t quite fit. So instead of doing the sensible thing and patiently inserting the key a different way, he grabbed the handle and shook the door in frustration; as if this action was going to magically (no pun intended) open a locked door. Lisa, seeing his frustration, plucked the key from Grimilicks hand, inserted it gently, and nudged the door lightly with her shoulder. It opened with ease, and Lisa smiled proudly at her accomplishment and smiled as she handed the key ring back to the baffled dwarf. Grimilick gave an annoyed grunt, then led the group back inside.
The room that he led them into was almost as amazing as the A.P.V. shop. The walls were covered with glass cases holding numerous wands of different size, shape, and basic structure. They all had individual “blankets”, small scraps of cloth bound around their long, thin frames that seemed to depict their ersatz hibernation. But this slumber was not false at all, for these wands were actually alive. Kind of. “They all have different pattern preferences to sleep with during hibernation,” Grimilick explained. Instead of politely waiting for any verbal questions as opposed to feeding off of facial expressions, Like the more genteel of Professors would do, He took out of one of his greasy pockets a tear drop shaped whistle. It was a metallic red color, and it was approximately the size of a slightly large almond. It included a lanyard attachment, just in case someone wanted to hang a whistle around their neck and blow it at people at random. Although that probably would not get any one anywhere socially. He gave a hard blow, and a shrill note rang throughout the room. To the twins’ surprise, the majority of the wands burst obediently from beneath their covers and began to fly about the room.
