Mandrake and Rosemary landed in the hole, then the crow went to find its usual perch. They watched as the other Boggans landed and came in. They watched them all come in, and before that time, Rosemary had no idea that there were so many Boggans working with her. She started smiling slightly. One mosquito walked with a lot less dignity than the other Boggans. She thought it was Jestro just because he was the one who ran.
"Mandrake," she said when all of them were back. He nodded. "Um, I'm sorry about, you know, not keeping my mouth shut. I just, I'm not used to all of this yet and-"
"It's okay," he said, cutting her off. "It's not your fault. Your friend is too smart for our own good. You're fine. Jestro on the other hand…" He tuned out, thinking. Then he seemed to remember that she was still there. "Food's over there, Rose. By the way, I'd like the explanation for why you flipped out on your friend for saying your name."
"I'll tell it to you later," she said, going over to the food.
It smelled like heaven to the half-starved girl. She saw it just off of a spit and picked up the stick. Her first bite told her that it was perfectly cooked through. She ate all of it and finally felt full. She never felt this full, but she felt that she needed to save all the energy she could get. Content, she walked to her room to lay and digest. Today was a long day, and it wasn't even over yet.
Ronin and the girls walked in and decided to share the news before it was too late. Natalie held on to Ronin's arm, feeling happy to be there, safe and sound.
"By the way, whose idea was it to go out in the forest?" Ronin asked them.
M.K. shrugged. "Mine," she said. "I thought that it was okay as long as we stuck together."
Ronin shook his head. "Right, you thought." He sighed. "And Natalie followed because you were here before?"
"Yeah," she said, feeling retarded. "It seemed fun before, then Rosemary was there and it all seemed good, then M.K. said Mandrake and-"
"I was there, you know," Ronin said, patting her head.
They found the Queen with her mother, learning how to control her power from Nim. "You just aim right there at that tree and make it grow," he said, looking over a scroll. She put her fingers to her temple and concentrated. "Wow, wow, not that much energy," Nim warned, putting her arms down, "you'll wear yourself out like that. How long have you been doing that?" He looked at her mom. "Take notes, have her stop that, or nap time three times a day."
Ronin walked up to the glowworm, shaking off Natalie. "Nim, we need to talk," he said, pointing to them.
"Oh, that is bad," Nim said, looking at them. "Look, Ronin, I would love to help you, but I've got to train the new queen."
Ronin seemed to just notice she was there. "You majesty," he said, bowing slightly, then standing straight again, not really paying attention to the mom. "There's more," he said to Nim, shocking the poor six-armed bug. "One of their friends has gone rot."
"No, that's not possible," the queen's mom said, shaking her head. "It's just not. Is she still alive?"
Ronin nodded. "Natalie and M.K. spoke to her in the forest. She's still alive, but she's in a dilution that we're the bad ones."
"She was also paler then last time," Natalie said. "Her lips were a little darker. The pale skin would be from lack of sun, but I'm not sure about the dark lips."
M.K. thought. "Well, since we're used to her having peach skin, her lips could just look different to us because of her skin color being lighter."
"Whatever it is, we need to know why there here in the first place," Ronin said.
Nim thought. "Having a stomper on Mandrake's team could be a curse," he pointed out, like he just thought of it. "Okay, I'm sure that there's something in the scrolls that says something about it." They started going to the center of the tree before the Queen pulled on Nim's shirt.
"What about me?" she asked once she had his attention.
Nim pointed her to the tree. "You keep practicing, not too much stress, remember?"
"Okay," she said, looking at the tree. "I can do it."
Nim smiled. "That's a bright girl," he said, looking at her mom. He signaled that she should keep an eye on her daughter, then handed her the scroll. He turned back to the group. "Let's go," he said, walking again.
Rosemary woke up to Mandrake sitting over her. She jumped back a little, not sure what he was doing there. She sat up and could tell that by her hunger that it was noon. She looked over to the unexpected guest, then at his hand. There was another bat in it. She took it and smiled gratefully, finally being able to taste it.
"How'd you sleep?"he asked, looking at her.
Rosemary smirked. "Better, thanks," she said, looking at him back. "How're you?"
"Good, I guess," he said, watching her eat eagerly.
She finished it and stood to throw it out until she saw how pale her skin had gotten. "Cheese," she said, looking at herself. "Who knew science would ever effect me?" She chuckled.
Mandrake stood and led her out of her room. She looked at all the Boggans and saw Jestro, beaten and bruised. She let out a tear for him. "How could you do that to him?" she asked Mandrake, looking at the blue man.
"He's been a bad bug," Mandrake said. They stopped and looked up, the top of the hole. "Let's go." He called his crow.
They mounded on it and he let out a growl only the bird could hear. It shrieked and lifted off. Rosemary held on to Mandrake as it streaked through the air. He chuckled and held the reigns of it, making sure it didn't go anywhere it wasn't supposed to.
"Where are we going?" Rosemary asked.
He smirked. "You pick," he replied, not making any move to shrug her off.
Bomba looked at the note again. M.K. shouldn't have been out this long. The camera alarm sounded. He snapped over to it and slowed the monitor, looking at it the whole time.
"Hi, Bomba," Natalie said, nudging M.K.
"Yeah, hi, dad," she responded.
Bomba made it to the chair and plopped down. "What made-how did you get small again?"
Natalie's eyes shone. "It was a flower, it was really pretty," she said, excitedly. "How did you know all this was real?"
"A feeling," Bomba said, shrugging. "Then I kept getting facts, and I kept looking."
"He became obsessed," M.K. said, looking at him.
Bomba pulled up his glasses. "Do you need me again? Is it Mandrake?"
With that name, Natalie stiffened, and a tear rolled down her face. "Rosemary," Natalie whispered.
"Rosemary?" Bomba asked, then did a quick head count. "Where is she?"
M.K. looked at her father. "She went on Mandrake's team," she said fast. "We couldn't stop her in time to warn her."
"Is she okay?" Bomba asked. "She's not dead is she?"
M.K. shook her head. "No, but he's been feeding her lies about the Leafmen so that she won't join our side."
"That's no good," Bomba said, looking at Natalie. "What's wrong, Natalie?"
She was just about to fall before M.K. caught her. "I'll be here if you need anything," Bomba said, turning off the monitor. He blew out a breath slowly. "They're safe, more or less," he said to himself.
Ozzy ran over to the monitor and ran around the chair in circles. He leaned over to pet his dog, and then walked over to the kitchen. He made himself a sandwich. He didn't eat breakfast, and it was almost lunch. He made it quick and sat down. Eating, he saw a picture from way back with M.K., her mother, and himself. The memory of abandonment from when she ran away, only to be shrunk, hit him again. A tear formed.
"It's different now, Ozzy," Bomba said, looking at his dog. "This time, everything's different."
Ozzy whined. He looked over to the door, hearing footsteps. The door knocked, and Bomba walked to get it.
"Hello, sir," a man said on the other side of the door. "Have you seen this girl?" He held up a picture of Rosemary. "We seem to be… missing her."
He looked at the man. He was black haired, of Mexican origin, and had a very deep accent. Bomba didn't remember him from anything Rosemary told him about. "No, she's not here right now, why?"
"We saw her through the woods after me and her… friend went looking for her. We miss her dearly." He smiled. "If you find her, tell her that Uncle Joshua is looking for her."
Bomba looked at him. "Okay, I will."
"Thank you," Joshua said, walking away.
Bomba closed the door. "As if," he said. "Rosemary doesn't have anyone Mexican in her family." He looked in at the empty house.
Natalie stood there frozen for a minute. "Natalie, Nat, Natalie," M.K. said frantically. "What? What is it? Do we need…?"
"Rosemary," Natalie said, in a voice that sounded like sweet syrup and fragile leafs, but also the strong growth of all the surrounding trees. "We have to warn Rosemary."
M.K. took her in her arms. "It'll be okay," she said, patting her head.
"Joshua…" Natalie's weird voice got lighter, like her own self. "Josh… What happened?" She looked up at M.K., seeing her fearful look. "What?"
M.K. looked around. "We-we need to see the Queen," she said. "Now."
"Oh, okay," she stuttered. "With-without Ronin or Nob or anyone?"
"Now," she repeated, dragging her friend behind her.
"Rosemary," Mandrake said, looking in the third tree. "In what way is this helpful to your past?"
Rosemary sighed from her trunk hiding spot. "It was what… It's just important, okay?" she snapped, slinking in her spot more. "Just find me, if you can."
Mandrake sighed. "Then why did I have to count before?"
"It's the rules, see?" she looked out a little, seeing his footsteps getting closer. "Just find me."
He looked in the hole and saw her sitting there. "Found you, now what?" Mandrake said, holding his hand out to help her up.
"Now, now you hide," she said, pointing at him, "and I seek." She pointed to herself.
Mandrake shook his head. "Back to the base, let's get this straight."
They flew back to the hole, jumped down, walked back to the room, and sat down. Rosemary was a little less comfortable since she didn't go in the forest with her bag. "Okay, so now what?" she asked.
"You tell me one thing that happened in your life that was crap, I tell one thing crap that happened in my life," Mandrake said, looking at her.
Rosemary laughed. "And how do I know you won't fall asleep while I tell my story?" she asked.
"You have my word. If I dose off, you can hurt me, if necessary."
"Okay. Let's start with… Daddy." Rosemary cleared her throat. "May I have a drink?" Mandrake gave her a glass of water and she drank. "Thank you," she said. She cleared her throat again. "So, okay. I was, like seven years old, so I was, like, really innocent. I wanted to just have a normal family, subtracting mom. So we, me and dad, we were playing hide-and-go-seek, like we were just. He found me and told me not to stay in any situation that might harm me." She looked away from Mandrake, and he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She breathed in shakily and continued. "Some guy, dad said his name was Joshua, came up and told me he was showing me what would happen if I didn't obey." She wouldn't meet Mandrake's eyes, and he knew why. "So, I was there to witness my father getting shot right in front of me. It-it was painful, knowing what happened, but not understanding what just happened. He pointed the gun to me and told me that if I told anyone what happened…" She didn't finish, and she didn't have to. Mandrake put his arm around her again.
"Go on," he said, as gently as he could.
She sat up a little. "I told him that I understood, and he said he was proud of my decision. He said it would get me far in life." She took another really long breath. "So, I never did, just in case he ever came back… In case he ever really… You know."
Mandrake nodded. "Yeah," he said, looking at her. "Yeah, I know."
"So, I lost any chance of a normal childhood," she said, looking at the floor. "I really didn't ever feel the same. I think that's what made me… I think… I don't know."
Mandrake looked at her and she looked back for the first time through the story. Tears where streaking down her face, and they hugged, letting the poor girl cry. "I lost my parents, too," he said after a while.
"When?" Rosemary inquired.
Mandrake put his arm around her. "Now, if I tell you that story, how do I know you will tell me how your mother died? No, I'm going to tell you another story. One that happened most recently, and was very precious to me, the death of my son, Dagda." He proceeded with the story, but gave his ending to it. "As I was falling, a lot of feelings were going through my head. When I reached him, he was already at Death's door. He told me that I should do what any respectable Boggan of my stature would do. Take vengeance. He then looked at me and said 'You should see the face of the Leafmen when you take over. It'll be hilarious.' That was the last I ever heard of him before he became rot in my hands." He looked at Rosemary. "You're lucky. You only had your parents killed. I had my parents, my wife, and my son." He looked at the girl and stood up. "You must be exhausted, what with everything that happened already." He hugged her one more time.
She hugged back. "Thanks for not sleeping," she whispered in his ear.
"No problem," he said, looking at her hair, turning darker with the rot that she was exposed to. "Your stories will just get more interesting." In more ways than one, he thought, knowing it dumb to mention in front of her.
"Thanks," she said, smiling.
"Uh-oh," Nim said, looking at the scroll.
Ronin looked at the glow worm. " 'Uh-oh'?" he asked. "What's 'uh-oh'?"
"Well, let's look at it this way, she might become the most powerful Stomper-Jinn known to any kind." Nim gave Ronin the scroll.
The general took it and read over it. "What? I thought we had this covered with M.K.," he said, looking at it from another angle, as if that would change anything. "Rosemary can't be the new… no."
"Well, her transformation has already started. Pale skin, black lips," Nim said, looking at the poor Leafman. "There was nothing you could do, Ronin. None of this is your fault."
Ronin gave the scroll back to Nim. "This can't be real," he said. "This-M.K. was supposed to be the only Stomper to come to this world, no one else. She-I-…" He looked at the glowworm. "Please tell me there's something we can do, Nim."
"Sorry, Ronin," Nim said. "She's already made up her mind."
Ronin looked at the scroll in his friend's hand. "So, the best we can do is just wait until she gets bigger?"
Nim shook his head sadly. "I wish it were that easy. It's foretold that she will have the ability of going between worlds at will." He put the scroll back in its designated place. "I'm sorry, Ronin. Life isn't like it was before M.K., know that."
"I know," Ronin said. "I also know what to do."
Nim looked at him. "Whoa, whoa," he said, shaking all of his hands. "Time out, Ronin. You can't just-"
"Why not?" Ronin asked. "An eye for an eye, right?"
Nim sighed. "You can't use his saying against him like that. Soon you'll be quoting his almost killing you phrase."
Ronin stopped in his tracks, then put his head down. "So you're saying there is literally nothing we can do?" He turned to face the worm.
"Now, we can't be inflicting unnecessary violence, there's enough of that now here."
M.K. sat in the room, looking up. "I can't believe Rosemary," Natalie fumed from the other side of the room. She paced back and forth. "She was supposed to stay with us, and now she's gone."
M.K. sighed. "You knew how she is, we both did. Inviting her here was a mistake on both of our parts." She sighed. "Now all we can do is wait until we get bigger, or she comes to us."
"You expect me to just sit here?" Natalie burst out.
M.K. sighed. "That's all we can do." She closed her eyes and pushed herself up. "You heard Ronin, it's not safe for us out there. That Boggan attack could have been plainly pointed at us, and they usually never miss their target."
"I know," Natalie said, sitting down. "It's just, you can't just sit here knowing that we can do nothing, right?"
M.K. sighed. "Sometimes that's the only thing you can do, really." She looked at her friend. "Now, let's go."
"What?" Natalie looked over at M.K. "Huh?"
M.K. laughed. "We gave Ronin and Nim some time alone, I'm sure they would like to tell us their findings."
Natalie smiled. "Okay," she said, starting to walk. "It is late, though."
"It's only-" M.K. looked up at the moon, counting the Stomper inches. "Ten at night."