Chapter 12: Definitely a Calm and Not Confusing Excursion

August was trying very hard to control himself as he, Cecily, and Echo got back to the market. He was dying to celebrate the fact that Cecily seemed to be reluctantly opening up to someone from this world, but he knew that calling attention to it would kill the friendship before it had even started. Instead, he looked around at the vendors fixing up their stalls after the scaly bears had torn through the clearing. Some people looked confused or even irritated, but no one was nearly as panicked as August would have expected given the sudden monster attack. It’s just another day for them, I guess.

They made their way to Echo’s overturned table, which was surrounded by splatters of lasagna, and August helped Cecily to the ground on a clean patch of grass. She sat up and stretched out her leg so they could both examine her ankle. “It looks normal,” August observed, then crouched down and carefully took Cecily’s shoe off to free the ankle up more.

Cecily hissed in pain. “Well, it doesn’t feel normal. I can’t tell if it’s sprained or just twisted.” She sighed. “This is when it would have been nice if we hadn’t both failed anatomy class.”

“I didn’t fail, I got a C,” August corrected her, standing back up and looking around. “That’s a far cry from a medical degree, though. Do they even have doctors here?”

Echo had been watching, and she raised her hand. “I know someone that may be able to help! They live not too far away and are always happy to make a potion for someone in need.”

August and Cecily looked at each other warily. “Do they by chance live on the other side of the river, in a very colorful town?”

Echo nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! Have you been there?”

Cecily groaned. “We were just there yesterday and were hoping to avoid going back.”

“Really? But it’s such a nice place!” Echo pursed her lips. “Well, if you don’t want to go into town, I suppose we could have Seed meet us outside of town, or have Smudge bring us whatever potion would help with this.”

“Who’s Smudge?” Cecily asked at the same time that August said, “But how do we get Cecily across the river with a hurt ankle? That’s a far way to limp.”

Echo addressed August’s question. “It is a long way…” A slow smile spread across her face. “I do know a way of making her very portable for a short time, if we just get a container.”

“Absolutely not!” Cecily exclaimed in horror. “You are not turning me into soup! I will walk miles on a broken ankle before I let that happen.”

“Okay, okay.” Echo held up her hands in surrender. “We can discuss other options. Let’s see… Oh, I know someone with wings who could carry-”

“That’s another no,” Cecily said with a grimace. “If you’re talking about Bright, we also know him and are avoiding him. We’re not on great terms.”

“For a reason we have yet to identify,” August added. Someday I’ll figure out why he hates us so much.

Echo let out a low whistle. “You two are awfully picky, do you know that? Well, I guess we can just take my house.”

“Take your… house?” August repeated.

“Yes, it’s past the trees in that direction.” Echo gestured vaguely. “It can teleport but it’s very imprecise, so I have to be careful not to crush anything.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember your house disappearing after the first time we met!” Cecily exclaimed. “It can teleport us across the river?”

“Yes, but I’ll have to aim for the open fields next to town in the hopes that the house doesn’t land on top of anything or anyone.” Echo thought for a moment then shrugged. “It’ll be fine!”

That didn’t reassure August, who now had the image of a house crushing someone firmly planted in his mind. It looked a lot like the scene from The Wizard of Oz, and August didn’t feel the need to replicate any more of that movie than he already was just by being here. Still, he helped Cecily up and followed Echo to where her house was parked in the forest a few yards away from the market. She’s done this a lot and never crushed anyone before, he thought to comfort himself before realizing that he had no idea if that was true.

The house was small, like most homes here, and looked like a normal house both inside and out. The front door opened directly to the kitchen and they all sat down at the table, Cecily sighing with relief when she was in her chair.

“Can I get you two anything to eat?” Echo asked when they were seated.

Cecily just laughed and August kicked her good leg under the table. “No, thanks,” he answered.

Echo shrugged. “Suit yourselves.” She looked up at the ceiling and yelled so loudly and suddenly that August nearly fell backwards out of his chair. “Hey! Could we go to the field next to Seed’s town? Just set us down somewhere on the open grass far away from any houses!” She smiled apologetically at the twins when she saw them wince from her shout. “The spirit that possesses the house is a bit deaf. Also a bit blind, which is why landing gets tricky.”

Oh, the house is possessed, August thought, looking around at the seemingly innocent walls. Lovely.

After a few seconds, the deadbolt slid over the door, locking it, and all the curtains shut. “She never lets me watch,” Echo grumbled, looking at the obstructed windows. A moment later, the curtains re-opened and the door unlocked and swung open, allowing sunlight to stream in from the open field where the house was now located.

“Thanks, Ma!” Echo yelled at the ceiling. August and Cecily exchanged a wide-eyed look. Maybe we can unpack that later, August thought as they all got up from the table and filed out the front door, Cecily leaning on August again.

The area looked like August remembered it from the day before. The house had landed in the middle of the green and orange grass, and he could see the town about half a mile away. His perusal of the scene was suddenly interrupted by the sound of screaming, and he spun around to look at the house.

A child was laying on the ground with her arm extended, the house covering the entire lower half of the arm up past the elbow. She was yelling and pounding the ground with her other hand, and August stared in horror for a moment before dropping Cecily and running toward the girl. Echo caught him before he reached her and laughed. “It’s fine! Don’t freak out.”

“Don’t freak out?” August yelled, then stopped struggling against Echo as he heard the screaming turn into uproarous laughter. The child, still cackling, sat up and grinned at them. The bottom half of her arm was still missing, but it didn’t appear to be a recent injury, and certainly not caused by the house.

“So, we didn’t crush her?” August asked, feeling tears of panic prick his eyes.

“Yes, you did!” the girl said, still smiling. She looked to be about twelve and was dressed in a white shirt and long green skirt.

“No, we didn’t,” Echo corrected to August. She walked over to the girl, who hopped to her feet and held up her hand for a high-five.

“He looked completely calm!” the girl laughed as Echo high-fived her. “I am definitely not proud of that prank!”

“It was a pretty good one,” Echo said, nodding.

August was completely lost in the conversation. “I’m sorry, what is going on right now? Who is this?”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“My name is… Your Worst Nightmare,” the child replied, and Echo snorted.

“August and Silly, this is Smudge. Smudge, these are my new friends August and Silly,” Echo announced. August wondered how Cecily felt being introduced to more people by her nickname, but she didn’t protest. She was sitting on the grass and looked even more confused and disturbed than August at this whole exchange.

When August turned his attention back to Smudge, something clicked. Her brown skin, black hair, and pink eyes were familiar, and he remembered something Amy had said: If you think only telling the truth is a curse, imagine how frustrating it is when you can only lie. “You’re Seed’s kid, aren’t you?” he asked.

“Nope!” Smudge answered confidently, although August couldn’t tell whether that was a refutation or a confirmation of his theory.

“Smudge, could you take a look at Silly’s ankle and tell us what you think?” Echo asked, and the young girl walked over to Cecily and crouched down to investigate her twisted ankle, which had become visibly swollen over the last half hour.

“Worst thing I’ve ever seen,” Smudge announced. “It’ll need to be amputated for sure.”

Cecily jerked back and scooted her body away from the child, but Echo audibly sighed with relief. “Oh, good, I was worried it would be serious.”

“Does she say the complete opposite of what she means, or just anything that isn’t the truth?” August clarified.

“Oh, she can say anything as long as it’s a lie,” Echo told him.

He sighed. “This is a very confusing way to communicate.” Smudge stuck her tongue out at him.

Echo looked around the field, empty other than the scattered shrubs and the house that now sat in the middle of it. “Were you out here by yourself, Smudge? What have you been up to?”

Smudge counted on the fingers of her one hand. “Baking, carpentry, some light arson. You know, kid stuff.”

Echo shook her head. “I don’t know why I bothered asking that question. I am glad we ran into you, though!”

“But not literally, right?” August needed to reassure himself one more time that they had in fact hit this child with a house.

Smudge rolled her eyes. “You crushed me and now I’m dying in agony. Anyway, I seriously doubt Seesee has anything that could help with the ankle issue.”

“That’s great!” Echo exclaimed. “Could you go get it for us? I’ll make you some lasagna as a thank-you.”

Smudge made a face. “That’s a tempting offer. I’ll definitely take you up on that.” August was relieved to realize she was able to be sarcastic as well as flat-out dishonest. Finally, a response I can understand. Smudge turned toward the town. “I’ll be back in several hours or days!” she told them before running toward the colorful wood houses.

August looked at Echo. “That was very hard to follow. How can you understand her so well?”

Echo smiled. “You get used to it with practice. You should see her and Seed talking to each other! It’s fascinating.”

“That’s one word for it,” Cecily said from her spot on the ground. “Is everyone here equally strange, or are we just getting lucky?”

“That depends on what you mean by ‘strange,’” Echo replied. “Everyone here is unique, but you two are probably the strangest people I’ve ever met.”

“Even though we’re the only ones without weird magical powers and/or curses?” Cecily asked.

“Maybe because of that,” August pointed out.

Echo shook her head. “No, it’s not that. There’s just something different about the way you talk, the way you seem to see the world… It’s a bit peculiar, that’s all.”

Cecily hummed thoughtfully and August smiled. I think Echo is going to be a good influence on her. August and Echo joined Cecily on the grass and they all sat in silence for a few minutes before Cecily spoke up.

“Does this world have any games to kill time?” she asked. “And to anticipate your concern, ‘killing time’ is an Earth expression for entertaining yourself while you wait for something.”

“Of course, I knew that,” Echo said, her blush giving away the lie. “I don’t really know of any, though. Usually when I wait for something, I just wait.”

“Hmm, sounds boring.” Cecily looked around. “I spy with my little eye… something orange.”

August had played this game with his sister too often. “Silly, if you are looking at a specific shrub, I am not going to guess every shrub in this field to figure out which one.”

Cecily rolled her eyes. “Fine. I spy with my little eye something blue.”

“Echo’s left eye?”

“Wrong.”

August sighed. “Echo’s right eye.”

“Correct!”

“What about my eye?” Echo touched her face. “Why are we talking about everyone’s eyes?”

August explained the rules of the game and they played for half an hour until Cecily gave the final clue, which was “something dishonest” as they all saw Smudge running back toward them.

“Did you find something that can help?” Echo asked as Smudge held out a small corked bottle filled with pink liquid resembling Pepto Bismol.

“If she drinks this, it will boil her brains until they spill out her ears and nose and-”

“For heaven’s sake, Smudge, there’s no need to get graphic,” August interrupted. “Will drinking this help Cecily’s ankle?”

Smudge shook her head. “Nope.”

“Thank you, that’s all we needed to hear.” August scooted over to Cecily as Smudge handed her the bottle. Cecily eyed the liquid suspiciously.

“I’ve never drank a potion before, and I hoped I never would,” she said with narrowed eyes. Then she sighed. “But if I’ve learned anything here it’s that there’s a first time for literally everything.” She uncorked the bottle and raised her eyebrows at August. “This would be a pretty terrible way to find out Smudge doesn’t always lie, huh?” Before August had time to be horrified by that thought, his sister had downed the potion and tossed the bottle onto the grass next to her.

Cecily made a face and smacked her lips. “That was unexpectedly salty. It tasted almost like Papa John's garlic sauce–remember how you used to drink that, August?”

“No,” August lied. “Now, how do you feel?” He wasn’t noticing any boiling happening, either inside Cecily or out, but he kept watching her closely just in case.

“No different yet,” she answered. “Hey, Smudge, do you know how long this takes to start working?”

Smudge nodded as she sat down on the grass with the group. “Yes, I definitely know that information.”

“Great,” Cecily sighed. “More waiting. At least my brains aren’t boiling yet.” She surveyed Smudge, who was sitting cross-legged in her long skirt and drumming her fingers on the fabric stretched tight between her knees. “So, what happened to your arm?”

“Silly!” August groaned. Do you have to be rude to the child that is helping us?

Smudge looked down at the stump of her arm. “Oh, I ate it,” she said with an entirely straight face.

August gasped before remembering who they were talking to. After a beat, Cecily started cracking up. “You’re a morbid kid, Smudge. I like you!”

“I still don’t know the real story,” Echo told them. “She comes up with a new explanation every time, and some of them are surprisingly elaborate.”

August felt himself getting curious. Even though Smudge’s lies were often very disturbing, she clearly had a creative streak, and that was something he could appreciate. Maybe I’ve finally found a fellow story-teller, even if she only tells them because she’s forced to make something up. He wanted to ask Smudge more about her creative process, but wasn’t sure how fruitful that conversation would be given her inability to genuinely answer questions.

While he was still thinking about that, Cecily made a small squeak of surprise. August quickly looked over at her and saw that her ankle was wrapped in a faint pink light. “I think it’s working!” she exclaimed as they watched the glow pulse for a few seconds, then fade away. Even though the light was gone, the ankle was still pink-colored where the glowing had been. Cecily eagerly lifted her foot, then frowned. “I can’t move my ankle.”

“At all?” August asked, alarmed as he walked over to carefully touch the newly pink skin. It was as hard as a rock over the entire area that had veen covered by the pink light. “What’s going on?”

“Aw, dammit,” Cecily groaned, pulling on her hair in frustration. “This is why I don’t try new things. I’ve upgraded from a sprained ankle to an ankle made of stone or something.”

“Can you still feel your toes?” August asked, and Cecily obligingly wiggled them.

“Don’t worry, Silly, it didn’t turn your whole ankle to stone,” Echo reassured her. “Just the outside of it!”

“It’s completely permanent,” Smudge yawned. “You should be deeply concerned.”

Even though August knew that was meant to be reassuring, he was having a hard time not panicking at the fact that part of his sister had just turned into a rock. To his surprise, Cecily seemed more annoyed than scared, as if being magically transformed was just another inconvenience. “So, it will fade over time?” he asked Echo and Smudge, hoping at least one of them knew what was going on.

Smudge shook her head and Echo nodded. “I’ve seen this before,” the blue-haired witch explained. “It stays like that for a few days or weeks, then fades back to normal once it’s healed.”

Something clicked in August’s mind. “Oh, so it’s like a built-in cast?” He let out a long exhale of relief. “That’s good to hear, I thought we’d just made a huge mistake.”

Cecily was still frowning. “I feel like if you’ve got magic, there should be a way to automatically heal injuries without going through the whole ‘put on a cast and wait for it to get better’ ordeal. But hey, what do I know?” She reached out a hand for August to help her stand up, then tested her new stone ankle. “At least I can put weight on it now. That’s better than nothing, I guess.”

Once he was sure Cecily was steady, August let go of her hand and looked back at Echo. “So, where to now?”

Echo was looking at the sky with a worried expression. “We should take shelter somewhere,” she said, pointing at a group of dark purple clouds that were gathering over the forest they’d come from. “That’s going to spread really fast and I don’t know what will come out of it. Smudge, do you want to come into my house or go home?”

“I’ll go with you,” Smudge said, turning to leave. “Goodbye!”

“Bye, Smudge! Thanks for the potion!” August called after her as she started jogging back to the town.

“Okay, everyone inside, then we can decide where we’re going,” Echo ordered. “Have you two been in a storm here?”

“We saw some rain when we first arrived,” August remembered, “but nothing too intense.”

Echo laughed softly as she ushered them inside. “Well, then, you’re in for a treat today.”

“What’s so crazy about the storms here?” Cecily asked as they sat down around the kitchen table again. The light coming in through the windows was fading, and August could see the purple clouds rolling over the entire sky.

Echo raised her eyebrows. “It looks like you’re about to find out.”