Chapter 4: The Magic Man
The next morning, James and Penelope woke up to hear a terrified scream from Aunt Spiker.
"AHHH! Spider! Vermin! Oh, beast!" Spiker was at the window, breathing frantically, and smacking her flyswatter at the spider. She missed the spider but managed to destroy its web.
"No wait!" James exclaimed, jumping out of bed. Penelope followed him, and Jaelle lifted her head startled by the woman's screaming.
"Please! Don't hurt it!" the gypsy girl said.
"Sponge!" the thin woman screamed.
"Wait! I'll get! I'll get it!" the boy cried. He climbed up on the chair, grabbed the spider, and got back down.
"Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!" Aunt Spiker exclaimed repeatedly and frantically, following James and Penelope, smacking them with her flyswatter. Jaelle bit onto Spiker's robe and tried to drag her away, only to get kicked away. "Let go of me, you dirty beast!"
Sponge entered the room with a can of bug spray. "Where is it?" she yelled and sprayed gray smoke into the room.
James and Penelope were hit in the face by the smoke and crashed into Aunt Sponge. The three fell down the stairs and ended up on the kitchen floor, unharmed. Jaelle hurried down the stairs, bleating for her master and mistress's safety. The boy sat up, opened his hands, and realized the spider was gone.
"Where'd it go?" Penelope cried.
"Get it!" Aunt Sponge yelled. "Get it!" The children looked over, the fat woman was lying on her back and the spider was crawling on her face.
Aunt Spiker ran down the stairs, muttering breathlessly, "Kill it!" She was still wielding her flyswatter.
"Get it! Get it!" Aunt Sponge screamed. "Get it!"
Just before Spiker could smack it, the spider leaped off from Sponge's face, causing the thin woman to hit her sister in the face with the swatter. James and Penelope watched as the arachnid landed on the floor. James picked up the spider, and hurried to the front door, followed by Penelope and Jaelle.
"You hit me in the face!" Sponge said in disbelief to Spiker as James opened the door, with Penelope and Jaelle ran out. "You hit me in the face!"
"Oh, do shut up!" Spiker yelled.
Outside, James, Penelope, and Jaelle ran down the hill from the house, down the stone stairs to a stone wall. Around them, there was thick fog, and everything was nearly dark. It looked like smoke had come from a witch's cauldron.
"Go on, get out of here!" James said, out of breath. He laid his hands down by the stone wall, allowing the spider to climb off. "Get as far away from this place as you possibly can!"
They watched the spider crawl through a hole and disappeared. Penelope gave a sigh, wishing they could run away just like the spider.
"Oh, I wish we could," James said.
"That would be a miracle, if that ever happened," Penelope said, placing her hand on the boy's shoulders.
"What's stopping you?" a deep voice asked suddenly. The children looked up startled and gasped. In front of them was an old man sitting on the stone wall. He had short black hair, hazel eyes, and fair skin. He was dressed in black, with numerous watches hanging from his coat, and gray fingerless gloves. Jaelle glared at the man and prepared herself to charge at him, but Penelope managed to hold her back.
"Oh, don't be frightened, James and Penelope," the man said, as if he realized that he startled them. "I mean you two and your goat, Jaelle no harm."
The children looked at him in surprise. "How'd you know our names?" asked the boy.
The old man gave a soft chuckle. "I know more than just your names," he said. He stepped down from the wall, and crouched on his heels so he was at eye-level with the boy and Gypsy girl. "What would you two say if I were to tell you that the answer to all your troubles is right here," he pulled out a familiar bag. "Inside this little bag?"
Penelope gasped in surprise, holding James's hand.
"Hey!" James exclaimed. "That's my…."
"Of course, it is!" the old man said. "Go on, James and Penelope. Have a look."
The two looked inside, with Jaelle on her hind legs, and saw a most peculiar sight. Inside were glowing green curled worms in the shape of pasta noodles. They squeaked, squirmed, and jumped from one side of the bag to the other.
"There's more magic in them things than in all the rest of the world put together," said the old man.
"But… what are they?" James asked.
"Crocodile tongues."
"Tongues?" The boy looked at the man with confusion.
"What do you mean by crocodile tongues?" Penelope asked, raising an eyebrow.
"One thousand long, slimy crocodile tongues," the old man explained. "Boiled in the skull of a dead witch for twenty days and twenty nights. Add the fingers of a young monkey, the gizzard of a pig, the beak of a parrot, and three spoonfuls of sugar. Stew for a week, and then, let the moon," he closed his left eye and when it opened, to James and Penelope's shock, the sclera was completely white. "Do the rest." When he blinked it again, his eye was back to normal. "Have 'em, and marvelous things will happen; things even you two have never dreamt of."
"Like what?" James asked.
"What kind of marvelous things?" Penelope asked.
"Well, like… you'll never be miserable again," he said. "And you are miserable, aren't you James, Penelope, and Jaelle?"
"Well, it is true," the gypsy girl said, looking down, along with James. Jaelle bleated sadly, only to get a pet on the head from James.
"You weren't meant to be, you know," he said. "And that place you're dreaming of, it's not as far away as you think." The Magic Man pushed a stone through the wall until it formed a hole. James, Penelope, and Jaelle looked through to see the Empire State Building surrounded by skyscrapers.
"New York City!" the boy exclaimed with awe.
"And it'll be that much closer, once you two take the first step," the Magic Man said, appearing on the other side.
"But how?" James asked. "This doesn't make any sense."
"Not up here, it doesn't," the Magic Man agreed, pointing to his head. "The answers are in here." He stuck his arm through the hole and pointed a finger to James's chest. "And the magic is in here." Suddenly, he was back on the other side of the wall. "Well, children, what'll it be?"
James and Penelope looked at each other for a moment. Every day was filled with hardships and endless work, and every insult from their cruel guardians. The children promised to keep each other safe and have faith that things will get better. If what the Magic Man had said was true, these tongues may be the perfect opportunity to leave the hill for good and have a better life. After all, this was the first time they experienced kindness from an adult, unlike their aunts. For a reason, he knew about their life and wanted to help them escape. They looked back at the man to affirm their choice.
"We'll do it," said the gypsy girl.
James reached for the bag and took it, the Magic Man gave a firm grip on the boy's hand, causing the crocodile tongues to squeal in surprise. "Now listen to me, James and Penelope," he said firmly, looking at them both. "Don't let them get away, because if they do, they'll work their magic on whoever or whatever they meet first. Understand?"
The children nodded. Then a blast of wind appeared with a rumble of lightning. "Good," the old man said, sounding satisfied. Leaves and fog blew around them. When James and Penelope looked up, the old man had disappeared quickly into thin air.