Morphling

Chapter 2 - Pennamore

Making sure no one is around, I morph into a hummingbird. Then I fly into the air and over towards the castle. No one will notice me, because they do not think anything of a hummingbird flying around. Now in my kingdom, everyone knows that things are not always as they seem.

I fly up to a window and peep inside. I search around for Persephone. Where is she? Soon, I see her. When she sees me, Persephone comes up to the window, as close as she can get to it. I can see her round blue eyes and silky brown hair that shapes her face. She smiles at me and I see those rosey cheeks of hers and pink lips. Everything about her that resembles me when I am not morphed.

  Persephone says, "Penny, how close are you to helping me escape?"

  I reply, "I am very close. I still need to get one other thing situated."

  The thing about morphlings is that they can speak in a morph. That is dangerous if someone happens to be close by. However, I know to keep an eye out for people because my kingdom is full of morphlings.

  "Alright. I'll be waiting. Be careful." My sister says as she walks away.

  Before I leave I call out, "Perry, it will not be long before we can actually embrace each other and be face to face. I promise."

  Persephone nods her head. Then I turn and fly away from the window. I go to a safe place on the ground and morph back into myself. Then I run over to where I had set up my base when I first arrived here. I go to the side of an old and falling apart house where a little opening is. I squeeze through the gap and enter the dark space. I use a match to light a candle that I brought with me from Change. I use a candle because it is a lot less noticeable than a flashlight or lantern. The space I occupy is not very big, but it hides my supplies and myself during the night.

  I look around at everything. I have a variety of things that seemed useful. I see the small tool set I had found in case I needed to break through somewhere when I helped Persephone escape. I grab the small bag I had to store everything I might need and set it beside the tool set. I make sure I still have the small paper my sister slipped to me that tells me where she is. Once I know I have it, I put it back where I hid it. I had everything I thought would be useful except a map of the castle, so I would know where to go. The only problem is that I do not know where to find one or if I can get it, if that type of thing even exists. I hope it does or this will be much more difficult and allow me to be found.

  I make sure nothing can be seen and blow out the candle. Then I squeeze back out of the hole and start to walk into the town. On my way into the town someone sees me. It is this girl who has not left me alone since I got here. She runs over to me and begins talking.

  "Hey. What are you doing? I was wondering how much longer you will be in town, because I want to spend as much time with you as possible until you leave. I am so glad I met you and we are friends."

  This girl does not even know my name and I do not know hers. I have no idea where she gets the thought that we are friends. I do not even know why she tried to talk with me.

  I say, "We are not friends and I will be leaving here soon."

  The girl states, "Oh, quit being silly. Of course we are friends. We have been hanging out since you got here."

  "No. You have been bothering me since I got here. Anyways, there is no way for us to be friends, because you do not even know my name."

  "I know your name. Your name is Penny, right and you know my name. So, there is actually no reason we can not be friends."

  I turn on this girl. "I do not know your name and my name is not Penny!"

  The girl is taken aback.

She says, "Oh, I'm sorry. Is Penny a nickname? What is it short for? Oh, by the way my name is Olivia."

  I say, "I do not care what your name is and I do not want to tell you my name. Just leave me alone!"

  The girl, Olivia, stops in her tracks. She says, "Oh, okay."

  Then she turns and runs off. I am so thrilled. Now I can be alone to figure out what to do. The only problem is now I feel a little bad about yelling at Olivia. I wish it was possible for us to be friends. I'm sure she would be a...great friend. However, that is not possible because if she were to find out what I was, she could be in danger. Not in danger of me, but all the other foreigners who will be out to find me if I was discovered.

  I go into the first building I come to in the town. It turns out to be a library. I look up and see a bunch of books sitting on shelves throughout the building. I start to walk around looking at some of the book titles. I notice that these books are similar to the books we have in Change. The only difference I notice is in books that pertain just to each kingdom, such as history and culture. As I search through the books I come across a glass case with older books inside it. One of the books I notice is opened to a page with the layout of the castle on it. I realize I could use the page, if only I could get to it. I figure the castle has not changed since it was built; I know the castle I live in has always been the same. I make a mental note of the layout, so I have an idea about it and continue on, past the case and back out to the town. Then I go back to my base as quickly as I can.

How can I accomplish what I need done? Why is the last part of my plan the hardest? It should be the part to prove easiest. Shouldn't actually rescuing Persephone be the hardest part of my plan? I do not know how easy the rest of this will be, but I do know that I will succeed in doing this. I look outside for a moment and see night is quickly approaching which means tomorrow will be a new day, a day that will bring me one step closer to Persephone.