13. Road Trip.
It was time to go. Still, I wanted to know as much as I could from The Book of Lore.
“Can we see Ream’s fairytale?” I asked politely.
Tryt shut the book swiftly, again.
“I’m afraid not,” he answered. "That story is not yet completed, and I’ve already shown you too much. It’s time to go.”
Deli agreed.
Tryt escorted us out the back of the garden. As we passed under another ornate archway, we stepped onto a path made of stone. It lead us to a wooden platform near the edge of the cloud. From inside, the cloud had a slightly blue color to it, like a lighter shade of sky.
Every once in awhile, a fairy would fly in through the cloud wall onto the platform, and the spot where they entered shimmered with orange for a moment. I figured that this must be the right way to enter Pavidale. I felt even more embarrassed that I had entered by dropping my bed into a pond. But, in fairness to me, it’s not like there was a sign…
On the very edge of the platform, my bed was waiting, fully restored to its normal, dry self. Even our backpacks were there, looking as full as ever. A few fairies were still working on the bed, using instruments and contraptions I had never seen before. I wished that I could inspect them closer up.
“Wait a second, we’re going back on the bed?” Soy asked.
“The bed knows where the mountain is,” Deli said.
“Well, there are planes and cars and boats too. And they know where things are, when you tell them. It’s called GPS,” he responded.
“And do you know what GPS stands for?” she asked.
Soy looked at me.
“Global positioning system,” I whispered softly.
“Globule position sanctity,” Soy boasted.
Deli smiled. “Close enough. And to use it, you need an exact location. Nobody knows where the mountain is without magic. That’s why only a vessel using lore can find it.”
Deli hopped on the front of the bed, and I followed behind. Soy climbed up slowly in protest.
“Ask anyone who’s not a magical frog: planes are better than beds,” he mumbled.
“I told you I’m not a frog,” she said.
“But you haven’t told us what you are, and frog is still the most obvious choice,” Soy argued.
It was the same logic Soy had used with me many times. When I had a secret that he wanted to know, he would make a guess that was ridiculously wrong and then assume it was right until I told him otherwise. It worked on me. Every. Single. Time.
I felt like Deli was telling the truth, that she wasn’t a frog, but that didn’t mean I was any closer to knowing what she was.
Tryt flew to the front of the bed with impressive speed.
He addressed only Deli, “He doesn’t have to go with you two, you know.”
“He does,” she answered, “and you know that. Besides, I have a feeling he’s more valuable than you think.”
Tryt did a graceful flip to the back of the bed. We all prepared to depart.
“We will return when Ream is defeated, and the pen is safe again,” announced Deli.
I turned around and realized that the all the fairies were on the platform watching us, and there were even more of them than when we first arrived. I saw young fairies flying around clumsily and older fairies using their wings to hold themselves upright. I had the sad thought that there used be far more fairies in Pavidale, before the yellow dragon started taking them… before my fairytale began.
Deli started punching commands into the phone, but Tryt stopped her.
“That won’t be necessary,” he said. “I will create a current for you to ride on. It will work with the bed to take you straight there and, as long as you don’t stray, you will go much faster."
Deli looked at him with gratitude and bowed her head.
“It is important for Cal to get there without delay. If I can do anything to help, I will,” he added.
Tryt began to glow much brighter. His face became hard to see. In fact, he started to look like he was just a pink ball of light.
I looked ahead at the wall of the cloud. It was fascinating. A hole with an orange outline started to form in front of us, shooting off sparks like a lightning storm. The fairies got behind us and pushed the bed forward. As the front of the bed peeked out of the cloud, I saw that there was nothing below us. In a few seconds, the bed tipped down and we started to plummet. The air was cold enough to sting my face.
Before I could get scared and without warning, an invisible river of air caught us from below and quickly carried us away. I turned to see the cloud one last time. The fairies were filling the hole with their faces to watch us as it closed. Tryt was in front. The glow on his face began to fade as the hole finally shut. Pavidale was a special place, and I hoped that one day I would visit the home of the fairies again. The wind was cutting through us, as I remembered that unless I defeated Ream, there may be no fairies left to visit.