I own NOTHING and I'm still alive!

I hope everyone enjoys this special chapter that I've been hinting at for a LONG time!

Special Chapter 4

Of Peppermint Tea and Garrett's First Words

The Chronicles of Refule? No, the characters are too one-dimensional. Orange Rain? No, too many plot holes. Fuggle the Flying Fish? No, too childish. Ah, The Chronicles of Josephine the Jeweler; contains an interesting main character with an intriguing plot. He stills as he's about to take the grey bounded book off its shelf; which one should he choose? There's The Chronicles of Josephine the Jeweler: The Last Pink Diamond - an interesting tale on how Josephine must find the famous pink diamond in order to save her sister's life or should he choose The Chronicles of Josephine the Jeweler: The Rise of Pearl - the first book in the serious that describes Josephine's tragic past and how she strives to become the best Jeweler in the world.

As nine-year-old Garrett's fingers hover over both books he can't decide which one Maddie would enjoy more. The first book in the series would educate her about the whole series - but she might lose interest, especially at the slower parts of the book; it wouldn't be the first time she'd done that. However, since the Last Pink Diamond is the second to last book in the series she might not fully understand why Josephine has to become Joseph and why Gale marries Josephine's sister instead of Josephine by accident… decisions decisions.

"Garrett!"

Said boy whips his head around to see 12-year-old Maddie peeking her head out from the doorway of the library, "Have you seen Dorothy? She said that she was going to war with the mice from the ruins since they refused to accept her marriage to Sir Greyhound?"

He thinks for a few seconds, wondering why his sister isn't a writer; truly, if she just wrote down half of what he hears from her, she could afford to buy all of the tea in the world.

"Ah ha! There you are!" she exclaims as she runs to the back of the library.

Should he follow her? It would be wise of him to just walk away; that's what Mihawk does in these types of situati-

Garrett nearly jumps out of his skin when he hears an enormous crash come from the back of the library.

He swipes both books off their shelves as he clutches them to his chest; he wants to turn around, see what happened, but Maddie plus a crash never equals anything pleasant.

After contemplating many options, he finally decides that he should make Maddie some tea; tea has always calmed her down in the past, so hopefully a nice cup of Peppermint tea will calm her down.

"Hawk-eye I know you're hiding somewhere in here ~"

Or not. Scratch that last plan involving tea, not even Peppermint tea will be able to calm Maddie downs if she sees Red-Hair.

He slithers away from the bookshelf as he moves closer and closer to the exit. If he can escape the library, and hopefully prevent Maddie and Red-Hair from meeting each other, he might be able to lure Maddie outside, far away from the castle. And once Red-Hair sees that nobody is in the castle, he should leave.

Just as he reaches the exit, Garrett swiftly ducks to the side of the archway.

"Hawk-eye where are - oh!" he fails, "It's you, that little boy that follows Maddie around. What's your name again? Gavin? Gaff?"

What should he do? What can he do? Garrett's brain turns to mush, he can't move, he can't talk, he can't do anything. He needs to do something in order to avoid Maddie and Red-Hair from meeting each other.

"I'm… Ga – Garrett…" he whispers as he averts eye contact with Red-Hair.

Shanks tries to peer into the boy's now misting eyes, even though they refuse to make any type of contact with him. "Hey, are you ok – "

Shanks just barely catches a flying blue tea cup in between his fingers. His eyes leave Garrett's form as he inspects the cup.

"Tea?"

Shanks spins around to see Maddie standing behind him, giving him a closed-eyed smile.

Garrett releases a shaky breath once he sees her.

"Maddie!" He enthusiastically bounces towards said girl. Once he reaches her, he bends down until he's eye to eye with her. "Did you throw this tea cup at me?"

Maddie thrusts a matching blue teapot in Shanks' face, "tea?"

Garrett hastily whips away his bubbling tears as a pregnant pause falls upon the trio. What should he do? Red-Hair and Maddie have already met and Mihawk isn't here to divert Red-Hair's attention from Maddie. He's physically exhausted from just voicing his name to Red-Hair, so what can he do now?

"What kind of tea is it today?"

It should be Peppermint; he notes to himself as he tries to calm his racing mind. Maddie hasn't stopped talking about drinking her last peppermint tea leaves all week.

"Peppermint tea! My favorite," she proudly announces, "you should be grateful that I'm even offering my precious tea to you today. It's all I have left!"

Shanks shines her a brilliant smile as he extends the teacup to her, "If you wouldn't mind, I would love to have some of your precious tea."

Maddie's chest puffs out, in pride at the compliment, as she pours her precious liquid into the blue cup. Just centimeters from drinking the liquid, Shanks halts, "… this smells different somehow," he notes.

"Ah, I wasn't sure if you would notice or not! I added in an interesting flower to today's tea! But don't worry, it's not poisonous. I gave the flower to Garrett and Dracule dozens of times before to see what would happen," She gestures dramatically to Garrett with one arm, "It's perfectly safe, just look at Garrett! And have you seen Dracule lately, he's as healthy as a cockroach!"

… She did what? He could understand Maddie pulling that type of stunt on Mihawk, but on him? And why compare Mihawk to a cockroach?

Shanks bellows a heartfelt laugh, "I've heard famous tales of what you've done to Hawkeye! I sure would hate to be at the receiving end of your fury one day." He drains the liquid in one gulp. "Ah, that was delicious Maddie!" she beams at the compliment, "I swear you make the best tea in the world!" As he stands back to his full height, he hands Maddie her cup back. A second later, he's facing Garrett again, "It's great to finally talk to you, Garrett. Out of all of my visits here, I don't think we've ever – "

He falls face first onto the floor; he's down for the count; out cold; Game over.

Once again, his mind is racing with thoughts. They zoom through his head mercilessly. "What ... just happened?" he whispers through trembling lips.

"Don't worry Garrett. He's still alive."

Garrett locks eyes with his sister's emotionless face. He tries to voice his questions of what just happened, but his mind won't stop flip flopping inside his head. All he can do is point a single shaky finger at Shanks' unconscious body.

Maddie rolls her eyes, "Oh come on Garrett. It's obvious what happened, right?"

Said boy desperately tries to slow down his racing thoughts. As his crazed thoughts slow down and become rational theories, all he can do is move his shaky finger onto Maddie. She beams, "yep, yours truly did it!" She spins on the spot, proud of her actions. Garrett is beyond flabbergasted at his sister's actions now. He thought she liked Red-Hair, so why did she…

"I drugged him because he made you feel like you had to talk and you had one of your attacks again, right?"

Garrett looks back at Maddie to see her scribbling inside a weather worn black leather book. "I prohibit anyone from making you feel that way or putting you in those types of situations," she snaps the book shut as her eyes meet Garrett's gaze, "after all, talking to strangers makes you have one of your attacks, right? Hell, even talking to me can make you have an attack sometimes. I did this to help you." Garrett can't help smiling. Even though Maddie might be… extreme, she always means well (most of the time).

"Now go and get the rope Gargoyle, Dracule will be back any minutes now from his stupid little trip!"

Garrett's smile dies. What is she planning now?

"We don't have much time Gargoyle! I don't know how long the Passionflower will affect him!"

Garrett looks down at the two books still gripped tightly in his arms. Logically, he should just go back to the library and read the whole series for himself and ignore Maddie for the rest of the day…

His smile stays plastered onto his face as he tucks the two books into a nearby shelf and proceeds to search for some rope. He realizes that for the first time in a long time, he was able to introduce himself to someone without any help from Maddie. He prides himself on his meager accomplishment. His progress might be slow, but at least it's a start.

I'M SO SORRY FOR BEING GONE FOR SO LONG! But I have many reasons why I've been so absent this year, and I'll explain all very soon. All I ask for you all is for you all to please be patient with me, please.

But I hope you all liked this special chapter about Garrett's for words! It was a lot different than what I first thought while I was writing this, but in the end, I really like how it turned out since it hints at a few things about our beloved Gargoyle.

And before we all welcome 2017, I plan on releasing Chapter 22 and my explanation about my absence from this story and how I might be away again for some time.