Runaway

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

“Now we put the newt’s eyeball in. Can you grab it dearie? I’m having a little trouble with our frog legs.” Briar and I were sitting against the door, listening to Lezlai’s daily lesson. We looked at each other, both slightly green.

“I do NOT envy Lezlai.” Briar whispered.

“Can’t argue with you there man. I don’t want to be turned into a frog, ever.” I agreed.

“Ahh thank you. You know, you remind me of a friend I had once, a very long time ago. Okay, so maybe not THAT long ago, but I haven’t seen her in a while. Anyway, she looked just like you, in fact, the only difference as far as I can see is your eyes. Ah yes! I remember now! She was your auntie Jenny! Yes, good gal she was. I don’t know where she is now.”

“You knew Aunt Jenny?” Lezlai asked quietly.

“Why of course I did! We grew up together, we did. We were right close until her parents took her away. I don’t know where, of course. I suppose I could find out if you really wanted.” Mindy prattled.

“I’d like that.” Lezlai admitted.

“’Course she COULD be dead. So you must be sure you want to know. I don’t want to have to deal with tears or anything. Tears give me a rash after all, always has. But anyway, once we have this lovely little concoction, we’ll go outside with our friends and look for your dear auntie.”

“Thank you, Mindy.”

“It’s no problem, trust me. I ENJOY looking for people. It freaks them out when they find out that I’ve been spying on them. Their faces are just PRICLESS!” Mindy laughed loudly. I gave Briar a weird look,

“WHY did your parents make her your godmother?” I asked.

“You heard her a few days ago. She was the daughter of my mom’s best friend. Mom and Dad felt like it would work out good if she was my godmother. They had no idea that she’d go off her rocker a little. I guess you could blame it on living in the forest for so long, alone. But I honestly don’t know, I’ve only known her this way.” Briar admitted.

“Wow.” I mumbled. The door came open and we fell into the room. A disgusting smell wafted out, and we moaned, running into the kitchen. I hacked, trying to get the smell out of my nose.

“Serves you right for eavesdropping.” Mindy sniffed, following us into the kitchen. Lezlai followed her, her face extremely green. She gave me a wan smile and sat down. “Now, let’s see here. I need my big pot.” She dropped the pot on the table with a clatter. “And I’ll need my… ah here it is! Now, where’s the dragon brmmm…ah ha! Found you!” she continued on with this for about ten minutes before she had all the vials and powders that she needed. She tossed some water into the pot and started putting liquids into it. She threw in some pink powder and a puff of purple smoke floated out of the pot.

She continued throwing things in for about another ten minutes, then she started to stir everything in slowly. She started her chant, continuing to stir the solution slowly.

“Come, child. Come. We’ll see your auntie soon.” Mindy beckoned to Lezlai, who stood and went to stand beside her. “Look in the liquid, you will see her.”

I stood, looking into the pot curiously. The liquid was a muddy brown, but as Mindy stirred it, it started to clear. We soon saw some farm land, and a large man working in the fields. He was fair-haired, and had a few freckles across his face. He straightened to his full height to watch a considerably smaller woman walking toward him.