Book of the Forgotten: the Bearded Queen

Chapter 2

Now the thing about the magical book in this story is that it was a teeny tiny bit temperamental, so it didn't particularly like being forgotten. It really, really didn't like it. The book had been sitting on that playroom bookshelf for some time, hidden under a mountain of other books (most of which were also gifts from Deedee, although not quite as magical as the book in this story). The book was not still on that shelf by any fault of its own, as it had tried many times to get Ava's attention.

Once, it had started to rumble and shake, causing the books upon it to teeter and fall one by one to the floor. Ava, the poor thing, figured the pile of books had gotten so high that they became unbalanced. She could not have known that the book, rather agitated at this point, was the cause for the mess. On another occasion, the book threw itself onto the floor, which was quite undignified, but you must understand, the book had become desperate, so we really must forgive the indignity of this one particular move. However, Ava didn't notice the fall of one small book and so it sat on the floor (the floor of all places!) until Mama found it and put it back on the shelf to be forgotten once more.

Now, we must forgive Ava for the unintentional neglect of the book and her overall unawareness of the situation. She was a child of the modern world and a product of a comfortable upbringing. She did not know struggle or oppression, nor did she have any reason to believe she was any less than a boy because of her gender. So, she did not understand how anyone could be considered less because of their gender or identity or origin.

She was also the creation of a world drowning in technology. She had learnt to navigate a phone long before she knew her ABC's, and her favourite babysitter was the old cartoon reruns that came over every Saturday morning. So, you can understand how the mere thought of magic was ridiculous to such a child. That paired with the fact that Auntie Deedee was a teeny bit crazy meant she had no interest in a "magical" book. Thus, it is understandable why the book remained on the shelf, ignored and forgotten, for such a long time.

It wasn't until sometime after Ava's twelfth birthday that the book decided that it had had quite enough, and it exploded. It quite literally went BOOM.

The explosion shook the walls of the house, and it was so loud that it woke Ms. Deckle, who lived three houses down, from her afternoon nap. Deedee was, on that day, babysitting Ava and her brother, Bodhi. She looked up from the dinner she was preparing and grinned a very adult-like grin. You know, the type of grin that says: I know something you don't know. Then she called out, "AJ, baby, can you go see what fell down?"

Ava, perfectly comfortable on the couch with her tablet, scrunched up her nose, and muttered, "It sounds like an elephant fell over." But she got up anyways and started to march upstairs to investigate.

"Well then you should go greet the elephant, and make sure she's alright," Deedee retorted, laughing as she mixed the pasta sauce. "And, AJ, love, tell her I say hello."

It was not a fallen elephant that Ava found in the playroom, but she suspected an elephant in the house would've made less of a mess. There was paper confetti everywhere! It filled every nook and every cranny, and it covered every surface. It was even congesting the air, turning the playroom into a winter wonderland.

"Mum and Dad are going to freak," Ava gulped, eyes wide as she took in the mess. "Where did it all come from?" Reaching out, she let the paper snow slide through her fingers. But then things got weird...well, weirder.

The confetti, which a moment ago had been strips of faded yellow paper, turned to liquid at Ava's touch, filling her hands with a faded yellow puddle. The puddle oozed over her palm, coating her fingers, and sweeping up her left arm. Ava watched in horror and fascination as it reached her elbow and continued to slither upwards towards her shoulders. Words, dozens and dozens of words, began popping up and swimming along her arm like tiny fish. Spiralling over one another, they began to tell stories: It was a dark and dreary night was pushed out of the way by I don't know how it came to be, but, which was then squashed out of existence by Mary had never before seen anything so magnificent or strange.

Eyes wide, Ava shook her arm wildly, but no amount of chaotic, desperate gesturing would dislodge the words. It did however agitate the words. Its lazy drifting became a frenzied angry surging. Swishing and splashing as it went, the paper ocean soon covered Ava's whole arm, and it was making its way to the other one as well, and when that one was covered, it crawled up and up and up until Ava could taste the words in her mouth.

"Deedee! Help me!" She screamed, but it was too late. By the time Deedee with her secret adult-grin, had reached the bottom of the stairs, the paper ocean had swallowed Ava whole.