MAGISTAN

Chapter 8: The Purple Poppy Princess

Lorn's heart raced as he stormed back into his house. His eyes darted around the room while he thought of what he needed to bring before he left to go search for Sofia. He dropped his pipe in his shell and raced over to the desk. He grabbed the canister of magic sand and slipped it into his shell. He pulled out a waste paper basket tucked in the corner under his desk and reached inside. He pulled out a bundle of dried purple poppies he had hidden just beneath some crumpled papers. He stashed those into his shell as well. Then he snatched his cane and bolted out the front door.  

The damp crisp air brushed his face. His teeth chattered. His body shivered while he hopped through the muddy grass to the spiral staircase. Dense fog now blanketed the valley. Only the tips of the silver pine needles shimmered under the fading moonlight. Carefully, he stepped on the moss-covered stones and headed down the mountain. They were wet and slippery. He wedged his cane into the ground to keep from falling. Step by step, he made his way down the steep staircase. Finally, he reached the bottom.  

The vast Blue Bark forest stood before him. It was hauntingly quiet. Eyes-fixed on the ground, he spotted the windy silver pine-needle path that led deep into the forest. He jumped over the fallen tree limbs, leapt onto the path and started sprinting. He'd only gone a short distance when he stopped, stooped over and gasped for air. A ruckus in the ferns beside him caught his attention. He glanced sideways, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. That's strange, he thought, waited a moment. He didn't see or hear anything. Slowly, he started walking away. He'd only taken a few steps when someone giggled. Lorn whipped his head around. "Who's there!" he called out as he scurried back to the ferns. He searched through the head-high stalks when a girl with plump rosy cheeks and curly purple hair popped up.  

"Looking for this?" the girl asked, now holding Lorn's cane.  

Lorn looked shocked. "The Purple Poppy Princess," he whispered, glanced at his hand and sure enough, his cane was missing. He didn't know how she'd taken it, only that she had it in her pudgy palm.  

The Purple Poppy Princess snickered and said sweetly, "You'll have to catch me." Then she fluffed her frilly skirt in his face and disappeared into the field of ferns.  

"Give it back!" Lorn demanded, as he searched through the ferns for the one thing he knew would eventually give her away - gargantuan feet and terribly long toes. A moment passed and he caught a glimpse of her big toe sticking through the stalks as if it were one, without a leaf. His eyes lit up as he quietly crept toward her. He waited until he was only a few feet away. Then he lurched forward and seized her toe.  

The Purple Poppy Princess shrieked and scrambled forward. Her toe slipped out of Lorn's hand. "Slooooow timer!" she hollered and scurried through the ferns.  

Lorn raced after her. His foot slammed into a rock. "Oughhhhh!" he roared and then collapsed.  

"Lorn?!" the Purple Poppy Princess called out and rushed toward him.  

Lorn moaned. He waited until she stepped up to his side, then he grabbed her ankle.  

The Purple Poppy Princess flinched.  

"Slow timer, huh?" Lorn quipped.  

The girl nervously laughed while she batted her long eyelashes and grinned.  

Firm-faced, Lorn stuck out his hand.  

"You're no fun," she scoffed and handed Lorn the cane.  

"Yah, yah," muttered Lorn and stood up. "I've got more important things to do than play silly games with you." 

"Me too!" the Purple Poppy Princess snapped back. Then she tossed her ponytails in Lorn's face. She strutted onto the silver pine-needle path and headed into the woods.