The Paper Girl and the Stilt-Walker

Marie-Élise

The next day, Mina walked along Noisetier Avenue to reach the clock tower. Somehow the city didn't feel full or bustling like last night. It felt desolate again.

Up the winding streets, with her eye on the enormous clock the whole time, she passed the tall church with the caved-in roof, the cemetery covered in vines and dead flowers. Then, when she reached the peak of a tall hill, right in front of the clock tower, she looked behind her and saw the city sprawled beneath her. There were no moving shadows here. The whole thing looked dead again. But way in the distance, on the outskirts of town, she saw the old windmill spinning. "How is it spinning if there's no wind?" she wondered, looking around at the dormant haze. Brushing it off, she went up into the clock.

When she had wound up the clockwork girls and straightened up their workplace, Mina started scrubbing the clock face. It glistened in the crisp autumn sun. Far away, she could still see the big black windmill, spinning and spinning. Beneath it was a big stretch of land that used to be a farm. It was supposed to be full of potatoes and stuff, but now there were pumpkins scattered across the flat land. Just another thing that had changed while Mina had been in the clock.

The work got done quickly and the clock was in good condition. In no time, a huge clong banged against her eardrums and echoed way past the broken streets. It was four o' clock. When the clockwork girls wound down, she picked them up and hung them from the rafters again. Then she left the clock, having nothing else to do.

Fiddling with her gear necklace and gear bracelet, Mina looked around some more and wondered what to do. Now that the city didn't scare her nearly as much as it had just a few days ago, she felt confident about wandering around at her leisure. But the question was, where did you go when the whole city was yours? She decided to wander down the sloping sidewalk on Siléné Avenue. The windmill got closer and the clock faded into the distance. By the time she reached the pumpkin patch, it was already almost night. The sky faded into deep purple and blue, stretched far above the city. Everything began to blacken in shadow, but still Mina walked around, coming closer to the pumpkin patch. When she finally stepped into the soft fields dotted with bright orange, she noticed that the windmill was still spinning. There was definitely no wind here. She kept walking, looking down at the pumpkins. Something caught her eye; little orange lights, flickering in and out of the deep green vines. She wondered what they were. "Fireflies?" she wondered. But they weren't...the glowing things looked like tiny people.

Mina walked up to these glowing things and crouched down. "Hello," she said, wondering if they could hear her.

She waited a moment while the glowing lights whispered past. "Hello," they echoed.

"What are you guys? Are you fairies?"

"We're fée," they said, in a lilting voice.

Mina wondered if they were going to keep talking, but they didn't, so she went on. "How is the windmill moving?" she asked, gesturing up at it.

The lilting voice of the fée rose like dust to her ears. "It feels like it," they said simply.

Mina nodded. "Well, I should go," she said, looking at the ever darkening sky. "Are you some of the others?" she added, standing up.

"We're fée."

"Okay. Bye."

Mina brushed dirt from her front and kept walking. The windmill was still spinning above her head, but she was somehow afraid of going in there. Leaving the drifting fée alone, she began to walk back toward the sidewalk leading out of Siléné Avenue. She began to run; she just remembered that she had to see Lettuce before it got too late.