Chapter 9
The Stonecutter's Quill
We all sat in the back room of one of the restaurants. We had all the letters laid out in front of us, placed on a piece of napkin: N, T, S, Y, R, M, E, F, I, P.
"Anybody good at Scrabble?" I asked.
Charlene raised her hand and quickly rearranged the letters into phrases, none of which made any sense to our situation what's so ever. Willa actually sneezed and all the letters went flying. As we placed all of the letters back onto the table. Then I realized that one word able to be formed was "PEN"; a pen was like a quill so we kept it.
Finn finished the puzzle and the final outcome was "MY FIRST PEN". "It must be referring to Walt Disney's first pen," Philby exclaimed.
"Does anyone have any idea where that could be?" I asked.
Nobody talked so we went to go see Wayne, to see if he could help us. As we climbed up to the apartment, I couldn't help but feel a little uneasy, like we were being followed. I shut the door behind me and we all sat in Wayne's living room.
"So what can I do for you kids?" he asked.
"Do you have any idea where Walt Disney's first pen could be?" Maybeck asked.
Wayne sat back in his chair and pondered the thought. "You should try One Man's Dream, in Hollywood Studios. They have displays with pens," Wayne nodded. Finn and I agreed to head over there tomorrow. We arrived at One Man's Dream half an hour before closing.
Finn went inside and I leaned against the wall, acting as a girl waiting for her friend. When the exhibits closed down, I kept an eye out for security guards. Two of them were heading straight for the entrance so I quickly gave the signal. "What are you doing ma'am?" one of them asked.
"I'm waiting for my friend, we agreed to meet right here and she appears to be late," I said lying through my teeth. The officers just nodded and continued into the exhibit. When they left I gave the signal. I was continuing to look around for signs of trouble. It got cold again, like evil witch cold.
I looked around for her when a voice sounded in my head," Come to me, darling," the voiced whispered. It sounded just like my grandmother. I suddenly felt like I had to go to the back of the theater, my feet acting on their own accord.
"Get a grip on yourself, Azalea!" I reprimanded myself. "Come little Lea," the voice commanded. "M-M-Mom?" I asked, tears coming to my eyes. Suddenly, Amanda was shaking me, getting me to warm up. She laid me down on the ground, and closed her eyes in concentration.
"Azalea!" I heard a voice yell. It felt like it was coming from the other end of a tunnel. Finn suddenly appeared in my blurry vision. He started yelling at Amanda and shaking me. "Wake up, come on!" Finn shook me again.
Suddenly, my vision cleared. I sat up immediately. "We have to go!" Finn shouted, dragging me down the alleyway and out of the park. Finn's mom sat in the car of the parking lot and stared at us strangely as we came sprinting out of the park.
"What happened to you kids?" she asked.
"I'll tell you on the way home, can you start driving, please?" Finn spoke, rushed. She raised an eyebrow but none the less, started to drive away.
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I had been a little shook up about the whole thing. The next day, I was still hearing that voice, the voice of my mother. I sighed as I took another batch of cupcakes out of the oven. My grandmother can up behind me. "You have a visitor," she told me before taking the cupcakes from my hand.
I shrugged and walked up front, seeing Amanda sitting at a table. I silently took the chair across from her. "So what do want?" I asked.
"Listen, after yesterday, I realized that I need your help," she confessed. "The girl with the black hair, Jez, is really Jess my sister."
I didn't believe her at first but then I realized that I hadn't seen her in a month. "So, why do you need my help?"
She sighed. "My sister is under the control of Maleficent," she whispered. My eyes widened as I took in the information. "I need the Kingdom Keepers to help me."
I got up and led her to a back room, where we could talk in private. By the end of the conversation I sat deep in thought. Amanda was a witch, so to speak, but a good one. Jess was under the control of Maleficent and Amanda needed my help to free her. I led her out of the room and promised to help her.
"What have you gotten yourself into," I whispered to myself.