CHAPTER 8- Mr. Twinkles
Markl and Jessica didn't stop running until several blocks later, when they were sure they hadn't been followed and were a safe distance away.
"I think we need to go inside somewhere for awhile before going on, don't you?" Markl suggested.
"I know a place. Follow me." Jessica pulled up her hood and tied it in place. Then she started up the street, but Markl put a hand on her shoulder and directed her toward an alley. "Let me do something real quick."
Markl dug around under his cloak in his pockets till he found what he was looking for. It was a small leather pouch. "Gimme you cloak."
Jessica hesitated, "What are you going to do to it?"
"Nothing permanent. Just take it off, okay?" Markl said, grinning reassuringly.
Jessica hesitated again, "Can't you do whatever it is that you want to do, without needing me to take it off?"
"I suppose so…" Markl said, trailing away. It sounded suspicious to him, but then girls were an oddity he had yet to understand. He doubted even Master Howl completely understood them. Come to think of it, even Sophie did weird girl things every once and a while.
Markl opened the pouch and crouched down next to Jessica. He held one corner of her baby blue cloak flat on his palm and poured a portion of the pouch's contents onto it. It looked very much like soot, which made Jessica gasp in alarm. Markl gave her an irritated glance. "Don't freak out. It won't stain or ruin your clothes. What colors do you like?"
Jessica gave him a confused look, but answered obediently, "Pink, yellow, teal, green-."
"Green it is then." Markl lifted the corner a little higher to his mouth and blew on the powder. It spread across the surface of the fabric in a miniature wave that defied gravity, growing in quantity to cover the cloak while simultaneously turning it a dark green color. Jessica watched this particularly simple parlor trick with wide eyes, till the powder had finished its job and had stopped.
"I keep forgetting you can do these kinds of things." She remarked softly, examining the new color on her collar.
"What? You weren't impressed when I blew those guys away?" Markl pointed out.
"That's different. This just seems more… I don't know, interesting."
Markl rolled his eyes at her.
"Did you make that powder stuff?" She inquired.
"No, I don't know how yet. My Master does it. It's useful if you need a quick change in disguise or a getaway. Using this as a getaway is a little messy though, so I prefer to use it just for disguises."
She frowned, "How can it be both?"
Markl shrugged, "Its ingredients allow it to be flexible in the forms it takes. All it requires is a little magical push from the user. And don't worry, the new color will fade in two or three hours, leaving you with your old color." Markl pulled up his hood, transforming into his elderly alter ego. "Let's go."Jessica nodded, fixing her own hood in place. Together they left the alley, and took off slowly down the street, looking very much like a grand daughter and grandfather out for a stroll. The sun was high in the sky, signaling that noon was upon them. The street was filling to burst with people. They got jostled around a bit but it was a small compromise for the extra measure of safety a crowd like this gave them.
The only thing that made the both of them stiffen was a man in black standing at an intersection of streets, his eyes darting around from person to person. His eyes flickered to them, held, and then went on to another group of people. Quickening their step they left the intersection behind.
After walking several blocks through streets full of markets, vendors and people, Jessica lead him to a quant looking little blue and yellow house. It would have been an ideal place to live for anyone, except for the fact that it seemed to be compacted between two very large buildings situated on either side of it. Jessica and Markl approached the house and scaled the little porch. Jessica motioned to take down the guise before she knocked lightly on the front door.
Markl could hear shuffling going on inside and after a long pause an elderly lady answered. She wore a baggy purple sun dress and house slippers. Her blue gray hair was held up in a bun and she wore thick squared glasses that gave her a rather owlish appearance. She appeared for all practical purposes, a run of the mill grandmother. All except for the parrot that was perched precariously on her shoulder snoring loudly. After a moment of blinking at them, the woman smiled kindly. "Goodness, is that you Jessica? I can hardly recognize you when you're not wearing that pretty blue cloak of yours."
Jessica lowered her hood, beaming, "It's me, Granny. Can we come in? This is a friend of mine, Markl."
"Mitchell, you say? Why, of course, come right on in, dearies."
They entered the cool dark house and Markl could see that it was just as quaint as the outside. He figured it would be what his grandma's house would look like, if he had a grandma, that is.
"It's Markl, ma'am." He corrected gently.
"Oh, pardon me. My hearing isn't what it use to be." She said, sounding unperturbed by her mistake.
Jessica frowned, "You really should come and live with me and my family. Or at the very least live with your son."
Granny waved her hand dismissively, "I won't hear of it. You do to much as it is for this old woman. And move to Market Chipping? Heavens no. The whole lot of them smell like day old cod." Markl sniffed his own shoulder suspiciously. "Have you little ones eaten today? I'd be glad to fix you something." She asked.
Jessica nodded, "Thank you." She turned to Markl, "What do you like?"
Markl gave her a surprised look, then shook his head, "I'm not picky."
The elderly woman shuffled off to a back room where there was apparently a kitchen.
Jessica plopped down on the couch and smiled at him, "I never thanked you for saving me. That's twice in just one day."
Markl blushed, "It wasn't a big deal." He muttered, focusing intensely at his shoes. Not looking at Jessica, he walked over to a fairly large armchair decorated in funky bright blue and fuchsia rectangles, and sat down. He sank nearly six inches, but it was still very comfortable.
"So will you tell me what you have to talk to Prince Justin about?" Jessica asked casually.
"Will you tell me why those men are after you?" He countered.
Jessica shushed him, looking toward the kitchen to make sure Granny was still bustling about the kitchen. Jessica turned back to Markl, glowering at him. Markl grinned cheekily in response.
"Fine." She huffed. "We'll trade secrets if you're going to be so stubborn about it." She whispered at him. Markl's grin fell. He hadn't thought she'd really concede. But then, it wasn't as if his mission had to be kept secret. It was just that he didn't feel like talking about it. To talk about it was to acknowledge that there was a real problem. He was, in a way, in denial.
"You go first." Jessica said, keeping her voice low.
Markl averted his eyes to the ground, "I changed my mind. It's not important."
Jessica didn't look happy about his sudden about face, "If it's not important then you can tell me." She snapped, looking frustrated at his logic, then with a glance towards the kitchen, she lowered her voice again, "You can trust me, Markl. I might even be able to help you."
He gave her incredulous look at the last bit, but shrugged vaguely all the same. "My master is missing." He said plainly, looking down again. "Tur-I mean, Prince Justin knows him, not very well mind you, but still enough that he might know something about his location."
Jessica's gaze flickered with some emotion, but it quickly disappeared before Markl had the chance to look up. "Who's your master? I might have seen him around Kingsbury."
He hesitated briefly before reluctantly speaking, "His name is Howl." He saw her turn pale and chuckled, "Don't worry. He doesn't really eat women's hearts. Sophie would kill him if he tried."
"Sophie?" She asked, the color still not quite returned to her cheeks.
"Yeah. I guess you could say she looks after us. She's like family to me." He said proudly. He was about to switch the subject to the mysterious men in black when the kindly elderly woman returned.
"Jessica, Matthew, it's ready now. Come eat, dearies." The parrot was awake and peering at Markl with a sly kind of leer.
Jessica readily leapt to her feet and ran past the two of them without a word. Markl didn't bother correcting her a second time, and asked, "Is Jessica your grand daughter?"
"No." The parrot squawked. The woman scratched the neck of the parrot, "Yes, Mr. Twinkles is right. I've known Jessica since she was just a little thing, but she's not my son's daughter."
Markl absorbed this and was on the verge of asking exactly what her relationship to Jessica was, when the girl in question re entered the room.
"What are you waiting on?" She asked Markl, hands on her hips. "Granny went through the trouble of making us something to eat then you better come and eat it."
Granny made a sound that sounded like laughter. "Now, now, dearie. Don't be so hard on poor Matt."
The meal was not elaborate. In fact it was precisely the type of meal Markl was used to; bacon sandwiches. Not that he was complaining. They ate their meal like most children their age do, in a flash.
Markl's head started to pound towards the end of the meal. At first he thought it was a simple headache but then he began feeling drowsy. "Jessica." He said, to get her attention. When she looked up he said, "I don't feel so good."
She frowned, "What's wrong?"
He shook his head, "I just feel funny all of a sudden." He stood thinking it'd be a good idea to intrude on the elderly woman and lie down on the couch when the ground came up to meet him.
(A/N: waves hesitatively Alo. Remember me? The poor, pathetic, starving authoress? Yes, that one. Surprisingly enough, I did not die, despite what the popular belief might be. I merely took a mini hiatus so that I could get situated in my dorm. No, I'm not in college. Just a tough boarding school (phrase used for a lack of something better). Just prod me when I start to get lazy, m'kay?
Now, let me say that, while I love each and every one of you, it's slowly killing me to respond in a semi original fashion to you all. You'll have to suffice with me merely listing your beautiful names. So… yeah. Thanks to Elycien, L8infinity, nefi, SAGA123, Inuyashafaneva, Decente Renko, Kiyuu-Chan, Lady Moon Dragon, SapphireAria, candidus-lupus-full Moon, Arcane Legacy, Sophie-Lou, DarkWolf88, foxmagic, MagRowan, The Original Safety Pin, Mag Carter, ManonLeChat, Master and Commander, and Psycho Dragon Lover.
Thanks again for the support and glomps! They're all greatly appreciated. Thanks go out to my roomie, Quin, for beta reading for me.)
