Into the Wildewood (19 page)

Dad was back! Suddenly lighter, Keelie thought he must be better. She grabbed Laurie’s hand. “Come on. You’ll love Janice.”

They passed Lulu’s shop, and Laurie’s feet slowed. Her mouth hung open as she stared at the gingerbread house. “I want a puppet.”

Alarmed, Keelie pulled her past the enchanted building. “Believe me, you don’t.”

Laurie shook her head as if to shake a bad feeling off. “No, I don’t. I never liked puppets. They’re creepy.” She looked back at Lulu’s shop. “For minute there I really wanted one. Weird.”

Keelie glanced at her friend. Most humans would fall under the spell and then out again without ever noticing, but Laurie had sensed its passing. Interesting.

Ahead was the thatched roof of Janice’s two-story cottage. “Janice runs the herb shop, and she’s so into herbal cures and remedies. You’ll love her.”

“You told me about her. She’s Raven’s mom, right? Is Raven here?”

“Not yet. She had a summer job in New York, at Doom Kitty, but she’s leaving there early to come help her mom.” Keelie didn’t want to say any more until she found out the whole story.

“Wow. Doom Kitty? That must be incredible. I’m glad she’s coming.” Laurie looked around at the little wooden buildings. “This place is amazing. I’ve never been to a Renaissance Faire. Do people live in these little fairy houses?”

“Fairy houses are mostly moss and sticks, like little nests. These are cottages, and yes, some of the merchants live in the back or above their shops. Just like in the real Renaissance. Although, strictly speaking, this is a Medieval Faire, since the theme is Robin Hood.”

“Don’t go all geeky on me, girl,” Laurie cautioned.

Keelie’s face got hot. She totally was geeking out. She knocked lightly on Janice’s door, then pushed it open. Red-wood from California gave off the sunshine of home, and the spicy smell of the forest floor.

They walked into the tiny vestibule. To the right, the shop was dark, with the counters covered in cloth to protect them from dust. The smell of herbs, soaps, and potions was intoxicating. She glanced at Laurie to see if it had the same effect on her.

Laurie’s eyes gleamed in the dim light. “Can we go in here?”

“Maybe later. Let’s go upstairs.” The bare wooden stairs led up to the tiny loft apartment.

To Keelie’s relief, Dad was up and dressed. He sat on the futon, buttoning a white poet’s shirt, its billowing sleeves and ruffled cuffs very different from his usual straight, woodsy tunic. His dark blue jeans were tucked inside his Ren Faire boots, and he’d pulled his hair back loosely, his ears still covered.

“Hey Dad, feeling better?”

Knot sat on the futon beside him, purring. A day of sleep had done the two of them a lot of good. There was no sign of the stray white cat.

“I’m much better.” Dad rose, smiling. “Are you going to introduce me to your friend?”

Keelie gave him a look that she hoped he would read as,
don’t use elven charm on Laurie
. She’d talked to him in her head once before, when they’d battled the Red Cap in the High Mountain meadow.

To introduce Laurie, Keelie swept her hand in a “ta-da” gesture. Her friend’s mouth was hanging open. Apparently, Dad didn’t need to use elven charm to impress her. His looks were enough. Keelie sighed loudly. “Dad, this is Laurie. Laurie, this is my dad.”

He held out his hand. Laurie stopped gaping and looked back at Keelie, mouthing “Oh my God” at her, then turned to accept Zeke’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Keelie’s Dad. Mr. Heartwood. Sir.”

He smiled as he gently removed his hand. Laurie looked at Keelie, then back again at Dad. “Thank you for letting me visit,” she said. “I’ve really missed Keelie. We used to get into all kinds of trouble together. It’s tough when you lose, like, your partner in crime.”

Dad arched an eyebrow and cleared his throat. “I’m glad your mother allowed you to come. When I spoke to her, she was interested in the educational opportunities the Faire had to offer, along with the experience of traveling out east.”

Laurie motioned with her hand. “Mom was thrilled when you called and invited me to come out.”

Dad had called to invite her? Like melting chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven, Keelie’s insides went all warm and gooey. He’d remembered how much Laurie meant to her.

Janice appeared, wearing her beautiful purple and white gown and holding a bowl full of fragrant loose herbs. “You’re back.”

“Laurie, this is Janice, herbalist extraordinaire.” If Keelie’s voice was a teeny bit frosty, it was because she was still a little miffed about the ‘no watch, oh, look at the time’ incident. “Why are you in costume?”

“Photo op for the newspapers.” She straightened Zeke’s collar.

Laurie’s elbow dug into her ribs. Yeah, so the Zekester and Janice were an item, even if he didn’t know it. So what? She cleared her throat. “What did you give Dad and Knot to make them better?”

“Dragonberry tea.”

“Dragonberry tea?” Laurie laughed. “That sounds so My Little Pony. Remember playing My Little Pony?”

“Oh yeah. I had the stable, but you had the ranch, and when you got mad you wouldn’t let my ponies come over and play.” Keelie hadn’t thought it was funny at the time.

“Yeah well, you never let me play with your old wooden dollhouse. You always shrieked if I touched it.”

“Oh, yeah.” Keelie’s cheeks burned with embarrassment. She never wanted any of her friends, even her best friend, to touch the dollhouse Dad had made for her. How she’d longed to have him in her life back then. She turned to him and smiled. Now she had him, rather than a substitute dollhouse.

He was smiling at her, pleased to hear how she’d valued the toy he’d made for her.

“Dad, I almost forgot. I bought these for you.” She reached into the plastic Canooga Springs Crystal Shoppe bag and pulled out the green velvet pouch of healing stones. “Sir Davey helped me pick them out for you.”

Dad tugged at the drawstring and let the stones fall into his other hand. “Thank you, Keelie. I may have more need of these than you know.”

“Sir Davey brought the car around to the parking area,” Janice said to Laurie. “I’m going to have some of the Merry Men unload your luggage and put it in Sir Davey’s camper. Keelie, why don’t you take your friend on a tour of the Faire before it’s crowded with mundanes?”

“We were actually in the middle of a tour when we found Dad’s note.” Keelie wasn’t anxious to go outside again.

“Lunch is just sandwiches, but I thought you girls would be hungry.” Janice produced a platter piled high with them.

“I’m totally in love with the Faire.” Laurie took a sandwich. “It’s so picturesque. I even like the terminology. Mundanes—how medieval. Like serfs or something.”

“You said it.” Keelie helped herself to a sandwich. “So this photo op, is it for the Faire?” She thought of the reporter the elves were worried about.

Dad smiled reassuringly. “It’s a promo shot for an ad, Keelie.” He stood up. “And we need to get going.”

Janice patted the girls’ shoulders as she headed to the stairs. “Laurie, if you need garb, just say the word.”

“I’ll say the word, all right.” Laurie looked at Keelie. “Garb?”

“Costumes.”

“Oh. Cool.”

They finished lunch, then cleaned up, working cautiously in the tiny space to avoid a concussion.

“Ready to continue the tour?” Keelie glanced around the little space, spotless once more.

“Totally.” Laurie jumped up.

Knot bolted from the futon, ran to the door, and stopped, waiting for them to open it.

“You can’t go with us.” Keelie glared at Knot.

He blinked up at her. His tail swished back and forth on the floor like a fuzzy samba dancer.

“Cute kitty. Is he yours?”

“This,” Keelie swept a hand dramatically toward him, “is Knot.”

“The Evil Kitty? No. It can’t be. He’s so cute and fluffy. I can’t believe you called him a demon cat straight from the pits of the feline netherworld.” Laurie smiled down at him. “Cutie.”

Knot lifted his head to stare up at Keelie, eyes narrowed to slits. His tail swished faster, kicking up dust motes.

Keelie knew he was mad, and that she would pay for that comment. She nudged Knot to one side with her tennis shoe. “Stay here, Snot.”

He purred and shifted to sit on her foot.

“Get your fuzzy butt off my toe, Knot the Snot.”

“I think he’s sweet.” Laurie snapped her fingers at him. “Come on, Knotsie.”

“Knotsie? Oh, gag.” Keelie opened the door and pushed her foot forward, launching Knot down the stairs. He flew down, legs outspread, purring loudly, then flipped in the air and landed on the bottom step. He blinked up at them, unfazed.

“Keelie, I can’t believe you did that.” Laurie seemed ready to run to Knot’s rescue. “You used to be an animal lover.”

“He’s fine.” Laurie didn’t know what Knot was capable of—that he wasn’t a cat at all, but some fairy, um, thing.

Knot’s buzz-saw purr rose up to meet them.

“You don’t have to live with Pickles, the demon cat.” Laurie’s cat was famous for snagging bare toes by the pool. Not even close to Knot’s level of evil.

Knot batted at Keelie’s pant leg as she walked past, then the orange hairball ran in front of her just as she reached for the door.

Laurie had turned into the bigger room and spun around in a circle, taking in Janice’s apothecary shop. Her face was etched with wonder as she tried to drink in the sight. Dried bunches of herbs hung from the exposed ceiling beams. Cobalt blue glass containers filled with healing elixirs sparkled in the sunbeams that shone on the back wall.

Knot reached up on his hind legs and touched the door-knob with his paw. And the door opened.

Laurie turned around in time to see Knot’s latest trick. “Whoa, that’s a smart cat. This place is so cool. My mom would go nuts in here. By the way, you didn’t tell me that your dad is way good looking. He’s like the Johnny Depp of the Renaissance Faire.”

“Eew, Laurie, you’re talking about my dad.”

“Hey listen, if my mom and her friends ever lay eyes on him, then it’s going to be like
Desperate Housewives
.”

Keelie smiled. Through the window, she saw a
bhata
climb up to a higher branch in an oak tree, and then like a woodland acrobat disappear into the leaves of the oaks. Thank goodness the oaks were still asleep. No acorns.

She glanced over at Laurie—and for a moment panic set in, because Laurie’s eyes were wide with wonder. But Keelie relaxed as she realized that this was still Laurie’s reaction to Janice’s shop.

They stepped outside and closed the door after them. The woodland setting gave the place a fairy-tale feeling. Admin had cleared off the acorns and leaves that had littered the dirt lane.

Infused with enthusiasm, Keelie danced ahead. “Come on, I’ll show you the inside of our shop. This is called Enchanted Lane. You’ve seen Lulu’s puppet shop. Over there is the blacksmith’s building, and over there is Lady Annie’s boot shop, and here is ours. It’s not like our really cool shop in Colorado, but it works.”

The carved Heartwood sign swung from a spear-shaped pole. They stepped off the dirt path onto the wooden floor, and Laurie looked around at Dad’s creations. She was wide-eyed. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Keelie ran her hand over one of the crystal-embellished chairs by the front entrance. Elm, from fallen branches. Not that Laurie would be able to sense it, since she was one hundred percent normal. Human.

“You know, Keelie, not only does your family have a shop on Enchanted Lane, but you’re living an enchanted life.”

“Let’s see if you say that after you’ve been here for a while and you’re stuck feeding bits of rat to a hawk.”

“That’s so not happening.” Laurie laughed and walked farther into the shop. She stopped and turned a quizzical eye to Keelie. “Is it?”

“Welcome to my world.”

sixteen

The unicorn shone bright against the dark pines. He stared at Keelie, as if trying to communicate. Keelie stepped toward him, hand outstretched to touch the luminous horn. It was slightly curved, like a strung bow.

As her fingers brushed the cool ivory, he reared, hooves flashing past her startled face, and galloped through the trees.

Keelie awoke, gasping, sitting up in bed. Her breathing slowed as she realized that she was safe in Sir Davey’s camper. Laurie turned over, pulling the covers with her. Keelie grabbed the edge of the blanket as it left her legs and tugged it back, smiling. Still a total bed hog.

No unicorn. It was a dream. She was about to lie down again when a green whisper tickled her mind.

It was Tavak.
Tree Shepherdess. It is time.

Keelie bolted upright. She touched her Queen Aspen heart, and the tree’s telepathic connection became stronger.

Tree Shepherdess, Keliel, Lord Einhorn needs to see you—now—it is most urgent.

Einhorn. One horn. Keelie gazed at the alarm clock: 3:00 AM. Whatever happened to “he’d be there when I was ready”? He must be getting sicker.

Knot sat at the end of the bed, watching her with eyes that glowed like two round green lanterns. He meowed.

Keelie glared at him. “I’m not talking to you.” She glanced down at Laurie. Still asleep, thank goodness. She sent her thoughts to the forest.

Where do I meet Lord Einhorn?

In the forest, near the human merrymaking place.

Merrymaking place?

Images of a huge white merchant tent, much bigger than anything in the staff parking lot, filled Keelie’s mind, as did mental pictures of the Merry Men and the handsome actor who played Robin Hood, and she heard the familiar music of Rigadoon. She understood. The unicorn wanted to meet near Rivendell.

Tavak, I’ve never been to Rivendell from the campground. Will you show me the way?

The path glowed in her head, as if seen from a great height. Duh, of course. Tree height.

Keelie eased out of bed and dropped her rose quartz into the front pocket of her pajama top. She wished she had the tektite, too, but she didn’t know where Sir Davey had stashed it. After the sapling incident, she wasn’t going anywhere near a tree without her rose quartz. Plus, she had a feeling it might be needed to heal Einhorn. Keelie slipped her feet into her tennis shoes and tiptoed to the RV’s door. Laurie would freak if she knew she was sneaking out to meet a unicorn.